Tag: Nature

Recent study by Estonian researchers at the University of Tartu explains how coronavirus is activated before attacking cells and what could help to impede that. The study, published in Scientific Reports, takes us a step closer to understanding why the spread of SARS-CoV-2 has been so rapid and aggressive. The studied virus activation mechanism is

Stringing together meaningless sounds to create meaningful signals is a core feature of human language. Investigating whether animals share this basic combinatorial ability has been complicated by difficulties in identifying whether animal vocalizations are made from smaller, meaningless sounds, or building blocks. New research by scientists at the Universities of Zurich, Exeter, Warwick, Macquarie and

“Birds of a feather flock together” or rather “opposites attract”? The recently published study on male macaques in Thailand speaks for the former: Behavioral biologists from the German Primate Centre — Leibniz Institute for Primate Research and psychologists from the University of Göttingen have observed that the more similar male Assamese macaques are in their

Being able to see green spaces from your home is associated with reduced cravings for alcohol, cigarettes and harmful foods, new research has shown. The study, led by the University of Plymouth, is the first to demonstrate that passive exposure to nearby greenspace is linked to both lower frequencies and strengths of craving. It builds

History provides an enhanced understanding of the factors that inform social policy. In the wider arena of public health and its influence on social change, the political and healing import of nursing cannot be ignored. In an editorial published in The American Journal of Public Health titled “The Great Flu and After: Why the Nurses?”

Human language and communication skills are unique in the animal kingdom. How they developed in the course of evolution is being researched, among other things, using the alarm call system of vervet monkeys. East African vervet monkeys warn their conspecifics against predators with special alarm calls that mean “leopard,” “eagle” or “snake.” In a recently

A tree’s growth is dependent on nutrients from the soil and water, as well as the microbes in, on, and around the roots. Similarly, a human’s health is shaped both by environmental factors and the body’s interactions with the microbiome, particularly in the gut. Genome sequences are critical for characterizing individual microbes and understanding their

Spending time in nature boosts children’s academic achievement and healthy development, concludes a new analysis examining hundreds of studies. Ming Kuo, associate professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois and lead author on the Frontiers in Psychology study, says she expected the critical review to lead to

Decades of research into anxiety and depression have resulted in the development of models that help explain the causes and dimensions of the two disorders. For all of their well-established utility however, these models measure differences between individuals and are derived from studies designed using few assessments that can be months or even years apart.

Long before human ancestors began hunting large mammals for meat, a fatty diet provided them with the nutrition to develop bigger brains, posits a new paper in Current Anthropology. The paper argues that our early ancestors acquired a taste for fat by eating marrow scavenged from the skeletal remains of large animals that had been

The MRSA staphylococcus is an example of a pathogen, the likes of which are often called superbugs. These are resistant to most antibiotics and can cause serious infections. “In the case of MRSA, these bacteria have also spread in hospitals almost world-wide,” says Jukka Corander, professor at the University of Helsinki, who was a member

Recommendations for a high quality diet to avoid cardiovascular disease were developed in high-income countries two to three decades ago. They don’t consider other parts of the world or how diets have changed. Now scientists of the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) of McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences are using research from several large

Scientists have shed light on how a major cause of human and animal disease can jump between species, by studying its genes. The findings reveal fresh insights into how new disease-causing strains of the bacteria — called Staphylococcus aureus — emerge. Experts say the research could help improve the use of antibiotics and design better

Today Americans live in a world that thrives on being busy, productive and overscheduled. Further, they have developed the technological means to be constantly connected to others and to vast options for information and entertainment through social media. For many, smartphones demand their attention day and night with constant notifications. As a result, naturally occurring

Scientists at the University of Kent have made a significant discovery about how the vitamin content of some plants can be improved to make vegetarian and vegan diets more complete. Vitamin B12 (known as cobalamin) is an essential dietary component but vegetarians are more prone to B12 deficiency as plants neither make nor require this

Many popular baby names hail from mother nature and earth, such as Rose, Lily, Daisy, Ivy, Sage. But there’s also the elements of air, water, and fire — all of which have provided us with beautiful mythological or naturalistic monikers to draw from.  Some of the below names are already well known, others are slowly

Vertebrate species, including humans, exposed to stress prenatally tend to have higher stress hormones after birth, according to a new Dartmouth-led study published in Scientific Reports. While previous research has reported examples of maternal stress experience predicting offspring stress hormones in different species, this study is the first to empirically demonstrate the impact of prenatal