Tag: Animals

Exploring how social touch affects communication between female animals

The sense of touch can significantly affect how animals and humans perceive the world around them, enriching their experiences and allowing them to gather more information about their surroundings and other living organisms. Although touch is a crucial aspect of perceptual experience, in philosophical, psychological and neuroscientific research it has often been overshadowed by vision.

China's virus may have been lurking in animals for DECADES

Chinese coronavirus may have been lurking in animals for DECADES before adapting to infect humans, leading expert says amid killer outbreak Sir Jeremy Farrar said the virus isn’t new but has likely adapted to infect humans  Deadly SARS, HIV and Ebola viruses also emerged from an animal source  A total of 325 people have caught

Herpes vaccine is a winner in animals. Next up: Testing on humans.

For nearly a century, efforts to develop a vaccine to prevent genital herpes have failed. At least nine prospects, including several that made it to late-stage human testing, have flopped in the last decade. Considering that history, University of Pennsylvania scientists are justifiably excited about their vaccine against the herpes simplex 2 virus, even though

Mosquito-borne virus threat grows with 2 new Michigan cases

Michigan health officials amped up their warning about a rare mosquito-borne virus Tuesday, after the state’s Department of Health and Human Services confirmed four new cases of Eastern equine encephalitis disease (EEE). Two of the state’s seven cases so far this year were fatal. “Michigan is currently experiencing its worst Eastern equine encephalitis outbreak in

Five animals that could help us beat human diseases

As humans, we may feel rather lucky about our evolutionary lot. We live longer than many other animals, and lifespans continue to increase thanks to better diets, advances in medicine and improved public health. But our quest to beat aging and the diseases that come with aging continues. Osteoarthritis rates, for example, have doubled since

How language developed: Comprehension learning precedes vocal production: Green monkeys’ alarm calls allow conclusions about the evolution of language

Human language and communication skills are unique in the animal kingdom. How they developed in the course of evolution is being researched, among other things, using the alarm call system of vervet monkeys. East African vervet monkeys warn their conspecifics against predators with special alarm calls that mean “leopard,” “eagle” or “snake.” In a recently

Roles of emotional support animals examined: Beyond airlines, colleges and courts struggle to understand need, effects, researchers say

Airlines are not the only organizations grappling with the complexities surrounding emotional support animals. Colleges and courts are also questioning the need for these animals and the effects they may have on students and juries, respectively, according to research presented at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association. The recent, rapid rise of emotional

Sunk cost fallacy in mice, rats and humans

The behavior of people who remain committed to a choice, even when it is clear that an alternate choice would be a better option, has been a perplexing phenomenon to psychologists and economists. For example, people will continue to wait in the slow line at a grocery store, stick out an unhealthy relationship, or refuse

Who got bit? By mailing in 16,000 ticks, citizen scientists help track disease exposures: Study offers new insight into potential exposure to tick-borne diseases

A bite from a disease-carrying tick can transmit a serious, potentially fatal infection, such as Lyme disease. But many ticks go unnoticed and unreported. Now, with the help of citizen scientists, ecologists at Colorado State University and Northern Arizona University are offering better insight into people’s and animals’ potential exposure to tick-borne diseases — not

E. coli infection induces delirium in aging rats: Research could inform understanding of how immune system activation affects cognitive function in the elderly

Activation of the immune system by an infection may temporarily disrupt formation of long-term memories in healthy, aging rats by reducing levels of a protein required for brain cells to make new connections, suggests new research published in eNeuro. Cognitive decline in old age is thought to be gradual, as in Alzheimer’s disease. However, an

Neuroscientists find first evidence animals can mentally replay past events: Discovery of episodic memory replay in rats could lead to better treatments for Alzheimer’s disease

Neuroscientists at Indiana University have reported the first evidence that non-human animals can mentally replay past events from memory. The discovery could help advance the development of new drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease. The study, led by IU professor Jonathon Crystal, appears today in the journal Current Biology. “The reason we’re interested in animal memory