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Global agencies need to see coronavirus not just as a health crisis, but as a development and economic one, too, says Professor Colin McInnes of Aberystwyth University in Wales, UK. Image credit - Unsplash/ Thomas de LUZE
interview | coronavirus outbreak | health | frontier research
04 June 2020

Q&A: Coronavirus has shown the need for a global health system – but revealed its weaknesses too

We are seeing a failure of global health governance in response to Covid-19 because there are too many agencies with different interests, according Professor Colin McInnes, pro-vice chancellor at Aberystwyth University in Wales, UK, who says global institutions such as the World Health Organization and World Bank should stand together in crises.

Using the fossil record to estimate the levels of biodiversity is still a challenge given that we have more fossils from the recent past and as we go back deeper in time, none have been found for entire continents. Image credit - James St. John/Flickr, licenced under CC BY 2.0
environment | frontier research
20 May 2020

The evolution of biodiversity: ever-increasing or did it hit a ceiling?

Preserving biodiversity is one of the key debates of our time – but another subject of hot debate in recent decades among evolutionary experts is how biodiversity has changed over the past few hundred million years. New findings are challenging the conventional view on this.

If researchers could find the most effective antibody against coronavirus, it could act as both a cure and temporary vaccine. Image credit - NIH Image Gallery, Public Domain Mark 1.0
coronavirus outbreak | health | frontier research
14 May 2020

‘The aim is to find the monoclonal’: the hunt for the antibody to treat Covid-19

Transfusing antibodies from Covid-19 survivors into seriously ill patients could provide a quick treatment win, but a more selective approach may both treat and prevent the disease. A single, highly-effective antibody that is mass-produced like a drug could combine the benefits of antivirals and a vaccine for at-risk individuals such as health workers.

Professor Cecilia Mascolo at the University of Cambridge, UK, hopes her coronavirus sounds app could provide the data needed to build a quick and cheap Covid-19 screening test in the future. Image credit - Salvatore Scellato
interview | health | coronavirus outbreak | ict | frontier research
30 April 2020

Q&A: The sound of your voice could help fight Covid-19

A recording of a cough, the noise of a person’s breathing or even the sound of their voice could be used to help diagnose patients with Covid-19 in the future, according to Professor Cecilia Mascolo, an expert in mobile health at data analysis at the University of Cambridge, UK.

It's not just crops that rely on bumblebees; wild plants do too. Image credit - Anthony King
environment | frontier research
27 April 2020

Grassland studies, radar-tracked bumblebees offer clues for protecting pollinators

Scientists used a radar to track a bumblebee from its maiden flight until death for the first time as part of wider research racing to understand the impact and needs of declining bee populations, including on Europe’s fragmented biodiversity hotspots – grasslands.

Ground stones were a 'major evolutionary success' as they allowed people to unlock the energy in plants by making flour. Image credit - José-Manuel Benito Álvarez/Wikimedia commons, licenced under CC BY-SA 2.5
frontier research
27 March 2020

How Stone Age humans unlocked the glucose in plants

Early cave paintings of hunting scenes may give the impression our Stone Age ancestors lived mainly on chunks of meat, but plants – and the ability to unlock the glucose inside – were just as key to their survival. 

'Transport layer security' means your internet activities are secure on three fronts - authentication, encryption and integrity. Image credit - Pxhere, licenced under CCO
ict | frontier research
24 March 2020

The story behind that little padlock in your browser

Whenever you see a little padlock in the address bar of your internet browser, as well as when you use apps, email and messaging, you’re relying on something called ‘transport layer security’ or TLS. It’s a protocol that keeps us safe online.

Online tools such as NextStrain are helping to track the spread of coronavirus in real time. Image credit - nextstrain.org
coronavirus outbreak | health | frontier research
23 March 2020

Covid-19: How unprecedented data sharing has led to faster-than-ever outbreak research

Advances in gene sequencing have allowed scientists to trace and monitor the COVID-19 pandemic faster than any previous outbreak. However, gaps in our knowledge of how coronaviruses work has made it difficult to understand what makes the new coronavirus special.

When it comes to improving amputees’ quality of life, one of the biggest challenges is making prostheses that feel like a natural part of the user. Image credit - Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Wikimedia Commons
health | frontier research | ict | industry
19 March 2020

The prostheses that could alleviate amputees’ phantom limb pain

New prosthetic technologies that stimulate the nerves could pave the way for prostheses that feel like a natural part of the body and reduce the phantom limb pain commonly endured by amputees.

Researchers are collecting longer term data to investigate how social skills develop - or weaken - over a lifetime. Image credit - Fauxels/Pxhere
science in society | frontier research
03 March 2020

Social skills begin to decline in late 30s and early 40s, study finds

Training programmes to improve people’s social and cognitive skills should target people in their late 30s and early 40s as these abilities start to decline earlier than previously thought, according to researchers who are looking at how social abilities change over time.

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