1,130 news posts in Featured news

Featured news

22 Jun 2023

Space travel alters gene expression in white blood cells, weakening our immune system

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer Scientists have shown that the expression of (mostly protein-coding) genes in white blood cells changes rapidly when astronauts reach the International Space Station. This may explain why astronauts appear more susceptible to infectious diseases while in space. Most genes returned to their typical pre-flight level of expression within a few weeks to one year after landing, suggesting that Earth-level gravity is required for the immune system of astronauts to function optimally Evidence is mounting that astronauts are more susceptible to infections while in space. For example, astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) commonly suffer from skin rashes, as well as respiratory and non-respiratory diseases. Astronauts are also known to shed more live virus particles, for example Epstein-Barr virus, varicella-zoster responsible for shingles, herpes-simplex-1 responsible for sores, and cytomegalovirus. These observations suggest that our immune system might be weakened by space travel. But what could cause such an immune deficit? “Here we show that the expression of many genes related to immune functions rapidly decreases when astronauts reach space, while the opposite happens when they return to Earth after six months aboard the ISS,” said Dr Odette Laneuville, an associate professor at the […]

Featured news

20 Jun 2023

Machine learning helps researchers identify hit songs with 97% accuracy

By Deborah Pirchner, Frontiers science writer Image: Shutterstock.com Predicting hit songs is notoriously difficult. Researchers have now applied machine learning (ML) to high-frequency neurophysiologic data to improve hit song prediction accuracy. They showed that if ML was applied to neural data collected while people listened to new music, hit songs could be predicted with close-to-perfect accuracy. This can open doors to providing consumers with the entertainment they are looking for, rather than flooding them with options. Every day, tens of thousands of songs are released. This constant stream of options makes it difficult for streaming services and radio stations to choose which songs to add to playlists. To find the ones that will resonate with a large audience, these services have used human listeners and artificial intelligence. This approach, however, lingering at a 50% accuracy rate, does not reliably predict if songs will become hits. Now, researchers in the US have used a comprehensive machine learning technique applied to brain responses and were able to predict hit songs with 97% accuracy. “By applying machine learning to neurophysiologic data, we could almost perfectly identify hit songs,” said Paul Zak, a professor at Claremont Graduate University and senior author of the study […]

Featured news

15 Jun 2023

How antelopes under threat from the climate crisis have responded to rising temperatures

by Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers science writer Image: Benjamin Hollis/Flickr, CC BY 2.0 The rising temperatures of the climate crisis threaten wildlife around the world. Scientists studying three common species of antelope in Namibia found that they generally reduced or changed the timing of activity to cope with heat stress, but the smaller and more active antelopes were most affected. In the future, heat stress could drive significant changes to the animal composition of this habitat. The climate crisis is turning the temperature up all over the world, but in southern Africa, the rise has been particularly concerning. Wild animals dependent on delicate ecosystems which are already dry, so that food and water scarcity limits their ability to cope with increased heat, are at serious risk. Scientists studied the behavior of three different species of antelope with overlapping ranges in Namibia to try to understand how animals of different sizes and behaviors adapt to the heat. “Even the indigenous wildlife, adapted to hot and arid conditions, shows sensitivity to extreme heat,” said Paul Berry of the University of Potsdam, lead author of the study in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. “We need to consider the possibility that additional anthropogenic influences […]

Featured news

14 Jun 2023

Slightly lost bumblebees use scent to find their way home

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer Researchers have shown that returning foragers of buﬀ-tailed bumblebees use their own passively laid out scent marks, as well as visual information from landmarks, to find their way back to the nest entrance. These results highlight the importance of both vision and odor for guiding the navigation of bumblebees Put yourself in the exoskeleton of a bumblebee for a moment: your world would be a riot of colors and scents, both essential to guide your search for pollen and nectar. Bumblebees have excellent vision: they have a pair of compound eyes that can distinguish UV and most colors except red, plus three additional simple eyes specialized in detecting polarized light. Their sense of smell dwarfs ours: approximately 100 times more sensitive, and capable of sniffing out illegal drugs or explosives at airports, confirming pregnancy in women, or detecting cancers and diabetes in early-stage patients. Now, researchers have shown that bumblebees can also use their sense of smell to locate their nest. This is especially important when the landscape suddenly changes, for example when familiar visual landmarks are blown away by wind. The results are published in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. “Here we show that […]

