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mad plant biology
Fungus Could Be Among Fastest Lifeforms on Earth
Slow-growing fungus may be one of the fastest lifeforms on Earth — at least when it comes time to spread its seeds. A group of scientists recently used ultra-high-speed cameras to record spores being shot out of fungi (pictured). Some of them were launched out of the fungi at 55 mph, zooming several feet before landing in a spot where they could grow their own fungus. How does the humble fungus manage to shoot its spores at such insane speeds? More »
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Comment by nygenxer: We are more closely related to fungi than to green plants. It's thought that this is why yeast infections can... 2 Responses | Other threads
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sexual selection
Europeans Pick Mates By Smell More Often than Africans Do
Scientists have known for a while that humans seem to pick mates partly based on the way they smell. That's because a person's smell is related to their Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC), a cluster of genes that shape a person's immune system. For years, scientists have debated whether people pick mates based on scent cues that indicate a potential mate has a very different MHC, which would give children a higher possibility of developing a robust immune system. And now a new study published in PLoS Genetics today shows that certain human populations are clearly following their noses to the wedding bed. More »
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Comment by Tim Faulkner: "So the marry-by-smell method may not actually be creating more robust offspring." Or maybe the offspring aren't the byproduct of the... 2 Responses | Other threads
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mad medicine
Possible Cure for Ebola Could Revolutionize Antivirals
Ebola is the poster virus for outbreak scares because it spreads extremely fast and kills 90 percent of its victims by causing them to bleed uncontrollably. Featured in science-scare book The Hot Zone and countless cheesy movies, Ebola is considered ripe for development into a bio-weapon. But now it seems that a group of U.S. researchers may be on the fast track to a cure. In an article published online today in PLoS Pathogens, they explain that they've discovered how Ebola viruses trick their way into cells, and have a drug that can stop this process in its tracks.
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neuroscience
Books Can Control Your Mind as Powerfully as Television
Tales from George Orwell's 1984 to the movies Network and Videodrome are all about how people are so controlled by television that they'll do anything. Usually, books are presented as an antidote to a TV-controlled populace. But now a new neuroscience study reveals that books control people's minds and emotions in exactly the same way television does. More »
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Comment by RAHfanboy: @Klebert L. Hall: I was quoting that time, but I made the same mistake in another spot, and I actually... more » | Other threads
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brains
Scientists Identify Genes that Could Turn Ordinary People into Supergeniuses (or Mindless Drones)
It's clear that there's a specific set of genes responsible for brain development when you're in the womb, and that those genes affect your ability to learn later on. But now a group of researchers in the U.S. and Canada have identified those genes. And their discovery could represent the first step in tweaking brain development. It's possible that that knocking out some of those genes or adding extra copies of them to a developing baby could result in the tailor-made human minds of Brave New World: Some will be born to develop cutting-edge technologies, and others to be slow-witted and compliant. More »
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Comment by TechnoDestructo: @ManchuCandidate: I recall encountering a kid with FAS. He was in his late teens. He had a 4 inch long, deep,... more » | Other threads
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dystopia
Life Expectancy Going Down in the United States
In some parts of the United States, medicine has not improved the average life expectancy — and in fact, the average lifespan has been going steadily downward since the 1980s. No, immigration is not to blame for these shifting numbers. These are U.S. citizens in hundreds of different counties whose lives are getting shorter while many other people's lives get longer. A study published on Monday in PLoS Medicine shows where in the U.S. lives (especially women's lives) are getting shorter — and where they're getting longer. In these maps, dark red regions are those of decreasing life expectancy, and dark green regions are areas where it's increasing. Light red means life expectancy is lower than average but not decreasing; and light green means higher than average but not increasing. White is average. So what is killing people at younger ages now that didn't kill them in the 1970s? More »
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Comment by ragsnotriches: It's disgusting and morally reprehensible that the richest country in the world is literally eating itself to death while untold... more » | Other threads
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mad science
Will We Drug Soldiers to Make Them Depressed?
Will soldiers of the future be given serotonin depressors to make them depressed and therefore fearless? A new study released Friday shows that people with a low level of serotonin do not "reflexively avoid" bad situations, and are more likely to explore risky and dangerous places. This is a sorry state in everyday life, but might be desirable if you're a soldier and need to venture into spots most people would steer clear of. It's very possible the next "super soldier" drug won't give you superstrength, but just a megadose of depression. More »
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Comment by Gann: We routinely drug our kids and ourselves to obtain a desired mental state, why not our soldiers? more » | Other threads
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mad science
Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years
There is now a way to extend the lifespan of organisms so that humans could conceivably live to be 800 years old. In an amazing development, scientists at the University of Southern California have announced that they've extended the lifespan of yeast bacteria tenfold — and the recipe they used to do it might easily translate into humans. It involves tinkering with two genes, and cutting down your calorie intake. Tests have already started on people in Ecuador. More »
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Comment by VimalHuman: It sounds intriguing, but having just played Resident Evil 5, it's troubling, too. It is in Kijuju. @_@ more » | Other threads
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predictions
Do You Live In A Flu Epidemic Zone?
Using the deadly SARS flu outbreak as a template, researchers have created a model that can predict the spread emerging global epidemics. A team of researchers in the US and Europe incorporated travel and census data from 3100 urban areas and 220 countries to figure out where a virus would travel and how fast. More »
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