Thomas Deane
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Articles by Thomas Deane
Large cognitive health study links speech patterns with brain aging
A study of 2,928 Spanish-speaking adults linked older-appearing speech profiles with several measures of brain and biological aging. Larger speech-age gaps were associated with poorer cognition, dementia diagnoses and greater social adversity, although patterns varied across groups. The research does not establish whether speech recordings can predict future dementia or track an individual’s aging rate over time.
Study reveals how the uterine microbiome may impact pregnancy success
Cohort recruited and experimental setup. Credit: Human Reproduction (2026). DOI: 10.1093/humrep/deaf252 Researchers from Trinity College Dublin have uncovered new evidence that the communities of bacteria living in the uterus may play an important role in determining whether pregnancy is successful following assisted reproductive technologies (ART) such as IVF.
Shrunken genomes may drive rapid cancer evolution and poor outcomes
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Researchers at Trinity have found that a largely overlooked form of cancer evolution, which drives aggressive disease and poor patient outcomes, is far more widespread than previously thought. Comparing chromosome patterns in these tumors, the team also developed a new method for accurately distinguishing between two leukemias, which could provide information to better guide patient treatment decisions.
'Hybrid' immune cells can speed bone fracture healing by unlocking dual repair signals
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Scientists from Trinity College Dublin and RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences have created new "hybrid" immune cells with the potential to help new bone form after a break by simultaneously promoting blood vessel and bone growth. The discovery could one day help bones regrow more quickly as well as improve outcomes for a huge number of patients, since about 10% of all bone fractures currently fail to heal properly.
Chip-scale light technology could power faster AI and data center communications
Thomas Deane Researchers at Trinity have developed a new light-based technology on a tiny chip that could help make the data centers behind cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and global internet services faster and more efficient. In the new research, recently published in Nature Communications , the Trinity team reported one such promising advance with collaborators at the University of Bath and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL).
Chip-scale light technology could power faster AI and data center communications
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Researchers at Trinity have developed a new light-based technology on a tiny chip that could help make the data centers behind cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and global internet services faster and more efficient. In the new research, recently published in Nature Communications, the Trinity team reported one such promising advance with collaborators at the University of Bath and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL).
Discarded oyster shells may pull rare earth metals from polluted water
The process in action on an oyster shell. Credit: Trinity College Dublin New research from a team at Trinity College Dublin has unearthed a cheap and environmentally friendly new option for removing pollutants from our water. The key? Oyster shells that would ordinarily end up in landfill sites after consumption.
Good for the land, but what about the farmer? How Agri-Environment Schemes impact mental health in France and Ireland
Observed mental health conditions among farmers (as reported by AES professionals). Credit: Sustainability, (2026). DOI:10.3390/su17177677 Trinity research shows that depending on how schemes are designed and delivered, well-being impacts can be positive or negative. Time spent in nature and peer discussion groups are key to fostering positive well-being outcomes. While AESs are a familiar part of modern farming they typically focus on environmental outcomes such as biodiversity and climate action.
Scientists Have Discovered a Universal Rule That Shackles Evolution
Scientists have identified a universal rule that appears to govern how all living things respond to temperature, from bacteria to animals. Performance rises gradually with warming, peaks at an optimal point, and then drops sharply as temperatures climb further. Credit: Stock A single thermal performance curve applies across life, from bacteria to animals. Species differ in optimal temperatures, but not in the fundamental shape of their response to heat.
Meet Damhán Alla-the newly christened, spider-like feature on Jupiter's moon Europa
Manannán's Damhán Alla geomorphologic map. Credit: The Planetary Science Journal (2025).
Scientists Use Electricity To “Reprogram” the Immune System for Faster Healing Original
A Trinity College Dublin team has discovered that electrical stimulation can reprogram macrophages to suppress inflammation and accelerate healing, opening the door to new therapeutic possibilities. Credit: Stock Trinity College Dublin scientists showed that electrical stimulation reprograms macrophages to reduce inflammation and boost healing. This breakthrough could lead to broad therapeutic uses.
Scientists discover how nanoplastics disrupt brain energy metabolism
Scientists from the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI) have discovered how nanoplastics—even smaller than microplastics—disrupt energy metabolism in brain cells. Their findings may have implications for better understanding neurodegenerative diseases characterized by declining neurological or brain function, and even shed new light on issues with learning and memory.
