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Whether introduced into a completely novel habitat or slowly expanding their current range, the degree to which animals can efficiently explore and navigate new environments can be key to survival, ultimately determining population establishment and colonization success. We tested whether spatial orientation and exploratory behavior are associated with non-native spread in free-living bank voles (Myodes glareolus , N = 43) from a population accidentally introduced to Ireland a century ago. We measured spatial orientation and navigation in a radial arm maze, and behaviors associated to exploratory tendencies and risk-taking in repeated open-field tests, at the expansion edge and in the source population. Bank voles at the expansion edge re-visited unrewarded arms of the maze more, waited longer before leaving it, took longer to start exploring both the radial arm maze and the open field, and were more risk-averse compared to conspecifics in the source population. Taken together, results suggest that for this small mammal under heavy predation pressure, a careful and thorough exploration strategy might be favored when expanding into novel environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a concise and accurate summary of the life and work of Alfred Russel Wallace, a significant figure in evolutionary biology. It challenges misconceptions about Wallace's background and ideas, emphasizing his self-education and passion for natural sciences. The article explores his travels to South America and Southeast Asia, where he made important observations and collected specimens. It also discusses Wallace's contributions to evolutionary biology, his views on societal and economic systems, and his interest in human evolution and spiritualism. This comprehensive overview of Wallace's life and scientific achievements makes it a valuable resource for researchers in the field of evolutionary biology and biodiversity science. [Extracted from the article]

An interview with Professor Dame Hermione Lee is presented. When asked about the purpose of biography, recent developments in the field, and potential future trends, Lee highlights the evolving nature of biographical writing, emphasizing its role in satisfying curiosity, telling compelling stories, and exploring unconventional lives while anticipating greater fluidity in gender representation and the impact of digital technology on the genre.

This article analyses selected writings in French by Lydia Flem and Philippe Forest, with a focus on the intertextual presence of literary figures from well-known sources, identifications with figures from imaginary worlds and their relationship to the writing project. These authors' curiosity about the place of storytelling in understanding selves and lives extends to the question of how literature connects with experiences that otherwise remain inaccessible or elude conscious awareness. The formal and thematic functions of Lewis Carroll's Alice and J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan are examined in Flem's Comment je me suis séparée de ma fille et de mon quasi-fils and Forest's L'Enfant éternel. The article argues that via the perspectives of the (parental) narrators in both texts, these literary figures mobilize the creative expression of experiences of change and loss. The (re)turn to literature takes place not because it saves, or consoles, these writers insist; rather, they describe the compelling and paradoxically sustaining functions of reading and writing even as they precisely fail to offer up any certain resolution. Literature's capacity to enliven curiosity about human experience means that writing is life; literary figures live with and in them. In a similar spirit to Deborah Levy's description of 'living autobiography', the article argues that Flem and Forest attest to the need and desire to write in an 'engaged' way, characteristic of a writing practice that encompasses concrete and imaginary worlds, reality and fantasy. From explorations of transition and loss, Flem's 'bébé de papier' and Forest's 'être de papier' emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individual differences in behavior have large consequences for the way in which ecology impacts fitness. Individuals differ in how they explore their environment and how exploratory behavior benefits them. In group-living animals, behavioral heterogeneity can be beneficial because different individuals perform different tasks. For example, exploratory individuals may discover new food sources and recruit group members to exploit the food, while less exploratory individuals forgo the risks of exploration. Here we ask how individual variation in exploratory behavior affects the ability of Argentine ant Linepithema humile colonies to (1) locate novel food sources, (2) exploit known food resources, and (3) respond to disruptions while foraging. To address these questions, we conducted field experiments on L. humile foraging trails in which we manipulated food availability near and at the foraging trails and disrupted the foraging trails. We sampled individuals based on their response to the perturbations in the field and tested their exploratory behavior in the lab. We found that exploratory individuals benefit the colony by locating novel foods and increasing resource exploitation, but they do not play an important role in the recovery of a foraging trail after disruption. Thus, the benefits of behavioral heterogeneity to the group, specifically in exploratory behavior, differ across ecological contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article asks how we should best historically situate processes of making and knowing in early modern luxury crafts. It focuses on the Augsburg merchant Philipp Hainhofer (1578–1647) and his celebrated cabinets of curiosities. The article methodologically argues for the need to cross-fertilize scholarship on 'the body of the artisan' (Pamela H. Smith) with the history of labour. The notion of the European 'artisan' involved in 'making and knowing' has unwittingly tended to conjure up the image of an unquestionably male and often autonomous practitioner soberly immersed in experiment. By contrast, the article argues that lived 'bodies' involved in making and knowing were diverse and subjected to far more disciplining and strain than has hitherto been highlighted. A culture of secrecy fostered isolation. Increased alcohol consumption interrelated with the cultivation of wit as intellectual and affective practice. The article considers how differences in social status and religious beliefs created tensions among these makers and pays attention to the gendered nature of these types of employment and the hidden global types of knowledge and labour upon which they depended. By focusing primarily on Hainhofer's