Culture

A new study published in Scientific Reports revealed that dogs understand the relationship between their body and the environment in a problem solving task. The researchers of the Department of Ethology at Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest, Hungary) found that dogs can recognise their body as an obstacle, which ability is one of the basic manifestations of self-representation in humans.

Self-representation is the ability of holding information in one's own mental model about themselves. In humans this capacity reached an extremely complex form, called self-consciousness. However, some of its elements might appeared during the evolution of non-human animals, too, according to the given species' ecological needs.

"Dogs are perfect subjects for the investigation of the self-representation related abilities as we share our anthropogenic physical and social environment with them. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that at least some of its forms might appeared in them, too. From these, body-awareness might be one of the most basic ones" - explains Rita Lenkei, PhD student, first author of the study.

The researchers adapted a paradigm that was previously used only in elephants and humans. During the original test the toddlers are requested to hand over a blanket or mat they are sitting on. However, this task can only be executed if the subjects understand the connection between their own body and the mat, consequently firstly they have to leave the mat before passing it to the experimenter. In case of dogs, the method had to be modified to the four-legged subjects, and a ball was attached to the mat so dogs immediately understood the request of the owner to pass the object (together with the mat).

"We developed a more complex method than the original one to make sure that dogs only leave the mat when it was truly necessary. Based on our results even during their first attempt they left the mat significantly sooner and more likely when it was needed to solve the task, compared to when, for instance, the ball was anchored to the ground" - says Dr. Péter Pongrácz, principal investigator.

The results are particularly interesting in the light of that this experiment is thought to be linked to the well-known mirror mark experiment, in which humans and also elephants perform well. Moreover, in toddlers the onset of succeeding in this test appears at the same time - regardless of the age of the subject - when the recognition of the self-reflection in the mirror.

"Based on our knowledge the dog is the first species that did not passed the mirror mark test but successfully passed the 'body as an obstacle' paradigm. Our results support the theory about self-representation as being an array of more or less connected cognitive skills, where the presence or lack of a particular building block may depend on the ecological needs and cognitive complexity of the given species" - points out Lenkei.

Boys who regularly play video games at age 11 are less likely to develop depressive symptoms three years later, finds a new study led by a UCL researcher.

The study, published in Psychological Medicine, also found that girls who spend more time on social media appear to develop more depressive symptoms.

Taken together, the findings demonstrate how different types of screen time can positively or negatively influence young people's mental health, and may also impact boys and girls differently.

Lead author, PhD student Aaron Kandola (UCL Psychiatry) said: "Screens allow us to engage in a wide range of activities. Guidelines and recommendations about screen time should be based on our understanding of how these different activities might influence mental health and whether that influence is meaningful.

"While we cannot confirm whether playing video games actually improves mental health, it didn't appear harmful in our study and may have some benefits. Particularly during the pandemic, video games have been an important social platform for young people.

"We need to reduce how much time children - and adults - spend sitting down, for their physical and mental health, but that doesn't mean that screen use is inherently harmful."

Kandola has previously led studies finding that sedentary behaviour (sitting still) appeared to increase the risk of depression and anxiety in adolescents. To gain more insight into what drives that relationship, he and colleagues chose to investigate screen time as it is responsible for much of sedentary behaviour in adolescents. Other studies have found mixed results, and many did not differentiate between different types of screen time, compare between genders, or follow such a large group of young people over multiple years.

The research team from UCL, Karolinska Institutet (Sweden) and the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute (Australia) reviewed data from 11,341 adolescents who are part of the Millennium Cohort Study, a nationally representative sample of young people who have been involved in research since they were born in the UK in 2000-2002.

The study participants had all answered questions about their time spent on social media, playing video games, or using the internet, at age 11, and also answered questions about depressive symptoms, such as low mood, loss of pleasure and poor concentration, at age 14. The clinical questionnaire measures depressive symptoms and their severity on a spectrum, rather than providing a clinical diagnosis.

In the analysis, the research team accounted for other factors that might have explained the results, such as socioeconomic status, physical activity levels, reports of bullying, and prior emotional symptoms.

The researchers found that boys who played video games most days had 24% fewer depressive symptoms, three years later, than boys who played video games less than once a month, although this effect was only significant among boys with low physical activity levels, and was not found among girls. The researchers say this might suggest that less active boys could derive more enjoyment and social interaction from video games.

While their study cannot confirm if the relationship is causal, the researchers say there are some positive aspects of video games which could support mental health, such as problem-solving, and social, cooperative and engaging elements.

There may also be other explanations for the link between video games and depression, such as differences in social contact or parenting styles, which the researchers did not have data for. They also did not have data on hours of screen time per day, so they cannot confirm whether multiple hours of screen time each day could impact depression risks.

The researchers found that girls (but not boys) who used social media most days at age 11 had 13% more depressive symptoms three years later than those who used social media less than once a month, although they did not find an association for more moderate use of social media. Other studies have previously found similar trends, and researchers have suggested that frequent social media use could increase feelings of social isolation.

Screen use patterns between boys and girls may have influenced the findings, as boys in the study played video games more often than girls and used social media less frequently.

The researchers did not find clear associations between general internet use and depressive symptoms in either gender.

