Does “Science” Make You Moral? The Effects of Priming Science on Moral Judgments and Behavior

Background

Previous work has noted that science stands as an ideological force insofar as the answers it offers to a variety of fundamental questions and concerns; as such, those who pursue scientific inquiry have been shown to be concerned with the moral and social ramifications of their scientific endeavors. No studies to date have directly investigated the links between exposure to science and moral or prosocial behaviors.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Across four studies, both naturalistic measures of science exposure and experimental primes of science led to increased adherence to moral norms and more morally normative behaviors across domains. Study 1 (n = 36) tested the natural correlation between exposure to science and likelihood of enforcing moral norms. Studies 2 (n = 49), 3 (n = 52), and 4 (n = 43) manipulated thoughts about science and examined the causal impact of such thoughts on imagined and actual moral behavior. Across studies, thinking about science had a moralizing effect on a broad array of domains, including interpersonal violations (Studies 1, 2), prosocial intentions (Study 3), and economic exploitation (Study 4).

Conclusions/Significance

These studies demonstrated the morally normative effects of lay notions of science. Thinking about science leads individuals to endorse more stringent moral norms and exhibit more morally normative behavior. These studies are the first of their kind to systematically and empirically test the relationship between science and morality. The present findings speak to this question and elucidate the value-laden outcomes of the notion of science.     

Does Skipping a Meal Matter to a Butterfly's Appearance? Effects of Larval Food Stress on Wing Morphology and Color in Monarch Butterflies

In animals with complex life cycles, all resources needed to form adult tissues are procured at the larval stage. For butterflies, the proper development of wings involves synthesizing tissue during metamorphosis based on the raw materials obtained by larvae. Similarly, manufacture of pigment for wing scales also requires resources acquired by larvae. We conducted an experiment to test the effects of food deprivation in the larval stage on multiple measures of adult wing morphology and coloration of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus), a species in which long-distance migration makes flight efficiency critical. In a captive setting, we restricted food (milkweed) from late-stage larvae for either 24 hrs or 48 hrs, then after metamorphosis we used image analysis methods to measure forewing surface area and elongation (length/width), which are both important for migration. We also measured the brightness of orange pigment and the intensity of black on the wing. There were correlations between several wing features, including an unexpected association between wing elongation and melanism, which will require further study to fully understand. The clearest effect of food restriction was a reduction in adult wing size in the high stress group (by approximately 2%). Patterns observed for other wing traits were ambiguous: monarchs in the low stress group (but not the high) had less elongated and paler orange pigmentation. There was no effect on wing melanism. Although some patterns obtained in this study were unclear, our results concerning wing size have direct bearing on the monarch migration. We show that if milkweed is limited for monarch larvae, their wings become stunted, which could ultimately result in lower migration success.     

Do Babies Resemble Their Fathers More Than Their Mothers? A Failure to Replicate Christenfeld and Hill (1995)

Contrary to Christenfeld and Hill (1995), we find that children aged 1, 3, and 5 do not appear to resemble their fathers significantly more than their mothers. We provide an explanation as to why this should be. In addition, we note that any father–child resemblance that does exist, although better than chance, is far from overwhelming.     

Effects of curvature and composition on α-synuclein binding to lipid vesicles

Parkinson's disease is characterized by the presence of intracellular aggregates composed primarily of the neuronal protein α-synuclein (αS). Interactions between αS and various cellular membranes are thought to be important to its native function as well as relevant to its role in disease. We use fluorescence correlation spectroscopy to investigate binding of αS to lipid vesicles as a function of the lipid composition and membrane curvature. We determine how these parameters affect the molar partition coefficient of αS, providing a quantitative measure of the binding energy, and calculate the number of lipids required to bind a single protein. Specific anionic lipids have a large effect on the free energy of binding. Lipid chain saturation influences the binding interaction to a lesser extent, with larger partition coefficients measured for gel-phase vesicles than for fluid-phase vesicles, even in the absence of anionic lipid components. Although we observe variability in the binding of the mutant proteins, differences in the free energies of partitioning are less dramatic than with varied lipid compositions. Vesicle curvature has a strong effect on the binding affinity, with a >15-fold increase in affinity for small unilamellar vesicles over large unilamellar vesicles, suggesting that αS may be a curvature-sensing protein. Our findings provide insight into how physical properties of the membrane may modulate interactions of αS with cellular membranes.     

