# game: low-cooperativity feedbacks in burst size could be preferable for noisy proteins

AA << consider a specific kind of negative feedback, which makes bursts smaller in the excess of protein >>

<< Increasing the strength of the feedback may lead to dramatically different outcomes depending on a key parameter, the noise load >>

<< for noise loads smaller than critical, the coefficient of variation remains bounded with increasing feedback strength; contrastingly, if the noise load is larger than critical, the coefficient of variation diverges to infinity in the limit of ever greater feedback strengths >>

<< Interestingly, high-cooperativity feedbacks have lower critical noise loads, implying that low-cooperativity feedbacks in burst size can be preferable for noisy proteins >>

Pavol Bokes, Abhyudai Singh, Yen Ting Lin. High Cooperativity In Negative Feedback Can Amplify Noisy Gene Expression. biorxiv sysbio. doi: 10.1101/125914  April 10, 2017.

http://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/04/10/125914

# soc: pulsatile self-destructive choices, by Oliver and Julia

<< Let’s all be thankful that FiveThirtyEight readers don’t control America’s nuclear arsenal >>

Last week AA << published an article on the game theory of nuclear standoffs. That article included an interactive game ... >>

Oliver Roeder, Julia Wolfe. Thank God You People Don’t Have The Nuclear Codes. Sep. 14, 2017.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/thank-god-you-people-dont-have-the-nuclear-codes/

<< Shall we play a game? >>

Oliver Roeder. How To Win A Nuclear Standoff. President Trump and Kim Jong Un’s saber-rattling is dangerous, but not irrational. Sep. 6, 2017

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-to-win-a-nuclear-standoff/

# acad: ig-nobel 2017; not so evanescent but intriguing: contact with a live crocodile actually could affects a person's willingness to gamble

<< ECONOMICS PRIZE [AUSTRALIA, USA] — Matthew Rockloff and Nancy Greer, for their experiments to see how contact with a live crocodile affects a person's willingness to gamble.
REFERENCE: "Never Smile at a Crocodile: Betting on Electronic Gaming Machines is Intensified by Reptile-Induced Arousal," Matthew J. Rockloff and Nancy Greer, Journal of Gambling Studies, vol. 26, no. 4, December 2010, pp. 571-81. WHO ATTENDED THE CEREMONY: Matthew Rockloff and Nancy Greer >>

http://www.improbable.com/ig/winners/

Mark Pratt. Research on big ears, crocodile gambling wins Ig Nobels. Sep 14, 2017

https://m.phys.org/news/2017-09-big-ears-crocodile-gambling-ig.html

<< Tourists at the Koorana Saltwater Crocodile Farm in Coowonga, Queensland, Australia (..) were randomly assigned to play a laptop-simulated Electronic Gaming Machine (EGM) either: (1) prior to entry, or (2) after having held a 1-m saltwater-crocodile >>

<< At-risk gamblers with few self-reported negative emotions placed higher average bets at the EGM after having held the crocodile when compared to the control >>

<< high arousal can intensify gambling in at-risk players, but only if this feeling state is not perceived as a negative emotion >>

Matthew J. Rockloff, Nancy Greer. Never Smile at a Crocodile: Betting on Electronic Gaming Machines is Intensified by Reptile-Induced Arousal. Journal of Gambling Studies.  2010;  Vol 26, Issue 4, pp 571–581. Jan 6, 2010.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10899-009-9174-4

# age: autophagy inactivation (e.g. in neurons) to reverse the effects of age (50% extension of life) in the whole old body (post-reproductive C. elegans)

AA << identified that the inactivation of genes governing the early stages of autophagy up until the stage of vesicle nucleation, such as bec-1, strongly extend both life span and health span >>

AA << demonstrate that the improvements in health and longevity are mediated through the neurons, resulting in reduced neurodegeneration and sarcopenia >>

AA << propose that autophagy switches from advantageous to harmful in the context of an age-associated dysfunction >>

Thomas Wilhelm, Jonathan Byrne, et al.  Neuronal inhibition of the autophagy nucleation complex extends life span in post-reproductive C. elegans. Genes & Dev. Sep 7, 2017 doi: 10.1101/gad.301648

http://m.genesdev.cshlp.org/content/31/15/1561

<< By inactivating autophagy in the neurons of old worms they were not only able to prolong the worms life but they increased the total health of the worms dramatically >>

Why we did not evolve to live forever: Unveiling the mystery of  why we age.  Breakthrough in  understanding the origin of the  ageing process. Sep 07,  2017

http://www.uni-mainz.de/presse/aktuell/2595_ENG_HTML.php

Why we did not evolve to live forever: Unveiling the mystery of why we age. Sep 15, 2017.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170915144151.htm

# websec: post-quantum cryptography, all of today's secrets will be lost (!)

AA << analyze the options available for a post-quantum cryptography future >>

<< The expectation is that quantum computers will be built some time after 2025 >>

<< An attacker can record our secure communications today, and break it with a quantum computer years later. All of today's secrets will be lost >> Tanja Lange

How future quantum computers will threaten today's encrypted data. Sep 14, 2017

https://m.phys.org/news/2017-09-future-quantum-threaten-today-encrypted.html

Daniel J. Bernstein, Tanja Lange. Post-quantum cryptography.     Nature 2017; 549: 188–194 Sep 14, 2017 doi: 10.1038/nature23461

https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v549/n7671/full/nature23461.html

# behav: scratch, also to socialize

<< Primates (including humans) scratch when stressed >>

<< scratching could potentially have social function >>

Jamie Whitehouse, Jerome Micheletta, Bridget M. Waller. Stress behaviours buffer macaques from aggression. SciRep  2017; 7(11083) doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-10754-8 Sept 11, 2017

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-10754-8

# gene-evol: behind interactions among organisms: causality more than just correlation

<< Organisms engage in extensive cross-species molecular dialog, yet the underlying molecular actors are known for only a few interactions >>

AA << developed an expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) mapping-based approach to identify cause-and-effect relationships between genes from two partners engaged in an interspecific interaction >>

Yuelong Guo, Sylwia Fudali, et al. Networks Underpinning Symbiosis Revealed Through Cross-Species eQTL Mapping. Genetics August 1, 2017 vol. 206 no. 4 2175-2184; https://doi.org/10.1534/genetics.117.202531

http://www.genetics.org/content/206/4/2175

<< In a first-of-its-kind study, NC State researchers applied a new approach to examine how members of two different species – a plant and a pathogen, for example, or a bacterium and a human – interact at the molecular level, and whether slight genetic changes in one species could affect gene expression in the other >>

<< "We're really trying to get to the genetics behind the interactions between two different organisms," said David McK. Bird [..] "Genetics gives us causality more than just correlation." >>

Mick Kulikowski. Study examines cross-species interactions. Sept  12, 2017

https://m.phys.org/news/2017-09-cross-species-interactions.html