Tag Archives: human

Insect Glands May Illuminate Human Fertilization Process

Baltimore, MD — Insect glands are responsible for producing a host of secretions that allow bees to sting and ants to lay down trails to and from their nests. New research from Carnegie scientists focuses on secretions from glands in the reproductive tract that help sperm survive and guide the sperm on the trip to fertilize an egg. The gene that controls the development of these glands in fruit flies provides important information about gland development in all insects, as well as potential clues to similar human reproductive glands. Their work is published this month in Current Biology.

When a female fruit fly receives sperm from a male fruit fly, lubricating secretions in her reproductive tract activate the sperm, store it, and guide it to fertilization. Without the aid of these secretions, sperm would not make it to the eggs. Carnegie’s Allan Spradling and Jianjun Sun demonstrated that the gene in charge of regulating the development of fruit fly secretion glands is called Hr39. It encodes a steroid receptor protein. (more…)

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‘Runner’s High’ Played a Role in Human Evolution

Aerobic exercise triggers a reward system in the body of long-distance running creatures like humans and dogs, but not ferrets, a study led by UA anthropologist David Raichlen suggests.

In the last century, something unexpected happened: Humans became sedentary. We traded in our active lifestyles for a more immobile existence.

But these were not the conditions under which we evolved – our hunter-gatherer predecessors were long-distance endurance athletes. (more…)

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Exploring the Ocean in Our Brains with Jaron Lanier

*Jaron Lanier has spent decades thinking about technology and the ways we use – and misuse – it. He also has been thinking long and hard about using avatars to access the untapped potential of our brains.*

REDMOND, Wash. – Nov. 9, 2011 – One evening last November, Jaron Lanier queued up outside a video game store in California and counted down the minutes until he could buy Kinect for Xbox 360. Lanier – a technologist, computer scientist, composer, and one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People of 2010 – was just as excited to get his hands on Microsoft’s motion-sensing camera as the other gamers in line, most of whom he quickly realized were half his age. He was only slightly embarrassed by the observation.

“As a grownup and as a father I can’t believe I did that,” said Lanier, a partner architect for Microsoft Research. “But I was just so amazed it was really happening.” (more…)

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Human Prejudice Has Ancient Evolutionary Roots

The tendency to perceive others as “us versus them” isn’t exclusively human but appears to be shared by our primate cousins, a new study led by Yale researchers has found. 

In a series of ingenious experiments, Yale researchers led by psychologist Laurie Santos showed that monkeys treat individuals from outside their groups with the same suspicion and dislike as their human cousins tend to treat outsiders, suggesting that the roots of human intergroup conflict may be evolutionarily quite ancient.  (more…)

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Scientists to Spy on People’s Dreams and Thoughts

Image credit: Wikipedia

Until now it was believed that a person is unable to read the thoughts of fellow human beings. “Spying” on the dreams of another person appeared unrealistic. However, recent research by American scientists revealed that both these things are quite possible. Overly complex devices and paranormal abilities are not required to do so.

Recently, a respectable scientific journal Nature published an article that ten years ago would have been considered a fiction and would not have been publication at all. A group of American researchers led by Dr. Moran Cerf claims to have found a way to electronically records and decipher human dreams and thoughts. No complicated devices are required. The entire transcript can successfully go through an electroencephalograph – a device that for decades has been used by neuroscientists around the world. (more…)

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