1,201 news posts in Mind and body

Life sciences

29 Mar 2023

Lizards at US Army installation are stress eating during flyovers

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer Colorado checkered whiptail, Aspidoscelis neotesselata. Image credit: Carina Kusaka Scientists studied the response of an uncommon asexual lizard, the Colorado checkered whiptail, to anthropogenic noise at the military installation Fort Carson. They compared the lizard’s behavior between dates with and without flyovers by military aircraft. On flyover dates, the lizards showed a physiological stress response and spent more time eating and less time moving. These results suggest that the lizards deal with noise pollution by eating more to maintain the energy levels. Lizards may be small, with only a single hearing bonelet compared to our three, and without earflaps, but their hearing is typically good. Most lizards can hear frequencies between 100 and 5,000 Hz (although they are most sensitive between 400 and 1,500 Hz), compared to between 20 and 20,000 Hz in humans. So how do lizards react to noise pollution? Here, scientists studied the impact of noise from low-flying military aircraft on the behavior and well-being of an uncommon lizard, the Colorado checkered whiptail (Aspidoscelis neotesselatus). This was done at the Fort Carson US military Installation near Colorado Springs, where Apache, Chinook, and Blackhawk helicopters regularly fly over, and occasionally transport aircraft […]

Health

27 Mar 2023

Shh! Intensive care incubators resonate sounds and risk damage to premature babies’ hearing, scientists say

by Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers science writer Image/Shutterstock.com Although the effects of a noisy environment in the neonatal intensive care unit have been studied before, the effect of the incubators premature babies spend their first weeks or even months in has not. A team of scientists investigated, and found that while the incubators dampen some sounds, they amplify others, potentially damaging babies’ hearing. For vulnerable premature babies, an incubator in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is a lifesaver, but the consequences can last a lifetime. Many studies have shown that the NICU is a noisy environment and that babies who spend time there have higher rates of hearing impairment, which can lead to delays in language acquisition. Scientists from Vienna, Hamburg, Munich, and Osnabruck set out to investigate the role of the incubator, an underestimated element in the soundscape that surrounds babies during their time in the NICU. “The motivation of our multidisciplinary research team concerns the question: why many more premature babies suffer hearing impairments,” said Dr Christoph Reuter from the University of Vienna, corresponding author of the study published in Frontiers in Pediatrics. “We believe that what we have measured in our studies could be a leading […]

Health

23 Mar 2023

Frontiers in Public Health celebrates 10 year anniversary

Worldwide, human health is now better than ever before. We have a higher life expectancy and lower under-five mortality than any previous generations. However, all of these improvements in human health have come at a cost: the planet’s health. Most of these health improvements started in the Anthropocene — a geological epoch defined by human influence. The Anthropocene —thought to have started anytime between the Industrial revolution and World War II — has brought about a substantial increase in socio-economic standards but also a halt in biodiversity and climate change. Since human and planetary health are interlinked, it would be short-sighted to see them as independent. Understanding and promoting health for humans and the planet — and ensuring that there is a fine balance between economic growth and prosperity, as well as sustainable use of the Earth’s resources — is one of the biggest public health challenges of the 21st Century. The Anthropocene and the theory of “planetary boundaries” are the current background for environmental sciences and research on human health. However, such theories are still evolving and have some conceptual problems. For example, what is the aim of mitigation of environmental degradation or even “regeneration” of the planet, given […]

Life sciences

22 Mar 2023

Unusual Toxoplasma parasite strain killed sea otters and could threaten other marine life

by Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers science writer Image by Mr Laird Henkel, California Department of Fish and Wildlife Four sea otters that stranded in California were found to have died of an unusually severe form of toxoplasmosis, a disease caused by the microscopic parasite Toxoplasma gondii. Scientists warn that this new strain, never previously reported in aquatic animals, could potentially pose a health threat to other marine wildlife and humans. Scientists in California are raising the alarm about a newly reported form of toxoplasmosis that kills sea otters and could also infect other animals and people. Although toxoplasmosis is common in sea otters and can sometimes be fatal, this unusual strain appears to be capable of rapidly killing healthy adult otters. This rare strain of Toxoplasma hasn’t been detected on the California coast before, and may be a recent arrival, but scientists are concerned that if it contaminates the marine food chain it could potentially pose a public health risk. “I have studied Toxoplasma infections in sea otters for 25 years — I have never seen such severe lesions or high parasite numbers,” said Dr Melissa Miller of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, corresponding author of the study […]

