Interesting Articles: Dec 13th-20th 2005

What an odd week.. all the articles are science-y

* Internet encyclopaedias go head to head (Nature). Finally a reasonable study comparing (scientific) articles in Britannica and Wikipedia.
* Danger Mouse: Deleting a gene transforms timid rodents into daredevils (Science News). Yet another article in my series that demonstrate simple genetic control over complex behavior. Article available: stathmin, a Gene Enriched in the Amygdala, Controls Both Learned and Innate Fear (Cell).
* Children Learn by Monkey See, Monkey Do. Chimps Don't. (New York Times). Thought provoking.
* Letters to Science News: You be the judge (Science News). A few comments on the article I mentioned in this old post.
* Scientists Find A DNA Change That Accounts For White Skin (Washington Post). Unsurprising.
* Unway Sign: Ant pheromone stops traffic (Science News). Can you see a new product coming? I can. Another reason the article is interesting is because it contradicts prior notions and gives the researchers a chance to say, "Hah! It turns out I was right." From the article:

There has certainly been resistance to the idea over the years, says Nigel Franks of the University of Bristol in England. In the 1990s, he and his colleagues mathematically modeled ant trails. Complementing attractants with a hypothetical repellent to block useless trails in a model system "vastly increased its efficiency," he says, but other scientists' reviews of that model were "scathing."

Article abstract: Insect communication: 'No entry' signal in ant foraging (Nature).