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Yellowstone Wolf Study Reveals How to Raise Successful Offspring

By Guest PostOctober 11, 2012Naturearmies, arms race, body weight, bridgett vonholdt, canine distemper, carnivore population, cooperation, cooperative, dan macnulty, dan stahler, data, excellent model, factor, female, female wolves, gray wolves, group behavior, key ingredient, life history, life sciences, mother, national, national park, offspring, park service, predator, princeton university, pup survival, reproduction, robert wayne, social carnivores, sociality, soldiers, state university, study, survival advantage, utah, weight, wolves, world, yellowstone, yellowstone park, young adulthood

What are the key ingredients to raising successful, self-sufficient offspring? A new life sciences study using 14 years of data on gray wolves in Yellowstone National Park indicates that cooperative group behavior and a mother’s weight are crucial.

“A female’s body weight is key in the survival of her offspring, and cooperation in the protection and feeding of young pups pays off in terms of the production of offspring,” said Robert Wayne, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA and co-author of the new research, published this week in the online edition of the Journal of Animal Ecology. (more…)

India’s Public School Students on Par with Private Students

By Guest PostOctober 11, 2012Educationamita chudgar, benefit, developing countries, developing world, Economics, education level, education researcher, education review, education system, educational administration, educational outcome, elizabeth quin, India, k 12, michigan, private school, privatization, public school, rural, state university, student, student achievement, united states, urban area

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Contrary to past research, private school students in India do not outperform their counterparts in public schools, finds a new study by a Michigan State University education researcher.

The study challenges the claim that private schools are superior – a hot issue in India and other developing countries that are expanding K-12 educational offerings. During the past decade, some 40 million children have entered India’s education system, giving rise to a growth in privately run schools. (more…)

For Some Women, Genes May Influence Pressure to Be Thin

By Guest PostOctober 5, 2012Healthalexandra burt, beauty, behavior, change, cheryl sisk, eating disorder, Environment, environmental, environmental influence, environmental trigger, genetics, ideal, internalization, jessica suisman, kelly klump, michigan, msu, psychological impact, risk factor, self perception, shannon oconnor, state university, symptom, thin, western culture, western society, women, young women

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Genetics may make some women more vulnerable to the pressure of being thin, a study led by Michigan State University researchers has found.

From size-zero models to airbrushed film stars, thinness is portrayed as equaling beauty across Western culture, and it’s an ideal often cited as a cause of eating disorder symptoms in young women. The researchers focused on the potential psychological impact of women buying into this perceived ideal of thinness, which they call thin-ideal internalization. Changes in self-perception and behavior, caused by this idealization, can lead to body dissatisfaction, a preoccupation with weight and other symptoms of eating disorders. (more…)

U.S. Manufacturers Bringing Work Home from Overseas

By Guest PostOctober 3, 2012Economyaerospace, chain, China, cultural barrier, defense, domestic soil, Economy, electronics, erosion, expert, factor, firm, global risk, India, industry, intellectual property, kenneth petersen, labor cost, language, lisa ellram, manufacturing operation, medical, michigan, oil price, overseas, political instability, problem, product quality, state university, supply, surgical supplies, time zone, tobias schoenherr, transportation cost, united states, US, wendy tate

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Increasingly, U.S. firms are moving or considering moving their manufacturing operations back to domestic soil from overseas, finds a new study co-authored by a Michigan State University supply chain expert.

Fueling the trend are rising labor costs in emerging countries, high oil prices and increasing transportation costs, global risks such as political instability and other factors, said Tobias Schoenherr.

“Going overseas is not the panacea that it was thought of just a decade or so ago,” said Schoenherr, assistant professor in MSU’s top-ranked Department of Supply Chain Management. “Companies have realized the challenges and thus are moving back to the United States.” (more…)

Reading the Classics: It’s More than Just for Fun

By Guest PostSeptember 16, 2012Health, Scienceblood flow, brain, classic novel, cognitive complexity, critical way, english, Environment, executive function, jane austen, michigan, mri machine, natalie phillips, prejudice, pride, reading, scanner, state university, total cacophony

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Reading a classic novel such as “Pride and Prejudice” can be entertaining, but, according to new research by a Michigan State University professor, it also can provide many other benefits beyond that.

Natalie Phillips, an MSU assistant professor of English, and her team placed study participants in an MRI machine and monitored their brain flow while reading the works of Jane Austen. (more…)

Relieving Plant Stress Could Eventually Help Humans Relax

By Guest PostSeptember 14, 2012Scienceanimal model, arabidopsis mutant, biologist, biotechnology, cell, cell material, coal mine, disease, Environment, federica brandizzi, human growth, humans, ire1, michigan, multifunctional protein, plant, protein, state university, stress

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Humans could learn from how plants handle stress.

Federica Brandizzi, Michigan State University plant biologist, is using a grant from the National Institutes of Health to study how plants overcome stress as they grow. These pathways used to overcome stress are a key to growth. Without them plants, and animals, would die.

“When cells grow, they undergo trauma as growth is quite stressful,” Brandizzi said. “Since it’s very likely that these pathways have much in common between humans and plants, we should be able to gain insights into how plants and animals overcome stress and continue to grow as well.” (more…)

Researchers Devise More Accurate Method for Predicting Hurricane Activity

By Guest PostSeptember 14, 2012Environmentalok choudhary, cross validation, factor, forecasting, fredrick semazzi, historical data, humidity, hurricane season, method, model, motif based, nagiza samatova, network, north atlantic, north Carolina, seasonal hurricane, state university, statistical method, temperature, united states, william hendrix, zhengzhang chen

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new method for forecasting seasonal hurricane activity that is 15 percent more accurate than previous techniques.

“This approach should give policymakers more reliable information than current state-of-the-art methods,” says Dr. Nagiza Samatova, an associate professor of computer science at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the work. “This will hopefully give them more confidence in planning for the hurricane season.” (more…)

‘Civilian Cyber-Warriors’ Not Driven By Patriotism

By Guest PostSeptember 12, 2012Politics, Technology2012, anonymous, civilian, congress, cyber attack, cyber warrior, cybercrime, cybersecurity act, domestic, download, foreign government, government, hacktivist group, internet regulation, max kilger, michigan, military, municipal, music illegally, national pride, patriotism, physical protest, politically radical, power grid, societal risk, state university, thomas holt, vulnerable resource, water system

EAST LANSING, Mich. — People who commit cyber-attacks against the government also tend to download music illegally and participate in physical protests. Surprisingly, however, they don’t appear to be acting out of some sense of national pride or patriotism.

Those are some of the findings to emerge from a Michigan State University study that for the first time begins to paint a profile of “civilian cyber-warriors,” or people who engage in attacks against domestic or foreign governments without support from military or government agencies. Cybercrimes pose a huge societal risk and have become a hot issue globally, yet little is known about the mindset behind them. (more…)

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