Body and Mind
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New insights into flu risk during pregnancy
Research suggests infection heightens immune response.
Researchers in Australia and Ireland may have discovered why influenza affects pregnant women so severely, sometimes ...
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Surprising insights into sleep’s purpose
Study raises questions about its role in early childhood.
Humans (and other animals) need sleep as much as they need water and oxygen, and considering we spend about a third o...
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Assessing the risks of dying from COVID-19
Two studies put numbers around the British experience.
Two papers just published in the medical journal The BMJ provide new insights into the risk of dying from COVID-19. ...
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Sleep ‘cleans’ the brain
But daytime napping might not work as well.
Sleep has critical roles in health and regeneration, and one of those is clearing the brain of metabolic waste, accor...
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A body swap could mess with your mind
Study suggests it alters sense of self and even memory.
If you woke up in someone else’s body, would you feel like you or them? Swedish researchers recently explored just su...
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On life and dreams
We process our waking hours while sleeping, study suggests.
Dreams can offer rich insights into the human psyche and have long been used to help people understand and deal with ...
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Living at high altitude linked to stunting
Even children in ideal environments are affected.
Living at higher altitude is associated with greater rates of stunting, even for children living in what are deemed t...
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Focus
Cosmos Q&A: Taking the exercise path
A little intensive effort can achieve a lot.
Researchers this week released what they say this is the first study to demonstrate that the intensity of physical ac...
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Could your phone tell you've been drinking?
It may be as simple, and valuable, as watching you walk.
The best guide to whether you’ve had too much to drink may already be in your pocket. Medical researchers from Sta...
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Conversation
Coronavirus appears to thrive in dry air
Australian study adds weight to hypothesis.
By Michael Ward, University of Sydney We know some influenzas are seasonal, and the common cold is more common in ...
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Practice may help you to really multitask
Scientists say they’ve found a missing part of the puzzle.
Many people like to think they can multitask, but they probably can’t – at least not effectively. As Cosmos has repor...
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Why seeing fake faces isn’t, well, weird
Our brains are attuned to the basic patterns, study suggests.
If you think this roof is watching you, don’t be alarmed. The phenomenon of seeing faces in everyday objects is no...