Stories
Science Explains Why We Have Favorite Colors
Through a series of lab studies between 2010 and 2017, Karen Schloss, PhD and her collaborator, Stephen Palmer PhD, a researcher at UC Berkeley, set out to find out why we like certain colors more than others. They hypothesized the Ecological Valence Theory (EVT), which they describe in their 2017 paper as the theory that "...people like/dislike a given color to the degree that they like/dislike all of the objects and entities that they associate with that color."
New way to alter DNA, affect health circumvents gut bacteria
In a new study, the John Denu lab has learned that the fatty acids butyrate and propionate also activate p300, a crucial human enzyme that promotes the unspooling of DNA. This unwound DNA allows more genes to become active and expressed, which ultimately affects human health.
Bacterial “zorbing” reveals a new type of social movement
While studying the three-member model microbial community, nicknamed The Hitchhikers of the Rhizosphere (THOR), researchers from professor of plant pathology and director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery Jo Handelsman and professor of biomedical engineering and Discovery Fellow David Beebe’s labs noticed cells moving in unexpected, unique ways under the microscope.
A Driving Force of Industry-Shifting Innovations
Srikanth Pilla (former postdoc in the Turng Lab) works closely with automotive suppliers, helping them get more mileage from, secure safer rides for and enhance the sustainability of the products they put on the road.
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