Moving around children’s fiction: agentic and impossible mobilities

Children’s imagined mobilities are determined by a range of interactions, not least through engagement with fictional stories in which childhood itself is imagined, written and re-written, interpreted and re-interpreted. Too often children’s imagined mobilities are overlooked in favour of more instrumental approaches to their mobilities. Drawing from a spatialised literary tradition and a growing focus on literature in mobility studies, this article poses the possibility that imagined mobilities extend the agency of children in an ‘impossible’ adultist world

Dogs aren’t jealous – they are just asking for accurate information

Awake fMRI offers us a unique opportunity to view and understand how dogs see the world and use the information in it. Given the limitations of behavioral assays and the small sample sizes inherent in these studies, labeling of patterns of canine behaviors using pop psychology terms may actually interfere with our understanding of canine brains and obscure for us a more parsimonious but exciting interpretation of canine behavior. We should use this window into how dogs think wisely

First report of Laternula elliptica in the Antarctic intertidal zone

Many Antarctic marine invertebrates are considered to be highly stenothermal, subjected to loss of functionality at increased temperatures and so at high risk of mortality in a rapidly warming environment. The bivalve Laternula elliptica is often used as a model taxon to test these theories. Here, we report the first instance L. elliptica from an intertidal site. Genetic analysis of the tissue confirms the species identity. A total of seven animals ranging in length from 6 to 85 mm were collected from 3 × 0.25 m2 quadrats of intertidal sediments at St Martha Cove on James Ross Island, Eastern Antarctic Peninsula. Ambient temperatures of 7.5 °C within the sediment and 10 °C (air) were recorded. This raises questions as to the current perception that “many Antarctic marine invertebrates cannot adapt to higher temperatures”

Sex Differences in Sexual Arousal and Finger Length Ratio

Most men show sexual arousal to one, preferred sex, whereas most women respond to both sexes, regardless of their sexual orientation. A different research program indicates that men have lower second-to-fourth finger length ratios (2D:4D) than women, possibly because men are exposed to higher levels of androgens during prenatal development. We hypothesized that sex differences in sexual arousal patterns are influenced by prenatal androgen exposure and would thus be explained by sex differences in 2D:4D. We measured the sexual response patterns of 139 men and 179 women via genital arousal and pupil dilation to erotic videos, in addition to their 2D:4D. Compared to women, men showed stronger responses to one sex over the other, although this pattern was clearer in genital arousal than pupil dilation. Men also had lower 2D:4D than women. However, there was no evidence that sex differences in sexual arousal related to sex differences in 2D:4D. Thus, whichever factor explains sex differences in sexual arousal patterns may not be reflected in 2D:4D

Sexual Orientation, Sexual Arousal, and Finger Length Ratios in Women

In general, women show physiological sexual arousal to both sexes. However, compared with heterosexual women, homosexual women are more aroused to their preferred sex, a pattern typically found in men. We hypothesized that homosexual women’s male-typical arousal is due to their sex-atypical masculinization during prenatal development. We measured the sexual responses of 199 women (including 67 homosexual women) via their genital arousal and pupil dilation to female and male sexual stimuli. Our main marker of masculinization was the ratio of the index to ring finger, which we expected to be lower (a masculine pattern) in homosexual women due to increased levels of prenatal androgens. We further measured observer- and self-ratings of psychological masculinity–femininity as possible proxies of prenatal androgenization. Homosexual women responded more strongly to female stimuli than male stimuli and therefore had more male-typical sexual responses than heterosexual women. However, they did not have more male-typical digit ratios, even though this difference became stronger if analyses were restricted to white participants. Still, variation in women's digit ratios did not account for the link between their sexual orientation and their male-typical sexual responses. Furthermore, homosexual women reported and displayed more masculinity than heterosexual women, but their masculinity was not associated with their male-typical sexual arousal. Thus, women’s sexual and behavioral traits, and potential anatomical traits, are possibly masculinized at different stages of gestation

Patterns of Genital Sexual Arousal in Transgender Men

Most men show genital sexual arousal to one preferred gender. Most women show genital arousal to both genders, regardless of their sexual preferences. There is limited knowledge of whether this difference is driven by biological sex or gender identity. Transgender individuals, whose birth sex and gender identity are incongruent, provide a unique opportunity to address this question. We tested whether the genital responses of 25 (female-to-male) transgender men followed their female birth sex or male gender identity. Depending on their surgical status, arousal was assessed with penile gauges or vaginal plethysmographs. Transgender men’s sexual arousal showed both male-typical and female-typical patterns. Across measures, they responded more strongly to their preferred gender than to the other gender, similar to (but not entirely like) 145 cisgender (nontransgender) men. However, they still responded to both genders, similar to 178 cisgender women. In birth-assigned women, both gender identity and biological sex may influence sexual-arousal patterns

BBGD: an online database for blueberry genomic data

BACKGROUND: Blueberry is a member of the Ericaceae family, which also includes closely related cranberry and more distantly related rhododendron, azalea, and mountain laurel. Blueberry is a major berry crop in the United States, and one that has great nutritional and economical value. Extreme low temperatures, however, reduce crop yield and cause major losses to US farmers. A better understanding of the genes and biochemical pathways that are up- or down-regulated during cold acclimation is needed to produce blueberry cultivars with enhanced cold hardiness. To that end, the blueberry genomics database (BBDG) was developed. Along with the analysis tools and web-based query interfaces, the database serves both the broader Ericaceae research community and the blueberry research community specifically by making available ESTs and gene expression data in searchable formats and in elucidating the underlying mechanisms of cold acclimation and freeze tolerance in blueberry. DESCRIPTION: BBGD is the world's first database for blueberry genomics. BBGD is both a sequence and gene expression database. It stores both EST and microarray data and allows scientists to correlate expression profiles with gene function. BBGD is a public online database. Presently, the main focus of the database is the identification of genes in blueberry that are significantly induced or suppressed after low temperature exposure. CONCLUSION: By using the database, researchers have developed EST-based markers for mapping and have identified a number of "candidate" cold tolerance genes that are highly expressed in blueberry flower buds after exposure to low temperatures

Prolactin stimulates precursor cells in the adult mouse hippocampus

In the search for ways to combat degenerative neurological disorders, neurogenesis-stimulating factors are proving to be a promising area of research. In this study, we show that the hormonal factor prolactin (PRL) can activate a pool of latent precursor cells in the adult mouse hippocampus. Using an in vitro neurosphere assay, we found that the addition of exogenous PRL to primary adult hippocampal cells resulted in an approximate 50% increase in neurosphere number. In addition, direct infusion of PRL into the adult dentate gyrus also resulted in a significant increase in neurosphere number. Together these data indicate that exogenous PRL can increase hippocampal precursor numbers both in vitro and in vivo. Conversely, PRL null mice showed a significant reduction (approximately 80%) in the number of hippocampal-derived neurospheres. Interestingly, no deficit in precursor proliferation was observed in vivo, indicating that in this situation other niche factors can compensate for a loss in PRL. The PRL loss resulted in learning and memory deficits in the PRL null mice, as indicated by significant deficits in the standard behavioral tests requiring input from the hippocampus. This behavioral deficit was rescued by direct infusion of recombinant PRL into the hippocampus, indicating that a lack of PRL in the adult mouse hippocampus can be correlated with impaired learning and memory