Polygamous baboon fathers get more grandchildren if they spend a little time with their children during their juvenile years, according to new research. The findings, in well-studied social groupings of yellow baboons living at the foot of Africa's Mt. Kilimanjaro, were unexpected in "multi-male" animal societies where both genders have multiple partners and mature males were thought to focus their energies almost solely on mating.
Researchers have demonstrated that in mice, the use of barbells may be as important to losing weight and improving health as the use of running shoes. The discovery builds upon the fact that skeletal muscle consists of two types of fibers. Endurance training such as running increases the amount of type I muscle fibers, while resistance training such as weightlifting increases type II muscle fibers. Using a mouse genetic model, researchers demonstrated that an increase in type II muscle mass can reduce body fat which in turn reduces overall body mass and improves metabolic parameters such as insulin resistance. These studies indicate that weight bearing exercise, in addition to endurance training, may benefit overweight people.
What are the lifetime medical costs associated with obesity? Researchers found that the group of healthy, never-smoking individuals had the highest lifetime healthcare costs, because they lived the longest and developed diseases associated with aging; healthcare costs were lowest for the smokers, and intermediate for the group of obese never-smokers.
Crocodiles are among nature's most fearsome predators. When the opportunity arises, crocodilians will gorge, voluntarily consuming meals weighing 23% of their own body weight. This is analogous to a 130-pound woman eating, at one sitting, a hamburger weighing 30 pounds. New research on American alligators' circulation systems finds that crocodilians bypass their lungs to improve digestion.
Could a simple vitamin A and zinc supplement help protect young children from malaria? A randomized double blind trial would suggest the answer is yes. Vitamin A and zinc play a critical role in the normal function of the immune system, and may even play a synergistic role for reducing the risk of infection including malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum.
A new environmentally friendly technology may revolutionize the production of the world's most commonly produced organic compound, ethylene. Ethylene has a vast number of uses in all aspects of industry. Farmers and horticulturalists use it as a plant hormone to promote flowering and ripening, especially in bananas. Doctors and surgeons have also long used ethylene as an anesthetic, while ethylene-based polymers can be found in everything from freezer bags to fiberglass.
While our relationships with children and best friends tend to become less negative as we age, we're more likely to see our spouses as irritating and demanding. Viewing our spouses more negatively over time may not be all bad, according to the researchers. In fact, it might even be, well, positive. “As we age, and become closer and more comfortable with one another, it could be that we’re more able to express ourselves to each other. In other words, it’s possible that negativity is a normal aspect of close relationships that include a great deal of daily contact.”
Compelled to mate, yet firmly attached to the rock, barnacles have evolved the longest penis of any animal for their size -- up to 8 times their body length -- so they can find and fertilize distant neighbors. Biologists have shown that barnacles appear to have acquired the capacity to change the size and shape of their penises to closely match local wave conditions.
The galaxy NGC 1132 is most likely a cosmic fossil -- the aftermath of an enormous multi-galactic pile-up, where the carnage of collision after collision has built up a brilliant but fuzzy giant elliptical galaxy far outshining typical galaxies. In visible light NGC 1132 appears as a single, isolated, giant elliptical galaxy, but this is only the tip of the iceberg.
In experiments with rats, researchers have identified the change in brain circuitry that drives development of a compulsion to seek drugs, even when that compulsion is self-destructive. The researchers demonstrated the function of the circuitry by selectively switching off drug-seeking in the animals. They said their findings show the key role of the brain region, known as the striatum, which is a region activated by reward.
The huge increase in growth rates of broiler chickens means more than a quarter of these intensively-reared birds have difficulty walking, according to a comprehensive survey. The study identifies a range of management changes that could reduce leg health problems but warns that implementation of these changes would be likely to reduce growth rate and production. The study found that at an average age of 40 days, over 27.6 per cent of birds showed poor locomotion and 3.3 per cent were almost unable to walk. The high prevalence of poor locomotion occurred despite culling policies designed to remove severely lame birds from flocks.
A new model may help unravel the cause of fibrous, noncancerous nerve tumors called neurofibromas, which can lead to disfigurement and in rare cases death by compressing vital organs. Researchers said their findings also provide a way to test therapies that could eventually help patients with limited options for treating the disease -- Neurofibromatosis type 1.
In a significant step towards improving the design of future catalysts and catalytic reactors, especially for microfluidic "lab-on-a-chip" devices, researchers have successfully applied magnetic resonance imaging to the study of gas-phase reactions on the microscale.
The highest cost in rheumatoid arthritis results from patients having to leave the workforce early due to the disease. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the most common autoimmune diseases and a leading cause of chronic pain affecting over three million people in Europe alone.
