This week on radio, Tim Thwaites is talking about slowing wind; love and pain; cane toad caviar; shining light inside your body; and more…
1. Athletes can taste victory—Just the taste of an energy-laden drink can produce a surge in muscle strength, even before the glucose hits the bloodstream, New Zealand researchers have found. Their findings raise the possibility of a taste sense which is able to detect energy density.—Australasian Science.
An Australasian Science report can be found at http://www.australasianscience.com.au/article/issue-september-2010/athletes-can-taste-victory.html
2. The winds are slowing—Increasing vegetation could be causing an average 10 per cent slowdown in wind speeds in the Northern Hemisphere close to the ground. So say French researchers who have analysed three decades of data.—Nature Geoscience
A Nature report can be found at http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101017/full/news.2010.543.html
3. Shining a light on medical treatments—New materials are boosting prospects of using light inside the body to activate drugs or monitor medical conditions such as oxygen levels in the blood. US researchers have made bendy, stretchy, biocompatible arrays of light emitting diodes (LEDs) and light detectors that can be implanted under the skin.—Nature Materials
A Nature report can be found at http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101017/full/news.2010.545.html
4. Love conquers all—even pain Maybe love is a drug after all. US researchers have found that students in love can stand more pain than normal when thinking about the object of their affections.—Public Library of Science, ONE
A New Scientist report can be found at http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19593-being-in-love-eases-the-pain.html
5. The caveman’s complex kitchen—Once thought of as near total carnivores, it turns out that humans ate ground flour 20,000 years before the dawn of agriculture. Italian researchers have recovered residues of flour from grinding stones 30,000 years old in Italy, Russia and the Czech Republic.—Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
A Nature report can be found at http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101018/full/news.2010.549.html
6. Cane toad tadpoles relish cane toad caviar—A new study by Sydney zoologists has found that cane toad larvae are cannibals, and actively seek out toad eggs to eat. In fact, something about the eggs is so attractive that they can be used as an effective bait in traps. —Oikos
A New Scientist report can be found at http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19589-cane-toad-tadpoles-relish-cannibal-caviar.html
7. Moving country can affect male libido—Living in different countries affects male testosterone levels, US researchers have found, and that in turn could affect libido, susceptibility to age-related health problems and prostate cancer. At least some of the change seems to be associated with environment, and possibly diet.—Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism
A New Scientist report can be found at http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827824.900-men-beware-moving-country-could-affect-your-libido.html
8. T.rex was a cannibal—The most famous dinosaur of them all seems to have been a cannibal, according to American researchers. They have found large fossil bones with tooth marks that could only have been made by another big predatory dinosaur, from an area where T.rex was the only big predator around.—Public Library of Science, ONE
A New Scientist report can be found at http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19595-t-rex-was-a-cannibal.html
9. Sticky weather makes for sticky geckos—For many, bad hair days happen when it is humid. For geckos, it’s the opposite. Humidity makes the tiny hairs on their feet stick more tightly, and bolsters their climbing skills.—Experimental Biology
A Science report can be found at http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/10/scienceshot-sticky-weather-makes.html