http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Sixty-two percent of Americans now say they believe that global warming is happening, but 46 percent say they are "very sure" or "extremely sure" that it is not. Only 49 percent know why it is occurring, and about as many say they're not worried about it, according to the April report of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. http://phys.org/news287849224.html Other Sciences Wed, 15 May 2013 15:07:27 EST news287849224 Female cowbirds incapable of recognizing high-quality male songs can alter the behavior of flock-mates of either sex and disrupt overall social structure, according to research published May 1 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Sarah Maguire and colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania. http://phys.org/news286645317.html Biology Wed, 01 May 2013 17:00:07 EST news286645317 (Phys.org) —Our work environments play a bigger role than previously thought when it comes to reporting unethical behavior, according to University of Michigan researcher. http://phys.org/news286520473.html Other Sciences Tue, 30 Apr 2013 06:20:02 EST news286520473 For animals, prevailing in a fight affects their likelihood of winning future conflicts. The opposite is true of losing a fight. The sex hormone testosterone is often believed to mediate this "winner effect". Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen have examined whether the presence of an audience influences the behaviour and the testosterone changes of Japanese quails (Coturnix japonica) after a fight. The evidence shows that both winners and losers exhibit raised testosterone levels after a conflict without an audience. http://phys.org/news284379807.html Biology Fri, 05 Apr 2013 11:24:22 EST news284379807 A century old mystery as to why, for some animals, it's the father rather than the mother that takes care of their young has been cracked by scientists at the University of Sheffield and University of Bath. http://phys.org/news282306539.html Biology Tue, 12 Mar 2013 11:29:33 EST news282306539 (Phys.org)—What is everyone looking at? It's a common question in social settings because the answer identifies something of interest, or helps delineate social groupings. Those insights someday will be essential for robots designed to interact with humans, so researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute have developed a method for detecting where people's gazes intersect. http://phys.org/news274618283.html Technology Thu, 13 Dec 2012 10:51:39 EST news274618283 Cheating. Conflict. Competition. It may sound like a soap opera but this is the complex life of the despised ragweed plant. http://phys.org/news268310486.html Biology Mon, 01 Oct 2012 11:41:40 EST news268310486 Scientists have discovered proof that the evolution of intelligence and larger brain sizes can be driven by cooperation and teamwork, shedding new light on the origins of what it means to be human. The study appears online in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B and was led by scientists at Trinity College Dublin: PhD student, Luke McNally and Assistant Professor Dr Andrew Jackson at the School of Natural Sciences in collaboration with Dr Sam Brown of the University of Edinburgh. http://phys.org/news254058056.html Biology Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:41:12 EST news254058056 For plant-inhabiting predatory mites, living among familiar neighbors reduces stress. This allows individuals to focus on other tasks and be more productive, in particular while they are foraging. The new study by Markus Strodl and Peter Schausberger, from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, Austria, supports the theory that so-called 'social familiarity' reduces the cognitive, physiological and behavioral costs of group-living, leading to increased efficiency in other tasks. Their work is published online in Springer's journal, Naturwissenschaften - The Science of Nature. http://phys.org/news252236871.html Biology Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:47:59 EST news252236871 Males consistently change their mating behaviour depending on whether they have spent time with other males before mating, according to new findings by scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA). http://phys.org/news251481375.html Biology Tue, 20 Mar 2012 20:00:03 EST news251481375 Evolutionary biologist at the University of Reading Professor Mark Pagel argues that our cultural influences are more important to our success as a species than our genes in his new book published this week. http://phys.org/news249546954.html Other Sciences Mon, 27 Feb 2012 06:36:03 EST news249546954 The ability to change vocal sounds (vocal plasticity) and develop an accent is potentially far more widespread in mammals than previously believed, according to new research on goats from Queen Mary, University of London. http://phys.org/news248544145.html Biology Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:00:01 EST news248544145 (PhysOrg.com) -- It is well documented that male birds seduce females using their songs, colourful plumage and courtship dances. These signals reflect male genetic quality and will be graded by the female to determine a male's potential as a mate. The stronger the grade, the better the odds of being selected. http://phys.org/news246875924.html Biology Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:39:01 EST news246875924 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have observed a strategy for females to avoid unwanted male attention: choosing more attractive friends. Published today (7 December) in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the study is the first to show females spending time with those more sexually attractive than themselves to reduce harassment from males. http://phys.org/news242454455.html Biology Wed, 07 Dec 2011 04:27:52 EST news242454455 A Spanish builder stumbled on an online loophole that enables users to send Facebook messages in other users' names, prompting an alert by authorities, he said Wednesday. http://phys.org/news241887951.html Technology Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:06:01 