Senior author Dr Mats Hallgren (Karolinska Institutet) has conducted other studies in adults finding that mentally-active types of screen time, such as playing video games or working at a computer, might not affect depression risk in the way that more passive forms of screen time appear to do.

He said: "The relationship between screen time and mental health is complex, and we still need more research to help understand it. Any initiatives to reduce young people's screen time should be targeted and nuanced. Our research points to possible benefits of screen time; however, we should still encourage young people to be physically active and to break up extended periods of sitting with light physical activity."

Scientists at EMBL Heidelberg and at the Zentrum für Infektiologie at Heidelberg University Hospital have succeeded for the first time in imaging HIV during transport into the nucleus of an infected cell. The electron tomographic images show the protein envelope of the virus passing through one of the nuclear pores - the openings in the membrane around the nucleus that allow molecules in and out. The scientists found that the virus passes through the nuclear pore intact, only breaking apart inside the nucleus, where it releases its genetic information. This clarifies an important mechanism by which the virus's genetic material is integrated into the genome of the infected cell.

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) - which was the focus of this study - primarily infects certain cells of the immune system, and in this way massively weakens the body's own defence against diseases. The genetic material of the virus is securely packaged in a cone-shaped protein capsule known as the capsid, which is composed of individual hexagonal parts. Scientists knew how the capsid passes through the cell membrane into the interior of the cell during infection, but not how the virus's genetic material gets from the capsid into the cell nucleus, where it triggers the formation of new viruses.

This is where the work of the Heidelberg collaboration comes in. Using newly developed methods for 3D imaging of molecular complexes in virus-infected cells, the scientists succeeded in imaging the viral capsid directly during transport into the nucleus. "Until now, it was assumed that the capsid does not fit through the pores," explains Hans-Georg Kräusslich, Medical Director of the Zentrum für Infektiologie. "However, the question of how the viral genome gets into the cell nucleus is essential for its reproduction. Our results therefore support the search for new targets for future therapeutic approaches." Although current treatment options can suppress multiplication of the virus in the body, a true cure that eliminates the virus is not yet possible.

Platforms for high-resolution imaging

To get a detailed look at the inner workings of infected immune cells in the laboratory, the scientists used high-resolution imaging techniques. With the help of the Electron Microscopy Core Facility at Heidelberg University and the Cryo-Electron Microscopy Service Platform at EMBL Heidelberg, they combined light and electron microscopy methods. They were able to reconstruct 3D images of the molecular structures from their data. This allowed them to visualise the composition and architecture of the viral complexes and their interaction with cellular structures in high resolution. "The fruitful collaboration between our two institutions and the combination of specialised technology has helped to fit another piece of the HIV infection puzzle into the overall picture," says Martin Beck, a visiting group leader at EMBL and, since 2019, a Director and Scientific Member of the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics.

One of the most intriguing features in all living beings is the "biological clock", an internal time-keeping mechanism that governs our behavioral pattern (such as the sleep-wake cycle). In fact, the biological clock dictates the developmental timing of various processes, such as when flowers bloom and insects reproduce. Biologists refer to these activities collectively as "circadian rhythms," owing to the rhythmic pattern in which they occur.

Since their discovery, circadian rhythms have been studied extensively, and today we know a great deal about how they work. But, it is still not understood why, in some species, these rhythmic traits can vary based on geographical location (also called "cline"). While studies focusing on the relationship between the strength of "amplitude" of the rhythm (time variation in the level of a particular measure, such as activity level) and latitude (variation between north and south) have been conducted in fruit flies, the findings are contradictory.

In a new study published in PLoS One, scientists in Japan, led by Prof. Takahisa Miyatake from Okayama University, decided to explore the problem using a new biological model: the red flour beetle, a common insect found throughout Japan. He explains, "Organisms living in northern and southern countries should have different rhythm traits and it would be interesting to know why these differences exist. We came up with the idea that such geographical variation in traits could be easily studied in the red flour beetle, which can be collected in a wide range of latitudes from all over the country."

Accordingly, the scientists collected red flour beetles from 37 rice mills in different parts of Japan and nurtured them under laboratory conditions emulating their natural environment. After an initial nurturing period of 20 days, they assessed the circadian rhythm of individual beetles (more than 1500 samples) by monitoring their locomotor activity (movement) for 10 days.

The findings showed that the rhythm strength decreased with increasing latitude such that beetles from the northern parts showed weaker circadian rhythms than their southern counterparts. However, changing longitudes (east to west) showed no significant difference. Interestingly enough, despite the large sample size, they did not observe any variation in the rhythm period with latitude or longitude, which contradicted the findings of previous studies.

The scientists ascribed the weaker rhythmic amplitude at higher altitudes to its more extreme and harsh environments, which possibly had more influence on the beetle's behavior than its biological clock. As for the unchanging rhythm period with location, they speculated that the flow of genetic material from one beetle population to another was likely more than hypothesized, thus washing out their genetic differences and leading to uniform rhythm periods.

Prof. Miyatake is excited by these findings and their possible implications. He concludes, "Many insects are expanding their distribution areas to the north due to global warming, and the nature of their circadian rhythms may change accordingly. We may be able to open up a new research field to see if the nature of variation in the biological clock of insects is also applicable to humans!"

