25 news posts in Frontier Scientists

Featured news

20 Aug 2021

World Mosquito Day: How the pest’s diet could lead to discovery of new antimalarial drug

By Suzanna Burgelman/ PhD student and fellow Trizah Koyi Milugo, ICIPE PhD student and fellow Trizah Koyi Milugo. Image: Trizah Koyi Milugo A preventable disease, malaria still threatens millions of people around the world. World Mosquito Day raises awareness about malaria and its transmission via mosquitos. Researchers such as PhD student Trizah Koyi Milugo focus their research on malaria control and prevention and, in her case, is researching the development of a novel tool for controlling malaria transmission. In 2019, 229m clinical cases of malaria occurred and 409,000 people died of the disease, most of them children in Africa. The disease is found in more than 100 countries worldwide, but roughly 70% of the world’s malaria burden is concentrated in Africa and India. Humans get infected with the malaria virus through mosquito bites. Other than malaria, mosquitos carry an array of dangerous diseases, such as dengue, zika, and west Nile virus. Mosquitos are the world’s deadliest creature. World Mosquito Day raises awareness about the dangers of mosquitos and the devastating consequences of malaria. Trizah Koyi Milugo, a PhD student at the International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), is currently researching the development of a novel tool for controlling […]

Environment

24 Jun 2021

A dog’s life: James A Serpell and his investigation into the origin story of mankind’s best friend

By Colm Gorey, Frontiers science writer/Prof James Serpell, University of Pennsylvania Prof James A Serpell, University of Pennsylvania. Image: University of Pennsylvania Two distinctly different stories have been created to explain how fearsome, wild wolves were first domesticated by humans, according to Prof James A Serpell of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wallis Annenberg PetShape Leadership Institute. However, in the open access journal Frontiers, he recently published a paper investigating the truth of these claims. Despite being considered mankind’s best friend, the ancestors of modern dogs were a lot less welcoming to human owners. However, trying to trace the timeline of when early humans first domesticated wild wolves to serve their needs has proven difficult. One of the most prevalent origin stories in scientific literature suggests the ‘commensal scavenger hypothesis’. This posited that wolves essentially domesticated themselves by invading ancient human settlements in search of animal remains and other edible waste discarded by hunter-gatherers. Over time, tolerance by humans gave a selective advantage to the bolder, less fearful wolves, which then diverged from the ancestral population as they adapted to the new scavenging niche. An alternative hypothesis – sometimes referred to as the pet keeping or cross-species adoption hypothesis […]

Featured news

07 Jun 2021

Dr Tal Gordon: ‘During one of my dives, an animal I collected ejected its digestive system at me’

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer / Tal Gordon, George S Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Israel Tal Gordon during one of her research dives. Image credit: Tal Zaquin Dr Tal Gordon is a zoologist and molecular biologist interested in the molecular basis of regeneration. She grew up in Eilat (Israel) close to the Red Sea and spent much of her childhood by the sea. Her recent PhD thesis at Tel-Aviv University focused on the development and regeneration in ascidians (sea squirts, a non-monophyletic subdivision of tunicates), in particular Polycarpa mytiligera. She discovered that this species has unique regeneration abilities, which makes it an excellent new model system to study regeneration and stem cells. One key result, recently published in Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, is that P. mytiligera can regenerate any missing body part, including its entire nervous system, by reactivation of evolutionarily conserved developmental programs. Gordon is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr Omri Wurtzel at Tel-Aviv University, focusing on the molecular basis of regeneration. In her present research, she uses comparative genomics to unravel regulatory pathways that facilitate ascidian regeneration. As part of our Frontier Scientist series, she told us about […]

Featured news

21 May 2021

‘We need more research which examines racism and racialization on health and wellbeing of black women’

