Shirin Rahmanian, Tony Slaba, Tore Straume, Sharmila Bhattacharya, S. R. Santa Maria
{"title":"Meet BioSentinel: The First Biological Experiment In Deep Space","authors":"Shirin Rahmanian, Tony Slaba, Tore Straume, Sharmila Bhattacharya, S. R. Santa Maria","doi":"10.3389/frym.2024.1227860","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2024.1227860","url":null,"abstract":"Recently, NASA launched a rocket called Artemis-I toward the Moon! The mission objective was to test the safety of the Space Launch System for future human travel into deep space. But vehicle safety is not the only concern for space travelers. Space radiation is an invisible danger to astronauts because it can damage the body’s cells and potentially lead to serious health problems. How do we study the effects of space radiation on cells? Meet BioSentinel! BioSentinel is a small satellite deployed from Artemis-I that carries yeast cells and a sensor to measure space radiation. The job of BioSentinel is to transmit data from the cells in deep space back to Earth. In this article, we will explore the BioSentinel mission, discuss how the data are obtained and transmitted, and give examples of how the data from BioSentinel will help scientists better understand the effects of space radiation on living things.","PeriodicalId":73060,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers for young minds","volume":"58 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140077709","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Bees Could Visit Flower “Pharmacies” When They Are Sick","authors":"Antoine Gekière, M. Vanderplanck","doi":"10.3389/frym.2024.1293746","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2024.1293746","url":null,"abstract":"When you are sick, you might go to the pharmacy to get some medicines. But have you ever wondered what do animals do when they are sick? Bees are tremendously important given the roles they play in the environment and human societies. Unfortunately, bees have been declining in the last decades, partly due to infection by parasites. But certain flowers may help them! Bees collect resources from various flowers and, recently, scientists have shown that some of these flower resources could help bees fight infections. Flower resources contain many essential nutrients as well as very specific medicines that could strengthen the bees or kill the parasites. Once sick, bees could prioritize the collection of resources from specific flowers to deal with their parasites and heal themselves. It is therefore important for us to plant flowers rich in essential nutrients, as well as flowers rich in medicines that help bees to thrive and fight off infections.","PeriodicalId":73060,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers for young minds","volume":"62 5‐6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140261563","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"What Can Happen When Brain Cells Communicate Improperly?","authors":"Margarita Maltseva, K. Klotz, Julia Jacobs","doi":"10.3389/frym.2024.1274957","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2024.1274957","url":null,"abstract":"Nerve cells, also called neurons, behave like tiny messengers in our bodies that help us sense and move. When brain cells chat with each other, it results in electrical brain waves. Sometimes brain cells chat with each other in a calm and slow way, while other times they are excited and brain activity is faster. This fast electrical activity is called oscillations. Equipment can be used to measure the electrical activity in the brain. The fastest activity that can be measured is called high frequency oscillations (HFOs). Fast brain activity can be super helpful in daily life, helping us to do things like memorize locations and activities, for example. However, if neurons start firing too fast, people can experience a sudden loss of control of certain body parts or even the whole body, which is called epilepsy. In this article, you will learn about brain function and epilepsy and how scientists count the speed of brain waves. So, let us have a look at how HFOs help our brains to function.","PeriodicalId":73060,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers for young minds","volume":"65 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140261499","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ashley Zappe, Mario Martinez-Saito, Sandra Andraszewicz
{"title":"What’s Mine? What’s Ours? How the Brain Thinks About Shared Resources","authors":"Ashley Zappe, Mario Martinez-Saito, Sandra Andraszewicz","doi":"10.3389/frym.2024.1151409","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2024.1151409","url":null,"abstract":"Why do people not always choose to take care of the Earth? This study looked at how people’s brains decide to take care of nature, like fish in the ocean. The scientists made a game that was like going fishing, and they used brain-scanning technology to see what was happening in people’s brains while they played. The scientists discovered that when people thought they were fishing with other people, they took more fish than when they were alone. The brain scan showed that a part of the brain was working differently, too. This study helps us understand how people’s brains work when they make decisions about nature. If we know more about how our brains think about nature, we can find better ways to protect our planet. This study also shows how different types of science, like Earth science and brain science, can work together to help solve important problems for the world.","PeriodicalId":73060,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers for young minds","volume":"24 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140263308","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Drilling Into Ancient Rock to Learn About Earth’s Past","authors":"Phumelele Mashele, Christoph Heubeck","doi":"10.3389/frym.2024.1252881","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2024.1252881","url":null,"abstract":"Geologists are curious to learn what the Earth was like when the planet was young. We want to know about temperature, beaches, soils, climate, rivers, meteorite impacts, and volcanic activity because these factors determined how and where early life could exist. Only the oldest sedimentary rocks have this information, but these are usually covered by younger rocks. Old sedimentary rocks that still “tell a good story” about the history of the Earth are rare. We studied some of these. They are an unimaginable 3.2 billion years old and are found in the Makhonjwa Mountains near South Africa’s border with Eswatini. We had to drill into the Earth to get to them because the surface is covered by forest and grassland. Sedimentary rock layers in these mountains do not lie flat anymore but are vertical, and sometimes even flipped over. To drill through as many layers as possible, we had to drill sideways!","PeriodicalId":73060,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers for young minds","volume":"30 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140080528","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Emil Rehnberg, Bjorn Baselet, Lorenzo Moroni, Sarah Baatout, Kevin Tabury
