Was Rome’s fall due to heavy metal poisoning making Romans dumber?

Ice cores that preserve traces of atmospheric pollutants through history have revealed that industrial activity by Romans – particularly the use and production of lead – meant the air the Romans breathed was heavily contaminated. The levels were high enough to cause neurological problems, including a drop in cognitive function across the population. Joe McConnell and his team at the Desert Research Institute published their findings in the journal PNAS.

Bats are surfing storms to make migration easier

Migrating bats in Europe have to fly up to 2000km while pregnant, but they’ve figured out how to get a lift from the weather. The bats have been observed waiting for storm fronts, and then surfing the strong winds in front of the storm to save energy during their migration. Dina Dechmann from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour, and colleagues, were able to tag bats with tiny specialized sensors to track their nocturnal movements during migration. Their paper was published in the journal Science.

Squirrels have developed a taste for vole flesh

Squirrels in California have been taking advantage of a boom in the population of tiny rodents called voles – by hunting and eating them. This widespread carnivorous behaviour was captured for the first time on videos and photos by a team led by behavioural ecologist Jennifer Smith, as a part of a long-term study of the squirrels. The researchers found dozens of instances of the squirrels killing the voles, which they say changes our fundamental understanding of ground squirrels. Their paper was published in the Journal of Ethology.

EEG tattoos could outperform standard electrodes

EEG is a valuable technology that allows researchers to monitor the electrical activity of the brain, but standard EEG electrodes are cumbersome and are hampered by the difficulty of attaching them. A new temporary EEG tattoo, made by printing conductive ink on the scalp, could be a step ahead. Luize Vasconcelos, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas at Austin helped create this ink. The research is published in the Cell Press journal Cell Biomaterials.

To monitor cat brain waves, researchers made them cute hats

Aude Castel, a veterinary neurologist from the Université de Montréal, and her team were studying chronic pain in cats — and ways to alleviate it — when she realized that she could crochet hats for the cats and add EEG electrodes to them in order to study their brains. Their research was published in the Journal of Neuroscience Methods.

When North America went to the dogs (or vice-versa)

Researchers examining canid bones from Alaska dating to the last ice age have been intrigued by the complex picture it shows of dog domestication at the time. Their findings were published in the journal Science Advances. Signs of the animals’ diet are preserved in the bones, and shows that humans were clearly feeding their dogs, a clear sign of domestication. François Lanoë from the University of Arizona led the work.

Genevieve Willis from London, Ontario asks: Is there any evidence to suggest that “getting cold” by, say, dressing inadequately in cold weather, or sitting in a cold draft, actually increases our susceptibility to illness?

For the frigid answer, we spoke with Michael Kennedy who is an associate professor of exercise physiology at the University of Alberta.

Jim Raso from St. Albert Alberta wrote us: My question has to do with our sense of time passing. As I have gotten older – I am 73 now – I noticed that time seemed to pass more quickly. Why does this happen?

For the answer, we asked Dr. Holly K. Andersen, a professor of philosophy at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia.

Dan from Chateau-Richer in Quebec writes: Where does moon dust come from?

We reached out to planetary geologist Gordon Osinski, a professor of Earth Sciences at Western University, who has studied samples sent back from the Apollo missions.

Scott Beach from East York Ontario asks: Why do dogs sniff and lick each other's butts?

To get the answer, we reached out to Simon Gadbois, the principal investigator at the Canine olfaction lab at Dalhousie University.

Robert Smith from Victoria asks: Is there evidence to suggest red-heads are particularly sensitive to pain?

To find out, we spoke with someone who has studied this in the past: Jeffrey Mogil, the E.P. Taylor Professor of Pain Studies at the Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain at McGill University.

Stephen Quinn from St. John’s, Newfoundland asks: How can the universe be expanding at the same time as galaxies are colliding?

For the smashing answer, we spoke with Sara Ellison, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Victoria.

