Author Archives: Krista Hoff

What Influences Voter Behavior?

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The “worm” may be changing how voters vote (Figure 1. Davis et al.)

Although we’d like to believe that people determine how to vote based on relevant political issues, research has shown that countless subtle elements beyond just the candidate and party platform are at play in influencing voter decisions. In light of the upcoming election, let’s revisit some of this research published by PLOS ONE over the years that address some of these influences.

Impressions based on candidate age and gender, as well as subconscious judgments of competency, approachability and attractiveness, are likely to have played a role in informing voters’ choices as long as democracy has been practiced. Several studies have explored these notions. Among them, an investigation into the effects of voter and candidate gender on voting behavior, exploring voter biases toward older candidates in times of conflict and whether Democrats and Republicans can be identified as such by their facial appearance alone!

More recent developments in the media’s coverage of debates have incorporated social elements in broadcasting and may be biasing audiences in new ways. The “worm”, seen above, is one such innovation; this continuous response measure presents real time data from undecided voters in a streaming line presented during live coverage of a debate. The research of Davis et al. demonstrates how easily these innovations can sway the opinions of viewers and urges more investigation into the impacts of this and other social media additions to coverage of debates.

These and other studies show how many factors may be influencing our choices in elections. As the presidential election approaches in the United States, whatever determines your vote, we hope you all get to the polls on November 6th!

 

Citation: Chiao JY, Bowman NE, Gill H (2008) The Political Gender Gap: Gender Bias in Facial Inferences that Predict Voting Behavior. PLoS ONE 3(10): e3666. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0003666

Citation: Spisak BR (2012) The General Age of Leadership: Older-Looking Presidential Candidates Win Elections during War. PLoS ONE 7(5): e36945. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0036945

Citation: Rule NO, Ambady N (2010) Democrats and Republicans Can Be Differentiated from Their Faces. PLoS ONE 5(1): e8733. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008733

Citation: Davis CJ, Bowers JS, Memon A (2011) Social Influence in Televised Election Debates: A Potential Distortion of Democracy. PLoS ONE 6(3): e18154. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0018154

Halloween Highlights: Carnivorous Plants

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Plants may not generally be associated with the spooky sentiments of Halloween, but put the right Hitchcock soundtrack with the video below and it could have come straight out of a Hollywood horror film.

Carnivorous plants have inspired many creative minds over time, perhaps most memorably in the cult classic, Little Shop of Horrors which featured a fictitious new hybrid that thrived only on human blood. The real plants may not be so scary to us but for insects, they’re certainly something to be wary of.

The video above  shows the particularly dramatic “active” trapping mechanism employed by one carnivorous species the Drosera glanduligera, a sundew that feeds on insects. Even the abstract of the study “Catapulting Tentacles in a Sticky Carnivorous Plant” conjures cryptic images:

Prey animals walking near the edge of the sundew trigger a touch-sensitive snap-tentacle, which swiftly catapults them onto adjacent sticky glue-tentacles; the insects are then slowly drawn within the concave trap leaf by sticky tentacles.

“Passive” trapping mechanisms used by other carnivorous plants can be equally creepy when documented close up (and paired with the right soundtrack). Take a look at Video S1 and S3, below, of a paper published in 2007 investigating the digestive fluid of the Nepenthes rafflesian, a pitcher plant that relies on its unique shape and a pool of  highly viscoelastic fluid to trap insects for digestion. The first video shows how easily a fly can escape a pool of water, while the second video shows the distinct advantage the digestive fluid gives the plant. Both demonstrate the classic horror film qualities science can evoke!

