Exposure to crowding is said to be aversive, yet people also seek out and enjoy crowded situations. We surveyed participants at two crowd events to test the prediction of self-categorization theory that variable emotional responses to crowding are a function of social identification with the crowd. In data collected from participants who attended a crowded outdoor music event (n = 48), identifi...

The present work compares the effects of post-weaning crowding and those of food restriction on growth, body weight gain and the levels of several hormones, in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Crowding resulted in reduced food intake and diminished body weight gain. Rats daily receiving the same amount of food as that eaten by crowded rats (food-restricted group) showed similar body weight gain as cro...

With the current shift in the industry toward housing pigs in groups of 100 to 1,000 per pen have come questions as to whether pigs can perform as well in large groups as they do in small and whether large groups of pigs can use the space provided more efficiently. This study examined effects of small (18 pigs) vs. large (108 pigs) group sizes provided 0.52 m(2)/ pig (crowded) or 0.78 m(2)/pig ...

How bats adapt their sonar behavior to accommodate the noisiness of a crowded day roost is a mystery. Some bats change their pulse acoustics to enhance the distinction between theirs and another bat's echoes, but additional mechanisms are needed to explain the bat sonar system's exceptional resilience to jamming by conspecifics. Variable pulse repetition rate strategies offer one potential solu...

Intracellular vesicle fusion is mediated by SNAREs and Sec1/Munc18 (SM) proteins. Despite intensive efforts, the SNARE-SM mediated vesicle fusion reaction has not been faithfully reconstituted in biochemical assays. Here, we present an unexpected discovery that macromolecular crowding is required for reconstituting the vesicle fusion reaction in vitro. Macromolecular crowding is known to profou...

Screaming is arguably one of the most relevant communication signals for survival in humans. Despite their practical relevance and their theoretical significance as innate [1] and virtually universal [2, 3] vocalizations, what makes screams a unique signal and how they are processed is not known. Here, we use acoustic analyses, psychophysical experiments, and neuroimaging to isolate those featu...

In this perspective, we discuss the cytoplasm in actively growing bacterial cells contrasted with viable but nonculturable (VBNC) cells. Actively growing bacterial cells contain a more molecularly crowded and organized cytoplasm, and are capable of completing their cell cycle resulting in cell division. In contrast, nutrient starving bacteria in the physiological VBNC state are struggling to su...