By Colm Gorey, Frontiers science writer/Dr Jenny Douglas, The Open University Dr Jenny Douglas, The Open University. Image: Jenny Douglas To mark the launch of the new research topic entitled ‘Dismantling racial inequalities in higher education’, Dr Jenny Douglas of The Open University reveals how events in her childhood opened her eyes to racial inequality and the need for more research into black women’s health and wellbeing. Despite various efforts to tackle racial inequality in higher education across the globe, numerous research efforts have shone a spotlight on the obvious disparity between grades received by people of color versus white students. Now, in an effort to catalogue this inequality, Frontiers has launched a new Research Topic called ‘Dismantling racial inequalities in higher education’ led by topic editors Prof Marcia Wilson and Dr Jenny Douglas of The Open University, based in the UK. It is based on a series of group seminars held by the university for black and minority ethnic (BME) researchers. In relation to racial inequalities in higher education, a plethora of reports have identified the BME awarding gap and the experience of BME students in higher education; the lack of BME academics, particularly BME professors in higher education. […]

Featured news

20 May 2021

How dancing honey bees could help us save pollinators

By Suzanna Burgelman/Dr Margaret Couvillon, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Dr Margaret Couvillon. Image: Margaret Couvillon Pollinators are under threat worldwide. Researchers such as Dr Margaret Couvillon study bees to find solutions that will benefit the survival of pollinators. Specifically, Couvillon studies the honey bee waggle dance, to discover where and how bees find food. Her research can help design bee conservation and management strategies. Bees, insects, birds, butterflies, bats. These species have one crucial thing in common: they are pollinators, and our survival depends on them. Around the world, they contribute to the conservation of biodiversity, and importantly, to food security. World Bee Day raises awareness about pollinators and the many threats they face. As an open access publisher, Frontiers has several research topics focused on pollinator research. Check out this post on our news site for a curated list. The theme for World Bee Day 2021 is ‘Bee engaged’ – build back better for bees. Today (20 May) is all about highlighting the need for worldwide cooperation to restore and support pollinators and the crucial role they play in biodiversity conservation. Dr Margaret Couvillon, assistant professor of pollinator biology and ecology at Virginia Tech, specializes in honey […]

Featured news

20 May 2021

‘Data is life!’: Meet a researcher shining a spotlight on racial inequality in academia

Image: Hyejin Kang/Shutterstock.com To mark the launch of the new research topic entitled Dismantling racial inequalities in higher education, Prof Marcia Wilson of The Open University discusses how she fell in love with data and its ability to show racial injustice in higher education. Recent research has shown that, despite claims to the contrary, academia is not a meritocracy for black and minority ethnic (BME) students. Despite various efforts to tackle racial inequality in higher education across the globe, academics have shone a bright spotlight on the obvious disparity between grades received by people of color and white students. Now, in an effort to catalogue this inequality, Frontiers has launched a new Research Topic called ‘Dismantling racial inequalities in higher education’ led by topic editors Prof Marcia Wilson and Dr Jenny Douglas of The Open University in the UK. It is based on a series of group seminars held by the university for black and minority ethnic (BME) researchers at the university over the course of May. In relation to racial inequalities in higher education, a plethora of reports have identified the BME awarding gap and the experience of BME students in higher education; the lack of BME academics, particularly […]

Featured news

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 […]

Featured news

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 […]

Earth science

22 Feb 2021

Jingmai O’Connor: ‘I think people imagine we spend far more time digging up fossils than we actually do’

By Colm Gorey, Frontiers science writer/Jingmai O’Connor Jingmai O’Connor, associate curator of fossil reptiles at Chicago’s Field Museum. Image: Jesse Goldberg Jingmai O’Connor, associate curator of fossil reptiles at Chicago’s Field Museum, discusses a recent ‘bizarre’ ancient digestive discovery and the issue of diversity in paleontology. In a recently published study to Frontiers in Earth Science, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Field Museum in the US published findings on the discovery of quartz crystals in the stomach of a fossilized bird that lived alongside the dinosaurs. According to Jingmai O’Connor, the associate curator of fossil reptiles at Chicago’s Field Museum who contributed to the paper, it appeared to be “some kind of bizarre form of soft tissue preservation that we’ve never seen before”. She added: “Figuring out what’s in this bird’s stomach can help us understand what it ate and what role it played in its ecosystem.” O’Connor is an American paleontologist whose research focuses on the dinosaur-bird transition and the Mesozoic evolution of birds and other flying dinosaurs. Her research includes studies of exceptional soft tissues, such as lung and ovary traces preserved in specimens from Jehel Biota between 130 million and 130 million years ago. […]