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There’s a Weird Link Between Living Near Green Spaces And Risk of Stroke

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Green areas give you more than just a place to stretch your legs – they can also affect your chances of suffering a stroke, according to a new study that linked having green spaces close by with a 16 percent reduction in stroke risk.   For the purposes of the research, the nearby green spaces … Read more

Sadly, Astronomers Just Lost Three Exoplanets. Here’s Why

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What we thought were three confirmed exoplanets have just been knocked off their perch – and a fourth one is under serious doubt. According to a new analysis using revised characteristics, the objects Kepler-854b, Kepler-840b, and Kepler-699b seem to be too big to be exoplanets after all. That means they must be stars. The fourth … Read more

‘Dark Empaths’ Could Hide Some of The Most Dangerous Personality Traits

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People with “dark personality traits”, such as psychopathy or narcissism, are more likely to be callous, disagreeable and antagonistic in their nature. Such traits exists on a continuum – we all have more or less of them, and this does not necessarily equate to being clinically diagnosed with a personality disorder.   Traditionally, people who … Read more

A Toxic Fungus Could Be Contributing to Some People’s Irritable Bowel Disease

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Some strains of yeast in the human gut can produce toxins that could contribute to irritable bowel disease (IBD), according to new research. These “high-damaging” Candida albicans yeast strains aren’t usually a problem when they are kept in balance, but in the guts of those with IBD, the fungi appear to proliferate, triggering inflammation.   The … Read more

Covid-19 news: Nearly 30 million in China are now living in lockdown

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By Michael Le Page, Clare Wilson, Jessica Hamzelou, Sam Wong, Graham Lawton, Adam Vaughan, Conrad Quilty-Harper, Jason Arunn Murugesu, Layal Liverpool, Carissa Wong, Alex Wilkins and Alexandra Thompson A police officer wearing personal protective equipment in Manzhouli, China STR/AFP via Getty Images Latest coronavirus news as of 12pm 16 March Covid-19 is surging in China, … Read more

A new reference human genome could reflect our species’ true diversity

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The current reference human genome is based on a handful of people but the new Pangenome project will incorporate DNA from hundreds of people all around the world Humans 16 March 2022 By Michael Marshall DNA sequence data Shutterstock / Gio.tto The human genome is being sequenced again – but better. A new project to … Read more

Ape evolution: Family tree of extinct apes reveals our early evolutionary history

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A new family tree of apes that lived in the Miocene between 23 and 5.3 million years ago reveals which are our close relatives and which are only distant cousins Humans 16 March 2022 By Michael Marshall Dryopithecus, an extinct ape from the Miocene JOHN SIBBICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY A huge study of fossil apes clarifies … Read more

Japanese encephalitis outbreak in Australia blamed on climate change

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By Alice Klein A Culex mosquito, the genus that can spread Japanese encephalitis Konstantin Nechaev / Alamy Australia is grappling with its first major outbreak of Japanese encephalitis, a viral disease that has already killed two people. The mosquito-transmitted infection is typically found in rural regions of Asia, but climate change is thought to have … Read more

Brain scanning studies are usually too small to find reliable results

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Most studies that have used MRI machines to find links between the brain’s structure or function and complex mental traits had an average of 23 participants, but thousands are needed to find reliable results Mind | Analysis 16 March 2022 By Clare Wilson A functional magnetic resonance imaging scan of a brain taken during tasks … Read more