Heavy metals may be implicated in autism

link
URINE samples from hundreds of French children have yielded evidence for a link between autism and exposure to heavy metals. If validated, the findings might mean some cases of autism could be treated with drugs that purge the body of heavy metals.

Exercise might prevent skin cancer

http://www.discover.com/web-exclusives/mouse-tumor/
another reason to workout instead of veg out..

If all drivers were polite, they would get where they're going faster

for me this is a no brainer but you be surpised at the number of belligrent drivers who think that their need to 'own' the road are justified in reaching their destination faster. Seriously does one car length help u get there even 5 minutes earlier?  http://www.umich.edu/news/index.html?Releases/2006/May06/r052306a

Do you find that chimpanzee awfully familiar?

Link

LOL this article raises the possibility that early in the split of the human and chimpanzee lineages there was a rejoining and the final split. Ahem, in lay terms human ancestors stopped breeding with chimpanzee populations to establish a new species but later interbred again before splitting again .. see this pic for a visual explanation

Caffeine dependence for toddlers?

Link

This is not what you think. U can joke abt that needing that starbucks else u will be an undead zombie for the rest of the day. For premature infants, caffeine is a lifesaver. They help in getting the premature infants off the ventilator earlier by helping them breath… hmmm but they are still curious about the side effects. If you find that you have an abnormally high tolerance or perhaps in dire need for caffeine since young, maybe you shld ask if you were a premature baby….

Reward for Motivated acts = Obesity ?

Link to Science

This is fresh. "Psychologists have found that people who are prone to obesity tend to be highly motivated by rewards. They go out of their way to get the things they want, are willing to take risks, and are more thrilled than the average person when they succeed. Meanwhile, neuroscientists have found that the need for reward is hardwired into various regions of the brain (ScienceNOW, 16 June 2005). When researchers stimulate these regions in the lab, animals overeat, particularly seeking out sweet and fatty foods."

 Just when you are feeling sympathetic for the obese, the psychologist does add that many motivated ppl are not obese so its just part of the reason but not the whole story.

A Tale of mothballs, worms and cancer

Link to Science

I love stories of accidental discoveries in science. It takes an observant eye and analytical mind to see events as they are. This one is about mothballs and worms. The chance meeting of the two led to a discovery of how mothballs(yiks common household stuff) can cause cancer in C.elegans (a nematode, worm) through deactivation of a caspase enzyme(a protein that activates a cell to self-destruct when old, unlike cancer cells which go on living). Hmmm no wonder I never liked the smell of those stuff….

 

how prozac affects the brain

link from newscientist
OMG. Always wanted to know how the 'happy' drug works. According to this, prozac works by increasing the number of neurons in the hippocampus! This is amazing because it prob wasn't too long ago that scientists discovered that brain cells do indeed multiply(unlike previous thoughts) and the possible implication that too little neurons or selective death of hippocampal neurons is possibly the culprit for depression!! Ah hem, lay persons please do not link depressed ppl with lower IQ cos of less brain cells. Its the number of connections not the number of neurons that really matter

molecular link between Fats and insulin reported!

link from sciencenow
Lol better watch that fat !(esp kids!) they are producing MCP-1 which is shown to result in insulin resistance (leading to diabetes) and higher liver fat(cholesterol)..

On a side note, anyone wanna go into genetically modified duck/goose to produce foie gras without the nasty food forcing business that animal activists scream at? hahaha just have to convince the GM food haters..

Lack of excitation of Lesbian brain for pheromones?

link from newscientist
LOL
there's no evidence for pheromones in humans as yet, but this study is damn interesting cos it basically says that a steriod called AND derived from progesterone and found in men's armpit sweat is able to stimulate the brains of heterosexual women in areas other than the smelling region. BUT in lesbians it doesn't happen.
you would would think so what if you use women 'pheromone' on lesbains? they used EST derived from oestrogen (fd in pregnant women urine) but it has no effect on lesbian brains either..

haha my take is
1) lesbian brains have faulty wiring
OR
2) they used wrong 'pheromone'
I mean PLEASE? How attractive can a pregnant woment be? How attractive is urine smell?


UPDATE: reported in science as well... darn better not sweat near gay men..

Explosive sting of cnidarias caught on film!

link from newscientist
Ever stung by a jellyfish or hydroids in the sea before?Wondered how fast they sting you? Then you have to watch this... they have to use a 1.4 million frames per second camera to catch this so definitely worth a watch!

Have u seen a fat sushi eater?

link from scimag

ooo guess this could be a reason to eat more sushi...although on a side note, large fish may contain high amts of mercury which as a result of being a toxin might actually be the reason why sushi has a slimming effect haha who knows? hmmm anyway i think taurine is also fd in some infant milk prepartions.. haha a new diet fad for the fat?
excerpted
"Sushi lovers may now have even more reason to indulge. A Japanese group has found that large supplements of taurine, an amino acid synthesized within the body and also found in seafood, can largely reverse the health hazards of a high-fat diet in mice. Observers caution that more work is needed to prove taurine's protective role and to extend the work to humans."

Evolution Gets Hot and Steamy

link
haha its not wat u r thinky but have you wondered why the tropics have higher diversity? This expt tries to ans if its due to higher metabolic rates. But I would think that it doesnt answer everything cos they only used plants...
excerpted copyright from sciencemag
"With crushing heat and humidity, you'd think life would move sluggishly in tropical rainforests. But according to a new study, at least one thing proceeds more like the hare than the tortoise: molecular evolution. Faster evolution in the tropics than more temperate zones could help explain why rainforests are such hotbeds of diversity and have implications for how scientists calculate when one species diverged from another."

New Red List of Threatened species paints bleak picture of extinction

link from newscientist

another sad news for conservationists. I must say though I always wonder why they never put new species found data together with species that are losing it...

excerpted from article text copyright of newscientist
"Two out of every five species on the planet that have been assessed by scientists face extinction, according to the latest World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

Overall, 16,119 animal and plant species are in danger of extinction, including 1 in 8 birds, 1 in 4 mammals and 1 in 3 amphibian species. Since records began, 784 species have been declared extinct. From the poles to the deserts, “biodiversity loss is increasing, not slowing down,” says IUCN director-general Achim Steiner."