EST news241887951 In the fight for survival, plants are capable of complex social behaviours and may exhibit altruism towards family members, but aggressively compete with strangers. http://phys.org/news240059976.html Biology Wed, 09 Nov 2011 11:19:50 EST news240059976 (PhysOrg.com) -- Males decide how much effort they put into courtship and which females to court based on how many others they have recently encountered and how attractive they were, according to a new study into the mating tactics of tropical fish. http://phys.org/news237538491.html Biology Tue, 11 Oct 2011 07:55:08 EST news237538491 (PhysOrg.com) -- Dutch scientists at VU University Amsterdam are able to quite accurately predict the emergence of leaders in domains such as politics and the military. They developed a model of leadership emergence based on the interaction between our biological properties and social environment. http://phys.org/news236840313.html Other Sciences Mon, 03 Oct 2011 05:58:50 EST news236840313 Human brains have shrunk over the past 30,000 years, puzzling scientists who argue it is not a sign we are growing dumber but that evolution is making the key motor leaner and more efficient. http://phys.org/news216198132.html Biology Sun, 06 Feb 2011 07:02:32 EST news216198132 Psychologists at Harvard University have found that infants less than one year old understand social dominance and use relative size to predict who will prevail when two individuals' goals conflict. The finding is presented this week in the journal Science. http://phys.org/news215360026.html Medicine & Health Thu, 27 Jan 2011 14:14:35 EST news215360026 Studies on genetically engineered mice show that social stress activates the immune system and accelerates the development of atherosclerosis. Commonly used drugs to reduce blood pressure, however, may stop this process. This is the conclusion of a thesis presented at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. http://phys.org/news210858708.html Medicine & Health Mon, 06 Dec 2010 12:20:04 EST news210858708 Both the bully and the victim's individual characteristics, rather than the wider social environment, explain why bullying occurs, according to Swedish teenagers. The new study, by Dr. Robert Thornberg and Sven Knutsen from Linköping University in Sweden, also shows that 42 percent of teenagers blamed the victim for the bullying. The study is published online in Springer's journal, Child & Youth Care Forum. http://phys.org/news208694475.html Other Sciences Thu, 11 Nov 2010 11:10:02 EST news208694475 People who feel excluded will go to any length to try to become part of a group, even if it involves spending large sums of cash, eating something dicey, or doing illicit drugs, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. http://phys.org/news204221985.html Other Sciences Mon, 20 Sep 2010 17:19:52 EST news204221985 Honey bees removed from their usual roles in the hive quickly and drastically changed their biological rhythms, according to a study in the Sept. 15 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The changes were evident in both the bees' behavior and in their internal clocks. These findings indicate that social environment has a significant effect on the physiology and behavior of animals. In people, disturbances to the biological clock are known to cause problems for shift workers and new parents and for contributing to mood disorders. http://phys.org/news203704207.html Biology Tue, 14 Sep 2010 17:30:27 EST news203704207 Women who live in neighborhoods lacking in close ties are more likely to have coronary artery calcification, a key marker for underlying heart disease, than those who live in more socially cohesive neighborhoods, according to a study led by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researcher Daniel Kim. Women who lived in the most economically deprived neighborhoods had more than double the odds of underlying heart disease. http://phys.org/news201340212.html Medicine & Health Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:10:01 EST news201340212 If college students gain weight during their first year in school, it might have a lot to do with how close they live to their campus dining halls and exercise facilities, a new study reports. http://phys.org/news200070927.html Medicine & Health Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:50:01 EST news200070927 A residential summer weight-loss camp markedly improved obese children's health, a study in the April edition of Pediatrics reports. A Saint Louis University physician found the camp improved children's weight, body mass index (BMI), physical fitness and blood pressure. http://phys.org/news192372252.html Medicine & Health Thu, 06 May 2010 13:44:29 EST news192372252 Young people who have experienced threats and violence feel more insecure than others in urban public spaces, especially when alone. This is one conclusion from researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. http://phys.org/news184935541.html Other Sciences Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:10:01 EST news184935541 Psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Memphis have released a new study on linguistic evolution that challenges the prominent hypothesis for why languages differ throughout the world. http://phys.org/news183306456.html Other Sciences Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:00:01 EST news183306456 Do good-looking people really benefit from their looks, and in what ways? A team of researchers from the University of Georgia and the University of Kansas found that yes; attractive people do tend to have more social relationships and therefore an increased sense of psychological well-being. This seems like common sense, and might be why we spend billions of dollars each year trying to become more attractive. However, the study, published in this month's issue of Personal Relationships, also determines that the importance of attractiveness is not universal; rather, it is determined by where we live. http://phys.org/news180098203.html Medicine & Health Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:30:07 EST news180098203