1,088 news posts in Featured news

Featured news

30 May 2023

Humans evolved to walk with an extra spring in our step

by Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers science writer Image/Shutterstock.com Scientists have discovered that the recoil created by the flexible arch of human feet helps position our legs in the optimal posture for moving forward in bipedal walking. Understanding how our joints help modern humans walk upright could help us track the evolution of bipedalism and improve care for patients with foot problems. A new study has shown that humans may have evolved a spring-like arch to help us walk on two feet. Researchers studying the evolution of bipedal walking have long assumed that the raised arch of the foot helps us walk by acting as a lever which propels the body forward. But a global team of scientists have now found that the recoil of the flexible arch repositions the ankle upright for more effective walking. The effects in running are greater, which suggests that the ability to run efficiently could have been a selective pressure for a flexible arch that made walking more efficient too. This discovery could even help doctors improve treatments for present-day patients’ foot problems. “We thought originally that the spring-like arch helped to lift the body into the next step,” said Dr Lauren Welte, first author […]

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26 May 2023

Termite mounds reveal secret to creating ‘living and breathing’ buildings that use less energy

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer Macrotermes termite mound in Namibia. Image credit: D. Andréen Scientists studied the ‘egress complex’ of Macrotermes michaelseni termites from Namibia, which appears to promote moisture regulation and gas exchange. They showed that the layout of this lattice-like network of tunnels can intercept wind around the termite mound to create turbulence inside, which can power ventilation and control the interior climate. These properties can be copied to create a comfortable climate in human buildings with little energy. Among the approximately 2,000 known species of termites, some are ecosystem engineers. The mounds built by some genera, for example Amitermes, Macrotermes, Nasutitermes, and Odontotermes, reach up to eight meters high, making them some of the world’s largest biological structures. Natural selection has been at work improving the ‘design’ of their mounds over tens of millions of years. What might human architects and engineers learn if they go to the termites and consider their ways? In a new study in Frontiers in Materials, researchers showed how termite mounds can teach us to create comfortable interior climates for our buildings that don’t have the carbon footprint of air conditioning. “Here we show that the ‘egress complex’, an intricate network […]

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22 May 2023

Can charismatic robots help teams be more creative?

by Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers science writer Image/Shutterstock.com Scientists found that students given a task by a social robot with a voice programmed to be engaging and inspiring performed better and were more creative than students who received the task from an identical robot with a flat voice. Increasingly, social robots are being used for support in educational contexts. But does the sound of a social robot affect how well they perform, especially when dealing with teams of humans? Teamwork is a key factor in human creativity, boosting collaboration and new ideas. Danish scientists set out to understand whether robots using a voice designed to sound charismatic would be more successful as team creativity facilitators. “We had a robot instruct teams of students in a creativity task. The robot either used a confident, passionate — ie charismatic — tone of voice or a normal, matter-of-fact tone of voice,” said Dr Kerstin Fischer of the University of Southern Denmark, corresponding author of the study in Frontiers in Communication. “We found that when the robot spoke in a charismatic speaking style, students’ ideas were more original and more elaborate.” Can a robot be charismatic? We know that social robots acting as facilitators […]

Featured news

19 May 2023

Our brain prefers positive vocal sounds that come from our left

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer Researchers have shown that the brain’s primary auditory cortex is more responsive to human vocalizations associated with positive emotions and coming from our left side than to any other kind of sounds. This bias can be explained by the way our brain is organized, but its evolutionary significance is not yet known Sounds that we hear around us are defined physically by their frequency and amplitude. But for us, sounds have a meaning beyond those parameters: we may perceive them as pleasant or unpleasant, ominous or reassuring, and interesting and rich in information, or just noise. Read original paper Download original paper (pdf) One aspect that affects the emotional ‘valence’ of sounds – that is, whether we perceive them as positive, neutral, or negative – is where they come from. Most people rate looming sounds, which move towards us, as more unpleasant, potent, arousing, and intense than receding sounds, and especially if they come from behind rather than from the front. This bias might give a plausible evolutionary advantage: to our ancestors on the African savannah, a sound approaching from behind their vulnerable back might have signaled a predator stalking them. Now, neuroscientists from […]

