Linux kernel genomics, babyology, and the secret to lifting more weight without getting any stronger

1

A comparison of the Linux kernel’s system calls with the transcriptional network of E. coli shows two very different organizational structures. “Linux is middle-management heavy, whereas E. coli is workhorse heavy. … The authors conclude that the E. coli’s call graph evolved bottom-up, with system robustness being the main selective trait. In contrast, Linux evolved top-bottom, with reusability of the Workhorses being the main selective trait. Reusability and robustness are tradeoffs,” writes Iddo Friedberg.
[Byte Size Biology: Comparative functional genomics: penguin vs. bacterium]

2

“We do not know much about sleep in babies but it does not look like sleep in adults,” says one sleep researcher, about a recent study in which babies showed the ability to learn while asleep. Comatose adults can learn the same association (between a beep and a puff of air to the face) but the experiment doesn’t work on healthy adults, since they wake up. [New Scientist: Sleeping newborns are data sponges]

3

When you’re at the gym, cool your hands between sets and you might be able to lift more. The hypothesis is that the cooling makes you think you’re less fatigued. However it works, that’s just weird.  [Sweat Science: Cooling your palms enables you to bench press more weight]

4

Fetal cells stay in their mother’s body for years - maybe forever. Nancy Schute at SciAm writes that “Fetal cells also appear to migrate to injury sites and have been found in patients with thyroid and liver damage, where they had morphed into organ cells … A mother’s body might actually be recruiting the fetal stem cells to aid in healing.” Wow! [Scientific American: Beyond Birth]