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…
Category: Life
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…
Organ shortage and genetic modification: Tissues from 3D-bioprinting and GM pigs could address organ shortages but regulation causes lags
Modern medicine has produced many kinds of high-tech miracles, among them gene therapy to correct malfunctioning genes, electrical stimulation devices to restore significant function after traumatic spinal cord injury, surgery performed by robots,…
Microglia’s Role in Controlling Anxiety and OCD
Summary: A new study reveals how microglia can regulate anxiety and obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorder (OCSD) behaviors. Traditionally overlooked in favor of neurons, specific microglia populations were found to both stimulate…
Air pollution monitoring may accidentally help scientists track biodiversity
The ability to track animals and plants is up in the air — literally — thanks to help from an unexpected source. Around the globe, many air quality control stations…
