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Featured news

12 Apr 2023

Most plastic eaten by city vultures comes straight from food outlets

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer Black vultures, Coragyps atratus, in the US. Image credit: Hannah Partridge Researchers have shown that black and turkey vultures in US urban areas get most of the plastic they ingest from nearby food stores and restaurants. They often seem to eat plastic unintentionally, risking their health, but in some cases may do so on purpose to induce vomiting up of other undigested foods. Since the 1950s, humanity has produced an estimated 8.3bn tons of plastic, adding a further 380m tons to this amount each year. Only 9% of this gets recycled. The inevitable result is that plastic is everywhere, from the depths of the oceans to the summit of Everest – and notoriously, inside the tissues of humans and other organisms. The long-term effects of ingested plastic on people aren’t yet known. But in rodents, ingested microplastics can impair the function of the liver, intestines, and exocrine and reproductive organs. Especially at risk of ingesting plastic are scavenging birds. For example, New World vultures regularly forage at landfills, and have been observed to leisurely pick at synthetic materials such as boat seats, rubber seals, or roofs. Read original article Download original article (PDF) Now, […]

Featured news

06 Apr 2023

Obstructive sleep apnea may directly cause early cognitive decline

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer Obstructive sleep apnea is a debilitating disease, which can lead to fragmented and poor sleep and daytime sleepiness Patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) often show cognitive deficits, but these have traditionally been attributed to co-morbidities. But now researchers have shown for the first time that OSA itself is sufficient to cause early cognitive decline in middle-aged non-obese men. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a potentially dangerous condition. During sleep, the throat muscles of people with OSA relax and block the airflow into the lungs, so that they repeatedly stop breathing. Common symptoms of OSA include restless sleep, loud snoring, daytime sleepiness, and prolonged headaches in the morning – highly debilitating for patients and their partners. OSA is currently underdiagnosed: it may occur in as much as 15-30% of men and 10-15% of women, or approximately 1bn adults worldwide, of whom an estimated 80% don’t know they have it. Major risk factors for OSA include middle or old age, being obese, smoking, chronic nasal blockage, high blood pressure, and being male. Now, researchers from the UK, Germany, and Australia have shown for the first time that in middle-aged men, OSA can also cause early […]

Featured news

05 Apr 2023

How a city walk may improve your mood: 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. Walking in the city might be just as good for our mood as walking in nature Time spent in urban environments is associated with depletion of cognitive resources and an increasing prevalence of mental illness. Few studies, however, have measured working memory capacity. Now, writing in Frontiers in Psychology, US researchers have compared memory performance and self-reported mood before and after a 30-minute walk in a natural or urban environment. The scientists assigned participants to either a nature or an urban condition and measured differences in self-reported affect and OPSAN, a complex measure of working memory capacity, before and after going on a walk in the respective environment. Their results showed that regardless of the setting, walkers exhibited an increase in positive affect and a decrease in negative affect, suggesting that going outside for a walk can boost mood regardless of environment type. They found, however, no significant changes in working memory […]

Featured news

04 Apr 2023

New low-cost camera could help scientists forecast volcano eruptions affecting millions

By Deborah Pirchner, Frontiers science writer Image: Shutterstock.com Monitoring emissions from volcanoes – particularly sulfur dioxide (SO2) using specialized cameras – is important for hazard forecasting. Gathering long-term time series datasets is critical because volcanoes can exhibit significant changes in activity over time. Now, researchers have developed a cheap and low-power SO2 camera suited for long-term measuring. The tool could have significant implications for millions of people worldwide who live close to active volcanoes, they say. Gas emissions are the manifestation of activity occurring beneath the surface of a volcano. Measuring them lets researchers see what can’t be seen from the surface. This knowledge is vital for hazard monitoring and the prediction of future eruptions. Since the mid-2000s, ultraviolet SO2 cameras have become important tools to measure emissions. The measurement campaigns, however, must be accompanied by a user, making SO2 cameras unsuitable for acquiring long-term datasets. Building and operating this type of camera can cost upwards of $20,000, resulting in very few cameras being installed permanently. To get better long-term monitoring data, an international team of researchers has developed an SO2 camera to continually measure emission rates from volcanoes. They have now published an article about the camera design and two […]

Featured news

30 Mar 2023

Babies’ gut microbiome not influenced by mothers’ vaginal microbiome composition

By Deborah Pirchner, Frontiers science writer Image: Shutterstock.com Alterations in babies’ gut microbiomes during early life are commonly associated with negative health outcomes later on, including asthma and obesity. Gut microbiome alterations are frequently attributed to how a baby is delivered (birth mode). This gave ground to practices like vaginal seeding, aiming to expose babies born via C-section to their mother’s vaginal microbiome. Canadian researchers have examined this supposed interplay between infant microbiome composition and birth mode and found that mothers’ vaginal microbiome composition does not affect microbiome development of babies. It has been a longstanding assumption that birth mode and associated exposure of newborns to their mothers’ vaginal microbiome during delivery greatly affects the development of babies’ gut microbiome. To test the scientific validity of this assumption, a team of Canadian researchers has now published a study in Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology in which they examined the effect of maternal vaginal microbiome composition on the development of infants’ stool microbiome at 10 days and three months after birth. “We show that the composition of the maternal vaginal microbiome does not substantially influence the infant stool microbiome in early life,” said Dr Deborah Money, a professor of obstetrics […]

Featured news

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 […]

Featured news

29 Mar 2023

The Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies forms open access publishing agreement with Frontiers  

The Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress (Nasjonalt Kunnskapssenter om vold of Traumatisk stress – NKVTS) supports their authors in publishing open access. As part of this support, the Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress will cover Article Processing Charges (APCs) for eligible articles centrally for their eligible authors. As part of the Sikt Open Access Publishing Framework Agreement, NKVTS will benefit from a 10% partnership discount. Eligible authors are corresponding authors affiliated with the Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress. Information for authors: To submit your article under this institutional agreement, please select ‘NKVTS – Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress’ as institutional payer in the invoice section when submitting your article as the corresponding author. Frontiers will then verify your eligibility with NKVTS and if confirmed the discounted invoice will be sent directly to NKVTS for payment.   For information on whether your article is eligible under this agreement, or if you require any further details, please contact Hege Eriksen at h.e.oswald@nkvts.no. For information on Frontiers’ institutional agreements please visit our institutional memberships page or contact institutions@frontiersin.org to discuss the possibilities for your organisation.

Featured news

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 […]

Featured news

24 Mar 2023

Frontiers’ Volunteers: February’s friendly competitions for good 

Frontons wasted no time when it came to jumping back into volunteer activities at the start of the new year, even challenging colleagues to join them in doing good with some friendly competition. This month, we talk to journal launch specialist and Sustainability Network launch team member Hannah Kulmatycki and portfolio manager and production team member Vikki Davies about the challenges to start off 2023.  Photo credit: Frontiers February Fashion Detox  Frontiers’ Sustainability Network is an employee-run, volunteer-based initiative aimed at encouraging sustainable practices at both the individual and corporate level. Led by Frontons from across various departments, the network brings awareness to key issues that everyone faces and advocates for choices in line with Frontiers’ larger mission for enabling healthy lives on a healthy planet. The Sustainability Network organizes regular activities throughout the year, such as a guest speaker series, environmentally conscious events, and a monthly newsletter with helpful resources. The decision to hold a challenge at the beginning of the year took into consideration the factors many people face at this time of year.  Photo credit: Marie Bubloz “We had just hosted our first speaker series event of 2023 on doughnut economics and the circular economy featuring Zohar […]

Featured news

23 Mar 2023

Oslo Metropolitan University forms open access publishing agreement with Frontiers  

Image: Skjalg Bøhmer Vold/OsloMet We are delighted to announce that Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet) supports their authors in publishing open access. As part of this support, eligible authors from Oslo Metropolitan University will benefit from a 10% partnership discount under the terms of the Sikt Open Access Publishing Framework Agreement. Information for authors: To submit your article under this institutional agreement, please select ‘Oslo Metropolitan University’ as institutional payer in the invoice section when submitting your article. Authors affiliated with OsloMet should use their OsloMet email address and be the corresponding author for their manuscript. Frontiers will then verify your eligibility with OsloMet and if confirmed, the discounted invoice will be sent to you via Oslo Metropolitan University library. If you are a faculty member seeking additional funding, you must apply at https://ansatt.oslomet.no/publiseringsfond and meet all criteria stated therein.  For information on whether your article is eligible under this agreement, or if you require any further details, please contact ub.forskningsstøtte@oslomet.no. For information on Frontiers’ institutional agreements please visit our institutional memberships page or contact institutions@frontiersin.org to discuss the possibilities for your organisation.

Featured news

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 […]

Featured news

20 Mar 2023

Kristiania University College forms open access publishing agreement with Frontiers  

   Kristiania University College supports their authors in publishing open access. As part of this support, Kristiania University College has joined the Sikt Open Access Publishing Framework Agreement, allowing their eligible authors to benefit from a 10% discount for all eligible articles. Eligible authors are corresponding authors affiliated with Kristiania University College. Information for authors: To submit your article under this institutional agreement, please select ‘Kristiania University College’ as institutional payer in the invoice section when submitting your article. The publishing agreement between Kristiania University College and Frontiers gives the author a 10% discount on the publication fee (APC / Article Processing Charges). By accepting this agreement, you confirm the following three points: You are the corresponding author of the publication. You are affiliated with Kristiania University College You have secured funding for the remaining amount of the publication fee through your department or other sources of funding. For information on whether your article is eligible under this agreement, or if you require any further details, please contact biblioteket@kristiania.no or visit https://www.kristiania.no/om-kristiania/biblioteket/for-fagstab/open-access-avtaler/ For information on Frontiers’ institutional agreements please visit our institutional memberships page or contact institutions@frontiersin.org to discuss the possibilities for your organisation.

Featured news

20 Mar 2023

Climate crisis calls world’s top scientists to Montreux

~  Experts gather in Montreux to chart a course toward sustainable future ~  World-renowned scientists and thought leaders will gather next month at the Frontiers Forum Live in Montreux, Switzerland, to address critical issues including the climate crisis, improving global health and well-being, and preserving biodiversity. In the first in-person Frontiers Forum event since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, Frontiers has announced an exceptional line up of speakers, renowned researchers, and influencers.  Photo credit: Frontiers The Frontiers Forum will take place at the Fairmount Palace in Montreux, Switzerland, from April 27 to April 29. It is expected to attract around 500 distinguished experts in person and around an additional 10,000 guests virtually. The sessions will offer unique insights and opportunities for collaboration among some of the world’s brightest minds, which will then be made available to members of the public via YouTube, providing an invaluable opportunity to learn and engage with cutting-edge research and ideas.  “We are bringing the Frontiers community together once again, in person and virtually, to discuss and explore new approaches to the world’s most pressing challenges,” said Dr Kamila Markram, CEO and co-founder of Frontiers. “By connecting global communities across science, policy, and […]

Featured news

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 […]

Featured news

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 […]