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Research shows how dog looks trigger love chemical reaction in humans

Apr 19, 2015 by Karla Fetrow Leave a Comment

Japanese scientists have figured out how locking of eyes between a dog and the owner triggers chemical reaction that strengthens the love between the two. The researchers found that a love hormone called oxytocin is released when the eyes of the dog meet those of the owner. The findings could help unlock the evolutionarily mystery that resulted in the dog and man living closely together.

In a study published in the journal Science, researchers say that a special bond exists between human and dogs they keep at home. When the dog and the human eyes meet, the action triggers the release of oxytocin, which further cement and nurture the bond between dog and the owner.

That also explains why there seems to be greater affection between dogs and humans that can only be likened to that between a parent and child.

Japanese researchers have uncovered that the more the dog and the owner lock eyes, the more of oxytocin get released, boosting their love for each other.

No special connection in wolves

The special bond between dog and the owner that emerges when they keep eyes in contact doesn’t happen with other animals, at least in the case of wolves. In a separate study to compare the relationship between other animals and man, the Japanese researchers didn’t see a surge in oxytocin nor observed mutual gaze between wolves and the humans who attend to them.

Female dogs

Researchers found that female dogs that received a boost of oxytocin injection locked eye more with their owners than male dogs.

The study found out that humans may feel love towards their dog in much the same way they feel towards human relatives.

Understanding evolution mystery

While for dog lovers the findings may just go alone way into reinforcing the affection towards the canine at home, for scientists the finding offers hope to explain some evolutionary challenges. Many scientists have struggled to understand how man and dog came to such close harmony when they belong to different evolutionary tree branches.

“Evolution is a tinkerer, and when a small subset of species came up with the novel business of forming monogamous pair-bonds, the oxytocin system got co-opted to fuel the bonding,” said Sapolsky. He added that, “When humans and dogs came up with this even stranger, more unique relationship, it looks like oxytocin got co-opted for that as well.”

Some other scientists have cited that the experiment explains the power of oxytocin, which has long been understood to play a key role in the bond of mother and infant. According to Robert M. Sapolsky, a neurobiologist at Stanford University, the influence of oxytocin goes beyond the love of mother toward infant.

NASA Researchers discover extremely distant exoplanet in Milky Way

Apr 16, 2015 by Karla Fetrow Leave a Comment

A number of exoplanets have been discovered by NASA over the decades of which most of them are said to be neighboring the Solar System. The farthest ever known exoplanets from Earth is residing 13,000 light-years away. The discovery was courtesy of NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.

Spitzer combined its observations with data collected from the Polish Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment’s Warsaw Telescope. It is expected that the 13,000 light-years from Earth will give insights into how the planets are distributed throughout the Milky Way.

The phenomenon used by Warsaw Telescope for gathering data is known as microlensing. It is recognized when a star is seen passing in front of the other. From this, there is a clearer view of more distant stars and from a vantage point.

Gravity magnifies and intensifies the light of the distant star when the star passes another. Planets orbiting the distant star are revealed but majorly as small disruptions under the telescope.

The microlensing method was able to identify around 30 exoplanets. However, the distances of the distant planets and other stars are still under a lot of uncertainty. It is not always that the microlensing method will show the distant of the stars that are far away.

However, Spitzer is able to help in all this besides being able to observe a microlensing event taking place at different times. For the newly discovered exoplanet, the event was much longer than usual. Reports have it that it lasted for 150days and Spitzer observed the event earlier than Warsaw with 20days.

The delay was enough to allow calculation of the distance to the newly found planet. Apparently, the planet’s mass could be half of that for Jupiter.

“Having only observed and explored our own solar neighborhood as it is now, it is easy to use the single lenses to carry out statistics on these planets. This is according to Sebastiano Calchi Novati of NASA’s Exoplanet Science Institute.

A further research is required to establish the connection between bacteria and autism

Mar 25, 2015 by Karla Fetrow Leave a Comment

Dallas – A newly reported case of an autistic boy whose warning signs surprisingly but dramatically improved while taking an antibiotic for strep throat is likely to be subjected to a broader research to establish the link between bacteria and autism.

John Rodakis who is the boy’s father and a medical venture capitalist says that he is very determined to understand what is happening in an effort that will not only help his son but a million numbers of other children.

