I hear you Noggin

Noggin-mediated antagonism of BMP signaling is required for growth and patterning of the neural tube and somite McMahon, J.A. et al. Genes Dev. 12, 1438–1452Noggin, cartilage morphogenesis, and joint formation in the mammalian skeleton Brunet, L.J., McMahon, J.A., McMahon, A.P. and Harland, R.M. Science 280, 1455–1457Endogenous and ectopic expression of noggin suggests a conserved mechanism for regulation of BMP function during limb and somite patterning Capdevila, J. and Johnson, R.L. Dev. Biol. 197, 205–217     

I undervalue you but I need you: the dissociation of attitude and memory toward in-group members

In the present study, the in-group bias or in-group derogation among Mainland Chinese was investigated through a rating task and a recognition test. In two experiments,participants from two universities with similar ranks rated novel faces or names and then had a recognition test. Half of the faces or names were labeled as participants' own university and the other half were labeled as their counterpart. Results showed that, for either faces or names, rating scores for out-group members were consistently higher than those for in-group members, whereas the recognition accuracy showed just the opposite. These results indicated that the attitude and memory for group-relevant information might be dissociated among Mainland Chinese.     

Multifractal Properties of a Closed Contour: A Peek beyond the Shape Analysis

In recent decades multifractal analysis has been successfully applied to characterize the complex temporal and spatial organization of such diverse natural phenomena as heartbeat dynamics, the dendritic shape of neurons, retinal vessels, rock fractures, and intricately shaped volcanic ash particles. The characterization of multifractal properties of closed contours has remained elusive because applying traditional methods to their quasi-one-dimensional nature yields ambiguous answers. Here we show that multifractal analysis can reveal meaningful and sometimes unexpected information about natural structures with a perimeter well-defined by a closed contour. To this end, we demonstrate how to apply multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis, originally developed for the analysis of time series, to an arbitrary shape of a given study object. In particular, we show the application of the method to fish otoliths, calcareous concretions located in fish''s inner ear. Frequently referred to as the fish''s “black box", they contain a wealth of information about the fish''s life history and thus have recently attracted increasing attention. As an illustrative example, we show that a multifractal approach can uncover unexpected relationships between otolith contours and size and age of fish at maturity.     

Developing a sense of taste

Taste buds are found in a distributed array on the tongue surface, and are innervated by cranial nerves that convey taste information to the brain. For nearly a century, taste buds were thought to be induced by nerves late in embryonic development. However, this view has shifted dramatically. A host of studies now indicate that taste bud development is initiated and proceeds via processes that are nerve-independent, occur long before birth, and governed by cellular and molecular mechanisms intrinsic to the developing tongue. Here we review the state of our understanding of the molecular and cellular regulation of taste bud development, incorporating important new data obtained through the use of two powerful genetic systems, mouse and zebrafish.