Does this mean our bodies might be working in a certain way depending on our location? We don't entirely know yet, but hopefully, future studies will reveal a lot more.

When women undergo surgical treatment for breast cancer, they often also have reconstructive surgery but new QUT research reveals many women feel left out of the decision making.

An interdisciplinary study from researchers in QUT's Centre for Behavioural Economics, Society and Technology (BEST), Engineering Faculty, and School of Nursing, along with Dr Jeremy Hunt a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and Dr Tim Peltz from the University of New South Wales, on Knowledge, consultation time and choice in breast reconstruction has just been published in the British Journal of Surgery.

"Approximately one in seven Australian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime," said QUT behavioural economist Dr Stephen Whyte.

"Because the decision-making process in any surgical procedure is clearly influenced by the recommendations of doctors, patient-clinician trust is critical in the lead up to the postmastectomy breast reconstruction decision.

"Yet there are very few metrics available which analyse the duration of consultation between surgeons, nurses, and patients, and particularly how patients perceive and are influenced by the expert knowledge they are provided."

Distinguished Professor Dietmar W. Hutmacher said the research was the largest ever behavioural study of breast surgeons, breast care nurses and former or current breast cancer patients.

"We surveyed 53 specialist surgeons, 101 breast care nurses and 689 former or current breast cancer patients seeking data relating to the number of minutes spent in first consultation, the level of knowledge of the individuals involved, and the level of involvement of each party in the final therapy choice," Professor Hutmacher said.

"Interestingly, we found that in our sample breast care nurses and surgeons have quite different perceptions of how much time the other spends engaging the patient at their first consultation. Each thought that they spent more time with patients than the other.

"And as for the patients, approximately one in every three women (32%) stated their surgeon had more input than they did, when deciding which type of breast reconstruction to undergo."

Dr Whyte added that around 16% of the women in the study said they had zero input into the type of breast reconstruction they chose.

He said the perceptions of individuals about an experience or interaction can differ significantly, particularly in high stress environments, which can become problematic because our perceptions inform our expectations.

"When it came to the choice of breast reconstruction, our study revealed a large proportion of women who felt or believed that their surgeon effectively made a decision on their behalf when it came to their reconstruction," Dr Whyte said.

"This finding raises concerns in relation to not only informed consent prior to surgery, but more importantly patient expectations ex-poste surgery."

Dr Whyte added that research has shown a more patient centric preoperative information and surgeon interaction significantly influence patient satisfaction post breast reconstruction. So, understanding how surgeons, nurses and patients interact and communicate is of critical importance for effective health care provision and patient satisfaction.

"The study's findings underscore the critical nature of developing new and better tools for effective communication between patients and medical professionals to facilitate the best possible outcomes regarding elective medical procedures," he said.

Participants in the survey were recruited from Breast Cancer Network Australia's Review and Survey Group, a national, online group of Australian women living with breast cancer who are interested in receiving invitations to participate in research. The researchers also collaborated with the Australian Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons, Breast Cancer Network Australia, Breast Wishes Journey, Cancer Nurses Society of Australia, the McGrath Foundation, and Dragon Abreast Australia.

Quantum computers promise not only to outperform classical machines in certain important tasks, but also to maintain the privacy of data processing. The secure delegation of computations has been an increasingly important issue since the possibility of utilizing cloud computing and cloud networks. Of particular interest is the ability to exploit quantum technology that allows for unconditional security, meaning that no assumptions about the computational power of a potential adversary need to be made.

Different quantum protocols have been proposed, all of which make trade-offs between computational performance, security, and resources. Classical protocols, for example, are either limited to trivial computations or are restricted in their security. In contrast, homomorphic quantum encryption is one of the most promising schemes for secure delegated computation. Here, the client's data is encrypted in such a way that the server can process it even though he cannot decrypt it. Moreover, opposed to other protocols, the client and server do not need to communicate during the computation which dramatically boosts the protocol's performance and practicality.

In an international collaboration led by Prof. Philip Walther from the University of Vienna scientists from Austria, Singapore and Italy teamed up to implement a new quantum computation protocol where the client has the option of encrypting his input data so that the computer cannot learn anything about them, yet can still perform the calculation. After the computation, the client can then decrypt the output data again to read out the result of the calculation. For the experimental demonstration, the team used quantum light, which consists of individual photons, to implement this so-called homomorphic quantum encryption in a quantum walk process. Quantum walks are interesting special-purpose examples of quantum computation because they are hard for classical computers, whereas being feasible for single photons.

By combining an integrated photonic platform built at the Polytechnic University of Milan, together with a novel theoretical proposal developed at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, scientist from the University of Vienna demonstrated the security of the encrypted data and investigated the behavior increasing the complexity of the computations.

The team was able to show that the security of the encrypted data improves the larger the dimension of the quantum walk calculation becomes. Furthermore, recent theoretical work indicates that future experiments taking advantage of various photonic degrees of freedom would also contribute to an improvement in data security; one can anticipate further optimizations in the future. "Our results indicate that the level of security improves even further, when increasing the number of photons that carry the data", says Philip Walther and concludes "this is exciting and we anticipate further developments of secure quantum computing in the future".

