Gaze following in multiagent contexts: Evidence for a quorum-like principle

Research shows that humans spontaneously follow another individual’s gaze. However, little remains known on how they respond when multiple gaze cues diverge across members of a social group. To address this question, we presented participants with displays depicting three (Experiment 1) or five (Experiment 2) agents showing diverging social cues. In a three-person group, one individual looking at the target (33% of the group) was sufficient to elicit gaze-facilitated target responses. With a five-person group, however, three individuals looking at the target (60% of the group) were necessary to produce the same effect. Gaze following in small groups therefore appears to be based on a quorum-like principle, whereby the critical level of social information needed for gaze following is determined by a proportion of consistent social cues scaled as a function of group size. As group size grows, greater agreement is needed to evoke joint attention

Bovine cryptosporidiosis: impact, host-parasite interaction and control strategies

International audienceAbstractGastrointestinal disease caused by the apicomplexan parasite Cryptosporidium parvum is one of the most important diseases of young ruminant livestock, particularly neonatal calves. Infected animals may suffer from profuse watery diarrhoea, dehydration and in severe cases death can occur. At present, effective therapeutic and preventative measures are not available and a better understanding of the host–pathogen interactions is required. Cryptosporidium parvum is also an important zoonotic pathogen causing severe disease in people, with young children being particularly vulnerable. Our knowledge of the immune responses induced by Cryptosporidium parasites in clinically relevant hosts is very limited. This review discusses the impact of bovine cryptosporidiosis and describes how a thorough understanding of the host–pathogen interactions may help to identify novel prevention and control strategies

Roadmap on dynamics of molecules and clusters in the gas phase

This roadmap article highlights recent advances, challenges and future prospects in studies of the dynamics of molecules and clusters in the gas phase. It comprises nineteen contributions by scientists with leading expertise in complementary experimental and theoretical techniques to probe the dynamics on timescales spanning twenty order of magnitudes, from attoseconds to minutes and beyond, and for systems ranging in complexity from the smallest (diatomic) molecules to clusters and nanoparticles. Combining some of these techniques opens up new avenues to unravel hitherto unexplored reaction pathways and mechanisms, and to establish their significance in, e.g. radiotherapy and radiation damage on the nanoscale, astrophysics, astrochemistry and atmospheric science