Photo by Fayegh(Shamal) Shakibayi on Unsplash Michael Richardson, Leiden University and Le Yang, Leiden University Over the past few years, studies have suggested that plastic particles from bottles, food packaging and waste have been detected in human blood, lungs, placentas, arteries and […]
Photo by Odiseo Castrejon on Unsplash Eef Hogervorst, Loughborough University The Mediterranean diet – rich in olive oil, fish, vegetables and legumes – has long been linked to better heart health. Growing evidence suggests it may also help support brain health as […]
Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian, University of Cambridge; Christelle Langley, University of Cambridge, and Deniz Vatansever, Fudan University Whether you have contracted COVID-19 or not, your brain is likely to have changed over the past few months. The virus itself can cause a number […]
Michael Zandi, UCL Six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re still learning what the disease can do. There are now detailed reports of brain illness emerging in people with relatively mild lung illness, in those who are critically ill and also […]
David F Hendry, University of Oxford; Jennifer L Castle, University of Oxford, and Jurgen A Doornik, University of Oxford Confirmed COVID-19 cases have now passed 10 million: what will they be next week, globally and in your country? Having a good estimate […]
Yangyang Xu, Texas A&M University and Xiaohui Xu, Texas A&M University The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work. The big idea Days of extreme high heat and extreme air pollution are both increasing worldwide. Last November, New Delhi […]
Tara Hipwood, Northumbria University, Newcastle Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, our homes have been serving as makeshift workplaces, schools, gyms and pubs. And many of us are spending more time in them than ever before. People often choose to buy […]
Olivier Restif, University of Cambridge As global COVID-19 cases top two million, it’s humbling to remember that it all started when one person got infected by one wild animal. We may never find out precisely where or when it occurred, nor […]
Hugh Harris, University College Cork Every day, in countries all over the world, people are dying because of a new virus. This time they are dying from a new strain of coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2 that causes the acute respiratory disease known as […]
Jason Ellis, Northumbria University, Newcastle Although science knows what dreams are, it is still not known exactly why we dream, although plenty of theories exist. Dreams are patterns of sensory information that occur when the brain is in a resting state – […]
Thomas Merritt, Laurentian University You’re reading this with a cup of coffee in your hand, aren’t you? Coffee is the most popular drink in many parts of the world. Americans drink more coffee than soda, juice and tea — combined. How popular […]
Patricia Riddell, University of Reading You may have noticed that some people have responded very differently to new rules on lockdown and social distancing. Some seem appalled. Other reassured. What might account for these differences? It is easy to think that we […]
Wanda Markotter, University of Pretoria The current COVID-19 outbreak is driven by a novel coronavirus (SARS CoV-2) that is spreading between people. The first human infections were reported at the end of December 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei province in China when a […]
Jeremy Rossman, University of Kent As the coronavirus death toll continues to rise, some have suggested that the approaching warmer spring weather in the northern hemisphere may slow or even stop the spread of the disease. US president Donald Trump echoed this, […]
Julii Brainard, University of East Anglia and Paul Hunter, University of East Anglia One of the strategies the British government will use to control the spread of COVID-19 is self-isolation. In case you are wondering exactly what self-isolation entails, we have provided […]
Edward Parker, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Beate Kampmann, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine For many of us, the threat of coronavirus suddenly feels much closer to home. The last few days have seen a rapid increase […]
Chris Colvin, Queen’s University Belfast and Eoin McLaughlin, University College Cork As news of the global spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) emerged, global financial markets reacted pessimistically and behaved in ways not seen since the 2008 financial crisis. But fully understanding the […]
Brian Labus, University of Nevada, Las Vegas Editor’s note: The World Health Organization has declared that COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, has a higher fatality rate than the flu. As of March 4, 2020, nine deaths have been reported […]
Clint Witchalls, The Conversation The year had barely begun when stories started to emerge of a worrying number of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China, caused by a mysterious new “coronavirus”. The Conversation published its first story on the outbreak on January 13. […]
Louise-Ann Leyland, UCL; Ben Spencer, Oxford Brookes University; Carien van Reekum, University of Reading, and Tim Jones, Oxford Brookes University Getting on your bicycle can give you an enormous sense of freedom and enjoyment. It can increase your independence and knowledge of […]
Sometimes it seems as if life is passing us by. When we are children, time ambles by, with endless car journeys and summer holidays which seem to last forever. But as adults, time seems to speed up at a frightening rate, with […]
Richard Metcalfe, Swansea University and Max Western, University of Bath On average, people spend over 3,500 days (or 84,000 hours) at work over a lifetime. This makes work the ideal place to encourage and support physical activity and exercise. And a new […]
Ann John, Swansea University and Sophie Wood, Cardiff University There is ongoing debate about whether eating disorders are more common in modern society. Some say that as young people are both exposed to and share images of themselves in an unprecedented way […]
Konstans Wells, Swansea University and Nicholas J Clark, The University of Queensland Some of the world’s most notorious infections – including Lyme disease, rabies, and Ebola come from zoonotic diseases. These illnesses are caused by pathogens (bacteria, viruses, or other parasitic organisms) […]
Fei Chen, University of Liverpool On January 23, the authorities of Wuhan City, China, sealed off the motorways and shut down all public transport to stop the coronavirus outbreak from spreading. Shortly afterwards, at least ten other cities in China were […]