Choice of life partner may affect health

One's socio-economic status is an important predictor for all kinds of behavioural patterns, but also affects health status. It is known that having a higher socio-economic status, which includes income and education, relates to better health. The same holds true for people in relationships. Couples with higher socio-economic status are in better shape than those with a lower status. This may seem obvious, as two people with a high status are bound to do better than a couple with lower status. However, a new study shows that the socio-economic situation of your partner may independently influence your own health.

Epigenetics may explain sexual preferences

After homosexuality was recognized as a natural phenomenon in the scientific world, researchers have begun looking at the origins of same-sex preferences. Structural differences in the brain tell us that sexuality is something that is developed early in life, and is not something that can be learned, as religious institutes often like to exclaim. This biological background lead to the belief that there must be genes that influence homosexuality, but a group of European and American scientists shows that differences in the structure of the DNA are more suited towards explaining this phenomenon.

Study explains why girls perform better in school

Although a difference in the average intelligence level between boys and girls has never been proven, it is often said that girls perform better in school. Because there does not seem to be a biological explanation for this phenomenon, there may be other reasons for the differences between the sexes when it comes to school performance. According to a study from the University of Georgia and Columbia University, the difference may actually lie in how teachers perceive the behaviour of their young students.

Looking through the eyes of a monkey

It is not easy to decipher the behaviour of animals, because they have no way of communicating their motives and feelings to us. That is why we have to rely on rather indirect measurements to analyze their behaviour. A new method, developed by the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus literally lets us look through the eyes of animals. Their technique tracks eye movement, and thereby allows us to see what the animal sees. According to the researchers, this helps with improving behavioural studies.

Robot fish capable of interacting with live fish

Robots are getting increasingly intelligent, as we advance in our technology. Nowadays, robots are capable of performing complex tasks, and we are already finding ways to attach robot elements to our bodies, creating so-called cyborgs. It is, however, still too difficult to make robots just as intelligent, or complex, as live animals. Scientists from the University of New York have now set the first steps towards a robot model that behaves just like a fish and is capable of real interaction. Such principles ought to help us change the behaviour of groups of animals, in an effort to preserve nature.

Liking someone affects brain processes

Our brain has the capacity to mimic things we see, which speeds up various learning processes. An example is watching someone walk: while that happens, the corresponding brain patterns are activated in your brain as well, creating a pattern of activation that would also occur if you yourself would be walking. This process of copying, facilitated by so-called mirror neurons, has been well-studied and is important for a variety of mammals, including us human beings. Surprisingly, it appears that whether you like someone affects the brain processes that govern this mimicking behaviour.

A doctor's empathy is beneficial for the patient

There is variety between the performance of doctors or physicians when it comes to curing patients. And that is not just because of their ability to prescribe the right pill or send you to the right specialist. Apparently, the level of empathy a doctor has for his or her patients affects clinical outcome. It has been shown that higher empathy results in fewer complications, which obviously is beneficial for the patient.

Insight into how stereotypes arise

Around the world there are many different cultures and customs, and that has lead to a great variety of stereotypes. It describes attributes given to individuals belonging to a certain group, while such commonly held beliefs may not accurately reflect reality. Although stereotypes can be a source of comedy, they can also be used in a negative way, for example by leading to racism. Nevertheless, it is interesting to find out how such commonly held beliefs about a group of individuals arise, and scientists from the University of Aberdeen have done just that.

Sleeping closer to your children reduces testosterone

Males differ from females in many ways, but in terms of the underlying biology, testosterone plays a big role. It is frequently defined as the male hormone, and it plays a role in various processes, such as development of male features and also character attributes such as aggression. Additionally, testosterone levels have been found to go up in certain situations, such as winning a sports match. Now, scientists have shown something rather different: apparently, testosterone levels are lower for males that sleep close to their children.

Glass shape influences alcohol drinking speed

Alcohol consumption is not that bad, as long as you do not drink too much of it. And while it has been proven to be a great way to make friends, many people, especially teens, drink too much, which often leads to behavioural and health problems. Lots of scientific effort is devoted in order to reduce binge drinking and other bad alcoholic habits; an example is a brain scan method that is able to predict future heavy drinking in youngsters. Now, researchers have found that the shape of the glass that contains the beverage also influences drinking behaviour: apparently, the shape tells us something about the speed we drink its contents with.