Sex and Status Effects on Primate Volubility: Clues to the Origin of Vocal Languages?

Natural human languages are predominantly vocal. This suggests that, during evolution, speech may have enhanced the efficiency, utility, or flexibility of previous vocal behaviors. If so, there may be parallels between certain aspects of the vocalization patterns of human and nonhuman primates. The literature on humans contains evidence for greater frequency of vocalization, or volubility, between female–female than male–male dyads, and greater volubility among individuals of higher than lower social rank or status. We analyzed two classes of vocalization in free-ranging vervet monkey infants. In both classes, females vocalized significantly more often than males, and high-ranking animals were more voluble than mid- and low-ranking animals. If these findings are confirmed in primates other than vervets, it is conceivable that the voice contributes to the solution of some pan-primate problems, offering clues to the vocal bias in human languages.     

When Is Group Membership Zero-Sum? Effects of Ethnicity,Threat, and Social Identity on Dual National Identity

This paper presents an investigation into marginalizing racism, a form of prejudice whereby ingroup members claim that specific individuals belong to their group, but also exclude them by not granting them all of the privileges of a full ingroup member. One manifestation of this is that perceived degree of outgroup membership will covary negatively with degree of ingroup membership. That is, group membership may be treated as a zero-sum quantity (e.g., one cannot be both Australian and Iraqi). Study 1 demonstrated that judges allocate more zero-sum membership assignments and lower combined membership in their country of origin and their adopted country to high-threat migrants than low-threat migrants. Study 2 identified a subtle type of zero-sum reasoning which holds that stronger degree of membership in one’s original nationality constrains membership in a new nationality to a greater extent than stronger membership in the new nationality constrains membership in one’s original nationality. This pattern is quite general, being replicated in large samples from four nations (USA, UK, India, and China). Taken together, these studies suggest that marginalizing racism is more than a belief that people retain a “stain” from membership in their original group. Marginalizing racism also manifests itself as conditional zero-sum beliefs about multiple group memberships.     

Time to Evolve? Potential Evolutionary Responses of Fraser River Sockeye Salmon to Climate Change and Effects on Persistence

Evolutionary adaptation affects demographic resilience to climate change but few studies have attempted to project changes in selective pressures or quantify impacts of trait responses on population dynamics and extinction risk. We used a novel individual-based model to explore potential evolutionary changes in migration timing and the consequences for population persistence in sockeye salmon Oncorhynchus nerka in the Fraser River, Canada, under scenarios of future climate warming. Adult sockeye salmon are highly sensitive to increases in water temperature during their arduous upriver migration, raising concerns about the fate of these ecologically, culturally, and commercially important fish in a warmer future. Our results suggest that evolution of upriver migration timing could allow these salmon to avoid increasingly frequent stressful temperatures, with the odds of population persistence increasing in proportion to the trait heritability and phenotypic variance. With a simulated 2°C increase in average summer river temperatures by 2100, adult migration timing from the ocean to the river advanced by ～10 days when the heritability was 0.5, while the risk of quasi-extinction was only 17% of that faced by populations with zero evolutionary potential (i.e., heritability fixed at zero). The rates of evolution required to maintain persistence under simulated scenarios of moderate to rapid warming are plausible based on estimated heritabilities and rates of microevolution of timing traits in salmon and related species, although further empirical work is required to assess potential genetic and ecophysiological constraints on phenological adaptation. These results highlight the benefits to salmon management of maintaining evolutionary potential within populations, in addition to conserving key habitats and minimizing additional stressors where possible, as a means to build resilience to ongoing climate change. More generally, they demonstrate the importance and feasibility of considering evolutionary processes, in addition to ecology and demography, when projecting population responses to environmental change.     