published and unpublished correspondence, the article argues against the generalized conception that artefacts emerged from a 'flow' between makers and materials and demonstrates how early modern craft labour can be situated in social, economic and cultural contexts. Material communities in the luxury crafts were characterized by systemic strain, conflicts and the need to find shortcuts, but also by pleasure, wit, resistance, tenacity and opportunities for conceptual thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND Hypertensive individuals with higher heart rates and anxiety have greater cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Despite the correlation between hypertension, heart rate, and anxiety, scant attention has been paid to the effect of hypertension drug therapy on behavioral outcomes in cardiovascular disease. Ivabradine, an inhibitor of hyperpolarization-activated, cyclic nucleotide-gated funny channels (HCNs), has been used clinically to reduce heart rates and has been shown to improve quality of life in patients with angina and heart failure. We postulated that in addition to lowering heart rate, ivabradine could reduce anxiety in mice exposed to a significant stress paradigm. METHODS Mice underwent a stress induction protocol, subsequently they received either vehicle or ivabradine (10 mg/kg) via osmotic minipumps. Blood pressure and heart rates were measured with tail cuff photoplethysmography. Anxiety was assessed quantitatively through the open field test (OFT) and the elevated plus maze (EPM). Cognition was assessed with an object recognition test (ORT). Pain tolerance was measured by the hot plate test or subcutaneous injection of formalin. HCN gene expression was measured with RT-PCR. RESULTS Ivabradine reduced resting heart rate in the stressed mice by 22%. Stressed mice treated with ivabradine displayed significantly greater exploratory behavior in the OFT, EPM, and ORT. The expression of central HCN channels was significantly reduced following stress. CONCLUSION It is suggested from our findings that ivabradine can reduce anxiety following significant psychological stress. Reductions in heart rate may directly improve quality of life by reducing anxiety in patients with hypertension and high heart rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large number of Chinese scientists are working overseas, especially in the USA and Europe, where scientific communities are highly internationalized and diverse. In contrast, international scientists working in China are fewer, naturally generating some curiosity about them—why do they come to China, and how are their experiences in China? In this article, we introduce five such scientists and their stories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given curiosity's characterization as a motivational drive for knowledge, prior research has primarily focused on curiosity's positive effects on knowledge exploration, information acquisition, and learning. Once the desired knowledge has been acquired, curiosity is said to be satisfied. But what happens if curiosity is left unsatisfied? Across five experiments, spanning four domains of indulgence-related decisions and relying on different methods of curiosity elicitation, the present research sheds light on an unexpected yet crucial consequence of curiosity—that unsatisfied curiosity tempts indulgent consumption in domains unrelated to the source of the curiosity. This effect is explained by a generalized desire for rewards. Experiments 1–3 establish and replicate the proposed mediation model of curiosity —› desire for rewards —› indulgence, employing manipulation-of-process, moderation-of-process, and measurement-of-process experimental designs. Experiment 4 utilizes neurophysiological data to indicate brain activation in the insular cortex for unsatisfied (vs. satisfied) curiosity. Experiment 5 addresses the role of cognitive depletion as a possible alternative mechanism. In summary, this article demonstrates that the hunger for information that accompanies unsatisfied curiosity is converted into a generalized desire for rewards, which in turn tempts indulgence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current science-policy trends emphasise efficiency, application orientation, and accountability. This article is inspired by the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012; the author studies how the knowledge transfer practitioners at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the birthplace of the Higgs boson, account for their experiences at CERN. In the body of the Science Policy Studies literature, the knowledge transfer practitioners' perspective on the wider impacts of particle and high-energy physics research is relatively understudied. The data are generated from qualitative interviews. Constructivist discourse analysis, which is introduced from Science and Technology Studies, is applied to the data; namely, this research focuses on the practitioners' worldview and their perceived situation at CERN. As a result, there is a repetitive sense of ambivalence towards knowledge transfer in the discourse. Practical suggestions are provided in response to this ambivalence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the potential of learner-initiated exploratory practice (EP), which encourages learners to set their own investigative agenda based on their curiosity-driven puzzles. A case study was conducted in a remedial course for undergraduate students at a university in Japan. Data included student puzzles, posters, and reflective questionnaires. Student investigations of their puzzles remind teachers and researchers of the affordances of learning from learners. The results suggested that, despite their previously disoriented attitudes towards learning English, this form of fully inclusive practitioner research, EP, provides learners with an opportunity to realize their curiosity and reinvigorate their motivation towards language learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In retrospect, it was largely owing to John's abundant au fait book acquisitions that staff and students were able to "keep up" with the proliferation of texts in all fields, and particularly in the cross pollination of design history and material culture. John Albert Walker had an unusual and exceptionally productive career as an art and cultural historian, his fifteen books on a variety of art and culture subjects testify to his persistent curiosity, unflagging creativity, and critical edge.[1] (Figure 1) His written work was closely linked to teaching, at a time of optimism, ferment, and experimentation in the closely-related fields of art and design history, radical philosophy, cultural and media theory, and politics. 10 Noted in the many conversations the author has had with students, several since John Walker's death, remembering teaching at Middlesex, in general, and John's dedication, in particular. [Extracted from the article]

