Making Science More Better For You on 10/16/07

Doughnuts, beer and sex vs. sex, doughnuts and beer

Brain Imaging Shows Similarities & Differences In Thoughts Of Chimps And Humans

Science Daily — In the first study of its kind, researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, used functional brain imaging to assess resting-state brain activity in chimpanzees as a potential window into their mental world and to compare chimpanzee brain activity to that of humans.

The researchers' findings suggest chimpanzees may engage in thought processes similar to those of humans at rest as well as thought processes that are quite different. The findings are significant because they show the uniqueness of humans as well as our similarity to our closest living primate relative.

According to lead researcher Jim Rilling, PhD, "Examples of resting-state thoughts are when your mind wanders to past social interactions, to potential future social interactions and to problems you need to solve."

Working with his research team and using positron emission tomography (PET), Rilling studied eight humans and five chimpanzees. Results showed significant overlap in brain activity patterns such as high levels of activity in the medial prefrontal and medial parietal cortex, brain regions associated with reflecting on mental states of self and others. Results also showed differences with humans, including activity in regions associated with language and the analysis of meaning; these were found in humans but not chimpanzees.

The research team included Yerkes, Emory College and/or Center for Behavioral Neuroscience colleagues Sarah Barks, Todd Preuss, PhD, and Lisa Parr, PhD.

"Widespread activity in language regions of the human brain suggest humans think with words, though, of course, chimpanzees do not," says Rilling.

In choosing to image resting-state brain activity, the researchers reasoned if the pattern of brain activity in chimpanzees at rest is similar to humans, there is likely to be some similarity in cognition; conversely, they thought, if there are differences in brain activity during rest, it would imply differences in resting-state cognition.

"This study bears on important issues in comparative psychology, specifically whether chimpanzees understand other beings have minds. This study doesn't resolve the issue, but it does suggest humans and chimpanzees share brain systems involved in thinking about one's own behavior and that of others," Dr. Preuss adds.

Researchers plan to further study chimpanzee brain activity by imaging the animals while they are engaged in tasks that specifically drive mental processes the researchers hypothesize to be ongoing at rest.

Results appear in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Actually, the chimps spent more time working on their resumes.


A vegetarian from Argentina? We're not buying it.
Scientists think they have found a new species of giant plant-eating dinosaur, Futalognkosaurus dukei, that roamed the Earth some 80m years ago.

It would have measured at least 32m (105ft) in length, making it one of the biggest dinosaurs ever found, Argentine and Brazilian palaeontologists say.

The skeleton showed signs that its owner had been eaten by predators.

The excavation site in Argentina has yielded a series of specimens since the first fossils were found there in 2000.

The skeleton found in Patagonia appears to represent a previously unknown species because of the unique structure of its neck.

Its name (pronounced foo-ta-long-koh-sohr-us) derives from the Mapuche Indian words for "giant chief of the lizards" and for Duke Energy Argentina, a company which helped fund its excavation.


"This is one of the biggest [dinosaurs] in the world and one of the most complete of these giants that exist," said Jorge Calvo, director of the palaeontology centre at the National University of Comahue, Argentina.

He is lead author of a study on the dinosaur published in the peer-reviewed Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.

The dinosaur's remains are thought to have washed into a river, creating a barrier that collected the remains of other now-fossilised animals, fish and even leaves found at the site.

Since the first bones were found on the banks of Lake Barreales in the Argentine province of Neuquen in 2000, palaeontologists have dug up the dinosaur's neck, back region, hips and the first vertebra of its tail.


"It's among the biggest dinosaur finds and the most complete for a giant dinosaur," Alexander Kellner, a researcher with the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, told Reuters news agency.

"The accumulation of fish and leaf fossils, as well as other dinosaurs around the find, is just something fantastic. Leaves and dinosaurs together is a great rarity. It's like a whole lost world for us."

Researchers say the fossilised ecosystem points to a warm and humid climate in Patagonia, which had forests during the Late Cretaceous period.

The area is steppe-like now and almost bare of vegetation.

The plant-eater's skeleton came complete with fossilised leaves
Scientists think they have found a new species of giant plant-eating dinosaur, Futalognkosaurus dukei, that roamed the Earth some 80m years ago.

It would have measured at least 32m (105ft) in length, making it one of the biggest dinosaurs ever found, Argentine and Brazilian palaeontologists say.

The skeleton showed signs that its owner had been eaten by predators.

The excavation site in Argentina has yielded a series of specimens since the first fossils were found there in 2000.
That's one big breakfast burrito. Speaking of which...