The Immediate Influence of a Food Safety Incident on Japanese Consumers’ Food Choice Decisions and Willingness to Pay for Safer Food

In January 2008, 10 people from three families living in Chiba and Hyogo Prefectures in Japan were found to be poisoned after eating frozen dumplings that had been imported from Tianjin, China. This incident had a big influence in the short term on Japanese consumers’ consumption choice of imported food from China as well as the willingness to pay (WTP) for food with higher safety guarantees. Using data from a Web-survey of 1500 respondents covering the whole of Japan, two regression models show that firstly, after the incident, consumers intending to buy Chinese food products reduced from 92.5% to 27.6%, and the change of purchase decision is mostly affected by consumers’ prior risk perception and attitude about Chinese products and presents a regional difference. Secondly, Japanese consumers are willing to pay 64,300 yen per year for safer food on average after the incident, and those whose purchase decision is influenced by the incident have a higher WTP of 54,000 yen than those who are not influenced. The most significant factor to decide the WTP is the framing of questions in the survey. The influence of demographic factors is less important and inconsistent in the two models.     

Is It Worth the Risk? Food Deprivation Effects on Tadpole Anti-Predatory Responses

Predation risk affects foraging behavior and, particularly, the amount of time devoted to the search for food. When exposed to predation risk, food deprived animals should be risk prone and relax behavioral defenses to a wider extent than well fed individuals. To test for this prediction, we used a 2?×?2 factorial design experiment, manipulating both the energetic state (fed vs. fasted) and exposure to an attack-released cue (injured vs. uninjured conspecifics) of common water frog tadpoles (Pelophylax kl. esculentus). Contrary to expectations, food deprivation significantly lowered the activity level of predator-exposed tadpoles. As in this experiment no food resource was added to test containers, energy conserving behavior might have both delayed starvation and lowered the probability of encountering the potential predator. To test for the effect of food availability on behavioral responses, we performed a second experiment, using the same protocol and procedures, except for adding food to all test containers. All tadpoles showed similar levels of activity, while fed tadpoles exposed to alarm cues tended to swim farther from the cage containing the stimulus than in the first experiment. As many anuran larvae can feed on dead conspecifics, prey-borne cues may have been interpreted as the potential presence of both a food source and a predator, fed tadpoles possibly being more confident than fasted tadpoles in their ability to escape predation in case an actual attack occurs.     

Can Genetic Pleiotropy Replicate Common Clinical Constellations of Cardiovascular Disease and Risk?

The relationship between obesity, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, kidney disease and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is established when looked at from a clinical, epidemiological or pathophysiological perspective. Yet, when viewed from a genetic perspective, there is comparatively little data synthesis that these conditions have an underlying relationship. We sought to investigate the overlap of genetic variants independently associated with each of these commonly co-existing conditions from the NHGRI genome-wide association study (GWAS) catalog, in an attempt to replicate the established notion of shared pathophysiology and risk. We used pathway-based analyses to detect subsets of pleiotropic genes involved in similar biological processes. We identified 107 eligible GWAS studies related to CVD and its established comorbidities and risk factors and assigned genes that correspond to the associated signals based on their position. We found 44 positional genes shared across at least two CVD-related phenotypes that independently recreated the established relationship between the six phenotypes, but only if studies representing non-European populations were included. Seven genes revealed pleiotropy across three or more phenotypes, mostly related to lipid transport and metabolism. Yet, many genes had no relationship to each other or to genes with established functional connection. Whilst we successfully reproduced established relationships between CVD risk factors using GWAS findings, interpretation of biological pathways involved in the observed pleiotropy was limited. Further studies linking genetic variation to gene expression, as well as describing novel biological pathways will be needed to take full advantage of GWAS results.     

Effects of metal-binding loop mutations on ligand binding to calcium- and integrin-binding protein 1. Evolution of the EF-hand?

