✔️ The A&P Professor Science & Education Updates - Issue #115

Life Science

Each time we stop to smell the roses, we should thank our sense of smell (olfaction) that allows us to detect airborne chemicals (odors) from the environment. Olfaction is one of the ancient senses used by animals to monitor the external environment.

Bacteria-killing viruses can be used to treat antibiotic-resistant superbugs, and the approach has been tried in more than 100 people in Belgium since a 2019 change in regulations

Insulin to treat diabetes, the slide rule and the birthdays of Gregor Mendel and Louis Pasteur make the list

Children who had a COVID-19 infection have a higher risk for developing diabetes compared with those who did not contract COVID-19, according to study findings published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.In an analysis of more than 2 million children in two U.S. medical claims databases, diabetes incidence rates were greater for children and adolescents who had COVID-19 from March 1, 2020,

Scientific American is the essential guide to the most awe-inspiring advances in science and technology, explaining how they change our understanding of the world and shape our lives.

Termites need certain gut bacteria to digest wood. Aphids require the bacteria Buchnera to provide essential amino acids. Many microbes affect host traits related to survival and reproduction.

But how exactly the microbiome might shape evolution is a mystery. The bacterial species wriggling inside a host can vary radically from generation to generation, meaning natural selection for the most beneficial microbes might not be effective.

Nevertheless, the microbiome can in fact play a big role in evolution, particularly when it comes to increasing long-term host fitness, according to a recent study in Nature Ecology & Evolution.

When children suffer malnutrition, their gut microbiomes suffer as well. Although malnourished children gain some weight and grow better when fed a nutrient-rich supplement, they fail to catch up to their well-fed counterparts. Their gut microbiomes also fail to recover.

Fecal samples suggest urban wildlife have picked up microorganisms from city-dwelling people

A report by activists found that half of debunked online disinformation targeting three prominent scientists remains live and unlabelled.

Teaching & Learning

The analysis of the findings in the current study indicates that the use of extra credit in an introductory course can have a positive impact on student learning as measured by course exams. The results appear to support a correlation between the amount of extra credit earned and student’s scores on the exams.

Electrical stimulation improves verbal memory for those with responsive neurostimulation implants when activated during certain memory tasks.

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