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The model examines the looking-learning behavior of infants as young as 6 weeks through one year of age, through 4,800 simulations at various points in development involving multiple stimuli and tasks. As would be expected, most infants introduced to new objects tend to look at them to gather information about them; once they do, they are “biased” to look away from them in search of something new

an infant will linger on something that’s being shown to it for the first time as it learns about it, and that the “total looking time” will decrease as the infant becomes more familiar with it.

infants who don’t spend a sufficient amount of time studying a new object—in effect, failing to learn about it and to catalog that knowledge into memory—don’t catch on as well, which can affect their learning later on.

Sammy Perone, a post-doctoral researcher in psychology at the UI and corresponding author on the pape

To examine why infants need to dwell on objects to learn about them, the researchers created two different models. One model learned in a "responsive" world: Every time the model looked away from a new object, the object was jiggled to get the model to look at it again. The other model learned in a "nonresponsive" world: when this model looked at a new object, objects elsewhere were jiggled to distract it. The results showed that the responsive models“learned about new objects more robustly, more quickly, and are better learners in the end,

infants can familiarize themselves with new objects, and store them into memory well enough that when shown them again, they quickly recognized them

“if that’s the case, we can manipulate and change what the brain is doing” to aid infants born prematurely or who have special needs, Perone adds.

“We worry a lot about zoonoses, the transmission of diseases from animals to people,” said Christiane Loehr, a professor at the OSU College of Veterinary Medicine. “But most people don’t realize that humans can also pass diseases to animals, and this raises questions and concerns about mutations, new viral forms and evolving diseases that may potentially be zoonotic. And, of course, there is concern about the health of the animals.”

H1N1 (“swine flu“) and H5N1 (“bird flu”)

The first recorded instance, described in an article published by the team in Veterinary Pathology, took place in Oregon in 2009.

While a cat owner was hospitalized with H1N1, both of her cats (which stayed indoors and had no contact with other sick people or animals) came down with flu-like symptoms and eventually died. A postmortem analysis of their lungs and nasal cavities turned up the H1N1 virus

“It’s reasonable to assume there are many more cases of this than we know about, and we want to learn more,” Loehr said.

“Any time you have infection of a virus into a new species, it’s a concern, a black box of uncertainty,” Loehr noted.

this news might trigger immediate concern,

the flu could be passed from human to pet, mutate into a more dangerous form,

“We don’t know for sure what the implications might be, but we do think this deserves more attention.”

Jason Babcock is the founder of Positive Science, a New York company that has developed eye-tracking devices over the last decade

John Franchak, a doctoral student at NYU and leader of the project

infants would be looking at their mothers constantly because that was common knowledge within [the field of] social cognition with infants." But in a room full of toys scattered everywhere and obstacles to climb on and crawl on, the infants only looked toward their mothers about half the time.  And even if they did look at their mothers, they looked at their mothers' faces only about 15 percent of the time.

toddlers almost always look directly at the object when reaching for it.

Toddlers are able to use information from their peripheral vision and still walk very well.

Another interesting finding was that while infants look directly at an obstacle before walking onto or over it, 75 percent of the time they don't always have to.

According to Franchak, down the line it could offer more research applications that could help infants with developmental disorders, medical research and applied research.   

The nuclear-powered carrier has two General Electric pressurised water reactors driving four turbines of 260,000hp (194MW) and four shafts. There are four emergency diesels of 10,720hp (8MW).

The nuclear-powered carrier has two General Electric pressurised water reactors driving four turbines of 260,000hp (194MW) and four shafts. There are four emergency diesels of 10,720hp (8MW).

The nuclear-powered carrier has two General Electric pressurised water reactors driving four turbines of 260,000hp (194MW) and four shafts. There are four emergency diesels of 10,720hp (8MW).

The nuclear-powered carrier has two General Electric pressurised water reactors driving four turbines of 260,000hp (194MW) and four shafts. There are four emergency diesels of 10,720hp (8MW).

The nuclear-powered carrier has two General Electric pressurised water reactors driving four turbines of 260,000hp (194MW) and four shafts. There are four emergency diesels of 10,720hp (8MW).

The nuclear-powered carrier has two General Electric pressurised water reactors driving four turbines of 260,000hp (194MW) and four shafts. There are four emergency diesels of 10,720hp (8MW).

The nuclear-powered carrier has two General Electric pressurised water reactors driving four turbines of 260,000hp (194MW) and four shafts. There are four emergency diesels of 10,720hp (8MW).

The nuclear-powered carrier has two General Electric pressurised water reactors driving four turbines of 260,000hp (194MW) and four shafts. There are four emergency diesels of 10,720hp (8MW).

The nuclear-powered carrier has two General Electric pressurised water reactors driving four turbines of 260,000hp (194MW) and four shafts. There are four emergency diesels of 10,720hp (8MW).

The nuclear-powered carrier has two General Electric pressurised water reactors driving four turbines of 260,000hp (194MW) and four shafts. There are four emergency diesels of 10,720hp (8MW).

The nuclear-powered carrier has two General Electric pressurised water reactors driving four turbines of 260,000hp (194MW) and four shafts. There are four emergency diesels of 10,720hp (8MW).

lectronic warfare system detects hostile radar emissions by two sets of antennae." USS Nimitz has also been fitted with the Lockheed Martin TIS (tactical input segment) digital reconnaissance processing system, which can receive real-time imagery from airborne sensors. Sensors Air search radars include the ITT SPS-48E 3-D, operating at E/F-band; Raytheon SPS49(V)5, C/D-band; and Raytheon mk23 TAS, D-band. Surface search radar is the Northrop Grumman Norden Systems SPS-67V, operating at G-band. Propulsion The nuclear-powered carrier has two General Electric pressurised water reactors driving four turbines of 260,000hp (194MW) and four shafts. There are four emergency diesels of 10,720hp (8MW). F/A-18 Hornet on the flight deck. USS Theodore Roosevelt – Nimitz class. A Nimitz class aircraft carrier carrying a full complement of aircraft. USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) launches a RIM-7 NATO Sea Sparrow System Missile (NSSM). Aircraft carriers enable the USA to carry out actions without the need for foreign bases. F/A-18F touchdown with tail-hook deployed. USS George Washington – Nimitz class. Aviation ordnancemen load an AIM-Sidewinder air-to-air missile.

