Knock knock knocking on rhythm's neural doors
..., discrete movements like reaching and kicking are behaviors that have reached sophistication in young species, particularly in primates." Schaal, a robot expert with a deep background in neuroscience who draws inspiration for robot controls from biological models, notes that researchers have historically trea...Serotonin metabolites in mollusks suggest pathways for human therapies
..., Pleurobranchaea also display learning and memory behaviors influenced by serotonin. "Serotonin is a major factor in organizing the behavior of Pleurobranchaea, particularly for feeding," Gillette said. "Some potential prey have dangerous, stinging defenses. In a single encounter, Pleurobranchaea learn to ...Circadian clock genes reign in duration of fruit fly copulation
...adian clock genes can also control the duration of behaviors over a much shorter time scale--in this case, the ...ite their roles in controlling the timing of daily behaviors such as sleep, the period and timeless genes appear to influence the duration of fly copulation thro...Length of sex act in flies dictated by genetics
...cal clock" and control a variety of daily rhythmic behaviors also have other distinct and powerful effects whic...usual. This shows that clock genes affect not only behaviors on the time scale of 24 hours, but also behavioral timing on the order of minutes, including the len......man life to the genes, proteins, physiologies, and behaviors that define human life. Such work holds great promise for future medicine, and scientists have been investigating how the genes in the human genome actually contribute to the biology of health and disease. In the last few years, a team of scientist...Revealing bizarre deep-sea secrets
...in mission will be to discover new animals and new behaviors at these locations. To do that, the team will focu...see. This will allow the camera to capture natural behaviors and quite possibly footage of animals that have evaded scientists using other tools. The system can ...Genes may be central to cocaine addiction
...netic models may be discovered that mimic or block behaviors associated with cocaine addiction, the striking concordant neurochemical phenotype between Homer2 deletion and withdrawal from chronic cocaine treatment indicates that Homer is a particularly good candidate to play a central role in cocaine addiction...Casanova or caveman: Scientists isolate nerve cells that choreograph male fly's courtship behavior
...It wouldn't surprise me to learn that human sexual behaviors also have underneath them a basic circuitry in the...tship is a complex, innate sequence of stereotyped behaviors that are programmed into the male during development," Baker explained. "The fly isn't taught anythi...Growth study of wild chimpanzees challenges assumptions about early humans
... to generate hypotheses about the life history and behaviors of fossil humans. We now know those scenarios are based on faulty data." Comparing teeth of wild chimpanzees to previous research on two Homo erectus fossil specimens, the researchers found that the first molars of both wild chimpanzees and H...Early dexamethasone exposure has long-term neurodevelopment, neuroendocrine effects
...eactivity: In this study, increased anxiety-like behaviors were observed in single-housed DEX animals in the elevated plus maze and open field, but there were no differences between groups in a light-dark test. Although these animals exhibit increased anxiety-like behavior in threatening environments, they ...New insight into cancer metastasis
...obvious question: How do cancer cells cobble these behaviors together and acquire the ability to do all this? According to the new study, they don't. Rather, they hijack an existing cellular process and use it to disperse throughout the body. Reporting in the June 25 issue of the journal Cell, the r...Researchers make promiscuous animals monogamous by manipulating genes
...to determine why there is extensive variability in behaviors among individuals within a species in order to better understand the evolution of social behavior....Thimerosal, found in childhood vaccines, can increase the risk of autism-like damage in mice
...ents; Behavioral impoverishment (limited range of behaviors and decreased exploration of environment); Significant abnormalities in brain architecture, affecting areas subserving emotion and cognition; Increased brain size. These findings have relevance for identification of autism cases relating to enviro...Synthetic hormone used in contraceptives and HRT produces negative effects in monkey studies
...isplayed significantly more aggressive and anxious behaviors when they received the estrogen/MPA combination as compared to when they received the estrogen only or the estrogen/progesterone combination. Dr. Pazol also noted a marked reduction in sexual activity during the estrogen/MPA treatment period. ...Male susceptibility to disease may play role in evolution of insect societies
..., published by the Royal Society of London. Among behaviors possibly affected are the division of labor betwee...st that this male vulnerability has shaped certain behaviors in social insect colonies. These behaviors, they say, are designed to minimize the risk of disease ...Learned social preference in zebrafish
...ee how genes, development, and environment lead to behaviors that mediate social interactions. The investigators examined the way fish choose their consorts during the formation of loose social aggregates, called shoals, and they exploited the developmental genetic resources of this biomedical model organism t...Many scientists believe the dog genome holds information that will benefit human health
...he genes responsible for the physical features and behaviors unique to each breed as well as the diseases to wh...ect to weight, size, head shapes, coat, ear shape, behaviors and diseases." The level of diversity within the species is unprecedented, Kruglyak said. "Obviously...Specifying alcohol-related brain-damage among heavy social drinkers
... drinking behavior." Meyerhoff said some of the behaviors that could be associated with the metabolite changes include the inability to apply consequences from past actions, difficulties with abstract concepts of time and money, difficulties with storing and retrieving information, and frequently needing ex...Culture of primate non-aggression
...viour. Teasing out the mechanisms for such complex behaviors will require future study but, as Frans de Waal states in a related article in the same issue of PLoS Biol, "with the study by Sapolsky and Share we now have the first field evidence that primates can go the flower-power route". If aggressive behavio...Researchers find no safe place to sit in California tick-infested forest
...ology, is the first quantitative analysis of human behaviors that may increase the risk of tick exposure in Cal...rst place," said Lane. "We intentionally looked at behaviors that people would typically engage in while spending time in the woods." The researchers sat on lo...