Washington, Sept 23 : Ever wondered why a song sounds sexy sometimes and annoying at other times? Well, a study on songbirds has shed new light on this question, showing that a change in hormone levels may affect the way we perceive social cues.
Emory University’s Donna Maney, who used white-throated sparrows for the study, says that the changes in hormone levels affect the perception by altering a system of brain nuclei, common to all vertebrates, called the ‘social behaviour network.’
"Social behaviours such as courtship, parenting and aggression depend primarily on two factors: a social signal to trigger the behaviour, and a hormonal milieu that facilitates or permits it," said the study leader.
Washington, September 23 : A long-term study of mammal fossils spanning a 5-million-year period in northern Pakistan has suggested that two species of giraffe, several rhinos and five elephant relatives, along with multitudes of rodents, bush pigs, horses, antelope and apes, once inhabited the region.
University of Michigan paleoecologist Catherine Badgley and coworkers conducted the study.
Washington, September 23: Paper wasps can remember their meeting with an individual for at least a week, even after interacting with many others in the meantime, say University of Michigan researchers.
The discovery made by graduate student Michael Sheehan and assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology Elizabeth Tibbetts suggests that the social interaction among wasps may be based on memories of past encounters, instead of on rote adherence to simple rules.
Writing about their findings in the journal Current Biology, the researchers agree that honeybees, too, can remember where they have found nectar.
Washington, Sep 23: The FBI has served a warrant at the college residence of David Kernell, a student at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville student in connection with the hacking of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s personal e-mail account.
Kernell (20) is the son of Mike Kernell, a Democratic state representative from Memphis.
The FBI and Secret Service launched a formal investigation on September 17 into the hacking of one of Palin’s Yahoo e-mail accounts.
Washington, Sept 23: After last Saturday’s devastating suicide attack on a five-star hotel in Islamabad killing 60 people, US intelligence officials have said that Pakistan was in a “downward security spiral”, as militants were taking advantage of a new civilian government in exploiting the growing anti-American sentiment in the country.
They said that the Pakistan government was caught in a dilemma, as their inaction was giving al Qaeda “power”, and if they react too forcefully it could generate a “backlash from the people”.
New York, Sept 23: In the aftermath of the Saturday’s hotel blast in Islamabad killing 60 persons, the US State Department has said that Washington needed to carry on working with Pakistan and Afghanistan in combating terrorism.
State Department spokesman Robert Wood said that the massive blast showed why all the three – the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan – needed to work together in fighting out terrorism.
“If you look at what happened on Saturday, this is an example of why we, the Pakistanis, the Afghans, need to work and redouble our efforts to counter extremism in this region. We’ll continue to work with the Pakistanis on trying to deal with the Taliban and Al Qaeda threat,” the Daily Times quoted Wood as saying.
million-year period in northern Pakistan has suggested that two species of giraffe, several rhinos and five elephant relatives, along with multitudes of rodents, bush pigs, horses, antelope and apes, once inhabited the region.
The FBI has served a warrant at the college residence of David Kernell, a student at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville student in connection with the hacking of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s personal e-mail account.