The boy’s speech improved, he could make eye contact and his energy drives had greatly improved something that had not been noted earlier according to his parents.

According to Rodakis, there is no potential connection between autism and antibiotics a conclusion he made after speaking to many other parents who reported that some antibiotics relieved the autism symptoms, while others suggested that the drugs made conditions worse. On a more controversial note, some parents blamed their child’s autism diagnosis on the extended antibiotic regimens.

Into his own quest, Rodakis has approached the head of the Autism Research Program at Arkansas Children’s Hospital Richard Frye with whom he has begun a collaboration of a campaign that is expected to encourage further exploration into the integration between gut microbiome, antibiotics and autism.

“I don’t believe in the use of antibiotics to treat autism nor do I support that antibiotics helped my son”. Rodak is indicated. “However, I am more interested in seeing a more serious and tangible medical research that will unravel the mystery of why some children have an improvement when they take antibiotics while other have severe outcomes”. He further stated.

Rodakis who has a background in molecular biology is careful to explain that giving autistic children antibiotics could have negative effects on them hence this is not the answer. A further study is very necessary to ascertain the advocacy of using the antibiotics before creating a mad rush for parents who may embrace their use.

Research shows short power naps improves the brain’s memory function

Mar 25, 2015 by Karla Fetrow Leave a Comment

USA – A new research has revealed that short power naps of sleep would play a vital role in boosting your memory. The researchers indicated that the ability of hold of information would be increased in five times if one can afford a power nap for a span of one hour within the day. They added that it nap does not have be too long since you only need 45minutes which will create translate to a significant improvement in one’s memory ability.

The study was carried out on 41 volunteers who were given specific words and word pairs that they were expected to memorize and remember. Half of them were asked to a nap for one hour and the others were asked spend time watching DVDs.

Their ability to retain the information they had been asked to memorize and remember was put to test after one hour. The researchers were ex cited at the results of the two groups. The takers of the one hour nap reflected amazing performance since they had a higher memorizing ability than those who had been watching DVDs.

The researchers have indicated that when your brain is sleeping, the working ability of hippocampus; the area of the brain which mainly performs the memory functions is boosted. However, the authors of the study have indicated a need for further studies to unravel the mystery of how the brain is able to distinguish between information that should be retained and that which should be forgotten by sleep.

The study comes at a time whereby insufficient sleep is becoming a widespread issue according to Center for Disease Control and Prevention study which indicate that most American adults are sleeping for an average of 6 hours every night. This translates to 40 percent unintentionally falling asleep at their work place.

That said, getting enough sleep is of paramount importance. The body gets to rest besides being repaired from the day’s stress whether the activities undertaken were strenuous or not.

Scientists finally find answer to what’s average size of Normal Penis

Mar 4, 2015 by Charles Omedo Leave a Comment

A recently published report now has the answer to what most men, and perhaps, a few women want to know – the measurement and size of a “normal” penis. According to an extensive research done by a team of British researchers, the average size for a normal penis is 13.12 centimeters length when fully erect, and 11.66 centimeters in girth; but 9.16 centimeters in length when in a flaccid state, and 9.31 centimeters when not ready for some instant action.

The researchers examined data from over 20 previous studies that involved over 15,000 men cutting across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the United States. The participants were also aged 17 to 90 without any implants or sexual deficiencies.

According to the researchers, the purposes of this study is to “reassure the large majority of men that the size of their penis is in the normal range,” regardless of what they feel about it, and to also help condom makers manufacture condoms that will meet with action objectives without any failure rates.

The study would also help to bolster the confidence of men that their asset fall within the average size, while helping out people suffering from body dysmorphic disorder – a mental illness where sufferers believe that their body is wrongly shaped or inadequate. It is a psychological condition that leads to obsessive and anti-social behavior, depression, and suicide.

The research team maintains that while about 2.28% of the male population actually have very small penises, the same percentage applies to men with very large and generous assets.

This research also put paid to folktales about whether the size of the index finger determines the size of a man’s penis, or whether his foot size has anything to do with the length and girth of his member. The researchers find no link of these traditional beliefs with the size of a man’s endowment, although they found a very weak association of a man’s height with the size of his member.

However, critics say the result is somehow skewed because participants may only have been people who had great confidence in the size of their penis, slanting the result to their favor as against people who lack confidence in their thing.

