Metabolome

Alberta scientists map human metabolome chemicals: "The researchers on Wednesday said the Human Metabolome Project, led by the University of Alberta, has listed and described some 2,500 chemicals found in or made by the body (three times as many as expected), and double that number of substances stemming from drugs and food. The chemicals, known as metabolites, represent the ingredients of life just as the human genome represents the blueprint of life."

More readily manipulated, understanding the role of different metabolites could lead to massive advances in treatment options.

Would you bet on it?

Intriguing...

Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Consciousness May Be a Sure Bet -- New research suggests that placing a wager could illuminate whether a person has made a conscious decision: "The researchers, reporting in this week's Nature Neuroscience, found that study participants were reluctant to wager big bucks unless they were confident in their choices, indicating that they knew full well what they were doing."

Why are our eyes white?

This is an interesting study, but I still find all the evolutionary guessing games somewhat frustrating.

For Human Eyes Only - New York Times: "humans are sensitive to the direction of the eyes specifically in a way that our nearest primate relatives are not. This is the first demonstration of an actual behavioral function for humans’ uniquely visible eyes."

Big Brains Better Survival

More information on natural selection...

Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Being Bird-Brained Is Not So Bad--as Long as It Is a Big Bird Brain -- Study of over 200 avian species finds that the bigger the bird brain, the better the survival rate.: "Lefebvre stresses that birds with relatively small brains (compared with the rest of their bodies) are not necessarily doomed. 'Obviously there must be something that's keeping those small-brained birds around, because an advantage like that would normally lead to selection against any [genetic variants] that would lead to small brains in the species,' he explains. Yet, partridges, pheasants, and even emus continue to thrive."