Zach and I have been swamped with work lately, and are about to go on our very belated honeymoon. We will begin updates when we get back from the honeymoon in a few weeks.

<3, The Weinersmiths

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This week Zach and Kelly talk about how the smell of coffee changes gene expression and protein production in rat brains, and discuss a study that hooked rat brains up to one another so the rats could share information and perform tasks together.

Links

Submit an application for the Festival of Bad Ad Hoc Hypotheses!

#SciFund Challenge is looking for a django developer!

Coffee on the brain

Seo et al. 2008: Effects of coffee bean aroma on the rat brain stressed by sleep deprivation: a selected transcript- and 2D gel-based proteome analysis

Science Daily coverage

Rat brain-to-brain interface

Pais-Vieira et al. 2013: A brain-to-brain interface for real-time sharing of sensorimotor information

Science Daily coverage

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For Valentine’s Day, Zach and Kelly talk whether or not brazilian waxing is causing the extinction of pubic lice, and about how housework influences the frequency of sex.

Links

Zach and Kelly news!

Check The Story Collider for our nerdy love story!

JJ Darling took our photos while we were in NYC. Our favorite photo can be found below.

Kickstarter for Zach’s book of science-themed comics (featuring a story by Adam Savage!)

Is brazilian waxing causing the extinction of pubic lice?

Popular press coverage

Bloomberg

Bug Girl – debunking the pubic lice are going extinct claim: here and here

Scientific articles/letters

Waxing common amongst undergrads

Did the “brazilian” kill the pubic louse?

Housework and sex

Popular press

Scientific article: Egalitarianism, housework, and sexual frequency in marriage

Erectile dysfunction and income inequality

Photo by JJ Darling

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This week Zach and Kelly discuss a study that used infusion of donor feces to treat a bacterial infection, and a second study that found that light is important for eye development in fetal mice.

Links

Zach and Kelly stuff!

Zach has a Kickstarter running for his new science-themed comic book!

Zach and Kelly will be part of the Story Collider show in NYC on Feb. 5th!

The Small Dinosaurs have put out their first album!

Bandcamp (where the album can be streamed):

http://smalldinosaurs.bandcamp.com/album/household-songs-2

iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/the-small-dinosaurs/id592783699

Music video: http://youtu.be/-5B4067Y2u8

Paper 1: Nood et al. 2013 Duodenal infusion of donor feces for recurrent Clostridium difficile

Clostridium difficile

Nature coverage

Paper 2: Rao et al. 2013 A direct and melanopsin-dependent fetal light response regulates mouse eye development

MedicalXpress coverage

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This week Zach and Kelly talk about how fear and/or awe of math differs between academic fields.

Links

What are Zach and Kelly up to?

Zach and Kelly will be at the Story Collider show on Feb. 5th in NYC. Join us!

SCIENCE

Paper 1: The Nonsense Math Effect

Paper 2: Heavy use of equations impedes communication among biologists

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This week Zach and Kelly bring back Dr. Elizabeth Iorns to talk about the Reproducibility Initiative through Science Exchange. Elizabeth was recently named one of Nature’s 10 People Who Mattered This Year!

Links

Zach and Kelly news

The Story Collider has invited us to be part of their February 5th show on love and science. Check it out if you’re in the NYC area!

Check out other Brachiolope Media Network podcasts!

Press coverage for the Reproducibility Initiative

Nature

New Scientist

The Scientist

EconTalk episodes on reproducibility and bias in science

Brian Nosek on Truth, Science, and Academic Incentives

Ed Yong on Science, Replication, and Journalism

This American Life episode that discussed research using electromagnetic waves to kill cancer cells: So Crazy It Just Might Work

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This week Zach and Kelly talk to Jessica Richman, a PhD student at Oxford University, and Dr. William Ludington, the Bowes Fellow at the University of California Berkeley, about uBiome. uBiome is a project that connects citizens to scientists in an attempt to better understand the microbiome.

Links

Microbiome

Candida albicans (yeast that is part of the microbiome)

Clostridium difficile

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This week Kelly and Zach talk to Trevor Bekolay about his work on a large-scale brain simulator. Trevor is a PhD student in the Computational Neuroscience Research Group at the University of Waterloo.

Links

Scientific paper: Eliasmith et al. 2012: A large-scale model of the functioning brain

Popular press articles on Spaun

Video for Spaun simulations

Nengo.ca - download software for simulating neural systems

Spiking neurons

Blue Brain Project

Recency and primacy effects

Behaviorism