Daily | Social Butterfly Elephants | Hillary Clinton on Foreign Aid Cuts | Martha Stewart Omnimedia Deal

Green Beings

Shy & Retiring to Social Butterflies

Asian Elephants Are Social Networkers Science NOW

Shermin de Silva, a graduate student at U of Penn and behavioral ecologist at the Elephant, Forest and Environment Conservation Trust in Sri Lanka, and her team believe that elephants express degrees of social diversity found in female humans. Some elephants have just a few female friends with bonds that go on for years, while others are more extroverted social betterflies.

The two-year study tracked nearly 300 pachyderms for five seasons in the Udawalawe National Park in Sri Lanka.

Among the elephant matriarchy, females and babies stay together, while males roam separate from the group. Studying the elephant relationships based on ‘top five friends’  the researchers found that elepants sustained their long-distance friendships by communicating with chemicals and noise.

Much to their surprise, some females were extremely extroverted, changing friends daily. About 16 percent of the elephants completely changed their ‘top five friends’ over the two-year period.

In all, the research shows that female Asian elephants live in a very dynamic society, where individuals leave and rejoin small groups at will. This behavior is similar to those seen in other intelligent mammals, like dolphins and chimpanzees, and simultaneously maintaining many relationships suggests “a high level of cognitive capacity,” says behavioral ecologist Phyllis Lee, another member of the team.

More reading on elephants.

RedTracker

Hillary Clinton on Foreign Aid Cuts

While ‘Project Runway’s’ Tim Gunn spent his time dissing Hillary Clinton’s pant suits and gender-confused style with George Lopez last night, the Secretary of State was focused on warning Congress that she will fight to block a Republican push to restrict aid for Israel’s Arab neighbors and Pakistan and cut off climate change funds.

The bill cuts off any funds to NGOs that support or promote abortions, which effectively kills any family planning assistance to women in poor countries.

Clinton is on record saying she will ask President Obama to veto the bill that would also bar defense aid to Egypt, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority and Yemen if extremist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah and Hamas are part of the government. via The Hill

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia

WWD speculates that a deal for MSLO is in the works, most likely with private investors. There are concerns, of course. Martha Stewart is 70 years old and a key to the success of the brand. Since Oprah left the air, revenue for her magazine O has fallen 31 percent. To be fair, ad revenues in the August 2011 issue of Martha Stewart Living are off 14 percent in a tough business climate and shifting sands around print magazines.

On Tuesday, MSLO reported second-quarter revenues of $54.9 million, down slightly over a year ago, but the net loss has grown to $2.9 million, compared to $1.2 million during the second quarter in 2010. The publishing division, which includes the flagship title and Whole Living, reported revenues decreased 3.3 percent to $34.1 million, due to uneven ad performance.

Rumour: Big Book Deal for Grace Coddington

Random House has no comment on reports that Grace Coddington, the creative director of Vogue, has sold her memoir to Susan Kamil at Random House for a rumored $1.2 million.It’s said that the book will be co-written with Michael Roberts, a Vogue writer. Ms Coddington is represented by literary agent Elyse Cheney.

Sensual & Superyoung

Gym Style

Spanx is now in the activewear category and we like it! One item can make a lot of difference to women who prefer not to show every pouch on their bodies. Spanx has added a short sarong, a wrap for women not wanting to hide under an oversized tee and yet want more coverage. This is a concept that Smart Sensuality women understand. The wrap is $68 on the Spanx website. Expect a less-expensive knockoff coming soon, but perhaps without the same amount of spandex.

The Aging Brain

Yale University’s Amy Arnsten, Professor of Neurobiology and Psychology and a member of the Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, is recruiting subjects for a clinical trial testing guanfacine’s ability to improve working memory and executive functions in the prefrontal cortex part of the brain.Guanfacine, already approved for treating hypertension, depresses excessive amounts of the molecule called cAMP.

Arnsten and her team studied the firing of prefrontal cortical neurons in young, middle-aged and aged animals as they performed a working memory task. Neurons in the prefrontal cortex of the young animals were able to maintain firing at a high rate during working memory, while neurons in older animals showed slower firing rates. However, when the researchers adjusted the neurochemical environment around the neurons to be more similar to that of a younger subject, the neuronal firing rates were restored to more youthful levels. via Science Daily

Health Headlines

Breast density tied to specific types of breast cancer  Science Daily

Who Takes Risks? Sometimes women take more Science Daily