Results tagged “monkeys” from 60 Second Science

Are you a Giants fan? Are you feeling good today? It could be the testosterone boost you got from vicariously participating in the Giants' miraculous late-game win in Sunday's Super Bowl.

This effect has been known about for quite some time -- a 1998 paper by University of Utah researchers Berhardt et al. demonstrated that beyond its effects on mood and self esteem, watching your team win not only boosts your testosterone level, but also decreases the levels of circulating testosterone in the fans of the losing team.

Continue reading 'The science of Superbowl fandom: Giants fans' testosterone levels up, Patriots fans' testosterone levels down' >

For the first time ever, monkeys walking on treadmills in the U.S. can control robots on treadmills in Japan. This news has been brought to you by Duke University Medical Center researchers along with the Computational Brain Project of the Japan Science and Technology Agency

Also: CGI of monkeys walking treadmills:

Now that we've partnered the increasingly dangerous monkeys with increasingly dangerous robots, the lasers are that much more important.

Continue reading 'American monkey brains control Japanese robots' >

Teenage me thought it was smooth as hell to turn to the girl next to me in choir--yes, choir--and offer to rub her shoulders before asking her out. Turns out it wasn't just a hormonal innovation. Now Dr. Michael Gumert, a primatologist at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, suggests that male macaque monkeys pay for sex by grooming their female counterparts.

"In primate societies, grooming is the underlying fabric of it all," Gumert told the Associated Press "It's a sign of friendship and family, and it's also something that can be exchanged for sexual services."

Continue reading 'Monkey sex now for sale cheap - only three picked nits and a French braid!' >

Darpa has managed to combine to of my biggest loves — snorting things and lack of sleep — to create positive results. You see, usually when I snort things and don't sleep for days on end, I perform poorly on the various performance tests (job, girlfriend, hygiene) of the following day.

No longer: Researchers at Darpa found that a nasal spray containing the naturally-occurring brain hormone orexin A allowed sleep-deprived monkeys to perform just as well as well-rested monkeys in a series of cognitive tests. Scientists think the drug could first be used to treat narcolepsy, which may come from a lack of orexin A. Darpa also hopes to prescribe it to sleep-deprived soldiers in the field as well as the 70 percent of Americans who the National Sleep Foundation says get less than the recommended 8 hours.

Continue reading 'Snort your way past sleep' >

What’s cooler than forcing droves of disenfranchised teenagers armed with lasers to battle tens of thousands of feral, murderous monkeys terrorizing the countryside?

The answer: absolutely nothing. India, you officially rule.

After losing much of their natural forest habitat, rhesus macaque monkeys have spread out to farms and cities over much of India’s northern territory, leading to one death and about 25 attacks. Indian authorities, ever the pragmatists, have decided to draft a small army of unemployed, minimally trained youths (don't forget about the lasers) for an epic clash to either death or castration, depending on who wins. I mean, those kids got nothing better to do, am I right?

Conservationalists have the gall to denounce all this as “unscientific.” One even goes so far to say, and not without a whiff of pomposity methinks: "It is a ridiculous idea and what is worse, it will do nothing to contain the problem and probably make it worse.”

Worse, or awesomer? Let’s get it on.

Today's 60 Second Science podcast is brought to you by our favorite subject:

The monkeys are revolting!

Full transcript after the jump...

Continue reading 'The monkeys are revolting! [podcast]' >

Because we always need more monkeys, the Oregon National Primate Research Centre is happy to oblige. Shoukhrat Mitalipov has apparently succeeded in cloning the first embryos from adult monkeys, but can't talk about it until the results of the study are published later this month.

Continue reading 'Monkeys! Coming soon in exciting therapeutic, cloned form. Probably.' >

Because science is charged with illuminating truth above all else, no matter how disturbing, we find it in the common interest to let you know: Monkeys are out to kill you — especially if you work in politics.

Wild monkeys killed a senior Indian government official in his home. New Delhi deputy mayor SS Bajwa died after being pushed from his balcony during the attack by the gang of Rhesus macaques.

Damn, that's gangsta!

Continue reading 'Damn dirty rhesus!' >