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People are very bad at assessing their own sense of smell and often don't realise how important it is until it's gone, say scientists. Image credit - Pixabay/Engin Akyurt, licenced under Pixabay licence
coronavirus outbreak | health | frontier research
18 June 2020

Why does coronavirus make people lose their sense of smell?

To begin with, it was just anecdotal reports. Ear, nose and throat specialists from around the world were sharing their experiences on online message boards – they were all seeing a spike in patients experiencing anosmia, a loss of smell.

The immune system is changing all the time and Dr Aleksandra Walczak wants to distinguish between genuine responses and random fluctuations. Image credit - B. Eymann - Académie des sciences
interview | coronavirus outbreak | health | frontier research
16 June 2020

Q&A: How physics could explain why people respond differently to coronavirus infection

Some people’s immune systems contain pre-existing protection against coronavirus, indicating that they have encountered a similar infection to Covid-19 before, according to Dr Aleksandra Walczak, a physicist at École Normale Supérieure in Paris, France.

Researchers are using virtual reality to test participants’ reactions to threats such as dogs or falling rocks to understand more about the brain mechanisms linked to anxiety. Image credit - needpix.com, public domain
health | frontier research
15 June 2020

By recreating phobias and panic attacks, neuroscientists aim to improve anxiety therapies

Tracking the brain’s reaction to virtual-reality-simulated threats such as falling rocks and an under-researched fear reduction strategy may provide better ways of treating anxiety disorders and preventing relapses.

Covid-19 has shown us that countries that we thought were well prepared for something like coronavirus, were not, says Prof. McInnes. Image credit - Aberystwyth University
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.

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