New Scientist - USA (2019-11-16)

(Antfer) #1
16 November 2019 | New Scientist | 11

Human development Conservation


Layal Liverpool Elle Hunt


BABIES are reassured by the
presence of their mother’s scent,
according to research that looked
at how their brains respond to fear.
The idea that a familiar scent can
soothe infants isn’t new. “Some
midwives tell new mums to put a
worn T-shirt in the crib with their
baby,” says Sarah Jessen at the
University of Lübeck in Germany.
To investigate whether this
works, Jessen presented photos of
happy and fearful facial expressions
to 7-month-old babies – the age
by which the fear response has
developed. Each of the 76 infants
viewed the photos while being
exposed to either the familiar smell
of their mother, a stranger’s odour
or no specific odour. Jessen also
measured electrical signals in the
babies’ brains using an EEG cap.
Before the experiment, all the
babies’ mothers were given a cotton
T-shirt, which they slept in for three
consecutive nights. The mothers
could use their normal shampoo,
soap and deodorant but were asked
not to use any new products.
Seeing photographs of fearful
facial expressions usually induces
a fear response in babies, which
includes a specific pattern of
electrical activity in their brains.
Jessen found that those who could
smell their mother didn’t have
this pattern, but those who were
exposed to a stranger’s odour
or no specific odour did (bioRxiv,
doi.org/ddzf).
These results suggest a baby’s
experiences, including of smell, can
influence fear processing in their
brain. Jessen says she wants to
investigate whether babies have
a similar response to their father’s
scent or to the scent of other people
who they spend time with.
Karla Holmboe at the University
of Oxford says research like this
helps us understand how babies
perceive the world and what
influences their development. ❚


Babies are less


afraid when they can


smell their mothers


AFTER weeks of intense
campaigning, New Zealand has
announced its 2019 bird of the
year: the yellow-eyed penguin.
Known as the hoiho in Maori,
the bird emerged victorious
after a nail-biting final weekend
of voting that saw it neck-and-
neck with the kakapo, a large
flightless parrot. With 12,
votes of the total 43,460, the
penguin is the first seabird
species to come out on top in
14 years of the competition.
Team Hoiho benefited
from an active social media
campaign, as well as a strategic
voting alliance between
the supporters of the three
other native penguin species
in the running.
“What we wanted to do
was engage everyday New
Zealanders, to hook people with
the funny memes, then slip in
the educational information,”
says Mel Young, part of the
hoiho campaign team. “We’re
really proud that we’ve been
able to put a penguin at the top.”
The national poll is held
annually by conservation
organisation Forest & Bird.
Past votes have been derailed
by mass automated voting and

other dubious activity. Last year,
300 votes were received from
one IP address for the shag, a
species of cormorant, while in
2015, two Auckland teenagers
used their parents’ business
software to generate fake emails
to cast votes for the kōkako.
But this year’s election was
“totally clean”, says Megan
Hubscher of Forest & Bird,
following the introduction
of a new voting system,
improved online security and
independent data scrutineers.

Hubscher said the yellow-
eyed penguin’s victory was
particularly meaningful given
that the species is at its lowest
ever numbers, due to threats
such as being caught in fishing
nets, sightseers disturbing nests
and climate change.
Yellow-eyed penguins
are classed as endangered,
with the majority of the
1700 breeding pairs residing
in the Auckland and Campbell
Islands. On mainland New

Zealand, nest numbers dropped
to just 162 this year.
A lower-quality and less-
diverse diet, due to a diminished
marine ecosystem, is also
thought to be a factor in the
bird’s struggles, says Phil Seddon
at the University of Otago in
New Zealand. “We’re seeing this
ongoing decline that suggests
there has been a fundamental
change in the population and
its ability to bounce back.”
A recent plan for the
penguin’s conservation drafted
by the national Department
of Conservation has been
widely criticised for its lack of
measurable outcomes. Seddon
says past efforts to protect the
marine habitats of the South
Island had been too piecemeal,
and better planning is needed
to balance commercial fishing
activity with species survival.
The Bird of the Year
competition did a “fantastic”
job in highlighting such issues,
he says, although awareness
only goes so far. “What would be
good is if some benefactor could
come forward and say, ‘For the
Bird of the Year winner, here’s
a chunk of money that goes
towards its conservation’.”
Neighbouring Australia is
also naming its Bird of the Year
this week after reaching a final
shortlist of 10 species and
removing 4000 suspicious
votes. When New Scientist
went to press, the endangered
black-throated finch was
the favourite to win. The
bird’s cause was taken up
by campaigners against the
Adani coal mine proposed
in central Queensland, the site
of its dwindling population. ❚

Yellow-eyed penguin


crowned bird of the year


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The yellow-eyed penguin
proved more popular
than the kakapo

43,
people voted in New Zealand’s
Bird of the Year 2019 poll
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