Men and voice manipulations
A new research suggests that men cannot intentionally make their voices sound more sexy or attractive, while women have little trouble doing so. And true to the stereotype, women will lower their pitch and increase their hoarseness to dial up the allure. “This ability may be due to culture and cuts across cultures and time,” says Susan Hughes, PhD, associate professor of psychology at Albright College. “There is a stereotype of what is a sexual voice in our culture — a low, breathy voice.” The research examines the patterns that emerge when men and women intentionally modify their voices to project four traits related to mate selection and competition — sexiness, dominance, intelligence and confidence — and how others perceive these manipulations.
Faces can change buyer’s decision
Merely changing the face of a model in an ad increases the number of potential purchasers by as much as 15 per cent (eight per cent on average), says a study being published by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). The study reveals that a technique of screening faces when designing ads can transform the current subjective process into a scientifically automated one. Considering the extensive use of human faces in advertising, this technique may be quite profitable.The technique used is the eigenface method, which has been widely used for face recognition purposes in other fields, including personal device logons, human-computer interaction, and law enforcement's tracking of suspects. Eigenface method aims to identify each face by a small set of key dimensions that together explain the variations in human faces.
brain cell and cancer therapy
Scientists have gained new understanding of the role played by a key molecule that controls how and when nerve and brain cells are formed — a process that allows the brain to develop and keeps it healthy. Their findings could help explain what happens when cell production goes out of control, which is a fundamental characteristic of many diseases including cancer. Researchers have focused on a RNA molecule, known as miR-9, which is linked to the development of brain cells, known as neurons and glial cells. They have shown that a protein called lin28a regulates the production of miR-9, which in turn controls the genes involved in brain cell development and function. Scientists carried out lab studies of embryonic cells, which can develop into neurons, to determine how lin28a controls the amount of miR-9. They found that in embryonic cells, lin28a prevents production of miR-9 by triggering the degradation of its precursor molecule.
Early roots of psychiatric disorders
Newborns whose mothers were exposed during pregnancy to any one of a variety of environmental stressors — such as trauma, illness and alcohol or drug abuse — become susceptible to various psychiatric disorders that frequently arise later in life. However, it has been unclear how these stressors affect the cells of the developing brain prenatally and give rise to conditions such as schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and autism and bipolar disorders. Now, Yale University researchers have identified a single molecular mechanism in the developing brain that sheds light on how cells may go awry when exposed to a variety of different environmental insults.
Antidepressants and women
Researchers at the University of Adelaide have found that women on antidepressant medication are more successful at breastfeeding their babies if they continue taking the medication, compared with women who quit antidepressants because of concerns about their babies' health. Using data from the Danish National Birth Cohort in Denmark, researchers in the University of Adelaide's Robinson Research Institute studied the outcomes of 368 women who were on antidepressants prior to becoming pregnant. “We found that two thirds of the women stopped taking their antidepressant medication either after becoming pregnant,” says NHMRC Early Career Fellow Dr luke Grzeskowiak.