Summary: Cognitive ability in childhood correlates differently with various aspects of financial wellbeing in adulthood. Researchers analyzed data from 5,858 individuals, considering their cognitive skills at age 10 and their…
Category: Life
RNA editing helps octopuses cope with the cold
The ocean can be a cold place to call home. Mammals like seals stay warm by enveloping themselves in a layer of thick fur and blubber. Cephalopods — the group…
50 years ago, flesh-eating screwworms pushed scientists to mass produce flies
Fly factory planned for Mexico — Science News, June 2, 1973 A ‘fly factory’ whose product is living flies — 300 million of them every week — is to be…
Unveiling the Complexity of Musical Taste: Subgenres and Preferences Explored
Summary: Researchers report personal musical preferences aren’t just about genre, but also about sub-genres within those categories. Surveying over 2,000 individuals, they discovered that fans within the same genre can…
Alexithymia & Childhood Trauma: Unraveling The Mysterious Connection
Summary: Researchers reveal an alarming correlation between alexithymia (difficulty in identifying and describing emotions) and various forms of child maltreatment. Analyzing a staggering 78 sources involving 36,141 participants, the research…
When and why did masturbation evolve in primates? A new study provides clues
Though masturbation is common across the animal kingdom, it seems, at its face, to be an evolutionary paradox: Why would an animal waste time, energy and reproductive resources on self-pleasure…
Dopamine Plays Double Duty in Learning and Motivation
Summary: A novel study suggests that dopamine, a neurotransmitter, plays dual roles in learning and motivation. In the study, male rats underwent Pavlovian or operant conditioning while their dopamine release…
A gene therapy shot might keep cats from getting pregnant without being spayed
Invasive surgeries to spay cats could one day be a thing of the past, replaced instead with a single shot. An injected gene therapy given to female cats prevented…
A novel perspective when assessing the effect of plant community structure on productivity—The spatial aggregation of individual neighborhoods – Functional Ecologists
In this new post, Changjin Cheng—a PhD candidate from the School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, China—presents his latest work ‘Spatial Assembly of Grassland Communities and Interrelationships…
Marjorie Weber explores plant-protecting ants and other wonders of evolution
A crack team of arthropod bodyguards may be defending that cherry tree in your backyard or the maple across the street. Mites protect plants by acting like herds of grazing…