Scientists discover how genetic mutations drive Weaver syndrome
Scientists have discovered how mutations in a specific gene drive the rare developmental disorder Weaver syndrome, which is marked by intellectual disability and overgrowth and predisposes people with the condition to cancer. Their work has additional relevance for a growing suite of related diseases and provides important insights that may one day lead to improved therapies.
Programmable nanospheres unlock nature's 500-million-year-old color secrets
Half a billion years ago, nature evolved a remarkable trick: generating vibrant, shimmering colors via intricate, microscopic structures in feathers, wings and shells that reflect light in precise ways. Now, researchers from Trinity have taken a major step forward in harnessing it for advanced materials science.
Scientists investigate spinal ligament development to understand scoliosis formation
Scientists from Trinity College Dublin are assessing how the development of spinal ligaments provide mechanical stability and impact postural support in the spine—with a view to better understanding how developmental "missteps" may contribute to spinal deformations, such as the characteristic curved spines that develop in people with scoliosis.
Microplastics pollution from glitter can disrupt marine biomineralization
New research reveals that PET-based glitter microplastics can actively influence biomineralization processes in marine environments, raising fresh concerns about the long-term environmental impact of microplastic pollution on marine ecosystems.
People fear AI tech, but not enough to avoid autonomous cars Original
A significant percentage of people fear AI tech, but not enough to avoid using autonomous cars when they become available. That is according to new research that goes against the "Frankenstein complex," where humans are predicted to be hostile to robots and AI because they are afraid of them. Researchers from Trinity surveyed 1,233 adults to discover more about their attitudes to using AI tech (specifically autonomous cars).
Higher cortisol levels may help predict risk of people developing depression in the future
Higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol may increase the risk of developing depression, according to new research from Trinity. Researchers from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) found that higher cortisol levels in older adults, measured from hair samples collected in 2014, were associated with an increased likelihood of depression during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, six years later.
Careful assessment of patient needs can reduce costs in end-of-life care
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Decision-makers can manage high expenditures as deaths increase and improve patient experience if they understand what drives end-of-life costs and if services find a better balance between treating disease and managing symptoms, according to a new policy brief in which Trinity researchers made significant contributions.
Why do we forget? New theory proposes 'forgetting' is actually a form of learning Original
The new theory proposes that forgetting is due to circuit remodelling that switches engram cells from an accessible to an inaccessible state. Credit: Dr. Nora Raschle We create countless memories as we live our lives but many of these we forget. Why? Counter to the general assumption that memories simply decay with time, 'forgetting' might not be a bad thing—that is according to scientists who believe it may represent a form of learning.
Plant diversity in grasslands: Multi-species swards outperform even in drought conditions
Illustration of the Diversity-Interactions modeling approach of an ecosystem function (y, here total annual biomass production) in a two-species system.
New research unearths importance of 'subterranean estuaries' to sustainable fishing and aquaculture industry
Figure 1. Study area. Sampling sites are identified by red dots. The location of the wells and boreholes used in this study are represented with green triangles, while the location of the Miñor river sampling site is shown with a yellow triangle. These data are obtained from Ibánhez et al. (2019). Orthophoto (taken in 2018) and the mapping of local fluvial courses were obtained from the Instituto Geográfico Nacional (www.ign.es). BH denotes borehole.
Rising Sika deer populations linked to bovine tuberculosis infections
The number of deer in Ireland has been rising steadily during the 21st century, and studies in Europe and the USA have shown that deer, at higher densities, can sustain TB in their herds. Indeed, recent research has identified Sika deer in County Wicklow as one such maintenance host of TB. Credit: Trinity College Dublin New research suggests Ireland's increasing populations of Sika deer may be linked to local outbreaks of TB infection in cattle.
Neonicotinoid pesticide residues found in Irish honey
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Researchers from Trinity and Dublin City University found that Irish honey contained residues of neonicotinoid insecticides. Neonicotinoids are the most widely used group of insecticides globally, used in plant protection products to control harmful insects. Neonicotinoids are systemic pesticides.
Narcissists have the most crowdfunding success, research reveals
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Entrepreneurs that display the right level of narcissism are more likely to secure crowdfunding investment, new research from Trinity Business School reveals. According to research from Dr. Francesca Di Pietro, Assistant Professor in Business Strategy at Trinity Business School, entrepreneurs who exhibit medium levels of narcissistic expression in their crowdfunding campaigns secure more investment.
