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

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This week Zach and Kelly talk about how the blood of young mice makes old mice brains look young again, and whether or not genomics can help to predict the kinds of antidepressants to which a person will respond.

Links

Weinersmith news

Trial of the Clone–Zach’s new choose-able pathways book

On Amazon!

Through SMBC!

Through Breadpig!

Paper 1: Villeda et al. 2011 – The aging systemic milieu negatively regulates neurogenesis and cognitive function

Chemokines

Why Zebra Don’t Get Ulcers by Robert Sapolsky

Group selection

The Guardian article covering Dr. Villeda’s talk on aging at the Society for Neuroscience conference

Serge Voronoff – surgeon who grafted monkey testicles on to human men

Paper 2: Tansey et al. 2012 – Genetic predictors of response to serotonergic and noradrenergic antidepressants in major depressive disorder: a genome-wide analysis of individual-level data and a meta-analysis

Genomics

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)

Noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (NRIs)

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)

Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression

EconTalk

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This week Zach and Kelly discuss research on how to eliminate certain types of anxiety, and chat about Bisphenol A (BPA).

Links

What are Zach and Kelly up to?

Zach at New York City Comic Con October 11-14th

Final Season of SMBC Theater sketches

Sign-up for Round 3 of the #SciFund Challenge! 

Kelly is excited about genomes. What this video, and you will be too.

Paper: Disruption of reconsolidation erases a fear memory trace in the human amygdala

Amygdala

Bisphenol-A

FDA’s 2010 public statement on BPA

Washington Post article on the difficulties of removing BPA from products

This week Zach and Kelly talk about oxygen injections and exploding termites.

Links

Titanium Physicists podcast

Article 1: Oxygen gas-filled microparticles provide intravenous oxygen delivery

Popular press article

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees

Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care

Article 2: Explosive backpacks on old termite workers

Eusociality

This week Zach and Kelly talk to Dr. Scott Commins of the University of Virginia about his research on tick-induced meat allergies.

Links

Allergies

IgE and IgG

Interleukins (e.g., IL9)

ImClone and cetuximab

Alpha-gal

Carbohydrates and proteins

Glycosylation

Lone Star ticks (seed ticks)

Endocrine disrupters

Triclosan

Eosinophils

Popular press coverage

CNN

UVA Magazine