1,141 news posts in Featured news

Featured news

20 Sep 2023

Nobel Prize winners inspire young minds in new scientific articles for kids

Frontiers for Young Minds launches third volume of Nobel Collection articles for young readers Photo credit: Frontiers Frontiers for Young Minds, an award-winning, non-profit, open-access scientific journal for kids, has released the third volume of its Nobel Collection today. The new volume features five articles on topics from using a glowing protein found in jellyfish to understand cell function to studying the smallest units of matter. Prior to publication, the distinguished scientists worked with young reviewers aged 8-15 to ensure their articles were interesting and understandable for young readers. Launched in 2013, Frontiers for Young Minds inspires the next generation of scientists by making science accessible and engaging for young people. It provides reliable and up-to-date information on various topics in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM). Through a unique review process, kids engage in dialogue with leading researchers worldwide, empowering the young reviewers with a better understanding not only of the science of the article, but of the scientific process and the importance of validating information. While learning about the world around them, young reviewers develop confidence, critical thinking, and communication skills. The Nobel Collection is a special series of articles by Nobel Laureates. This third volume of […]

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20 Sep 2023

Shading the Great Barrier Reef from the sun might slow bleaching-induced coral decline

By Deborah Pirchner, Frontiers science writer Image: Shutterstock As ocean temperatures rise, corals can lose their color due to heat stress. Bleaching does not kill corals immediately, but they become more vulnerable to disease and starvation. Shading reefs by covering them with cloth or fog, can protect them from excessive heat. Now, researchers have tested the shading response of two coral species and found that four hours of shade during the hottest time of the day can significantly slow bleaching. This knowledge can help with solar radiation management in marine ecosystems, including the Great Barrier Reef. Over the past two decades, coral reefs have declined at unprecedented rates. This is in part because of extreme weather events, which cause wide-spread coral bleaching, a process during which corals lose their color because of stressors, including changes in water temperature, light, or nutrient availability. One of the worst mass bleaching events occurred in 2016 and 2017 on the Great Barrier Reef, causing bleaching on 91% of the system’s reefs. As frequency and severity of mass bleaching events are expected to increase in the future, researchers are looking for ways to protect corals from excessive radiation and temperatures. As part of the Cooling […]

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18 Sep 2023

Captive pandas could be ‘jet lagged’ if their body clocks don’t match their environment

by Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers science writer Image/Shutterstock Animals’ circadian clocks normally get cues from their environments: light cycles, seasonal food availability, and temperature. If these cues are very different to the ones from the latitudes which they have adapted to, it could disrupt their bodies and behavior, like jet lag in humans. Scientists studying the effect of this possible ‘jet lag’ on giant pandas, which are a vulnerable species and live in zoos worldwide, have shown that pandas housed in different latitudes to their normal range in China are less active, with potentially negative consequences for their welfare. All animals have an internal clock called a circadian clock, which is regulated by cues from their environment — but animals in zoos can be exposed to very different cues from animals in the wild. Since all animals’ circadian clocks are linked to their behavior and physiology, this could be significant to their welfare, which is crucial to maintaining captive populations of animals at high risk of extinction in the wild, like giant pandas. Scientists set out to understand how the ‘jet lag’ of living in latitudes they did not evolve in, and therefore getting cues for their circadian clocks which […]

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14 Sep 2023

Identifying polar bears just got easier: Here are five Frontiers articles you won’t want to miss

By Deborah Pirchner, Frontiers science writer Image: Shutterstock.com 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. Polar bear identity and sex can be established from paw prints The recent loss of sea ice is forcing polar bears – one of the Arctic’s biggest predators – to spend more time on land closer to human settlements. To prevent potential human-animal conflicts and to protect the species, polar bear populations must be monitored and managed. More often than not, this is a costly and difficult endeavor, in part because of the remote regions the bears inhabit. Now, a team of researchers in the US has developed a method to keep track of polar bears that might make scientist less reliant on having to capture the bears to get data. Writing in Frontiers in Conservation Science, they investigated the use of environmental DNA – cells which the animals shed when walking – collected from paw-prints in the snow to identify individual polar bears and their sex. They sampled 13 polar […]

