Jason wrote up a post over at Hackszine.com about an interesting study that was conducted over at Harvard Medical School about a second circadian clock in mammals.

There was an interview with Clifford Saper, a professor of Neurology and Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School, in last week's Science Friday. The discussion was about a study which was just published in the journal Science about a second circadian clock in mammals that is driven by food availability. The research suggests that this second clock evolved as a sleep-cycle "reset" mechanism which allows mammals to very quickly adapt to optimize their wake period and maximize the chances of finding food during times when food is scarce.

This starvation override can take effect after only 16 hours of fasting. When the fast is cancelled by a sufficient caloric intake (read: real food), the body will shift its natural wake time to coincide with the event. So if you want to ditch your jet lag, or if you want to get up earlier in the morning, it might be as simple as fasting for the 16 hours prior to the time you would like to wake up, then eat a big meal. Your body will then override its normal light-based rhythm and wake at that same time going forward.

Link [via Hackszine.com]

The Seattle Biomedical Research Institute is seeking volunteers who are willing to be bitten by mosquitoes infected with malaria.  Volunteers could be paid up to $4000.

Scientists say no lives are in danger because the volunteers can be cured. The institute is testing which vaccines work fastest.

The head of the program, Dr. Patrick Duffy, said volunteers will spend several nights under medical supervision in a hotel.

Link.

By "scanning the largest collection of families with multiple cases of autism ever assembled," scientists say they have found new autism genes -- a region of chromosome 11 and a specific gene called neurexin 1 -- as described in the latest issue of Nature Genetics.

"We hope that these exciting results may represent a step on the way to further new treatments in the future."

Professor John Burn, of the Institute of Human Genetics at Newcastle University, said the news was fantastic.

But he cautioned: "There will almost certainly be an interaction between several genes so this one discovery doesn't provide a complete answer and may not lead straight to a genetic test but it could be a key step in development for effective treatments as it provides a target for drug development."

Dr Fred Kavalier of the British Society for Human Genetics said a cure for autism was still a long way off.

Read the full article here.

"A Class Divided" is a Frontline documentary about a small-town teacher, in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., teaching her 3rd grade class a daring lesson in discrimination.

On the first day, Jane Elliott divided her class into blue-eyed and brown-eyed groups and expressed the superiority of the blue-eyed group as well as giving them special privileges.  On the second day, she reversed the exercise and the brown-eyed group was superior. 

The result? 

Based on 2002 data from 14 states, a study has revealed that 1 in 150 American children has autism.

The study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calculated an average autism rate 6.6 per 1,000. That compares with last year's estimated rate of 5.5 in 1,000.

The research involved an intense review of medical and school records for children in all or part of 14 states and gives the clearest picture yet of how common autism is in some parts of the country, CDC officials said.

However, those states are not demographically representative of the nation as a whole, so officials cautioned against using the results as a national average. The study doesn't include some of the most populous states including California, Texas and Florida.

Read the full article here.

Previously:
New Study: MMR link to on-set of Autism? The debate continues, Teaching Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Genetics and Autism, My Son Has Autism blog: Learning How to Learn

SupportSoft recently conducted a "Cyber Stress" study where they found that 65 percent of consumers spend more time with their computers than their spouse, and 8 out of 10 Americans are more dependent on their home computers now than they were 3 years ago.  Time spent with our computers aren't exactly long walks on the beach:

• The average consumer has experienced computer troubles eight times - about every four months - over the last three years.
• The average American is wasting 12 hours per month - the equivalent of half a weekend - due to problems with their home computer.
• A majority of Americans (52%) describe their most recent experience with a computer problem as one of anger, sadness or alienation.

Of course this study is a way to promote SupportSoft's support.com service in which consumers can call on a SupportSoft technician for computer woes advice.  Despite the obvious promotion, it got me thinking... 

How much time (repair, work, leisure, etc.) do you spend on your computer?  Participate in the poll.

[via delicious]

Researchers at the University of Florida have found that zapping your sponges in the microwave will sterilize those squishy-bacteria-breeding-grounds.

The researchers used an off-the-shelf microwave oven to zap the sponges and scrub pads for varying lengths of time, wringing them out and determining the microbial load of the water for each test. They compared their findings with water from control sponges and pads not placed in the microwave.

The results were unambiguous: Two minutes of microwaving on full power mode killed or inactivated more than 99 percent of all the living pathogens in the sponges and pads, although the Bacillus cereus spores required four minutes for total inactivation.

Bitton said the heat, rather than the microwave radiation, likely is what proves fatal to the pathogens. Because the microwave works by exciting water molecules, it is better to microwave wet rather than dry sponges or scrub pads, he said.

“The microwave is a very powerful and an inexpensive tool for sterilization,” Bitton said, adding that people should microwave their sponges according to how often they cook, with every other day being a good rule of thumb.

Read the full article here.

Scientists at the Duke Univesity Medical Center are suggesting they have discovered the region of the brain that determines whether a person will be altruistic or selfish.

Altruism - the tendency to help others without obvious benefit to oneself - appears to be linked to an area called the posterior superior temporal sulcus.

Using brain scans, the US investigators found this region related to a person's real-life unselfish behaviour.

They are now exploring ways to study the development of this brain region in early life and believe such information may help determine how altruistic tendencies are established.

Researcher Dr Scott Huettel explained: "Although understanding the function of this brain region may not necessarily identify what drives people like Mother Theresa, it may give clues to the origins of important social behaviours like altruism."

Read the full article here.

Ben Jones and colleagues from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland conducted a study in which they showed 28 men and 28 women pairs of male faces and asked them to rate their attractiveness.  The photos were pre-rated by 40 women and were rated equal in attractiveness. 

After the initial rating, the same men and women were presented with the same photos, however, this time the pairs of photos included a female face in profile.  The female was positioned to be looking (smiling or not smiling) at one of the men.  What were their results?

Women found the men who were being smiled at suddenly more attractive, while men who apparently elicited no such smiling approval were pronounced less attractive.

Men, meanwhile, behaved in a strikingly different manner. They rated men who had been smiled at as less attractive. ”Within-sex competition promotes negative attitudes towards men who are the target of positive social interest from women,” the researchers conclude.

Read the full article here.

The Stanford Prison Experiment is a classic study that every psychology major hears about in their Psych 101 class. 

What happens when you put good people in an evil place? Does humanity win over evil, or does evil triumph? These are some of the questions we posed in this dramatic simulation of prison life conducted in the summer of 1971 at Stanford University.

How we went about testing these questions and what we found may astound you. Our planned two-week investigation into the psychology of prison life had to be ended prematurely after only six days because of what the situation was doing to the college students who participated. In only a few days, our guards became sadistic and our prisoners became depressed and showed signs of extreme stress.

If you haven't heard of this study, I strongly urge you to visit The Stanford Prison Experiment: A Simulation Study of the Psychology of Imprisonment website and watch this video [via digg].