This research examines how incidentally induced consumer curiosity influences subsequent indulgent decisions. Prior research has primarily focused on the effect of curiosity on information seeking in the present domain. The current research goes further to propose that the curiosity effect can spill over to prompt consumers to prefer indulgent options in other, unrelated domains (e.g., food, money). This situation is likely to occur because curiosity motivates individuals to seek the missing information as the specific information reward in the current domain. Such desire to obtain the information reward primes a reward-seeking goal, which in turn leads to increased preferences for indulgent options in subsequent, unrelated domains. Furthermore, the impact of curiosity on indulgent options possesses goal-priming properties as identified by the literature. That is, the effect should (1) persist after a time delay, and (2) diminish when the reward-seeking goal is satiated by the obtainment of a reward before the indulgent task. We conduct a series of studies to provide support for our hypotheses. This research contributes to both curiosity and indulgence decision literature and offers important practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Science is an ecosystem, and its evolution is driven by the legacy of what has gone before. I have been privileged to be part of this, finding a niche in which to work and live, in the biome of marine science. Entering science through curiosity and connection to the sea, I was lucky to encounter mentors who lit up potential career paths and facilitated connections to community. My career is an ongoing part of their legacy. Like evolution itself, the journey of science practice is not pre-ordained, with no itinerary. Various paths are tried, and some become established through the selection pressure of success. Opportunities arise, and collaborations are formed with a commonality of interest and purpose, and a diversity of ideas and expertise. Supervision of postgraduates also provides an expanding legacy out in to the wider world. What will our individual and collective legacy look like? My hope is that our understanding of complex systems, such as ocean ecosystems, is captured and challenged by computational models capable of predicting future states. Being able to see what different futures look like, with and without positive interventions, should help us make better choices and create a sustainable Anthropocene future by active design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change will increase the magnitude and duration of warming events and the variability in the phenology and abundance of available prey to the early life stages of fish. These factors influence physiological, behavioral and ecological processes, impacting growth, development and survival. Using a fully factorial design with two prey-availability treatments (1200 prey items L−1 (high prey abundance) or 40 prey items L−1 (low prey abundance)) under three temperature regimes (8, 10 and 12°C), the swimming kinematics of 6-week old spring-spawning Atlantic herring larvae were examined using silhouette video photography. Higher temperatures combined with food limitation significantly decreased the growth and swimming kinematics of larval herring, with the most negative effect observed in larvae reared at 12°C and exposed to low food abundances. Specifically, larvae displayed reduced locomotory behaviors and reduced vertical movements. By contrast, larvae reared at high prey abundance and at 12°C displayed more active swimming and exploratory behavior, as evidenced by an increase in both locomotory behavior and vertical and horizontal turn angles, suggesting increased motivation to search for food. This research highlights the importance of determining to what degree fish larvae are sensitive to changes in temperature and how these changes might be further influenced by food availability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Augmenting habitat complexity by adding structure has been used to increase the population density of some territorial species in the wild and to reduce aggression among captive animals. However, it is unknown if all territorial species are affected similarly by habitat complexity, and whether these effects extend to non-territorial species. We conducted a meta-analysis to compare the behavior of a wide range of territorial and non-territorial taxa in complex and open habitats to determine the effects of habitat complexity on 1) territory size, 2) population density, 3) rate and time spent on aggression, 4) rate and time devoted to foraging, 5) rate and time spent being active, 6) shyness/boldness, 7) survival rate, and 8) exploratory behavior. Overall, all measures were significantly affected by habitat complexity, but the responses of territorial and non-territorial species differed. As predicted, territorial species were less aggressive, had smaller territories and higher densities in complex habitats, whereas non-territorial species were more aggressive and did not differ in population density. Territorial species were bolder but not more active in complex habitats, whereas non-territorial species were more active but not bolder. Although the survival of non-territorial species increased in complex habitats, no such increase was observed for territorial species. The increased safety from predators provided by complex habitats may have been balanced by the higher population densities and bolder behavior in territorial species. Our analysis suggests that territorial and non-territorial animals respond differently to habitat complexity, perhaps due to the strong reliance on visual cues by territorial animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high mobility group AT-hook 2 (HMGA2) protein works as an architectural regulator by binding AT-rich DNA sequences to induce conformational changes affecting transcription. Genomic deletions disrupting HMGA2 coding sequences and flanking noncoding sequences cause dwarfism in mice and rabbits. Here, CRISPR/Cas9 was used in mice to generate an Hmga2 null allele that specifically disrupts only the coding sequence. The loss of one or both alleles of Hmga2 resulted in reduced body size of 20% and 60%, respectively, compared to wild-type littermates as well as an allometric reduction in skull length in Hmga2-/- mice. Both male and female Hmga2-/- mice are infertile, whereas Hmga2+/- mice are fertile. Examination of reproductive tissues of Hmga2-/- males revealed a significantly reduced size of testis, epididymis, and seminal vesicle compared to controls, and 70% of knock-out males showed externalized penis, but no cryptorchidism was observed. Sperm