Author archives: Invited Researcher

Biogenic amines (BAs) are nitrogenous compounds formed primarily by microbial decarboxylation of amino acids. In food products, they can accumulate to levels that pose health risks, including histamine poisoning and hypertensive crises due to tyramine ingestion . Fermented foods, particularly cheeses, are significant sources of BAs due to their complex microbial consortia and the metabolic […]

Animal cafés are places where customers can enjoy food and drinks while interacting with animals such as cats, rabbits, or dogs. These cafés have become popular in many Asian cities, especially where apartments are small and the cost of living is high, making it difficult for young adults to own pets. In Europe, animal cafés […]

When Georg Ohm wired up pieces of copper in 1827, he struck a rule so robust that it still underpins every phone and supercomputer on Earth: double the current, double the voltage. Simple, linear, universal—or so we thought. Over the past decade physicists have discovered that this bedrock principle crumbles the moment a crystal loses […]

In 2023, over 310 million tons of plastics were produced globally, and this volume is projected to reach 710 million tons by 2040 . This extensive use, at the domestic, tourism, industrial, and fishing levels, combined with inadequate waste management, has led to the rapid accumulation of plastics in our environment, making them a widespread […]

Authors: Davide Foffa, Research Fellow in Palaeobiology, University of Birmingham; Alfio Alessandro Chiarenza, Royal Society Newton International Fellow in Palaeontology, UCL, and Emma Dunne, Assistant Professor in Paleobiology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg Ever since the first fragments of pterosaur bone surfaced nearly 250 years ago, palaeontologists have puzzled over one question: how did these close cousins of […]

DNA sequencing is getting cheaper than ever. This, coupled with advances in speed and portability, are allowing us to apply deep sequencing beyond the lab to environmental substrates, and analyse this eDNA to gain information and monitor biodiversity at a time where it is being lost at an unprecedented rate. This environmental DNA can be […]

Authors: Anna Jon-And, Director of Centre for Cultural Evolution, Senior Lecturer in Portuguese, Stockholm University and Johan Lind, Senior Associate Professor in Ethology, Linköping University Why do humans have language and other animals apparently don’t? It’s one of the most enduring questions in the study of mind and communication. Across all cultures, humans use richly […]

Authors: Alejandro Gómez Pazo, Profesor Ayudante Doctor. Departamento de Geografía y Geología, Universidad de León; Marc Oliva, Profesor, Departamento de Geografía, Universitat de Barcelona, and Xosé Lois Otero Pérez, Catedrático del Centro Singular CRETUS. Departamento de Edafoloxía e Química Agrícola, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela For most of us, first-hand knowledge of Greenland is probably […]

Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable hematological malignancy characterized by clonal expansion of plasma cells in the bone marrow (BM) . Nearly 90% of myeloma patients suffer from skeletal-related events during the course of the disease that not only affect the quality of life but also their overall survival . Myeloma-associated bone disease (MBD) is […]

Author: Jeremiah Bartz, Associate Professor of Mathematics, University of North Dakota A shard of smooth bone etched with irregular marks dating back 20,000 years puzzled archaeologists until they noticed something unique – the etchings, lines like tally marks, may have represented prime numbers. Similarly, a clay tablet from 1800 B.C.E. inscribed with Babylonian numbers describes […]