Discovery pinpoints new therapeutic target for atopic dermatitis
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Researchers from Trinity have discovered a key mechanism underlying bacterial skin colonisation in atopic dermatitis, which affects millions around the globe. Atopic dermatitis (AD, also called commonly eczema) is the most common chronic inflammatory skin disorder in children, affecting 15-20% of people in childhood. During disease flares, patients experience painful inflamed skin lesions accompanied by intense itch and recurrent skin infection.
Zoologists uncover new example of rapid evolution in Southeast Asia - meet the Sulawesi Babblers
A babbler from the Sulawesi region of Indonesia caught, studied and released by Trinity zoologists. Credit: Trinity College Dublin Zoologists from Trinity College Dublin, working in tropical Southeast Asia, have uncovered a modern-day example of rapid evolution in action. The zoologists have discovered that male and female Sulawesi Babblers (Pellorneum celebense, a species of bird) have evolved to attain different sizes on small islands, and in quick-fire time.
Researchers develop global consensus on sustainability in the built environment
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Researchers from Trinity are among an international group calling on the global community, politicians, industry leaders, and societal decision-makers to better understand the critical importance of the built environment for sustainable development at global and local scales. The consensus has the backing of the leading professional associations in the domain of construction engineering and underlines the critical need to mitigate against global climate change.
A quantum thermometer to measure the coldest temperatures in the universe
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Physicists from Trinity College Dublin have proposed a thermometer based on quantum entanglement that can accurately measure temperatures a billion times colder than those in outer space. These ultra-cold temperatures arise in clouds of atoms, known as Fermi gasses, which are created by scientists to study how matter behaves in extreme quantum states.
Countries with female leaders suffer six times fewer COVID-19 deaths
Credit: CC0 Public Domain The COVID-19 crisis points to female leadership as a marker for healthier and more equal societies that are more receptive to political agendas placing social and environmental wellbeing at the core of national policymaking, according to a new analysis involving Lorenzo Fioramonti from the University of Pretoria and Luca Coscieme from Trinity.
Researchers pinpoint potential new therapeutic target for eye disease
Picture of the back of the eye showing intermediate age-related macular degeneration. Credit: National Eye Institute Multi-disciplinary work led by researchers from Trinity has pinpointed a potential new therapeutic target for treating retinal degeneration. The researchers have discovered that a protein (SARM1) involved in neuronal cell injury may also have a role in the progression of retinal degeneration.
New studies show Irish diet is unsustainable nutritionally, financially and ethically
Credit: CC0 Public Domain The Irish diet is rich in unsustainable foods and is causing nutritional and financial problems—as well as seriously limiting our potential to limit the effects of global warming and nitrogen pollution. However, the new research that pinpoints these worries also finds that we could make major improvements if adopting the EAT-Lancet 'planetary healthy' reference diet.
The shift to a more sustainable food system is inevitable: Here's how to make it happen
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Europe's top scientists agree that a radical change is coming in how we produce and distribute food, to ensure food security and deliver healthy diets for all. Now a new report from SAPEA, co-authored by Professor Anna Davies from Trinity's School of Natural Sciences, lays out the social science evidence on how that transition can happen in an inclusive, just and timely way.
Scientists make fresh call for policy makers to protect pollinators
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Pollinating insects could thrive if improvements are made to agri-environment schemes across Europe, according to a new collaborative study involving scientists from Trinity. More than 20 pollinator experts from 18 different countries looked at a range of wildlife habitats on farmland– named Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs) – to determine how well they support insect pollinators such as bumblebees, solitary bees and hoverflies.
De novo genes far more common and important than scientists thought
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Scientists from Trinity and the University of Pittsburgh have discovered that de novo genes—genes that have evolved from scratch—are both more common and more important than previously believed. Their findings appear in two studies, one forthcoming in eLife and one that was published earlier this month in Nature Communications. DNA, genes, and de novo orphans Over time, genes change via random mutations.
Bioengineers take step toward a patch that could mend a broken heart
Credit: Trinity College Dublin Bioengineers from Trinity have developed a prototype patch that does the same job as crucial aspects of heart tissue. Their patch withstands the mechanical demands and mimics the electrical signalling properties that allow our hearts to pump blood rhythmically round our bodies. Their work essentially takes us one step closer to a functional design that could mend a broken heart.
