The fire ant (Solenopsis invicta), nicknamed "the invincible", is famous for its painful sting and for causing invasive pests in countries such as China and Australia. Their societies are characterized by the fact that some have hundreds of queens and others only one strictly. Now an investigation, led by the University of London, has analyzed the genome of more than 500 of these insects and, according to their conclusions, the multiplicity or not of queens in this species is determined by the Gp-9 gene, considered a "supergene "being actually made up of more than 600 genes.
An international team of British and American scientists have discovered a DNA sequence that is associated with a person's tendency to occupy a leadership position, whether as a class delegate, in a company, in sports or in the political arena. The study, published in the journal 'Leadership Quarterly', suggests that, therefore, having "leader wood" would be an inheritable trait from father to son.
Every year, the editors and experts of the journal Science select the ten most outstanding scientific milestones of what has happened in the course of 2012. On this occasion, the first place has been for the discovery of the Higgs boson, which confirms the hypothesis about its existence formulated forty years ago and completes the standard model of physics, providing an explanation of how other fundamental particles obtain their mass.
Researchers at McMaster University (USA) have discovered new genetic evidence that helps to understand why some people tend to be happier than others. Specifically, they have found evidence that the FTO gene - one of the main genetic causes of obesity - is associated with a reduction in the risk of depression.
The international 1000 Genomes consortium has succeeded in sequencing the genomes of 1,092 healthy people from a wide range of ethnic groups in fourteen countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and America, according to the journal Nature in its latest issue.
In Western culture, thinness is often portrayed as an ideal of beauty, and this idealization, taken to the extreme, can cause major disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. Now, a study published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders reveals that genetics determine that some women are more susceptible than others to social pressure for being thin.
Danni Büchner is invited to Sam Dylan's Halloween party. But the "Goodbye Germany" emigrant has no desire for many other party guests. And find clear words.
