The Fount of Useless Information
Your place for useless information that just might possibly be interesting.
Climate adaptation may be a family affair
Newborn reef fish can cope with changed water conditions if their parents have already adjusted
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/341931/title/Climate_adaptation_may_be_a_family_affair
That this effect has been observed experimentally isn’t shocking or even unexpected to me. If life were …
Pregnancy Stress Spans Generations
The stressors a female rat experiences during pregnancy can have repercussions for her granddaughters, a study shows.
http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/40716/title/Pregnancy-Stress-Spans-Generations/
Kind of scary: that something even your parents have no control over can have a dramatic impact on …
Since I blogged on autism recently I figured I would toss this one out to my reader(s):
Grandparents ‘may relay autism risk to grandchildren’
The risk of developing autism may be passed on through – and not just to – …
Early Arrival
Premature puberty among girls poses scientific puzzle
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/346459/title/Early_Arrival
I find this article quite interesting on several levels. The list of possible ‘suspects’ is quite broad (no doubt they all have some contribution, very little is black or white …
Tigers Are Becoming Nocturnal In Order To Avoid Humans
Tigers living near human occupied areas have gradually been becoming more nocturnal, according to new research just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
http://planetsave.com/2012/09/05/tigers-becoming-nocturnal-to-avoid-humans/
It is interesting …
NASA: Strange and sudden massive melt in Greenland
The abnormally warm weather is causing meltdowns even in Greenland’s highest and coldest places
http://www.salon.com/2012/07/25/nasa_strange_and_sudden_massive_melt_in_greenland/
I read this yesterday but wasn’t motivated to post at the time. To me this is just …
Food In Smaller Pieces May Help Control Weight
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/247693.php
This is a really interesting study to me. Just like the power of the placebo, humans actually have a tremendous ability to convince themselves of things (why I think our …
Earlier I talked about the human ‘microbiome’ and the hygiene hypothesis. I was discussing this with my lovely wife over the weekend (got to kill 4 hours each weekend in the car somehow) and felt that there might be …
How Exercise Can Change Your DNA
Scientists discover that physical activity leads to beneficial changes in gene activity, even after a single workout.
http://healthland.time.com/2012/03/07/how-exercise-can-change-your-dna/
More bla bla bla exercise or die horribly from preventable diseases bla bla bla. I was …
Eight-legged evolution exploits editing
RNA tweaks adapt octopuses to water temperature
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/337413/title/Eight-legged_evolution_exploits_editing
This is quite interesting because, as the author states:
…Researchers used to think that dialing down or amping up the activity of genes through DNA mutation was evolution’s