Health
23 May 2024
Big data, AI, and personalized medicine: scientists reveal playbook aiming to revolutionize healthcare
The Covid-19 pandemic changed medicine forever – now scientists reveal a bold new vision for the healthcare of the future.
1,199 news posts in Mind and body
Life sciences
22 May 2024
Babies in the womb exposed to two languages hear speech differently when born
Researchers have shown for the first time that newborns of monolingual mothers respond differently to playback of a carefully selected sound stimulus than newborns of bilingual mothers. The findings suggest that bilingual newborns are sensitive to a wider range of acoustic variation of speech, at the cost of being less selectively tuned in to any single language. These results underscore the importance of prenatal exposure for learning about speech.
Social science
21 May 2024
Screen time not the main factor making parent-child interactions worse, study finds
Researchers investigated if ‘technoference’ has worse effects on parent-child interactions than non-digital distractions and found that distraction itself – not its source – may be to blame
Humanities
17 May 2024
A devastating fire 2,200 years ago preserved a moment of life and war in Iron Age Spain — right down to a single gold earring
A violent blaze, possibly linked to the Carthaginian army crossing the Pyrenees to fight the Romans, flared up so quickly people couldn’t save their animals or their valuables
Life sciences
02 May 2024
Why do male chicks play more than females? Study finds answers in distant ancestor
Researchers observed the frequency of play by aged chicks between six and 53 days old. Males engaged more frequently in social and object play than females, but there was no difference in the frequency of locomotor play. The researchers concluded that these patterns can be explained by the strong sexual dimorphism of adult junglefowl, the ancestors of domestic chickens. This means that male chicks benefit more from practicing skills related to physical ability and social tactics.
Social science
01 May 2024
The popular kids in school may be sleeping less
Scientists found that popular teenagers sleep less than their peers, and that popular girls experience more insomnia symptoms than popular boys
Health
25 Apr 2024
Experts call for global genetic warning system to combat the next pandemic and antimicrobial resistance
Scientists champion global genomic surveillance using latest technologies and a ‘One Health’ approach to protect against novel pathogens like avian influenza and antimicrobial resistance, catching epidemics before they start.
Health
25 Apr 2024
Puzzling link between depression and cardiovascular disease explained at last: they partly develop from the same gene module
It’s long been known that depression and cardiovascular disease are somehow related, though exactly how remained a puzzle. Now, researchers have identified a ‘gene module’ consisting of 256 functionally related, co-expressed genes, which is part of the developmental program of both diseases. These genes can now be used as biomarkers for both depression and cardiovascular disease, and could ultimately help to find new drugs to target both.
Health
23 Apr 2024
Women’s heart disease is underdiagnosed, but new machine learning models can help solve this problem
Using machine learning, scientists built more accurate models to predict heart disease risk and found that women are underdiagnosed compared to men, highlighting the need for sex-specific criteria
Life sciences
19 Apr 2024
Baby sharks prefer being closer to shore, show scientists
Scientists have shown for the first time that juvenile great white sharks gather in waters up to 10 meters deep with a temperature between 6 and 22 °C – a very different habitat from that of adults. These preferences may optimize their growth and minimize the risk of predation. These results can inform conservation efforts and help to avoid negative shark encounters.
Health
15 Apr 2024
Air pollution could increase the risk of neurological disorders: Here are five Frontiers articles you won’t want to miss this Earth Day
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. Now, with Earth Day approaching on 22nd April, we take a look at just five recent papers that shine a light on why we must do everything to help protect our planet.
Health
08 Apr 2024
Pig hearts kept alive outside the body for more than 24 hours offers hope for many humans needing a transplant
A major bottleneck on human heart transplantation are limits to storage of the donor heart outside the body, which is currently only routinely possible for six hours. Scientists have now tested new preservation methods, to keep pig hearts routinely alive outside the body for at least 24 hours. If successfully extended to humans, this would constitute a significant improvement to clinical practice.
Health
04 Apr 2024
Scientists call for urgent action to prevent immune-mediated illnesses caused by climate change and biodiversity loss
Climate change, pollution, and collapsing biodiversity are damaging our immune systems, but improving the environment offers effective and fast-acting protection.
Health
28 Mar 2024
Dogs trained to detect trauma stress by smelling humans’ breath
A pilot study shows that dogs can be taught to recognize the scent of trauma reactions on the breath, which could make PTSD assistance dogs more effective.
Health
27 Mar 2024
Scientists discover how caterpillars can stop their bleeding in seconds
Materials scientists have now shown how the blood-like hemolymph of tobacco hornworm caterpillars forms clots to stop bleeding. They show that outside the body, hemolymph can instantaneously change from water-like behavior to become ‘viscoelastic’ like saliva, that is, combining viscosity with elasticity. This discovery could have medical applications, if drugs can be designed that induce a similar change in human blood, to make it clot faster.