The imposition of various local and national restrictions in England during the summer and autumn of 2020 gradually reduced contacts between people, but these changes were smaller and more varied than during the lockdown in March, according to a study published in the open access journal BMC Medicine.

A team of researchers at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), UK combined data from the English participants of the UK CoMix survey and information on local and national restrictions from Gov.uk collected between August 31st and December 7th 2020. CoMix is an online survey asking individuals to record details of their direct contacts in the day prior to the survey.

The authors used the data to compare the number of contacts in different settings, such as work, school or home, reported by individuals before and after the introduction of individual restrictions in England. Restrictions investigated included the Rule of Six (announced 14th September), 10pm closures of pubs and restaurants and encouraging people to work from home (24th of September), entering into tiers 1, 2 or 3 (14th October), as well as entering into national lockdown from any of the tiers in November 2020.

The authors found that the impact of these restrictions on the number of contacts that people reported was mixed, with local restrictions and the Rule of Six associated with modest reductions in contacts, and instructions to work from home associated with larger reductions, but little evidence that the 10pm closing time for bars and restaurants had any appreciable effect.

Specifically, following the introduction of the Rule of Six, 1,314 (33.8%) out of a total of 3,884 participants included in the analysis for this restriction, reported reductions in their non-work and non-educational contacts, while 1,573 (40.5%) participants reported the same number of contacts and 997 (25.7%) reported a higher number of contacts. The average number of contacts was two before and after the introduction of the Rule of Six.

For the 10pm rule, 990 (25.5%) out of 3,887 participants included in the analysis recorded a smaller number of contacts, while 2,054 (52.8%) recorded the same number of contacts and 843 (21.7%) recorded a higher number of contacts. The average number of contacts was zero to one before and after the rule came into effect.

Under local restrictions, participants on average reduced their contacts, reporting an average of 0.69 fewer non-work and non-school contacts compared to before the restrictions. The impact of the tier system was found to be mixed, with Tier 1 and 2 having little impact on the average number of contacts, but Tier 3 reducing contacts.

The subsequent November lockdown appeared to have the largest difference for those entering lockdown form Tier 1, with 750 (35.8%) out of 2,095 participants in Tier 1 reporting that they reduced their contacts by about 1.40 contacts per day, on average. The effect of moving from Tier 2 or Tier 3 to lockdown was less pronounced, with 428 (29.4%) out of 1212 adults in Tier 2 and 85 (26.3%) of 236 adults in Tier 3 reporting that they reduced their contacts.

Dr Christopher Jarvis, Assistant Professor at LSHTM and the corresponding author said: "To put these changes in context, the full national lockdown in March reduced average daily contacts from an estimated 10.8 to 2.8 - a 74% reduction. While, in absolute terms, the changes following more recent restrictions were relatively small, this may indicate that restrictions were applied at a point when individuals had already lowered their contacts, and not that the restrictions did not have an effect."

The authors caution that local restrictions included a combination of several measures and therefore their effect on numbers of contacts is a combination of a range of interventions. Also, the relatively rapid change in policies over the autumn means that some of the effect attributed to one intervention may in fact be associated with one of the others.

Dr Jarvis said: "We have attempted to provide insight into the highly relevant issue of whether different restrictions in response to COVID-19 work and if so, how effective they are. While we only focused on contacts, the impact of the different restrictions will have broader societal implications that need to be considered for policy change."

Further exploration of the effect of restrictions on different age groups, and the potential of regional adherence to the national restrictions could help disentangle specific factors that may influence the relatively small reduction in contacts observed in this study.

After describing a unique behaviour in the Small-banded Kukri Snake (Oligodon fasciolatus) last September, two new studies, also led by Henrik Bringsøe, are now reporting the same gruesome feeding strategy in another two species: the Taiwanese Kukri Snake (Oligodon formosanus) and the Ocellated Kukri Snake (Oligodon ocellatus). In their research across Asia, the scientists also observed and contemplated other rare behaviours in kukri snakes.

The closely related three species of snakes within the genus Oligodon have evolved an unusual behaviour where they pierce the abdomens of the amphibians, tear off their organs and swallow them one by one, keeping the prey alive for up to a few hours. Given that these species have also been recorded to feed in a more typical way: by swallowing their prey whole, the scientists find it likely that the alternative strategy has evolved specifically in their species group, in order to be able to eat larger animals. The latest findings are also published in the peer-reviewed, open-access scholarly journal Herpetozoa.

One of the new studies reports about two instances from Hong Kong, where Taiwanese Kukri Snakes were observed to disembowel Painted Burrowing Frogs (Kaloula pulchra). In one of the cases, the snake had cut open the belly of the frog and inserted its head into the frog's abdomen. Further, the reptile was seen to repeatedly rotate its body longitudinally in a "performance" also known as "death rolls". In the other case, reported in the study, the organs of the frog had been forced out of its abdomen. The researchers also provide video recordings of these unique behaviours.

"We believe that the purpose of these death rolls was to tear out organs to be subsequently swallowed," comments Bringsøe.

Meanwhile, the study mentions a new observation of one of the studied snake species (the Small-banded Kukri Snake, Oligodon fasciolatus), however preferring to swallow its Painted Burrowing Frog whole, after doing the same "death rolls", which led the scientists to think that it is the size of the prey that determines how exactly the snake would go about its dinner. The researchers also add that in both cases, the snake would eventually swallow its prey's remains.

