1,541 news posts in Research news

Robotics and AI

28 Feb 2023

‘My dream is for AI and brain organoids to explore each other’s capabilities’

by Liad Hollender, Frontiers science writer Image: Prof Thomas Hartung Over just a few decades, computers shrunk from massive installations to slick devices that fit in our pockets. But this dizzying trend might end soon, because we simply can’t produce small enough components. To keep driving computing forward, scientists are looking for alternative approaches. An article published in Frontiers in Science presents a revolutionary strategy, called organoid intelligence. This emerging scientific field aims to create biocomputers where lab-grown brain organoids (three-dimensional brain-cell cultures) serve as biological hardware. According to the authors, this technology could also drive progress in biomedicine, providing unprecedented insight into the human brain. To learn more about this exciting new field, we interviewed the senior author of the article, Prof Thomas Hartung. He is the director of the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing in Europe (CAAT-Europe), and a professor at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health. How do you define organoid intelligence? Reproducing cognitive functions – such as learning and sensory processing – in a lab-grown human-brain model. How did this idea emerge? I’m a pharmacologist and toxicologist, so I’m interested in developing medicines and identifying substances that are dangerous to our health, specifically […]

Engineering

28 Feb 2023

12 exotic bacteria found to passively collect rare earth elements from wastewater

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer Scientists have shown that the biomass of 12 previously unstudied strains of cyanobacteria from around the globe is efficient at the biosorption of the rare earth elements lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, and terbium from aqueous solutions. This allows these rare elements, for which demand is steadily growing, to be collected from wastewater from mining, metallurgy, and the recycling of e-waste, and reused. Rare earth elements (REEs) are a group of 17 chemically similar metals, which got their name because they typically occur at low concentrations (between 0.5 and 67 parts per million) within the Earth’s crust. Because they are indispensable in modern technology such as light emitting diodes, mobile phones, electromotors, wind turbines, hard disks, cameras, magnets, and low-energy lightbulbs, the demand for them has increased steadily over the past few decades, and is predicted to rise further by 2030. As a result of their rarity and the demand they are expensive: for example, a kilo of neodymium oxide currently costs approximately €200, while the same amount of terbium oxide costs approximately €3,800. Today, China has a near-monopoly on the mining of REEs, although the discovery of promising new finds (more than one million metric […]

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 […]

Environment

16 Feb 2023

From microplastic waste to large, ancient squirrels: 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. UK seafloor sediments rich in microplastics For years, plastics have made up a large portion of the debris polluting the marine environment. Much of this plastic consists of particles under 5mm in any dimension. Writing in Frontiers in Marine Science, an international team of researchers from the UK and Norway examined the occurrence and abundance of microplastics in UK seafloor sediments between 2013 and 2021. The scientists used a fast-screening approach for the detection and quantification of microplastics in sediment samples. They detected microplastics in every sample collected from 15 sites around the UK, which supports the argument that seafloor sediments are suitable matrices for the long-term monitoring of microlitter. The adoption of seafloor sediments as a common indicator for microlitter for the north-east-Atlantic region would allow for future assessments at a regional level as well as regional action plans rather than isolated national remediation measures, the researchers pointed out. The […]

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 […]

Health

14 Feb 2023

Cocaine addiction makes the brain age faster, suggests study

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer A new study finds evidence from the DNA methylome that the biological age – different from the chronological age – of cells in Brodmann Area 9 of the prefrontal cortex might be greater in people with cocaine use disorder. This suggests that cocaine abuse makes these cells age faster according to the ‘epigenetic clock’. The authors also find differences in methylation in 20 genes, mainly involved in regulation of the activity of neurons and their connectivity. This post-mortem study is one of the first to directly look at the methylome of brain cells in human subjects with cocaine use disorder, rather than in rodents. Scientists tend to view substance addiction as primarily a disease of the brain. When we enjoy sex, food, music, or hobbies, regions of our brain within the reward pathway are flooded with pleasure-inducing dopamine. Drugs like cocaine copy this effect, except up to ten times more strongly. Healthy brains aren’t at the mercy of such dopamine rushes, however: there, the prefrontal cortex weighs options and can decide to forgo pleasurable activities when it’s not the time or place. In contrast, such ‘inhibitory control’ is impaired in the addicted brain, making […]

