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16 Apr 2021

‘Golden needle in the haystack’: Potential Paralympians face more challenges in being talent spotted

By Colm Gorey, Frontiers science writer/Dr Nima Dehghansai, York University and Paralympic Innovation Dr Nima Dehghansai. Image: Dr Nima Dehghansai Potential Paralympian superstars may slip through developmental cracks more often than athletes without a disability, according to new research. Dr Nima Dehghansai of York University in Canada was the corresponding author of a paper published to Frontiers in Sports and Active Living that reported a lack poor funding and representation is preventing some athletes who have a disability from becoming potential Paralympians.   Potential Paralympian athletes face a significantly greater challenge in being talent-spotted versus athletes who do not have disability, a new study has found. Writing in Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, the researchers identified issues such as poor representation among women athletes and a lack of resources among high-performance trainers means many potential medal winners can easily fall through the cracks. One of those researchers was Dr Nima Dehghansai of York University in Canada and Paralympic Innovation in Adelaide, Australia, who works in athlete development and talent identification with a specialization in Paralympic sports. 1/6. Our new paper examining the perspective of talent identification and development in Paralympic sport is out now! @rossapinder @bakerjyorku Below is a […]

Featured news

29 Mar 2021

From ghosts to evil genies: How the world experiences terrifying sleep paralysis very differently

By Colm Gorey, Frontiers science writer/Dr Baland Jalal, Harvard University and University of Cambridge Dr Baland Jalal. Image: Dr Bamo Jalal Dr Baland Jalal has spent years exploring the terrifying phenomenon known as sleep paralysis to find that the sinister entity you see at the end of your bed varies from culture to culture. Writing with Frontiers, Jalal says this has major implications for how it is experienced. Sleep paralysis is something no one will want to experience. After falling into a deep sleep, you suddenly wake up unable to move a muscle or even scream for help. To make things worse, you feel as if there is someone – or something – either sitting on top of you or looking at you from the end of the bed. While the experience will only last a short while, it can potentially have long-term implications as it might trigger a fear of falling asleep. Little is known about what exactly triggers sleep paralysis, but researchers across the world have spent much of their careers trying to better understand – and potentially manage – the phenomenon. One such researcher is Dr Baland Jalal of the Department of Psychology at Harvard University and a […]

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26 Mar 2021

What did the brains of the first land vertebrates look like?

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer / Dr Alice M Clement, Flinders University Dr Alice Clement. Image: Flinders University What did the brain of the early tetrapodomorphs, the first fish to develop limbs and walk on land, look like? Preserved brains are very rare in fossils, and even when preserved they were typically shrunken and deformed before becoming fossilized. For this reason, researchers mostly rely on casts of the cranial vault of fossils to study the early evolution of the brain. The closest living relatives of tetrapodomorphs, coelacanths, are known to have brains that are tiny compared to the braincase (1% of volume), so for them endocasts don’t give much information about brain morphology. But are coelacanths representative of extinct tetrapodomorphs in that regard? In a new study in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Clement et al. show that this is likely not the case: among living amphibia – together with lungfish, the next closest living relatives of tetrapodomorphs – 4 basal species of frogs and caecilians have brains with a volume of 49-78% of the braincase. Their brains are somewhat larger relative to the braincase than those of lungfish, newts, and salamanders (38-47%), and the authors suggest that the […]

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19 Mar 2021

Tragedy of the Commons: The potential role of individualism in the spread of Covid-19

By Dr Yossi Maaravi, Adelson School of Entrepreneurship at IDC, Herzliya John David Photography / Shutterstock.com Dr Yossi Maaravi of the Adelson School of Entrepreneurship at IDC, Herzliya asks whether the phenomenon of social dilemmas and individualism resulted in worse outcomes for the Covid-19 pandemic?   Covid-19 is a real tragedy. But why did this tragedy hit some countries harder than others? While this question has recently been answered based on population age or health policy, a few months ago, my thoughts drifted to another possible explanation: ‘The tragedy of the commons’. A few months later, these thoughts led to research that has been recently published in Frontiers in Public Health. But the story of the inspiration for this research begins many years back. 16 years ago, when I was still a PhD student, I came across Garrett Hardin’s classic article, The Tragedy of the Commons. I was fascinated by the simple yet powerful phenomenon of social dilemmas described in this article. Social dilemmas are circumstances in which certain behaviors that serve the self-interest of every individual member of society might be harmful to the common good. YESSS!!! My new @FrontiersIn article is OUT!We rely on the "The Tragedy of […]

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18 Mar 2021

Dolphins adapt to survive invasive coastal constructions

Marine ecosystems are endangered by an increasing number of coastal development projects. A new study shows for the first time that bottlenose dolphins may adapt to anthropogenic disturbance under some circumstances. The findings draw attention to the need for proper management of coastal construction sites. By Suzanna Burgelman, Frontiers Science writer Social interaction between two bottlenose dolphins. Image: Ann Waver Bottlenose dolphins learn to cope with coastal construction activities. That is the conclusion of a study published in Frontiers in Marine Science. The study is the first to provide a longitudinal perspective on the cumulative impacts of coastal construction. Dolphins adapted to the construction of a bridge by establishing feeding locations outside of the construction zone, and by shifting the timings of behaviors to a time in the day when construction activities were minimized. Coastal development practices negatively impact marine wildlife Marine coastal development is characterized by unsustainable practices. Coastal development exposes 47% of coastal marine mammal species and 51% of core marine mammal habitats to extensive anthropogenic disturbance. Human activities along coastlines and in marine habitats can lead to pollution, vessel strikes, entanglement, by-catch, and debris ingestion, which disturb and harm marine wildlife. Read original article Download original article (pdf) […]

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17 Mar 2021

Astronauts in crewed Mars missions could misread vital emotional cues

By Tania Fitzgeorge-Balfour, Frontiers science writer Long-exposure photo of the centrifuge used to simulate microgravity in the research subjects. Image: DLR Spending an extended period with reduced gravity, as would be experienced by astronauts on long space missions, may have a negative effect on cognitive performance, and in particular emotion recognition, reveals a new study. Hoping to counteract these changes, researchers found that short periods of artificial gravity did not have the desired effect. The findings of this study could have implications for effective teamwork in future space travel, especially for manned missions to Mars. Living for nearly 2 months in simulated weightlessness has a modest but widespread negative effect on cognitive performance that cannot be counteracted by short periods of artificial gravity, finds a new study published in Frontiers in Physiology. While cognitive speed on most tests initially declined but then remained unchanged over time in simulated microgravity, emotion recognition speed continued to worsen. In testing, research participants were more likely to identify facial expressions as angry and less likely as happy or neutral. ► Read original article► Download original article (pdf) “Astronauts on long space missions, very much like our research participants, will spend extended durations in microgravity, confined to […]