Category Archives: Science in the News

That Lovin’ Feeling

Posted on February 11, 2011 by | 1 comment

On Monday next week, the theme will be all about love. 

This feeling of love has been tied to more then just getting that butterfly sensation in your stomach. Love can now be described at a neurochemical level. Research  is explaining love thanks to a little chemical called dopamine.

Dopamine neurones account for less than 1% of the total neuronal population in the brain, but have great effect on its function (Mardeson, 2006). It is involved in the control of movement and the modivation for reward. Deficiency in this neurotransmitter is tied to such diseases as Parkinsons ( Mardeson, 2006).

Dopamine has also been found to be relevant to the social pairing of males and females in long and short term relationships (Curtis et al, 2006). I have friends who talk about how their relationships have changed from fun and amazing to boring and dull. It amazes me that such a transition could be due to a lack of dopamine stimulation. But fear not, this isn’t the outcome for every relationship. Discovery News has reported on a study done by Arthur Aron (a social neuroscientist at Stony Brook University in New York) and his colleagues who have found that people in long term relationships who are madly in love are not lying and that this feeling can last!

The study took 17 people who felt that they were in long term loving relationships. MRI brain-scans were done while they looked at photos of their lover and of strangers (who had similar features). Their scans were similar to those of  recently fallen in love people by having a high activity in the region of the brain which processes dopamine. There was also high activity in regions related to pair-bonding and attachment.Also when comparing scans of people in long term relationships who did not rate their feeling of love as highly as to those who do, had lower levels of activity in the dopamine processing portion of the brain. This little neurotransmitter has powerful affects on our emotions, feelings and relationships. Could a little boost in producing dopamine keep us all on clould 9?

So when you give a Valentine’s Day card this Monday, that feeling you get may not be so fleeting!

  • 1.Marsden, C. A. (2006). Dopamine: The rewarding years. British Journal of Pharmacology, 147(S1), S136-S144. doi:10.1038/sj.bjp.0706473
  • 2.Curtis, J. T., Liu, Y., Wang, Z., & Aragona, B. J. (2006). Dopamine and monogamy. Brain Research, 1126(1), 76-90. doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2006.07.126

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Fun!, General, Science in the News, Uncategorized

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Banding on Penguins Not Such a Good Idea Afterall

Posted on January 29, 2011 by | 1 comment

Climate change can be assessed through using the top predators of the Southern Oceans, the penguins. However, a recent study published on Nature have shown that the use of flipper banding may affect one specific population of King Penguins.

The 10-year study indicates that “banded birds produced 39% fewer chicks and had a survival rate 16% lower than non-banded birds“. This finding from the research team from the University of Strasbourg in France brings to the surface the effect of banding on animals, specifically the penguins in order to collect scientific data.

However, the conclusion on the tagging and bands are by no means clear, according to interview with two penguin experts. One of them, Dee Boersma, at the University of Washington stresses that not all bands are created equal, thus the effect on species may be different with different materials, shapes, sizes of the bands.

The study in the end stresses the importance of reconsidering the data collected of the effects of global warming on marine ecosystems from flipper-bands.

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Environment, Issues in Science, Science in the News

13th Zodiac Sign: Ophiuchus….?

Posted on January 28, 2011 by | 2 comments

“I will not settle for being a PISCES!! I’m so sad! I want to stay an ARIES!!”

“Eww I’m a Taurus!!! NOOOOOO!!!

          These were just a couple of the status updates that we saw all across the social web on January 14th, when news started to come out of the addition of a 13th zodiac sign. The new sign was called Ophiuchus. Now for some this may not matter, but for those people who avidly check their horoscope or even have a tattoo of their zodiac sign this was bad news because it initially meant a shift in zodiac signs for everyone.

So why do we have the new zodiac sign?

             According to the initial comments made by an astronomer by the name of Parke Kunkle from Minnesota, the Earth has been wobbling slightly on its axis due to the gravitational pulls from the Moon; thereby changing its position with relation to the Sun. According to him the change has been enough to change the dates of zodiac signs and has also made it necessary to add a 13th sign, Ophiuchus.

So is this really “new” news? Does this mean we have different horoscopes readings/signs?

        No, because according to popular astronomers such as Susan Miller as well as the more recent clarified statements made by Parke Kunkle stated that  none of this is actual new information, and according to them “astronomers have known this since 130 B.C”. Furthermore, this has no effect on our horoscope readings here in the West because Western astrologers use the Tropical zodiac where as Vedic astrologers, such as those based in India use the Sidereal zodiac. “The Tropical zodiac is based on the movement of the seasons where as the Sidereal zodiac is based on the actual positioning of the stars.” This is important because as the Earth shifts Vedic astrology changes along with it. So while this 13th sign might be important to Vedic astrologers, to us in the West nothing changes and our zodiac signs and dates stay intact.

              Hopefully this will clear up any concerns that you may have had about your sign. I also think this serves as a great reminder for all of us on the importance of always doing our research before we get caught up in all the media hoopla that surrounds us.

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Posted in Fun!, Issues in Science, Science Communication, Science in the News

What to trust in making decisions; Cognitive thinking or Sientific methods?

Posted on January 28, 2011 by | Comments Off on What to trust in making decisions; Cognitive thinking or Sientific methods?

We have all evolved to associate one thing to the other. We associate by thinking; finding and looking for meaningful patterns in our surroundings. Another reliable way to associate one thing to the other is by the use of scientific methods. The problem over  here is what to trust in  making a decision, our cognitive thinking or the scientific method?

In recent years, there has been a seeming connection between autism and MMR-vaccines. The parents of the children diagnosed of Autism, are trying to look for a causal link between this complex developmental disability and vaccines that the children had received.

In 1998, a British surgeon, Andrew Wakefield, published a paper claiming that the MMR-vaccine had a causal link to Autism. He proposed that the measles virus traveled to the children’s intestines causing intestinal damage. This damage then allowed brain damaging proteins to enter their blood stream. Dr.Wakefield used stories of 8 children who had developed symptoms of autism within a month of receiving the vaccines.

Here is the article from Wall street Journal that i came across Junk Science Isn\’t a Victimless Crime.

These findings fueled the debate over vaccine safety and lead many people to a general distrust in vaccines.

This type of study has been replicated many times around the world and each time no causal  link has been found. The following two articles from New Scientist proves that MMR-vaccine has no causal link to Autism; Autism rises Despite MMR Ban in Japan and MMR and Autism not linked, finds giant study.

I do not think Dr. Wakefield’s paper was statistically right. He based his conclusion on a very small sample size (about 12 children). He should have used  a way larger sample size as in the other two studies disproving the existence of a causal link (more than 30,000 or half a million children).

Overall, What do we believe; Is there a causal link between MMR-vaccine and Autism? In spite of knowing that the research linking MMR-vaccine to Autism has some discrepancies, we still feel that there is a link. Do not forget we have the ability to overcome our feelings in a situation and replace them with a logical and scientific reasoning that would serve us better and help us advance in life.

If further interested, here is part 1 of 10 of Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s interview on his MMR study by Dr. Mercola.

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Posted in General, Issues in Science, Science Communication, Science in the News

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