Adults only catch the flu about twice every 10 years, according to a new study. The researchers looked at antibody levels in 150 people from Southern China against nine influenza strains from 1968 to 2009. They found that while children get flu on average every other year, infections become less frequent as people get older. […]
Posts by Kelly Fram (KellyFram)
Prestigious science award for women goes to UofT professor
Molly S. Shoichet, a professor of chemical engineering from the University of Toronto, has won the 2015 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards for North Americ. Dr.Shoichet received the award “for her pioneering work on the regeneration of nerve tissue and for the development of a new method to deliver drugs to the spinal cord […]
Rent supplements help homeless people, but only part of solution
Offering supportive housing using rent supplements and case management services helped homeless adults with mental illness stay housed, a new study shows. However, these additional services did not improve their quality of life determined by a health questionnaire assessing mobility, pain, anxiety/depression and self-care. Researchers followed 1,198 homeless adults with mental illnesses in Vancouver, Winnipeg, […]
Pollinator-recognition in plants
Researchers have shown that a plant can discriminate among its pollinators. The plant, Heliconia tortuosa, produced 5.7 times as much pollen when it was visited by particular species of hummingbirds than other species or insects. The researchers suggest this ability enables the plant to maximize its reproductive strategy as the favoured hummingbirds travel greater distances, […]
Changing when stars were formed
A galaxy from the early universe is providing new insight on the formation of stars. Researchers have found one of the youngest and most remote galaxies, estimated to have formed when the Universe was approximately 700 million years old. The astronomers believe the galaxy has either been consistently forming stars at a moderate rate since […]
Bumblebees may have false memories
People are known to have false memories where they remember experiences that never occurred. Can these errors also occur in animals? Researchers have found that bumblebees may be capable of creating false memories. The researchers made this observation by training bumblebees to expect a reward from either a solid coloured flower or a patterned one. […]
Machine intelligence beats classic video games
A new artificial intelligence program learned how to play 49 classic arcade video games (such as Pong, Breakout, Space Invaders and Asteroids) when given only minimal information, a new study shows. The program was able to surpass the performance of all previous algorithms and outperformed a professional human games tester in a majority of the […]
Boreal hard water lakes could become carbon sink
Hard water lakes such as the Buffalo Pound Lake in Saskatchewan, are common in the Prairie provinces. Boreal lakes normally emit greenhouse gases with the breakdown of organic matter. New research shows that atmospheric warming could transform these lakes into carbon sinks. This study contradicts the general assumption that global warming will invariably increase CO2 emissions from […]
Can just a phone call a week help minimize postpartum depression?
A study of mothers in New Brunswick found that phone conversations with helpful peers can diminish postpartum depression (PPD). Researchers in New Brunswick provided peer support through weekly phone calls to 64 mothers suffering from moderate PPD for several months. At the beginning of the experiment all 64 of the mothers were moderately depressed, yet by […]
A mothers heartbeat, even a digital version, may help premature infants development
Babies born prematurely show an increase in growth in the brain’s auditory cortex when recordings of their mother’s voice and heartbeat are played. The auditory cortex in utero is thought to be important for the development of vocal communication as well as providing the ability to interpret and remember speech. Researchers played recordings of a […]
Volcanic metals hitch a ride on bubbles from Earth’s crust
During a volcanic eruption, massive amounts of sulphur are released into the earth’s atmosphere. Now a new study has looked at the source of the sulphur and its movement. The research focused on molten rock known as magma which exists deep within the Earth’s crust. This magma contains what is known as ‘sulphide melts’ – […]
A sauna in every house
Men who routinely take saunas are at less risk of dying from sudden cardiac death and other fatal cardiovascular diseases a new study shows. Researchers followed a group of 2,315 middle-aged men (42 to 60 years old) in Finland and found that men who used the sauna two to three times per week had a 24 per […]
Happy? Your dog knows it
Dogs can tell the difference between happy and angry human faces, a new study shows. Researchers taught 11 dogs to discriminate between happy and angry human faces, and then tested them showing only half of the faces, mixing new faces and masking the teeth. The authors conclude that dogs can discriminate between human’s emotional expressions, […]
Stopping high sea fishing to increase global catch
Closing the high seas to fishing could improve the distribution of catches globally, according to a new study. Researchers estimate that around 42% of commercial fish spend their time both in high seas and coastal areas, and predict that closure of high seas will result in more of these fish being caught in coastal areas […]
Pop music
A video of a popcorn kernel bursting recorded by a high speed camera. (Video credit: The Schmitz family, uploaded to YouTube by Andrew Bridges) The physics of popping corn just got its own scientific pop. Researchers have discovered that the ‘pop’ sound is created by the release of water vapour. French researchers have found that […]
Suicide and looking for a job
While it has been known that there is a link between unemployment and suicide, a new study quantify this link with unemployment in regard of the recent economic crisis. A study looking at 63 countries over 11 years — including Canada — has found that unemployment might account for nine times as many suicidal deaths […]
