Bees go 'off-color' when they are sickly

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Bumble-bees go 'off colour' and can't remember which flowers have the most nectar when they are feeling under the weather, a new study from the University of Leicester reveals.

The behaviour of the bumbling bees is reported in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters published today (Wednesday 16 July.) It reveals that, like humans who are ill, bees are often not at their most astute and clever when they feel poorly.

Turning on hormone tap could aid osteoporosis fight

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A potential new drug that 'opens the taps' for the release of useful hormones could stimulate new bone growth – and may eventually bring relief to osteoporosis sufferers.

The exciting potential of so-called negative allosteric modulators will be put under the microscope at a special symposium at The Federation of European Pharmacological Societies (EPHAR) 2008 Congress at The University of Manchester, UK, today (Wednesday, July 16).

News tips from the Journal of Neuroscience

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1. Hodgkin¨CHuxley Model of Backpropagating Spikes Yuguo Yu, Yousheng Shu, and David A. McCormick

Caltech and UNC research finds further evidence for genetic contribution to autism

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PASADENA, Calif.--Some parents of children with autism evaluate facial expressions differently than the rest of us--and in a way that is strikingly similar to autistic patients themselves, according to new research by neuroscientist Ralph Adolphs of the California Institute of Technology and psychiatrist Joe Piven at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Statin does not appear helpful for children with learning disabilities caused by genetic disorder

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Use of simvastatin by children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a genetic disorder that can cause learning disabilities, did not result in improved cognitive function, according to a study in the July 16 issue of JAMA.

AMS July science highlights

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Following are story ideas and tips about upcoming AMS meetings, papers in our peer-reviewed journals, and other happenings in the atmospheric and related sciences community.

Scientists demonstrate means of reducing Alzheimer's-like plaques in fly brain

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Neuroscientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) are part of a collaboration that has succeeded in demonstrating that overexpression of an enzyme in the brain can reduce telltale deposits causally linked with Alzheimer's disease.

Newly described 'dragon' protein could be key to bird flu cure

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ARGONNE, Ill. (July 15, 2008) -- Scientists and researchers have taken a big step closer to a cure for the most common strain of avian influenza, or "bird flu," the potential pandemic that has claimed more than 200 lives and infected nearly 400 people in 14 countries since it was identified in 2003.

Men and women are programmed differently when it comes to temptation: McGill researchers

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Temptation may be everywhere, but it's how the different sexes react to flirtation that determines the effect it will have on their relationships. In a new study, psychologists determined men tend to look at their partners in a more negative light after meeting a single, attractive woman. On the other hand, women are likelier to work to strengthen their current relationships after meeting an available, attractive man.

The epigenetics of increasing weight through the generations

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Overweight mothers give birth to offspring who become even heavier, resulting in amplification of obesity across generations, said Baylor College of Medicine researchers in Houston who found that chemical changes in the ways genes are expressed – a phenomenon called epigenetics -- could affect successive generations of mice.