Frontier research

DNA or chromosome errors are found in 20% of women in their early 20s, say researchers. Image credit - ZEISS Microscopy, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

15 October 2019

New findings about how a human egg matures may help prevent infertility and birth defects

Decoding how the human egg matures and how this process can go wrong could lead to ways of preventing genetic errors leading to infertility, birth defects or pregnancy loss.

Non-antibiotic drugs may also have a role to play in promoting antibiotic resistance, Dr Typas says. Image credit - Dr Nassos Typas

health | interview | frontier research

03 October 2019

Antibiotic resistance: How did we get here?

Finding ways to enlist the bacteria living in our bodies to defend against infections while better understanding their role in promoting antibiotic resistance are key to fighting this growing problem, says Dr Nassos Typas, a microbiologist at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany.

It is believed that the composition of gut bacteria in newborn babies is a strong indicator of future health. Image credit - Pixabay/ blankita_ua, image under Pixabay license

health | frontier research

01 October 2019

Bacteria passed from mother to baby may play a role in later health

The bacteria and viruses a baby inherits from its mother play a crucial role in determining the child’s health in later life, according to research that could lead to new interventions to tackle conditions like obesity, allergies and colic.

Investigating less-studied neural structures is revealing insights which could explain dyslexia. Image credit: Pezibear/Pixabay, licensed under Pixabay licence

health | frontier research

30 September 2019

Better understanding sensory perception could help people with autism and dyslexia

Deciphering how the brain processes sight and hearing could have implications for how we understand and treat conditions such as dyslexia, autism and schizophrenia.

The science that made smartphones possible was done in the 1940s and 1950s. Image credit - Pixabay/ 7721622, licensed under Pixabay license

frontier research | policy

26 September 2019

Basic research to world-changing applications can take 6 months – or 50 years

All technology and innovation have a science base but to get there requires patience, as the journey from curiosity-driven basic research to a world-changing technology can take six months or 50 years, a panel of Nobel and Kavli prize laureates has said.

Robots can already take over some repetitive tasks from human workers, now research focuses on more interaction between the two. Image credit - KUKA Roboter GmbH, Bachmann, the image is in the public domain

ict | policy | frontier research

17 September 2019

Concerns linger over workplace robots, even as they deliver benefits

People harbour lingering fears about the impact of robots on their jobs and welfare, but machines in the workplace have produced benefits that researchers believe are likely to continue. But for that to happen, challenges such as earning workers’ trust and improving safety and human-robot interaction must be overcome.

In-depth fossil analysis could help us understand the true functions of colour. Image credit: Aline Dassel/Pixabay, licensed under Pixabay licence

frontier research

29 August 2019

Fossil colour studies are changing our idea of how dinosaurs looked

What colour were the dinosaurs? If you have a picture in your head, fresh studies suggest you may need to revise it. New fossil research also suggests that pigment-producing structures go beyond how the dinosaurs looked and may have played a fundamental role inside their bodies too.

Memories from a traumatic event seem to encode in a different way to usual ones. Image credit - Tomás Ryan

health | frontier research

26 August 2019

Learning how memory works could be key to treating PTSD

Think back to what you did last weekend. You might be able to picture it clearly, but there should be no doubt in your mind that whatever you are remembering happened in the past. For people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), however, memories of traumatic events often return in the form of vivid flashbacks that make it feel like it’s happening all over again – putting them right back at the scene of a car crash, or the moment they lost a loved one.

Comparing brain scans from different primates could help us understand the origins of language in humans. Image credit - Susanne Jutzeler/Pixabay, licensed under Pixabay licence

frontier research | health

20 August 2019

Hand gestures point towards the origins of language

Communication gestures used by humans and our primate relatives are providing clues about how our species’ ability to use spoken language evolved.

A seed-sharing network would allow European farmers to manage their own seed resources rather than depend on what big agribusiness want to sell. Image credit - Pixabay/ StockSnap, licensed under pixabay license

environment | agriculture | frontier research

08 August 2019

Sharing seeds could help farmers grow better food

Tapping into the genetic diversity contained within the seeds of wild relatives and forgotten crop plants could help farmers decrease their dependency on global agribusiness and grow food better suited to local conditions.