Featured news

16 May 2023

Occasional cannabis use during pregnancy may be enough to impact fetal growth significantly

By Deborah Pirchner, Frontiers science writer Image: Shutterstock.com As cannabis products are being legalized around the world, the notion that they are safe to consume – including during pregnancy – is rising. Now, researchers in the US have investigated if the timing of cannabis exposure impacts fetal growth. They found that exposure in just the first trimester resulted in a significant decrease in newborn weight. If exposure continued, effects got more severe, including reduced head circumference. The consumption of the drug is discouraged at any point during pregnancy, the researchers stressed. As more people use cannabis for recreational purposes, attitudes towards the drug have changed. For example, research has shown that dispensaries often recommend cannabis – also referred to as marijuana – to pregnant women to ease pregnancy symptoms, especially morning sickness. There is a growing body of literature attesting to poor child outcomes if cannabinoids are consumed during pregnancy. The exact effects on the developing fetus, however, remain unclear. Researchers in the US have now examined how timing of cannabis exposure during pregnancy impacts fetal development. “We show that even when marijuana use occurred only in the first trimester of pregnancy, birth weight was significant reduced, by more than […]

Featured news

11 May 2023

Leading Sino-Swiss experts gather to discuss research integrity

The National Science Library of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSLCAS), the Swiss Embassy in China, SwissNex and the leading science publisher Frontiers, held a joint workshop on Research Integrity to discuss safeguarding the quality of scientific research in May in Beijing. Stephan Kuster, head of public affairs at Frontiers Photo credit: Swiss Embassy in China With Switzerland and China actively participating in international research collaborations, it is essential that both countries address the topic of research integrity together. The discussion around research integrity is also underpinned by the backdrop of China’s fast growth in the quantity and quality of scientific research papers. According to a report published in 2022 by Japan’s National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP), China contributed 27.2% of the world’s most-cited papers between 2018 and 2020, surpassing the US for the first time. Moreover, the recent development of artificial intelligence (AI) tools and their roles in supporting scientific research and its output present both opportunities and challenges for safeguarding research integrity. The workshop brought together research institutions, universities, foundations, and academic publishers, including representatives from the National Science Foundation of China, NSLCAS Center of Research Integrity (CORI), the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), […]

Featured news

11 May 2023

‘Sea butterfly’ life cycle threatened by climate change may impact Southern Ocean ecosystem

By Deborah Pirchner, Frontiers science writer Image: Shutterstock.com Shelled pteropods, commonly known as sea butterflies, are tiny, free-swimming sea snails, which are an important part of the marine ecosystem. They are also vulnerable to climate change as their shells are sensitive to ocean acidification. Now, a team of researchers in the UK has examined life cycles of two sea snail species. They found that one is less vulnerable to changes in the Southern Ocean than the other. This can affect pteropods on a population level and in turn impact the marine ecosystem. The world’s oceans absorb approximately a quarter of all carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. During absorption, CO2 reacts with seawater and oceanic pH levels fall. This is known as ocean acidification and results in lower carbon ion concentrations. Certain ocean inhabitants use carbon ion to build and sustain their shells. Pteropods, which are important components of the marine ecosystem, are among them. Certain aspects about pteropods, including life cycles and population dynamics, are not well-studied. This is partly due to their size – some sea butterfly species measure less than a millimeter – and poor long-term survival in captivity. Now, a team of marine scientists has examined life […]

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10 May 2023

Scientists discover microbes in the Alps and Arctic that can digest plastic at low temperatures