Environment

13 Feb 2023

European big cat population threatened with extinction as genetics show the population is near collapse

by Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers science writer Image/Shutterstock.com Eurasian lynxes dispersed across the Swiss border with France in the late 1970s, but the population remains small and fragile. Scientists took genetic samples from lynxes in France and determined that the population’s genetic health is so dangerously tenuous it could be extinct in a generation. Scientists warn that if action isn’t taken soon, the Eurasian lynx will vanish from France. This elusive wild cat, which was reintroduced to Switzerland in the 1970s, moved across the French border by the end of the decade. But a genetic study published in Frontiers in Conservation Science showed that the lynx population in France is in desperate need of help to survive. “Given the rapid loss of genetic diversity, we estimate that this population will go extinct in less than 30 years,” said Nathan Huvier of the Centre Athenas, corresponding author. “This population urgently needs new genetic material to become sustainable.” The missing lynx This population of lynxes, hidden deep within the Jura Mountains, is not well known. Observations by scientists estimate its size at a maximum of 150 adults and suggest that it is poorly connected to larger, healthier populations in Germany and Switzerland, […]

Space sciences and astronomy

10 Feb 2023

Five articles you need to check out on the future of astronomy and astrophysics

By Deborah Pirchner, Frontiers science writer Image: Shutterstock.com From uncovering the long-standing mysteries in extra-galactic astrophysics to understanding the properties of the sun’s outer atmosphere, astronomy research aims to help us understand what surrounds us. Frontiers highlights some of the top astronomy articles we have published recently. In a field as vast as space itself, cutting-edge work may be concerned with particles so small they are invisible to the human eye. Similarly, discoveries may be about whole galaxies. Those new findings, as well as advances in the theory, experiment, and methodology enable us to gain a better understanding of outer space. These five articles published recently as part of the Frontiers research topic ‘Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics’ cover important topics at the forefront of astronomy. Some Notes About the Current Researches on the Physics of Relativistic Jets Relativistic jets are powerful plasma jets emitted at the speed of light by black holes of some galaxies, massive stars, and neutron stars. In a review article published in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, Italian researchers provided an effective critical review about one of the most long-standing mysteries in extra-galactic astrophysics: the origin of these ejections from the centers of galaxies. […]

Engineering

09 Feb 2023

Human test subjects may no longer be needed for mosquito bite trials thanks to invention of new biomaterial

by Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers science writer Image/Shutterstock.com Studies on mosquito feeding behavior are crucial to fighting malaria, dengue, and other mosquito-borne pathogens – but traditionally, they require humans or animals to act as meals for the mosquitoes. Scientists have developed a biomaterial which mimics skin, right down to blood under the surface, to make studies on mosquito feeding easier to run. Mosquitoes: the world’s deadliest animal. These tiny flying insects are vectors for dengue fever, yellow fever, Zika, malaria, and many other illnesses which affect millions of people around the world, with a significant morbidity and mortality burden. Because they spread disease when they bite people, understanding their feeding behavior is critical to reducing the harm they do. But how to study mosquito feeding behavior without giving them a live meal? A collaboration between Rice University and Tulane University in the US has developed a biomaterial which could eliminate the need for human volunteers or animal subjects in mosquito bite research. “Several groups are dedicated to finding ways to stop mosquitoes from biting, but bringing new repellents to market is challenging,” said Prof Omid Veiseh, Rice University, corresponding author of the study published in Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. […]

Humanities

07 Feb 2023

Proof that Neanderthals ate crabs is another ‘nail in the coffin’ for primitive cave dweller stereotypes

by Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers science writer Image: Tomasz Ochocki/Shutterstock.com Scientists studying archaeological remains at Gruta da Figueira Brava, Portugal, discovered that Neanderthals were harvesting shellfish to eat – including brown crabs, where they preferred larger specimens and cooked them in fires. Archeologists say this disproves the idea that eating marine foods gave early modern humans’ brains the competitive advantage. In a cave just south of Lisbon, archeological deposits conceal a Paleolithic dinner menu. As well as stone tools and charcoal, the site of Gruta de Figueira Brava contains rich deposits of shells and bones with much to tell us about the Neanderthals that lived there – especially about their meals. A study published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology shows that 90,000 years ago, these Neanderthals were cooking and eating crabs. “At the end of the Last Interglacial, Neanderthals regularly harvested large brown crabs,” said Dr Mariana Nabais of the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES-CERCA), lead author of the study. “They were taking them in pools of the nearby rocky coast, targeting adult animals with an average carapace width of 16cm. The animals were brought whole to the cave, where they were roasted on coals and […]