 

 

Citation: Poppinga S, Hartmeyer SRH, Seidel R, Masselter T, Hartmeyer I, et al. (2012) Catapulting Tentacles in a Sticky Carnivorous Plant. PLoS ONE 7(9): e45735. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0045735

Citation: Gaume L, Forterre Y (2007) A Viscoelastic Deadly Fluid in Carnivorous Pitcher Plants. PLoS ONE 2(11): e1185. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001185

Worth a Thousand Words: Handedness in Fish

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If you look closely at the image above, you’ll see that the mouths of these cichlid fish, Perissodus microlepis, curve in opposite directions. Similar to left or right handedness in humans, many animals exhibit handedness in behavior or morphology. Whether handed behavior is expressed early in development and produces mouth asymmetry or the opposite, that mouth asymmetry produces handed behavior, however, is not well known. The authors of the study “Handed Foraging Behavior in Scale-Eating Cichlid Fish: Its Potential Role in Shaping Morphological Asymmetry” set out to investigate this question and more. The image above is Figure 1 of the article.

Abstract:

Scale-eating cichlid fish, Perissodus microlepis, from Lake Tanganyika display handed (lateralized) foraging behavior, where an asymmetric ‘left’ mouth morph preferentially feeds on the scales of the right side of its victim fish and a ‘right’ morph bites the scales of the left side. This species has therefore become a textbook example of the astonishing degree of ecological specialization and negative frequency-dependent selection. We investigated the strength of handedness of foraging behavior as well as its interaction with morphological mouth laterality in P. microlepis. In wild-caught adult fish we found that mouth laterality is, as expected, a strong predictor of their preferred attack orientation. Also laboratory-reared juvenile fish exhibited a strong laterality in behavioral preference to feed on scales, even at an early age, although the initial level of mouth asymmetry appeared to be small. This suggests that pronounced mouth asymmetry is not a prerequisite for handed foraging behavior in juvenile scale-eating cichlid fish and might suggest that behavioral preference to attack a particular side of the prey plays a role in facilitating morphological asymmetry of this species.

 

Citation: Lee HJ, Kusche H, Meyer A (2012) Handed Foraging Behavior in Scale-Eating Cichlid Fish: Its Potential Role in Shaping Morphological Asymmetry. PLoS ONE 7(9): e44670. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0044670

The Advantage of Veins

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Locust wing

Desert locusts are known to travel great distances, experiencing substantial mechanical stress along the way, however little is understood about their wings ability to resist damage during these long flights. Using a tensile test machine, Trinity College researchers Dr. Dirks and Dr. Taylor investigated the toughness of these insect’s extremely thin wings, specifically looking into the function of the network of veins running through the wing membrane, shown in Figure 1 above, as barriers to crack propagation. As the title, “Veins Improve Fracture Toughness of Insect Wings” suggests, the study found these veins increased the effective structural toughness of the wing significantly, causing cracks to slow or stop and helps explain how the insects manage to withstand damage incurred over long flights. Check out Video 1 of the article to see the veins impede cracks.

 

Image citation:

Dirks J-H, Taylor D (2012) Veins Improve Fracture Toughness of Insect Wings. PLoS ONE 7(8): e43411. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0043411

PLOS ONE News and Media Roundup

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Lesions found on coral trout.

Last month, the media covered PLOS ONE papers on germs in airports, skin cancer in fish, a potentially life extending pill, and more!

Research by a team at MIT identified New York City’s JFK, Los Angeles’s LAX and Honolulu’s HNL as the nation’s airports most likely to influence the spread of a major pandemic in the first few days of an emerging disease. The team used geographical information, traffic structure and individual mobility patterns to model contagious disease dynamics through the air transportation network. The study was covered by NPR, CNN, and Wired.

A recent study comparing a hunter-gatherer population with a modern Western population found that daily energy expenditure between the two populations is not all that different; challenging the view that obesity in Western society is largely due to a lack of exercise.  This research may encourage shifting the focus of this debate to the importance of calorie consumption and was covered by The Atlantic, Mother Nature Network and the BBC.

Dark patches found on fish in the Great Barrier Reef have been identified as a deadly form of skin cancer, melanoma. “Evidence of Melanoma in Wild Marine Fish Populations” is the first published study of melanoma in a wild fish population but it is unlikely the problem is new. The Great Barrier Reef sits under the largest hole in the ozone, exposing fish populations there to high levels of UV radiation. The image above is Figure 1 of the manuscript. The study was covered by Science, LA Times and Scientific American.

