Public Release: 22-Dec-2006
Environment and Behavior
'Mindless autopilot' drives people to underestimate food decisions
People estimate that they make about 15 food- and beverage-related decisions each day. But the truth is, they make more than 15 times that -- more than 200 such decisions, finds Cornell researchers Brian Wansink and Jeffery Sobal.
Contact: Press Relations Office
pressoffice@cornell.edu
607-255-6074
Cornell University News Service
Public Release: 25-Dec-2006
Neurology
Gene tied to longevity also preserves ability to think clearly
A gene variant linked to living a very long life -- to 90 and beyond -- also serves to help very old people think clearly and retain their memories, according to new research by scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.
National Institutes of Health
Contact: Karen Gardner
kgardner@aecom.yu.edu
718-430-3101
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Public Release: 25-Dec-2006
PLoS Biology
Complexity constrains evolution of human brain genes
Despite the explosive growth in size and complexity of the human brain, the pace of evolutionary change among the thousands of genes expressed in brain tissue has actually slowed since the split, millions of years ago, between human and chimpanzee.
Academia Sinica and the National Sciences Council of Taiwan, Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan, National Institutes of Health
Contact: John Easton
john.easton@uchospitals.edu
773-702-6241
University of Chicago Medical Center
Public Release: 26-Dec-2006
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
New study links western wildfires to Atlantic Ocean surface temperatures
Western US wildfires are likely to increase in the coming decades, according to a new tree-ring study led by the University of Comahue in Argentina and involving the University of Colorado at Boulder that links episodic fire outbreaks in the past five centuries with periods of warming sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic.
US Forest Service, US Geological Service Biological Resources Division, National Science Foundation
Contact: Thomas Veblen
Thomas.Veblen@colorado.edu
303-492-8528
University of Colorado at Boulder
Public Release: 28-Dec-2006
Cell
How many genes does it take to learn? Lessons from sea slugs
At any given time within just a single brain cell of sea slug known as Aplysia, more than 10,000 genes are active, according to scientists writing in Cell. Researchers also analyzed 146 human genes implicated in 168 neurological disorders, including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, and genes controlling aging and stem-cell differentiation. They found 104 counterpart genes in Aplysia, suggesting it will be a valuable tool for developing treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, National Science Foundation, NIH Center of Excellence in Genomic Science, McKnight Brain Research Foundations, UF Opportunity Funds
Contact: John D. Pastor
jdpastor@ufl.edu
352-273-5815
University of Florida
Public Release: 28-Dec-2006
Endocrinology
Sex ends as seasons shift and kisspeptin levels plummet
A hormone implicated in the onset of human puberty also appears to control reproductive activity in seasonally breeding rodents, report Indiana University Bloomington and University of California at Berkeley scientists in the March 2007 issue of Endocrinology. The paper is now accessible online via the journal's rapid electronic publication service.
Contact: David Bricker
brickerd@indiana.edu
812-856-9035
Indiana University
Public Release: 28-Dec-2006
Chemical Communications
Technique quickly identifies bacteria for food safety, health care and homeland security
Researchers at Purdue University have used a new technique to rapidly detect and precisely identify bacteria, including dangerous E. coli, without time-consuming treatments usually required.
National Science Foundation, US Department of Agriculture
Contact: Emil Venere
venere@purdue.edu
765-494-4709
Purdue University
Public Release: 28-Dec-2006
British Medical Journal
Mayo Clinic collaboration mining of ancient herbal text leads to potential new anti-bacterial drug
A unique Mayo Clinic collaboration has revived the healing wisdom of Pacific Island cultures by testing a therapeutic plant extract described in a 17th century Dutch herbal text for its anti-bacterial properties.
Contact: Carol Lammers
newsbureau@mayo.edu
507-284-5005
Mayo Clinic
Public Release: 28-Dec-2006
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
A transplant in time
In hemophilia, a mutated gene prevents the production of a blood-clotting protein. Treatments for hemophilia and other genetic diseases may consist of risky blood transfusions or expensive enzyme replacement therapy. But what if the body could be induced to begin producing these proteins by transplanting healthy tissue with the abilities that are lacking? The Weizmann Institutes's Immunology Department showed how such a transplant might be made feasible.
Contact: Jennifer Manning
jennifer@acwis.org
212-895-7952
American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science
Public Release: 28-Dec-2006
Environmental Research Letters
Dust to gust
More than half of the dust needed for fertilizing the Brazilian rainforest is supplied by a valley in northern Chad, according to an international research team headed by Dr. Ilan Koren of the Institutes's Environmental Sciences and Energy Research Department. In a study published recently in Environmental Research Letters, the scientists have explained how the Bodélé valley's unique features might be responsible for making it such a major dust provider.
Contact: Jennifer Manning
jennifer@acwis.org
212-895-7952
American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science
In Study, Alcohol Seems to Help in Head Trauma
By ERIC NAGOURNEY
Few if any doctors would argue that excessive drinking is not an important public health threat. When it comes to serious head injuries, people who have drunk moderate amounts of alcohol seem to be at less risk of dying than people who are sober.
Prehistoric Deception
By HENRY FOUNTAIN
A fossil insect shows that this form of deception, called cryptic morphology, evolved tens of millions of years ago.
Self-Exams Are Passe? Believers Beg to Differ
By SUSAN FERRARO
Breast self-exam, the monthly hunt for changes that might mean cancer, is about as pleasant as flossing, but scarier. Compliance is low, and studies show that those who do it have the anxiety of more unnecessary biopsies than those who don't. When the American Cancer Society announced in 2003 that breast self-exam was optional, it should have been welcome news. Yet the new policy has met resistance from women who believe self-exams save lives.

The Consumer
Sniffling, Sneezing and Turning Cubicles Into Sick Bays
By MICHAEL MASON
Ailing employees are dragging themselves to work in increasing numbers, according to several studies. So widespread is the phenomenon that experts have invented a name, calling it presenteeism, the opposite of absenteeism.
Devious Butterflies, Full-Throated Frogs and Other Liars
By CARL ZIMMER
Natural selection may favor animals that use deceptive tactics, especially when a croak is bigger than its frog.
Japan, Home of the Cute and Inbred Dog
By MARTIN FACKLER
Rampant inbreeding has given Japanese dogs some of the highest rates of genetic defects in the world.
F.D.A. Tentatively Declares Food From Cloned Animals to Be Safe
By ANDREW POLLACK and ANDREW MARTIN
The finding could make the U.S. the first country to allow products from cloned livestock to be sold in grocery stores.
The wines and herbs in the land of Pan
A survey of ancient Greek sources reveals the surprising properties of certain wines that continue to provoke the curiosity of scholars today
By Stavroula Kourakou

Researchers: Warming May Change Amazon
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Global warming could spell the end of the world's largest remaining tropical rain forest, transforming the Amazon into a grassy savanna before end of the century, researchers said Friday.