University of Jyväskylä

About: University of Jyväskylä is a education organization based out in Jyvaskyla, Finland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Neutron. The organization has 8066 authors who have published 25168 publications receiving 725033 citations. The organization is also known as: Jyväskylän yliopisto & Kasvatusopillinen korkeakoulu.

Attraction of kestrels to vole scent marks visible in ultraviolet light

Abstract: IN northern Europe, broad four-year oscillations in small rodent and raptor populations are synchronous over hundreds of square kilometers1–6. Crashes in vole populations can induce wide emigration (> 1,000 km) of their predators7 –9, but almost nothing is known about how predators rapidly detect areas of vole abundance. Here we report on laboratory and field experiments on voles (Microtus agrestis) and kestrels (Falco tinnunculus). Voles mark their runaways with urine and faeces, which are visible in ultraviolet light. Wild kestrels brought into captivity were able to detect vole scent marks in ultraviolet light but not in visible light. In the field, kestrels hunted preferentially near experimental nest-boxes where artificial trails were treated with vole urine and faeces. We suggest that kestrels flying over an area can see and use vole scent marks to assess vole numbers. This ability would enable kestrels to 'screen' large areas in a relatively short time. Our results provide a novel explanation for how raptors detect patches of high vole densities without prior knowledge of local food resources.

Music and emotions in the brain: familiarity matters

Abstract: The importance of music in our daily life has given rise to an increased number of studies addressing the brain regions involved in its appreciation. Some of these studies controlled only for the familiarity of the stimuli, while others relied on pleasantness ratings, and others still on musical preferences. With a listening test and a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment, we wished to clarify the role of familiarity in the brain correlates of music appreciation by controlling, in the same study, for both familiarity and musical preferences. First, we conducted a listening test, in which participants rated the familiarity and liking of song excerpts from the pop/rock repertoire, allowing us to select a personalized set of stimuli per subject. Then, we used a passive listening paradigm in fMRI to study music appreciation in a naturalistic condition with increased ecological value. Brain activation data revealed that broad emotion-related limbic and paralimbic regions as well as the reward circuitry were significantly more active for familiar relative to unfamiliar music. Smaller regions in the cingulate cortex and frontal lobe, including the motor cortex and Broca's area, were found to be more active in response to liked music when compared to disliked one. Hence, familiarity seems to be a crucial factor in making the listeners emotionally engaged with music, as revealed by fMRI data.

A synthetic molecular pentafoil knot

Abstract: – hydrogen bonds. The one-pot self-assembly reaction features an exceptional number of different design elements—some well precedented and others less well known within the context of directing the formation of (supra)molecular species. We anticipate that the strategies and tactics used here can be applied to the rational synthesis of other higher-order interlocked molecular architectures.