A number of recent papers have suggested that the amygdala plays a role in the brain's novelty detection circuit. In a recent study, we showed that this role may be specific to certain classes of biologically-relevant stimuli, such as human faces. The purpose of the present experiment was to determine whether other biologically-relevant stimuli also evoke novelty specific amygdala responses. To...

Andromonoecy, the production of both male and hermaphrodite flowers in the same individual, is a widespread phenomenon that occurs in approximately 4,000 species distributed in 33 families. Hypotheses for the evolution of andromonoecy suggest that the production of intermediate proportions of staminate flowers may be favored by selection acting through female components of fitness. Here we used...

Recent advances in confocal microscopy, coupled with the development of numerous fluorescent reporters, provide us with a powerful tool to study the development of plants. Live confocal imaging has been used extensively to further our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the formation of roots, shoots and leaves. However, it has not been widely applied to flowers, partly because of specif...

The requirement to phase-out methyl bromide (MB) in the cut-flower sector needs more attention than in other sectors in order to identify fully effective solutions that are environmental friendly and technically sustainable. Resistant varieties, soilless cultivation, steam, soil solarization, biocontrol agents and chemicals have been evaluated as potential alternatives and can be considered as ...

a National Engineering Laboratory of Textile Fiber Materials and Processing Technology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China b Key Lab of Pulp and Paper Science & Technology of Ministry of Education, Qilu University of Technology, Jinan 250353, China c Engineering Research Center for Eco-Dyeing & Finishing of Textiles, Ministry of Education, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzho...

Chirality and liquid crystals are both widely expressed in nature and biology. Helical assembly of mesophasic molecules and colloids may produce intriguing chiral liquid crystals. To date, chiral liquid crystals of 2D colloids have not been explored. As a typical 2D colloid, graphene is now receiving unprecedented attention. However, making macroscopic graphene fibres is hindered by the poor di...

Two experiments tested a hypothesis that reducing demands on executive control in a Dimensional Change Card Sort task will lead to improved performance in 3-year-olds. In Experiment 1, the shape dimension was represented by two dissimilar values (stars and flowers), and the color dimension was represented by two similar values (red and pink). This configuration of stimuli rendered shape more sa...

This is my world now. It's all I have left. You see, I'm old. And I'm not as healthy as I used to be. I'm not necessarily happy with it but I accept it. Occasionally, a member of my family will stop in to see me. He or she will bring me some flowers or a little present, maybe a set of slippers I've got 8 pair. We'll visit for a while and then they will return to the outside world and I'll be al...

“Those who have handled sciences have been either men of experiment or men of dogmas. The men of experiment are like ants; they only collect and use: the reasoners resemble spiders, which make cobwebs out of their own substance. But the bee takes a middle course, it gathers its materials from the flowers of the garden and of the field, but transforms and digests it by a power of its own.” –Sir ...

Naïve hawkmoths (Manduca sexta) learn from a single trial to approach and attempt to feed from an artificial flower of an innately unpreferred green colour even when a distractor flower with a preferred yellow colour is present. In some of the animals, the choice of the innately unpreferred colour during free-flight testing persists for several days despite not being rewarded and eventually lea...