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer Image: Beat Stierli Scientists from Switzerland have identified 19 novel strains of cold-adapted specialist bacteria and fungi from the Alps and the Arctic region that can digest biodegradable plastics at 15°C. This ability, if upscaled to an industrial scale, will save money and energy during recycling Finding, cultivating, and bioengineering organisms that can digest plastic not only aids in the removal of pollution, but is now also big business. Several microorganisms that can do this have already been found, but when their enzymes that make this possible are applied at an industrial scale, they typically only work at temperatures above 30°C. The heating required means that industrial applications remain costly to date, and aren’t carbon-neutral. But there is a possible solution to this problem: finding specialist cold-adapted microbes whose enzymes work at lower temperatures. Scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute WSL knew where to look for such micro-organisms: at high altitudes in the Alps of their country, or in the polar regions. Their findings are published in Frontiers in Microbiology. “Here we show that novel microbial taxa obtained from the ‘plastisphere’ of alpine and arctic soils were able to break down biodegradable plastics at […]

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09 May 2023

Can lions coexist with cattle in Africa?

by Laurence G Frank/Deborah Pirchner, Frontiers science writer Image: Shutterstock Protecting lions and the interests of cattle producers in Kenya is a difficult balancing act. In a recent Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution article, Dr Laurence G Frank, a researcher at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Mpala Research Centre in Laikipia, Kenya, explored how protecting livestock can help protect endangered lions. As part of our Frontiers Scientist series, Frank, who also is the director of Living With Lions, a conservation research group working in nonprotected areas of Kenya to save the remaining wild lions and other predators outside National Parks, caught up with Frontiers to tell us about his career and research. What inspired you to become a researcher? All children love animals and some who never grow up become zoologists. At the age of 10 I was introduced to field biology at a local community museum, where we were taught basic ecology and animal behavior, collecting and specimen preparation technique, and formal field note format. My weekends were spent pestering local reptiles and trapping small mammals in the Bay Area hills; many of my juvenile specimens are in the California Academy of Sciences […]

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05 May 2023

Secret behind Amazonian ‘dark earth’ could help speed up forest restoration across the globe

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer Researchers from Brazil showed that Amazonian dark earth (ADE), soils enriched by Amerindian people thousands of years ago, increases the establishment and growth of seedlings of tree species important for reforestation. By copying the composition of ADE, especially its microbes, reforestation in Brazil and elsewhere could be sped up Between approximately 450 BCE and 950 CE, millions of Amerindian people living in today’s Amazonia transformed the originally poor soil through various processes. Over many human generations, soils were enriched with charcoal from their low-intensity fires for cooking and burning refuse, animal bones, broken pottery, compost, and manure. The result is Amazonian dark earth (ADE) or terra preta, exceptionally fertile because rich in nutrients and stable organic matter derived from charcoal, which gives it its black color. Now, scientists from Brazil show that ADE could be a ‘secret weapon’ to boost reforestation – not only in the Amazon, where 18% or approximately 780,000 km2 has been lost since the 1970s – but around the world. The results are published in Frontiers in Soil Science. “Here we show that the use of ADEs can enhance the growth of pasture and trees due to their high levels […]

Featured news

04 May 2023

Ill-fitting gear puts female firefighters at risk: Five Frontiers articles you won’t want to miss

By Deborah Pirchner, Frontiers science writer Image: CAL FIRE_Official/Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) At Frontiers, we bring some of the world’s best research to a global audience. But with tens of thousands of articles published each year, it’s impossible to cover all of them. Here are just five amazing papers you may have missed. Ill-fitting gear increases female firefighters’ risk on the job Over the past years, the number of female firefighters has been rising steadily. As of 2020, women make up 9% of firefighters in the US. Despite this, the gear they are wearing is still made for male bodies. Using 3D body scans of 189 female firefighters, US-based researchers have studied this gear to improve comfort, mobility, and safety for female firefighters. They published their results in Frontiers in Materials. The scientists found that female firefighters are wearing personal protective clothing (PPC) with significant fit issues. This reduces comfort, restricts mobility and increases safety risks on the job, they wrote. Between 15% and 21% of female firefighters were found to intentionally leave off a part of their PPC, mostly pants and coats, at least ‘sometimes,’ if not ‘nearly always’. The researchers also identified where the highest potential for design […]

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02 May 2023

Frontiers responds to the US National Institutes of Health’s call on public access to science

