When a smell evokes a memory: new research offers clues about how the two are linked in the brain: wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock In an episode of the popular TV series Black Mirror called Crocodile, an investigator asks a witness to smell a bottle of beer. The aim is to refresh her memory of a crime scene (the …
Five chemistry research projects that you can get involved in: The RiverDip experiment is one of many citizen science projects out there. Natallia Boroda/Shutterstock Sometimes the most powerful tool in research is people spending a few minutes to record their observations while going about their daily lives. An early example of this sort of “citizen …
How listening to real people’s voices outside the lab gave my research new perspective: tomertu/Shutterstock As a biotechnology research scientist, I specialise in designing and creating “smart” implantable materials. These materials can control cell behaviour and enable us, for example, to grow new, replacement tissue for patients with diseased or damaged tissue, deliver drugs to …
Five ways the internet era has changed British English – new research: Irina Bg / Shutterstock The dramatic changes in technology over the past 20 or so years, from the internet to the smartphone and digital assistants like Alexa, have made communication more accessible than ever before. We have created an online world where we …
Retirement communities: ageism exists even among the elderly – new research: shutterstock/supermao “We don’t want to be tripping over Zimmer frames all the time,” said John*, 73. He clearly felt frustrated and had a strong objection to the older, more frail residents in his retirement village. John and his wife, Jean, had moved to the …
Seagulls, songbirds and parrots: what new research tells us about their cognitive ability: Rooks have shown collaboration skills Author provided As you can imagine, a human intelligence test doesn’t really cut it for birds. It isn’t that easy to assess how an animal perceives information from the environment, processes it and decides to act. But …
South Africa in the news: COVID-19: Pfizer recipients robust against Omicron, research finds: South African researchers examining how the body’s immune system responds to the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 have identified that T-cells in people who have had two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech …: “South Africa” – BingNews COVID: The 5th wave here, every family …
The results of European football matches are becoming more predictable – new research: Anton_Ivanov/Shutterstock The legendary German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer once said: “You can plan, but what happens on a football field cannot be predicted.” This sentiment goes a long way to explaining why football is the most popular sport worldwide. Anything can happen on …
Brutal Viking ‘blood eagle’ ritual execution was anatomically possible – new research: Jarl Borg is one of the victims of the Blood Eagle in the show Vikings. PictureLux/The Hollywood Archive/Alamy Famed for their swift longboats and bloody incursions, Vikings have long been associated with bloody, over-the-top violence. Between the eighth and 11th centuries, these groups left …
How news coverage influences countries’ emergency aid budgets – new research: The news media cover humanitarian crises selectively. Events associated with clear, dramatic imagery, such as the 2020 Beirut port explosion, often receive intense global news coverage. By contrast, protracted humanitarian crises that are more difficult to access and explain to audiences, such as the …
The impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of children and young people in the UK: what the research says: SB Arts Media/Shutterstock COVID-19 has disrupted the lives of children and young people beyond recognition. Throughout the pandemic, research has been underway to assess the impact on young people’s mental health, but much research is …
Diners more likely to choose a vegetarian option when 75% of the menu is meat-free – new research: Increasing numbers of people are choosing plant-based diets. Pxhere Farming animals for food is responsible for around 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. If left unchallenged, the influence of this industry alone would probably make it impossible …
Entire home Airbnb listings in London have increased by 571% in 5 years: new research: AlesiaKan / Shutterstock Around 2.8 million households across England casually rented out part of or their entire home on platforms such as Airbnb in 2017-18. These platforms are part of the “sharing economy” and have opened up new avenues for …
How often do you poo? New research shows bowel habits are written in our DNA: Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock Do you “go” once a day? Maybe you go twice, or even three times? Or perhaps you only go a few times a week? Yes, we’re talking about pooing. In our new study, we’ve found how often you go …
Climate change is making monogamous albatrosses divorce – new research: Changing environmental conditions can put stress on coupled-up animals. Natasha Gillies, Author provided Not all relationships end in “happily ever after”, and birds are no exception. While more than 90% of bird species form monogamous couples, many of these will end in divorce. The reasons …
Diabetes drug may help improve symptoms for people with heart failure – new research: Half of people with heart failure have a type called preserved ejection fraction. Explode/ Shutterstock Heart failure is one of the most common cardiac diseases, affecting more than 30 million people worldwide. It happens when the heart can’t deliver enough blood …
Here’s why we might discriminate against foreign accents: new research: Rawpixel.com / Shutterstock If someone asked you to read this text aloud in a French accent or an Italian one, you would likely understand what that means and be able to produce some version of it, even if it’s not entirely accurate. You might even …
How uncertainty can impair our ability to make rational decisions – new research: When times are uncertain, we can fail to be flexible. jefftakespics2/Shutterstock We make decisions every day, many of which are so straightforward that we hardly notice we are making them. But we tend to struggle when faced with decisions that have uncertain …