We met Tom Finger from the University of Colorado Medical School at the SfN meeting in November last year. Tom’s research focuses on sensory systems, specifically taste, smell and trigeminal sensitivity, and he is a member of our Sensory Systems section.
Sarah Greene, editor-in-chief of F1000, asked Tom to explain the considerable interest at the meeting about microglia – the resident macrophage-like cells of the brain. He explained how these cells constantly survey the brain for changes in neuronal activity, dysfunction, and cell death:
In the video, Tom also describes his own lab’s research on how microglia react when the nerve fibers of the taste system have been damaged. Finding out more about the complex molecular signaling that goes on between neurons and microglia is important because this may lead to modes of controling inflammatory pain responses and chronic pain.
Tom Finger and fellow Faculty Member Sue Kinnamon co-wrote an F1000 Report last year on how taste receptors can be found not just on the tongue but also in other parts of the body, such as the stomach and airways. A version of their report, with some excellent infographics, was published in the Nov/Dec issue of The Scientist.
Read Tom’s latest evaluation of a research paper he describes as a “roadmap for future studies of interactions between taste and oral trigeminal systems in the brainstem.”
The article, entitled “Toward a new model of scientific publishing: discussion and a proposal” by Dwight Kravitz and Chris Baker of the National Institute of Mental Health at the US NIH, highlights several serious problems with the scientific publishing machine. Continue reading →
As soon as babies are born, mothers hold them close in loving cuddles. But in Western countries, that contact soon disappears. Newborn infants spend nights in the plastic boxes of maternity wards or in their own individual cots back home. And this separation might cause problems for them. Barak Morgan from the University of Cape Town has found that babies who sleep alone show signs of stress and sleep less soundly.
In a study published in November in Biological Psychiatry, Morgan used electrode pads to eavesdrop on the heartbeats of 16 two-day-old infants as they spent an hour sleeping alone in a bassinet and an hour sleeping skin-to-skin in their mothers’ embrace. He measured the variation in the gaps between the babies’ heartbeats.
Finally, good news is reported on the environmental front. “Recovery of marine animal populations and ecosystems”, a review article by Lotze et al. and published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution, has received two evaluations. John Pandolfi with his associate, Ruth Thurston, and Ferdinando Boero, all from F1000’s Ecology Faculty, provide insights regarding successes reported in oceanic health and biodiversity, and where to go from here.
The article details how 10% to 50% of populations or ecosystems in decline have shown promising recovery trends. This evidence is particularly important because it contradicts the IPSO’s (International Program on the State of the Ocean) high-profile report concluding that the general health of the World’s oceans is in a worse state than previously thought. Continue reading →
There’s a reason that fruit flies are called fruit flies, and not “beer flies”. Fruit flies like sugar: we see them hovering around our over-ripe bananas, or jostling like crazed groupies for an autograph from a rotting peach. We also know some of the molecular mechanisms underlying this sugar preference.
But what are we to make of those fruit flies hanging around the beer keg? Beer has relatively low sugar content, so what’s their deal? Maybe we should we call a clinic and stage an intervention? Not so fast. According to a new study by Zev Wisotsky, Adrianna Medina, Erica Freeman, and Anupama Dahanukar of the University of California, Riverside, those Drosophila species harboring a copy of the Gr64e gustatory receptor gene are hardwired to hit the sauce. But don’t judge: they’re not chasing the buzz, but rather the glycerol, a sugar alcohol and yeast fermentation byproduct that is also used as an additive in many food products. Continue reading →
Figshare, a tool designed to enable researchers to release all of their research outputs quickly, and in an easily citable, sharable and discoverable manner, has just launched a significantly upgraded site today. Originally launched in March 2011, Figshare has since received support from Nature’s sister company, Digital Science. The tool provides an interesting way to quickly publish all file formats, including videos and datasets that are often demoted to the supplemental materials section in current publishing models. Files that aren’t ready for publication can be stored privately for free in the cloud.
Figshare uses creative commons licensing (CC0 for the datasets; CC-BY for everything else) so others can re-use the data whilst allowing authors to maintain their ownership. Like F1000 Posters, the value for science is in the discoverability of scientific content that has been otherwise largely hidden. The movement towards efficient, open, collaborative science has been relatively slow, as with all cultural changes, and requires both ‘carrots and sticks’. UK Science Minister David Willets recently stated:
“Our starting point is a commitment by the coalition to transparency and open access to publicly funded data”
and there are now sustained and increasing efforts from governments worldwide to encourage researchers to share their research data. Continue reading →
Consider this before you jet off to a sunny island for midwinter holiday. Researchers at the University of North Carolina and NC State University have shown a link between time of day of UV exposure and the likelihood of developing skin cancer.
Contrary to what the poorly pigmented among us might expect, the link shown here is not related to greater intensity of UV rays at midday, but to our own circadian clock’s control over DNA damage repair.
Men, take heed – your lifestyle could be catching up with you in the trouser department.
A new study published in the latest issue of Fertility and Sterility warns that the Wi-Fi from your laptop could make you infertile.
The article was selected by Martine Nijs, Faculty Member in Diabetes & Endocrinology, who emphasised that this is the first study to demonstrate a clear negative influence of laptop Wi-Fi on both sperm motility and sperm DNA integrity. She warned,
Men should be cautious about using a laptop for extended periods of time not only because these computers generate heat and can increase scrotal temperature {1} that is deleterious to spermatogenesis but also because, as shown here, the active Wi-Fi connections could induce DNA damage in their spermatozoa.
Ouch.
Of course, it’s not only men whose fertility is negatively affected by modern lifestyles. A study from November last year reports that a lack of vitamin D might impact negatively upon the female reproductive system. Bryan Larsen, Faculty Member in Women’s Health, highlighted this article, saying,
The complexity of vitamin D’s actions results in part from the fact that it modulates the activity of thousands of genes, so may influence many aspects of pregnancy and parturition that may or may not involve calcium metabolism.
So just another two more things to add to the growing list of modern issues that could affect fertility. Already on the list are cigarettes, mobile phones, obesity and – bizarrely – botox.
Did you choose option A? Of course you did, because nobody would say they hate creativity – it would be like saying you hate the special olympics. But a new study, “The bias against creativity: why people desire but reject creative ideas”, by Jennifer S. Mueller (The Wharton School), Shimul Melwani (University of Pennsylvania), and Jack A. Goncalo (Cornell University) reveals a hitherto unknown ambivalence about creativity that lives under the surface, camouflaged, like a suckerfish. According to their paper, people experiencing uncertainty tend to hold an unacknowledged negative bias against creativity. Furthermore, those holding such a bias also have more difficulty recognizing a creative idea when they encounter one.
We met Stuart Tobet, member of our ‘Neural Homeostasis’ Section, at the Society of Neuroscience (SfN) meeting in November. He talked to us about his research on the development of the paraventricular nucleus, a part of the hypothalamus that is important for a lot of different homeostatic, neuroendocrine, and behavioral functions, e.g. sex behaviour, obesity, cardiovascular disorders, and mood disorders.
Faculty of 1000 presents the Naturally Selected op-ed page highlighting and linking to the latest, greatest research evaluated by F1000.
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