analyses revealed severe oligospermia in mutant males and slightly decreased sperm viability, increased DNA damage but normal sperm chromatin compaction. Testis histology surprisingly revealed a normal seminiferous epithelium, despite the significant reduction in testis size. In addition, Hmga2-/- mice showed a significantly reduced exploratory behavior. In summary, the phenotypic effects in mouse using targeted mutagenesis confirmed that Hmga2 is affecting prenatal and postnatal growth regulation, male reproductive tissue development, and presents the first indication that Hmga2 function is required for normal mouse behavior. No specific effect, despite an allometric reduction, on craniofacial development was noted in contrast to previous reports of an altered craniofacial development in mice and rabbits carrying deletions of both coding and noncoding sequences at the 50 part of Hmga2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In various taxa, multibroodedness is a common breeding strategy. Life-history theory predicts that individuals can increase fitness by producing multiple broods within a season. Despite the apparent increase in the number of offspring parents might produce per season, not all individuals are multibrooded, suggesting a trade-off. We studied ecological and behavioral factors influencing the initiation of second clutches in great tits (Parus major), an optionally multibrooded bird species, by distinguishing two types of clutches: replacement versus true second clutches, produced after failure versus successful first breeding attempts, respectively. We predicted which lay date, density, and investment in first clutches would decrease the probability of initiating a second clutch, but which faster exploring behavioral types with a faster pace-of-life would be more likely to be multibrooded. The probability of initiating true second clutches varied negatively within-individuals with lay date and breeding density. The initiation of replacement clutches instead varied negatively among-individuals with lay date and density, suggesting nonrandom settlement of behavioral types across environments. Individuals were less likely to be multibrooded when producing many offspring from their first clutch, suggesting within-year reproductive trade-offs, similar to previous studies. No previous research has linked personality to multibroodedness; here we show which neither the repeatable nor the plastic part of an individual's exploratory behavior predicted multibroodedness. We confirmed our prediction which the resolution of trade-offs may occur either at the within- or among-individual level. Our research contributes to the understanding of life-history evolution in the wild by studying the mechanisms shaping multibroodedness within seasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Science curious people—those who enjoy consuming science-related information—are less likely to hold politically polarized views about contentious science. Consequently, science curiosity is of great interest to scholars across the social sciences. However, measuring science curiosity via the science curiosity scale (SCS) is time intensive; potentially impeding its widespread usage. We present two new methods for reducing SCS administration time. One method presents respondents with a randomly selected subset of items ("Random Subset [RS] Method"). The other asks all respondents a core set of just four items ("Reduced-Form Method;" RF). In three nationally representative surveys, we assess the construct, convergent, and predictive validity of these alternatives. We find both versions to be well validated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most relevant issues of a social robot is its capability of catching the attention of a new acquaintance and empathize with her. The first steps towards a system which can be used by a social robot in order to be empathetic are illustrated in this paper. The system can analyze the Twitter ID of the new acquaintance, trying to detect the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) Tier 1 categories that possibly can let arise in him/her a joyful feeling. Furthermore, it can retrieve news about that category and report them to the user, hopefully increasing his/her curiosity towards the system, improving the naturalness of the interaction. Moreover, the system is capable of querying Wikipedia in order to clarify any doubts that may arise in the user. A sample of a possible interaction is reported at the end of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freshwater crustaceans are distributed throughout the montane and lowland areas of Colombia, and are therefore a useful indicator group for how aquatic species will respond to climate change. As such, metabolic determination of physiological performance was evaluated for the Colombian pseudothelphusid crab, Neostrengeria macropa (H. Milne Edwards, 1853), over a temperature range inclusive of current temperatures and those predicted by future scenarios in the plateau around the city of Bogotá, namely from 8 °C to 30 °C. The performance results mostly aligned with previous exploratory behavioral determination of the ideal temperature range in the same species, although the metabolism increased at the highest temperature treatments, a point when exploratory behavior declined. These results indicate that this species of montane crab behaviorally compensates for increased thermal stress by decreasing its physical activity, which could have negative predator-prey consequences with changes to community structure as different species undergo climate-mediated geographic range shifts in the region. As this species is endemic to the plateau surrounding Bogotá, it also experiences a number of other stressors to its survival, including infrastructure development and invasive species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The search for the hereditary mechanisms underlying quantitative traits traditionally focused on the identification of underlying genomic polymorphisms such as single-nucleotide polymorphisms. It has now become clear that epigenetic mechanisms, such as DNA methylation, can consistently alter gene expression over multiple generations. It is unclear, however, if and how DNA methylation can stably be transferred from one generation to the next and can thereby be a component of the heritable variation of a trait. In this study, we explore whether DNA methylation responds to phenotypic selection using whole-genome and genome-wide bisulfite approaches. We assessed differential erythrocyte DNA methylation patterns between extreme personality types in the Great Tit (Parus major). For this, we used individuals from a four-generation artificial bi-directional selection experiment and siblings from eight F2 inter-cross families. We find no differentially