What the scientists are saying…
The world’s noisiest bird
A bird that lives in a remote region of the northeast Amazon has been found to be the loudest in the world, with a song that is roughly as earsplitting as a pneumatic drill, reports The Guardian. During a research expedition last year, biologists from Brazil and the US used precision audio equipment to record white bellbirds singing from distances of around 40 metres. They discovered that males typically have two songs – one longer and more ornate, the other shorter and more intense. While both are loud, the latter is particularly so: it peaked at 125 decibels – three times louder than the song of the screaming piha (previously the noisiest bird known to science). The song is part of a bizarre mating ritual that involves a male first facing away from a female, then swivelling round and blasting her at full volume into her face. The researchers think this unusual seduction technique may be connected to the ready availability of food in the white bellbird’s mountainous habitat. “Survival is easy enough, so these birds are free to develop traits that, whimsically or not, are attractive to each other,” said Mario Cohn-Haft of the National Institute of Amazonian Research in Brazil, and the lead author of the study.
Ice “doesn’t help” sprain recovery
Next time you sprain your ankle, think twice before reaching for the frozen peas, says The Daily Telegraph. Scientists once believed that inflammation slows recovery from injury, and so it was suggested that ice be used to reduce the swelling. This led to the RICE guidance – Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation – that has been followed by sports coaches since the late 1970s. Yet there has never been much evidence that ice aids recovery, and scientists now think that far from slowing recovery, inflammation has a healing effect: in 2010, a study found that inflammation prompts the release of the growth factor hormone IGI-1 which helps repair damaged muscles. Even Dr Gabe Mirkin, who coined the RICE acronym, thinks the guidance is wrong. “Cold and ice are safe pain medicines, but they delay healing,” he told the Australian press this week.
PTSD linked to meningitis
People with stress-related disorders such as PTSD have a higher-than-average risk of developing meningitis and other life-threatening infections, a study has found. Researchers analysed nearly 145,000 people with such disorders, and found that they were some 63% more likely to have been diagnosed with meningitis than their siblings. They were also more likely to have developed sepsis and endocarditis, an infection of the heart lining. The risks appeared to be especially high among those who are diagnosed with stress disorders at a young age, reported the Icelandic team in the BMJ.
New guidance on premature babies
Doctors have, for the first time, been given the go-ahead to try to save babies born in the 22nd week of pregnancy. Previously, the guidance from the British Association of Perinatal Medicine (BAPM) was that doctors should not try to resuscitate babies born before 23 weeks, or give them “active care”, since their chances of surviving without severe complications were deemed too low. Now, the BAPM has amended its advice, prompted by a significant improvement in survival rates among babies born between 23 and 24 weeks over the past few years: four out of ten babies born at 23 to 24 weeks now survive, up from only two in ten in 2008. The BAPM said that faced with a baby born at 22 weeks, doctors should in future treat each case on its own merits, taking into account the infant’s chances of survival, and likely quality of life and the wishes of the parents.