Monkey Business

Scientists have discovered that baboons can distinguish four letter English words from nonsense words. "A 2011 study concluded that the visual analysis of letters, called orthographic processing, happens in a region of the brain associated with object recognition, suggesting that when we read, we are adapting brain pathways which evolved to recognize everyday objects, like rocks and trees, to identify printed words,"(Scudellari, 2012).  Based on this finding researchers at the National Center for Scientific Research and Université d’Aix-Marseille that an existing language might not need to exist for the brain to engage in orthographic processing.  Once the baboons were taught which words weren't nonsense words they remembered them with surprising accuracy.  This research could lead to further investigations about whether words can be processed as visual objects.http://the-scientist.com/2012/04/12/monkeys-read-writing/

Monkey See Monkey Do

Now you're just going to feel a little pinch...

In recent years an increasing number of parents are refusing to get their children vaccinated because they fear that it will cause autism.  Vaccines are necessary if children are going to be immune to certain deadly diseases. If more and more babies are not vaccinated the risk of diseases spreading could increase affecting large populations.  Idaho has a very low rate of vaccinations and other states like New Jersey are following suit.  "And in 2011, the country had more than 200 cases, many of which were imported from Europe, which is currently experiencing large measles outbreaks, with over 26,000 cases in 36 countries, as reported by the World Health Organization. Whooping cough is also on the rise. From January to October 2010, there were 455 infants hospitalized in California and 10 deaths due to Bordetella pertussis, the highest number of cases in over 60 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," (Tinker, 2012).  Scientists must convince the public that vaccinations are safe if incidences like these are going to be stopped. http://the-scientist.com/2012/04/03/opinion-the-risk-of-forgoing-vaccines/

Eternal Sunshine..cont'd

 When you think of a brain what normally comes to mind is something that looks like a pile of noodles or a tangled clump of cables, but the structure of the brain is the exact opposite.  It consists of parallel structures of fibers that are arranged in a rather orderly fashion and resemble a bunch of ribbons neatly laid out.  Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital developed a new way to map the brain through longitudes and latitudes using MRI technology.“ 'Everywhere they looked, they found a geometric architectural principle that transcends any particular part of the brain,” said Karl Friston, scientific director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging in London and an authority on brain imaging, who was not involved in the research. “It’s such a fundamentally simple organization,” said Friston, who called the work “substantial” and “convincing'" (Scudellari 2012) For years scientists have been trying to figure out the structure of primate brains without much success.  These new findings will help them learn more about the structure of the brain and how it can be mapped effectively.  The ordered structure of the brain makes a lot more sense in terms of natural selection than the old notions of a tangled mess did.  The information discovered by the researchers in Massachusetts help explain the development of the complexity of the brain.  From this research neuroscientists will be able to learn more about how the brian works and how to diagnose brain problems.http://the-scientist.com/2012/03/29/a-beautiful-mind/http://the-scientist.com/2012/03/29/a-beautiful-mind/

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Licking Swings and Kissing Dogs

It's a known fact that small children put everything in their mouth, which until recently was thought to be a bad thing.  A new study suggests however that "early exposure to microbes is essential for normal immune development, supporting the so-called “hygiene hypothesis” which states that lack of such exposure leads to an increased risk of autoimmune diseases. Specifically, the study found that early-life microbe exposure decreases the number of inflammatory immune cells in the lungs and colon, lowering susceptibility to asthma and inflammatory bowel diseases later in life"(Scudellari).  This study could help explain why there is an increase of autoimmune disease in countries that use a lot of antibiotics.  Not much is known about when people should be exposes to microbes, but evidence suggests that it should be when people are young and that this exposure can prevent asthma and ulcerative colitis.  Scientists at Harvard performed a study on mice and found that the mice that were in a sterile environment were more susceptible to both diseases than those that were exposed to microbes.  One of the scientists says, "it does fit the “hygiene hypothesis,” he said, which proposes that the increasing occurrence of asthma and other inflammatory diseases in the developed world may be due to a reduced exposure to microbes early in life. But most importantly, future studies of human microbiota and the immune system should zero in on early childhood, he emphasized. “It’s quite important to focus on this early period," (Scudellari). http://the-scientist.com/2012/03/22/let-them-eat-dirt/

So long sweet tooth

Scientists have found that many mammals are losing their sweet taste receptors. They believe that the loss of the "sweet tooth" evolved as a result of carnivorous animal's eating behaviors.  They mostly eat meet and therefore have no need for a sweet taste receptor. "In mammals, sweet taste is mediated by the type 1 taste receptor, made up of two closely related G-protein coupled receptors, Tas1r2 and Tas1r3. Beauchamp and his team sequenced Tas1r2 in 12 species from the mammalian order Carnivora. They found mutations in Tas1r2 in 7 of the species—sea lions, fur seals, Pacific harbor seals, bottlenose dolphins, Asian small-clawed otters, spotted hyenas, cat-like fossas from Madagascar, and banded linsangs (a type of civet). “I was dumbfounded how common it was,” said Beauchamp." (thescientist.com) Because of these mutations these species have lost their sweet tooth and when sweets were presented to them they were uninterested.http://the-scientist.com/2012/03/12/sayonara-sweet-tooth/