# s-ecol: climate can drive the emergence of different personalities in Anelosimus studiosus (the tangle web spider)

AA << have uncovered an unexpected benefit of (..) personalities [like shyness and aggressiveness]: to protect societies from extreme temperature changes. >>

<< This work focused on the tangle web spider, known to scientists as Anelosimus studiosus, which lives in North Carolina and across North and South America. >>

<< In this species, individual spiders have either one of two personalities: docile or highly aggressive. Together, they not only share the same living space but also share in the duties of brood care and capturing of prey. >>

AA << looked at the effect of temperature – 75 to 93 degrees Fahrenheit – on the spiders' ability to survive and reproduce as an individual and within a colony.  They found that aggressive spiders were less likely to survive and reproduce at higher temperatures. But the opposite was true for docile spiders: as the temperature heated up, the better they reproduced and survived. The researchers saw the same pattern when the colonies were made up of all aggressive individuals or all docile ones. But when a colony had different personalities – a mix of aggressive and docile spiders – the aggressive spiders didn't die in hot temperatures and docile ones didn't die in cooler ones. >>

Thania Benios. Temperature helps drive the emergence of different personalities in spiders. July 21, 2016.

http://uncnews.unc.edu/2016/07/21/54073/

Celine T. Goulet, Spencer J. Ingley, et al.  Thermal effects on survival and reproductive performance vary according to personality type. Behavioral Ecology, 2016; arw084 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arw084

http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arw084

# n-socsci: a three-level social network among Hunter-Gatherer Societies

<< The new work reveals surprising similarities between the Agta of the Philippines and Mbendjele of the Republic of Congo. >>

<< In both places, individuals maintain a three-tiered social network that appears to buffer them against day-to-day shortfalls in foraging returns. >>

<< First is their immediate household, most often consisting of five or six individuals, second is a cluster of three to four closely related households who share food frequently, and third is the wider camp. >>

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-07/cp-whc071316.php

Mark Dyble, James Thompson, et al.
Networks of Food Sharing Reveal the Functional Significance of Multilevel Sociality in Two Hunter-Gatherer Groups. Current Biology, 2016 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.05.064 Published: July 21, 2016

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.05.064

# s-A.I.: a Buddhist-like A.I. can hack humans via Turing test; the begin ...

<< The Turing test, the quintessential evaluation designed to determine if something is a computer or a human, may have a fatal flaw >>

<< The test currently can't determine if a person is talking to another human being or a robot if the person being interrogated simply chooses to stay silent >>

<< Warwick [Kevin Warwick] was organizing Turing tests for the 60th anniversary of Turing's death when he and his colleague Huma Shah, also a computer scientist at Coventry University, noticed something curious: Occasionally, some of the AI chatbots broke and remained silent, confusing the interrogators. >>

Tia  Ghose. Robots Could Hack Turing Test by Keeping Silent.  LiveScience. July  13,  2016.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/robots-could-hack-turing-test-by-keeping-silent/

more:

# zen: silence revolutions

http://flashontrack.blogspot.it/2016/04/zen-silence-revolutions.html

# s-evol: swapping analogous genes among species

<< (..) about half of shared genes are interchangeable across species. >>

<< (..)  in unpublished experiments, the researchers have swapped yeast genes with analogous ones from Escherichia coli bacteria or with those from the plant Arabidopsis thaliana >>

<< About 60 percent of E. coli genes could stand in for their yeast counterparts >>

Tina Hesman Saey. Swapping  analogous  genes  no  problem  among  species. Yeast  survives  with  bacteria,  plant,  human  versions  of shared  genetic  material. July 19, 2016, 4:12pm.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/swapping-analogous-genes-no-problem-among-species

Aashiq H. Kachroo et al. Deciphering common principles governing gene replaceability in yeast. The Allied Genetics Conference 2016, Orlando, Fla., July 15, 2016.

http://www.genetics2016.org/presenters/abstracts

# s-behav: immune system may affect social behavior

<< In a discovery that raises fundamental questions about human behavior, researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have found that the immune system directly affects — and even controls — our social behavior, such as our desire to interact with others. >>

Why your immune system may control your social behavior. July 15, 2016.

http://www.kurzweilai.net/why-your-immune-system-may-control-your-social-behavior

<< (..) recent findings implicate meningeal immunity influencing behaviour, such as spatial learning and memory. Here we show that meningeal immunity is also critical for social behaviour; mice deficient in adaptive immunity exhibit social deficits and hyper-connectivity of fronto-cortical brain regions. >>

Anthony  J.  Filiano,  Yang  Xu, et al. Unexpected  role  of  interferon-γ  in  regulating neuronal  connectivity  and  social  behaviour.  Nature (2016) doi:10.1038/nature18626. Published  online  13  July  2016.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature18626.html

FonT: quasi 3 decine di anni fa lessi che, in qualsivoglia importante accademia biomedica, anche in quelle di serie A super per intendersi, a presentare programmi di ricerca che potevano ricondurre in qualche modo alla PNEI ci si giocava la carriera ... sara' vero?

PNEI: psychoneuroendocrine immunology

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=psychoneuroendocrine+immunology

# n-arch: the future fieldwork of Archaeology: 'Spacejunk'

<< The grand tour of the future (..) might take place off the Earth entirely, involving a tour of derelict satellites and abandoned spacecraft, those ruined cathedrals of the sky. >>

<< (..) these abandoned satellites and other spacecraft will likely be preserved in situ, still actively orbiting the planet or even circling a Jovian moon >>

<< In this vision of what Barclay and Brooks describe as “the future of museums beyond the atmosphere,” tomorrow's grand tourists will come face-to-hull with ancient spacecraft, the way economically privileged Europeans once visited Notre Dame or the Colosseum. >>

Geoff Manaugh. The Future of Archaeology Is 'Spacejunk'. Jun 28, 2016

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/06/grand-tour-of-the-future/488909/

more:

Randall C. Brooks, Robert Barclay.  "In Situ Preservation of Historic Spacecraft”. In: Handbook of Space Engineering, Archaeology, and Heritage. Publ.: June 26, 2009. Online Date : June 15, 2010. DOI : 10.1201/9781420084320-c37. Pages : 679-700.

http://www.crcnetbase.com/doi/abs/10.1201/9781420084320-c37

# p-trade-TPP: #Potus "in the middle" (?) ...

<< As for President Obama, he must be made to realize that every time he pushes the TPP [Trans-Pacific Partnership], he might as well be campaigning for Donald Trump >>

Thomas Palley. Betrayed Again, This Time By Unconvincing Arguments For The TPP. Tuesday, July 05, 2016.

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/07/05/betrayed-again-time-unconvincing-arguments-tpp

more:

The Trans-Pacific Partnership. What You Need to Know about President Obama’s Trade Agreement

https://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/economy/trade