methylated sites when comparing the selected personality lines, providing no evidence for the so-called epialleles associated with exploratory behavior. Using a pair-wise sibling design in the F2 intercrosses, we show that the genome-wide DNA methylation profiles of individuals are mainly explained by family structure, indicating that the majority of variation in DNA methylation in CpG sites between individuals can be explained by genetic differences. Although we found some candidates explaining behavioral differences between F2 siblings, we could not confirm this with a whole-genome approach, thereby confirming the absence of epialleles in these F2 intercrosses. We conclude that while epigenetic variation may underlie phenotypic variation in behavioral traits, we were not able to find evidence that DNA methylation can explain heritable variation in personality traits in Great Tits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Writing a 200-word abstract about the life of a 76-year-old scientist, in which luck played a significant role, is not an easy task. Even knowing this scientist well (for I am talking about myself) does not make it any easier. When you notice something is not right, do not fear changing your major (I changed twice before settling on Fisheries and Marine Science). For my PhD in neurobiology, I changed again. Grab opportunities when they arise. Join field trips and expeditions, attend conferences, and spread your interests widely. Spend time in different countries, learn new techniques and languages, and always stay curious. Remain humble. I carried out speleological research in Jamaica and France, participated in a 4-month South Atlantic Fisheries Research Trip and a 3-month Bioluminescence Expedition to the Moluccas, and pioneered comparative physiological and functional anatomical research in Antarctica and the Arctic. Be adventurous. My ethnobiological field work took me to Papua Niugini, NE-India, and Central Australia. Having lived in Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Jamaica, Japan, and New Zealand (I am a New Zealander currently living in Korea) and having spent sabbaticals in Brazil, India, New Caledonia, and North Korea, I consider myself a global scientist. You can become one too. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curiosity has rightly received much attention in epistemology and educational research. Although, through the centuries, it has been regarded with a degree of ambivalence, the trend now is towards its championing as an intellectual or epistemic virtue. The present discussion juxtaposes it against a contrasting way of knowing, which I refer to as knowledge by acquaintance. The notion of acquaintance pursued here parts company with Bertrand Russell's adoption of the expression, taking up instead a more ordinary use of the term. It is suggested that both curiosity and knowledge by acquaintance can present problems. Working through an example drawn from Stephen Poliakoff's film Close My Eyes, the paper seeks to reappraise the value of knowing by acquaintance for epistemology and for educational practice and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The personal and professional consequences of physicians' burnout are no less striking than its prevalence. Association between physician burnout and patient safety, professionalism, and patient satisfaction. A Recent systematic review and meta-analysis clearly demonstrates that burnout begets low-quality, unsafe patient care.4 Looking at >42 000 physicians, burnout was found to be significantly associated (OR 1.96-2.31) with adverse events, poorer quality of care and reduced patient satisfaction. [Extracted from the article]

The environment that parents experience can influence their reproductive output and their offspring's fitness via parental effects. Perceived predation risk can affect both parent and offspring phenotype, but it remains unclear to what extent offspring behavioral traits are affected when the mother is exposed to predation risk. This is particularly unclear in live-bearing species where maternal effects could occur during embryogenesis. Here, using a half-sib design to control for paternal effects, we experimentally exposed females of a live-bearing fish, the guppy (Poecilia reticulata), to visual predator cues and conspecific alarm cues during their gestation. Females exposed to predation risk cues increased their antipredator behaviors throughout the entire treatment. Offspring of mothers exposed to the predation stimuli exhibited more pronounced exploratory behavior, but did not show any significant differences in their schooling behavior, compared to controls. Thus, while maternally perceived risk affected offspring's exploration during early stages of life, offspring's schooling behavior could be influenced more by direct environmental experience rather than via maternal cues. Our results suggest a rather limited role in predator-induced maternal effects on the behavior of juvenile guppies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article asks: why do communities located at the periphery of the global security market continue to participate, even when they gain the least economically and politically? To answer this, we explore how militarism—an affectively felt logic that understands military service as desirable and/or inevitable—manifests through both affective relations and colonial structures. We focus on Gurkha communities in Nepal with a colonial military heritage of two hundred years with the British. Feminist and postcolonial research on militaries has demonstrated how war and global insecurity is framed through gendered colonial economies and discursive logics, shaping military systems and subjects. Yet what remains underexplored is the affective dimension of how militarism operates within, and in relation to, militarized communities outside the "West" whose identities and material conditions are structured through colonial histories. To address this gap, we operationalize Lauren Berlant's (2011) concept of cruel optimism to capture why these communities stay attached to militarism when the costs abound. We argue that militarism within the Gurkha context is both affectively felt and structurally experienced in such a way that it renders a military pathway to a good life as natural and desirable, despite evidence of the fragility and impossibility of pursuing this path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asymmetries in bilateral organisms attract a lot of curiosity given that they are conspicuous departures from the norm. They allow the investigation of the integration at different levels of biological organization. Here we study whether and how behavioral and asymmetrical anatomical traits co-evolved and work together. We ask if asymmetry is determined locally for each trait or at a whole