Stony Brook, New York – A deep study into mammal physiology and genetics revealed the ancestor of all placental mammals. Placental mammals are mammals that give birth to young in much the same way as humans. The research group responsible for the study began by assembling a massive database of genetic traits from 86 different species of placental mammals, then compared the various species-specific traits in an effort to find common threads.
Salt Lake City, Utah – Evolutionary biologist Michael Shapiro of the University of Utah in Salt Lake city began studying the head crests of pigeons since 2006, originally as an effort to understand the process by which there came to exist the many species of pigeons that exist today. Shapiro worked with Chinese scientists to sequence the pigeon genome, then began studying genes to find specific areas that differ between pigeons with head crests and those without.
Michigan, USA
Sand, or silicon dioxide, makes up about 40 percent of the Earth’s crust, but converting sand into crystalline silicon is expensive and negatively affects the environment. According to Stephen Maldonado, crystalline silicon is made with some energy-intensive chemical reactions that produce large amounts of carbon dioxide and require temperatures in excess of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. But Maldonado and his team of U-M researchers recently discovered how to create silicon crystals at 180 degrees fahrenheit.
Pennsylvania, United States
Last year a team of physicists showed how to undo the “coffee-ring effect,” which occurs when drops of liquid with suspended particles dry, leaving a ring-shaped stain at the drop’s edges. The team discovered that different particles make smoother or rougher deposition profiles depending on their shape. The two deposition profiles of particular interest are “Poisson” and “Kardar-Parisi-Zhang” processes. Poisson processes arise when growth is random in space and time; the growth of one region is independent of neighboring regions. Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) occurs when growth of an individual region depends on neighboring regions. A mathematical simulation of these growth processes might be a game of Tetris, but with single square blocks with the blocks falling at random into a series of adjacent columns, forming stacks. In a Poisson process a tall stack is just as likely to be next to a short stack as another tall stack. As such, Poisson processes produce a very rough surface, with large changes in surface height from one column to the next. On the other hand KPZ processes lead to blocks sticking to adjacent columns. When they fall into a column, they do not always fall all the way to the bottom but instead can stick to adjacent columns at their highest point. Thus short columns will catch up to their tall neighbors over time, and the resulting surfaces are smoother. There will be fewer abrupt changes in height from one column to the next.
Princeton, New Jersey – Facial expressions are often considered the most precise indicator of emotion in a person, but new studies indicate that our reliance on the face to read emotion in another person is likely to lead us astray. Hillel Aviezer, neurophysicist at Jerusalem University, conducted a study of Princeton University students, which involved showing them pictures of a group of professional tennis players right after they had either won or lost a tennis match. The students were split into three groups of 15 each, and were then showed pictures of the tennis players. The first group of students saw the head-to-toe pictures of the tennis players, the second just the bodies, and the third just the faces. Each student was instructed to rate the emotions in the players from 1 to 9, with 1 being negative and 9 being positive, and 5 neutral. The third group of students, who only saw the athlete’s faces, had trouble correctly identifying the emotion of the player, while the other two groups were correct nearly every time. While this does not mean that facial expressions are not useful in determining emotions, it does indicate that body language plays a significant role in determining the mental disposition of an individual.
Cambridge, Massachusetts – Astronomers have long sought an explanation as to why planets often have axes that are tilted from their orbital plane. In the case of the Earth, its axis is 23 degrees from vertical, which causes there to be seasons. For the past 17 years, most astronomers agreed that the most plausible explanation for this phenomenon was that the disk of the planet formed far from the star, then over time migrated closer. This theory has not stood the test of time, as a few years ago astronomers discovered planets on severely tilted and even backwards orbits. The only way this extreme level of tilt could be achieved is if some other celestial body had acted on the planet in some way. Just last week an astronomer from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge postulated that the cause of these maligned orbits is not disk migration, but rather the reality that many planets are born in multi-stellar environments. This means that the planet was born amongst a group of stars, and that as the stars migrated apart, the planet’s axis tilted due to the massive gravitational pull of the multiple stars.
Rochester, New York – Hydrogen-powered cars have been a goal for scientists and engineers for years, but limitations in catalyst technology have prevented any significant advancements until now. Researchers at the University of Rochester have discovered a catalyst that generates hydrogen molecules at a very high rate, and does so for weeks on end with no decrease in production. By coating cadmium selenide nanoparticles with organic compounds, known as DHLA, they were able to achieve the goal of a robust, fast-acting catalyst. This discovery addresses the main difficulties in hydrogen generation technology, finding catalysts that are inexpensive, easily generated, and robust.
Morris, Minnesota – Obesity may have broader consequences to those who are perfectly healthy than many realize, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Minnesota. The study involved long haul truck drivers working for Schneider National, a large trucking company. The study examined a group of drivers working for the company by recording their height and weight at the beginning of their period of employment. With that information, the researchers calculated the Body Mass Index (BMI) of each driver. The BMI is used as an indicator of obesity, as it compares the overall size and weight of a person to what they would weigh if they had very little fat. By tracking the number and severity of accidents this group of drivers was involved in, the researchers were able to categorize the accident data by the BMI of each of the drivers. The results showed that those drivers that were over the obesity BMI level of 30 were much more likely to have accidents than those who were in the lower BMI group.
Norway – A team of researchers found that the marine worms known as priapulids develop their intestines in the same way as humans, fish, frogs, and starfish. The team led by Dr. Andreas Hejnoly from the Sars International Centre for Marine Molecular Biology, found that these worms even use the same genes as humans. Priapulids are a group of marine worms that live in shallow waters. The fact that different animals share a common way of forming the gut suggests origins of the human intestine are much older than previously thought. The similarity between these animals and their intestines most likely developed over 500 million years ago when the first bilaterally symmetric animals appeared on Earth. According to the researchers, priapulids are important for understanding the evolution of animals because they have experienced little change since the Cambrian Period.
Illinois, USA- New neuroscience research confirms the power of a handshake. Strangers who make a firm, friendly handshake make a better impression than those who do not. The greeting dates to ancient times when it was a way of showing one carried no weapons. The study was led by Beckman Institute researcher Florin Dolcos. The institute found that “a handshake preceding social interaction enhanced the positive impact of approach and diminished the negative impact of avoidance behavior on the evaluation of social interaction.” Furthermore, their results demonstrated increased sensitivity to approach than to avoidance behavior in the amygdala and superior temporal sulcus, which are linked to a positive evaluation of approach behavior. Additionally, the nucleus accumbens, a reward processing region, showed greater activity for handshake than for non-handshake conditions. Dolcos further highlighted in her findings that it is not just any handshake that leads to positive feelings. A firm, confident, yet friendly handshake, as is often promoted as good business practice, leads to the highest amount of positive feelings.