On Barro Colorado Island, in the middle of the Panama Canal, a population of metallic-green sweat bees is divided. Half the breeding females live socially, as queens reigning over one or two worker daughters in nests burrowed into twigs. The … Continue reading
Journal Club
Highlighting recently published papers selected by Academy members
Category Archives: Journal Club
Journal Club: Understanding how a plant makes a hook could someday improve crops
This spring, as the first shoots of new plants emerge from the soil, many are bent over in a hook. This simple act protects the fragile stem tip and leaves as the sprout pokes up through the dirt. But how … Continue reading
Categories: Agriculture | Biochemistry | Cell Biology | Journal Club | Plant Biology
Tagged apical hook, Arabidopsis, auxin, soybeans, TMK1
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Journal Club: Brain scans and behavior suggest oxytocin can change perceptions of fairness
Some people are more generous in social situations—offering to cover the dinner bill for example. Others are more individualistic, preferring to keep resources for themselves. A recent study in Nature Neuroscience finds that perceptions of fairness vary from person-to-person based … Continue reading
Categories: Journal Club | Neuroscience
Tagged amygdala, fairness, orbitofrontal cortex, oxytocin, prosocial
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Journal Club: Carbon payments could prove more profitable than mining or logging for some nations
Logging, mining, and other activities plow through the tropical forests of developing countries, releasing 10 to 18 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change. One proposed solution is for wealthy countries to pay developing nations to keep … Continue reading
Categories: Climate science | Environmental Sciences | Journal Club | Sustainability Science
Tagged carbon offset, carbon payment, deforestation, Guyana, logging, mining, rainforest, REDD+
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Journal club: A simple model to help identify which species might become invasive
Invasive species are a major driver of global biodiversity loss. Now researchers have developed a simple model that can quickly predict which species are likely to become established outside their native environment. The team recently reported in the Proceedings of … Continue reading
Categories: Agriculture | Ecology | Environmental Sciences | Journal Club | Plant Biology
Tagged acacia, alien species, climate science, eucalypt, global range, invasive species, model, niche
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Journal Club: Low-intensity focused ultrasound shows promise as tool to probe deep brain function
To study the brain’s networks of neurons, neuroscientists typically alter the activity in one area, and observe the cascade of effects on others—something like unscrewing one bulb in a string of Christmas lights and observing as others go dim. But … Continue reading
Categories: Journal Club | Neuroscience
Tagged amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, frontal cortex, ultrasound
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Journal Club: Plants load extracellular vesicles with a new class of RNAs
A recent study in The Plant Cell found that plants release extracellular vesicles carrying a new class of RNA molecules, named “tiny RNAs.” The findings are among the first to reveal the contents of these vesicles, and may hint at … Continue reading
Categories: Biochemistry | Cell Biology | Journal Club | Plant Biology
Tagged animal cell, Arabidopsis, cell communication, microRNA, nucleotides, plant cell, siRNA, tiny RNA, vesicle
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Journal Club: Pinpointing theory of mind deficiencies in autism
Around age four, preschoolers learn that other people have unique thoughts and feelings, an inner life. These children start to be able to predict a person’s behavior based on that understanding. They start developing theory of mind (ToM). That developmental … Continue reading
Categories: Journal Club | Neuroscience | Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
Tagged ASD, autism, theory of mind
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