Culture
Two papers publishing June 20 in the journal Cell show that Egyptian fruit bats and mice, respectively, can "sync" brainwaves in social situations. The synchronization of neural activity in the brains of human conversation partners has been shown previously, as a result of one person picking up social cues from the other and modulating their own behavior based on those cues.
Researchers have come up with a new way to image cell populations and their genetic contents. Their study, appearing June 20 in the journal Cell, describes how a technique called DNA microscopy helps illuminate the spatial organization of genetic material within cells and tissues without specialized, expensive optical equipment. Using only the sample itself plus reagents delivered with pipettes, DNA microscopy prompts a specimen to provide spatial information about itself as part of a chemical reaction--the products of which can be read out by DNA sequencing.
A bacterial pathogen that typically multiplies outside of host cells can enter and induce the destruction of cells called macrophages, according to a study published June 20 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Anne-Béatrice Blanc-Potard of the Université de Montpellier in France, and colleagues.
Secured in place in a virtual-reality-equipped chamber, frustrated zebrafish just didn't want to swim anymore.
They had been "swimming" along fine, until the virtual reality system removed visual feedback associated with movement. To the fish, it appeared as if they were drifting backward, regardless of how hard they stroked.
A new study published in the journal Science finds that the world's marine fisheries form a single network, with over $10 billion worth of fish each year being caught in a country other than the one in which it spawned.
While fisheries are traditionally managed at the national level, the study reveals the degree to which each country's fishing economy relies on the health of its neighbors' spawning grounds, highlighting the need for greater international cooperation.
ANN ARBOR--The setup of a research study was a bit like the popular ABC television program "What Would You Do?"--minus the television cameras and big reveal in the end.
An international team of behavioral scientists turned 17,303 "lost" wallets containing varying amounts of money into public and private institutions in 355 cities across 40 countries. Their goal was to see just how honest the people who handled them would be when it came to returning the "missing" property to their owners. The results were not quite what they expected.
In a study of how people in 40 countries decided to return (or not) "lost" wallets, researchers were surprised to find that - in contrast to classic economic logic - people returned the wallets holding the greater amounts of money more often. Across the globe, in 38 of the countries studied, honesty in this way increased as the incentive to cheat (higher wallet value) went up. Honesty is important for economic development as relates to contracts and taxes for example, and for how society functions in relationships more generally. Yet, it often is in conflict with individual self-interest.
A trio of Reports and a Perspective in this issue present the Ruminant Genome Project's (RGP) initial findings, which range from explaining how deer antlers exploit cancer-associated signaling pathways to regenerate, to informing reindeer genetic adaptations - including as relates to circadian rhythm - that have helped these animals thrive in the frigid Arctic.
Even though many nations manage their fish stocks as if they were local resources, marine fisheries and fish populations are a single, highly interconnected and globally shared resource, a new study emphasizes. This single resource transcends international management and economic zones due in large part to the dispersal of fish eggs and tiny larvae that can drift far and wide upon swift ocean currents, researchers report.
Bottom Line: A substantial proportion of U.S. adults reported recently having an eye exam in this online survey study that included 2,013 adults ages 50 to 80. About 82% of those surveyed reported an eye exam in the past two years. Reasons for not getting an exam included not having eye problems, cost or lack of insurance. A limitation of the study is that adults with vision impairment may have been less likely to participate because the survey was administered online.
Authors: Joshua R. Ehrlich, M.D., M.P.H., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and coauthors
The more money there is in a lost wallet, the more likely it is to be returned to its owner, researchers from the Universities of Zurich, Michigan and Utah show in a global study. They explain the surprising result with the fact that dishonest finders have to adapt their self-image, which involves psychological costs that can exceed the material value of the wallet.
Microscopy just got reinvented - again.
Traditionally, scientists have used light, x-rays, and electrons to peer inside tissues and cells. Today, scientists can trace thread-like fibers of nerves throughout the brain and even watch living mouse embryos conjure the beating cells of a rudimentary heart.
But there's one thing these microscopes can't see: what's happening in cells at the genomic level.
The saying "God doesn't play dice" is meant to suggest that nothing happens by chance. On the other hand, cancer seems like the ultimate happenstance: Don't we all have a 43-year-old, vegan, triathlete friend fighting cancer? Does this mean that cancer plays dice? According to the traditional model of how cancer develops, yes: Every time a cell divides, you roll a die, and the more years you roll, the greater your chance of rolling an unfortunate mutation that causes cancer.
A study from the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) has published a study in the journal Nature Catalysis that describes the reaction mechanism used by the DNAzyme 9DB1, the first structurally available catalyser formed by DNA.
Until recently, it was widely assumed that DNA served to store genetic information in a stable and irreversible manner. However, in the last ten years, the discovery of the epigenetic code and the finding that nucleic acids can also catalyse certain reactions have changed this vision.
WASHINGTON, June 20, 2019 -- After walking on the moon, astronauts hopped back into their lunar lander, bringing the heavenly body's dust along with them on their spacesuits. They were surprised, and perplexed, to find that it smelled like spent gunpowder. This week on Reactions, learn why moon dust might smell like the aftermath of a Civil War reenactment: https://youtu.be/iQod_oYnFTc.