Scientists discover how tuberculosis puts the brakes on immune engines
Graphical Abstract. Credit: Cell Reports Scientists from Trinity have discovered both how TB puts the brakes on our immune engines and how we can kick-start those engines back into gear—providing hope that improved treatment options could soon be on the horizon. Although ancient, TB is still the world's deadliest infectious disease. While it is rampant in Africa, the growing problem of antibiotic resistance is posing a significant threat worldwide.
New research considers future interactions with computer-generated people in virtual reality
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Dr. Rachel McDonnell, Assistant Professor in Creative Technologies at Trinity, focuses on the animation of virtual humans for the entertainment industry and virtual reality (VR). Dr. McDonnell has a unique approach to advancing the state-of-the-art in virtual characters that merges new industry-standard technology with results from psychophysical experiments.
New research into badger dispersal could minimize bovine tuberculosis spread
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Zoology researchers from Trinity, working with the Department of Agriculture, Food and The Marine (DAFM) and the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), have unlocked the secrets of dispersing badgers. Their research, reported today, has major implications for implementing vaccination programs to limit the spread of bovine tuberculosis (TB).
Chemists create self-assembling material with suite of new properties
Graphical Abstract. Credit: Chem Chemists from have created a new material that self-assembles into 2-D networks in a predictable and reproducible manner. The material has a suite of new properties, which means it may have numerous applications—although it will take time and significant exploration to determine how it may best be used.
Value of Ireland's insect pollinators greatly underestimated
Credit: CC0 Public Domain A newly published report claims that both the market and non-market values of pollinators in Ireland are currently greatly underestimated. The EPA-supported "Pollival" study led by Trinity has shown that even if we just consider locally produced food crops, loss of pollinators in Ireland could risk a €20-59 million hit per year in crop production.
New Irish research reveals the secret lives of tiger sharks
A tiger shark is released after tagging in the Bahamas. Credit: Diego Camejo A team of scientists led by experts from Trinity and a US-based NGO have just returned from the Bahamas where they learned all about the secret lives of the region's tiger sharks. Cutting-edge bio-logging devices fixed to the sharks are providing a suite of biological information that has never been collected before, which will help the team assess how the global climate crisis may impact these apex predators.
Scientists discover how hepatitis C 'ghosts' our immune system
The Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), circulating in the blood before it infects cells. Credit: Trinity College Dublin Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have discovered how the highly infectious and sometimes deadly hepatitis C virus (HCV) "ghosts" our immune system and remains undiagnosed in many people. They report their findings today in the international FASEB journal.
A method for predicting the impact of global warming on disease
The proof-of-concept method, which was road-tested using the water flea (Daphnia magna) and its pathogen (Ordospora colligata) as a model system, uses a long-standing biological concept known as the metabolic theory of ecology to predict how a wide range of processes - all of which influence host-parasite dynamics - are affected by temperature. The scientists, led by William C.
New pollinator guidelines aim to get Ireland's farmland buzzing again
Researchers behind the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan (AIPP) this week unveiled new Farmland Guidelines to add another strand to a coordinated drive to help Ireland's pollinators survive and thrive. The guidelines were launched at the National Ploughing Championships by Minister of State at Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Andrew Doyle TD.
Forgotten memories may be retrievable
However, we are all considerably more concerned by adult amnesia, which is something that over 33 percent of us will experience over the course of our lives. This may be mediated through aging, disease, misadventure, or be imparted by other routes. Our memories – though hard to define or explain to others – help to make us who we are. Experience shapes us, helping us to learn and develop. This is why dementia and amnesia can be so debilitating for those who live with either.
Guilford Pulls Out 7-6 ODAC Men's Lacrosse Win at Randolph-Macon
Apr 04, 2015 ASHLAND, Va. – Jace Sowden's goal with 3:04 left in regulation gave visiting Guilford College a 7-6 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) men's lacrosse victory at Randolph-Macon College Saturday. The Quakers improved to 8-2 (3-2 ODAC) with their first win over the Yellow Jackets (4-8, 1-3 ODAC) since 2006 and their first in Ashland since 1991. Guilford is off to its best start since the 1986 club won nine of its first 11 outings.
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