Instincts of Wasps

Moral Disgust and The Tribal Instincts Hypothesis

Last changes: 11/15/10 Word Count: 6776 (main text); 9803 (total w/ footnotes)

Public Policy, Human Instincts, and Economic Growth

Metabolism: What Causes the Gut's Circadian Instincts?

What mechanisms control circadian rhythms in the gastrointestinal tract and how does this impact nutrient metabolism? The deadenylase and leucine zipper protein Nocturnin is now shown to play a central role.

Are Instincts Hardened Routines? A Radical Proposal

Routines and instincts are similar in terms of function and structure: 1) With respect to function, they economize on scarce decision-making resources, such as cognitive faculties, by making actions, within limits, inflexible vis-à-vis fluctuating environmental stimuli. As inflexible patterns, they are units that can be transferred via inheritance or social learning. 2) With respect to structur...

Gut instincts: CYP3A4 and intestinal drug metabolism.

First-pass metabolism is a common cause of incomplete and variable absolute bioavailability for an orally dosed drug. The drug-metabolizing enzyme CYP3A4 is often implicated in this process, resulting, in some cases, in systemic exposures of less than 15% of the administered dose. By creating an elegant CYP3A4-transgenic mouse model, van Herwaarden et al. show in this issue of the JCI that firs...