individual level in a species bearing conspicuous asymmetrical genitalia. Asymmetric genitalia evolved in many species; however, in most cases the direction of asymmetry is fixed. Therefore, it has been rarely determined if there is an association between the direction of asymmetry in genitalia and other traits. In onesided livebearer fish of the genus Jenynsia (Cyprinodontiformes, Anablepidae), the anal fin of males is modified into a gonopodium, an intromittent organ that serves to inseminate females. The gonopodium shows a conspicuous asymmetry, with its tip bending either to the left or the right. By surveying 13 natural populations of Jenynsia lineata , we found that both genital morphs are equally common in wild populations. In a series of experiments in a laboratory population, we discovered asymmetry and lateralization for multiple other traits; yet, the degree of integration varied highly among them. Lateralization in exploratory behavior in response to different stimuli was not associated with genital morphology. Interestingly, the direction of genital asymmetry was positively correlated with sidedness of mating preference and the number of neuromasts in the lateral line. This suggests integration of functionally linked asymmetric traits; however, there is no evidence that asymmetry is determined at the whole individual level in our study species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aquaporins, delayed wilting response, drought tolerance, drought-tolerant soybean, slow-wilting phenotype, slow-wilting soybean, slow wilting QTL, water-conservation mechanism. [Extracted from the article]

Some researchers have argued that normal human observers can exhibit "blindsight-like" behavior: the ability to discriminate or identify a stimulus without being aware of it. However, we recently used a bias-free task to show that what looks like blindsight may in fact be an artifact of typical experimental paradigms' susceptibility to response bias. While those findings challenge previous reports of blindsight in normal observers, they do not rule out the possibility that different stimuli or techniques could still reveal perception without awareness. One intriguing candidate is emotion processing, since processing of emotional stimuli (e.g. fearful/happy faces) has been reported to potentially bypass conscious visual circuits. Here we used the bias-free blindsight paradigm to investigate whether emotion processing might reveal "featural blindsight," i.e. ability to identify a face's emotion without introspective access to the task-relevant features that led to the discrimination decision. However, we saw no evidence for emotion processing "featural blindsight": as before, whenever participants could identify a face's emotion they displayed introspective access to the task-relevant features, matching predictions of a Bayesian ideal observer. These results add to the growing body of evidence that perceptual discrimination ability without introspective access may not be possible for neurologically intact observers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to estimate heritabilities and genetic and phenotypic correlations for humandirected behavior and intraspecific social aggression traits in growing pigs, and to explore genetic and phenotypic correlations among them. Pigs (n = 2,314) were mixed into groups of 18 animals at 69 ± 5.2 d of age and skin lesions (SL) were counted 24 h (SL24h) and 5 weeks (SL5WK) post-mixing. Individual behavioral responses to isolation in a weighing crate (CRATE, 1 = pig performing exploratory behavior to 4 = pig performing serious, persistent attempts to escape) or when alone in an arena while a human directly approached them (IHAT) were assessed within 48 h postmixing. During the IHAT, three separate scores were given for each pig based on the severity (0 = none to 3 = severe reaction) of their movement, vocalizations, and vigilance. Additionally, pigs were tested for behavioral responses to the presence of a single human observer walking in their home pen in a circular motion (WTP) within 1 and 4 weeks post-mixing recording pigs that followed, nosed or bit the observer. An animal model was used to estimate genetic parameters for all studied traits using the DMU software. Heritabilities (h2) for SL, CRATE and IHAT responses were low to moderate (0.17 to 0.29), with the greatest h2 estimated for speed of moving away from the approaching observer in the IHAT. Low but significant h2 were estimated for nosing (0.09) and biting (0.11) the observer at 4 weeks postmixing in the WTP test. Positive high genetic correlations (rg) were observed between CRATE and IHAT responses (0.55 to 0.90), and within SL traits (0.60 to 0.94) while positive low to high rg were estimated within the WTP test (0.24 to 0.59) traits. Positive moderate rg were observed between CRATE and central and posterior SL24h. Genetic correlations between CRATE and IHAT test responses and WTP test traits were low, mostly negative (-0.21 to 0.05) and not significant. Low positive rg (0.06 to 0.24) were observed between SL and the WTP test traits except for the lack of rg between posterior SL24h and pigs biting or following the observer during both tests. Phenotypic correlations between CRATE and IHAT responses and SL or WTP test traits were mostly low and not significant. Under the conditions of this study, h2 estimates for all studied traits suggest they could be suitable as a method of phenotyping aggression and fear and/or boldness in pigs for genetic selection purposes. Additionally, there was evidence of genetic associations between aggression and fear indicators. These findings suggest applying selection pressure to reduce the accumulation of lesions is likely to make pigs more relaxed in a crate environment, but to alter the engagement with humans in other contexts that depends on the location of the lesions under selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

B THOSE WHO STUDY b hymenopterans and sundry odd desert arthropods lost a good friend, colleague, and mentor with the death of Justin Orvel Schmidt, Ph.D. on 18 February 2023. Recently, Justin and Li Schmidt endowed an annual zoology symposium at UBC that honors Justin's first wife, Debbie Wragg-Schmidt, whom he met there. Among his ARS research studies, Justin examined Africanized honey bee defenses and honey bee pollen feeding and digestion. [Extracted from the article]

They argue that by excluding subjects with a mating history, studies of female mate-choice may misrepresent the strength and direction of female mate preferences and therefore their influence on mating outcomes. Accordingly, mating status may often be secondary to a host of other factors that affect choosiness but do not involve mating. MATING STATUS IS CONFOUNDED WITH SOCIAL EXPERIENCE Social interactions outside of mating can have extreme effects on mate-choice phenotypes. [Extracted from the article]