Sensors Air search radars include the ITT SPS-48E 3-D, operating at E/F-band; Raytheon SPS49(V)5, C/D-band; and Raytheon mk23 TAS, D-band. Surface search radar is the Northrop Grumman Norden Systems SPS-67V, operating at G-band. Propulsion The nuclear-powered carrier has two General Electric pressurised water reactors driving four turbines of 260,000hp (194MW) and four shafts. There are four emergency diesels of 10,720hp (8MW).

Sensors Air search radars include the ITT SPS-48E 3-D, operating at E/F-band; Raytheon SPS49(V)5, C/D-band; and Raytheon mk23 TAS, D-band. Surface search radar is the Northrop Grumman Norden Systems SPS-67V, operating at G-band. Propulsion The nuclear-powered carrier has two General Electric pressurised water reactors driving four turbines of 260,000hp (194MW) and four shafts. There are four emergency diesels of 10,720hp (8MW).

This is the first transition ship to a new class of carriers, Gerald R Ford (CVN 78) (also known as CVN 21 and CVNX), planned to start construction in in November 2009 and be delivered in 2015. Northrop Grumman Newport News is the prime contractor for the programme and Raytheon is responsible for weapons system integration. CVN 78 will incorporate new technologies including a new multi-function radar system, volume search radar and open architecture information network, providing a significantly reduced crew requirement and a new nuclear power plant.

. But remember, genes are not everything.

. And that somewhere else is our

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behavior

If 40-80% of BMI comes from genes, then 20-60% comes from somewhere else

possibly tell how much of someone's weight is due to genes? And how much is due to life style choices? One way scientists try to pick apart genetic and environmental causes is to study sets of identical twins. Identical twins have the same DNA but can be put in different environments. This lets scientists directly tell what is due to genetics and what is due to genes. For example, in one study of obesity, sets of identical twins were fed extra food and forced to behave similarly (same amount of exercise, eating, etc.). During the study both twins in an identical twin pair gained about the same weight. But there were huge differences in the amounts of weight gained between sets of twins. This kind of study tells us that the tendency to gain more or less weight is in our genes. But twin studies can also show that some aspects of weight have to do with behavior too. For instance, scientists looked at identical twin pairs that exercised different amounts. As expected, the twin that exercised more weighed less. This shows that weight is not just genetic and that behavior is not all genetic. The fact that the twins had different exercise patterns definitely suggests that what we weigh has a large environmental component. So how much we weigh has to do with both our genes and our behavior. Just because someone's parents are heavy that does not mean their children will be heavier too. But it might mean that they will have trouble keeping the weight off. Good exercise habits and eating healthy foods can help maintain a normal weight. The opposite is also true. Your genes can predispose you to be normal weight. But if you eat too much food and do not exercise enough to use up the extra energy, then you will gain weight and eventually become overweight. Weight is really just a product of energy taken in (food you eat) minus energy used (for exercise, for heating our bodies, for helping digest our food, etc). So to lose weight, all you have to do is use more energy than you eat. And to gain weight, you just have to eat more food than you use up. Sounds simple, right? But of course it isn't--partly because of genes. Our genes can affect the amount of weight lost from dieting and exercise. They can also affect how much weight is gained when we eat too much. Our genes make proteins that work together to control everything from how often we get hungry to how we use energy from food. They even control how much exercise we can do at a time. Because our genes tell our bodies how to handle the food we eat, it's often hard for us to achieve a certain target weight. But what we weigh isn't only due to our genes. Katie Cunningham More Information How identical twins can look different even with the same genes.Obesity genesAppetite genes Back to Conditions Search Ask a Geneticist His parents were probablyoverweight. But notnecessarily.Identical twin studies showthat our weight is partgenetic and part en

According to Sandra Witelson, a behavioural neuroscientist at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, who discovered that the parietal operculum is missing from Einstein’s brain

absorb the movements that match basic sounds

first birthdays, babies start shifting back to look you in the eye again

University of Iowa psychology professor Bob McMurray, who also studies speech development.

quality face-time with your tot is very important for speech development – more than, say, turning on the latest baby DVD.

Other studies have shown that babies who are best at distinguishing between vowel sounds like "ah" and "ee" shortly before their first birthday wind up with better vocabularies and pre-reading skills by kindergarten.

babies also look to speakers' faces for important social cues about what they're hearing

So he and doctoral student Amy Hansen-Tift tested nearly 180 babies, groups of them at ages 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 months. How? They showed videos of a woman speaking in English or Spanish to babies of English speakers. A gadget mounted on a soft headband tracked where each baby was focusing his or her gaze and for how long.

They found a dramatic shift in attention: When the speaker used English, the 4-month-olds gazed mostly into her eyes. The 6-month-olds spent equal amounts of time looking at the eyes and the mouth. The 8- and 10-month-olds studied mostly the mouth.

At 12 months, attention started shifting back toward the speaker's eyes.

at 6 months, babies begin observing lip movement, Lewkowicz says, because that's about the time babies' brains gain the ability to control their attention rather than automatically look toward noise.

Duke University cognitive neuroscientist Greg Appelbaum

"If you're trying to lose weight, getting enough sleep gives you a fighting chance."