University College Cork

Playing the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with others has a positive impact on mental health, according to a new study. The researchers say the game should be used as a therapeutic tool as part of a holistic approach to mental health.

A 280-million-year-old fossil from the Italian Alps is pretty much just black paint in the lizard-shaped grooves of a rock. So say researchers who examined the specimen and laid to rest questions that have long puzzled paleontologists.

A new study has found that unofficial movie remakes made using deepfake technology prompted half of the viewers to falsely remember the films and, in some cases, consider them to be better than the original.

A survey of nearly 1,000 long COVID patients has found 89% of respondents have not returned to their pre-COVID level of health, a year after their acute infection. The study highlights the persistent lingering impact COVID is having on many people.

New research is offering some of the first insights into how gut bacteria can potentially influence brain aging in mammals. The study found fecal transplants from young to old mice reversed some aspects of age-related brain deterioration.

A new study has investigated the anti-obesity effects of a specific strain of gut bacteria. From preclinical animal studies to a placebo-controlled human trial, the research suggests a novel bacterial strain may confer several metabolic benefits.

Scientists have begun to uncover evidence of how the digestive systems of certain animals can play a part in plastic fragmentation, with the latest concerning a small crustacean that can turn microplastics into “nanoplastics” in just four days.

A new study paints pterosaurs as far cuddlier creatures than we might have thought. According to an international team of palaeontologists, pterosaurs were covered in no less than four different types of feathers, pushing back the origin of this bodily covering by about 70 million years.

Scientists at University College Cork in Ireland have developed a microneedle patch to deliver a vaccine against malaria. The experimental vaccine circumvents a common problem related to adenovirus vaccines, which is the induction of immunity to the vector.