19 August, 2010 – This Week in Science

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Mitochondrial Eve, Vitamins Cause Cancer, Pills For Life, Like Father Not Like Son, Crazy Kindergartners, Beer Goggles, Fuzzy Holes, Monkey See Monkey Say, Zombie Ants, and Much More!!!

Show Notes:
Mitochondrial Eve
Scientists are using mitochondrial evidence to discover the earliest female ancestor of Homo sapiens.

Vitamins Cause Cancer?!?
Approximately 1/2 the world’s population is infected with Helicobactor pylori, a bacterium known to be involved in cancer and stomach ulcers. A new study found that H. pylori requires vitamin B6 to establish an infection.

The Pill That Makes You Live Forever
Restricted caloric intake has been shown to increase lifespan, and now scientists have identified the specific gene which is responsible for this phenomena. Are we one step closer to life-extending pills?

Tall Babies from Short Parents
Researchers study the way transposons allow traits not present in either parent to be expressed in offspring.

Crazy Kindergartners
Younger children are far more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD, possibly simply because the symptoms of ADHD are the same as those of childhood.

Beer Goggles
A study done on the effects of alcohol on the perceived attractiveness of faces confirms that beer goggles do in fact exist. Drink up!

Do you want to read along with the TWIS Bookclub? Get your copy of this month’s book, ‘Good Natured’ by Frans de Waal:

Fuzzy Holes
Researchers are fuzzy about why they see a magnetar where they expected a black hole.

Monkey See Monkey Say
A new study finds that people don’t only imitate the sound of people around them, but they imitate the facial movements of the people speaking.

Zombie Ants
A fungus parasitic behavior that turns ants into virtual zombies turns out to be much older than previously thought.

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