The ability to disengage from our own desire to cater to someone else’s wishes is thought to be a unique feature of human cognition. In a study published in the journal, Biology Letters, Prof Clayton and her colleagues challenge this assumption. Despite wanting something different to eat, male Eurasian jays can disengage from their own current desire in order to feed the female what…
ISG Associate Director, Jessica Lynch-Alfaro, recently published “Capuchin Monkey Research Priorities and Urgent Issues” in the American Journal of Primatology. Abstract: The “Capuchin research community roundtable: working together towards a comparative biology of Cebus and Sapajus” was held at the International Primatological Society Congress in Cancún, Mexico, August 2012. Goals of the roundtable were to strengthen interactions among the capuchin research…
ISG Associate Director, Jessica Lynch-Alfaro, recently published “Activity Budget, Diet, and Habitat Use in the Critically Endangered Ka’apor Capuchin Monkey (Cebus Kaapori) in Pará State, Brazil: A Preliminary Comparison to Other Capuchin Monkeys” in the American Journal of Primatology. Abstract The Ka’apor capuchin, Cebus kaapori, is perhaps the most endangered primate of the Brazilian Amazon. Endemic to a region with extreme…
Johns Hopkins researchers say they have confirmed suspicions that DNA modifications found in the blood of mice exposed to high levels of stress hormone — and showing signs of anxiety — are directly related to changes found in their brain tissues. The proof-of-concept study, reported online ahead of print in the June issue of Psychoneuroendocrinology, offers what the research team…
Laura Alsum is a graduate student in screenwriting at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. She is also the 2014 recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Student Grand Jury Prize for Screenwriting for her screenplay “Survival of the Fittest.” The Sloan Prize is awarded to screenplays that explore issues of science or technology, and includes a $30,000…
The stress of growing up in a poor and unstable household affects children as young as 9 years old on a genetic level, shortening a portion of their chromosomes that scientists say is a key indicator of aging and illness, according to a study released Monday. The researchers say their findings are the first that document this type of genetic change…