Body and Mind
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Hold on, that’s why we have fingerprints
Researchers explore the ridges, wet and dry.
Researchers have discovered that by regulating moisture levels, our fingerprints play a key role in our ability to gr...
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Mitochondria linked to health in space
Data of mice and men point in the same direction.
As we plan to send more people into space for more time, there’s a growing imperative to understand what spacetime do...
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Why gyms need to not smell like gyms
It could provide motivation in more ways than one.
Scientists have put forward a couple of new reasons why gyms need to smell a bit different. The first is a study ...
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Social connection is something we crave
The brain has similar responses to isolation and fasting.
Just one day of forced social isolation evokes a similar neural response as food deprivation, US scientists have foun...
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More reasons to try to sleep right
Studies examine risks of heart failure and asthma.
Two new observational studies have highlighted some possible health advantages of regularly getting a good night’s (r...
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The shape of colour
Patterns in the brain are specific to what you see.
The age-old question of whether we all see colour the same may now have an answer. Researchers at the National Eye...
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How well can you identify faces?
New test looking for ‘super-recognisers’.
Some people have an extraordinary ability to remember faces. They can, for instance, easily recognise or recall unfam...
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Can we just breathe off excess alcohol?
Study trials innovative way to accelerate elimination from body.
Every year the evidence mounts of alcohol’s ravaging effects on the human body. In 2018, The Lancet published an i...
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How adults learn a new language
Both sides of the brain help out, it seems.
Learning languages is a breeze for young children, but once that window of opportunity closes it becomes notoriously ...
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Mum’s lifestyle linked to child’s heart risk
Study looks at cycle of preventable disease.
The children of women with heart-healthy lifestyles live nearly a decade longer without cardiovascular disease than t...
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How the gut protects the brain
Defence antibodies learn from the intestine.
The gut is well known for being the first line of defence against infection, but it seems it also protects our most i...
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Focus
Cosmos Q&A: COVID and global health
First phase lockdowns altered our habits and our wellbeing.
Given the unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent societal changes, it’s not surprising that we’...