Genetic Nondiscrimination Act Becomes Law [News]
Scientific American - Posted: May 22nd, 2008, 6:00pm EDT
President Bush yesterday signed legislation into law that will bar health insurance companies or employers from denying or canceling coverage, hiking premiums or making decisions on hiring, firing and compensation based on genetic test results. [More]
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Failure to Kick Smoking Habit May Put a Drag on Social Life [News]
Scientific American - Posted: May 22nd, 2008, 4:00pm EDT
Smokers who fail to kick the habit are not only hurting their bodies but may also be missing a chance to make new friends or, in some cases, keep old ones, according to new research. [More]
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Organism Sets Record for Extreme Living Conditions [60-Second Science]
Scientific American - Posted: May 22nd, 2008, 2:58pm EDT
[The following is an exact transcript of this podcast.]
It’s hot to research life in extreme environments. There are organisms that thrive in boiling hot thermal vents and in toxic stews. These extremophiles, as they’re called, might show how life could arise on other planets. Or they may provide info that helps solve environmental crises. A newly discovered extremophile is described in the May 23rd issue of the journal Science. Based on genetic analysis, it appears to be a type of archaea--a single-celled organism similar to but distinct from bacteria.
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Dinosaur Tracks Discovered on Arabian Peninsula [News]
Scientific American - Posted: May 22nd, 2008, 2:30pm EDT
Dinosaur tracks recently discovered on the Arabian Peninsula are not only the first of their kind in the region, but they also reveal more about the herding behavior of the prehistoric beasts.
The footprints, left by a group of 11 plant-eaters that walked on all fours, along with a lone dino that stood on its hind legs, were found on a coastal mudflat in Yemen.
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Life After Extinction: Is There a Tiger in the Mouse? [News]
Scientific American - Posted: May 22nd, 2008, 1:35pm EDT
For the first time, researchers have inserted the genetic material of an extinct animal into a living one. The finding shows how lost information about species from the past can be retrieved, and also provides a glimpse into how long-gone creatures may someday get a second chance at life.
"Now that we've shown you can do this, it opens up the floodgates for all kinds of extinct species," says Andrew Pask, a fellow in zoology at the University of Melbourne in Australia and lead author of a paper published in the online journal PLoS ONE. The gene that the scientists activated in mouse fetuses contained instructions that helped produce cartilage in the rodent's developing skeleton.
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Blogging--It's Good for You [Scientific American Magazine]
Scientific American - Posted: May 22nd, 2008, 9:25am EDT
Self-medication may be the reason the blogosphere has taken off. Scientists (and writers) have long known about the therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences, thoughts and feelings. But besides serving as a stress-coping mechanism, expressive writing produces many physiological benefits. Research shows that it improves memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients, and even speeds healing after surgery. A study in the February issue of the Oncologist reports that cancer patients who engaged in expressive writing just before treatment felt markedly better, mentally and physically, as compared with patients who did not.
Scientists now hope to explore the neurological underpinnings at play, especially considering the explosion of blogs. According to Alice Flaherty, a neuroscientist at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, the placebo theory of suffering is one window through which to view blogging. As social creatures, humans have a range of pain-related behaviors, such as complaining, which acts as a “placebo for getting satisfied,” Flaherty says. Blogging about stressful experiences might work similarly.
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