Love's all in the brain: fMRI study shows strong, lateralized reward, not sex, drive
..., and that it has an important influence on social behaviors that have reproductive and genetic consequences." Diverse emotions occur, but reward response primary "It's a stark reminder that the mind truly is in the brain," noted Lucy L. Brown of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. "We humans are built...The evolutionary triumph of flower power
...ts of flowers on emotional reactions, mood, social behaviors and even memory in both men and women. The results of these three studies were so positive that the researchers went on to develop the evolutionary emotional niche model. In the first study, flowers were tested against other gift stimuli, such as a f...Scripps scientists find potential for catastrophic shifts in Pacific ecosystems
...ultiply). Nonlinear systems have the capacity for behaviors such as chaos and unpredictable changes of state, changes that can be both dramatic and swift. The researchers discovered that the data for the North Pacific's biological systems exhibited shift-like fluctuations consistent with "nonlinear" mechanis...U of MN researchers discover novel way estrogen affects the brain
...een well documented that estrogen influences other behaviors beyond reproduction, including learning and memory, the mechanism has remained elusive. The findings of this research are in this week's Journal of Neuroscience. "We believe this is an important first step in understanding not just how estrogen af...Managing maternal depression during pregnancy presents significant challenge to clinicians
...avioral syndrome," a constellation of symptoms and behaviors largely related to drug withdrawal or side effects, University of Pittsburgh researchers conclude in a review of medical literature. Such findings reveal an additional challenge for clinical management of depression during pregnancy, Eydie Moses-Kolk......, spatial learning deficits, and disorientation -- behaviors remarkably suggestive of Alzheimer's disease. To investigate CD147's part in the activity of gamma-secretase, the researchers used targeted RNA to silence CD147 in cell cultures. The four previously known components of the gamma-secretase complex, a...Why are coyotes getting more aggressive?
...ll work with Curtis to survey public attitudes and behaviors relating to coyotes. The researchers also will develop and test ways to try to induce coyotes to fear humans without harming them. "We need to determine what people are doing, for example, to encourage coyotes into their yards, such as feeding dogs o...Wisconsin researchers identify sleep gene
...ed that fruit flies do, in fact, sleep. "The more behaviors we look at, in terms of sleep, the more we find that sleep in fruit flies is very, very similar to sleep in mammals," Cirelli says. Like humans, fruit flies generally are quiet and immobile for between six and 12 hours each night and lose most of t...Cleaner shrimp use rocking dance to advertise their service to clients
...interactions are well known for highly stereotyped behaviors that most likely serve as signals. For example, tactile dancing behavior used by cleaner fish enables them to avoid conflict with potentially dangerous clients. Cleaner shrimp also clean fish, yet they live in small caves and crevices on the reef an...PNAS highlights for the week of April 18 - 22
...ed a mathematical model that simulates interacting behaviors in a society over time. He found altruistic punishers can enter a population of cooperators and noncooperators and change the dynamics of the group. Under certain conditions, altruistic punishment is so beneficial to the population that it will come ...New findings in taste and smell research
... also influence mating preference and other social behaviors in fish, rodents, and humans. These studies led to the notion that MHC molecules are a source of unique individual odors that somehow influence the recognition of individual conspecifics. Less clear, however, are the exact cellular and molecular mech...Remote control flies?: Fly behavior controlled by laser light
...c behaviors, from simple movements to more complex behaviors like learning, aggression, and even abstract thoug...eginnings of flight. If the flies engaged in these behaviors after the giant fiber neurons had been outfitted and "operated" with the remote control, Miesenbck a...Yale researchers use laser light to remote control flies
...ctions and connections are related to more complex behaviors like learning, aggression and even abstract thought. The optical controls might also enable the construction of "bionic" computers -- hybrid devices in which neural circuits are interfaced with electronic circuits....Alcohol 'binges' in rats during early brain development cause circadian rhythm problems
...night, the body's circadian clock generally drives behaviors on a cycle slightly greater than 24 hours. Untreated animals woke up approximately 20 minutes later each day in the absence of a light-dark cycle. The rats that had been exposed to alcohol consistently became active 30 minutes earlier every day. In s...Highlights of the April 2005 Journal of the American Dietetic Association
...oung children "should focus less on 'picky eating' behaviors and more on modeling fruit and vegetable consumption for their children."...In the sea slug's defense against lobsters, confusion is key
...ivate nervous-system pathways that control feeding behaviors of the lobster. The inky secretion also stimulates other behaviors in the lobster, including grooming and avoidance. Ironically, the slug's ability to trick the lobste...Surprisingly complex behaviors appear to be 'hard-wired' in the primate brain
...brain. Scientists have long known that many of the behaviors of lower organisms are innate. In the insect world, for example, instinctive behaviors predominate. Birds have a larger repertoire of fixed behaviors than dogs. In primates, voluntary or...To control germs, scientists deploy tiny agents provocateurs
...tent bacterial infections and better control group behaviors of certain microorganisms, scientists are creating artificial chemicals that infiltrate and sabotage bacterial "mobs." Reporting the work here today (March 13) at the 229th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, University of Wisconsin-Ma...VCU researchers identify networks of genes responding to alcohol in the brain
...related to the mechanisms underlying the different behaviors that the B6 and D2 mice show with alcohol. Researc... genes that may be a key to understanding drinking behaviors and the mechanisms of alcoholism." Other studies have suggested that interfering with Bdnf signaling...Predicting the future: Mirror neurons reflect the intentions of others
...increase an individual's ability to understand the behaviors of others, an important skill in social species such as humans. A critical aspect of understanding the behavior of another person is recognizing the intent of his actions--is he coming to praise me or to bury me? In the premier open-access journal P...