The National Institutes of Health, the foremost federal agency for medical research in the US and the world’s biggest public funder of biomedical and behavioral research, has launched a call for information to improve public access to the findings of its supported research. A summary of our response We support a scalable, cost efficient, transparent publishing model that delivers public value for money, and we think Gold Open Access publishing is the most effective way of securing that outcome. Green Open Access publishing removes some barriers and does not perpetuate inequity, but we think lifting its standards for discoverability and sharing Green open access files widely will prove too great a cost to the taxpayer. We welcome the chance to respond to this important request for information from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Frontiers is a leading research publisher and open science platform. It is the third most-cited and sixth largest in the world. The science we publish is peer-reviewed, globally shared, and free to read. Our mission is to make all science open – so that we can collaborate better and innovate faster, for fairer and more equitable outcomes in all parts of society. That is our social […]

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28 Apr 2023

Old dogs with dementia sleep less deeply, just like people with Alzheimer’s

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer Scientists have shown that old dogs with canine dementia have sleep and brain wave patterns that mirror those found in people with Alzheimer’s. This is the first study to use polysomnography techniques from human sleep studies in old dogs In people with Alzheimer’s, the earliest symptoms are commonly disruptions in sleep rhythms. These include daytime sleepiness, showing agitation or confusion around dusk, staying awake longer, and waking up often at night. They are thought to result from damage to sleep-regulating areas in the brain. Alzheimer patients tend to spend less time in both REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, in which most dreaming occurs, and non-REM (NREM) sleep. But they show the greatest reduction in so-called slow-wave sleep (SWS) – a stage of non-dreaming deep sleep, characterized by slow ‘delta’ brain waves (0.1 to 3.5 Hz) – when day-time memories are consolidated. Now, scientists have shown that the same reduction in SWS and delta brain waves occurs in dogs with the canine equivalent of dementia, canine cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CCDS). These dogs thus sleep less and less deeply. The results are published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science. “Our study is the first to evaluate the […]

Featured news

24 Apr 2023

Top scientists to address climate emergency in Montreux this week

Photo credit: Frontiers More than 500 top scientific researchers and influencers will meet in Switzerland later this week for the Frontiers Forum Live, which is taking place in Montreux from 27-29 April. The event, now in its eighth year, will address critical issues including the climate crisis, improving global health and well-being, and preserving biodiversity. This is its first hybrid edition, and the Forum is expected to attract thousands of invited researchers to participate online. The mission of the Frontiers Forum is to bring together trailblazing figures from the realms of science, policy, commerce, and society. It creates a platform enabling expertise and cooperation that will hasten the transition to open science, spur the creation of groundbreaking solutions, and pave the way for a world in which all can lead healthy lives on a healthy planet. By facilitating dialogue and partnerships among these leaders, the Forum is helping to catalyze transformational change and build a brighter future. Kamila Markram, CEO and co-founder of Frontiers, said: “It’s thanks to science that we can be together in person again and run our first ever hybrid event – this time with thousands of participants joining us online. The record-breaking development of effective vaccines […]

Featured news

21 Apr 2023

The right sports bra may increase your running performance by 7%

By Suzanna Burgelman, science writer Researchers are one step closer to understanding the influence of good running apparel on running performance and injury risk. A new study in Frontiers in Sports and Active Living found that greater breast support during running is associated with increased knee joint stiffness, altering the lower body biomechanics of female runners. Specifically, a low support bra was associated with a 2% increase in knee joint stiffness, and a high support bra with 5%. Overall, a well-designed sports bra could increase a female’s running performance by 7%. Running is one of the most accessible forms of exercise with an array of proven cardiovascular and musculoskeletal benefits, and an added bonus of increased mental health. Good quality running gear, such as the right pair of shoes, is vital to improve running performance and reduce injury risk. For women particularly, a well-designed sports bra protects from exercise-induced breast pain, which can be a significant barrier to practicing sports. Up to 72% of women experience breast pain while running. Previous research has shown that the increased breast support sports bras offer not only influences breast movement but can also positively influence running performance. Greater breast support has been linked […]