Biology

By mapping the brains of more than 800 people, scientists have found positive links between the way we behave and the way our working memory can carry out its functions.

A study supported by the EU-funded SPACERADARPOLLINATOR project reveals the roles that visual experience, visual learning and foraging activity, have on the neural structure of bumblebees.

Wealth distribution can tell us much about a society but when it comes to prehistoric civilizations, a lack of written record makes that hard to trace. New research draws on house size to trace wealth disparity, with interesting results.

Probably since the dawn of time women have thrown their hands up in despair as their men folk insist that they’ve succumbed to the dreaded ‘man flu’ and take to their beds for days at a time moaning and groaning about their plight. But now a Canadian scientist has argued that man flu is real and offers possible explanations as to why.

Do the flight or fight mechanisms triggered by responses to stress, diminish with age? And if so, is there a difference between biological and chronological ageing? Questions new research is answering.

Findings from the largest study of hominin body sizes, involving 311 specimens dating from 4.4m years ago right through to the modern humans that followed the last ice age, show unexpected patterns of change.

In 2016 a team of international scientists made the headlines as they set out to solve the Himalayan yeti mystery, using DNA samples collected by local observers over the years. Their conclusions have just come out, and they’re a cold, hard truth for Yeti believers: the samples actually belonged to different sorts of bears and… a dog.

Ancient carvings recently discovered in caves in the Saudi desert are the first to show dogs on leads.

New study shows nanostructures on the surface of flower petals cause light particles to scatter, giving the flower what researchers have called a ‘blue halo’.

Humans may have evolved to be afraid of spiders, new research shows.

Humans evolved their big heads to manage their complex social structures, an idea called the social brain hypothesis. Now a new study conducted by British and American researchers suggests that whale and dolphin brains evolved in much the same way.

When cells are threatened, for example by viral infection, special sensors are activated to kick-start the immune system. Now, new genetic techniques are increasing our knowledge about how this response mechanism actually unfolds.

The 2017 Nobel Prize for Chemistry has gone to three scientists for their lasting work in the cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) field. The imaging techniques mark a significant breakthrough in atomic structures and biochemistry.

As Alzheimer’s disease is associated with a wide variety of symptoms, usually observed through patients’ behaviour and actions, effective and timely treatment has proven elusive. An EU-funded project has contributed towards the capture of images which show the changes a brain with Alzheimer’s undergoes, at different ages, with promise for future diagnostics and treatment.

With around 100 million domestic cats estimated to be living in Europe, they are quite possibly the most popular pet. Yet, despite the clear incentive to maximise well-being both for our feline friends and so ourselves, remarkedly little research has gone into their early socialisation – until now.

Not long ago it was orthodoxy that microscopes could not see images smaller than 200 nanometres. The relatively nascent field of nanoscopy has challenged this, with the EU-funded NANOSCOPY project leading the way.

Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK) is a relatively unknown disease affecting less than 0.1 in 10 000 EU citizens. Yet evidence suggests that its incidence is increasing. Whilst the market is too small for pharmaceutical companies, an EU-funded consortium has successfully conducted a Phase I clinical trial on PHMB as a treatment for AK, potentially preventing permanent visual impairment or blindness in patients.

It is known that the range of microbes found on farms protect children from asthma and allergies. Immunologists have now discovered that farm animals themselves also provide protection against inflammation of lung tissue, opening possibilities for new treatments.

If the knowledge that our brains can produce new cells in adulthood is ever going to help in the fight against neurodegenerative disease, we need to understand the underlying mechanisms more effectively. Towards this end, a new study drawing on EU-funded research, sheds further light on the role the protein APP plays in neuroplasticity.

Part-supported through the EU-funded RE-AGEING project, researchers offer population forecasting studies which encourage societies to break from outdated ageing measures and instead start categorising on how we live our lives.

The announcement earlier this month that a US-South Korean team have successfully modified disease causing DNA in embryos, has been widely heralded as a landmark in the long-promised genetic revolution for medicine. However, alongside recognition of the achievement has come the familiar mix of utopian and dystopian voices. But do these voices drown out measured consideration of the advance?

New research led by Columbia University using multiple datasets, including those gathered through three comprehensive EU-funded projects focused on ageing, has highlighted how women''s cognitive functioning improves in countries that emphasise the importance of gender equality.

Shocking new research suggests that Western men’s sperm count has more than halved between 1973 and 2011, an average of 1.4 % per year. Scientists are still uncertain as to the cause of the dramatic drop but have argued that their findings must be taken seriously and that action must be taken to address what could become a major public health crisis.

A study using electrical brain stimulation demonstrates that when it comes to creativity, too much learning can be a bad thing.

They exist above us in ice particles and cloud droplets, below us in rocks and oil fields, and even inside us helping with drug delivery. Yet despite their ubiquity, until now, relatively little has been known about the surface of miniscule water droplets.