People from countries where multilingualism was common were 2.17 times less likely to experience accelerated ageing Learning to speak one or more new languages can slow biological ageing and protect the brain against age-related cognitive decline. So says new research reported in Nature Ageing, by scientists at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), the Basque Center On Cognition, Brain and Language in San Sebastian and the Latin American Brain Health Institute in Santiago, Chile.

Harvard University professor says encounter could be ‘a blind date of interstellar proportions’ An interstellar comet barrelling through the solar system towards Earth at 60km a second could be alien technology, a leading astronomer has suggested. Harvard University astronomer Professor Avi Loeb said the object known as 3I/Atlas had eight “anomalies” that together made a strong case against it simply being a natural comet.

‘Universal thermal performance curve’ means life cannot adapt well to extremes of temperature Life forms are more threatened by with rising global temperatures and less able to cope with them than scientists had thought. That's according to research published today by Trinity College Dublin zoologists, Professor Andrew Jackson and Dr Nicholas Payne, and colleagues overseas in the top journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences…

Photos posted on Instagram by “citizen scientists” are tracking an invasive plant species that is “highly harmful” to Ireland’s native plants and disruptive for pollinators. By analysing over 1,700 photos from social media and citizen science platforms, scientists at the University of Galway discovered that the colourful carpobrotus plant – often seen brightening up holiday photos – flowers for much longer in regions it has invaded than in its native South Africa.

Irish company Exergyn has developed approach to avoid high costs of heating and cooling systems The ubiquitous heating and cooling technology used today in everything from heat pumps to refrigerators and air conditioners – that make our lives more comfortable, safer and convenient – comes at a price because they fuel global warming. Irish company Exergyn believes it has found an alternative approach.

Researchers in Ireland involved in work on brain ageing and creativity Taking a dance class, playing a musical instrument, or even taking part in a video game can help people stay sharp into old age. That’s according to new research by a team of scientists from around the world, including Ireland, in Nature Communications. Creative activity works best to protect our brains when it is done regularly, said Professor Augustin Ibanez, Global Brain Health Institute at TCD, and one of the co-authors of the study.

Astronomers at Trinity College Dublin have discovered ‘Northern Lights’, similar to those seen on Earth, around a distant planet 20 light years away. A team led by Johanna Vos, Associate Professor of Physics at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), has found an ‘aurora’ around a planet called SIMP-0136, using the powerful James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

The institute has been a unique fixture in Ireland, and now, with space central to its future, the sky is no limit Although it has rarely attracted the attention of the Irish public, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) has been viewed internationally as a centre of excellence in the physical sciences and Celtic studies since it began life 85 years ago.

Bees and butterflies do not have enough natural habitat to survive in Ireland or globally, an international study has found. Pollinators, which are crucial to the health of ecosystems, require between 16 and 37pc natural habitat coverage in farmland areas to survive, according to 59 studies worldwide, as reported in the journal Science. “About 13pc of Ireland is officially protected for nature under EU nature directives, but most of those habitats are not in a good state for nature,” said Jane Stout, Professor of Ecology at Trinity College Dublin, and a co-author of the study.

It took science about 40 to 50 years to reach the stage where weather could be predicted with around 80pc accuracy. But in the past few years alone, AI has helped forecasters to achieve a 90pc rate of confidence for their predictions, up to 10 days in advance. Now a new AI-led weather forecasting service for Ireland has been set up, promising better predictions of the intensity of future storm and flooding events.

A major new study has found that almost 90pc of GAA players who suffer ACL injury have a similar recovery rate to professional sports. The work involved researchers from Dublin City University (DCU) and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) at the UPMC Sports Surgery Clinic, in Santry. They reported the recovery rate after investigating anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction surgery outcomes in 1,891 Gaelic football, hurling and camogie players.

Eirsat-1 was built by UCD staff and students, as part of an educational programme by the European Space Agency The first fully Irish-designed satellite is set to fall out of orbit this week and disintegrate in the atmosphere, marking the culmination of pioneering UCD-led project that has advanced science. Eirsat-1 has nurtured a generation of home-grown space experts who have gone on to work in industry.

‘Climate chaos’ is disrupting Ireland’s plants, which will have a knock-on affect on the animals that rely on them to survive In the hedgerows and woodlands of Ireland, autumn has been marked out by the first flush of blackberries, the fall of conkers and the golden turn of leaves. But, in recent years, and again this autumn, reassuring natural milestones have begun to change and shift, and – in some cases – have been severely disrupted.

Human beings first developed the ability to stand on two legs following two critical evolutionary changes to the ilium in the upper part of the pelvis. This finding is reported today in top journal Nature by an international team including Niamh Nowlan, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, UCD and a Fellow of the Conway Institute on the Belfield campus. The ilium is the big, flared part of the pelvis that anchors the powerful gluteus maximus muscles that humans use to stay upright.

A device developed in Ireland to treat the hearing condition tinnitus, which affects 15pc of all adults, has ‘significantly’ reduced people’s symptoms. “Many people experience short-term, or transient, tinnitus, after loud noise exposure at a concert or work,” said Dr Ross O’Neill – who received his PhD from Maynooth University - the inventor of the Lenire device. A US clinical trial of Lenire, involving 220 patients at the Alaska Hearing & Tinnitus Center, reported in Nature Communications Medicine found that 91pc of patients involved had a “clinically significant” reduction in their tinnitus after 12 weeks of treatment with Lenire.

For years, Timmy Reen tried to hide his compulsions and rituals from everyone at his New York City firehouse — until his secret was forced out in the open.

That’s according to new research published today in the journal Nature by an international team of scientists, including Professor Tomas Ryan, School of Biochemistry and Immunology at Trinity College Dublin and the Trinity College Institute of Neurosciences (TCIN). Prof Ryan has conducted previous research on how engrams – physical or chemical changes in brain cells – can create memories in the brain.

Hay fever and asthma sufferers are likely to be enduring more severe symptoms at this time of year due to widespread use of nitrogen to fertilise crops in Ireland, according to a new study. Commenting on the report, published in The Lancet Planetary Health, leading pollen researcher Dr David O’Connor said increased nitrogen levels “lead to higher concentrations of allergenic pollen, exacerbating allergic reactions such as hay fever and asthma”.