NEWS 19
Sex is a risky business for male members of
the orb-weaving spider genus Philoponella
prominens. The female is much larger than
the male, and after sex, she will eat him –
unless he escapes by immediately springing
away from her. The tiny spiders perform
this manoeuvre too fast for the human
eye to see, but now, using high-resolution
cameras, a team in China has managed to
analyse their life-saving leaps.
The scientists discovered that the spiders
prepare for the leap by folding their front
legs against the female. When they are ready
to go, they unfold their legs and the build-up
of hydraulic pressure enables them to spring
away, spinning through the air at speeds close to 88cm per second. That is the
equivalent of a 1.8 metre-tall (5ft 10in) man catapulting himself 530 metres in a
second. A “safety line” they have attached to the female’s web ensures they don’t fly
too far; it also enables them to crawl back to have sex again. The spiders went back to
their mates up to six times, though each time, they were dicing with death. In three of
the 155 matings observed, the male failed to spring away; all three were eaten.Health & Science
7 May 2022 THE WEEKChildren can’t help daydreaming
It’s no secret that children sometimes drift
off during lessons; but according to a new
study, they may be spending a quarter of
their time in class daydreaming, affecting
their ability to learn. Researchers at
Queen’s University Belfast played 97
children aged six to 11 a story set in
ancient Egypt, and every two minutes,
asked them what they were thinking
about. They found that girls and boys
across the age groups typically admitted
that their minds had wandered about a
quarter of the time (although there were
outliers: one boy had lost focus 83% of
the time). The daydreamers said they were
thinking about the rain, Harry Potter,
sweets, football and TikTok, among other
things. Afterwards, the children were asked
questions about the story – what they
could remember of it, and whether they’d
found it interesting. It emerged that those
who were less interested had daydreamed
more, and those who’d daydreamed more
could remember less. The study authors
say children can’t help daydreaming and
that the subject warrants more research.
“The more we can learn about mind-
wandering in the classroom, the better we
can design our teaching strategies and
educational spaces to optimise engagement.”
Covid patients still ill a year later
Fewer than a third of people who were
hospitalised with Covid-19 in the first 12
months of the pandemic had made a full
recovery a year later, a new study has
suggested. Women, obese patients and
those who had been put on a ventilator
were the most likely still to be suffering,
reports The Guardian. “Given that
more than 750,000 people have been
hospitalised in the UK with Covid-
over the past two years, it is clear from
our research that the legacy of this disease
is going to be huge,” said study co-author
Dr Rachael Evans. The research involved
2,300 patients who were discharged from
39 NHS hospitals between March 2020
and April 2021. They were assessed twice,
once at five months after discharge, and
once at 12 months (though only 804 made
it through to the second assessment). After
five months, only 26% had made a full
recovery, rising to 29% at the 12-month
visit. The most common reported
symptoms included fatigue, muscle pain,
poor sleep and breathlessness. Blood tests
revealed that many of those reporting
ongoing symptoms were suffering from
persistent inflammation.Cancer “fingerprints” found
An analysis of the DNA of thousands of
tumours has provided scientists with a
“treasure trove” of new clues about the
causes of cancer. Researchers at theUniversity of Cambridge examined the
complete genome sequence of more than
12,000 cancer patients, which, they said,
gave them a “picture of all the mutations
that have contributed to each person’s
cancer”. By searching for “commonalities
and differences” across these patients, they
were able to detect 58 new patterns known
as mutational signatures. These “are like
fingerprints at a crime scene – they help
to pinpoint cancer culprits”, said study
co-author Prof Serena Nik-Zainal. And
some of them, she added, may highlight
abnormalities that can be targeted with
particular drugs, or indicate an “Achilles’
heel” in individual cancers. The team said
their findings could pave the way for more
personalised cancer care.An on-demand contraceptive pill
For the contraceptive pill to work, women
must remember to take it every day –
either for 21 days in 28, or continuously,
depending on the type. And according to
surveys, a large minority often forget.
Now, though, researchers in the US say
they have identified a “promising
candidate” for an “on-demand”
contraceptive, that women would only
have to take just before having sex. The
drug combines ulipristal acetate, a
morning-after pill, which delays or
prevents the release of the egg, with the
anti-inflammatory drug meloxicam.
Although used to treat conditions such as
arthritis, meloxicam has been shown to
disrupt ovulation. In a study, the combined
drug was given to nine women in the days
leading up to menstruation, when fertility
is at its peak. It disrupted ovulation in six
of them, and in all but one case, some
criteria for incomplete ovulation were met.
The team now hopes to test its safety and
effectiveness on a larger group.Children’s minds: prone to wanderingHealth officials investigating an outbreak
of hepatitis in children think that the
culprit may be an adenovirus. As of 21
April, the UK had recorded 169 cases of
“acute hepatitis [liver inflammation] of
unknown origin” in otherwise healthy
children. Several of them have had to
have liver transplants. In a briefing last
week, the UK Health Security Agency
said that its scientists were examining a
number of possible causes, but that the
“most likely” trigger was an adenovirus- a group of viruses which mostly only
cause mild illness, but which, like Covid,
have many variants or subtypes. Of 53
children with the disease, 40 had tested
positive for adenovirus. There have been
similar, though smaller, outbreaks in the
US, Israel, Japan and other countries.
The UK team is looking at whether the
cases could be linked to children being
less exposed to adenoviruses as a result
of lockdown measures.
Hepatitis surge in children
What the scientists are saying...
Male spiders spring away after sex
Failure to spring away equals death