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By Lucy T Pirkle from the Department of Brain Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, UK It’s essential that today’s politicians and decision makers recognize the many and severe risks that the climate crisis poses not just for our physical health, but also for our mental wellbeing. Unfortunately, at least in the UK, politicians so far have demonstrated little awareness of the direct and indirect links between climate and mental health....

The first study of why people struggle to solve statistical problems reveals a preference for complicated rather than simpler, more intuitive solutions: Frontiers in Psychology The first study of why people struggle to solve statistical problems reveals a preference for complicated rather than simpler, more intuitive solutions — By Freya Wilson, Frontiers science writer Unfavorable methods of teaching statistics in schools and universities may be to blame for people ignoring simple solutions to statistical problems, making them hard to solve....

Frontiers’response to the call for public feedback on the Guidance on the Implementation of Plan S Launched in September 2018, Plan S is an Open Access publishing initiative supported by cOAlition S, an international consortium of research funders. Plan S requires that, from 2020, scientific publications that result from research funded by public grants must be published in compliant Open Access journals or platforms. Our mission at Frontiers is to make research results openly available to the world, thereby accelerating scientific and technical innovation, social progress and economic growth....

Kamila Markram shortlisted for European Union Prize for Women Innovators – an award to showcase female entrepreneurs and women in research. Kamila Markram has been shortlisted for this year’s European Union Prize for Women Innovators – an award spearheading a drive to showcase female entrepreneurs and boost awareness of the important role and contribution of women in research. Dr Markram is a finalist for this prize for her work in co-founding and building Frontiers, an open-access academic publisher based in Lausanne, Switzerland....

As governments worldwide announce school closures in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, it is important parents and teachers seek out fresh and pioneering new ways to keep young minds learning and stimulated during months of restricted movement ahead. Frontiers for Young Minds is an open-access journal written by some of the world’s foremost scientists, specifically for young people. As governments worldwide announce school closures in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, it is important parents and teachers seek out fresh and pioneering new ways to keep young minds learning and stimulated in the months ahead....

A comprehensive analysis fossilized mesosaurus bones suggests juveniles spent most of their time in water but adults were only semi-aquatic: Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution A comprehensive analysis of fossilized Mesosaurus bones reveals mature specimens have similar anatomical features to terrestrial animals — By Tania Fitzgeorge-Balfour, science writer The oldest-known aquatic reptiles, the mesosaurs, probably spent part of their life on land, reveals a new study published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution....

Scientists have developed a new AI tool that can screen children for fetal alcohol spectrum disorder quickly and affordably: Frontiers in Neurology Tool leverages computer vision and machine learning to screenings in low-resource environments — by University of Southern California, USA Scientists at the University of Southern California (USC), Queen’s University (Ontario) and Duke University have developed a new tool that can screen children for fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) quickly and affordably, making it accessible to more children in remote locations worldwide....

The minimum protein requirement for healthy adults was set almost 15 years ago but is it sufficient for older persons? The minimum protein requirement for healthy adults has been set almost 15 years ago but there is a growing body of evidence that this recommended dietary allowance (RDA) is not sufficient for older persons. — By Hedwig Ens You can find the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) on the nutrition labels of all your processed food....

A decisive step towards simulating brain-scale networks on future supercomputers also significantly speeds up simulations on existing supercomputers: Frontiers in Neuroinformatics The new algorithm is a decisive step towards creating the technology to achieve simulations of brain-scale networks on future supercomputers of the exascale class — and also significantly speeds up brain simulations on existing supercomputers. — Jülich Research Centre and JARA Jülich, Germany The human brain is an organ of incredible complexity, composed of 100 billion interconnected nerve cells....

By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer Lumbriculus variegatus blackworms can aggregate into ‘blobs’ capable of collective movement. Researchers observed blackworms to model the behavior of individual worms, as well as the formation and movement of blobs. They showed that effective collective movement can only emerge when there is a balance between ‘clinginess’ and independent movement. These results may serve as a model to study other systems with emergent properties, such as nets of biopolymers....