Health

16 Mar 2023

Common meat-free proteins may trigger soybean and peanut allergies in some people

by Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers science writer Image/Shutterstock.com Meat-free proteins based on legumes are increasingly common. But so are allergies to soy and peanuts, which are also legumes. To find out if it’s safe for patients with these allergies to eat legume-based alternative proteins, scientists investigated how frequent cross-reactions are among people with different legume allergies. They found that although people often produce antibodies against multiple legumes, they rarely have a clinically relevant reaction. Soybean and peanut allergy patients are usually not allergic to other legumes. Many people keen to reduce their meat consumption are turning to substitutes made of legumes packed with protein, vitamins, and fiber. But allergies to legumes like soy or peanuts are both common and dangerous. Are patients allergic to particular legumes at risk from meat-free proteins made of legumes even if they contain different legumes? Dr Mark Smits and a team of scientists at University Medical Center Utrecht set out to investigate. “Both protein consumption and the world’s population are increasing which leads to an urgent demand for sustainable protein sources,” said Dr Thuy-My Le, senior author of the study published in Frontiers in Allergy. “An increase in the consumption of legumes may increase the […]

Health

15 Mar 2023

What does flattery do to our brains? 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. What praise and flattery does to our brains Both sincere praise and flattery are rewarding in different ways, but the various effects of these types of praise are not obvious. Now, researchers from Japan have published an article in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience in which they examined the brain activity of participants who received sincere praise or flattery after performing a visual search task. Using neuroimaging, the researchers found different effects of praise. The activation of the part of the brain modulating reward and pleasure processing was higher when participants received sincere praise than when they received flattery. The scientists also observed a socio-emotional effect, based on the positive feedback conveyed by praise. Altogether, they found that the neural dynamics of the rewarding and socio-emotional effects of different types of praise differ. Article link:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2023.985047/full Fish bone matrix may help heal bone defects Biocompatibility and osteogenic activity are properties of decalcified bone […]

Life sciences

15 Mar 2023

Rapid surge in highly contagious killer fungus poses new threat to amphibians across Africa

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer Researchers studied the prevalence of the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) in a total of 16,900 historical and recent museum specimens, wild-living individuals, and literature records of amphibians from Africa. Bd causes chytridiomycosis, a contagious and lethal disease of amphibians that has driven hundreds of species worldwide to extinction. Only amphibian species in Africa had so far escaped chytridiomycosis epizootics, but the present study shows that this reprieve is now likely over. Mass fungus infections that drive populations worldwide to near-collapse don’t just occur in science fiction. Chytridiomycosis, the worst vertebrate disease in recorded history, has already wiped out hundreds of species of amphibians around the world. Due to a large part to this fungal disease, 41% of amphibians are currently threatened with extinction. Only species living in Africa seemed to have been relatively spared from the scourge of chytridiomycosis – at least so far. Now, a study in Frontiers in Conservation Science has shown that this reprieve was likely temporary: the results show that the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), the pathogen that causes chytridiomycosis, is by now firmly established throughout Africa. It may so far have been overlooked there, but it is likely that […]

Life sciences

06 Mar 2023

Bees follow linear landmarks to find their way home, just like the first pilots

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer Scientists have shown that honeybees retain a memory of the dominant linear landscape elements in their home area like channels, roads, and boundaries. When transported to an unfamiliar area, they seek out local elements of this kind, compare their layout to the memory, and fly along them to seek their way home. This navigation strategy is similar to the one followed by the first human pilots. In the earliest days of human flight, before the invention of the first radio beacons and ground-based electronic systems, and modern GPS, pilots commonly navigated by following roads and railways – striking linear landscape elements at ground level that guide towards a destination of interest. Enter the honeybee. A century of research has shown that honeybees are navigators par excellence. They can navigate by their sense of smell, the sun, the sky’s pattern of polarized light, vertical landmarks that stand out from the panorama, and possibly the Earth’s magnetic field. They are also clever learners, able to recognize associations between disparate memories in order to generalize rules. Now, scientists have shown that honeybees tend to search for their way home by orienting themselves in relation to the dominant […]

