http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (PhysOrg.com) -- The first analysis of immunity-related genes in a solitary bee has been conducted by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and cooperators. http://www.physorg.com/news178792830.html Biology Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:50:01 EST news178792830 The concept of altruism has long been debated in philosophical circles, and more recently, evolutionary biologists have joined the debate. From the perspective of natural selection, altruism may have evolved because any action that improves the likelihood of a relative's survival and reproduction increases the chance of an individual's DNA being passed on. Social behavior, kin recognition, and altruism are well known in the animal kingdom; however, although plants have the ability to sense and respond to other plants, their ability to recognize kin and act altruistically has been the subject of few studies. http://www.physorg.com/news177155189.html Biology Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:46:51 EST news177155189 (PhysOrg.com) -- Experiments led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have demonstrated that normally friendly ants can turn against each other by exploiting the chemical cues they use to distinguish colony-mates from rivals. http://www.physorg.com/news175894442.html Biology Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:34:55 EST news175894442 (PhysOrg.com) -- Two Arizona State University researchers, Robert Page and Gro Amdam, are the subject of a feature article in the Oct. 25 issue of the journal Science, which traces their collaboration, discoveries and extensive published works on the reproductive traits and social life history of honey bees. http://www.physorg.com/news175789607.html Biology Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:40:01 EST news175789607 Contestants on TV shows like Top Chef and Hell's Kitchen know that their meat-cutting skills will be scrutinized by a panel of unforgiving judges. Now, new archaeological evidence is getting the same scrutiny by scientists at Tel Aviv University and the University of Arizona. http://www.physorg.com/news174740646.html Other Sciences Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:05:00 EST news174740646 (PhysOrg.com) -- Socially learned behavior and belief are much better candidates than genetics to explain the self-sacrificing behavior we see among strangers in societies, from soldiers to blood donors to those who contribute to food banks. This is the conclusion of a study by Adrian V. Bell and colleagues from the University of California Davis in the Oct. 12 edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://www.physorg.com/news174580688.html Other Sciences Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:38:44 EST news174580688 Since the introduction of statins to treat high cholesterol, the decline in lipid levels experienced by the wealthy has been double that experienced by the poor. While statins are highly effective in reducing cholesterol and improving heart health, their use may have contributed to expanding social disparities in the treatment of cardiovascular disease, according to research by Virginia W. Chang, MD, PhD, of the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of Pennsylvania, and Diane S. Lauderdale, PhD, of the University of Chicago, published in the September issue of Journal of Health and Social Behavior. http://www.physorg.com/news173019898.html Medicine & Health Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:20:01 EST news173019898 The smell of recent death or injury that repels living relatives of insects has been identified as a truly ancient signal that functions to avoid disease or predators, biologists have discovered. http://www.physorg.com/news171892983.html Biology Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:03:32 EST news171892983 Researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, have demonstrated that prairie voles may be a useful model in understanding the neurochemistry of social behavior. By influencing early social experience in prairie voles, researchers hope to gain greater insight into what aspects of early social experience drive diversity in adult social behavior. The study is currently available online in a special edition of Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience that is focused on the long-term impact of early life experiences. http://www.physorg.com/news170946966.html Medicine & Health Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:16:55 EST news170946966 In a finding that sheds new light on the neural mechanisms involved in social behavior, neuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology have pinpointed the brain structure responsible for our sense of personal space. http://www.physorg.com/news170862623.html Medicine & Health Sun, 30 Aug 2009 14:51:08 EST news170862623 A new study reveals that changes in gene expression in the brain of the honey bee in response to an immediate threat have much in common with more long-term and even evolutionary differences in honey-bee aggression. The findings lend support to the idea that nurture (an organism's environment) may ultimately influence nature (its genetic inheritance). http://www.physorg.com/news169743053.html Biology Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:51:36 EST news169743053 A University of Arizona anthropologist has discovered that humans living at a Paleolithic cave site in central Israel between 400,000 and 250,000 years ago were as successful at big-game hunting as were later stone-age hunters at the site, but that the earlier humans shared meat differently. http://www.physorg.com/news169373811.html Other Sciences Thu, 13 Aug 2009 09:17:58 EST news169373811 (PhysOrg.com) -- The death of a spouse has a much more profound effect on weight change than marital status, according to new research by sociologists at The University of Texas at Austin. http://www.physorg.com/news169150211.html Medicine & Health Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:00:05 EST news169150211 Divorce and widowhood have a lingering, detrimental impact on health, even after a person remarries, research at the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins University shows. http://www.physorg.com/news167920195.html Medicine & Health Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:40:02 EST news167920195 An observer feels more empathy for someone in pain when that person is in the same social group, according to new research in the July 1 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The study shows that perceiving others in pain activates a part of the brain associated with empathy and emotion more if the observer and the observed are the same race. The findings may show that unconscious