Featured news

09 Jun 2023

New high-tech helmets may protect American football players from debilitating concussions

by Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers science writer Image/Shutterstock.com Evidence is mounting that head impacts in American football can lead to devastating neurological illness. Scientists searching for ways to protect players have developed a helmet containing liquid shock absorbers that cuts the impact of blows to the head by a third compared to existing models. Millions of people in the US are concussed every year playing sports. Players of games like American football are at particularly high risk for injuries that can have devastating long-term consequences. Stanford University scientists working with the company Savior Brain have now designed one potential way of protecting players: a helmet containing liquid shock absorbers that could reduce the impact of blows to the head by a third. “Most of the members of our team have a personal connection to traumatic brain injury and we care deeply about ensuring long-term athlete brain health,” said Nicholas Cecchi, a PhD candidate at Stanford University and lead author of the study in Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. “Concussion and repeated head impacts are still a major problem in contact sports, and we believe that improved helmet technology can play an important role in reducing the risk of brain injury.” […]

Featured news

08 Jun 2023

Science for all with compatible AI

Watch Mirjam Eckert, chief publishing officer at Frontiers, introduce the publisher and demystify its machine learning tool. With thanks to the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute. Photo credit: Frontiers Human compatible Artificial Intelligence (AI) could empower us all. But public trust in good science will be key. At Frontiers, we apply AI to help build that trust. Our Artificial Intelligence Review Assistant (AIRA) verifies that scientific knowledge is accurately and honestly presented even before our people decide whether to review, endorse, or publish the research paper that contains it. AIRA reads every research manuscript we receive and makes up to 20 checks a second. These checks cover, among other things, language quality, the integrity of figures and images, plagiarism, and conflicts of interest. The results give editors and reviewers another perspective as they decide whether to put a research paper through our rigorous and transparent peer review. We face global, existential threats, from health emergencies to climate change. We can manage and reverse these threats, for healthy lives on a healthy planet – with political will, global collaboration, and scientific breakthrough at a scale not yet seen. On all those counts, success will depend on the widespread sharing of the latest […]

Featured news

08 Jun 2023

Why diversity and inclusion needs to be at the forefront of future AI

by Inês Hipólito/Deborah Pirchner, Frontiers science writer Image: shutterstock.com Inês Hipólito is a highly accomplished researcher, recognized for her work in esteemed journals and contributions as a co-editor. She has received research awards including the prestigious Talent Grant from the University of Amsterdam in 2021. After her PhD, she held positions at the Berlin School of Mind and Brain and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Currently, she is a permanent lecturer of the philosophy of AI at Macquarie University, focusing on cognitive development and the interplay between augmented cognition (AI) and the sociocultural environment. Inês co-leads a consortium project on ‘Exploring and Designing Urban Density. Neurourbanism as a Novel Approach in Global Health,’ funded by the Berlin University Alliance. She also serves as an ethicist of AI at Verses. Beyond her research, she co-founded and serves as vice-president of the International Society for the Philosophy of the Sciences of the Mind. Inês is the host of the thought-provoking podcast ‘The PhilospHER’s Way’ and has actively contributed to the Women in Philosophy Committee and the Committee in Diversity and Inclusivity at the Australasian Association of Philosophy from 2017 to 2020. As part of our Frontier Scientist series, Hipólito caught up with Frontiers to tell us […]

