A group of researchers has created a model they say can identify and predict how multiple relationships form in social networks. The nuance, they say, is that multiple, distinct types of relationships often occur among users of the same network and existing models that explain how relationships form in a network don't account for these variations.

As an example, they note that when people connect with each other through networks, they connect via multiple relationships. Two Facebook users may be "friends" but may not regularly communicate with each other directly and a user commenting on another's profile or otherwise actively communicating represents a different type of relationship in the network.

Why do flies like beer?  It's sweeter than you think.  Entomologists say the flies sense glycerol, the sweet-tasting compound that yeasts make during fermentation.

The researchers examined the feeding preference of the common fruit fly for beer and other products of yeast fermentation, and found that a receptor - a protein that serves as a gatekeeper - called Gr64e is associated with neurons located in the fly's mouth is instrumental in signaling a good taste for beer.

Once a fly has settled on beer, Gr64e detects glycerol and transmits this information to the fly's neurons, which then influences the fly's behavioral response. Flies use other receptors in their sensory organs to find food from a distance.

Numerical models had a tough decade to start off the 2000s.  A field that had shown itself to be both scientific and applied in areas like semiconductor physics was extrapolated out to cultural issues and economics and successfully predicted...nothing.

A new model created by an international research group claims they can now predict which European countries are more likely to become united or which are more likely to break up. It does so by not only considering demographic and economic criteria but also culture and genetics.

What?  Europe? No predicting the Arab Spring?  No riots in China?

Researchers are saying that the perception of nude bodies is boosted at an early stage of visual processing. 

So it may be an overlap with the culturally forbidden nature of scantily clad or nude figures as the driving force behind its appeal in areas as diverse as sexual arousal, art and advertising.  Brain imaging studies have localized areas in the brain which are specialized in detecting human bodies in the environment, but it was unknown whether the brain processes nude and clothed bodies in different ways. 

Researchers at the University of Tampere and the Aalto University, Finland, have now shown that the perception of nude bodies is boosted at an early stage of visual processing.

My thesis is now officially half published*! Can we have a party or something?

Marine Ecology Progress Series has just put out my paper, "Effects of temperature on the embryonic development of the Humboldt squid Dosidicus gigas." Or, as I said in the title--Baby Squid Like it Warm.

Cosmic particle accelerators may be more efficient than previously thought, according to a discovery which has revealed the initial stages of acceleration for the first time.

In space, large magnetic fields guide cosmic rays across the Universe at almost the speed of light, but they don't start them moving in the first place.  And you need some way to begin the acceleration process. The Large Hadron Collider at CERN uses a series of small accelerators to get its particles up to speed before injecting them into the main 27 km-circumference ring for further acceleration. 

It's been a while since my last "guess the plot" posting. The simple explanation is that I did not happen to run into any fancy graph in the last month or so. Now, today I have one for you to guess, but I must add that I believe it is rather easy to understand what it represents. Less obvious is to completely understand the math behind it, and the implications of the construction.

Bethesda Softworks' "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" has enjoyed an enthusiastic reception by gamers across the globe. After shipping seven million units of Skyrim for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, Skyrim's launch units are expected to generate more than $450 million in global retail sales. 

A new compound has been shown to reduce Body Mass Index (BMI) and abdominal circumference in obese rhesus monkeys, and imaging revealed a substantial decrease in body fat. In contrast to current ‘drugs’ for obesity that control appetite or absorption of dietary fat, this experimental drug binds to a protein on fat-supporting blood vessels and, once there, triggers cell death.

   

Rhesus monkey (or Macaca mulatta)

(Source: Wikimedia Commons, user Einar Fredriksen)