Abby Tabor
This week on MyScienceWork we talked about appetite, specifically how the brain controls it, as well as the growing appetite for open data: will we end up feeling satisfied? And what about a sexual appetite that's difficult to control - is that an addiction? These stories and more, in our picks of the week.
Sources: Wikimedia Commons
On the MyScienceWork Menu:
This week, David Davila returned to share his interest for a new study on the brain and appetite. What if our eating behavior weren’t just about neurons…?
Appetite and Astrocytes: From Tiny Proteins to Behaviour
Open data is everywhere today. Greater transparency from governments can’t be a bad thing, but can open data really deliver on all that it promises? Pierre-Sofiane Kadri asked a sociologist specializing in data:
Open Data: A Political Illusion? Interview with Evelyn Ruppert, data sociologist
We’re already halfway through Season 1 of Knock Knock Doc! This week meet Karen, who is exploring they way neurons form connections, while she makes connections between industry and her PhD studies.
Knock Knock Doc - Episode 05 # Season 1: Microscopic Reactions
Some favorites from around the web:
Disturbing findings about the rate of sexual harassment in science, especially towards women, were published this week:
Two-Thirds of These Female Scientists Say They’ve Been Sexually Harassed
The Rosetta mission is drawing nearer to its exciting climax when the space probe will attempt to land on a comet. As it also gets closer to its destination, scientists are able to see that:
The Comet We've Targeted To Land On Turns Out To Be Duck-Shaped
Learn more about what’s behind the mission in:
Is Rosetta ready to reveal the comet’s secrets?
Big data is finding a home in all sorts of fields, for all kinds of uses:
Scientists enlist big data to guide conservation efforts
The agonizing question that this research hopes to help answer – If we have to choose which species to save, which should they be? – was also posed by FameLab laureate Belén Jiménez-Mena during the Paris regional final of the competition. Read the portrait of this young conservation geneticist, here:
Save the Whales…and the Dairy Cows! Meet FameLab Laureate Belén Jiménez-Mena
Also this week, Chris Chambers’ discussion of research asking whether compulsive pornography consumption can share characteristics with drug addiction (Is compulsive sexual behaviour comparable to drug addiction?) addresses the limits on the conclusions we can draw from a nevertheless useful brain imaging study. Lucile Pommier also asked the question, in:
Is sex addiction an actual dependency?
