- Heritable traits that appear in teen years raise risk for adult cannabis use: a new genome study (n>10,000) showed that risk for repeated cannabis use into adulthood may be attributed to the genetic effects of neuroticism, risk tolerance and depression that can appear during adolescence. http://esciencecommons.blogspot.com/2021/03/heritable-traits-that-appear-in-teen.html 7 comments science
- On average, men outperform women on a spatial reasoning task known as mental rotation. Men are not, however, born with this advantage, but gain it in mental-rotation performance during the first years of formal schooling, which grows with age, tripling in size by end of adolescence (n=30,613). https://esciencecommons.blogspot.com/2019/04/gender-gap-in-spatial-reasoning-starts.html 4 comments science
- A study finds that dogs have at least a rudimentary neural representation of meaning for words they have been taught, differentiating words they have heard before from those they have not https://esciencecommons.blogspot.com/2018/10/scientists-chase-mystery-of-how-dogs.html?m=1 33 comments linguistics
- New brain imaging study suggests that dogs have at least a rudimentary neural representation of meaning for words they have been taught, differentiating words they have heard before from those they have not. https://esciencecommons.blogspot.com/2018/10/scientists-chase-mystery-of-how-dogs.html 489 comments science
- The red berries of the Brazilian peppertree contain an extract with the power to disarm dangerous antibiotic-resistant staph bacteria, scientists have discovered. The plant is a weedy invasive species in Florida, but valued by traditional healers in the Amazon as a treatment for infections. https://esciencecommons.blogspot.com.au/2017/02/brazilian-peppertree-packs-power-to.html 9 comments science
- People who experience synesthesia also say words have certain shapes https://esciencecommons.blogspot.com/2016/09/sensory-connections-spill-over-in.html 6 comments science
- Given the choice, many dogs prefer praise from their owners over food. A study combined brain-imaging data with behavioral experiments to explore canine reward preferences. https://esciencecommons.blogspot.com/2016/08/a-dogs-dilemma-do-canines-prefer-praise.html 166 comments science
- Competition for social status may be an important driver of lower fertility in the modern world, suggests a new study. As competition becomes more focused on social climbing, people invest more in material goods and achieving social status, and that affects how many children they have. http://esciencecommons.blogspot.com/2016/03/conspicuous-consumption-may-drive.html 10 comments science
- Marks on 3.4-million-year-old bones not due to trampling, analysis confirms. Lead author of the study says that, "The best match we have for the marks, using currently available data, would still be butchery with stone tools." http://esciencecommons.blogspot.com/2015/08/marks-on-34-million-year-old-bones-not.html 3 comments science
- Dogs have a specialized region in their brains for processing faces, a new study finds, which provides the first evidence for a face-selective region in the temporal cortex of dogs. http://esciencecommons.blogspot.com/2015/08/dogs-process-faces-in-specialized-brain.html 83 comments science
- Social grooming, or helping others to stay clean and free of lice and other ecto-parasites, has long been associated with hygiene and good health in wild primates. In the process of picking out ecto-parasites, however, the groomers may be picking up internal ones, a new study finds. http://esciencecommons.blogspot.com/2015/05/for-spider-monkeys-social-grooming.html 12 comments science
- Fruit flies force their young to drink alcohol for their own good http://esciencecommons.blogspot.com/2013/02/fruit-flies-force-their-young-to-drink_21.html 3 comments science
- Ken Ono and students solve mystery on Ramanujan's mock theta functions with new applications to black holes! http://esciencecommons.blogspot.com/2012/12/math-formula-gives-new-glimpse-into.html 3 comments math
- How fear skews our spatial perception. That snake heading towards you may be further away than it appears. Fear can skew our perception of approaching objects, causing us to underestimate the distance of a threatening one, finds a study published in Current Biology. http://esciencecommons.blogspot.com/2012/10/how-fear-skews-our-spatial-perception.html 3 comments science
- Be a Number Theory Boss: Ken Ono Explains P(n) http://esciencecommons.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-dimension-to-adding-and-counting.html 2 comments math