02-27-18 Albatros Flight and Psychobiology of Mothering

02/27/18

Welcome to SciTechNature get-togethers

This week's Presentations:

Phil Richardson Presents: "How do albatrosses fly around the world without flapping their wings?”

Alison S. Fleming Presents: "Psychobiology of Mothering and the Effects of Early Experience in humans"

Please note the new Weekday and Location:

Tuesdays, 11am to 1PM

Click text below for map of new location:

Quinta Loreto Hotel, Cjon. de Loreto 15, Centro, Zona Centro, 37700 San Miguel de Allende, Gto.

From Cjon. de Loreto, enter the Mercado de Artisanias alley (East, going up-hill) about twenty yards and turn to your left into the Hotel Quinta Loreto compound.

The community center is on the Southeast side of the little central park. If you are coming by car, there is a parking lot within the compound.

(The community center is in the same location as the Philosophical get-together which is held on Fridays.)

Downside: We have to pay rent. 50 pesos donation request.

The upside to all this? There will be coffee & cookies

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SciTechNature - Tuesday, February 27th, 2018 11:00am to 1:00pm Location: Quinta Loreto Hotel, community Room, Cjon. de Loreto 15, Centro, Zona Centro, 37700 San Miguel de Allende, Gto.

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Introductions/News********SMA Science Book Club Update

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Presentations:

Phil Richardson Presents: "How do albatrosses fly around the world without flapping their wings?”

Alison S. Fleming Presents: "Psychobiology of Mothering and the Effects of Early Experience in humans"

What makes a mother want to mother? In most mammalian species, the female is not normally maternal until she herself gives birth. In rodents, inexperienced non-mothers withdraw from pups or in some cases even cannibalize them. However, at the end of pregnancy and at birth the hormonal changes that occur result in a shift in the mother’s approach-withdrawal tendencies and the new mother will approach young and develop an attraction to them; she then shows the full repertoire of species-characteristic maternal behaviors. The animal work is what I talked about last time. This talk concentrates on the human studies which follow the same theme.

Among humans as well, mothering motivation tends to increase after birth and is affected by a shift in her appraisal of babies, an enhanced emotional sensitivity and lability and a change in a number of executive (cognitive) functions. The present talk will discuss the role of these psychological systems in the regulation of mothering and how hypothalamic, limbic, and cortical systems within the brain are involved. It will show, in addition, that there are variations in mothering behavior and that the mothering exhibited by the daughters when they have young often reflects the early experiences they were exposed to as infants. These developmental patterns are also associated with experience-based changes in the ‘maternal brain’. ~Alison S. Fleming, University of Toronto

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Rob Lerner's Last Week's links:

Meet the ‘data thugs’ out to expose shoddy and questionable research

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/02/meet-data-thugs-out-expose-shoddy-and-questionable-research

Genome editor CRISPR’s latest trick? Offering a sharper snapshot of activity inside the cell

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/02/genome-editor-crispr-s-latest-trick-offering-sharper-snapshot-activity-inside-cell

Church Speaks: A Conversation With George Church

https://www.edge.org/conversation/george_church-church-speaks

Chandra Shows Supermassive Black Holes Are Outgrowing Their Galaxies

https://scitechdaily.com/chandra-shows-supermassive-black-holes-are-outgrowing-their-galaxies/

Antibiotic Resistance:

Painting With Penicillin: Alexander Fleming’s Germ Art