The second newly published research paper studies a third species: the Ocellated Kukri Snake, which was observed to eat the toxic Asian Black-spotted Toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus) in Vietnam. Initially, the snake was seen to have buried its large head eyes-deep into the amphibian's abdomen. Eventually, though, the snake swallowed the toad whole despite its toxicity, providing further evidence that kukri snakes are in fact resistant to the cardiac glycoside toxins of the toads.

"We hope that future observations may uncover additional aspects of the fascinating feeding habits of kukri snakes though we may indeed call them gruesome!" says Bringsøe.

The temporary breakdown of Earth's magnetic field 42,000 years ago sparked major climate shifts that led to global environmental change and mass extinctions, a new international study co-led by UNSW Sydney and the South Australian Museum shows.

This dramatic turning point in Earth's history - laced with electrical storms, widespread auroras, and cosmic radiation - was triggered by the reversal of Earth's magnetic poles and changing solar winds.

The researchers dubbed this danger period the 'Adams Transitional Geomagnetic Event', or 'Adams Event' for short - a tribute to science fiction writer Douglas Adams, who wrote in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that '42' was the answer to life, the universe, and everything.

The findings are published today in Science.

"For the first time ever, we have been able to precisely date the timing and environmental impacts of the last magnetic pole switch," says Chris Turney, a professor at UNSW Science and co-lead author of the study.

"The findings were made possible with ancient New Zealand kauri trees, which have been preserved in sediments for over 40,000 years.

"Using the ancient trees we could measure, and date, the spike in atmospheric radiocarbon levels caused by the collapse of Earth's magnetic field."

While scientists already knew the magnetic poles temporarily flipped around 41-42,000 years ago (known as the 'Laschamps Excursion'), they didn't know exactly how it impacted life on Earth - if at all.

But the researchers were able to create a detailed timescale of how Earth's atmosphere changed over this time by analysing rings on the ancient kauri trees.

"The kauri trees are like the Rosetta Stone, helping us tie together records of environmental change in caves, ice cores and peat bogs around the world," says co-lead Professor Alan Cooper, Honorary Researcher at the South Australian Museum.

The researchers compared the newly-created timescale with records from sites across the Pacific and used it in global climate modelling, finding that the growth of ice sheets and glaciers over North America and large shifts in major wind belts and tropical storm systems could be traced back to the Adams Event.

One of their first clues was that megafauna across mainland Australia and Tasmania went through simultaneous extinctions 42,000 years ago.

"This had never seemed right, because it was long after Aboriginal people arrived, but around the same time that the Australian environment shifted to the current arid state," says Prof. Cooper.

The paper suggests that the Adams Event could explain a lot of other evolutionary mysteries, like the extinction of Neandertals and the sudden widespread appearance of figurative art in caves around the world.

"It's the most surprising and important discovery I've ever been involved in," says Prof. Cooper.

The perfect (cosmic) storm

The magnetic north pole - that is, the direction a compass needle points to - doesn't have a fixed location. It usually wobbles close to the North Pole (the northern-most point of Earth's axis) over time due to dynamic movements within the Earth's core, just like the magnetic south pole.

Sometimes, for reasons that aren't clear, the magnetic poles' movements can be more drastic. Around 41,000-42,000 years ago they swapped places entirely.

"The Laschamps Excursion was the last time the magnetic poles flipped," says Prof. Turney. "They swapped places for about 800 years before changing their minds and swapping back again."

Until now, scientific research has focused on changes that happened while the magnetic poles were reversed, when the magnetic field was weakened to about 28 per cent of its present-day strength.

But according to the team's findings, the most dramatic part was the lead-up to the reversal, when the poles were migrating across the Earth.

"Earth's magnetic field dropped to only 0-6 per cent strength during the Adams Event," says Prof. Turney.

"We essentially had no magnetic field at all - our cosmic radiation shield was totally gone."

During the magnetic field breakdown, the Sun experienced several 'Grand Solar Minima' (GSM), long-term periods of quiet solar activity.

Even though a GSM means less activity on the Sun's surface, the weakening of its magnetic field can mean more space weather - like solar flares and galactic cosmic rays - could head Earth's way.

"Unfiltered radiation from space ripped apart air particles in Earth's atmosphere, separating electrons and emitting light - a process called ionisation," says Prof. Turney.

"The ionised air 'fried' the Ozone layer, triggering a ripple of climate change across the globe."

Into the caves

Dazzling light shows would have been frequent in the sky during the Adams Event.

Aurora borealis and aurora australis, also known as the northern and southern lights, are caused by solar winds hitting the Earth's atmosphere.

Usually confined to the polar northern and southern parts of the globe, the colourful sights would have been widespread during the breakdown of Earth's magnetic field.

"Early humans around the world would have seen amazing auroras, shimmering veils and sheets across the sky," says Prof. Cooper.

Ionised air - which is a great conductor for electricity - would have also increased the frequency of electrical storms.

"It must have seemed like the end of days," says Prof. Cooper.

The researchers theorise that the dramatic environmental changes may have caused early humans to seek more shelter. This could explain the sudden appearance of cave art around the world roughly 42,000 years ago.

