Summary: A new study reveals that serotonin levels in the brain, measured using a simple EEG-based test, can predict who will experience sexual side effects from SSRI antidepressants. Researchers found…
Category: Life
Can Animals Feel? A New Roadmap for Consciousness
Summary: A philosophy scholar has developed a practical “decision tree” to help scientists and ethicists evaluate which creatures may be conscious. The new framework clarifies decades of debate about whether…
Inflammatory Brain Cells Driving Progressive MS Discovered
Summary: Researchers have identified a rare type of brain cell that may drive the chronic inflammation and neurodegeneration seen in progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). These cells, called disease-associated radial glia-like…
Kenji Suetsugu | Deadwood is not dead: a carbon gateway for orchid seedlings on dark forest floors – Functional Ecologists
In our new post, Kenji Suetsugu, professor at Kobe University (Japan), discusses his research article ‘The nexus of decay and birth: Ecological and evolutionary significance of wood-decaying fungi in green…
Book review: When Everyone Knows that Everyone Knows—Stephen on ‘common knowledge’
Common knowledge is something everyone knows that everyone knows. He saw it. She saw it. He knows that she saw it, and vice versa, ad infinitum. According to Steven Pinker, Johnstone…
Brain Cells That Thrive on Uncertainty Help Us Adapt and Learn
Summary: Scientists have discovered a group of brain cells in the orbitofrontal cortex that become more active when outcomes are uncertain, revealing how the brain adapts and learns from unpredictable…
Mic’d bats reveal midnight songbird attacks
Vampire bats are a Halloween staple, and now they’ve got company. Another bat species snatches birds out of the air for a gruesome midnight feast. Songbird DNA has previously shown…
Toy-obsessed dogs give clues to addictive behaviors
If you’ve ever had a slobbery ball at your feet and a dog’s hopeful eyes asking for yet another throw, then you know that some dogs really love to play.…
Mario Vallejo-Marín | The buzz of pollination and how plants stave off greedy bees – Functional Ecologists
In this week’s blog post, we’re learning all about buzz pollination between Bombus terrestris and Solanum rostratum! Author Mario Vallejo-Marín explains one of the most striking examples of evolutionary convergence…
