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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.

Prof. Baldwin says there are still many gaps in our knowledge of how to treat anxiety disorders, especially when therapy and anti-depressants do not work. Image credit - David Baldwin
interview | health
09 June 2020

Q&A: When and how does anxiety become a problem?

Short-term anxiety is a normal response to stress, but more needs to be done to understand and treat longer-term anxiety disorders, which affect the lives of millions of people across Europe and impose a significant economic burden on society, according to Professor David Baldwin, head of the mental health group at the University of Southampton, UK.

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.

Stockholm-based researchers with the CoroNAb project are investigating the coronavirus antibodies produced by alpacas including Tyson, the small one pictured here, for potential use in human therapies. Image credit - Preclinics, Potsdam
coronavirus outbreak | health
26 May 2020

Alpacas and antibodies: How scientists hope to stop coronavirus in its tracks

Efforts to design a safe vaccine for Covid-19 are moving forward at full throttle, yet experts agree that it’s likely to be a year, at least, before an immunisation is ready. Meanwhile, scientists around Europe are exploring ingenious ways – including with the help of alpacas – to use the latest techniques in molecular manipulation to repair coronavirus-induced lung damage or to block the virus before it wreaks havoc.

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.

How you respond to a sensation such as tickling depends on whether it is created by you or someone else. Image credit - Pxhere/ licenced under CC BY 2.0
health
11 May 2020

The science of tickling: why the brain won’t let us tickle ourselves

Ever tried tickling yourself? Next time you have a private moment, give it a go – you’ll find it next to impossible. With a few well-placed wiggles of the fingers, most of us could send children, friends and even some animals like rats into fits of giggles. The reason we can’t do the same to ourselves has long been a puzzle, but one that we may now be closer than ever to solving. Understanding it requires a deep dive into the workings of the brain; for such a playful activity, the science of tickling is surprisingly sophisticated.

Scientists are reducing the size and costs of microscopes, which could make this equipment more widely accessible and facilitate faster diagnosis of diseases such as cancer. Image credit - Ed Uthman/Flickr, licenced under CC0 1.0
health | ict | industry
07 May 2020

‘Microscope on a chip’ could bring medical expertise to distant patients

Scientists are reducing the size and costs of medical microscopes to make it possible to use them more widely, and hook them up to experts able to diagnose an illness even from far away.

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.

Coronavirus lockdowns have caused air pollution to drop. Science is probing whether air pollution worsens the effects of coronavirus, with recent studies including in Italy suggesting there’s a link between polluted areas and higher fatality risk. Image credit - European Space Agency/ licenced under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
interview | health | coronavirus outbreak
22 April 2020

Q&A: China and Europe likely to see different effect of coronavirus-related air pollution drop

In March, a study revealed that between 50,000 and 100,000 deaths could be avoided this year in China if air pollution stayed at the same level as during the coronavirus lockdown. While other parts of the world have also seen improvements in air quality, the impact in Europe is likely to be less dramatic than for China, according to Dr Kristin Aunan from the Centre for International Climate Research (CICERO) in Norway, who conducted the study.

Researchers have found two different virus populations in the throat and lungs of coronavirus patients, a whole new type of virus behaviour. Image credit - pixnio.com/Darko Stojanovic, licenced under CC0
health | coronavirus outbreak
20 April 2020

‘I don’t see any other way out’: Diagnostic testing and smartphone contact tracing to beat pandemic

What makes the Covid-19 pandemic so difficult to contain? Silent transmission by asymptomatic patients is partly responsible, but research emerging from Germany suggests the SARS-CoV-2 virus has developed a second impressive strategy for ensuring its success: the ability to establish two separate communities within a host – the first in the throat, the second in the lungs. Early colonisation of the throat is responsible for the dangerous lag between a person being infectious and the onset of symptoms.

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