Humans’ unique laziness when it comes to interacting on social media could be the key to telling us apart from artificially intelligent ‘bots’, a new study shows. US researchers have identified behavioural trends of humans on Twitter that are absent in social media bots – namely a decrease in tweet length over time. The team … Read more
Trials of a vaccine that could protect against the coronavirus are set to begin in the UK. Work on the vaccine, developed by clinical teams at the Oxford University’s Jenner Institute and Oxford Vaccine Group, began in January. Now a study involving up to 510 healthy volunteers between 18 and 55 is to get started. … Read more
Hopes of eliminating the coronavirus were raised today after leading British experts revealed trials of a vaccine would begin on humans next week. Oxford University scientists are confident they can get jab for the incurable disease rolled out for millions to use by autumn. Tests of the experimental jab on different animals have shown promise … Read more
Stray dogs may have been the ‘intermediary animal’ that spread coronavirus from bats to humans — rather than pangolins, as previously thought — a study claimed. Understanding how coronavirus came to infect humans is vital for discerning how the virus works — and for concocting vaccines and treatments to stop its spread. Canadian researchers who analysed … Read more
Cats can become infected with the new coronavirus but dogs appear not to be vulnerable, according to a new study, prompting the WHO to say it will take a closer look at transmission of the virus between humans and pets. The study, published on the website of the journal Science on Wednesday, found that ferrets … Read more
Humans were cultivating crops in the Bolivian Amazon basin more than 10,000 years ago, a study has found. Thousands of ‘forest islands’ were formed when humans discarded food waste in heaps and, over millennia, these developed into vast mounds rich in nutrients. Trees eventually flourished on these islands, which sit several metres above the surrounding … Read more
A WILDLIFE MARKET IN WUHAN The most common theory is that the virus leaped to humans from animals – specifically bats – in a live animal market in Wuhan. A menagerie of live animals including koalas, rats and wolf pups were available at the Huanan Seafood Market in central Wuhan – the outbreak’s epicentre. The … Read more
People are more likely to snack faster when someone else is around because humans are hardwired with a ‘forager mentality’ Humans snack on small portions more frequently in the presence of food rivals Social animals adapt to signs of food competition – and humans are no different The behaviour could be an evolutionary trait to … Read more
Coronavirus may have been circulating among people for years or even decades before it became the deadly pandemic that’s killed more than 36,000 people worldwide, a new study suggests. An international team of scientists traced the evolution of the virus and proposed two possible origin stories for it. One was that it might have developed … Read more
It’s not just humans: Female animals live longer than males by an average of 18.6 per cent – a bigger gap than between men and women Researchers studied 101 different mammal species covering 134 populations This included examining the demographics of bats, lions, orcas and gorillas They found that most female mammals live longer … Read more