Again, while the result of this study provides some level of assurance to men with big or average penis size, it provides a sense of inadequacy in men with very tiny apparatuses.

Study finds teens can buy E-Cigs online with 93% success despite being minors

Mar 3, 2015 by Charles Omedo Leave a Comment

NORTH CAROLINA – Of a truth, there is no federal regulation in place banning minors from purchasing E-cigarettes in the United States, but 41 prohibit the sales of e-cigs to minors online and offline, with digital mechanisms to confirm actual ages when online orders are placed – but in reality, this is never found to be the case.

A research funded by the National Cancer Institute in North Carolina recruited a group of teenagers and asked them to buy e-cigs from 98 online retailers; and despite the fact that sale of electronic cigs are banned to minors in most US states, 75 out of the total 98 orders placed were processed successfully.

Eighteen of the orders could not get through due to web-related and technical problems, and this indicates that only 5 attempted purchases were blocked out because of age verification mechanisms. Meaning that attempts by teens and minors to buy e-cigs online were always 93.7% successful.

It must be pointed that that intentionally inputting false information and lying about actual age could thwart attempts by e-cigs online retailers to detect the age of the buyer, and this might have contributed to the high number of success recorded by minors trying to buy e-cigs online; but 5 of the vendors stated they use shipping companies that verify the age of the buyer at product delivery, but none of them actually did this.

“Without strictly enforced federal regulations, online e-cigarette vendors have little motivation to decrease profits by spending the time and money it takes to properly verify customers’ age and reject underage buyers” said Dr. Rebecca S. Williams, principal investigator of the study and member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The Food and Drug Administration in 2014 proposed that e-cigarettes by filed under the same category as tobacco under federal law, meaning that selling them to minors would be prohibited, but then implementing this proposal might take another two years.

Many are not surprised at the result of this study, given that 17.1% of 12^th graders reported in a 2014 survey conducted by the University of Michigan that they used e-cigarettes within the last month previous to the survey publication.

Source: University of North Carolina

Penguins can taste only salty and sour foods, finds recent study

Feb 18, 2015 by Karla Fetrow Leave a Comment

A recent study shows that Penguins can taste only sour and salty food. It has been discovered that Penguins, like most other birds, do not have the ability to taste sweet things. The research suggested that they lost three or five basic tastes during their long evolutionary period. The journal Current Biology has published the findings of the study in details.

Scientists conducted a genetic study on the flightless birds and found out that it no longer has the potential to identify around three to five basic tastes. The U.S. and China-based researchers explained that identifying tastes is an important survival need for most animals. However, for Penguins, this may not be of significant importance. This is because they swallow their food, fishes, as a whole.

Research says that many birds lack the attribute to taste sweet things. However, in most cases, they are equipped to detect bitter and meaty or umami flavors. The umami taste is the reason for the characteristic strong and savory flavor of meat. A lack of the taste bud for this particular taste is surprising for carnivorous animals. But in the case of Penguins, it is quite explainable. These animals, though they survive on fishes, do not have the need to chew their food. Instead, they gulp it at once.

In this context, Prof Jianzhi Zhang if the U.S.-based University of Michigan and China-based, Wuhan University, commented that Penguins do not need the taste perception. However, he also expressed concern and said that it is still not understood whether these habitual traits are a reason or consequence of the taste loss in Penguins.

The research was carried out when scientists discovered that Penguins lack some taste genes as they were decoding their genomes. They studied the DNA of the birds to find out that all species of the bird lack taste receptors for bitter, sweet and umami tastes.

Source: Current Biology

Infectious Parasites and viruses spreading rapidly due to climate change

Feb 18, 2015 by Karla Fetrow Leave a Comment

Climatic changes have been causing invasive species to spread rapidly, seeking new hosts in search of a favorable climate for themselves. A recent study shows that the threat of infectious viruses, like the West Nile virus or Ebola is increasing as the temperatures of the water, and land continues to rise. Scientists have studied the patterns of spread of new pathogens from one host to other both in the tropical, and the Arctic areas. The results prove that the threat is increasing in proportion to the change of climate.