Life sciences

06 Feb 2023

‘Many kids go through a phase where they want to be a marine scientist. For me, it wasn’t a phase’

by Patricia Albano/Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers science writer Patricia stands with remotely operated vehicle Deep Discoverer aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer during an expedition to explore the deep waters off the West Florida Shelf. Image: Patricia Albano. Marine protected areas are meant to give threatened species space to live and thrive. But in a recent paper in Frontiers in Marine Science, Patricia Albano and colleagues showed that at least one protective area isn’t capturing the range that endangered sharks use as they grow, leaving them vulnerable to commercial fishing. Albano, now the Internship Program Coordinator at the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, NOAA Ocean Exploration, caught up with Frontiers to tell us a little about her career and her research, as part of our Frontiers Scientist series. Albano’s work focuses on shark ecology in an anthropogenic world and the associated conservation implications. After a BA and MSc from the University of Miami, she joined a project evaluating the efficacy of the De Hoop marine protected area (MPA) for threatened and endemic sharks off South Africa. Albano also dedicates her time to working in ocean education, supporting workforce development programs and efforts to increase diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. In 2020, she […]

Health

01 Feb 2023

Medicines that modify the circadian clock might help heal scars more cleanly

by Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers science writer Image/Shutterstock.com Scientists determined that compounds which play key roles in both collagen synthesis and circadian management can be used to make wounds on cell samples heal more quickly and effectively, offering promise for treatments to prevent problem scarring in the future. Healing often leaves a scar. But the role of the scar itself in healing is often underestimated: a scar that doesn’t heal cleanly can be painful or upsetting or affect the range of movement of the affected body part. It may even require further surgical treatment. Now, scientists based at the University of California Los Angeles have found that compounds which target the circadian clock and affect the synthesis of collagen — a protein which is important for skin repair — could improve scar healing. “Our aim was to find compounds that were able to increase the rate at which dermal wounds heal while mitigating the formation of hypertrophic scars,” said Dr Akishige Hokugo, corresponding author of a study published to Frontiers in Medicine. “Scars can result in emotional distress following normal wound healing by serving as permanent reminders of the initial incident. Accounting for additional revision procedures, extended hospital stays, and […]

Life sciences

31 Jan 2023

Songbird species work together to mob predator owls, but only strike when the time is right

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer Northern pygmy owl, Glaucidium gnoma. Image credit: W Douglas Robinson Scientists have now shown that songbirds don’t just flee from their predator, the northern pygmy owl: they sometimes actively seek them out to aggressively mob them. But the likelihood of mobbing wasn’t constant: it was highest during late summer and autumn when the owls mostly prey on young birds instead of mammals, and at low altitudes, where the owls are most common. The likelihood of mobbing also increased when there were more songbirds around to dilute the individual risk. The authors conclude that songbirds can tell when the risk of predation from northern pygmy owls is greatest, and mostly ignore these owls at other times of the year. Fleeing isn’t the only way by which songbirds can protect themselves against predators. Many songbird species are known to engage in mobbing, where they gather aggressively around a bird of prey, flying rapidly while making stereotypic movements and loud vocalizations. Mobbing is risky for both parties: birds of preys have been observed to attack their mobbers, while cases are known of birds of prey getting injured by mobbing songbirds. Read original article Download original article (pdf) […]

Health

30 Jan 2023

Five articles you need to check out on the future of surgery

By Colm Gorey, Science Communications Manager Image: Shutterstock.com From robotic surgeons to ultra-detailed imaging technology, the field of surgery is going through rapid change. To help us understand what the latest research is in this world of dissection, Frontiers highlights just some of the top articles we’ve recently published. The robot takeover of the workforce is nowhere more apparent than in the medical world, where many delicate surgical procedures are either aided by a robotic assistant, or in some cases performed entirely by a machine. But advances in surgery are not just limited to robotics, with new imaging technologies helping us peer inside the human body like never before. Here are five recent Frontiers articles published as part of the research topic ‘Anatomical Fundamentals of Advanced Surgical Techniques’ that may greatly influence even more breakthroughs in the future. Robotic pelvic exenteration for gynecologic malignancies, anatomic landmarks, and surgical steps: a systematic review Pelvic exenteration – a surgical operation to remove multiple organs in the pelvis – represents the last resort procedure for patients with advanced primary or recurrent gynecological malignancy, such as endometrial cancer. However, since 2009, the advent of robotic surgery resulted in a new spur to the […]