Human laughter can be traced back 10-16 million years to the last common ancestor of humans and great apes, according to new research published today.   Dr Marina Davila Ross, a primatologist of the psychology department at the University of Portsmouth, reconstructed the origins of human laughter by mapping the laughter sounds of great apes and humans on an evolutionary tree.

In Davila Ross’s reconstructed evolutionary tree, humans were closest to bonobos and chimpanzees, more distant from gorillas and most distant from orangutans.  

Biologists always love when researchers in psychology departments reconfigure the evolutionary tree for them.

New research shows that when two species of stickleback fish evolved,  different genes in each species caused the loss of their pelvises and body armor.  Researchers say they were surprised because they expected the same genes would control the same changes in both related fish.

Thank you.  Thank you very much.

Using single-molecule manipulation, researchers at Harvard University say they have uncovered a fundamental feedback mechanism that the body uses in regulating the clotting of blood. A new physical, quantitative, and predictive model of how the body works to respond to injury could improve treatment of bleeding disorders.

It also gives insight into how bleeding disorders, such as type 2A von Willebrand disease, disrupt this regulation system, potentially leading to new avenues for treatment and diagnosis.

Dating human migration has always been something of a guess, especially without corroborating archaeological evidence.

Researchers at the University of Leeds say they have devised a more accurate method .  That's good news, because the most widely used genetic method works back to find the last common ancestor of any particular set of lineages using samples of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), but this method has recently been shown to be unreliable, throwing 20 years of research into doubt. 

Bats, unlike most animals, don't primarily use their voices for communication.  Instead, they use echolocation to navigate their surroundings but they can also use it, and the characteristics of other bats' voices, to recognize each other, according to a study by researchers from the University of Tuebingen, Germany and the University of Applied Sciences in Konstanz, Germany.

The study published June 5 in PLoS Computational Biology, explains how bats use echolocation for more than just spatial knowledge and it might also help explain how some bats travel at high speed, at night, in formation without interfering with each other.

LONDON, June 4 /PRNewswire/ --

Millions of Brits are dicing with disaster and placing their health at risk when taking overseas holidays, research from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) reveals.

The RPSGB's Holiday Health report, released today, shows our laid-back attitude to our well-being can quickly turn perfect holidays into perfectly ghastly experiences.

The RPSGB is urging Brits to visit their local pharmacy for holiday health advice and essential products before they head off on their summer holiday - after all, no one wants to be part of the 44 per cent who suffer from nasty insect bites, or the 40 per cent who find themselves struck down by diarrhoea while abroad.

In previous posts I have made the argument that the brain constructs a data organization framework which represents our worldview (or belief systems). It is against this structure that new information will be evaluated, accepted, or rejected. I also want to be clear that the idea of a worldview or belief system is not optional. All humans have one, since it is a requirement to provide a minimal framework against which data is acquired and classified. It should also be understood that the concept of a belief system carries no special connotation be it religious, superstitious, supernatural, or anything else. It is simply a term that refers to the data organization framework in the brain.

BASEL, Switzerland, June 3 /PRNewswire/ --

- Not for US Media

- New Ilaris Data in The New England Journal of Medicine Show Rapid Sustained Efficacy in Patients With Cryopyrin-Associated Periodic Syndrome (CAPS)(1)

- CAPS is a Debilitating Genetic Disorder With Potentially Fatal Complications and Limited Treatments Available(1),(2),(3)

- Ilaris Selectively Blocks Interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), a Key Driver in Inflammation and Tissue Destruction - Therapy Being Investigated for Other Inflammatory Diseases(1),(3),(4)

- Regulatory Submissions Completed in Major Countries With Priority Review Granted in US, Switzerland and Australia

TACOMA, Washington and KAMPALA, Uganda, June 3 /PRNewswire/ --

Vadium Technology, Inc. a leading provider of easy to use, unbreakable data security and privacy solutions is pleased to announce entering into a sales agent and reseller agreement with Computer Point, Ltd. (Computer Point).

GAITHERSBURG, Maryland, June 3 /PRNewswire/ --

- For SMEs invested in analog PBX and POTS telephony equipment, Patton's reduced pricing places the stability and interoperability of carrier-class SmartNode(TM) VoIP within budgetary reach

Patton (www.patton.com) -- the leader in business and carrier-class network access, connectivity, Voice-over-IP and triple-play equipment -- announces reduced pricing on all FXS models of the SmartNode(TM) 4110 VoIP Gateway Series effective 1 June 2009.

Expected to stimulate the analog VoIP gateway market, Patton's lower prices reflect an average decrease of 20 to 40 percent for distributors, resellers and end-user customers.