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Alzheimer's disease. Series of coloured computed tomography (CT) scans of an axial section through the head of a 74-year-old patient with Alzheimer's disease. The front of the brain (brown) is at the top. Alzheimer's is a neurodegenerative disease and a common cause of dementia in the elderly. It causes brain atrophy (decrease in size), shown here by the enlarged ventricle cavities (white, at centre of brain) and the widened pale blue regions. The brain shrinkage caused by Alzheimer's disease leads to memory loss, confusion, personality changes and ultimately death. The cause of Alzheimer's disease is not known and there is no cure.

Treating Alzheimer's as having many causes may help us beat it

3 November 2021

We have focused on the same suspected cause of Alzheimer's for too long. Thinking of it as resulting from multiple overlapping risk factors gives us an opportunity to fight back

Tractor spraying pesticides on soybean field with sprayer at spring; Shutterstock ID 692043769; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

Is it true that use of synthetic fertiliser is increasing everywhere?

3 November 2021

Frequent reports decrying our ever-growing use of synthetic fertilisers don’t reflect reality and fail to see the bigger picture, writes James Wong

At the newly opened Toddler Lab at Birkbeck, University of London, a new technique for imaging the brain using infrared light means we are starting to understand how young children learn to plan complex goals. The lab utilises functional near-infrared spectroscopy or fNIRS and motion capture gloves to measure how children learn to plan and achieve goals. Pictured: Finn

A new kind of brain scan is letting us understand how toddlers think

3 November 2021

Technological advances mean that we can finally tackle an age-old question: what's going on in the minds of children?

Red feathers determine which common waxbill is the boss

3 November 2021

For a songbird called the common waxbill, dominance isn't governed by body size, intelligence, or even temperament, but by the intensity of the colours in their chest feathers

horned adder (Bitis caudalis), photographed in Namibia

Vipers evolved either nose or eye horns depending on their habitat

2 November 2021

The horns on vipers’ eyes could help camouflage their head in rocky areas or trees, while those with nose horns may blend in better on forest floors

Scotch whisky-makers rely on peat smoke – but it's a climate concern

2 November 2021

The UK’s peatlands store vast amounts of carbon and need protecting – but is that compatible with the traditional use of peat smoke as a flavouring in whisky-making?

COP26: Why India's 2070 net-zero pledge is better news than it sounds

2 November 2021

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi said at the COP26 summit that the country will hit net-zero emissions by 2070. Although this is later than many other nations, the pledge means that the world's major emitters now all have an end in sight for fossil...

2E3TB2E Soy plantation in Amazon rainforest near Santarem - deforestation for the agribusiness - economic development creating environmental degradation - isolated Brazil nut trees sentenced to death. Opening of a road where before there was a forest.

Over 100 countries at COP26 pledge to end deforestation by 2030

1 November 2021

The declaration on deforestation comes alongside £14 billion of new funding to combat forest loss over five years

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover tests new way to search for alien life

1 November 2021

The search for life on Mars requires complex chemical analysis, which the Curiosity rover has tested for the first time. It didn't find anything, but the technique could be used on other worlds

Brain implants boost ability to think flexibly and shake anxiety

1 November 2021

Electrically stimulating a region within the centre of the brain helped people with pre-existing brain implants to adapt to changing goals and improve their well-being, pointing to a method for personalised treatment