Body

Researchers have found that levels of a regulatory protein called ATF4, and the corresponding levels of the molecules whose expression it controls, are elevated in the livers of mice exposed to multiple interventions known increase longevity.

Elevation of ATF4, at least in the liver, seems to be a shared feature of diets, drugs, genes, and developmental alterations that extend maximum lifespan.

New research indicates that people with psychopathic traits have a preference for nonromantic sexual fantasies with anonymous and uncommitted partners. The study's investigators noted that psychopathic sexual behavior is likely due to a preference for sexual activity outside a loving, committed relationship rather than only an inability to form such relationships.

As soon as lava flows from a volcano, exposure to air and wind causes it to start to cool and harden. Rather than hardening evenly, the energy exchange tends to take place primarily at the surface. The cooling causes a crust to form on the outer edges of the lava flow, insulating the molten lava within. This hardened lava shell allows a lava flow to travel much further than it would otherwise, while cracks in the lava's crust can cause it to draw up short.

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 15, 2014 – A genetic discovery out of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is leading to a highly accurate test for aggressive prostate cancer and identifies new avenues for treatment.

The analysis, published today in the American Journal of Pathology, found that prostate cancer patients who carry certain genetic mutations have a 91 percent chance of their cancer recurring. This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), American Cancer Society and University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI).

Heat shock proteins protect the molecules in all human and animal cells with factors that regulate their production and work as thermostats. In new research published Sept. 16 in the journal eLife, scientists at NYU Langone Medical Center and elsewhere report for the first time that a protein called translation elongation factor eEF1A1 orchestrates the entire process of the heart shock response. By doing so, eEF1A1 supports overall protein homeostasis inside the cell, ensuring that it functions properly under various internal and external stress conditions.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A new study by Florida State University researchers demonstrates a different way of projecting a hurricane's strength and intensity that could give the public a better idea of a storm's potential for destruction.

Vasu Misra, associate professor of meteorology and co-director of the Florida Climate Institute, and fourth-year doctoral student Michael Kozar introduce in the Monthly Weather Review of the American Meteorological Society a new statistical model that complements hurricane forecasting by showing the size of storms, not just the wind speed.

The timing of a toddler's first steps is an important developmental milestone, but a slight delay in walking is typically not a cause of concern by itself.

Now a duo of Johns Hopkins researchers has found that when walking and cognitive delays occur in concert, the combination could comprise the earliest of signals heralding a rare but devastating disorder known as Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

Working more than a 40-hour week has been linked to stress, dissatisfaction, and compromised health, and now new research on 8,350 Korean adults finds that it may also increase one's risk of developing coronary heart disease, or narrowing of the blood vessels that supply blood and oxygen to the heart.

Despite the significant reduction in the overall incidence and death rates from strokes in the United States over the past twenty years, more attention needs to be paid to specific age groups, a recent study found.

Researchers who transplanted combinations of wild, domesticated, and domesticated-wild hybridized populations of a fish species to new environments found that within 5 to 11 generations, selection could remove introduced foreign genes from wild populations that hybridized with domesticated populations.

The Evolutionary Applications study provides evidence that natural selection, over time, removes the adaptive advantages that hybridized populations experience as a result of increased genetic diversity.

As the number of U.S. casualties rose in Afghanistan, reporters filed more stories about the conflict and those articles grew increasingly negative about both the war effort and the military, according to a Penn State researcher. "When the war in Afghanistan started, the tone of the stories that reporters filed was generally neutral," said Michel Haigh, associate professor of communications.

A new study reveals that people find the smell of others with similar political opinions to be attractive, suggesting that one of the reasons why so many spouses share similar political views is because they were initially and subconsciously attracted to each other's body odor.

During the study, 146 participants rated the attractiveness of the body odor of unknown strong liberals and strong conservatives, without ever seeing the individuals whose smells they were evaluating.

A new study finds that habitual use of Facebook makes individuals susceptible to social media phishing attacks by criminals, likely because they automatically respond to requests without considering how they are connected with those sending the requests, how long they have known them, or who else is connected with them.

Predictors of habitual use of Facebook include frequent interactions with the platform, a large number of friend connections, and individuals' inability to regulate their social media consumption.

Most homeowners are willing to take part in cost-sharing that helps pay for wildfire risk mitigation on their properties, but some of those with the highest wildfire risk are the least likely to participate in those programs, according to a collaborative study by the University of Colorado Boulder and partnering institutions.

Past studies have shown that people who think their properties are vulnerable to wildfires are more open to taking actions that lower the risk, like clearing vegetation around their homes to create a defensible space.

Judges with daughters consistently vote in a more feminist fashion on gender issues than judges who have only sons, and the effect appears to be driven primarily by Republican judges.

The findings are based on data on the families of 224 judges sitting on the US Courts of Appeals, as well as nearly 1,000 gender-related cases decided by these judges.

The American Journal of Political Science study reveals that personal experiences influence how judges make decisions, and that empathy may indeed be a component in how judges decide cases.