Calcium- and integrin-binding protein 1 (CIB1) is a ubiquitous, multifunctional regulatory protein consisting of four helix-loop-helix EF-hand motifs. Neither EF-I nor EF-II binds divalent metal ions; however, EF-III is a mixed Mg2+/Ca2+-binding site, and EF-IV is a higher-affinity Ca2+-specific site. Through the generation of several CIB1 mutant proteins, we have investigated the importance of the last (-Z) metal-coordinating position of EF-III (D127) and EF-IV (E172) with respect to the binding of CIB1 to Mg2+, Ca2+, and its biological target, the cytoplasmic domain of the platelet alphaIIb integrin. A D127N mutant had reduced Mg2+ and Ca2+ affinity at EF-III but retained affinity for the alphaIIb domain. A D127E mutant had increased Mg2+ and Ca2+ affinity at EF-III, but unexpectedly, the affinity for the alphaIIb domain was too low for binding to be observed. E172Q and E172D mutants showed no and weak Mg2+ binding at EF-IV, respectively, and each mutant had reduced Ca2+ affinity at EF-IV and showed moderate metal-dependent differences in affinity for the alphaIIb domain. Finally, a D127Q mutant bound Mg2+ and Ca2+ in a manner similar to that of D127N, but like that of D127E, the affinity for the alphaIIb domain was reduced below the detection limit. These data, combined with a NMR-based structural comparison of the Mg2+- and Ca2+-loaded CIB1-alphaIIb peptide complexes, suggest that the D127E and D127Q mutations have a disruptive effect on alphaIIb binding since they expand the metal-binding loop and change the alpha-helix positions in EF-III. Conversely, upon replacement of the ancestral Glu with Asp at the -Z position of EF-III, CIB1 gained affinity for alphaIIb, and the Ca2+ affinity of CIB1 shifted into a range where the protein is able to act as an intracellular Ca2+ sensor.     

Cardioprotective Effects of a Novel Hydrogen Sulfide Agent–Controlled Release Formulation of S-Propargyl-Cysteine on Heart Failure Rats and Molecular Mechanisms

Objective

Heart failure (HF) is one of the most serious diseases worldwide. S-propargyl-cysteine (SPRC), a novel modulator of endogenous hydrogen sulfide, is proved to be able to protect against acute myocardial ischemia. In order to produce more stable and sustainable hydrogen sulfide, we used controlled release formulation of SPRC (CR-SPRC) to elucidate possible cardioprotective effects on HF rats and investigate involved mechanisms on apoptosis and oxidation.

Methods

Left coronary artery was occluded to induce HF model of rat. The survival rats were randomly divided into 7 groups after 24 hours and treated with drugs for 6 weeks. Echocardiographic indexes were recorded to determine cardiac function. TTC staining was performed to determine infarct size. Plasmatic level of hydrogen sulfide was detected by modified sulfide electrode. Activity of enzyme and expression of protein were determined by colorimetry and Western blot, respectively.

Results

The cardioprotective effects of CR-SPRC on HF rats were confirmed by significant reduction of infarct size and improvement of cardiac function, with better effects compared to normal SPRC. CR-SPRC modulated antioxidant defenses by preserving levels of GSH, CAT and SOD and reducing CK leakage. In addition, CR-SPRC elevated ratio of Bcl-2/Bax and inhibited activity of caspases to protect against myocardial apoptosis. The cardioprotective effects of CR-SPRC were mediated by hydrogen sulfide.

Conclusions

All experiment data indicated cardioprotective effects of CR-SPRC on HF rats. More importantly, CR-SPRC exerted better effects than normal SPRC in all respects, providing a new perspective on hydrogen sulfide-mediated drug therapy.     

Who Are You More Likely to Help? The Effects of Expected Outcomes and Regulatory Focus on Prosocial Performance

Prosocial behavior refers to a broad category of actions that benefit other people or the society. Compared with other factors that affect prosocial performance, prosocial outcomes, consisting of prosocial gains and prosocial non-losses have received less attention up to now. In the current research, we explored the influences of different types of expected outcomes and regulatory focus on prosocial performance. Studies 1a and 1b examined the differences in prosocial performance elicited by prosocial gain (e.g., enhancing others’ access to clean water) and prosocial non-loss outcomes (e.g., protecting others from suffering dirty water). We found that the expected prosocial non-loss outcomes induced greater prosocial performance compared with the expected prosocial gain outcomes. Studies 2a and 2b examined the effects of dispositional and situational regulatory focus on prosocial loss aversion. We found that differences in prosocial performance between two expected prosocial outcomes were reduced when promotion focus was primed; whereas a primed prevention focus did not significantly increase this difference. Additionally, participants displayed a greater prosocial loss aversion in the prevention focus condition than in the promotion focus condition. The reason for the non-significant interaction between regulatory focus and expected prosocial outcome was discussed.     