Body temperature instructs the biological clock

Our body is full of biological clocks, although most people are only familiar with one of them: the sleep-wake cycle that lasts around 24 hours. It makes us feel tired in the evening and active during the day, and it is closely related to the patterns of sunlight we get daily. In order to instruct this biological cycle pattern, a network of proteins is needed that responds to external cues, such as the aforementioned sunlight. Scientists discovered that temperature is also an important factor governing our sleep-wake cycle.

Singing mice help us study language problems

Did you know mice can sing? A species called S. teguina from the tropical cloud forests in the mountains of Costa Rica have the ability to communicate by song, similar to the way birds do. Their chirps carry over long distances in the wild, and are often used to attract males or to display dominance. Such singing mice are unique to their kind, and are of interest to scientists wishing to learn more about how language develops in humans.

Heavy drinking by teens predicted by looking at brain

Heavy alcohol consumption by minors is an ongoing problem. According to recent studies, teenagers often have no sense when to stop drinking, because the physical effects of the alcohol are different when compared to adults. Because sometimes young people drink so much that they fall into an alcohol-induced coma, it is necessary to do something about it. Scientists from the University of California in San Diego discovered that future heavy drinking by youngsters can be predicted by scanning their brains.

A sneeze may function as a 'reboot' for the nose

Sneezing is one of those things we consider normal, despite the fact that we do not quite know what our body uses it for. The same goes for yawning, although there are some theories that involve brain temperature. Now, scientists from the University of Pennsylvania claim to have found why our bodies have developed the sneeze reflex: it appears that sneezing helps to 'reboot' the nose. Basically, it is thought to reset the nasal environment.

Smiling helps to relieve stress

A person smiling is mostly considered to be a good thing. While the gesture is not universally positive in the animal kingdom, it is definitely something that most of us human beings appreciate. A smile shows pleasure or joy, and can be quite 'contagious'. It is sometimes said that smiling makes you live longer. While that seems unlikely, scientists did recently show that a smile helps to relieve stress, indicating there may be real health benefits after all.

Termites can act as 'suicide bombers' against intruders

Suicide by blowing yourself up has become increasingly popular in the last decade, sadly. Most of us would say only certain, confused people would do such a thing, but surprisingly, such behaviour can also be found elsewhere in the animal world. An international team of researchers studied termites and found that old workers defended their lair against intruders by 'blowing' themselves up.

Women's brains age faster, possibly due to stress

Stress is not just a psychological thing: it can greatly impact physiology, because the body acts differently under stressful conditions. For example, the hormone cortisol is produced by many mammals during feelings of stress. A so far unproven hypothesis states that stress can lead to faster ageing, and scientists from the University of California in Berkely set out to investigate whether there is any truth to it. They found that the brains of women age faster, and that stress is likely increasing the pace.

Ovulation makes women dance more attractively

Evolutionary speaking, a male and female having sex is the most efficient during ovulation. During that time, an egg is released from the female ovaries, which means pregnancy is possible. It is possible that, over the course of millions of years, evolution has made women behave slightly differently during ovulation, in an 'effort' to promote sexual activity during periods of fertility. Previous studies showed that women have a different choice in men during ovulation, and a more recent publication reveals that men perceive a dancing women who is in her fertile period to be more attractive. It seems that fertility therefore coincides with a higher degree of being desired by men, something that is, of course, evolutionary favourable.

Alcohol: a great way to make friends

What alcohol does with a human being is quite well-known, and not everything it induces in terms of human behaviour is agreeable. Still, most of us like to drink a couple of alcoholic beverages in company of others. Scientists from the University of Pittsburgh have now scientifically proven that drinking alcohol together with other people does make things better. They showed that consumption makes positive things more positive, while negative emotions are toned down.

Exercise helps to prevent alzheimer's disease

There is much research going on regarding alzheimer's disease. Because it severely impacts the life of the patient and people around him or her, many studies are devoted to find out how we can prevent development of alzheimer's. A previous study revealed that diet may play an important role, but according to scientists from Kyoto University, exercise is actually more important.