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13 Sep 2023

Certain proteins in breast milk found to be essential for a baby’s healthy gut

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer Researchers have shown that high concentrations of key proteins in human breast milk, especially osteopontin and κ-casein, are associated with a greater abundance of two species of bacteria in the gut of babies: Clostridium butyricum and Parabacteroides distasonis, known to be beneficial for human health and used as probiotics. These results suggest that proteins in breast milk influence the abundance of beneficial gut microbes in infants, playing an important role in early immune and metabolic development More than 320 million years of mammalian evolution has adapted breast milk to meet all the physiological needs of babies: it contains not only nutrients, but also hormones, antimicrobials, digestive enzymes, and growth factors. Furthermore, many of the proteins in breast milk, for example casein and milk fat globule membrane proteins, aren’t just sources of energy and molecular building blocks, but also directly stimulate immunity, at least under preclinical conditions. Likewise, the gut microbiome, composed of bacteria, archaea, and fungi, plays a vital role in the regulation of the immune system. This raises the possibility that the immune-boosting function of breast milk proteins might be two-pronged: not only by stimulating the immune system directly, but also indirectly, by […]

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12 Sep 2023

Frontiers adopts CCC Ringgold Identify Database to enhance data quality

Open access publisher Frontiers has adopted the CCC Ringgold Identify Database as its Persistent Identifier (PID) solution. The unique numerical identifier system applied to organizations in the scholarly communications sector enhances data quality and promotes open access publishing. Photo credit: Frontiers With over 600,000 Ringgold PIDs and metadata records, the Ringgold Identify Database provides a detailed view of organizations that span the scholarly ecosystem from funders to publishers, as well as those which license and create scholarly content, such as universities and government entities. The uniqueness of each identifier ensures accuracy in recognizing contributions and creates connections between articles, researchers, institutions, and funders. This supports stakeholders in understanding complex organizational hierarchies and consortia connections and allows for more strategic decision-making. The highly granular dataset also supports the shift to open access publishing models. Publishers like Frontiers can explore information around funding and discount eligibility under institutional and consortia agreements and assist in compliance with institutional and funder mandates, such as Plan S or OSTP. The Ringgold system lends itself to interoperability as it complements other PIDs in place, including ORCID IDs, DOIs, and ISNI IDs. This makes it possible to join records across internal and external systems for a more […]

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08 Sep 2023

The climate crisis could reshape Italian mountain forests forever

by Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers science writer Image/Shutterstock. With the changes in conditions caused by the climate crisis, the forests of the Italian Alps and Apennines are set to alter. Many species, including keystone species, will have smaller ranges to grow in. Some others may expand their ranges, possibly helping to maintain forests in the years to come. Scientists now warn that conserving our forests depends on detailed biodiversity modelling. As a result of the climate crisis, future forests may become unrecognizable. Trees that currently make up European woods may no longer be seen — or they may have moved several hundred meters uphill. Scientists writing in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change have mapped the forests of five vulnerable mountain areas in Italy and modelled the future of these fragile ecosystems. “If I imagine my daughter walking with me as an old man, in our mountain forests, I can imagine that we can see the initial stage of a profound change of species,” said Dr Sergio Noce of the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change Foundation (CMCC). “Like any natural process, time is needed, and forests have times that are totally different from us.” Seeing the wood for the trees […]

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07 Sep 2023

What makes a Grand Slam champion? Research finds three key guidelines for tennis coaches

by Dr Dario Novak, University of Zagreb Image courtesy of Dr Novak: Dario Novak and Marin Čilić, 2020 Olympic silver medalist To provide adequate support to young athletes, it is important to understand their development path. Over the years, researchers have recognized the significance of tracking all processes aimed at optimizing athletes’ progress and overall success. In a new study by Mario Oršolić, Dr Petar Barbaros, and Dr Dario Novak, 30 tennis players at different levels of success were interviewed, including 10 Grand Slam winners, to understand how they got into the sport and what drove their success. The research, published in Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, sought to deepen the understanding of specialization in tennis by exploring the experiences of tennis players at different levels of success. By analyzing their stories, the researchers aimed to contribute to a wider knowledge on the development of tennis players, as well as providing valuable insight for individual sports careers. They condensed their findings down to the following guidelines for coaches and players: It is important that the initial introduction into tennis for younger children is aimed at stimulating positive feelings and love for the sport; Specialization (targeted and more intensive training) […]