The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B has published an article recently that produces the work of two researchers. They are the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Daniel Brooks and the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service’s zoologist, Eric Hoberg. While Brooks is engaged with the University’s Laboratory of Parasitological department, Hoberg is a zoologist with the U.S. National Parasite Collection.

Brooks and Hoberg have spent the last three decades studying the Arctic and the tropical areas that have been affected by global warming. They claim that the assumption that parasites do not change hosts easily is false and needs rectification. They suggest that pathogens are genetically equipped to acquire new hosts quickly and easily. This has left the world at an increased potential threat of unknown and new pathogen attacks. Since the new hosts are unable to fight the new pathogens, they are at an increased danger as compared to their previous hosts.

Brooks explained that in Costa Rica, the parasites that infected the capuchin and spider monkeys earlier are now attacking howler monkeys. The shift of host was easy and quick for the parasites. He also cited the infections of the muskoxen, which are found in the north. The attacking lungworms were earlier known to attack caribou further south.

Brooks and Hoberg have raised the alarm to call together veterinary health communities, public health officials, and museum biologists to work collaboratively.

Source: University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Scientists name Limpet teeth the toughest biological material on earth

Feb 18, 2015 by Karla Fetrow Leave a Comment

Much to the amazement of many scientists all over the world since silk is no longer the toughest biological material on earth. Instead, the teeth of a Limpet are now supposed to be the strongest biological material on the green planet and its name is now included in the list of the strongest materials in the world, including some man made materials as well.

If leading scientists are to be believed, then the structure of Limpet’s teeth could also be copied to make structures of cars, ships, etc. and is in fact, a great discovery in the field of engineering materials as well. Since it’s pretty tough, it could also be used to make aircrafts as well. Researchers from the University of Portsmouth have also thought of pulling apart the teeth of a limpet and study them in an atomic level as well.

These findings have been published in the Royal Society’s Journal Interface. Researchers from the university also suggests that the thinness of its tightly packed mineral fibers could be the secret to their tooth’s strength. It was also reported that the limpet’s teeth also contain Goethite, which is a hard material. Dr Asa Barber from the same university spoke to the BBC about this outstanding discovery.

When asked to Dr. Barber about this outstanding discovery, he was quick to mention that spider’s web can no longer e known as the toughest biological material, even though its structural design is used in designing bullet proof vests and computer electronics as well. However, the limpet’s teeth exhibits a strength, which is potentially higher than the web.

He also says that the fibers of Goethite are just at the right size and arrangement to make it one of the toughest materials on the earth. He also foresees that such an arrangement could be potentially applied in heavy engineering products such as ships as well because of its small size and hard strength.

Source: University of Portsmouth

Researchers reveal what makes popcorn go ‘pop’ in 90-millisecond

Feb 12, 2015 by Karla Fetrow Leave a Comment

French scientists think they might have finally resolved the mystery of how popcorn pops. To study when a kernel of corn pops its stuff, the researchers used a cameras recording at an exceptional speed of 2,900 frames per second.

Emmanuel Virot, lead author and PhD student at the CNRS, told the Guardian that they leveraged this technique to solve the mystery behind the jump of popcorn. As the popcorn started exploding, we found that the phenomenon has interesting physics.

Virot was accompanied by Alexandre Ponomarenko in this experiment, and the results of the study, titled “Popcorn: critical temperature, jump and sound,” are published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

The researchers found that, when heated, popcorn bursts open and jumps and then pops all within a few hundredths of a second. The popcorn could jump from a few millimeters to several centimeters high. When the temperature reaches more than 100 degrees Celsius, the moisture content of the popcorn starts boiling.

Virot and Ponomarenko further noted that as the vaporized pressure increases, the hull of the popcorn breaks and jumps and produce the popping sound around the same time. All of this happens simultaneously as starch granules expand and turn into the spongy texture of popcorn pieces.

The research concluded that the popping sound is attributable to the release of water vapor, based on their observations of video shoots with acoustic recordings.

According to the researchers only 34% of the kernels popped at the popping temperature of 338 degrees Fahrenheit or 170 degrees Celsius, whereas the popping increased to 96% at slightly higher temperature of 356 degrees Fahrenheit or 180 degrees Celsius. So, 180 degree Celsius could be the ideal temperature to force the vapor to escape from the kernel and the starchy interior to expand into delicious popcorn.

Source: Popcorn.