Research in Brief – January 16 2012

We, in the UK, are more likely to suffer from chickenpox than someone living in a warmer, sunnier climate. Findings, published in Virology Journal, suggest that UV rays are crucial for stopping the virus from spreading. This explains why chickenpox is less common in the tropics, and why the virus has its most proactive period during the darker months of winter and spring, when UV rays are limited. The findings are an essential first step towards developing routine procedures for stopping the transmission of chickenpox and the related, but more serious, shingles virus.

For the last 300 years scientists have wondered why elephants have an unusual growth at the back of their feet. Recent research published in Science has concluded that this structure is, in fact, an additional toe. The function of this sixth toe is to help support the immense weight of the animal. It seems to have originally appeared around 40 million years ago – 15 million years into the existence of elephants on earth. As they evolved to become heavier, and spent more of their time on land, it went from being a small piece of cartilage to an essential structural support made of bone. This is a fascinating example of evolution in action.

Abuse Affects Children Like War Affects Soldiers – UCL

A study of children exposed to violence at home has shown that their brain patterns are very similar to soldiers who have recently experienced heavy combat. Two particular brain regions, normally associated with reactions to fear and preparing for danger,  are more active in such children. These regions are also connected to a host of anxiety disorders later in life. The study, published in Current Biology, raises awareness of the seriousness of maltreatment at an early age. It might, with the help of doctors and social workers, contribute towards strategies for targeted and effective treatment.

Mathematical Faces – QM

Scientists have designed a new ‘Fame Factors’ app to tell you which celebrity you are most like. The app asks you to pinpoint the features of your face using your camera phone, and touchscreen. It then calculates the ratios of various distances between features, one example might be the length of your eyes compared to their width. These proportions are quite specific to a face; the app compares your ratios to celebrities, and tells you how you compare. The group recently used a similar approach to enable robots to identify a person in a crowd. They stress that the app is just a bit of fun, but the process of comparing faces in this mathematically rigorous way, might be a clue to how our brains recognise people so quickly.