Provision the Nest

How Sexual Aggression Alters the Female Brain

Rutgers scientists have taken a step toward understanding how sexual aggression alters the female brain.

In a recent study in Scientific Reports, lead author Tracey Shors, professor in the Department of Psychology and Center for Collaborative Neuroscience in the School of Arts and Sciences, discovered that prepubescent female rodents paired with sexually experienced males had elevated levels of stress hormones, could not learn as well, and expressed reduced maternal behaviors needed to care for offspring.

“This study is important because we need to understand how sexual aggression affects all species,” said Shors. “We also need to know the consequences of this behavior in order for us to determine what we can do to help women learn to recover from sexual aggression and violence.”

Loss of wild flowers across Britain matches pollinator decline

The first ever Britain-wide assessment of the value of wild flowers as food for pollinators shows that decreasing floral resources mirror the decline of pollinating insects, providing new evidence to support the link between plant and pollinator decline.

In recent years, there have been considerable concerns over threats to wild bees and other insect pollinators which are vital to the success of important food crops and wild flowers.

Amongst the many pressures facing pollinators, a key factor is likely to be decreasing floral resources in Britain. 

The study, published in Nature combines vegetation survey data recorded over the last 80 years with modern day measurements of nectar to provide the most comprehensive assessment ever published. 

Parasitized bees are self-medicating in the wild, Dartmouth-led study finds

Bumblebees infected with a common intestinal parasite are drawn to flowers whose nectar and pollen have a medicinal effect, a Dartmouth-led study shows. The findings suggest that plant chemistry could help combat the decline of bee species.

The researchers previously found in lab studies that nectar containing nicotine and other natural chemicals in plants significantly reduced the number of parasites in sickened bees, but the new study shows parasitized bees already are taking advantage of natural chemicals in the wild.

The study is to appear in the journal Ecology but may be reported now by the media. A PDF of the preprint is available on request. The study was conducted by researchers at Dartmouth College and the University of Colorado-Boulder.

What is a fish? When describing evolutionary relationships the word “fish” is almost entirely useless. What we call “fish” usually belongs to the group of teleost fishes, the most numerous group, like the pike in the image above. Or perhaps we refer to a shark, a cartilaginous fish, like the dogfish above. In actual fact these species are not closely related. Teleost fishes are more closely related to us four-limbed land vertebrates, or tetrapods, marked in red above. Every branch of the vertebrate evolutionary tree contains animals we might call “fish” - “any aquatic vertebrate that possesses gills and fins (if any appendages)”. Speaking inclusively, all vertebrates are fish, and some of them are more closely related to you than to a “fish” you might have for lunch.

Comparison of bird beaks, displaying different shapes adapted to different feeding methods. Not to scale. (Source)

For teaching: about birds

What Does The SAT Really Test?

THE SAT. How’s that SAT prep going? Need some SAT tips? Well, here’s one: The SAT may not actually be measuring your…anything. That’s right, your SAT scores, despite what colleges and high schools across America may like for you to believe, may not reflect anything new. There is actually substantial evidence that instead of broad aptitudes, the SATs only measure a specific set of non-quantitative, cultural values and ideas. Don’t scratch those SAT dates off your calendar yet though, because it is still important, and on this week’s episode of Idea Channel, let’s look at why.

Training Trees

Even basic evolutionary trees reveal insights into how different species are connected.

That’s wonderful!