Science Weekly - 7th Aug 2020

You'll find a few very intriguing topics here this week, not all may be strictly related to fitness, sports and nutrition science but certainly educational. Vegans may not need to worry about vitamin B12 sources as much anymore, some asthma drugs may improve performance in sprint athletes, engineers are working on a technology so people can control electronic prostheses with their thoughts wirelessly one day and many more.

​Highlights:

• ​​Aerobic exercise could have the final say on fatty livers
• ​How human sperm really swim: New research challenges centuries-old assumption
• ​Increased global mortality linked to arsenic exposure in rice-based diets
• ​An easier way to go veggie: Vitamin B12 can be produced during dough fermentation
• ​Your hair knows what you eat and how much your haircut costs
• ​Some asthma drug can boost sprint and strength performance in athletes
• ​Scientists discover the switch that makes human brown fat burn energy
• ​How thoughts could one day control electronic prostheses, wirelessly
• ​REM sleep tunes eating behavior
• Body weight has surprising, alarming impact on brain function

Aerobic exercise could have the final say on fatty livers

A new study is the first to demonstrate significant improvements in biopsy-measured liver outcomes in a metabolic associated fat liver disease (MAFLD) cohort following an exercise-only intervention, without clinically significant weight loss.

Source: Trinity College Dublin

How human sperm really swim: New research challenges centuries-old assumption

A breakthrough in fertility science has shattered the universally accepted view of how sperm 'swim'.

Source: University of Bristol

Increased global mortality linked to arsenic exposure in rice-based diets

Rice is the most widely consumed staple food source for a large part of the world's population. It has now been confirmed that rice can contribute to prolonged low-level arsenic exposure leading to thousands of avoidable premature deaths per year.

Source: University of Manchester

An easier way to go veggie: Vitamin B12 can be produced during dough fermentation

Grain-based materials fermented with Propionibacterium freudenreichii have enough vitamin B12 to be nutritionally significant. With the help of Lactobacillus brevis in the fermentation process, vegans can also be guaranteed a sufficient and safe B12 intake directly from grain-based food, without pills.

Source: University of Helsinki

Your hair knows what you eat and how much your haircut costs

Isotopes in hair reveal connection between diet and socioeconomic status
​Researchers find that stable isotopes in hair reveal a divergence in diet according to socioeconomic status (SES), with lower-SES areas displaying higher proportions of protein coming from cornfed animals.

Source: University of Utah

Some asthma drug can boost sprint and strength performance in athletes

Unclear if World Anti-Doping Agency 'approved' versions have same effect, finds evidence review
​A type of asthma drug, known as ß2-agonists, can boost sprint and strength performance in athletes who don't have the respiratory condition, finds a review and pooled data analysis of the available evidence.

Source: BMJ

Scientists discover the switch that makes human brown fat burn energy

The receptor responsible for activating the energy-burning property of brown fat in humans has been identified. The next step is to investigate drugs that fit the receptor and trigger the response as a means to treat obesity and type-2 diabetes.

Source: University of Copenhagen The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

How thoughts could one day control electronic prostheses, wirelessly

The current generation of neural implants record enormous amounts of neural activity, then transmit these brain signals through wires to a computer. But, so far, when researchers have tried to create wireless brain-computer interfaces to do this, it took so much power to transmit the data that the implants generated too much heat to be safe for the patient. A new study suggests how to solve his problem -- and thus cut the wires.

Source: Stanford School of Engineering

REM sleep tunes eating behavior

Despite our broad understanding of the different brain regions activated during rapid-eye-movement sleep, little is known about what this activity serves for. Researchers have now discovered that the activation of neurons in the hypothalamus during REM sleep regulates eating behavior: suppressing this activity in mice decreases appetite.

Source: University of Bern

Body weight has surprising, alarming impact on brain function

Higher BMI is linked to decreased cerebral blood flow, which is associated with increased risk of Alzheimer's disease and mental illness
As a person's weight goes up, all regions of the brain go down in activity and blood flow, according to a new brain imaging study.

Source: IOS Press