Biologizing - Biological News n' Views

A study was done with bumble bees and wooden balls, and revealed that the bees rolled around the wooden balls solely for entertainment purposes. This finding supported the theory that bees can experience pleasure. Playing in animals helps the development of the brain. Playing in insects was once looked at in wasps, but further research is being conducted on whether insects do in fact play. In the study, bees were given wooden balls and were trained to move them by getting rewarded with a sugary item. However, the researchers noticed that the bees were moving the balls even without receiving a reward. It was said that the bees just simply enjoyed rolling the wooden balls all over the place. The researchers set up a “single-story apartment” for the bees, containing a recreation center where the experiment took place and a cafeteria, where pollen and sugar water was located. Two experiments were conducted in this space. In the first experiment, bees were in the recreation room with immobi...

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/10/221027124001.htm Have you ever noticed that there were more mosquito bites on your body than normal? Some of us are more prone to mosquito bites than others and there are many factors that contribute to how appealing you are to mosquitoes. Our CO2 exhalations, body heat, and body odor are some factors that contribute to how appealing you might be to a mosquito. Some other factors you might not consider to be a reason why you have so many mosquito bites are gender, consuming garlic or bananas, blood type, and blood sugar level. In a study by the Rockefeller University, it was found that fatty acids on the skin emanate a scent that mosquitoes can’t resist and the quantity of those fatty acids on the skin may be the reason why some are more prone to mosquito bites. Participants were asked to wear nylons on their arms for hours a day in a three-year study and mosquitoes were placed in chambers with these nylons and observed as the mosquitoes fl...

Development into adulthood can cause a number of different biological changes in animals. Many of us have experienced the distinct and sometimes rather uncomfortable effects of puberty, however many other animals, such as primates, elephants, and fish, are known to go through similar changes. Unlike other animals, stalk-eyed fruit flies (Permatops Drosophila) go through a very unique developmental change. At the cusp of adulthood, when new adult stalk-eyed fruit flies emerge from their pupal shells, flies experience outward elongation of their eyes. At the start of emergence from pupal shells, eye stalks are translucent and very short, remaining close to the head. About 16 minutes later, flies begin to rub at their eye stalks with their forelegs, promoting the elongation of the eyes stalks. Researchers observing this change reported how tiny nerves were able to be seen through the translucent stalks. Stalks grew asymmetrically and fluid was observed to be filling them as they elongated...

Needles. No one likes them. When I think of needles, I think of the pain I want to avoid at all costs. However, not everyone has the option to do this. 37.3 million people in the United States have diabetes, and these people don’t have the choice to say no to a needle. People with diabetes don’t make enough insulin or can’t use it as well as they should so they have high blood sugar. High blood sugar then can lead to serious health problems like heart disease, vision loss, and kidney disease. To solve the insulin issue, people have to resort to insulin injections. It’s already scary to be told that you have diabetes, so learning that you have to inject insulin on a regular basis too makes the experience much more unpleasant. Researchers at UC Riverside (UCR) have possibly found a new way for diabetes and other patients to manage their conditions without needles and injections. Some drugs are unable to be administered by mouth because they dissolve in water before reaching the intestine...

By now more people are seemingly aware of the rumor that gingers need more anesthesia to be sedated or that our pain tolerance is higher than our brunette and blonde counterparts, but how true is this? Red heads have been made fun of for our extra pale skin and even given a whole “kick a ginger” day to celebrate us! We may just be the perfect group to handle such a holiday when it appears the reason for our pale skin seems to relate to our supposed higher pain threshold. This is not only seen in humans with red hair, but can be found in other species like mice. In a study done by Massachusetts General Hospital further understanding of why redheads may have altered sensitivity to pain was concluded. Everyone has melanocytes but redheads contain an inactive variant form of the melanocortin 1 receptor gene that can be physically seen in our inability to tan. Researchers studied red-haired mice that also contain the inactive variant melanocortin 1 receptor and found that their melanocytes ...