Humanities

03 Mar 2023

Scientists find that people use emojis to hide, as well as show, their feelings

by Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers science writer Image: Shutterstock.com Scientists asked 1,289 people who use emojis to respond to internet chat messages and report their feelings and emoji use. They found that more emojis were used between closer friends, that using positive emojis to express positive feelings correlated with personal wellbeing, and that positive emojis could be used to mask the expression of negative feelings. Have you ever received an unwanted gift and still said ‘thank you’? This choice to hide a negative emotion is a display rule — one of many which define socially appropriate responses to emotions. Although display rules can promote interpersonal harmony, they can also have negative consequences for the person choosing to change how they express emotions. As more social interaction goes online, scientists are investigating how emojis are used to reflect our emotions in different contexts. Are there display rules that apply to emojis, and how do those affect people’s wellbeing? “As online socializing becomes more prevalent, people have become accustomed to embellishing their expressions and scrutinizing the appropriateness of their communication,” said Moyu Liu of the University of Tokyo, who investigated this question in a study published in Frontiers in Psychology. “However, I […]

Health

02 Mar 2023

Sleep too much or too little and you might get sick more, scientists find

by Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers science writer Image/Shutterstock.com Patients visiting their GP who reported sleeping less than six hours or more than nine were more likely to present with an infection. Patients who reported sleeping too little, or having insomnia or a chronic sleep disorder, were even more likely to need antibiotics. Scientists say that good sleep could lower our risk of infection and need for antibiotics. A good night’s sleep can solve all sorts of problems – but scientists have now discovered new evidence that sleeping well may make you less vulnerable to infection. Scientists at the University of Bergen recruited medical students working in doctors’ surgeries to hand out short questionnaires to patients, asking about sleep quality and recent infections. They found that patients who reported sleeping too little or too much were more likely also to report a recent infection, and patients who experienced chronic sleep problems were more likely to report needing antibiotics. “Most previous observational studies have looked at the association between sleep and infection in a sample of the general population,” said Dr Ingeborg Forthun, corresponding author of the study published in Frontiers in Psychiatry. “We wanted to assess this association among patients in […]

Health

28 Feb 2023

From anti-antibiotics to extinction therapy: how evolutionary thinking can transform medicine

by Liad Hollender, Frontiers science writer Image: Shutterstock Antibiotic resistance, cancer, and obesity are on the rise despite intense drug development efforts. To curb this trend, scientists release a research plan for evolutionary medicine, guiding the way for innovative biomedical therapies and more effective public health measures. The word ‘evolution’ may bring to mind dusty dinosaur bones, but it impacts our health every day. For example, even though antibiotics were invented only a century ago, the evolution of antibiotic resistance is already a major concern. The rise in modern health problems such as obesity can also be traced back to evolutionary principles. An article published in Frontiers in Science demonstrates how applying an evolutionary perspective to medicine can inspire new ways of preventing and treating disease. “Evolutionary medicine holds promise to transform our understanding of why we get sick and strengthen our ability to protect human health,” said Dr Barbara Natterson-Horowitz of Harvard University and the University of California, Los Angeles. “We came together with experts across many fields to create an overarching research agenda for this field.” “Our aim is to drive new biomedical innovations and effective public health measures, for everything from infectious disease and pandemics to cancer, […]