"We think that the sharp increases in UV levels, particularly during solar flares, would suddenly make caves very valuable shelters," says Prof. Cooper. "The common cave art motif of red ochre handprints may signal it was being used as sunscreen, a technique still used today by some groups.

"The amazing images created in the caves during this time have been preserved, while other art out in open areas has since eroded, making it appear that art suddenly starts 42,000 years ago."

Uncovering ancient clues

These findings come two years after a particularly important ancient kauri tree was uncovered at Ngāwhā, Northland.

The massive tree - with a trunk spanning over two and a half metres - was alive during the Laschamps.

"Like other entombed kauri logs, the wood of the Ngāwhā tree is so well preserved that the bark is still attached," says UNSW's Dr Jonathan Palmer, a specialist in dating tree-rings (dendrochronology). Dr Palmer studied cross sections of the trees at UNSW Science's Chronos 14Carbon-Cycle Facility.

Using radiocarbon dating - a technique to date ancient relics or events - the team tracked the changes in radiocarbon levels during the magnetic pole reversal. This data was charted alongside the trees' annual growth rings, which acts as an accurate, natural timestamp.

The new timescale helped reveal the picture of this dramatic period in Earth's history. The team were able to reconstruct the chain of environmental and extinction events using climate modelling.

"The more we looked at the data, the more everything pointed to 42," says Prof. Turney. "It was uncanny.

"Douglas Adams was clearly on to something, after all."

An accelerant like no other

While the magnetic poles often wander, some scientists are concerned about the current rapid movement of the north magnetic pole across the Northern Hemisphere.

"This speed - alongside the weakening of Earth's magnetic field by around nine per cent in the past 170 years - could indicate an upcoming reversal," says Prof. Cooper.

"If a similar event happened today, the consequences would be huge for modern society. Incoming cosmic radiation would destroy our electric power grids and satellite networks."

Prof. Turney says the human-induced climate crisis is catastrophic enough without throwing major solar changes or a pole reversal in the mix.

"Our atmosphere is already filled with carbon at levels never seen by humanity before," he says. "A magnetic pole reversal or extreme change in Sun activity would be unprecedented climate change accelerants.

"We urgently need to get carbon emissions down before such a random event happens again."

The incidence of surgical site infections after an operation is an important quality indicator for hospitals. An overview from six European countries published in 2017 documented increased costs and, in some cases, significantly poorer surgical outcomes due to SSIs. The European Center for Disease Control (ECDC) and authorities in the U.S. have therefore defined criteria for recording and documenting the rate of surgical site infections per procedure. Swissnoso has issued binding guidelines for Switzerland based on these criteria. The study investigated to what extent surgical site infection rates correlate with the audit results in Swiss hospitals.

Seek and you shall find: low SSI rates with low audit score

The study was able to establish a clear correlation between a low surgical site infection rate and the results from on-site surveillance quality audits (audit score). The better a hospital scored on the 50-point audit, the more infection cases had been detected or reported. This was true for all three surgeries studied (knee and hip implants as well as colorectal surgeries). According to the study's lead author Andrew Atkinson: "The study shows that the quality of the respective surveillance systems must be systematically considered when interpreting surgical site infections - and this independently of the type of surgery and infection rate."

What exactly was measured?

The study analyzed 81 957 hip and knee surgeries from 125 hospitals and 33 315 colorectal surgeries from 110 hospitals. At least two external audits per hospital were carried out to assess surveillance quality. The study was based on the Swissnoso guidelines. The detailed audit results were ranked in an overall score between 1 and 50. The audits were carried out by three specifically trained investigators.

Results in detail

The following values refer to the median of the results. The SSI rate for knee and hip implants was 1.0% with an audit score of 37. As expected the infection rate for colorectal surgery was much higher at 12.7% with a slightly higher audit score of 38. It appeared that higher infection rates correlated with higher audit scores. A discernible range of scores among hospital types could be observed, with private hospitals forming a cluster in the lower range of audit scores and infection rates.

How can a possible systematic error be corrected?

The research team makes a specific proposal for future evaluations and national comparisons of surgical site infection rates. A computational correction (normalization) and inclusion of the audit score are proposed for discussion. Prof. Jonas Marschall summarizes: "For the first time, this study provides us with a basis for rendering the number of infections more comparable and better understood throughout Switzerland. Now we have to work hard to establish regular comparisons among Swiss hospitals even more meaningful and the incentive to be at the forefront even greater."

Covid-19 has not made people any less concerned about climate change - despite the pandemic disrupting and dominating many aspects of their lives, a study suggests.

Over a period of 14 months - including the first three months of the Covid-19 lockdown - neither concern about climate change nor belief in the severity of the problem declined in the UK, the research found.

Researchers compared responses to the pandemic with the financial crisis of 2008 to better understand how worries and priorities can change in a crisis.

In contrast to the economic collapse of 2008, which led to reduced concern with environmental issues, the pandemic has not decreased people's belief in the severity of climate change.

The findings shed light on how a concept called the finite pool of worry applies to climate change. The theory proposes that there are only so many things a person can care about, and when a major crisis happens, some concerns are replaced by others. However, in this case climate change was not replaced by other issues, researchers say

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh surveyed 1,858 people in the UK in April 2019 and asked the same questions again in June 2020.