Do they toss in a cigarette and a nap?
New Hardee’s burrito packs 920 calories
ST. LOUIS - The people who brought you the Monster Thickburger and the 1,100-calorie salad are at it again — this time for breakfast.

Hardee’s on Monday rolled out its new Country Breakfast Burrito — two egg omelets filled with bacon, sausage, diced ham, cheddar cheese, hash browns and sausage gravy, all wrapped inside a flour tortilla. The burrito contains 920 calories and 60 grams of fat.

Brad Haley, marketing chief for the St. Louis-based fast-food chain, said the burrito offers the sort of big breakfast item normally found in sit-down restaurants with an added advantage.

“It makes this big country breakfast portable,” he said.

In 2003 the chain introduced a line of big sandwiches, including the Monster Thickburger. The 1,420-calorie sandwich is made up of two 1/3-pound slabs of beef, four strips of bacon, three slices of cheese and mayonnaise on a buttered bun.

Even Hardees’ chicken salad — topped with onion rings and crispy chicken — has 1,100 calories and 83 grams of fat.

The chain does offer some low-calorie options, including roast beef and chicken sandwiches.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington-based advocate for nutrition and health, has called the Hardee’s line of Thickburgers “food porn.”

Haley makes no apologies.

“We don’t try to hide what these are,” he said. “When consumers go to other fast-food places they feel like they’ve got to buy two of their breakfast sandwiches or burritos to fill up. This is really designed to fill you up.”

The government’s Center for Nutritional Policy and Promotion recommends a daily caloric intake ranging from 1,600 calories for sedentary women and older adults to 2,800 calories for teenage boys and active adults. Hardee’s sees its core customers as young men ages 18 to 34, Haley said, though it expects a wider range for breakfast items.

The Country Breakfast Burrito is generally available for $2.69 by itself or $4.09 for a combo that includes hash rounds and coffee.

The official breakfast of The Brooklyn Better Science Club.



You mean once on New Year's Eve doesn't get it done?
More sex needed' to boost sperm

The more they get out, the better, the study suggests
Some men should have sex every day to maximise the chances of getting their partner pregnant, researchers say.

It is known for couples with fertility problems to abstain from sex for several days to boost sperm numbers before trying to conceive.

However, the Sydney University team, addressing the American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference, said this could mean poorer quality sperm.

One UK expert said daily sex might be better for men with damaged sperm.


This research shows that when you put people on a daily ejaculation regime, it reduces the figure for DNA damage
Professor Allan Pacey, British Fertility Society

The Australian scientists studied 42 men whose sperm had been found to be an abnormal shape when examined under the microscope.

They were told to ejaculate daily for seven days, and these samples were compared with those taken from them after three days' abstinence.

All but five of the men had less sperm damage in their daily samples compared with the post-abstention sample.


Dr Allan Pacey, the secretary of the British Fertility Society, said that while not having sex allowed the numbers of sperm to build up, there was a "trade-off" between quality and quantity.

"This research shows that when you put people on a daily ejaculation regime, it reduces the figure for DNA damage.

"If you can go from 30% to 20% that is quite a big shift and that should have some implications for fertility.

"There are men out there who think, or whose partners think, that limiting ejaculation will make them more fertile.

"I remember one couple in which the woman would only let the man ejaculate when she was in her fertile period, so the poor chap was going without for almost a month at a time."

He said that if a couple was initially trying to get pregnant, an interval of two to three days was probably advisable - whereas a man with high DNA damage and a "decent" sperm count should try more often.

"Really honey, the doctor said we should."

Headline of the day
West Side woman faces jail time for swearing at toilet
(courtesy of The Obscure Store)
It’s nice to see that the police in Scranton, PA have their priorities straight.


You mean your jeans don't fit because of your genes?
Genes May Make Some People More Motivated To Eat, Perhaps Overeat

Science Daily — Science has found one likely contributor to the way that some folks eat to live and others live to eat. Researchers at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, have found that people with genetically lower dopamine, a neurotransmitter that helps make behaviors and substances more rewarding, find food to be more reinforcing than people without that genotype. In short, they are more motivated to eat and they eat more.


Led by Leonard Epstein, PhD, a distinguished professor of pediatrics and social and preventive medicine at the university's medical school, the team brought 29 obese adults and 45 adults who were not obese into the lab for a controlled study of the relationships among genotype, motivation to eat and caloric consumption.

A scientific way to say "everyone in my family is big boned."