Power Of Altruism Confirmed In Wikipedia Contributions:
The beauty of open-source applications is that they are continually improved and updated by those who use them and care about them. Dartmouth researchers looked at the online encyclopedia Wikipedia to determine if the anonymous, infrequent contributors, the Good Samaritans, are as reliable as the people who update constantly and have a reputation to maintain.
X-effect: Female Chromosome Confirmed A Prime Driver Of Speciation:
Researchers at the University of Rochester believe they have just confirmed a controversial theory of evolution. The X chromosome is a strikingly powerful force in the origin of new species.
Accessory Protein Determines Whether Pheromones Are Detected:
Pheromones are like the molecules you taste as you chomp on a greasy french fry: big and fatty. In research to be published in Nature*, Rockefeller University researchers reveal an unanticipated role for a new CD36-like protein to help cells detect these invisible communication signals that drive a wide range of behaviors, from recognizing a sibling to courting a mate, a finding that may explain what pheromone communication, pathogen recognition and fat taste perception all have in common.
Women More Likely Than Men To Be Affected By Acne As Adults:
While acne is oftentimes as much a part of being a teenager as dating and Friday night football games, a new study examining the prevalence of acne in adults age 20 and older confirms that a significant proportion of adults continue to be plagued by acne well beyond the teenage years. In particular, women experience acne at higher rates than their male counterparts across all age groups 20 years and older.
Sex Hormone Signature Indicates Gender Rather Than Just Chromosomes:
Help with assigning gender could one day be at hand for intersex individuals whose genital phenotypes and sex chromosomes don't match, thanks to the discovery of a stable sex hormone signature in our cells.
Bats are the most vocal mammals other than humans, and understanding how they communicate during their nocturnal outings could lead to better treatments for human speech disorders, say researchers at Texas A&M University.
Anne-Marie has more on this story.
Thanks, as always, for the link! Trying to show people that bats are our friends, one blog post at a time. ;)