# behav: a form of modified oxytocin (a molecule of love), with less adverse effects

<< Oxytocin is clinically used to induce labor, and there is interest in using this peptide to treat social disorders. However, oxytocin triggers adverse cardiovascular side effects  >>

AA << generated ligands based on oxytocin with subtle modifications >>

this new molecular form << reduced social fear in mice and induced contractile activity in human myometrial strips without affecting cultured cardiomyocytes >>

Markus Muttenthaler, Asa Andersson, et al.  Subtle modifications to oxytocin produce ligands that retain potency and improved selectivity across species. Sci. Signal.  2017; 10 (508): eaan3398. 10.1126/scisignal.aan3398. Dec 05, 2017.

http://stke.sciencemag.org/content/10/508/eaan3398

Scientists create molecule of love with less complications. Dec 12, 2017.

https://m.phys.org/news/2017-12-scientists-molecule-complications.html

# gst: a case of stabilization by weak noise

<< An elusive state of matter - quantum spin liquid - may actually be enhanced rather than suppressed by disorder as seen in a compound that contains praseodymium, zirconium, and oxygen (Pr2Zr2O7) >>

<< Disorder is generally thought to be detrimental to creating materials with unusual magnetism or other quantum phenomena. However, a team found that weak disorder surprisingly stabilizes a rare quantum state called a quantum spin liquid >>

Stirring up a quantum spin-liquid with disorder. Dec 13, 2017.

https://m.phys.org/news/2017-12-quantum-spin-liquid-disorder.html

J.-J. Wen, S. M. Koohpayeh, et al. Disordered Route to the Coulomb Quantum Spin Liquid: Random Transverse Fields on Spin Ice in Pr2Zr2O7. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2017; 118 (107206). doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.107206. Mar 8, 2017.

https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.107206

# behav: Calanoid copepods swim freely and jump in turbulence

AA << provide evidence for an active adaptation that allows these small organisms [Calanoid copepods] to adjust their motility in response to background flow >>

Francois-Gael Michalec, Itzhak Fouxon, et al. Zooplankton can actively adjust their motility to turbulent flow. PNAS. doi:10.1073/pnas.1708888114

http://m.pnas.org/content/early/2017/12/05/1708888114

<< These jumps enable the plankton to hunt their prey and the males to catch a female >> Markus Holzner.

Plankton swim against the current.
Dec 12, 2017.

https://m.phys.org/news/2017-12-plankton-current.html

# soc: storytelling and cooperation

AA << explore the impact of storytelling on hunter-gatherer cooperative behaviour and the individual-level fitness benefits to being a skilled storyteller >>

Daniel Smith, Philip Schlaepfer, et al.   Cooperation and the evolution of hunter-gatherer storytelling. Nature Communications. 2017; 8 (1853). doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02036-8. Dec 5, 2017.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-02036-8

Storytellers promoted cooperation among hunter-gatherers before advent of religion. Dec 5, 2017.

https://m.phys.org/news/2017-12-storytellers-cooperation-hunter-gatherers-advent-religion.html

# behav: bizarre relationships

<< a group of fish known as pearlfish have evolved to live in the anuses of sea cucumbers >>

<< the group of pistol shrimp who’ve buddied up with the burrowing fish species, gobies. In this duo, gobies guard the entrance to the burrow of pistol shrimp to protect the shrimp. In return, the pistol shrimp digs and maintains a burrow for the pair to share—their own personal love den >>

<< the ultimate case of deception (..)  about the arid bronze azure butterfly >>

Samille Mitchell. Three of nature’s most bizarre relationships. Dec 11, 2017.

https://particle.scitech.org.au/earth/three-natures-bizarre-relationships/

https://m.phys.org/news/2017-12-nature-bizarre-relationships.html

# acad: gender gaps in grant success; women are valued less favorably as principal investigators.

<< Funding agencies around the world show gender gaps in grant success, with women often receiving less funding than men. However, these studies have been observational and some have not accounted for potential confounding variables, making it difficult to draw robust conclusions about whether gaps were due to bias or to other factors >>

In AA study << gender gaps in grant success rates were significantly larger when there was an explicit review focus on the principal investigator, supporting the hypothesis that gender gaps in grant funding are partly or wholly attributable to women being assessed less favourably as principal investigators >>

Holly O Witteman, Michael Hendricks, et al. Female grant applicants are equally successful when peer reviewers assess the science, but not when they assess the scientist. bioRxiv 232868; doi: 10.1101/232868. Dec 12, 2017.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/12/12/232868

https://twitter.com/biorxivpreprint/status/940718114861436928 

# evol: about 'identity' (2): the complex relationships of whales and dolphins

<< Whales and dolphins (Cetaceans) live in tightly-knit social groups, have complex relationships, talk to each other and even have regional dialects – much like human societies >>

<< (..) they won’t ever mimic our great metropolises and technologies because they didn’t evolve opposable thumbs >> Susanne Shultz

Whales and dolphins have rich 'human-like' cultures and societies.  Oct 16, 2017

http://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/whales-and-dolphins-have-rich-human-like-cultures-and-societies/

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171016122201.htm

AA << results suggest that cetacean [whales and dolphins] social cognition might similarly have arisen to provide the capacity to learn and use a diverse set of behavioural strategies in response to the challenges of social living >>

Kieran C.R. Fox, Michael Muthukrishna, Susanne Shultz. The social and cultural roots of whale and dolphin brains. Nature Ecology & Evolution 2017; 1: 1699–705.  doi: 10.1038/s41559-017-0336-y. Oct 16, 2017.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-017-0336-y