Air pollution has been one of many concerns brought up as of late in the scientific community. Originating from industrial emissions, transportation, burning of fossil fuels, etc., air pollution has become seeming unavoidable nowadays. Aside from the impacts of air pollution on studies surrounding ecology or climate, more and more research is furthering our understanding about the correlation between air pollutants and cognitive function. At the risk of elevated air pollutant exposure are neurodegenerative disease and overall cognitive decline. One of the ways to measure this effect is by assessing the volume reduction of the hippocampus, which is exactly what the meta-analysis study conducted by Balboni et al. did. Fluctuations in the volume of certain regions of the brain are significant biomarkers when studying the impacts certain factors have on cognitive function. The hippocampus, more specifically, is a major structure that generally deals with cognition, memory, emotion, and oth...

Procrastination is a universal act that everyone likely experiences when it comes to tasks that we don’t particularly enjoy doing. While many see procrastination as a sign of laziness, there is actually much more science that goes into why we do it. Procrastination is essentially a fight between two parts of the brain, the limbic system and the prefrontal cortex. The limbic system is an unconscious zone that Includes the pleasure system. This system is one of the oldest and most dominant portions of the brain that is working automatically. It is set up to perform survival instincts and for “immediate mood repair.” It will tell you to pull your hand away from a fire as well as flee from tasks you find unpleasant to perform. The prefrontal cortex, on the other hand, is essentially an internal “planner.” This portion of the brain is a more recently developed and weaker portion that allows us to integrate information and make decisions. Unlike the limbic system, however, the prefrontal cor...

Many athletes and weightlifters take creatine supplements in efforts to increase their performance, but what does it actually do to your body? Creatine is found naturally in our diets in things like red meat, milk, and seafood. Vegetarians generally have lower levels of creatine in their bodies. It is also produced by the kidney and liver in our bodies. The majority of the creatine on our bodies is stored in the skeletal muscle cells to then use when exercising. The appeal for taking creatine supplements comes from its ability to increase energy levels and to increase strength. Creatine supplements have also been shown to help with recovery after exercising, reduce injury, help people to better tolerate heavy weights, and to increase fat-free muscle mass during a training session. These aspects of creatine supplements are appealing to athletes because it allows them to perform better and achieve more. Other more long term benefits of taking creatine include helping with health problems...

 As college students, we have all had a rough night or two of drinking and partying too hard. The day that follows you may suffer from a hangover or worse- “hangxiety”. I personally thought that “hangxiety” or hangover-anxiety was a term invited by young adults, however, hangixety is very real and many around the world experience this phenomenon. What is hangxiety? Hangixety is a term used to describe the anxious feeling that accompanies the physical hangover. Not only is your body recovering from all of the alcohol but your mind is too. After drinking alcohol, two parts of the brain are affected. The first is glutamate, which makes the brain more active. The second is Gaba, which makes the brain less active. Alcohol causes glutamate to decrease and for Gaba to increase. However, the next day, as the alcohol leaves the body, the brain is working to balance itself back to normal. The brain then over-compensates as it works to balance back. This causes glutamate to increase and the b...

Many of us struggle with an allergy, some so severe we can’t even go about our day to day lives without facing the effects. Especially with pets, a severe allergy can really be an obstacle as being in the same house, or even just simply being around someone who may have remnants of fur on their clothing can trigger a severe allergic effect. Although oftentimes the effects may be minimal, this has a greater effect on people's day to day lives than one may expect. But what if there was a way to solve this problem?   Scientists have recently been working on a new and improved allergy shot, which would include antibodies. Although there has already been a shot for allergies that has been successful in the past, this is typically one that needs to be received monthly or even weekly for several years to eventually build up a tolerance. But with this new shot including antibodies, this routine shot may become much simpler. Studies have found that this new allergy shot lasts for up to a ye...

