PLoS ONE News and Blog Round-Up

In this PLoS ONE media digest: four new species of Zombie-ant fungus are found, ancient Britons drink out of skull cups, Jimmy Connors is the best tennis player ever and much much more.

Arvid Guterstam, Valeria I. Petkova and H. Henrik Ehrsson recently published a paper entitled, The Illusion of Owning a Third Arm.  Their manuscript received media attention from: NPR, New York Times, Not Exactly Rocket Science, Times of India and Scientific American. The image to the left is Figure 1 of the manuscript.

Dr. David Hughes and colleagues recently published a paper on the Hidden Diversity Behind the Zombie-Ant Fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis: Four New Species Described from Carpenter Ants in Minas Gerais, Brazil.  Their paper received media coverage from: CNN, Wired, National Geographic, and 80 Beats.

The paper by Silvia Bello and colleagues on the Earliest Directly-Dated Human Skull-Cups received coverage from NPR, BBC, New York Times, Time, CNN and Not Exactly Rocket Science.

In the paper, CRF Receptor Antagonist Astressin-B Reverses and Prevents Alopecia in CRF Over-Expressing Mice researchers accidently discovered a possible cure for baldness.  Their discovery was covered by: The New York Times, Voice of America, Xinhua, Good Morning America and Huffington Post

The study, Abundant Human DNA Contamination Identified in Non-Primate Genome Databases, received coverage from: Nature News, The New York Times and New Scientist.

Brian Mossop wrote an article for Wired’s Playbook on a recently published paper entitled, Development and Feasibility of a Smartphone, ECG and GPS Based System for Remotely Monitoring Exercise in Cardiac Rehabilitation.

Increased Cortical Thickness in Sports Experts: A Comparison of Diving Players with the Controls was covered by Wired.

Cell-Phone-Based Platform for Biomedical Device Development and Education Applications also received media attention from Wired. The image to the right is  part of this manuscript’s Figure 11. It shows an image of a sugar crystal taken through crossed polarizers of a traditional microscope.

Researchers found that Lake Baikal, the world’s largest lake, mimics the surface water temperature of the Pacific Ocean during El Nino-Southern Oscillation.  The details of this finding can be found in the article, Influence of Long-Distance Climate Teleconnection on Seasonality of Water Temperature in the World’s Largest Lake – Lake Baikal, Siberia and was covered by the Santa Barbara Independent and Planet Save.

Convergent Processing of Both Positive and Negative Motivational Signals by the VTA Dopamine Neuronal Populations was covered by UPI, US News and World Report, and Business Week.

Dr. Steven Schutzer and colleagues published a paper entitled, Distinct Cerebrospinal Fluid Proteomes Differentiate Post-Treatment Lyme Disease from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.  The manuscript received widespread attention and was covered by:  CBS News, Peru Terra, Wall Street Journal, and US News and World Report.

Stanford researchers Paul Thibodeau and Lera Boroditsky published a paper on, Metaphors We Think With: The Role of Metaphor in Reasoning.  Their paper received attention from: Nature News, Not Exactly Rocket Science, and Sify.

Blood Profile of Proteins and Steroid Hormones Predicts Weight Change after Weight Loss with Interactions of Dietary Protein Level and Glycemic Index received coverage from: Times of India, The Press Association, and The MedGuru.

According to an article entitled, Who Is the Best Player Ever? A Complex Network Analysis of the History of Professional Tennis, Jimmy Connors is the best player in the history of tennis.  This article received media attention from: Reuters, BBC Radio, Wall Street Journal, and Tennis.com.

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