28 Jan
Biofeedback from the Zoo
Almost three percent of all Americans suffer from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). But when do you cross the line between a neurotic compulsion to check your email every five minutes and mental illness? As per new Tel Aviv University research, the best way to understand and effectively treat OCD is to look at ourselves as though we’re animals in a zoo. “We’ve developed a program that allows us to videotape people that suffer from overt compulsions and compare their behavior to classic displays of neurotic or healthy behavior from the animal kingdom, observed in the wild or in captivity,” says Prof. David Eilam from the Department of Zoology at Tel Aviv University……..
A cow with a name produces more milk than one without, researchers at Newcastle University have found. Drs Catherine Douglas and Peter Rowlinson have shown that by giving a cow a name and treating her as an individual, farmers can increase their annual milk yield by almost 500 pints. The study, published online today in the academic journal Anthrozoos, observed that on farms where each cow was called by her name the overall milk yield was higher than on farms where the cattle were herded as a group……..
Spitting cobras have an exceptional ability to spray venom into eyes of potential attackers. A newly released study published in Physiological and Biochemical Zoology reveals how these snakes maximize their chances of hitting the target. The name “spitting cobra” is a bit of a misnomer. Cobras don’t actually “spit” venom, says the study’s main author Bruce Young, director of the Anatomical Laboratory in the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. Muscle contractions squeeze the cobra’s venom gland, forcing venom to stream out of the snake’s fangs. The muscles can produce enough pressure to spray venom up to six feet……..
Living with a female mouse can extend the reproductive life of a male mouse by as much as 20 percent, as per a research studyconducted by Ralph Brinster and a team of other scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. The study was reported online today in the journal Biology of Reproduction……..
We readily understand “Hello, how are you?” whether the question is posed in a small child’s squeaky soprano or large man’s booming bass. One way our brain enables this feat is by grouping continuous series of sounds into discrete categories, such as the syllables of a conversation. Despite the central importance of this perceptual process to vocal communication, the underlying brain mechanisms remain largely unknown. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center, recording brain activity in wild swamp sparrows listening to the songs of other birds, now have identified neurons likely to underlie categorical perception of vocalizations……..
Sea otters living along the central California coast risk higher exposure to disease-causing parasites as a consequence of the food they eat and where they feed. Sea otters that eat small marine snails are at a higher risk of exposure to Toxoplasma gondii, a potentially deadly protozoal pathogen, than animals that feed exclusively on other prey, while sea otters living along the coast near San Simeon and Cambria are more at risk than sea otters that live outside this area……..
Are there really plenty of fish in the sea? University of British Columbia fisheries researcher Villy Christensen gives the first-ever estimate of total fish biomass in our oceans: Two billion tonnes. And fish play a previously unrecognized but significant role in mitigating climate change by maintaining the delicate pH balance of the oceans, as per a research studypublished in tomorrow’s edition of the journal Science, co-authored by Christensen and a team of international scientists……..
At Hogwarts, Harry Potter uses an invisibility cloak to hide from his enemies. In nature, animals like cuttlefish and chameleons use the awe-inspiring tricks of camouflage to hide from theirs. Roger Hanlon, a senior scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), has spent 35 years studying animal camouflage, and in that time he has moved beyond awe at nature’s disappearing tricks and discovered three broad classes of camouflage body patterns. He and colleagues detail these three pattern classes, and how they achieve several mechanisms of visual deceit, in this week’s issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B The issue is entirely devoted to camouflage……..