Autistic children may benefit from getting a pet. According to this study by a French research team, children who received a pet around the age of five showed improved social skills, including increased ability to share with and comfort others, compared to autistic children who either grew up with a pet or never had one. US News, Fox and Time all covered this study.

Findings from the study “Randomized Polypill Crossover Trial in People Aged 50 and Over” suggest that people over fifty may benefit from taking a once daily “polypill” comprised of three blood pressure-lowering drugs and a cholesterol-lowering statin. Read more at CBS, Reuters and ABC.

For more in-depth coverage on news and blog articles about PLOS ONE papers, please visit our Media Tracking Project.

Ask EveryONE: Self Help Edition

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A few features deserve some recognition this week on Ask EveryONE.

First off, the Manuscript Guidelines, Publication Criteria and Editorial Policies pages on PlosONE.org have been revamped to include much more information in a much more searchable format. Finding the answer to a pre-submission inquiry, peer review question or tech check notification should be significantly simpler now that the information is updated and easier to navigate.

Second, a reminder to use the PLoS ONE Video Shorts. These were created by Editorial Staff to assist authors, Academic Editors and reviewers in navigating Editorial Manager and responding to Editorial requests. These videos are all under 3 minutes long and can help answer a variety of questions from How to Check Your Manuscript Image Quality, to How to Submit your Decision to How to Accept or Decline an Invitation to Review a Manuscript and more.

Lastly, we encourage you to use the links above and others on this site and PlosONE.org for the fastest solution to most queries but if necessary, don’t hesitate to contact the Editorial Staff at plosone@plos.org. Any questions for manuscripts that are in production or have been published should be directed to the Production Staff at one_production@plos.org.

Earth Day, Every Day

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Dams sorted by status (existing and planned) and size (2–99 MW, 100–999 MW, and ?1,000 MW capacity).

Although the nationally celebrated Earth Day has just passed, it’s important to consider our impact on the environment every day.  In their recently published article “Proliferation of Hydroelectric Dams in the Andean Amazon and Implications for Andes-Amazon Connectivity,” authors Matt Finer and Clinton N. Jenkins highlight a constant environmental concern; meeting the world’s growing energy demands. Finer and Jenkins developed a strategic ecological impact assessment of planned dams from the Andes to the Amazon. Their findings point to the need for this kind of heightened environmental awareness every day.

Abstract

Due to rising energy demands and abundant untapped potential, hydropower projects are rapidly increasing in the Neotropics. This is especially true in the wet and rugged Andean Amazon, where regional governments are prioritizing new hydroelectric dams as the centerpiece of long-term energy plans. However, the current planning for hydropower lacks adequate regional and basin-scale assessment of potential ecological impacts. This lack of strategic planning is particularly problematic given the intimate link between the Andes and Amazonian flood plain, together one of the most species rich zones on Earth. We examined the potential ecological impacts, in terms of river connectivity and forest loss, of the planned proliferation of hydroelectric dams across all Andean tributaries of the Amazon River. Considering data on the full portfolios of existing and planned dams, along with data on roads and transmission line systems, we developed a new conceptual framework to estimate the relative impacts of all planned dams. There are plans for 151 new dams greater than 2 MW over the next 20 years, more than a 300% increase. These dams would include five of the six major Andean tributaries of the Amazon. Our ecological impact analysis classified 47% of the potential new dams as high impact and just 19% as low impact. Sixty percent of the dams would cause the first major break in connectivity between protected Andean headwaters and the lowland Amazon. More than 80% would drive deforestation due to new roads, transmission lines, or inundation. We conclude with a discussion of three major policy implications of these findings. 1) There is a critical need for further strategic regional and basin scale evaluation of dams. 2) There is an urgent need for a strategic plan to maintain Andes-Amazon connectivity. 3) Reconsideration of hydropower as a low-impact energy source in the Neotropics.

