‘More and more people are affected by the so-called technostress. It has various aspects - from the abundance of terrifying news and the pressure of having the latest gadgets, to social isolation, digital exclusion and fear of the future. It will probably get worse,’ Dr. Konrad Maj from SWPS University tells the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
The inhabitants of the Roman Empire were less mobile than previously thought, according to international research on 204 genomes of human remains from the times of the Empire. Eight percent of the examined remains came from areas well away from the burial site.
Swedish astronaut Marcus Wandt used a Polish device to monitor brain function in an experiment conducted on the International Space Station. The spectroscope built in Lublin is now a permanent piece of equipment at the ISS, Wojciech Broniatowski from Cortivision told PAP.
Creating an immortal battery is not yet possible, but scientists are trying to design it to age more slowly. Professor Krzysztof Fic from the Poznań University of Technology has received an ERC Proof of Concept grant for a project related to the ageing of batteries used in personal electronics.
Polish archaeologists working in Oman have discovered traces of long-term copper ore processing activity, stone tools and parts of copper smelting furnaces. Research in this region will continue in December, the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw reports.
Researchers from the University of Warsaw and the University of Wrocław have developed a method for constructing flexible molecular knots and links. Flexibility enables the formation of entangled regions in protein or nucleic acid molecules.
Dinosaurs could have used the feathers on their forelimbs and tails to rouse and chase their prey, suggest Professor Piotr Jabłoński and a team from Korea. To confirm this hypothesis, the researchers built a robot - Robopteryx that scares insects - and examined the neurons of grasshoppers.
There are indications that infections caused by SARS-CoV-2 appeared in Europe before the official start date of the pandemic, i.e. before the turn of 2020. This is evidenced by Polish research on the occurrence of excess mortality in over 900 regions of the continent in 2019.
In Southeast Asia, population growth and the demand for agricultural land are causing significant changes in biodiversity, resulting in an increasing epidemiological risk. This risk concerns viruses such as coronaviruses, bird flu virus, MERS, USUTU, Zika, dengue and malaria, says Dr. Aneta Afelt from the University of Warsaw.
The vast majority of wetlands in Poland and Europe have already been drained for various purposes. Meanwhile, draining peatlands and, for example, introducing forest in their place brings much lower economic benefits than rewetting them. A team of scientists with the participation of Polish researchers have shown that in Lithuania, rewetting drained forest peat bogs would bring profits of up to EUR 170 million per year.
The geometric patterns, lines and zigzags that accompany the images of dancers (danzantes) carved in the rocks of the Peruvian Toro Muerto are not snakes or lightning bolts, but a record of songs - suggest Polish scientists who analyse rock art from 2,000 years ago.
