Animals who try to sound 'bigger' are good at learning sounds

Some animals fake their body size by sounding bigger than they actually are. Maxime Garcia from the University of Zurich and Andrea Ravignani from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics studied 164 different mammals and found that animals that lower their voices to sound bigger are often skilled vocalists. Both strategies—sounding bigger and learning sounds—are likely driven by sexual selection, and may play a role in explaining the origins of human speech evolution.

Increase in delirium, rare brain inflammation and stroke linked to COVID-19

Neurological complications of Covid-19 can include delirium, brain inflammation, stroke and nerve damage, finds a new UCL and UCLH-led study.

How long to play dead in order to stay alive?

Many animals remain motionless or play dead after being attacked by a predator in the hope that it will give up and move onto some other unfortunate prey.

Clean energy grids and electric vehicles key to beating climate change and air pollution

Any uptake in electric vehicle use must be mirrored by the development of clean energy grids to mitigate both climate change and air pollution.