A Computer that Recognizes Attractiveness in Women
“Beauty,” goes the old saying, “is in the eye of the beholder.” But does the beholder have to be human?
Not necessarily, say scientists at Tel Aviv University. Amit Kagian, an M.Sc. graduate from the TAU School of Computer Sciences, has successfully “taught” a computer how to interpret attractiveness in women. Kagian published the findings in the scientific journal Vision Research. Co-authors on the work were Kagian’s supervisors Prof. Eytan Ruppin and Prof. Gideon Dror. The study combined the worlds of computer programming and psychology, an example of the multidisciplinary research for which TAU is world-renowned.
Popularity: 16% [?]
April 5, 2008 | Filed Under Technology | Leave a CommentBinge Drinkers are Responsible for Most Alcohol-Impaired Driving
* Self-reported alcohol-impaired (AI) driving has increased in the United States during the last decade.
* New findings show that most AI driving is due to binge drinkers rather than heavy or alcohol-dependent drinkers.
* Researchers say effective strategies must address both excessive drinking as well as impaired driving.
Motor-vehicle crashes that are alcohol-related in nature kill approximately 17,000 Americans per year and, in the year 2000, cost more than $51 billion in related damages. A new study of the drinking patterns of alcohol-impaired (AI) drivers in the United States has found that most AI driving is performed by binge drinkers.
Popularity: 13% [?]
April 4, 2008 | Filed Under Humans | Leave a CommentHarmful Algae Taking Advantage of Global Warming
You know that green scum creeping across the surface of your local public water reservoir” Or maybe it’s choking out a favorite fishing spot or livestock watering hole. It’s probably cyanobacteria – blue-green algae – and, according to a paper in the April 4 issue of the journal Science, it relishes the weather extremes that accompany global warming.
Hans Paerl, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Institute of Marine Sciences Professor and co-author of the Science paper, calls the algae the “cockroach of lakes.” It’s everywhere and it’s hard to exterminate – but when the sun comes up it doesn’t scurry to a corner, it’s still there, and it’s growing, as thick as 3 feet in some areas.
Popularity: 18% [?]
April 4, 2008 | Filed Under Biology | 1 CommentA Little Anxiety Pays Sometimes
Anxiety gets a lot of bad press. Dwelling on the negative can lead to chronic stress and anxiety disorders and phobias, but evolutionarily speaking, anxiety holds some functional value. In humans, learning to avoid harm is necessary not only for surviving in the face of basic threats (such as predators or rotten food), but also for avoiding more complex social or economic threats (such as enemies or questionable investments).
A team of psychologists at Stanford University have identified a region of the brain, the anterior insula, which plays a key role in predicting harm and also learning to avoid it. In a new study, Gregory Samanez-Larkin and colleagues scanned the brains of healthy adults while they anticipated losing money.
Popularity: 39% [?]
April 4, 2008 | Filed Under Health | Leave a CommentThe First People in America Came from Asia
Professor Eske Willerslev was surprised by the results of the DNA tests conducted by himself and his colleagues on samples of what turned out to be fossilised human faeces found in deep caves in the Oregon desert. The oldest of the droppings have been carbon-dated to be approximately 14,340 years old.
Willerslev’s faeces samples clearly contain two main genetic types of Asian origin that are unique to present-day North American Indians. Not only is this proof that the American Indians are descendants of the first immigrants to the continent, it is also proof that immigration took place approximately 1,000 years earlier than otherwise believed.
Popularity: 41% [?]
April 4, 2008 | Filed Under Archeology | Leave a CommentAre Animals Stuck in Time?
Dog owners, who have noticed that their four-legged friend seem equally delighted to see them after five minutes away as five hours, may wonder if animals can tell when time passes. Newly published research from The University of Western Ontario may bring us closer to answering that very question.
The results of the research, entitled “Episodic-Like Memory in Rats: Is it Based on When or How Long Ago,” appear in the current issue of the journal Science, which was released today.
Popularity: 18% [?]
April 4, 2008 | Filed Under Biology | Leave a CommentEvidence Lacking on Health Benefits of Drinking Lots of Water
A recent look at what is known about the health effects of drinking water reveals that most supposed benefits are not backed by solid evidence. The findings indicate that most people do not need to worry about drinking their recommended 8 glasses of 8 ounces (8×8) of water per day. The editorial is published in the June 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).
While it is clear that humans cannot survive for longer than several days without water, very little research has assessed how average individuals’ health is affected by drinking extra fluids. Experts have claimed that ingesting water is helpful for everything from clearing toxins and keeping organs healthy to warding off weight gain and improving skin tone.
Popularity: 43% [?]
April 3, 2008 | Filed Under Health | Leave a CommentA Coffee with Your Doughnut Protects against Alzheimer’s Disease
A daily dose of caffeine blocks the disruptive effects of high cholesterol that scientists have linked to Alzheimer’s disease. A study in the open access publication, Journal of Neuroinflammation revealed that caffeine equivalent to just one cup of coffee a day could protect the blood-brain barrier (BBB) from damage that occurred with a high-fat diet.
The BBB protects the central nervous system from the rest of the body’s circulation, providing the brain with its own regulated microenvironment. Previous studies have shown that high levels of cholesterol break down the BBB which can then no longer protect the central nervous system from the damage caused by blood borne contamination. BBB leakage occurs in a variety of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Popularity: 23% [?]
April 3, 2008 | Filed Under Health | Leave a CommentLack of Sleep can Provoke Sleepwalking
Sleepwalkers are advised to keep a regular bedtime to avoid unwanted evening strolls, according to research from the Université de Montréal. Somnambulism, which affects up to four percent of adults, can cause mental confusion or bouts of amnesia in those affected as they wander unresponsive to their environment.
In a recent issue of the Annals of Neurology, the official journal of the American Neurological Association, authors Antonio Zadra, Mathieu Pilon and Jacques Montplaisir explain how they evaluated 40 suspected sleepwalkers. Each was referred to the Sleep Research Centre at Sacré-Coeur Hospital, a Université de Montréal teaching hospital, between August 2003 and March 2007.
Popularity: 16% [?]
April 3, 2008 | Filed Under Health | Leave a CommentWere Assyrian Rulers the Forefathers of Today’s CEOs?
Dr. Oded Lipschits, from Tel Aviv University’s Department of Archaeology, directs Ramat Rachel, an archaeological dig two miles from the Old City of Jerusalem. Until now archaeologists believed the site was a palace of an ancient Judean king, probably King Hezekiah, who built it around 700 BCE.
But evidence points to foreign rule, says Dr. Lipschits, who believes the site was likely an ancient local administrative center — a branch office — of Assyrian rulers. “They were wise rulers,” he says, “using a good strategy for keeping control, stability and order in the region.”
Popularity: 33% [?]
April 3, 2008 | Filed Under History | Leave a Comment
