News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
Unfamiliar voices seem to put the sleeping brain on alert in a way that familiar voices don’t Humans 17 January 2022 By Jason Arunn Murugesu Electroencephalography (EEG) is used to monitor brain activity Shutterstock / NPS_87 The sleeping brain is more active if it hears unfamiliar voices rather than familiar ones. The finding suggests that … Read more
The new head of the India Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has an ambitious agenda to put human spaceflight back on track, according to media reports. Shri. Somanath assumed the helm of the agency on Friday (Jan. 14) as ISRO works to help the Gaganyaan human spaceflight program recover from setbacks in part induced by the … Read more
The course of human evolution never did run smooth. The emergence of hominins on the continent of Africa is full of twists, turns, gaps, and dead ends, which makes it all the more difficult to retrace the rise of our own species. Today, we still don’t really know when or where the first Homo … Read more
Giggling, sneaky, carrion-scavenging—and good for public health? Hyenas around the Ethiopian city of Mekelle often dine on livestock carcasses. In the process, a new study suggests, they may prevent infections of anthrax and bovine tuberculosis in nearby humans and animals. More than 300,000 people live in Mekelle, along with more than 100,000 head of livestock, … Read more
Doctors have transplanted the heart from a genetically modified pig into the chest of a man from Maryland in a last-ditch effort to save his life. The first-of-its-kind surgery is being hailed as a major step forward in the decades-long effort to successfully transplant animal organs into humans. Although it’s been tried before—one of the … Read more
The first transplant of a pig heart genetically modified for acceptance into human bodies raises hopes for a new solution to donor organ shortages Health 11 January 2022 By Clare Wilson Surgeons prepare genetically engineered pig heart for transplant University of Maryland School of Medicine FOR the first time, a human has been given a … Read more
Cut marks on animal bones suggest ancient hominins butchered them for their meat, and that they were first on the scene instead of having to scavenge from carnivores like big cats Humans 11 January 2022 By Michael Marshall Notches on a bone left by human butchering activity Jennifer A. Parkinson, Thomas W. Plummer, James S. … Read more
The bottlenose dolphin (Tersiops truncatus) appears to have a very large and well-developed clitoris, potentially better placed for coital pleasure than the clitoris of humans, according to new research. The visible tip of the human clitoris is but the size of a pea and located slightly north of the vagina and urethra (although much … Read more
US surgeons have successfully implanted a heart from a genetically modified pig in a human patient, a first-of-its-kind procedure, the University of Maryland Medical School said Monday. The surgery took place Friday, and demonstrates for the first time that an animal heart can survive in a human without immediate rejection, the medical school said … Read more
Innovators at South Korea’s Ajou University have created a robotic hand that is capable of holding fragile objects like eggs. It can also crush cans and work with tools like tweezers and scissors. An article published in Nature Communications explained all the details of the new technology. It weighs just under two and a half pounds … Read more