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7 news posts in Frontiers in Aging

Featured news

01 Oct 2024

‘Cheeky’ discovery allows scientists to estimate your risk of dying using cells found in the mouth

Over the past decade, several epigenetic clocks have been developed to track physiological aging. Until recently, all had been based on the DNA methylome of blood cells – onerous and stressful to collect. But now, scientists from the US have shown for the first time that their new epigenetic clock CheekAge, which uses easy-to-collect cheek cells, can accurately predict mortality. This suggests that cheek swabs could be an improved way to measure and predict healthy vs unhealthy aging and mortality in humans.

Featured news

08 Aug 2023

Holidaymakers be warned: Short, intense sun-seeking trips can disrupt skin’s microbiome

By Deborah Pirchner, Frontiers science writer Image: Shutterstock.com Heightened exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is the leading cause of preventable skin cancer and other skin problems. To prevent sun-induced damage, protecting the skin is crucial. If no protection measures are taken, new research by The University of Manchester scientists in collaboration with the No7 Beauty Company, has shown that the skin microbiota composition can change in as little as seven days. Although the bacterial communities living on the skin bounced back to their original structure within a few weeks, researchers pointed out that damaging effects on skin health cannot be ruled out. Skin, the largest organ of the human body, is home to a vast array of bacteria, fungi, and viruses – microorganisms that compose the skin microbiota. Among other things, these microbial populations, which are organized in complex community structures, protect against pathogens. Prolonged exposure to UVR is associated with damage to DNA in skin cells, inflammation, and premature skin aging, yet intentional sun-seeking behaviors remain common. Due to a lack of studies focusing on how individual behavior influences UVR-associated microbiota shifts, and how this may relate to skin health, researchers in the UK have now examined the effects […]

Engineering

17 Jan 2023

From pylons to pandas: 5 Frontiers articles you won’t want to miss

by Angharad Brewer Gillham, 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, many often fly under the radar. Here are just five amazing papers you may have missed. Building better-looking pylons Pylons help support essential amenities – but they can be an eyesore. Italian scientists led by Dr Luca Di Angelo at University of L’Aquila investigated the best way to build a pylon with less visual impact on the landscape. As visual impact is subjective, reducing it requires consultation with residents who will see the pylons every day. But designs invented by residents without technical knowledge may not be able to meet safety standards. Di Angelo and colleagues used the development of new electrical pylons in the coastal regions of Italy to test a novel method of integrating visual impact minimization with the design process. They identified shapes which were related to the geography and culture of the area and streamlined enough for pylon design, and surveyed Italians from different coastal regions to determine which shapes were considered most recognizable and representative. A sail was chosen, and models were developed […]

Featured news

06 Dec 2022

10 Frontiers articles that caught the world’s attention in 2022

By Frontiers’ science writers Image: Shutterstock.com As part of Frontiers’ passion to make science available to all, we highlight just a small selection of the most fascinating research published with us each month to help inspire current and future researchers to achieve their research dreams. 2022 was no different, and saw many game-changing discoveries contribute to the world’s breadth of knowledge on topics ranging from the climate crisis to robotics, and exercise to the lives of our ancestors. So to round of the year, here are 10 Frontiers articles from this year that got the world’s top media talking. 1. This illusion, new to science, is strong enough to trick our reflexes Have a look at the image below. Do you perceive that the central black hole is expanding, as if you’re moving into a dark environment, or falling into a hole? If so, you’re not alone: a study published to Frontiers in Human Neuroscience showed that this ‘expanding hole’ illusion, which is new to science, is perceived by approximately 86% of people. The researchers don’t yet know why a minority seem unsusceptible to the ‘expanding hole’ illusion. Nor do they know whether other vertebrate species, or even nonvertebrate animals […]

Environment

23 Sep 2022

Bees, blue light, and bacteria in beetles’ ‘back pockets’: Most viewed articles of August 2022

Image: Shutterstock.com by Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers science writer Each month, Frontiers shines a spotlight on some of the leading research across a wide range of topics. Here are just some of the highlights that resonated strongly with readers on our news site in the month of August. 1. Modern pesticides make it hard for bees to keep on the straight and narrow Research published in Frontiers in Insect Science showed that common pesticides affected bees’ brains so that they couldn’t orient themselves properly. Bees exposed to sulfoxaflor and imidacloprid were tested on their ability to respond to stimuli that tricked them into thinking they’d been blown off course, a situation which required them to use their optomotor response to reorient themselves. Compared to control bees, they performed very poorly, reacting inappropriately or not at all to the stimuli. The problem seems to be caused by damage to the nervous system, but the exact mechanism is unclear. Since bees need this optomotor response to travel between different sources of pollen, and since these insecticides are widely used, this is a source of significant concern. The authors tested the optomotor response in walking bees rather than flying bees, so further research […]

Featured news

31 Aug 2022

Excessive blue light from our gadgets may accelerate the aging process

By Tania Fitzgeorge-Balfour, science writer Image: Shutterstock.com Excessive exposure to blue light, for example example through TVs, laptops, and phones, may have an aging effect on our body, suggests a new study. It shows that the levels of specific metabolites – chemicals that are essential for cells to work correctly – are altered in the cells of fruit flies exposed to blue light. These metabolites have the same function in humans, so avoiding excessive blue light exposure may be a good anti-aging strategy. Too much screen use has been linked to obesity and psychological problems. Now a new study has identified a new problem – a study in fruit flies suggests our basic cellular functions could be impacted by the blue light emitted by these devices. These results are published in Frontiers in Aging. “Excessive exposure to blue light from everyday devices, such as TVs, laptops and phones, may have detrimental effects on a wide range of cells in our body, from skin and fat cells, to sensory neurons,“ said Dr Jadwiga Giebultowicz, a professor at the Department of Integrative Biology at Oregon State University and senior author of this study. “We are the first to show that the levels […]