The survey included five questions to gauge people's beliefs about the reality of climate change, and four about how severe they think it is.

The results showed only small shifts in public opinion. Participants' answers to four of the five questions about the reality of human-caused climate change showed slightly increased concern since the onset of the pandemic.

Only one of the four questions about the seriousness of climate change showed a slight reduction, while the other responses showed no marked change in views.

The results suggest that climate change may now be a permanent part of people's concerns, the researchers say.

Dr Darrick Evensen, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Social and Political Science, said: "Following the financial crisis, it seemed that climate change was one thing that gave, and most people saw it as less of a problem. We are not seeing that same crowding out of climate change as an issue of concern now. This means heightened societal attention to climate change is here to stay."

Menopause is associated with several physiological changes, including loss of skeletal muscle mass. However, the mechanisms underlying muscle wasting are not clear. A new study conducted in collaboration between the universities of Minnesota (USA) and Jyväskylä (Finland) reveals that estrogen deficiency alters the microRNA signalling in skeletal muscle, which may activate signalling cascades leading to loss of muscle mass.

Menopause leads to an estrogen deficiency that is associated with decreases in skeletal muscle mass and strength. This is likely due to changes in both muscle function and the size of muscle cells commonly referred to as fibers.

"The mechanistic role of estrogen in the loss of muscle mass had not been established. In our study, we focused on signaling cascades in skeletal muscle that eventually lead to cell death," explains Academy of Finland postdoctoral researcher Sira Karvinen from the Gerontology Research Center, Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Finland.

One possible signaling route leading to cell death involves microRNA molecules. MicroRNA molecules regulate gene expression by inhibiting targeted protein synthesis. To date, several microRNAs have been found to regulate key steps in cell death pathways and hence may regulate the number of muscle cells.

"In our previous studies we have established estrogen responsive microRNAs in both blood and muscle of menopausal women," says the principal investigator, Academy research fellow Eija Laakkonen. "Now we investigated this observation in more detail by utilizing an animal model of low and high systemic estrogen levels provided by Professor Dawn Lowe's group working at the University of Minnesota."

The study revealed that estrogen deficiency downregulated several microRNAs linked to cell death pathways in muscle. This observation was associated with upregulation of cell death proteins.

"Thus, estrogen responsive micro-RNAs may share a mechanistic role in muscle wasting during menopause," says Karvinen. "One preventative strategy recommended is for women to engage in resistance training especially at middle-age to aid in maintaining muscle mass and power."

An international study in which the University of Granada participated--recently published in the journal Scientific Reports--has identified a new fossil record of these mysterious animals in the northeast of Taiwan (China), in marine sediments from the Miocene Age (between 23 and 5.3 million years ago)

These organisms, similar to today's Bobbit worm (Eunice aphroditois), were approximately 2 m long and 3 cm in diameter and lived in burrows

An international study in which the University of Granada (UGR) participated (recently published in the prestigious journal Scientific Reports) has revealed that the seafloor was inhabited by giant predatory worms during the Miocene Age (23-5.3 million years ago).

The scientists identified a new fossil record (indirect remains of animal activity such as, for instance, dinosaur tracks, fossilised droppings, insect nests, or burrows) linked to these mysterious animals, which are possible predecessors of today's Bobbit worm (Eunice aphroditois). Based on the reconstruction of giant burrows observed in Miocene-age marine sediments from northeast Taiwan (China), the researchers concluded that these trace fossils may have colonised the seafloor of the Eurasian continent about 20 million years ago.

Olmo Míguez Salas of the UGR's Department of Stratigraphy and Palaeontology (Ichnology and Palaeoenvironment Research Group) participated in the study, which was conducted as part of a project funded by the Taiwanese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST, 2018) of which the researcher was a beneficiary.

Míguez Salas and the other researchers reconstructed this new fossil record, which they have named Pennichnus formosae. It consists of an L-shaped burrow, approximately 2 m long and 2-3 cm in diameter, indicating the size and shape of the organism-- Eunice aphroditois--that made the structure.

Bobbit worms hide in long, narrow burrows in the seafloor and propel themselves upward to grab prey with their strong jaws. The authors suggest that the motion involved in capturing their prey and retreating into their burrow to digest it caused various alterations to the structure of the burrows. These alterations are conserved in the Pennichnus formosae and are indicative of the deformation of the sediment surrounding the upper part of the burrow. Detailed analysis revealed a high concentration of iron in this upper section, which may, the researchers believe, indicate that the worms continuously rebuilt the opening to the burrow by secreting a type of mucus to strengthen the wall, because bacteria that feed on this mucus create environments rich in iron.

Although marine invertebrates have existed since the early Paleozoic, their bodies primarily comprise soft tissue and are therefore rarely preserved. The fossil record discovered in this study is believed to be the earliest known specimen of a subsurface-dwelling ambush predator.

Olmo Míguez Salas notes that this finding "provides a rare view of the behaviour of these creatures under the seafloor and also highlights the value of studying fossil records to understand the behaviour of organisms from the past."

The distribution of vegetation is routinely used to classify climate regions worldwide, yet whether these regions are relevant to other organisms is unknown. Umeå researchers have established climate regions based on vertebrate species' distributions in a new study published in eLife. They found that while high-energy climate regions are similar across vertebrate and plant groups, there are large differences in temperate and cold climates.