Featured news

07 Jun 2023

Science shows why our taste in music can’t be siloed into catch-all genres

By Deborah Pirchner, Frontiers science writer Image: Shutterstock.com Music genres have long been used to describe people’s musical taste. Now, a team of scientists has examined music tastes of a broad German sample and found that it is not sufficient to know what genres people like to describe their musical taste. The researchers also found certain musical tastes may be connected to specific socio-demographic and personality variables of people who like the same genres. Liking certain things or styles is an important aspect of people’s identities and social lives. Tastes can influence the ways humans act and judge. How to best describe musical taste reliably is – due to the ever-changing diversification and transformation of music – difficult and open to debate. Using an approach which also considered sub-genres, researchers in Germany surveyed more than 2,000 people on their musical taste and took a closer look at the fans of five genres: European classical music, electronic dance music (EDM), metal, pop, and rock. “Our analyses revealed that people who like the same genre can have very different tastes if asked which sub-genres they like,” said Anne Siebrasse, a doctoral student at Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics and lead author […]

Featured news

05 Jun 2023

Seeing inside a dying brain: 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 happens to the brain when we die? The mystery of what happens in the brain when we die has fascinated humans for centuries. Despite understanding gained from recent studies, there still are open questions – not lastly because obtaining data about the last moments of life is difficult. Researchers largely have to rely on descriptions of near-death-experience survivors. To fill knowledge gaps, these accounts are immensely valuable. Now, in a review article published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, an international team of researchers has reviewed the current knowledge on what neurophysiological changes occur in the brain during these experiences. They also examined what anatomical correlates to these changes are, and how drugs and metabolic factors are involved. Understanding the underlying neurophysiological changes in the dying human brain could be the only way to decipher the neurophysiology of death, the scientists noted. Descriptions from near-death survivors may be our only […]

Featured news

02 Jun 2023

Underwater forest’s recovery offers hope for marine restoration across the globe

by Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers science writer Image/Enric Ballesteros Scientists show that efforts to restore the building blocks of marine ecosystems are paying off, with macroalgae that provide food and shelter for other species bouncing back over 10 years of growth in an underwater seaweed forest in the Mediterranean Sea. Human activity has degraded ecosystems and damaged biodiversity around the world, but ecosystem restoration offers hope for the future. Scientists studying the restoration of underwater seaweed forests which provide other species with food and shelter have found that 10 years of restoration efforts have helped a damaged forest regrow to richness and strength comparable to forests that have never been disturbed. “Macroalgal forests are found along over one-third of the world’s coastlines and underpin entire ecosystems,” said Dr Emma Cebrian of the Centre d’Estudis Avançats de Blanes, corresponding author of the study in Frontiers in Marine Science. “In 2011, a restoration action took place in the Bay of Maó, Menorca, where a macroalga species was reintroduced in the area where it used to thrive. After 10 years, we found that the associated algal species returned to the habitat, and with them, the ecosystem functions they provide.” Under the sea Cebrian […]

Featured news

01 Jun 2023

Frontiers responds to the European Council’s conclusions on open science publishing

On 23 May 2023, the European Council adopted conclusions that called for transparent, equitable, and open access to scholarly publications. It argued for immediate and unrestricted access to published science that benefits from public funding. The Council has reached an ethically sound conclusion – that paywalls around publicly funded scientific research should be taken down. We fully agree. The question is not whether open access scientific publishing – but how. How can we expand those publishing models making rigorously peer reviewed research articles immediately accessible on publication, free to read and open to all? Our starting point is that we need a range of options. A diversity of open access publishing models drives innovation and will better serve the diversity of our scientific communities. And the principles of open science have successfully been applied in a wide range of publishing contexts, with excellent return on investment and the careful stewardship of public funds. That evolution must be encouraged. Commercial and non-profit models, including those backed by societies or research institutions, have demonstrated that open access publishing is effective at scale and can be applied universally. Competition, with price transparency, will help drive down cost, spur the amount of rigorous science […]