Health

28 Feb 2023

‘We cannot change the human body, but we can change the environment’

by Liad Hollender, Frontiers science writer Dr Barbara Natterson-Horowitz (a cardiologist) and Prof Daniel Blumstein (a behavioral ecologist) were faculty members at the Los Angeles campus of the University of California for decades before they met. Since their serendipitous encounter in the mid-2000s at a lecture on evolution, the two have become prolific scientific collaborators. They are leading researchers in the emerging field of evolutionary medicine, which applies insights from ecology and evolution to drive biomedical innovation and public health reform. Their most recent article, published in Frontiers in Science, brings together diverse experts to chart a research agenda of staggering scope. Their aim is to tackle major health challenges by applying an evolutionary perspective to everything from antibiotic resistance and drug-resistant cancers to obesity, diabetes, and other ‘modern’ diseases. We met with them to learn more about this disruptive field. Evolution and medicine seem like very distinct disciplines. How are they related? Barbara: There is a famous saying – ‘Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution’ by Theodosius Dobzhansky. But what is medicine if not the biology of the human body and mind? Viewing health through the lens of evolutionary biology helps explain why we […]

Health

27 Feb 2023

How do you talk to a whole country about Covid-19? Use a GIF.

by Dr Siouxsie Wiles, University of Auckland Image by Stephen Langdon, courtesy of Siouxsie Wiles. Siouxsie Wiles is a microbiologist and award-winning science communicator based at the University of Auckland in Aotearoa New Zealand. Her academic research focuses on how the infectiousness of bacteria changes over time and developing new antibiotics. During the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, she worked with cartoonist Toby Morris to create simple graphic messages that could get public health information out to the general public quickly and effectively, reassuring and informing people throughout Aotearoa New Zealand and around the world. In this guest editorial for Frontiers, Dr Wiles explains how she came to create the famous ‘flatten the curve’ GIF. If you used or lurked on Twitter in March 2020, chances are you saw, or even shared, an animated GIF illustrating how our actions could help ‘flatten’ the Covid-19 ‘curve’. The teal and orange GIF toggled between two scenarios. In the ‘whatever’ approach, a person downplays the seriousness of Covid-19, which soon leads to healthcare capacity being overwhelmed. In the alternative ‘don’t panic, but be careful’ approach, a person is shown promoting such things as staying home when sick, which helps ‘flatten the curve’ […]

Health

17 Feb 2023

Humans don’t hibernate, but we still need more winter sleep

by Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers science writer Image/Shutterstock.com Society and technology impose sleep and wake schedules on people, especially in urban environments with lots of light pollution. Although seasonality in animal sleep is well known, for the past 25 years we’ve assumed humans are different. But a study of patients being monitored for sleep-related difficulties shows underestimated variation in sleep architecture over the course of a year. Whether we’re night owls or morning larks, our body clocks are set by the sun. Theoretically, changing day length and light exposure over the course of the year could affect the duration and quality of our sleep. But figuring out how this applies in practice is difficult. Although studies where people assess their own sleep have suggested an increase in sleep duration during winter, objective measures are needed to determine how exactly the seasons affect sleep. Scientists studying sleep difficulties have now published data in Frontiers in Neuroscience that shows that, even in an urban population experiencing disrupted sleep, humans experience longer REM sleep in winter than summer and less deep sleep in autumn. “Possibly one of the most precious achievements in human evolution is an almost invisibility of seasonality on the behavioral […]

Health

15 Feb 2023

Brain changes in fighter pilots may cast light on astronauts during space travel

By Conn Hastings, science writer Understanding the effects of space travel will help us to plan long-haul space flights, but getting access to astronauts is not easy. A new study investigates whether F16 fighter pilots demonstrate brain connectivity changes that could be expected in astronauts, based on similar exposure to changes in g-forces. The study found that the pilots showed key changes in brain connectivity and they may function as suitable test subjects to learn more about space travel. One cannot explore the profound mysteries of space without being changed by it. This is the message underlying a new study in Frontiers in Physiology. The study examined the brains of F16 fighter pilots, which have a lot in common with those of astronauts in terms of adapting to altered gravity levels and rapidly processing conflicting sensory information. MRI scans revealed that pilots with more flight experience showed specific brain connectivity patterns in areas related to processing sensorimotor information. They also showed differences in brain connectivity compared with non-pilots. The study will help us to understand the effects of space flight on the brain and may aid in providing better training programs for pilots or astronauts. Spaceships: a rollercoaster for the […]