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Neurologists, architects, artists, and epidemiologists are collaborating to design cities that could be used to improve well-being among older people. Image credit - Senior Guidance, licensed under CCby2.0
health | ict | industry
06 August 2019

Emotional response to city design could guide urban planning

Virtual reality and scenario-testing models are being built to help urban planners and architects get real-time feedback about the impact of their designs on mental health, particularly for older people.  

Analysing chicken genetics could help identify which strains are more responsive to a particular microbe. Image credit - Pexels, licensed under the pexels licence
health | agriculture
05 August 2019

Coming to a farm near you: The humble microbe boosting Europe’s food industry

Farmers who want to produce bigger chickens, fewer greenhouse gas-filled cow burps or healthier animals are increasingly able to turn to one tiny source: microbes.

When a piece of music is played at the wrong tempo it is difficult to recognise because our brain uses rhythm to help make sense of sounds. Image credit - flickr/ Brian Richardson, licensed under CC BY 2.0
frontier research | health
29 July 2019

Link between music and speech rhythm in brain could provide language insight

Neuroscientist Dr Domenica Bueti often plays an altered version of the classic aria La donna è mobile when she gives talks about the importance of time perception. Her friend’s piano rendition of Giuseppe Verdi’s composition uses the same notes but is played at different speeds. Rarely does anyone ever identify the tune.

Exercise can stimulate the production of beige fat and make the body more efficient at burning energy. Image credit - Pxhere, licensed under CC0
health | frontier research
23 July 2019

‘Browning’ white fat cells opens new avenue to obesity prevention

Scientists are getting closer to understanding how to turn the body’s energy-storing white fat cells into energy-burning beige fat cells, opening up hopes that fat deposits could one day be deliberately manipulated to prevent obesity and related health conditions.

One-third of asylum seekers and refugees show clinically relevant psychological distress, according to scientists. Image credit - Mstyslav Chernov/Unframe/ Wikipedia licensed under CC BY SA 4.0
health
15 July 2019

Healing refugees’ mental scars could help them build new lives

They are fleeing war, famine and persecution, risking treacherous journeys across deserts and seas in search of safety. But helping refugees and asylum seekers to cope with the psychological scars caused by their experiences could help them adjust to life in their new homes.

In 2017, 34,000 transplants were carried out in the EU, while 60,000 people were on a waiting list for a transplant by the end of the year. Image credit - Flickr/Lars Plougmann, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
health
09 July 2019

Transplant recipients may soon have a test to protect against organ rejection

To help prevent organ rejection, transplant recipients could receive drug cocktails personalised to their own immune systems if a new test, which has passed early trials, is successful. And new methods for scrubbing animal tissue could enable humans to benefit from other species’ organs in the future.

This video shows the body's immune system attacking a bacterial membrane. It punches one hole in the surface before pausing and then punching more. Video source - nature communications ( DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10058-7)
frontier research | health
02 July 2019

In a picture: Filming the immune system in action – Prof. Georg Fantner

By assembling a camera that can record video at nanometre resolution, scientists have filmed how the immune system kills bacteria by poking holes into it. Professor Georg Fantner tells us about how this was achieved and why his next challenge is to build a video camera that can film the inside of a living cell.

Quantum sensors could transform a range of areas from atomic clocks and the way we measure electromagnetic radiation. Image credit - Heiko Grandel for the institute of quantum optics from Ulm. Image credit - Universität Ulm / Heiko Grandel
health | ict
24 June 2019

Quantum technology could revolutionise the detection and treatment of diseases

When you hear the word ‘quantum’, you may imagine physicists working on a new ground breaking theory. Or perhaps you’ve read about quantum computers and how they might change the world. But one lesser-known field is also starting to reap the benefits of the quantum realm – medicine.

The way emotions affect eating behaviours as well as dieting style can help predict when an eating disorder in an individual may occur. Image credit - Pixabay/MikesPhotos
health | frontier research
29 May 2019

To treat an eating disorder, we need to know what emotion fuels it

Pinpointing how different emotional states and neural pathways influence our eating behaviours could pave the way for better ways to tackle eating disorders and obesity.

Harmless doses of chemicals can form mixtures inside our bodies and the health risks of this are not yet fully understood. Image credit - Flickr/CGP Grey, licensed under CC BY 2.0
environment | health
15 May 2019

Chemical mixtures pose ‘underestimated’ risk to human health say scientists

Each of us harbours hundreds of man-made chemicals inside our bodies because we are exposed to them in our daily lives. While individual chemicals may not be of immediate concern to public health, scientists now worry that certain mixtures of them may pose previously underestimated risks to health.

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