A large body of the literature has demonstrated that the polysialic acid (polySia) modification of the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) is a key regulator of cellular interactions during brain development, maintenance and plasticity. To properly fulfill these functions, polySia concentration has to be carefully controlled. This is done by the regulation of the expression of the two polySia-synthesizing enzymes ST8SiaII and ST8SiaIV. From this point of view we and others have demonstrated that downregulation of ST8SiaIV during oligodendrocyte differentiation is a prerequisite for efficient myelin formation and maintenance. Here, we addressed the question whether the prevention of polySia downregulation in neurons affects brain and particularly myelin development and functioning. For this purpose, we developed transgenic (tg) mouse lines overexpressing the polysialyltransferase ST8SiaIV in neurons. tg expression of ST8SiaIV prevented the postnatal downregulation of polySia, and most of the polySias in the forebrain and brain stem of adult tg mice were associated with NCAM-140 and NCAM-180 isoforms. Structural examination of the brain revealed no overt abnormalities of axons and myelin. In addition, ultrastructural and western blot analyses indicated normal myelin development. However, behavioral studies revealed reduced rearing activity, a measure for exploratory behavior, while parameters of motor activity were not affected in tg mice. Taken together, these results suggest that a persisting presence of polySia in neurons has no major effect on brain structure, myelination and myelin maintenance, but causes mild behavioral changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collared (Dicrostonyx groenlandicus) and brown (Lemmus trimucronatus) lemmings coexist in tundra habitats across much of the middle and lower Canadian arctic. Their coexistence, and response to predation risk, appears mediated by behavior. We analyzed field-collected videos of open-field tests to assess potential differences in innate behaviors between the two species. Collared lemmings were less active and exhibited less exploratory behavior than did brown lemmings, which were more active under cover than in the open. Similar behaviors scaling along axes of activity and curiosity were revealed by principal components analysis. Each axis defined different aspects of brown lemming personality, but repeated testing of the same individuals yielded a striking dependence of their behavioral response on open-field treatments. Even so, the differences between species in behavior correlate well with their habitat preferences that resolve competition and govern their coexistence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of 'wicked problems' is a major current in the fields of policy analysis and planning. However, the basis of the concept has been insufficiently examined. This re-examination of its conceptual basis explains the origins of the limitations and flaws in the wicked problems concept. This paper analyses and rejects the notion of 'wicked problems' on philosophical and practical grounds. We argue instead that the policy sciences already had better conceptualizations of public problems before Rittel and Webber's flawed formulation. We return to this literature, and build upon it by reframing 'wickedness' in terms of higher and lower levels of problematicity in problem structuring efforts. In doing so, we offer an alternative, novel combination of the philosophy of questioning and the policy work approach to policy practice. 'Wickedness' is re-conceptualized as problematicity, conceived as the distance between those who question or inquire into a policy problem. This is primarily a political distance, articulated in terms of ideas, interests, institutions and practices. High problematicity arises only when wide political distances are explicitly maintained, such that partial answers cannot be reached. Practitioners deal with problematicity by a dual practical strategy of balancing closing-down and opening-up sub-questions to the problem in order to structure them such that they become amenable to action through partial answers. This simultaneously incorporates a politics of negotiating political distance via partisan adjustment and serial strategic analysis. The argument constitutes a theoretically and practically superior alternative to the 'wicked problems' perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can one be cruel to an inanimate object? In the following I argue that one can in fact be cruel to an inanimate object, defining cruelty as taking pleasure in intentionally causing suffering to another person, animal or (in this case) inanimate object, whether such suffering be genuine, mistakenly believed, or sincerely hoped for. I label the conception of cruelty in question 'agent-subjective, possible mistake of fact', and touch upon some implications of this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the role of optimum stimulation level (OSL) in exploratory consumer behavior. The concept of OSL and its measurement are discussed, and the literature on exploratory consumer tendencies and their relationship with OSL is reviewed. Hypotheses are developed concerning the relationship between OSL and cognitive responses to ads, ad repetition, information search, variety seeking, decision making under risk, gambling, and innovative behavior, and these hypotheses are investigated in a series of experiments. Four well-known instruments are used to measure people's characteristic preference for stimulation, and OSL is operationalized as a weighted composite of a person's score on these scales. The results of the study indicate that consumers OSL is systematically related to curiosity-motivated consumer behaviors, variety seeking, and risk taking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical and theoretical ambiguities in Raju's general framework for explaining consumer exploratory behavior are examined with two alternative Optimal Stimulation Level (OSL) models. Results from two replicated studies using causal modeling suggest that OSL does not act as a mediating construct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two studies are reported that examine the relationships between optimum stimulation level (OSL), selected personality traits, demographic variables. and exploratory behavior in the consumer context. The results show several significant correlations between OSL and the other variables examined. Research and managerial implications of the results are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction is provided to the April 2019 article "Curiosity Tempts Indulgence," by Kyra L. Wiggin, Martin Reimann and Shailendra P. Jain, which appeared volume 45, issue 6.

