Studies and Analyses

A team of researchers, led by University of Georgia psychologist Dorothy Fragaszy, has just published the first direct scientific report of tool use among a population of wild capuchin monkeys. There have been reports of single instances of this behavior but never of a whole population using tools routinely over a long period of time.

Using remarkably heavy stones probably transported to an “anvil” site in northeastern Brazil, these cat-sized monkeys routinely crack palm nuts, whic

Wiping out a protein in skin cancer cells could significantly stall melanoma tumor development and increase the sensitivity of the cancer cells to chemotherapy, a Penn State College of Medicine study suggests.

The protein, Akt3, appears to be responsible for promoting tumor cell survival and development in 43 percent to 60 percent of non-inherited melanomas. “Our study showed that lowering Akt3 activity can reduce the tumor-creating potential of melanoma cells by making the cancer

Combined positron emission tomography and computerized tomography (PET/CT) can help diagnose occult (hidden) recurrent cancer, possibly a cancer patient’s greatest post-treatment fear, report a team of Israeli physicians in the December issue of the Society of Nuclear Medicine’s “Journal of Nuclear Medicine.”

PET and CT scans are standard imaging tools that allow clinicians to pinpoint the location of cancer within the body before making treatment recommendations. PET/C

Genetics, genomics, bioinformatics and neuroscience join forces

Children’s Hospital Boston has begun enrolling patients as part of an ambitious new multidisciplinary study of autism that will attempt to pin down its genetic and biochemical causes. Results could be available in a year or two, and could yield a greater biological understanding of autistic spectrum disorders, better diagnostic and prognostic techniques, and potential medical treatments.

More than 90 percent

Men are more likely to want to marry women who are their assistants at work rather than their colleagues or bosses, a University of Michigan study finds.

The study, published in the current issue of Evolution and Human Behavior, highlights the importance of relational dominance in mate selection and discusses the evolutionary utility of male concerns about mating with dominant females. “These findings provide empirical support for the widespread belief that powerful women are at a

Exposure to low levels of hydrogen sulfide and possibly other airborne chemicals from nearby asphalt plants may have contributed to an increased suicide rate in a North Carolina community, a study suggests for the first time.
In 2003, the suicide rate in two Salisbury, N.C., neighborhoods was found to be 192 per 100,000 individuals a year, roughly 16 times the statewide average, as stated in community reports confirmed by death certificates for that year by the Blue Ridge Environmental De