Susan Boyd from Ottawa asks: Since some of the elements in the periodic table do not occur naturally, is there a limit to the new elements that could be created? If so, what is the limiting factor?

We went to the National Research Council Canada’s element expert, Juris Meija, for this answer.

Robert LaRoche in Halifax asks: Why is the color of wet clothes always more vivid than when they are dry?

For the answer, we turned to Sarah Purdy, a Physicist at the University of Saskatchewan who uses light to investigate materials.

Paul Vander Griendt of Newmarket, Ontario asks: If animals wake up at sunrise and go to sleep at sunset, how do they cope with the varying hours of sunlight? How do they do compared to humans who are supposed to get 8 to 9 hours of sleep regardless of the length of sunlight?

For the answer we turned to Ming Fei Li a Phd candidate at the University of Toronto in Anthropology who is studying the sleep patterns of animals.

Marie Beaudoin from Salt Spring Island, BC asks: How do birds where the males and females look the same tell each other apart when it comes to mating?”

We went to Matt Reudinik, a professor of biology at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC, for the answer.

Warren Saylor of London, Ontario asks: Could Neanderthals speak? If they could not, would that contribute to the dominance of Homo Sapiens?

We spoke to paleoanthropologist Dr. Bence Viola, an associate professor in the department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto.

Some optimistic and positive science news to end the year.

For rats, anticipation of a pleasurable event is a pleasure in itself

One day early in the pandemic, behavioural neuroscientist Kelly Lambert from the University of Richmond went to check on her rats. The rats responded with excitement when they saw her, anticipating the treats they were about to receive. That inspired her to pivot her research to study the effects that anticipating pleasurable experiences could have on the brain. She’s found in research that has yet to be published, that building in anticipation periods before they get to do something they enjoy, increases, which, if her findings extend to humans, could help boost mental resiliency. Their previous work was published in Behavioural Brain Research.

How Marine Protected Areas are improving tuna fisheries

A comprehensive study of province-sized marine protected areas in the tropical pacific has shown that they not only provide a refuge for fish, but improve tuna fisheries harvests in the areas outside their borders, making a win-win for conservation and industry. John Lynham, a professor of Economics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, led the study which was published in the journal Science.

For chimpanzees, play and the world plays with you

A study of chimpanzees in Zambia has revealed that play and grooming are infectious behaviours. Animals who observe others performing these activities are more likely to groom and play themselves, which the researchers think promotes social cohesion in the troop. Zanna Clay, a professor of Psychology at Durham University, was part of the team, which published their research in the journal PLOS One.

The oceans smallest plants and animals could help suck up excess atmospheric carbon

Researchers may have discovered a new, fairly simple way to stimulate life in the ocean to capture and lock up atmospheric carbon. Phytoplankton absorbs and then releases 150 billion tons of atmospheric carbon every year. The researchers found that by adding just a little bit of clay to a phytoplankton bloom, this glues carbon particles together, creating “carbon snow” that falls down and is eaten by zooplankton, who then deposit it in the deep ocean. Mukul Sharma, a professor of Earth Sciences at Dartmouth College, says that in the lab this method locked up 90 per cent of the carbon that phytoplankton released. His study was published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.

A seal of approval: Unique elephant seal behaviour observed by a failed experiment

A team of researchers developed a sophisticated deep-water experiment to observe and listen for sounds made by sablefish. They were startled when their study site was repeatedly visited by elephant seals, who would chase and chow down on the sablefish — all at 645 meters below the ocean's surface. This accidental observation was made in the Barkley Canyon Node, part of the Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) cabled video-observatory. It was the first time that elephant seals were studied in the deep ocean, giving unexpected and valuable new insights into seal resting and foraging behaviour. The findings were published in the journal PLOS One.

Producer Amanda Buckiewicz spoke with Rodney Rountree, an independent biologist, ichthyologist, and adjunct marine biologist in the Department of Biology at Victoria University.

And Héloïse Frouin-Mouy, an assistant scientist at the University of Miami's Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies, and affiliate at the University of Victoria.