Worth a Thousand Words: The Spikerbox

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Depiction of the SpikerBox (a) and iPhone running custom open-source iOS software (b) used for electrophysiology experiments in the classroom.

Pictured above is the SpikerBox, a low cost, open-source BioAmplifier developed by a team of scientist/engineers in their quest to bring neuroscience education to the K-12 curricula. The SpikerBox can be built by students and teachers in the classroom and enables a variety of experiments that, in the authors’ words, “provides a great way to learn about how the brain works by letting you hear and even see the electrical impulses of neurons!”

In their manuscript, “The SpikerBox: A Low Cost, Open-Source BioAmplifier for Increasing Public Participation in Neuroscience Inquiry” published last week in PLoS ONE, authors Timothy C. Marzullo and Gregory J. Gage describe the design of the SpikerBox and detail experiments employing the device in a classroom setting. They also provide learning materials and supplemental resources, including an assembly guide and student questions, for use in a lesson plan. Marzullo and Gage’s work is an excellent example of bringing together open-source hardware and openaccess publication to support science education.

From the abstract:

Although people are generally interested in how the brain functions, neuroscience education for the public is hampered by a lack of low cost and engaging teaching materials. To address this, we developed an open-source tool, the SpikerBox, which is appropriate for use in middle/high school educational programs and by amateurs. This device can be used in easy experiments in which students insert sewing pins into the leg of a cockroach, or other invertebrate, to amplify and listen to the electrical activity of neurons. With the cockroach leg preparation, students can hear and see (using a smartphone oscilloscope app we have developed) the dramatic changes in activity caused by touching the mechanosensitive barbs. Students can also experiment with other manipulations such as temperature, drugs, and microstimulation that affect the neural activity. We include teaching guides and other resources in the supplemental materials. These hands-on lessons with the SpikerBox have proven to be effective in teaching basic neuroscience.

PLoS ONE News and Blog Round-Up

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Tiny chameleons Brookesia desperata courtesty Frank Glaw

This month in PLoS ONE: synchronized eating, depression’s link to working overtime (surprise!), a step towards understanding Alzheimer’s, the oldest living thing on earth and a species of very small chameleons.

Your choice of dining companion may have a greater influence on your meal consumption than you first expect. Researchers found that 70 pairs of female diners tended to mimic each other in eating behavior, taking bites simultaneously and consuming similar amounts of food. This study was covered by Scientific American, MSNBC and CNN

It seems logical to connect working long hours with feeling down but now you can point to new scientific evidence of this correlation. In this five year study of more than 2,000 British civil servants, men and women who routinely worked 11 hours or more per day more than doubled their risk of developing depression, compared with co-workers who put in eight hour days. This study was covered by ABC, NPR, LA Times and others.

The implications are profound for new research supporting the concept that Alzheimer’s spreads through the brain like an infection. Originating in the entorhinal cortex, abnormal tau proteins seem to progress from neuron to neuron across synapses, creating tangles of protein fibers in areas needed for memory creation and storage. Covered by NPR, The New York Times and Reuters, this research could be used to help diagnose Alzheimer’s in earlier stages and improve treatment.

The oldest living thing on earth may be a giant patch of seagrass found in the Mediterranean. Beds of this clonal organism, Posidonia oceania, are likely at least 100,000 years old, almost 60,000 years older than the previously thought oldest living organism (a Tasmanian plant), but may be under threat from rising ocean temperatures. This study was covered by the Huffington Post, BBC and Voice of America.

Tiniest but not least, a newly discovered dwarf chameleon species represents “an extreme case of island dwarfism” in Madagascar. Reaching only about 16mm fully grown, these chameleons are among the smallest vertebrates in the world. Their discovery was covered by Wired, Discovery and by Slate on Youtube.

For more in-depth coverage on news and blog articles about PLoS ONE papers, please visit our Media Tracking Project.

Image Credit: Frank Glaw