The Week UK 11.08.2019

Health &Science NEWS 21

10 August 2019 THE WEEK

What the scientists are saying...

Kids don’t love rural life
Climbing trees, building dens,
hunting for tadpoles... the
countryside is bliss for children.
Or at least that’s what many
parents think. But it seems
their children aren’t as sold
on rural life. When scientists
showed 251 children and their
parents images of natural and
urban environments, and
asked them to rate them for
attractiveness, the grown-ups
favoured the country scenes,
but the children, who were
all under 11, consistently
preferred the city ones. “This
was surprising to us,” said
Marc G. Berman of the
University of Chicago. He
acknowledged that the study was lab-based and
small, but if the findings are replicated, it would
suggest that our love of nature is learned, and
not hardwired. On the other hand, there is
plenty of evidence that exposure to the natural
world is good for us–leading to lower levels of
stress and ADHD–and in this study,aparental
survey foundaclose association between
countryside living and better concentration
levels, regardless of the children’s preference.
“Kids don’t haveagreat intuition of what is
good for them, and we should encourage them
to be in nature, even if they don’t want to,” said
the study’s co-author, Kimberly L. Meidenbauer.

The hottest years were all this century
The UK’s ten hottest years on record have all
occurred since 2002, according toaMet Office
report published two days after the UK recorded
its highest-ever temperature. It also found that
the coldest years all occurred before 1964 (and
half were in the 19th century). “The world has
warmed 1°C since pre-industrial times, meaning
that hot years are the new normal,” Dr Michael
Byrne from the University of St Andrews told
The Guardian. “Not only is the UK getting
warmer, but also wetter, with 13% more
summer rain compared to last century. With
global emissions of greenhouse gases on the rise,

the UK will continue to get

warmer and wetter as global

warming accelerates.”

Brain-to-text translation

Neuroscientists are getting

closer to being able to translate

people’s thoughts into text in

real time. For the latest

experiments,ateam in

California recruited three

epilepsy patients, who had had

electrodes implanted into their

brains to monitor their seizures,

and recorded their brain

activity while they were asked

aset of questions, and read a

larger set of responses. The

researchers then trained a

computer to link the

pronunciation of these phrases to the brain

activity. Once trained, the software was able to

work out, almost instantly, whatapatient said,

and what they heard, from the brain activity

alone, with an accuracy rate of 60% and 76%

respectively–far higher than could be expected

from chance. The work is being part-funded by

Facebook Reality Labs, which hopes one day to

produce non-invasive, wearable brain-to-text

translators; in the shorter term, such technology

might help patients with locked-in syndrome or

neurodegenerative diseases to express themselves.

Alphabet’s life-saving algorithm

Tens of thousands of lives could be saved each

year by artificial intelligence technology that can

predict acute kidney injury (AKI) up to two days

before it’s likely to be diagnosed by doctors.

AKI, which is often the result of dehydration,

affects 100,000 peopleayear in the UK. If

caught early enough, it can often be treated –

but it is hard to spot. Now, by analysing the

medical records of thousands of US army

veterans, DeepMind (which is owned by

Google’s parent company Alphabet) has devised

an algorithm that can identify nearly 60% of

patients who will get AKI. At the same time, it is

working on an app that will alert medical staff

when their patients are deemed to be at risk.

Would he rather be in the city?

Thousands at

risk from

Lyme disease

Cases of Lyme disease–a

tick-borne infection with

flu-like symptoms that can

lead to permanent nerve

and joint damage if left

untreated–have soared

in the UK,anew study has

found. Medical statisticians

analysed GP records for

around eight million

people, and concluded that

cases of Lyme disease rose

almost eightfold between

2001 and 2012. In their

report in BMJ Open, they

estimate that in 2012, more

than 7,700 people were

infected.Aquarter of the

cases were in Scotland, but

the disease was found all

over the UK. GPs being

more vigilant would help

explain the rise, but climate

change is also likely to be

afactor. “Warmer, wetter

climates are where ticks

thrive,” said study author

Dr Victoria Cairns.

Atelltale sign of infection

is abullseye-shaped rash

that appears around the

bite up to three months

after it occurred, but not

everyone with the disease

gets the rash. Some people

may just feel inexplicably

tired and achey. As there is

no vaccine, walkers should

try to avoid the spider-like

creatures–by, for instance,

sticking to paths, wearing

long sleeves, tucking

trousers into socks, and

wearing light-coloured

clothes so ticks are easier

to spot and brush off. After

awalk, they should check

their bodies for ticks,

paying careful attention to

the groin, any folds of skin,

and the backs of the knees.

Pharmacists sell tick-

removing tools, or you

can use tweezers: grasp

the creatures as close to the

skin as possible, and pull

slowly upwards (taking

care not to crush or twist

the tick). Swift removal is

key, as the ticks can only

pass on the infection to

ahuman if they remain

attached foraday or two.

After months of record temperatures, Greenland’s ice

sheet is melting so fast that it shed 11 billion tonnes of

surface ice in just one day last week. That’s enough to

fill 4.4 million Olympic swimming pools. And over the

course of July, it lost more than 180 billion tonnes,

enough to raise global sea levels by 0.5mm, according

to the Danish Meteorological Institute, and three times

more than in an average July. Greenland’s ice sheet,

the second-biggest in the world, usually melts in the

summer months, but this year it started earlier than

normal; and with the hot air that caused the heatwave

in Europe last week now hovering over the Arctic, it

has been estimated that half of the ice sheet that covers 80% of the country is melting.

Along the coast of eastern Greenland, temperatures in mid-June were as much as 9°C above the

1981-2010 average, said The Independent, and by July even the highest and coldest areas, which

normally average -10°C in the summer, were above zero. This July was the warmest globally on

record; in the Arctic, there have been unprecedented wildfires, which scientists believe have been

facilitated by the warm weather.

Greenland loses 11 billion tonnes of ice in one day