| AIDS-like retrovirus threatens Australia's koalas with extinction Koalas ( Phascolarctos cinereus ) may be one of the world's cuter critters, but that doesn't mean they have it easy. Not only have koala populations become heavily fragmented due to habitat loss, they face numerous threats that they never encountered before: household cats and dogs frequently kill koalas; hundreds die every year after being run over by cars and trucks; and now a deadly virus is spreading to koalas throughout Australia. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Happy Campers Command Stage in Macy’s Parade At Stagedoor Manor, a Catskills theater camp, young performers spend four days in rehearsal to ride the float and perform in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. nytimes.com |
Island Hoping: Are Reserves the Answer to Help Wildlife on the World's Sinking Archipelagos? Dear EarthTalk : Are there any conservation efforts focused on animal species endemic to islands likely to be submerged by rising sea levels? --H. Wyeth, Anahola, Hawaii [More] rss.sciam.com |
Spare Times A selected guide to festivals and events in and around New York. nytimes.com |
All about My Mother: How Touch Helps Us Take Risks Strong emotional bonds between mothers and infants increase children’s willingness to explore the world--an effect that has been observed across the animal kingdom, in people, monkeys and even spiders. The more secure we are in our attachment to Mom, the more likely we are to try new things and take risks. Now researchers are discovering that this effect continues into adulthood. A mere reminder of Mom’s touch or the sound of her voice on the phone is enough to change people’s minds and moods, affecting their decision making in measurable ways.In a study published online in April in Psycholog­ic­al Science , undergraduate business students had to choose between safe bets and risky gambles--a bond with a guaranteed 4 percent yearly return or a riskier stock option, for example. In half the cases, the experimenters patted the students lightly on the back of the shoulder for about one second while providing verbal instructions about the study. Both male and female students who were touched by a female experimenter were far more likely to choose the risky altern­ative than were those who had not been touched or were patted by male experimenters. The reassuring touch of a woman may have triggered early associations, inspiring the same openness to exploration that is observed in young children of supportive mothers, explains Jonathan Levav, a business professor at Columbia University and lead author of the study. [More] rss.sciam.com |