{"title":"Does the Heart Age Faster in Space?","authors":"Emil Rehnberg, Bjorn Baselet, Lorenzo Moroni, Sarah Baatout, Kevin Tabury","doi":"10.3389/frym.2024.1232530","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2024.1232530","url":null,"abstract":"Living in space is not as simple as living on Earth. The environment in space is harmful for humans. Astronauts experience weightlessness and are exposed to dangerous radiation. On top of that, astronauts live in a tiny area, far from their loved ones. All our organs are harmed by these factors. The heart, for example, starts to age much quicker in space than on Earth. This means that astronauts have a higher risk of heart disease after going to space. It is therefore important that we investigate why this happens so that we can prevent it. In the past, these studies were based on experiments using animals or humans. Today, we can create mini-hearts in the lab for our experiments instead. In this article, we will explain how we make mini-hearts and how they help us understand and prevent the heart’s aging in space.","PeriodicalId":73060,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers for young minds","volume":"2004 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140416480","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hannah Polley, Brynn Rickard, Danica Jekic, Damir B. Matic
{"title":"Missing Puzzle Pieces: Cleft Lip and Palate","authors":"Hannah Polley, Brynn Rickard, Danica Jekic, Damir B. Matic","doi":"10.3389/frym.2024.1297294","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2024.1297294","url":null,"abstract":"Facial differences can arise while a baby is still growing inside the mother. Two common examples include cleft lip and cleft palate. Most of the body’s cells contain DNA, which serves as the instructions for creating all the features of the body, such as the parts of the face. Cells use DNA’s instructions to form the face from five big “puzzle pieces” called prominences. Sometimes the DNA instructions get changed or steps are skipped, which can change how the puzzle pieces, or prominences, connect. This results in facial differences like cleft lip, in which there is a gap in the lip and cleft palate, in which there is a gap in the roof of the mouth. Most cases of cleft lip and cleft palate can be fixed with surgery, and children go on to live long, healthy lives.","PeriodicalId":73060,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers for young minds","volume":"11 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140413584","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ariel Greiner, Marco Andrello, Martin Krkošek, Marie-Josée Fortin
{"title":"How the Spread of Young Coral Can Help Save Coral Reefs","authors":"Ariel Greiner, Marco Andrello, Martin Krkošek, Marie-Josée Fortin","doi":"10.3389/frym.2024.1308034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2024.1308034","url":null,"abstract":"Coral reefs around the world are getting sick (and sometimes dying) at alarming rates due to climate change. Certain coral reefs (low-risk reefs) are predicted to be less at risk of getting sick than others. We wondered whether low-risk reefs can help save other reefs. We found that this is possible—through the movement of young coral from healthy reefs to damaged or dying reefs. We found that coral reefs worldwide are connected through the spread of young coral, forming 604 reef networks. Some networks are very large, but most are very small. If only the low-risk coral reefs survive, many of these networks will be preserved, which will help the overall survival of coral reefs into the future. However, young coral from these low-risk reefs do not reach all reefs worldwide, so it is important to find and protect reefs that are good at sending young coral to rescue the rest of the world’s reefs.","PeriodicalId":73060,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers for young minds","volume":"525 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140417492","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jessica M. Fagerstrom, Victoria N. Bry, Caroline M. Colbert, Cheyann Windsor
{"title":"Hitting Moving Targets in Cancer Treatment","authors":"Jessica M. Fagerstrom, Victoria N. Bry, Caroline M. Colbert, Cheyann Windsor","doi":"10.3389/frym.2024.1349460","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2024.1349460","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, we will explore the way radiation can be used to treat cancer. Radiation for cancer therapy consists of high-energy particles or light that can damage living cells, including cancer cells. Radiation beams can be generated using a special machine, called a linear accelerator, and they are precisely aimed at a patient’s cancer. When cancer is located near the patient’s lungs, the cancer moves around as the patient breathes in and out. Hitting the cancer with the radiation beam can be hard when the cancer does not stay still. It is a little like trying to hit a moving target in a video game. In that case, there are some tricks that patients and radiation therapy workers can use to make sure that the radiation beam hits the cancer and misses healthy organs.","PeriodicalId":73060,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers for young minds","volume":"16 22","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140436636","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Suzanne Oosterwijk, M. Noordewier, Matthias J. Gruber
{"title":"Are You Curious About Curiosity?","authors":"Suzanne Oosterwijk, M. Noordewier, Matthias J. Gruber","doi":"10.3389/frym.2024.1182072","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2024.1182072","url":null,"abstract":"Kids (and adults) are often curious. Maybe you are curious about dinosaurs, giant squids, or rollercoaster rides. But have you ever been curious about why you are curious about some things but not about other things? In the last 10 years, scientists have asked similar questions about curiosity. In this article, we will share some of the answers. We explain how scientists across the world study curiosity. We also explain that people become curious to seek out specific information or to explore new things. Based on research on curiosity and the brain, scientists think that curiosity is a signal that it is valuable (or rewarding) to learn something or figure something out. Curiosity can even make you remember information better. After reading this article, we hope that your curiosity is satisfied!","PeriodicalId":73060,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers for young minds","volume":"31 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140440955","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}