Research reveals music and soundscapes used in toy commercials are reinforcing rigid gender norms, shaping the way children perceive masculinity and femininity. A new study, published in PLOS ONE, from Queen Mary University of London uncovers how gender stereotypes are not only conveyed through visuals and language but are also deeply embedded in the sound and music used in advertisements targeted at children. For more than 40 years, research has shown how gender polarisation in children’s TV advertising

This unusual, subterranean mammal with extreme longevity shows genetic adaptations to low oxygen environments which could offer opportunities for advancing other areas of physiological and medical research in humans. New research, published today in Nature Communications and led by Dr Dunja Aksentijevic in the Faculty of Medici ne and Dentistry, has revealed that that the genome of the naked mole-rat contains specific adaptations that allow them to survive in low-oxygen, and even no oxygen environments

New findings reveal that the body undergoes significant, systematic changes across multiple organs during prolonged periods of fasting. The results demonstrate evidence of health benefits beyond weight loss, but also show that any potentially health-altering changes appear to occur only after three days without food. The study, published today in Nature Metabolism, advances our understanding of what’s happening across the body after prolonged periods without food. Researchers from Queen Mary’s Precision