Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology
 aren't trying to commit a microaggression when they note it's been well established that men perform better than women on specific spatial tasks.

The issue is how much of that is linked to sex hormones versus cultural conditioning and other factors. To test that factor they administered testosterone to women and tested how they performed in wayfinding tasks in a virtual environment.

Using fMRI, the researchers saw that men in the study took several shortcuts, oriented themselves more using cardinal directions and used a different part of the brain than the women in the study.

Most people don't know this, but the cucumbers we buy in the supermarket are purely female - grown from plants which were carefully cross-bred to produce female-only flowers. But while farmers have long known that "femaleness" factors into agricultural success - the greater the percentage of female flowers, the greater the yield of both seeds and fruit - it is only recently that scientists have revealed the molecular basis of plant sex determination.

Researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), together with scientists from the universities of Stirling and Bristol (United Kingdom), have for the first time observed an increase in body temperature of between two and four degrees in zebrafish, when these are subjected to stressful situations. This phenomenon is known as emotional fever, as it is related to the emotions that animals feel in the face of an external stimulus and it has even been linked, not without some controversy, with their consciousness.

FORT PIERCE, FL - In citrus fruit, the color of the peel is a major factor in consumer selection; fresh oranges with a dark orange peel are favored. In order to appeal to consumer preferences, citrus that is picked when it hasn't reached peak color is often "degreened", and then may be treated with an emulsion containing Citrus Red No.2 (CR2) to improve peel color. A new study reveals three food grade colorants that are promising natural alternatives to CR2.

An international collaboration between scientists in Sweden, Russia, and the United States has resulted in the successful engineering of new diaphragm tissue in rats using a mixture of stem cells and a 3D scaffold. When transplanted, it has regrown with the same complex mechanical properties of diaphragm muscle. The study is published in the journal Biomaterials, and offers hope of a cure for a common birth defect and possible future heart muscle repairs.

What differentiates complex fluids from mere fluids? What makes them unique is that they are neither solid nor liquid. Among such complex fluids are foams. They are used as a model to understand the mechanisms underlying complex fluids flow. Now, a team of French physicists has gained new insights into predicting how complex fluids react under stretching conditions due to the interplay between elasticity, plasticity and flow. These findings were recently published in EPJ E by Benjamin Dollet and Claire Bocher from the Rennes Institute of Physics, in Brittany, France. Ultimately, potential applications include the design of new, optimised acoustic insulators based on liquid forms, or the mitigation of blast waves caused by explosions.

Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have developed a new, more precise way to control the differentiation of stem cells into bone cells. This new technique has promising applications in the realm of bone regeneration, growth and healing. The research, led by David Mooney, the Robert P. Pinkas Family Professor of Bioengineering at SEAS, was published in Nature Materials.

All the stars in the sky will eventually die - and some will really go out with a bang.

When a dying star goes supernova, it explodes with such ferocity that it outshines the entire galaxy in which it lived, spewing material and energy across unimaginable distances at near-light speed.

In some cases, these cosmic cataclysms defy expectations, blasting not symmetrically in all directions - as an exploding firework might - but instead launching two narrow beams, known as jets, in opposite directions.

Understanding how these jets are created is a vexing challenge, but an international research team has recently employed powerful computer simulations to sleuth out some answers.

The examination room computer promises safer, more efficient and more effective patient care. But exam room computing is challenging and there is growing evidence that it can be a threat to patient safety and detrimental to good relationships and health outcomes, according to a commentary in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Regenstrief Institute sociologist Richard Frankel, Ph.D. presents POISED, a model he has devised for developing and reinforcing good exam room computer-use by physicians.