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• Candidates’ age can predict leadership during war - Preference for old leaders
• 'Metamaterials,' quantum dots show promise for new technologies
• Relationship Between Social Status and Wound-Healing in Wild Baboons
• Persistent Sensory Experience Is Good For The Aging Brain
• Crowding causes cells to produce an orderly matrix of molecules

Candidates’ age can predict leadership during war - Preference for old leaders Posted: 24 May 2012 05:46 PM PDT Can we predict the presidential election outcomes by simply looking at the age of the candidates? Scientists argue that we can. In the latest issue of PLoS ONE, researcher Brian R. Spisak from VU University Amsterdam argues that there is an evolved connection between increasing age, increasing status, and the use of dominance tactics to maintain this aging hierarchy. Further, followers are implicitly aware of this connection, as can be seen through their voting behavior. read more

'Metamaterials,' quantum dots show promise for new technologies Posted: 24 May 2012 11:37 AM PDT Researchers are edging toward the creation of new optical technologies using "nanostructured metamaterials" capable of ultra-efficient transmission of light, with potential applications including advanced solar cells and quantum computing. The metamaterial - layers of silver and titanium oxide and tiny components called quantum dots - dramatically changes the properties of light. The light becomes "hyperbolic," which increases the output of light from the quantum dots. read more

Relationship Between Social Status and Wound-Healing in Wild Baboons Posted: 24 May 2012 09:46 AM PDT Turns out it's not bad being top dog, or in this case, top baboon. Results of a study by University of Notre Dame biologist Beth Archie and colleagues from Princeton University and Duke University finds that male baboons that have a high rank within their society recover more quickly from injuries, and are less likely to become ill than other males. The finding is somewhat surprising, given that top-ranked males also experience high stress, which should suppress immune responses. read more

Persistent Sensory Experience Is Good For The Aging Brain Posted: 24 May 2012 09:02 AM PDT Despite a long-held scientific belief that much of the wiring of the brain is fixed by the time of adolescence, a new study shows that changes in sensory experience can cause massive rewiring of the brain, even as one ages. In addition, the study found that this rewiring involves fibers that supply the primary input to the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that is responsible for sensory perception, motor control and cognition. These findings promise to open new avenues of research on brain remodeling and aging. read more

Crowding causes cells to produce an orderly matrix of molecules Posted: 24 May 2012 07:59 AM PDT When researchers conduct experiments on the way cells grow and respond to outside cues, they tend to use solutions that are much more dilute than the crowded environments found inside living cells. Now, new research from MIT shows that this dilute environment may skew the results of such experiments. read more

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