The results of synthesis study suggest that primary production in some regions of the ocean may be an order of magnitude greater than originally predicted: Frontiers in Marine Science Researchers used historical scientific studies, along with contemporary observations employing autonomous floats and robotic vehicles, to demonstrate that phytoplankton blooms occur under Arctic Ocean sea ice. Previously, scientists had assumed that was impossible due to low-light conditions, particularly when ice cover was thicker before climate change....

By Suzanna Burgelman, Frontiers science writer Researchers have found that California’s forest carbon buffer pool, designed to ensure the durability of the state’s multi-billion-dollar carbon offset program, is severely undercapitalized. The results show that, within the offset program’s first 10 years, estimated carbon losses from wildfires have depleted at least 95% of the contributions set aside to protect against all fire risks over 100 years. This means that the buffer pool is unable to guarantee that credited forest carbon remains out of the atmosphere for at least 100 years....

By Colm Gorey, Science Communications Manager In an ever-changing field of research such as neural circuits, it can be difficult to keep up with the latest breakthroughs. Now at Frontiers, we highlight just three of the latest research articles to shed more light on how the mind works. The human brain continues to fascinate us, but still hides many mysteries that scientists aim to solve. Among the most studied aspects of the brain is its vast array of neural circuits which carry out a variety of crucial everyday functions in the body, and has inspired computer scientists to build powerful AI systems using artificial neural circuits....

Two joint papers demonstrate that administering oxygen can help premature babies breathe independently sooner: Frontiers in Pediatrics — by Michael Becker, Frontiers Science Writer Getting premature babies to breathe without assistance has always been a stressful mission for doctors. But by carefully ventilating babies with 100% oxygen researchers have found a way to jump-start these first independent moments. The Effect of Initial High vs. Low FiO2 on Breathing Effort in Preterm Infants at Birth: A Randomized Controlled Trial► Read original article► Download original article (pdf)...

Playing with your food can be a great way to really digest scientific concepts (Bottom left image: Jstuby) Note: This blog post was originally published as a blog on Scientific American (http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/frontiers-for-young-minds/even-scientists-play-with-their-food/) Have you ever been told not to play with your food? Perhaps been told that it isn’t polite or disrespects the other people at the table? I have a confession: sometimes I play with my food. I can’t help it!...

We are delighted to announce that the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (University of Würzburg) has established an institutional agreement for open access publishing with Frontiers. The University of Würzburg supports its researchers in making their research more widely available. As part of this support, it covers part of the article processing charges (APCs) via its Open Access Publishing Fund, and it has now entered an institutional membership agreement with Frontiers whereby eligible authors may publish in any Frontiers journal with a simplified process and a discount on APCs....

Get the Frontiers’ Editorial Office picks of top research published in Frontiers in Immunology Stay up-to-date with top Immunology research Are you up to speed on the top research being published in Frontiers in Immunology? Featured Article Want to know more about the molecular links between the onset of inflammation and its resolution? Read the article Resolution of Inflammation: What Controls Its Onset? This paper is part of the article collection Regulation of inflammation, its resolution and therapeutic targeting hosted by:...

The open access journal aims to bring together drug and alcohol abuse scientists and clinicians from across the globe. The International Drug Abuse Research Society (IDARS) and the International Narcotics Research Conference (INRC) are collaborating in partnership with Frontiers on a new journal: Advances in Drug and Alcohol Research (ADAR). With the support of these two influential organizations, the journal will launch in April 2021 on Frontiers’ Publishing Partnerships platform. The journal aims to bring together drug and alcohol abuse scientists and clinicians from across the globe to share and discuss the current state of knowledge, challenges, and the future of drug addiction that continues to be a global problem....

Extinct herbivorous megafauna — like woolly rhinos, giant sloths and mammoths — were displaced by humans who partly took their place in the ecosystem: Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution Extinct herbivorous megafauna — like woolly rhinoceroses, giant sloths and mammoths — were displaced by humans who partly took their place in the ecosystem — By Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung (Senckenberg Nature Research Society) A study of the extinction around 12,000 years ago of mega-herbivores — plant-eating animals that weighed more than one ton — concludes that, one the one hand, modern humans were the cause of these giant terrestrial animals’ extinction, and on the other hand, humans took over part of the animals’ ecosystem functions....

Catch up with the most viewed articles from Frontiers in Physiology this July. All are Open Access – enjoy! Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)MoreClick to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)...