Understanding the Role of the ‘Self’ in the Social Priming of Mimicry

People have a tendency to unconsciously mimic other''s actions. This mimicry has been regarded as a prosocial response which increases social affiliation. Previous research on social priming of mimicry demonstrated an assimilative relationship between mimicry and prosociality of the primed construct: prosocial primes elicit stronger mimicry whereas antisocial primes decrease mimicry. The present research extends these findings by showing that assimilative and contrasting prime-to-behavior effect can both happen on mimicry. Specifically, experiment 1 showed a robust contrast priming effect where priming antisocial behaviors induces stronger mimicry than priming prosocial behaviors. In experiment 2, we manipulated the self-relatedness of the pro/antisocial primes and further revealed that prosocial primes increase mimicry only when the social primes are self-related whereas antisocial primes increase mimicry only when the social primes are self-unrelated. In experiment 3, we used a novel cartoon movie paradigm to prime pro/antisocial behaviors and manipulated the perspective-taking when participants were watching these movies. Again, we found that prosocial primes increase mimicry only when participants took a first-person point of view whereas antisocial primes increase mimicry only when participants took a third-person point of view, which replicated the findings in experiment 2. We suggest that these three studies can be best explained by the active-self theory, which claims that the direction of prime-to-behavior effects depends on how primes are processed in relation to the ‘self’.     

Binding Modes of Phthalocyanines to Amyloid β Peptide and Their Effects on Amyloid Fibril Formation

The inherent tendency of proteins to convert from their native states into amyloid aggregates is associated with a range of human disorders, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. In that sense, the use of small molecules as probes for the structural and toxic mechanism related to amyloid aggregation has become an active area of research. Compared with other compounds, the structural and molecular basis behind the inhibitory interaction of phthalocyanine tetrasulfonate (PcTS) with proteins such as αS and tau has been well established, contributing to a better understanding of the amyloid aggregation process in these proteins. We present here the structural characterization of the binding of PcTS and its Cu(II) and Zn(II)-loaded forms to the amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) and the impact of these interactions on the peptide amyloid fibril assembly. Elucidation of the PcTS binding modes to Aβ₄₀ revealed the involvement of specific aromatic and hydrophobic interactions in the formation of the Aβ₄₀-PcTS complex, ascribed to a binding mode in which the planarity and hydrophobicity of the aromatic ring system in the phthalocyanine act as main structural determinants for the interaction. Our results demonstrated that formation of the Aβ₄₀-PcTS complex does not interfere with the progression of the peptide toward the formation of amyloid fibrils. On the other hand, conjugation of Zn(II) but not Cu(II) at the center of the PcTS macrocyclic ring modified substantially the binding profile of this phthalocyanine to Aβ₄₀ and became crucial to reverse the effects of metal-free PcTS on the fibril assembly of the peptide. Overall, our results provide a firm basis to understand the structural rules directing phthalocyanine-protein interactions and their implications on the amyloid fibril assembly of the target proteins; in particular, our results contradict the hypothesis that PcTS might have similar mechanisms of action in slowing the formation of a variety of pathological aggregates.     

The Idea Is Good,but…: Failure to Replicate Associations of Oxytocinergic Polymorphisms with Face-Inversion in the N170

Background

In event-related potentials, the N170 manifests itself especially in reaction to faces. In the healthy population, face-inversion leads to stronger negative amplitudes and prolonged latencies of the N170, effects not being present in patients with autism-spectrum-disorder (ASD). ASD has frequently been associated with differences in oxytocinergic neurotransmission. This ERP-study aimed to investigate the face-inversion effect in association with oxytocinergic candidate genes. It was expected that risk-allele-carriers of the oxytocin-receptor-gene-polymorphism (rs53576) and of CD38 (rs379863) responded similar to upright and inverted faces as persons with ASD. Additionally, reactions to different facial emotional expressions were studied. As there have been difficulties with replications of those molecular genetic association studies, we aimed to replicate our findings in a second study.