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05 Sep 2023

To amplify, falsify or verify? AI and published science

In August this year, Marie Soulière, senior publishing manager at Frontiers, featured in closing keynote discussion at the annual FORCE11 Scholarly Communication Institute. She was joined by leading voices from the Allen Institute for AI, the University of Washington, the São Paulo Research Foundation and the University of Manchester. Here are some of her personal reflections. Photo credit: Frontiers With ingenuity we can reverse global threats, from climate change to health emergencies. With global collaboration, political will, and scientific breakthrough at a scale not yet seen. But on all those counts, success will depend on the widespread sharing of the latest scientific knowledge. All of it. Scale will count. We need more than incremental change. Good scientific research – published and shared globally with machine readability across large volumes of information – will grow our chances of success. Which is where Artificial Intelligence comes in. Perhaps no other new technology has thrown up so many opportunities, and risks, for scientific research. The publication and dissemination of new science will be transformed in unimagined ways. But to what end? To amplify, to falsify or to verify? To grow our chances of success? And which outcomes are most likely in the short […]

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31 Aug 2023

Scientists develop finger sweat test to detect antipsychotic drugs in patients

by Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers science writer Image/Shutterstock.com Maintaining a regimen of antipsychotic drugs can be difficult, but going off them unexpectedly can have disastrous health consequences for patients. Traditionally, monitoring patients on these drugs involves blood tests, which can be painful and time-consuming. A quick, non-invasive finger sweat test newly developed by scientists could replace these blood tests and make patients’ lives easier. Antipsychotic drugs treat incredibly vulnerable patients. Maintaining a treatment regimen is difficult for many patients, but not taking the medication is associated with a higher risk of poor health outcomes. These drugs are also very powerful with strong side-effects, and blood tests are often used to calibrate a patient’s dosage and confirm that they are taking the recommended dose. However, blood tests are invasive and potentially uncomfortable. Scientists have now discovered a way to test the levels of common antipsychotic drugs in the sweat from patients’ fingerprints, offering a quicker, more comfortable, and more convenient alternative to blood draws for patient monitoring. “Our test offers patients a quick and dignified way of showing commitment to antipsychotic treatment,” said Katherine Longman of the University of Surrey, first author of the study in Frontiers in Chemistry. “This non-invasive […]

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30 Aug 2023

Open access: In conversation with Frontiers’ Dr Marie Souliere

Joining us today is Dr Marie Soulière, senior publishing manager at Frontiers, who was elected as Council Member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in 2020. In this interview, we delve into the challenges faced by open access publishers when it comes to publication ethics. Dr Soulière highlights the rising complexity of fraud, ranging from data manipulation to fake peer reviews, and the heightened scrutiny faced by open access publishers. We also explore Frontiers’ unwavering commitment to quality, their adherence to COPE guidelines, and their proactive approach to evolving research integrity practices in response to emerging threats. Photo credit: Frontiers What are the main issues open access publishers face right now regarding publication ethics? How have these changed in recent years? Throughout the industry, the main changes have been the increase in complexity and sophistication of fraud. Anything from text reuse to data manipulation, authorship-for-sale, fake peer review and identity theft, has scaled up. While all publishers face these issues, open access publishers face more scrutiny from readers as all published articles are freely accessible to all. This has the advantage of allowing some ethical issues to come to light more quickly and for open access publishers to correct […]

