Zebrafish are known for their pro-social behaviour, but around 10% of them are ‘loners’ who dismiss social cues. The brain activity of this minority differs from that of their pro-social siblings. At the same time, even typically social zebrafish avoid social interaction after a period of isolation. In isolation, they show sensitivity to stimuli and have increased activity in brain regions related to stress and anxiety. It was a spontaneous turn for Dr Elena Dreosti (WIBR) when she realised that a detailed view of the zebrafish brain can provide valid clues for all of us in the ongoing Covid-19 scenario. Humans and these fish share a fundamental drive for social interaction that is controlled by similar brain structures. We won’t all be loners after the lockdowns. We will be anxious upon returning to our normal social lives, but we need to overcome the reluctance. What Dr Dreosti didn’t say is that, hopefully, social distancing was a great lesson for us. A great deal of what is perceived as “normally social” is a clutter of unnecessary cultural fixtures devoid of any evolutionary significance.
SNEAK PEEK
1. COVID-19 masks
The masks turned out to be a lot more effective than was thought. Many people in China have worn face masks for years, due to the bad air quality of the country. They were used to it. “Mandated face-covering helped China in containing the COVID-19 outbreak.” Who said it?
1. Renyi Zhang (Texas A&M University)
2. Insightful search
Search for ETs offers valid clues. If intelligent life is common in our galaxy, it would mean our civilisation could exist for much longer than a few hundred years. If we find no other civilisation out there, it is a bad sign for our own long-term existence. Who proposed the theory?
2. Christopher Conselice (University of Nottingham)
3. We’re colour-blind
Human eyes have three types of colour-sensitive cones — for red, green and blue. Bird eyes have a fourth type, sensitive to ultraviolet. This can create combinations like ultraviolet+green, ultraviolet+red and many more. Who said “Humans are colour-blind compared to birds”?
3. Princeton evolutionary biologist Mary Caswell Stoddard
4. Bow and arrow
We largely overlook extreme environments like Asian tropical rainforests when we look for the origins of human innovation. The earliest evidence for bow-and-arrow technology, some 48-45,000 years ago, came from the cave of Fa-Hien Lena (Sri Lanka). Who found it?
4. Dr Michelle C. Langley (Griffith University)
5. Someone did it
Times of upheaval, from the great fire of ancient Rome in 64 CE to the 9/11 attacks, encourage paranoia and conspiratorial thinking. When our world changes unexpectedly, we want to blame it on someone — “to make sense of it, and perhaps neutralize it.’ Who said that?
5. Dr Philip Robert Corlett (Yale School of Medicine)
6. Interventions fail
“Growth mindset interventions” teach students they can improve their intelligence with effort. Students who are poor or at high risk of failing may benefit from them. Who revealed it don’t really work in most circumstances in a study of data from more than 400,000 students?
6. Alexander P. Burgoyne (Michigan State University)
7. Too many islands
Amazon is one of the earliest centres of plant domestication — manioc 10,350 years ago, squash 10,250 years ago; and maize 6,850 years ago. Who discovered that the earliest inhabitants of the Amazon created thousands of artificial forest islands as they tamed wild plants?
7. Umberto Lombardo (Institute of Geography, University of Bern)
8. A cortisol spike
Cortisol, a stress hormone (the “fight-or-flight” hormone), slowly accumulates in the scales of fish and remains there for weeks. This can be measured, but the importance of it lies elsewhere. “The mere act of catching a fish will cause a cortisol spike”. Who warned us of it?
8. Neurobiologist Frederic Laberge (University of Guelph)
9. Lonely, lonelier
Like a social media site, an area in the brain (mPFC) keeps a structured map of our social circles. Lonelier people may perceive a gap between themselves and others. That is, they have a “lonelier” neural representation of their relationships. Who traced it in the mPFC?
9. Andrea L. Courtney with Meghan L. Meyer
[ANSWERS]
1. Renyi Zhang (Texas A&M University)
2. Christopher Conselice (University of Nottingham)
3. Princeton evolutionary biologist Mary Caswell Stoddard
4. Dr Michelle C. Langley (Griffith University)
5. Dr Philip Robert Corlett (Yale School of Medicine)
6. Alexander P. Burgoyne (Michigan State University)
7. Umberto Lombardo (Institute of Geography, University of Bern)
8. Neurobiologist Frederic Laberge (University of Guelph)
9. Andrea L. Courtney with Meghan L. Meyer
QUIZ No. 959
1. As an early innovation in IT, the pen was truly mightier than the sword. Who said it?
– Daniel P. Friedman
– Robert Anthony Kowalski
– Tim A. Kohler
1. Tim A. Kohler
2. Who noted that people can control their blinking with an incredible time precision?
– Anders Rasmussen
– Leopoldo Marco Caldani
– Ralph W. Gerard
2. Anders Rasmussen
3. Who saw a link between RNT (repetitive negative thinking) and cognitive decline?
– Dr Natalie Marchant
– George Bard Ermentrout
– Rita Levi-Montalcini
3. Dr Natalie Marchant
4. “No less than a periodic table of the subatomic particles.” Who came up with that?
– Arnold Sommerfeld
– Werner Karl Heisenberg
– Murray Gell-Mann
4. Murray Gell-Mann
5. Who took to space a sketch drawn by a 16-year-old boy who died in Auschwitz?
– Ilan Ramon
– Scott Jay “Doc” Horowitz
– Judith Arlene Resnik
5. Ilan Ramon