Season of Birth May Have Long-Term Effects on Personality, Study Suggests
The season in which babies are born can have a dramatic and persistent effect on how their biological clocks function. The new study raises an intriguing but highly speculative possibility: seasonal variations in the day/night cycle that individuals experience as their brains are developing may affect their personality. "We know that the biological clock regulates mood in humans. If an imprinting mechanism similar to the one that we found in mice operates in humans, then it could not only have an effect on a number of behavioral disorders but also have a more general effect on personality," said McMahon.
"It's important to emphasize that, even though this sounds a bit like astrology, it is not: it's seasonal biology!" McMahon added.
+++ Word for the day: Seasonal Biology, I knew its true!
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Lower Occurrence of Atopic Dermatitis in Children Whose Mothers Were Exposed to Farm Animals and Cats During Pregnancy
The researchers were able to demonstrate that women who spend their pregnancy in the proximity of farm animals and cats have children with a reduced risk of developing atopic dermatitis in their first two years of life. The research team also identified two genes in these children that are of vital importance for innate immunity and was able to link the expression of these genes to a lower likelihood of a doctor diagnosis of an allergic condition. The findings of the study are not only significant in the face of the frequency of the disease and the suffering it causes: They also support the theory that gene-environment interaction with the developing immune system influences the development of atopic dermatitis in young children.
+++ Now I know why I don’t have allergies.
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Electronic Cigarettes Are Unsafe and Pose Health Risks, Study Finds
"Contrary to the claims of the manufacturers and marketers of e-cigarettes being 'safe,' in fact, virtually nothing is known about the toxicity of the vapors generated by these e-cigarettes. Until we know any thing about the potential health risks of the toxins generated upon heating the nicotine-containing content of the e-cigarette cartridges, the 'safety' claims of the manufactureres are dubious at best.
+++ Or is this study a result of the competition between tobacco cigarettes and the e-cigarettes as they are gaining popularity?
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People With a University Degree Fear Death Less Than Those at a Lower Literacy Level, Spanish Study Finds
People with a university degree fear death less than those at a lower literacy level. In addition, fear of death is most common among women than men, which affects their children's perception of death. In fact, 76% of children that report fear of death is due to their mothers avoiding the topic. Additionally, more of these children fear early death and adopt unsuitable approaches when it comes to deal with death.
+++ Yeah, maybe because of apocalyptic images associated with death.
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Pregnant Mother's Diet Impacts Infant's Sense of Smell, Alters Brain Development
A major new study shows that a pregnant mother's diet not only sensitizes the fetus to those smells and flavors, but physically changes the brain directly impacting what the infant eats and drinks in the future.
Researchers studying mice found that the pups' sense of smell is changed by what their mothers eat, teaching them to like the flavors in her diet. At the same time, they found significant changes in the structure of the brain's olfactory glomeruli, which processes smells, because odors in the amniotic fluid affect how this system develops. "Exposure to odor or flavor in the womb elicits the preference but also shapes the brain development," said Todrank,
+++ Good, so at least there is a way to direct your child, if you want him/her to eat just fried chicken or be more inclined to eat fruits or vegetables.
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A Team With a Shared Lousy Temper Is Better at Mental Tasks
Managers who want their team to perform better should let employees express negative emotions. Teams who share bad feelings solve complicated problems better, share more information with each other and have a greater solidarity, concludes Dutch researcher Annefloor Klep.
Complaining aloud or in silence?
Klep let her test subjects see cheerful films or specifically sad ones, and looked afterwards at how her fictitious employees worked together and how successful they were in performing creative or specifically analytical tasks. Groups who were shown sad films and talked about it before they started their task, performed difficult decision-making tasks the best, also better than groups who had seen a sad movie but hadn't been allowed to discuss it. A team can therefore benefit considerably from expressing negative feelings and sharing these.
+++ Therefore, whining is good. J
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Dogs Have Bigger Brains Than Cats Because They Are More Sociable, Research Finds
Over millions of years dogs have developed bigger brains than cats because highly social species of mammals need more brain power than solitary animals, according to a study by Oxford University.
+++ Sociable = Intelligence? Nope. So I still prefer cats. Hehe.
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All topics above are excerpts from ScienceDaily.Com. Check out their website on www.sciencedaily.com.
