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Tag: "preference" at biology news

Drunken elephants: The marula fruit myth

...four days. However, elephants have shown a clear preference for marula fruit still on the tree. Disregarding a large fruit pit, the metabolism of alcohol over time, and the unlikeliness of total ethanol absorption, a three-ton elephant gorging itself quickly on nothing but marula fruit would still be hard-pre...

A link is found between morphine addiction and the tendency to explore

... persistently explored their new environment had a preference for being administered morphine. It was also observed that other personality characteristics in the rats, such as anxiousness or fear, are unrelated to morphine addiction. This is the first time a relationship has been observed between addiction and ...

Male rivalry increases when females at most fertile, say researchers

...ch at the University has found that men sense this preference shift in their female partners and find masculine men more threatening during their partner's most fertile phase. Rob Burriss and Dr Anthony Little, from the University's School of Biological Sciences, also found that men only behave in this way if ...

Born with a love of speech

Do human newborns develop their preference for speech through in-utero eavesdropping, or is t...nds. "It's well established that neonates have a preference for speech above other sounds, but where does this come from? Is it something that's built in and th...

When mice choose mates, experience counts

...an species. Pfaff says that the female mice's mate preference was so strong that they even preferred the combined male/female scent when it was tainted with the scent of infectious parasites, opting for that over the scent of a healthy lone male. "Male odors can provide female mice with information on their qu...

Minor mutations in avian flu virus increase chances of human infection

...mutations can result in switching the binding site preference of the avian virus from receptors in the intestina...ions that had already been shown to shift receptor preference in H3 HAs to the human respiratory tract, the mutations increased receptor preference of the Viet04 ...

It's in the genes: Study opens door to new treatment of the blues

...nterest in sexual interaction and showed decreased preference for palatable sugary drinks over plain water. A month later, the rodents' interest in sex and sweets had returned, but the social avoidance remained. The researchers found that long-term use of antidepressants, such as fluoxetine (Prozac) and imipra...

Some like it hot: Worms at deep-sea vents favor a fiery 45-55°C

...ice of conditions, giving them the highest thermal preference of any animal studied to date. This unique preference for extreme temperatures may be the undersea worms' meal ticket, since they are apparently the only ...

Face perception is modulated by sexual orientation

...the gender of a viewed individual, when the sexual preference of the viewer was taken into account, did make a d...ers suggest that the observed modulation by sexual preference of the response to faces within the orbitofrontal cortex extends the role of this brain region in so...

Most human-chimp differences due to gene regulation ?not genes

...elated to the acquisition of fire and the emerging preference for cooked food. "No other animal relies on cooked food," he said. "Perhaps something in the cooking process altered the biochemical requirements for maximal access to nutrients as well as the need to process the natural toxins found in plant and ani...

Genetically altered mice no longer like cocaine

... the mice with the modified transporters showed no preference for either test compartment within the box." The researchers used the video footage to measure each animal's activity level after a cocaine injection. The normal mice on cocaine covered roughly five times the distance than the control mice injected ...

Nutrition a major factor in rise in twin pregnancies

... then asked hypothetical questions to elicit their preference value for each. "The results showed that many women awaiting IVF appear to prefer the prospect of a chronic adverse birth outcome rather than childlessness", said Mr. Scotland. "Having no child at all was valued significantly lower than having a...

Light guides flight of migratory birds

...ory birds are born with an innate magnetic compass preference that coincides with their species' migratory direction. Previous research suggested that before the migration period, songbirds are able to recalibrate the magnetic compass when exposed to a "conflict" between magnetic and celestial (including polari...

Choosy females make colourful males

...tal variation subsequently leads to differences in preference and eventually to speciation. Evolutionary theory predicts that species can diverge if different females choose different characteristics in males. Yet females often pay attention to traits that reveal something about the quality of a male. As a re...

Zebra finch males prefer females with exaggerated maternal traits

...t the appearance of their parents may give birds a preference for mates with exaggerated parental traits, rather...rning about a specific stimulus usually leads to a preference for this familiar stimulus over an unfamiliar one, it has generally been assumed that imprinting its...

Mutant mice show key autism traits

...e or an empty cage--the mutant mice showed similar preference for the two. Normal mice by far prefer investigating the caged mouse. The researchers also found the mutant mice to be deficient in nest-forming and sexual and maternal behavior. In tests of their reaction to such sensory stimuli as bright environme...

New study finds similarities between monkey business and human business

...ated species, this would bolster the assumption of preference stability." As part of the study, the researchers...osses. Like humans, the monkeys displayed a strong preference for the first option, and like humans, the monkeys seemed to weigh the losses more heavily than comp...

Researchers find that bumblebees' flower choice matters

...r strong attraction to purple loosestrife. "This preference for purple loosestrife or other exotics could threaten reproduction of native plants and have devastating effects on ecosystems," Karron says. Who's your daddy? Calculating paternity could be a nightmare. Because pollen from multiple monkey flo...

Protowings may have helped bird ancestors cover rough terrain

...er they are able to fly, chukars often use WAIR in preference to flying to gain elevated terrain, and exhausted birds always resort to WAIR. Dial and colleagues describe experiments showing that if the surface area of chukar wings is reduced by plucking or trimming the feathers, WAIR becomes less effective for...

Blue eyes -- A clue to paternity

...er eye color. Similarly, brown-eyed men showed no preference for either blue-eyed or brown-eyed female models. ... remarkable that blue-eyed men showed such a clear preference for women with the same eye color, given that the present experiment did not request participants to...

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