Method

Seventy-two male subjects in the first-, and seventy-eight young male subjects in the replication-study conducted a face-inversion-paradigm, while recording EEG. DNA was extracted from buccal cells.

Results

Results revealed stronger N170-amplitudes and longer latencies in reaction to inverted faces in comparison to upright ones. Furthermore, effects of emotion on N170 were evident. Those effects were present in the first and in the second study. Whereas we found molecular-genetic associations of oxytocinergic polymorphisms with the N170 in the first study, we failed to do so in the replication sample.

Conclusion

Results indicate that a deeper theoretical understanding of this research-field is needed, in order to generate possible explanations for these findings. Results, furthermore, support the hypotheses that success of reproducibility is correlated with strength of lower original p-values and larger effect sizes in the original study.     

Cross-reactive and pre-existing antibodies to therapeutic antibodies—Effects on treatment and immunogenicity

The potential for immunogenicity is an ever-present concern during the development of biopharmaceuticals. Therapeutic antibodies occasionally elicit an antibody response in patients, which can result in loss of response or adverse effects. However, antibodies that bind a drug are sometimes found in pre-treatment serum samples, with the amount depending on drug, assay, and patient population. This review summarizes published data on pre-existing antibodies to therapeutic antibodies, including rheumatoid factors, anti-allotype antibodies, anti-hinge antibodies, and anti-glycan antibodies. Unlike anti-idiotype antibodies elicited by the drug, pre-formed antibodies in general appear to have little consequences during treatment. In the few cases where (potential) clinical consequences were encountered, antibodies were characterized and found to bind a distinct, unusual epitope of the therapeutic. Immunogenicity testing strategies should therefore always include a proper level of antibody characterization, especially when pre-formed antibodies are present. This minimizes false-positives, particularly due to rheumatoid factors, and helps to judge the potential threat in case a genuine pre-dose antibody reactivity is identified.     

Parallel evolution of the sexes? Effects of predation and habitat features on the size and shape of wild guppies

Environmental gradients often lead to the parallel evolution of populations and species. To what extent do such gradients also lead to parallel evolution of the sexes? We used guppies (Poecilia reticulata) to examine the parallel and independent (sex‐specific) aspects of population divergence in response to predation and habitat features. Geometric morphometrics was used to analyse size and shape variation for 1335 guppies from 27 to 31 sites sampled in each of 2 years. Body size showed strong parallel population divergence; both sexes were larger at sites with a more open canopy and with higher flow. Body shape showed a mixture of parallel and independent population divergence. The strongest and most consistent effects were (1) high‐predation sites had males with smaller heads and deeper caudal peduncles, (2) open‐canopy sites had females with smaller heads and more distended abdomens and (3) high‐flow sites had males and females with smaller heads and deeper caudal peduncles.     

Differential Effects of Tra2? Isoforms on HIV-1 RNA Processing and Expression

Balanced processing of HIV-1 RNA is critical to virus replication and is regulated by host factors. In this report, we demonstrate that overexpression of either Tra2α or Tra2β results in a marked reduction in HIV-1 Gag/ Env expression, an effect associated with changes in HIV-1 RNA accumulation, altered viral splice site usage, and a block to export of HIV-1 genomic RNA. A natural isoform of Tra2β (Tra2ß3), lacking the N-terminal RS domain, also suppressed HIV-1 expression but had different effects on viral RNA processing. The functional differences between the Tra2β isoforms were also observed in the context of another RNA substrate indicating that these factors have distinct functions within the cell. Finally, we demonstrate that Tra2ß depletion results in a selective reduction in HIV-1 Env expression as well as an increase in multiply spliced viral RNA. Together, the findings indicate that Tra2α/β can play important roles in regulating HIV-1 RNA metabolism and expression.