This paper explores the multiple facets of curiosity stimulated by an exhibition at the Museum of London. The Crime Museum Uncovered displayed real objects used in crimes in London over the past 140 years. Visitors were presented with questions about the exhibits: 'What does it mean to put these objects on public display?' 'In what ways can the display of these objects be educational?' and 'Where do you draw the line?' Or, in the words of some commentators, 'Is this simply another kind of morbid curiosity?' This paper examines these questions in light of Heidegger's notions of curiosity and wonder and the meaning of museum education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Publisher apologizes for not correcting these errors at an earlier production stage. This is a correction to: Chih-wei Yeh, Working with curiosity: Knowledge transfer practitioners' ambivalence at CERN, Science and Public Policy, 2022; scac029, https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scac029 In the originally published version of this manuscript, Interview excerpts No. 1 and No. 9 in Section 4.2 contained incorrect text. [Extracted from the article]

Although personality has been well studied in a wide range of species, relatively few studies have assessed if behavior in standardized captive tests is predictive of behavior in the wild. We captured wild zebra finches around 2 breeding colonies and assayed their exploratory behavior with a novel environment test. The birds' foraging behavior in the wild was also measured with the use of a passive integrated transponder tag system to monitor their use of feeders that were periodically moved around the colonies to assess exploratory behavior and sociality. During the same period, individuals' reproductive success was monitored at the nest-boxes being used in this area. We found that our measures of sociality, wild, and captive exploration were repeatable, but contrary to our predictions, exploration in the novel environment test was not significantly correlated with exploration of feeders in the wild. We failed to find a predicted negative relationship between exploration and sociality, instead finding a significant positive correlation between exploration in the novel environment and sociality. Finally, we found little evidence that any of our measured personality traits influenced reproductive success at the colony, either individually or when the interactions between the personalities of both members of the pair were taken into account. The only exception was that highly exploratory males (assayed with wild feeder behavior) were more likely to make breeding attempts than less exploratory males. Our results suggest that researchers should use caution when using tests such as the classic novel environment test to make inferences about personality in wild populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most theories of emotion hold that negative stimuli are threatening and aversive. Yet in everyday experiences some negative sights (e.g. car wrecks) attract curiosity, whereas others repel (e.g. a weapon pointed in our face). To examine the diversity in negative stimuli, we employed four classes of visual images (Direct Threat, Indirect Threat, Merely Negative and Neutral) in a set of behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging studies. Participants reliably discriminated between the images, evaluating Direct Threat stimuli most quickly, and Merely Negative images most slowly. Threat images evoked greater and earlier blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) activations in the amygdala and periaqueductal gray, structures implicated in representing and responding to the motivational salience of stimuli. Conversely, the Merely Negative images evoked larger BOLD signal in the parahippocampal, retrosplenial, and medial prefrontal cortices, regions which have been implicated in contextual association processing. Ventrolateral as well as medial and lateral orbitofrontal cortices were activated by both threatening and Merely Negative images. In conclusion, negative visual stimuli can repel or attract scrutiny depending on their current threat potential, which is assessed by dynamic shifts in large-scale brain network activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article responds to the article "Renunciation as Pedagogy" by Vanessa R. Sasson in the same issue, highlighting the role of curiosity in higher education. Topics include the book "Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities," by Martha Craven Nussbaum, a study by the organization American Academy of Religion (AAR) on religious studies education at U.S. colleges and universities, and the short story "Onionskin" by Allegra Goodman.

In Japan, people using water from the well contaminated with high-level arsenic developed neurological, mostly cerebellar, symptoms, where diphenylarsinic acid (DPAA) was a major compound. Here, we investigated the adverse effects of developmental exposure to 20mg/l DPAA in drinking water (early period [0–6 weeks of age] and/or late period [7–12]) on behavior and cerebellar development in male rats. In the open field test at 6 weeks of age, early exposure to DPAA significantly increased exploratory behaviors. At 12 weeks of age, late exposure to DPAA similarly increased exploratory behavior independent of the early exposure although a 6-week recovery from DPAA could reverse that change. In the passive avoidance test at 6 weeks of age, early exposure to DPAA significantly decreased the avoidance performance. Even at 12 weeks of age, early exposure to DPAA significantly decreased the test performance, which was independent of the late exposure to DPAA. These results suggest that the DPAA-induced increase in exploratory behavior is transient, whereas the DPAA-induced impairment of passive avoidance is long lasting. At 6 weeks of age, early exposure to DPAA significantly reduced the concentration of cerebellar total glutathione. At 12 weeks of age, late, but not early, exposure to DPAA also significantly reduced the concentration of cerebellar glutathione, which might be a primary cause of oxidative stress. Early exposure to DPAA induced late-onset suppressed expression of NMDAR1 and PSD95 protein at 12 weeks of age, indicating impaired glutamatergic system in the cerebellum of rats developmentally exposed to DPAA. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]