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29 Aug 2023

Visibility and impact: The twin peaks for open access researchers

In August this year, Georgina Harris, portfolio manager at Frontiers, ran a workshop at the annual FORCE11 Scholarly Communication Institute, alongside Timothy Vollmer of UC Berkeley Library. Here are some of her personal reflections. Photo credit: Frontiers Amid the shift in published science – from paywalls to open access – researchers have more chances than ever to share their work, see its impact, and build the professional network that grows from it. But how to secure all that? For over a decade the  FORCE11 community has shown the way, and Frontiers is proud to be a sponsor. This community group offers researchers the new thinking, pragmatic tools, and personal tips they will need to thrive in a competitive publishing environment. I had the pleasure of running the first workshop of its annual Scholarly Communication Institute alongside Timothy Vollmer of UC Berkeley Library. With the librarians, researchers, and scholarly communication experts who took part, we saw a picture emerge of a positive, shared experience in open access publishing, with growing curiosity and greater experimentation. Let me share three of the discussion points. First, in a complex, interlinked world, communication depends on more than one channel for cut-through. This is no less true of leading-edge science. […]

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25 Aug 2023

Reefs made from culled trees can help kickstart sea life in threatened waters

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer One of the ‘tree-reefs’ being examined after five months in the Wadden Sea. Image credit: Jon Dickson Researchers have shown that structures made from culled pear trees sunk into soft-bottomed seas like the Dutch Wadden Sea provide excellent replacements for naturally occurring hard substrates, of which many have been lost due to human activities. These ‘tree-reefs’ were rapidly colonized and became hotspots for fish, crustaceans, polyps, and shellfish. Reefs, whether natural or man-made, are hotspots of marine biodiversity. But especially in soft-bottomed seas, reefs have now become scarce because many hard substrates have been removed due to overfishing of shellfish, dredging, trawling, and deep-sea mining. How can we restore this lost biodiversity, as encouraged by the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030) and the EU Biodiversity Strategy? Now, researchers have shown that culled fruit trees sunk into the sea are a cheap and effective way to recreate reefs and boost the local diversity and abundance of marine life. The study, published in Frontiers in Marine Science, was done in the Wadden Sea, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest tidal flats system in the world. “Here we show that native marine […]

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24 Aug 2023

New pocket-sized device for clinicians could spot infected wounds faster

by Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers science writer Image/Shutterstock.com Scientists have developed a device that works with a smartphone or tablet to capture medical images which can identify infected wounds. By capturing the heat produced by a wound and the fluorescence of bacteria, it helps clinicians tell the difference between inflammation and a potentially dangerous infection. This could allow for quicker intervention, catching infections before they become serious threats to health. It’s notoriously difficult for doctors to identify a wound that is becoming infected. Clinical signs and symptoms are imprecise and methods of identifying bacteria can be time-consuming and inaccessible, so a diagnosis can be subjective and dependent on clinician experience. But infection can stall healing or spread into the body if it isn’t treated quickly, putting a patient’s health in grave danger. An international team of scientists and clinicians thinks they have the solution: a device run from a smartphone or tablet app which allows advanced imaging of a wound to identify infection. “Wound care is one of today’s most expensive and overlooked threats to patientsand our overall healthcare system,” said Robert Fraser of Western University and Swift Medical Inc, corresponding author of the study published in Frontiers in Medicine. […]

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23 Aug 2023

People taking adult education classes run lower risk of dementia

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer Researchers analyzed health information on middle-aged and senior participants in the UK Biobank. They showed that those who took part in adult education classes had a 19% lower risk of developing dementia within five years of follow-up. Adult education also appeared to help preserve nonverbal reasoning performance and fluid intelligence. How can we best keep our brain fit as we grow older? It’s well known that regular cognitive activity, for example brainteasers, sudokus, or certain video games in middle and old age tends to protect against cognitive decline and dementias like Alzheimer’s. But many of us regularly engage in adult education classes, for example learning a language or a new skill. Is such adult education likewise associated with a lower risk of cognitive decline and dementia? Yes, according to researchers from the Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer of Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan who have shown this for the first time, in a new study in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. “Here we show that people who take adult education classes have a lower risk of developing dementia five years later,” said Dr Hikaru Takeuchi, an associate professor and the study’s first […]