Cancer is considered one of the most aggressive diseases to this day, with treatments and therapies still undergoing massive amounts of research regarding how to effectively target these rapidly dividing cells. Yet within the last year, it has recently been discovered that certain cancers contain fungal DNA within their tumors' microbiomes. Although a causal connection has not been proved, this does pose the question of whether cancer's microbiome could potentially help diagnose and treat the disease. Tumors have all kinds of sources for growth - but perhaps evaluating everything we know about cancer through its microbiome can give us some answers regarding its effect. In experiments carried out by Straussman and his team, it was found that certain bacteria tend to rescue cancer cells from chemotherapy as microbial life naturally occurs within cancerous tumors. After further analysis, certain types of cancers such as breast, lung, pancreatic, etc. all were associated with signa...

 Global warming is on the rise. Even this past weekend it was 75 degrees in November! One great contributor to climate change is deforestation. Deforestation is the clearing of trees on purpose for construction, manufacturing, wood, or any non-forest purpose. Trees store carbon meaning when they are cleared out, carbon is released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere contributes to global warming. This significant rise in global warming causes unnatural higher temperatures, as seen just this past weekend, warmer oceans, species to die, drought, and can even worsen storms. There are international targets for global forest loss and degradation by 2030 in place so that countries do not exceed this limit and contribute heavily to deforestation and climate change. Each country's target was analyzed in the Forest Declaration Assessment resulting in showing that the rate of deforestation slowed by 6.3%. However, the annual goal until 2030 was me...

Sugars belong to glycan / carbohydrate group of chemicals. Its sweetness is what draws us towards foods that are high in sugar content. This is particularly stronger in children, being labeled as a “sweet tooth”. Consuming excess amounts of sugars can lead to various health issues, so as difficult as it is, people should take more caution in the amount of sugar they intake and plan their meals accordingly to avoid an excess intake of it. Sugar is a carbohydrate, meaning its main function in our bodies is to offer short term energy for our bodies to move and work. There are different types of sugars that we are able to intake, the naturally occurring sugars found in fruits and milk, and the processed sugars called “added sugars” usually found in processed food and beverages. Some sugars that we are able to recognize often are glucose and sucrose. Consuming glucose stimulates the pancreas, which helps secrete insulin. Consuming sucrose and high fructose corn syrups will provide the body ...

 Teenagers are known for wanting to stay in bed in the morning and stay up late at night. I myself was a teenager that did just this. While many believe this makes teens “lazy”, there is actually a shift in body clock when you hit puberty. Waking a teen up at 6am for school is equivalent to waking a child or adult up at 4 in the morning. Whether they're up at night playing video games or they just can’t sleep, erratic sleeping patterns are normal for teenagers, especially with the unreasonably early times they need to get up to go to school. New studies conducted have now shown that if a teen is a night owl or an early bird will actually make their brain develop differently. Being a night owl or an early bird is defined as when you feel most energized and productive, whether it be in the morning or at night. Your preference for this as a teenager with a rapidly developing brain will actually have consequences for you later in life. The changes in circadian rhythm in adolesc...

 I have always had a fascination with the canyons off Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. The canyons are a legendary fishing spot for many anglers all over the world. I am surprised to hear when I bring up the canyons to different people that basically everyone I talk to has no idea what the canyons are. Some 100 miles further south of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, is the edge of the Continental Shelf, where there are submerged submarine canyons that are very rich in marine life. Water temperatures at the surface along the edge of the shelf and further south are the same as off Florida or the Carolinas in August. That is because it is the very same water, running, in an “oceanic river” called the Gulf Stream. It is bizarre to think that all these tropical animals and rich marine life is only 100 miles off New England. For reference, the Grand Canyon is about 6,000 feet deep. The depth of a canyon off Nantucket can be up to 16,000 feet deep. How is it that many people are unaware o...

