The Zeal in New Zealand
When a researcher announced at an Australian genetics conference that Maori men, the indigenous people of New Zealand, are twice as likely to carry a gene linked to aggression as European men, Maori leaders responded with anger (not aggression). Maori leaders say that the announcement that their people are more likely than others to carry monoamine oxidase, labeled the "warrior gene" by some, only contributes to the stereotype of the Maori as a violent and criminal people. That stereotype was fed by Once Were Warriors, a 1994 movie about domestic violence in the Maori community. It probably was not helped by the popularization of Haka, an intimidating Maori dance adopted by the All Blacks, New Zealand's rugby team.
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Oh, K; You're OK With Me
A low dose of ketamine, the veterinary anesthetic known on the street as "special K" may be the secret to turning a frown upside down. While this finding is only preliminary and the researchers emphasize the drug is not ready to be used in a clinical context, the results are remarkable: Of 18 depressed adults who received a ketamine injection, nearly three quarters had 50% or greater improvement one day after the injection, 29% met the criteria for remission and 35% still felt the happy effects one week later. While doctors are not sure exactly how ketamine combats depression, they do note that it blocks NMDA receptors. When this receptor is blocked in animals, researchers have observed a reduction in depression-like behaviors. No serious side effects were observed in the participants. While no other anti-depressents work this quickly or have such long-lasting effects with a single dose, doctors say that much more research needs to be done before ketamine could possibly be put to legal, clinical use in treating depression.
Serial Mom
The meerkat is the ultimate stage mother, ensuring her baby will rise to the top long before she gives birth. Research has shown that when a meerkat gets pregnant, she will actively try to kill the pups of her peers. Now new research finds the most dominant meerkat moms take this competitiveness one step further by chasing and persecuting other meerkats in their mating prime until they are so stressed they become infertile. The pregnant meerkat continues this offensive until three weeks before her pup is born. The mother superior in a female meerkat group then has most of the babies in the society, while other, smaller meerkat ladies help the queen raise her pups.
Tie The Knot, Cut The Noose
Women waiting on marriage proposals around the world may get some solid, persuasive ammunition from a recent study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, which concludes that people who never marry are more likely to die early than people who are or have been married. Researchers analyzed data from the 1989 National Health Interview Survey and the 1997 US National Death Index and found that, controlling for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, the death rate for people who were never married was 58% higher than for people who were married. Widows and widowers were 40% more likely to die between 1989 and 1997 than those whose spouses were still alive, and divorced people were at a 27% greater risk for death than those still married. The never-married effect was largest for men and those in good or excellent health. The researchers hypothesize that social isolation may be the underlying cause of high death risk for the never-marrieds.