Featured news

31 May 2023

New health indicator can revolutionize how we measure and achieve well-being

by Liad Hollender, Frontiers science writer Image: Shutterstock Researchers reveal how a new assessment of health called ‘human functioning’ could bridge health and well-being, with far reaching benefits to individuals and society as a whole. Publishing in Frontiers in Science, the authors chart a plan for implementing human functioning into health systems, by recognizing it as a major health indicator alongside mortality and morbidity and establishing a new scientific field called human functioning sciences. The term ‘well-being’ entered popular vocabulary during the Covid-19 pandemic soon after ‘lockdown’ and ‘quarantine’. We quickly discovered that without the ability to take walks, socialize, and work, our well-being suffered. Health was suddenly more than just the state of our bodies – it also depended on our ability to engage in activities that matter to us. Though this was a revelation to many, the World Health Organization (WHO) had already begun this rethinking of health. It created a new concept and assessment framework to capture the multi-dimensional nature of our everyday health experience, called ‘human functioning. “Despite its great promise, this new tool has not been implemented widely in healthcare and policy. Our team’s goal is to make it happen,” said Prof Gerold Stucki, a […]

Featured news

30 May 2023

Humans evolved to walk with an extra spring in our step

by Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers science writer Image/Shutterstock.com Scientists have discovered that the recoil created by the flexible arch of human feet helps position our legs in the optimal posture for moving forward in bipedal walking. Understanding how our joints help modern humans walk upright could help us track the evolution of bipedalism and improve care for patients with foot problems. A new study has shown that humans may have evolved a spring-like arch to help us walk on two feet. Researchers studying the evolution of bipedal walking have long assumed that the raised arch of the foot helps us walk by acting as a lever which propels the body forward. But a global team of scientists have now found that the recoil of the flexible arch repositions the ankle upright for more effective walking. The effects in running are greater, which suggests that the ability to run efficiently could have been a selective pressure for a flexible arch that made walking more efficient too. This discovery could even help doctors improve treatments for present-day patients’ foot problems. “We thought originally that the spring-like arch helped to lift the body into the next step,” said Dr Lauren Welte, first author […]

Featured news

26 May 2023

Termite mounds reveal secret to creating ‘living and breathing’ buildings that use less energy

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer Macrotermes termite mound in Namibia. Image credit: D. Andréen Scientists studied the ‘egress complex’ of Macrotermes michaelseni termites from Namibia, which appears to promote moisture regulation and gas exchange. They showed that the layout of this lattice-like network of tunnels can intercept wind around the termite mound to create turbulence inside, which can power ventilation and control the interior climate. These properties can be copied to create a comfortable climate in human buildings with little energy. Among the approximately 2,000 known species of termites, some are ecosystem engineers. The mounds built by some genera, for example Amitermes, Macrotermes, Nasutitermes, and Odontotermes, reach up to eight meters high, making them some of the world’s largest biological structures. Natural selection has been at work improving the ‘design’ of their mounds over tens of millions of years. What might human architects and engineers learn if they go to the termites and consider their ways? In a new study in Frontiers in Materials, researchers showed how termite mounds can teach us to create comfortable interior climates for our buildings that don’t have the carbon footprint of air conditioning. “Here we show that the ‘egress complex’, an intricate network […]

Featured news

22 May 2023

Can charismatic robots help teams be more creative?

by Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers science writer Image/Shutterstock.com Scientists found that students given a task by a social robot with a voice programmed to be engaging and inspiring performed better and were more creative than students who received the task from an identical robot with a flat voice. Increasingly, social robots are being used for support in educational contexts. But does the sound of a social robot affect how well they perform, especially when dealing with teams of humans? Teamwork is a key factor in human creativity, boosting collaboration and new ideas. Danish scientists set out to understand whether robots using a voice designed to sound charismatic would be more successful as team creativity facilitators. “We had a robot instruct teams of students in a creativity task. The robot either used a confident, passionate — ie charismatic — tone of voice or a normal, matter-of-fact tone of voice,” said Dr Kerstin Fischer of the University of Southern Denmark, corresponding author of the study in Frontiers in Communication. “We found that when the robot spoke in a charismatic speaking style, students’ ideas were more original and more elaborate.” Can a robot be charismatic? We know that social robots acting as facilitators […]