 One of the things I remember from an evolution class was that the last antibiotic found was discovered in 1987, meaning that as bacteria become resistant to antibiotics, we have finite resources for treatment. Scientists at the University of Portsmouth discovered an organic compound that could be a possible treatment for life-threatening multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacterial infections. Hydroquinone is a compound found in some tree bark and has been shown to effectively kill bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Klebsiella pneumoniae. MDR bacteria is an issue for healthcare because it is associated with approximately 35,000 deaths per year. The compound interferes with how the bacteria move, and the expression of genes that affect virulence. The most promising thing about this compound is its effect on Pseudomonas aeruginosa, since some strains of this species are resistant to commonly prescribed antibiotics such as Amoxicillin and Tr...

  New medical studies are now finding that alcohol consumption is linked negatively with pregnancy, making it less successful when turning to the most common fertility treatments such as IVF (in vitro fertilization) and ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection). Researchers looked at this hypothesis through a meta-analysis, including 27,000 people. This analysis showed that this claim is true, alcohol is negatively linked to success rates of fertility treatment. Researchers found for women, 84 or more grams of alcohol a week is negatively connected with pregnancy after receiving IVF treatment with ICSI. And in men, 84 or more grams of alcohol a week was negatively connected with live birth rates after IVF and ICSI. A standard drink has about 14 grams in it, so 84 grams is exactly just 6 standard drinks a week! So, how is this possible? A doctor noted that it has an impact on sperm and oocyte quality and that alcohol consumption is tied into overproduction of oxygen species, causing o...

 Happy Halloween! While many students of UMASS Amherst began celebrating this past Thursday, today marks the official date of the spooky holiday. From eager sweet tooths hunting for the best treats to thrill seekers looking for a rush of adrenaline, Halloween is celebrated by all. No matter the scariness level, goblins, ghouls, vampires, and zombies immediately come to mind. Each possesses unique traits of mysterious unpredictable nature that make them a classic character in the minds of many Americans. As fun as scary stories, literature, and films can be at dramatizing our fan favorites, our reality may not differ too much from fiction. The unpredictable nature, personality changes, difficulty speaking, and walking are all symptoms of the very real Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease also called mad cow disease. Currently, the disease is most prevalent in cattle, but new research warns that eating the meat of these cattle could cause the disease to spread to humans creating a “real life zo...

  Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites of fungi that contaminate both plant raw materials and products of plant and animal origin. There are over 400 compounds that can be identified as mycotoxins. Unfortunately, this contamination of food products of both plant and animal origin can cause acute or chronic poisoning in various forms called mycotoxins with prolonged exposure. This poisoning can cause liver and kidney damage, interfere with the functioning of the digestive tract and immune system. Can exhibit carcinogenic, mutagenic, and neurogenic properties. Although mycotoxins seem to be a very large problem there are not many regulations set in place. The European Union (EU) to protect public health established maximum acceptable  levels or limits of mycotoxins permitted in foodstuffs based on the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).  Other countries which follow similar regulations although not covering a wide range of mycotoxins and product categories are the USA, C...

              With the rise of social media, the health and fitness industry has become saturated with information (both helpful and unhelpful). For this reason, it can become difficult when trying to determine what information can be useful. Looking online, it is obvious that one of the most popular exercise structures is high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts. HIIT workouts consist of intense exercise for a short interval of time followed by a rest period. This cycle is repeated several times, allowing for both exercise and rest.              To test the impacts of HIIT workouts, a group of scientists at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark tracked the activity of 8 healthy and untrained men for five weeks. These men were required to exercise three times a week by cycling at a heart rate greater than 90% of their max for around four to five minut...

 Have you ever wondered about what kinds of effects certain diets have on our bodies? One popular form of dieting includes the “warrior diet” which is a type of intermittent fasting in which a person strictly eats during a 4-hour window every day without having to count their calories and can only drink water outside of that window. Compared to how we normally eat in a day, this change in eating pattern is certain to have an impact on our health. A study was conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago to determine how intermittent fasting affects female hormones. To test this, they measured differences in hormone levels by observing blood sample data from three different groups of pre- and post- menopausal women over an 8-week period: one group followed a 4-hour feeding window, another group followed a 6-hour window, and a control group had no diet restrictions. After observing each group for 8 weeks, the results showed that most hormone levels remained the same ...