29 October, 2014 – Episode 487 – This Week in Science

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Fairies Sing To Eggs, Who Decides Sex?, Better Beetle Babies, Cat Poo Fever, Sick Spit, Disgusting Politics, Ribozyme For Life, Beware Old Poo, Brain Changes In CFS, Orders And Morals, And Much More…

Disclaimer disclaimer disclaimer!
The following hour of programming is not for the faint of heart…
As ghoulish corpses begin grumbling in their graves
and long sleeping vampires slowly slide the coffin lids ajar…
As witches stir all manner of creepy crawly creatures into their
cauldrons
And neighborhood children across the nation prepare to
embark in an ancient pagan celebration
We will keep you safe and sound with fairies, beetle sex and
Ebola protocals…
Comfortably distracted with brain parasites, and ancient poo
viruses
And as always… just a little creeped out by what is actually
going on in the natural world of
This Week In Science… coming up next…

Fairies Sing To Eggs
Fairy Wrens are found to sing a specific song to their offspring while they are still in the egg. The offspring respond to this song, and possibly learn it in order to gain an advantage in the nest against brood parasites once they hatch.

Who Decides Sex?
In ferns, the ladies use an inactivated sex hormone called gibberelin to tell immature plants to become boys.

Better Beetle Babies
A study looking at red flour beetle’s mating habits determined that signals conferring immune system instructions for specific pathogens are likely transmitted within the sperm, while other more general immune signals arise from the seminal fluid. It is likely that the signal in the sperm is epigenetic in nature.

Cat Poo Fever
Study determines close to 21 percent of schizophrenia cases may actually be the result of Toxoplasma gondii infections, which means they are potentially treatable.

Feel sick? just spit on it
A new assay of human spit found a significant number of completely unknown RNA based molecules that are thought to be involved in cell signalling. The finding suggests that simple assays for disease markers might be possible.

Disgusting Politics
Researchers found that fMRI brain scans of people’s brains while they view disgusting images are sufficient to determine their political leanings with 95-98% accuracy.

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Ribozyme For Life
Researchers have created an enzyme in the lab for catalyzing the joining of left-handed ribonucleic acids. It is hypothesized that self-repilcating ribozymes with specific handedness would have been necessary for life to get a start.

Beware Old Poo
Scientists identified two viruses in 700-year old caribou feces. They then infected plants with the viruses confirming that viruses might survive for long periods frozen in the ice.

Brain Changes In CFS
An MRI imaging study has for the first time shown distinct differences in the brains of people with Chronic fatigue syndrome from healthy individuals.

Orders And Morals
A study suggests that being talked into succumbing to a vice actually leaves you feeling better than not engaging in the vice at all or engaging in it of your own will. Also, a separate study suggests that time of day and your personal chronotype determine how likely you are to be immoral. Does it make a difference when you are being ordered to do something immoral?

Rocket Down
An Antares rocket exploded at launch yesterday destroying over 2000 kg of supplies for the International Space Stations. However, none of the supplies were critical, so there is no danger of astronauts currently on the ISS running out of things in the immediate future.

Nurse Defies Government
Kaci Hickox says she will not submit to a 21 day quarantine.

Ebola Rising
WHO puts numbers at 10,000

California Enacts Guidelines
California residents who have had contact with Ebola-infected patients are subject to a 21 day quarantine.

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