Word: behaviors
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...according to Dr. Eric Hollander, an attending psychiatrist at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City and an expert on autism, there is evidence that the "repetitive thoughts and behaviors, rigid routines and rituals and perfectionism" that characterize both autism and anorexia may be traced to the same regions in the brain. Imaging studies of patients with either condition have found variations in the activity of brain regions like the anterior cingulate cortex, for example, where disruptions contribute to obsessive-compulsive behavior and aberrant social behaviors...
...yearlong study just completed at the University of California at Riverside offers several fascinating competing theories about why same-gender sexual behavior has endured. And although it's gay-pride month - and the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots that sparked the gay-rights movement - not all the theories will give same-gender-loving humans a reason to celebrate. (See the top 10 animal stories...
...boys-in-the-locker-room theory. Any guy who played sports in high school knows that homoerotic jokes and towel-snapping are an underlying part of the subculture. Similarly, male bottlenose dolphins use same-sex sexual behavior to maintain and strengthen their social relationships - although dolphins are far more explicit about their homosexual play, regularly mounting one another and (hide the kids' ears here) sticking their noses into certain boy-dolphin parts. (Very regularly: roughly half of male dolphin sex occurs with other males.) Among bonobos, same-sex sexual behavior is also thought to ease social tension and facilitate reconciliation...
...oops" theory. Among insects, same-sex sexual behavior is usually a case of mistaken identity. Male fruit flies, for instance, may romance other males because they lack a gene that enables them to distinguish between sexes. Even more surprising, male toads can't tell the difference between girl toads and boy toads, so males will routinely embrace other males, although the subordinate ones are equipped with a call that quickly results in the dominant male releasing. In other species, the "straight" males get tricked by other wily straight males who dress in animal drag: male goodeid fish, for instance, sometimes...
...lesson can be learned from health care in the developed world, it's that chronic diseases are a lot less costly when they're prevented from the start: up to 80% of premature death from heart disease, stroke and diabetes can be avoided with basic behavioral changes and inexpensive drug treatments. But so far there has been little effort to tailor those interventions to low- and middle-income nations, such as China and Brazil, where chronic diseases are expected to take a serious toll in coming decades. "Avoiding tobacco, improving nutrition and getting more exercise - we know this works," says...