Climate determines how life organises across the world. Understanding which climatic conditions drive important changes in ecosystems is crucial to understanding and predicting how life functions and evolves.

Human well-being critically depends on the vertebrate diversity, and yet we don't know enough about the climates that promote the organisation of these species. We know for instance that dry environments promote the generation of deserts, and humid and hot environments allow evergreen forests to thrive. But what conditions drive the distribution of vertebrates like mammals, frogs, birds and more?

"To fill this gap, we studied the climates driving the organisation of vertebrates on Earth. We developed a network-based approach that connects species to their preferred climatic conditions. Then, we searched for climatic conditions preferred by similar vertebrate species," explains main author Joaquín Calatayud former post doc at Integrated Science Lab, Umeå University, and today working at King Juan Carlos University in Spain.

With this approach, the authors presented the climate regions that define the distribution of vertebrates. Climates with high-energy, such as deserts, tropical savannas, and steppes, were found to be similar across different groups of vertebrates and plants. This was not the case for temperate and cold climates. Regions characterized by those climates differed across all groups. For instance, warm-blooded birds and mammals define regions of polar climates that are not observed in the case of cold-blooded amphibians and reptiles. This suggests that inhabiting these climates requires possessing specific climatic adaptations that have not appeared in all groups.

"Our results indicate that specific climate classifications are required to study the ecology, evolution, and conservation of specific groups of species," says Joaquín Calatayud.

This study can build the basis for a better understanding of climate-driven ecological and evolutionary processes, leading to better conservation strategies, the authors say.

"Do ecosystem functions or evolutionary processes vary among climate regions? Do climatic regions hold a similar conservation status? These are some of the questions that our results could help to answer."

Evidence that a sense of our physical selves can develop even without the sense of touch has been uncovered in a new study by researchers in the UK and the United States.

The research shows that if someone loses their sense of touch and 'proprioception' - their sense of body position - as an adult, they may learn compensatory skills using visual cues and conscious thought, or reasoning, to move their bodies.

Someone who has never had a sense of touch or proprioception, however, can find faster, unconscious ways of processing visual cues to move and orient themselves.

A team at the University of Birmingham collaborated with researchers at Bournemouth University and the University of Chicago on the study, published in Experimental Brain Research.

The team worked with two individuals - called Ian and Kim - who have had unique sensory experiences: Ian developed a complete loss of tactile sense and proprioception (sense of body position), together called somatosensation, below his neck after an autoimmune response to an illness as a teenager. Kim was born without somatosensation, lacking the sensory nerve fibres needed to feel her body.

The researchers were interested in learning how the human brain adapts to a loss of sensory information and how it might compensate if this information is not present in the first place.

"There are a lot of questions about how we form a sense of the body and of the self," said Peggy Mason, Professor of Neurobiology at the University of Chicago. "Body and self are very integrated, and your sense of your physical self is present when you close your eyes -- but without a sense of touch or proprioception, it really wouldn't be.

"Kim has a unique condition, where she is operating on vision, hearing, and the vestibular system. She doesn't have touch or proprioception and never has. Ian is in a very different situation, because he had these senses and lost them. We were interested in whether or not a person can take visual information that's not involved in visual perception and feed it into some place in the brain that is responsible for generating a sense of your body. Essentially, can you use that to have a sense of the body when you're seeing it?"

For the study, Kim and Ian came into the lab at the University of Birmingham, along with age-matched control subjects, to participate in a number of experiments designed to assess both their mental image of their bodies as well as their unconscious sense of their bodies in space.
These included reporting on the shape and size of their hands by moving a cursor on a screen to locate landmarks like fingertips and knuckles, and estimating their 'reach' distance (the length of their arm).

The study found a number of similarities and, intriguingly, differences in how Kim and Ian performed in the experiments. In the hand experiment, for example, Kim's estimation of her hand shape and size was close to the control group's, being wider and shorter than her actual hand, whereas Ian's was much more accurate.

Lead researcher, Chris Miall, Professor of Motor Neuroscience at the University of Birmingham, says: "We think the differences between Ian's and Kim's responses relate to the visual control that both of them use to navigate their environment. For Ian, this is a very conscious process and he has learned to use visual cues to continually evaluate and monitor that environment. For Kim the process is much more unconscious. She still uses the visual information, but in a more instinctive and intuitive way."

Co-author Jonathan Cole, Professor of Clinical Neurophysiology at Bournemouth University, adds: "You and I have habits and skills that are not conscious, but Ian has to think about movement the whole time."

These results indicate that if someone loses their sense of touch and proprioception as an adult, they may be able to learn compensatory skills, using visual input and conscious thought to move their bodies.
However, a person who never experiences somatosensation may be able to develop mechanisms to bypass the lack of sensation and instead use unconsciously processed visual information to exert motor control.

"What we can learn from this is that you might not do it in the way that others do it, but you will find a way to make a body schema," said Mason. "You will find a way to make a sense of yourself. Kim has found a way. It's not the way that you or I do it, or the way that anyone else on earth might do it, but it's absolutely critical to have that sense of self. You have to be located somewhere. We're not brains in vats!"