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23/02/2023

Alzheimer's is the most common cause of disability in aging humans, gradually impairing memory, learning, and communication. Now it appears a similar affliction may impact our water-dwelling mammalian relatives too.

"I have always been interested in answering the question: do only humans get dementia?" says neurobiologist Frank Gunn-Moore from University of St Andrews in Scotland.

"Our findings answer this question as it shows potential dementia associated pathology is indeed not just seen in human patients."

Leiden University biologist Marissa Vacher and colleagues examined the brains of 22 stranded dolphins to search for the biochemical markers present in humans with Alzheimer's. These include amyloid-beta plaques, which while no longer thought to be a direct cause of the disease are still present in elevated numbers in those who have it; and clusters of tau proteins with hyperphosphorylation – when phosphate groups have been added to all possible binding sites on the protein molecule.

23/02/2023

Scientists have discovered markers of Alzheimer's disease in the brains of three different species of dolphin found deceased, stranded onshore.

Evidence of mass cetacean strandings exists from before our own recorded history, yet why dolphins and whales beach themselves in groups is an enduring mystery.

While a direct link has been found between naval sonar and some beaked whales, and some individual animals washed up on shore have been clearly unwell, some with a belly full of plastic waste, most mass strandings provide little to no clues.

Toothed whales (Odontocetes) share a number of traits with humans, including (in at least five species that we know of) menopause. Their ability to live well beyond their reproductive years means they have the potential to be susceptible to late-onset diseases as well.

20/02/2023

In most ways, HBO's new series The Last of Us depicts a classic zombie apocalypse.

One morning, everybody is going about their normal life. There's a mention on the radio of chaos in Jakarta. And by nightfall, twitchy, possessed once-humans are sprinting after the main character.

This time, though, it's a fungus turning people into zombies.

The new scenario, first realized in the video game that the show is based on, is making viewers wonder whether a fungus pandemic can happen in real life.

"A fungal pandemic is definitely possible," Norman Van Rhijn, a mycologist researching fungal infections at the University of Manchester, told Insider in an email.

No species of fungus currently known to science poses an immediate pandemic threat for humans – especially not the way the show portrays it. Still, fungal infections are on the rise worldwide, and researchers are concerned that more and more people are at risk.

17/02/2023

Without the buzzing, fluttering, scuttling or creeping crawlies our world would be in strife. Yet we don't even know some of the most basic things about these arthropods like butterflies, spiders and centipedes, such as how many of these important components of our world's biosphere are even out there.

So researchers crunched some numbers to arrive at a startling conclusion: despite their minuscule size, the collective global mass of all terrestrial arthropods is about the same as all humans and their farm animals combined.

No wonder they have such a massive impact on the world we live in.

"Arthropods have been described as 'the little things that run the world' because of their central role in multiple ecological processes," explains Weizmann Institute of Science environmental scientist Yuval Rosenberg.

15/02/2023

Long-term exposure to air pollution raises the risk of depression, according to a pair of new studies published in the JAMA network of scientific journals.

A study published on Friday in JAMA Network Open found that long-term exposure to elevated levels of air pollution increases the risk of late-onset depression among the elderly.

The other study, published in JAMA Psychiatry, found that long-term exposure to even low levels of air pollutants was associated with increased incidence of depression and anxiety.

Air pollution has long been linked to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

The new studies add to a growing body of evidence that air pollution also affects mental health.

For the study of the effects of air pollution on elderly Americans, researchers from Harvard and Emory University examined the data of nearly nine million people on Medicare, the US government health insurance scheme for those aged over 64.

13/02/2023

Have you ever suffered through tales of greatness from a self-absorbed "friend" who reminds you of Michael Scott from The Office – and not in a good way? Have you been betrayed by a colleague out of the blue, undermined on a project by the office mean girl, or had a work friendship dropped altogether without explanation?

If any of these scenarios sound familiar, you may have been dealing with someone who has what psychologists term a "dark personality." These people score higher on three socially undesirable traits: narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism.

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