Archive for June 6th, 2012
Lady Liaisons: Does Cheating Give Females an Evolutionary Advantage?
June 6th, 2012 | 
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A 17-year-long [song sparrow] study upends the most common evolutionary explanation of female infidelity.
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Orbiting observatory captures Venus in transit
If you caught last night's transit of Venus, you might have seen the sun as a smooth bright ball with a hole punched in it. NASA's orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) had a much more dramatic view.
Ex-Spy Telescope May Get New Identity as a Space Investigator
Under a plan, equipment left over from a spy satellite program would be used to investigate dark energy and locate planets beyond the solar system.
Fat might be the 6th basic taste
Molecular biologists who seek to discern how many distinct taste receptors humans have are getting a boost from a growing body of evidence that supports fat as the sixth taste, after sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. Studies have shown that people can detect the presence of fat, and some people have demonstrated sensitivity to fat's presence.
Life expectancy gap narrows between whites, blacks
The difference in life expectancy between whites and blacks narrowed between 2003 and 2008, according to a report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association … The shift appears to be because fewer African Americans are dying of AIDS and heart disease, but also because more whites are dying in early and mid-adulthood from unintentional injuries – mainly poisonings, including prescription drug overdoses, researchers said.
Study Supports Freud’s Role of Guilt in Depression
The study, published June 4 in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry, is the first to provide evidence of brain mechanisms to support Sigmund Freud's belief that guilt and self-blame play a major role in depression.
The findings may explain why some people react to stress with depression rather than aggression and could lead to a new way to predict depression risk, the researchers said.
Coffee/caffeine link to less dementia risk
U.S. researchers found direct evidence that caffeine/coffee intake is associated with a reduced risk of dementia or its delayed onset.