After the Second World War, regional famines began to occur. Believing that increasing agricultural performance can be the solution to the problem, individuals and organizations have rolled up their sleeves…
Category: Life
Contrasting responses of naturalized alien & native plants to native soil biota & drought – Functional Ecologists
In this new post Rutger Wilschut and Hanna Ruppert from University of Wageningen present their work ‘Contrasting responses of naturalized alien and native plants to native soil biota and drought’.…
In a first, zebra cams reveal herds on the move with giraffes
In the opening scene of The Lion King, animals of every stripe, spot and tusk march in unison across the African plains, bound by an unseen thread of connection. This…
No, black newborns under the care of white doctors do not die at twice the rate of whites, as some controversial studies have attempted to claim. The difference is zero
The racial gap in infant mortality is a pressing public health concern … [However, we] find that the magnitude of the concordance effect is substantially reduced after controlling for diagnoses…
Perfect Pitch Can Be Learned: Study Challenges Long-Held Beliefs
Summary: Absolute pitch, once thought to be an innate ability or only attainable through early childhood training, may be learnable in adulthood. Researchers trained 12 adult musicians in an eight-week…
AI vs. Human Therapists: Study Finds ChatGPT Responses Rated Higher
Summary: A new study suggests that ChatGPT’s responses in psychotherapy scenarios are often rated higher than those written by human therapists. Researchers found that participants struggled to distinguish between AI-generated…
A bacteria-based Band-Aid helps plants heal their wounds
Got a plant with a boo-boo? Try a plant Band-Aid. A pure form of cellulose produced by bacteria can act as a plant bandage, researchers report, significantly boosting healing and…
Migrating whale sharks make pit stops at oil and gas rigs
Like rolling into a gas station during a road trip, whale sharks use oil and gas rigs as a pit stop during their migrations of thousands of kilometers across the…
Cerebellar Serotonin Acts as a Brake to Reduce Anxiety
Summary: New research reveals that serotonin in the cerebellum plays a crucial role in anxiety regulation. Scientists found that mice with lower cerebellar serotonin levels displayed increased anxiety-like behaviors, while…
How the Brain Detects Novelty to Predict the Future
Summary: A new study shows that the cerebral cortex acts as a “memory machine,” constantly detecting novel stimuli to refine its predictions of the future. By imaging the auditory cortex…