prejudices against outside groups exist at a basic level. http://www.physorg.com/news165600656.html Medicine & Health Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:11:13 EST news165600656 (PhysOrg.com) -- Why does dishing with a girlfriend do wonders for a woman's mood? http://www.physorg.com/news163178026.html Medicine & Health Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:14:14 EST news163178026 (AP) -- Maybe it's neat, childish, lucky, ambitious and insane - just depends on what traits gamers choose for their neighborhood of virtual playthings in "The Sims 3," Electronic Arts and Maxis' popular life-simulating game for the PC and Mac. http://www.physorg.com/news162199100.html Technology Fri, 22 May 2009 08:18:51 EST news162199100 Whether a monkey is looking to the left or merely watching another monkey looking that way, the same neurons in his brain are firing, according to researchers at the Duke University Medical Center. http://www.physorg.com/news161886058.html Medicine & Health Mon, 18 May 2009 17:21:22 EST news161886058 (PhysOrg.com) -- Ants colonize. Fish shoal. Flamingos flock and caribou herd. Earth is populated by inherently social beings. Even lowly worms seek out the benefits of companionship. New research at The Rockefeller University has dissected the social proclivities of a model worm, identifying a single type of neuron - RMG - that `decides` whether these worms will mingle with their fellows or keep to themselves. http://www.physorg.com/news158593386.html Medicine & Health Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:43:47 EST news158593386 Scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have trained computers to automatically analyze aggression and courtship in fruit flies, opening the way for researchers to perform large-scale, high-throughput screens for genes that control these innate behaviors. The program allows computers to examine half an hour of video footage of pairs of interacting flies in what is almost real time; characterizing the behavior of a new line of flies "by hand" might take a biologist more than 100 hours. http://www.physorg.com/news158415978.html Biology Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:26:47 EST news158415978 Until now, Triceratops was thought to be unusual among its ceratopsid relatives. While many ceratopsids -a common group of herbivorous dinosaurs that lived toward the end of the Cretaceous -have been found in enormous bonebed deposits of multiple individuals, all known Triceratops (over 50 in total) fossils have been solitary individuals. But a new discovery of a jumble of at least three juveniles the badlands of the north-central United States suggests that the three-horned dinosaurs were not only social animals, but may have exhibited unique gregarious groupings of juveniles. http://www.physorg.com/news157098800.html Other Sciences Tue, 24 Mar 2009 07:33:51 EST news157098800 (PhysOrg.com) -- The age-old question of whether pride is the seventh sin or an adaptive virtue has been answered by two Northeastern University scientists. Contrary to popular belief, the researchers found that pride not only leads individuals to take on leadership roles in teams, but also fosters admiration, as opposed to scorn, from teammates. http://www.physorg.com/news155399212.html Medicine & Health Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:27:23 EST news155399212 (PhysOrg.com) -- Raising a child with a disability can cause more daily stress and long-range health problems than parenting a child without disabilities, according to a new study that looked at a clinical measure of stress along with parents` survey responses. http://www.physorg.com/news154110425.html Medicine & Health Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:29:40 EST news154110425 (PhysOrg.com) -- `What you see is what you get` often is the mantra in the highly competitive life of birds, as they use brilliant displays of color to woo females for mating. Now researchers are finding that carotenoids - the compounds responsible for amping up red, orange and yellow colors of birds - also may play a role in color perception and in a bird`s ability to reproduce, making it a cornerstone in birds` vitality. http://www.physorg.com/news153759202.html Biology Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:53:57 EST news153759202 Unraveling the genetics of social behavior and cognitive abilities, researchers at the University of Utah and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have traced the role of two genes,GTF2I and GTF2IRD, in a rare genetic disorder known as Williams Syndrome. http://www.physorg.com/news153577714.html Medicine & Health Wed, 11 Feb 2009 12:30:41 EST news153577714 Like Russell Crowe's character in A Beautiful Mind, life is often difficult for the 2.4 million Americans with schizophrenia. A late or incorrect diagnosis and the lack of effective treatment options can destroy a sufferer's quality of life. http://www.physorg.com/news152975145.html Medicine & Health Wed, 04 Feb 2009 13:06:21 EST news152975145 An ingenious social behavior that mobilizes yeast cells to cooperate in protecting each other from stress, antibiotics, and other dangers is driven by the activity of a single gene, scientists report this week in the journal Cell. The cooperating cells use the same gene, dubbed FLO1, as a marker for detecting "cheaters," cells that try to profit from the group's protection without investing in the group's welfare. http://www.physorg.com/news145798754.html Biology Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:39:14 EST news145798754 Why is your mate's rendition of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get it On" cute and sexy sometimes and so annoying at other times? A songbird study conducted by Emory University sheds new light on this question, showing that a change in hormone levels may alter the way we perceive social cues by altering a system of brain nuclei, common to all vertebrates, called the "social behavior network." http://www.physorg.com/news141318654.html Medicine & Health Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:10:54 EST news141318654 We all know that people can be influenced in complex ways by their peers. But two new studies in the September 11th issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, reveal that the same can also be said of fruit flies. http://www.physorg.com/news140352716.html Biology Thu, 11 Sep 2008 11:51:56 EST news140352716 (PhysOrg.com) -- Strange things are happening in the lowland tropical forests of Panama and Costa Rica. A tiny parasitic fly is affecting the social behavior of a nocturnal bee, helping to determine which individuals become queens and which become workers. http://www.physorg.com/news136467569.html Biology Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:39:29 EST news136467569