Science & Technology

Computer scientists develop a method that allows humans to help complex robots build efficient solutions to ‘see’ their environments and carry out tasks.

Researchers have identified a specific bacterial microbe that, when fed to honey bee larvae, can reduce the effects of nutritional stress on developing bees.

Researchers identify new mechanism that teaches immune cells-in-training to spare the body’s own tissues while attacking pathogens. As part of this early education, specialized thymus cells ‘pose’ as different tissues, teaching the immune system how to…

A major clinical trial has found that by interrupting the treatment of vulnerable people on long-term immune suppressing medicines for two weeks after a COVID-19 booster vaccination, their antibody response to the jab is doubled.

A new study shows that house sparrows’ health closely correlates with urban density, and that sparrows are carrying surprisingly high loads of lead in their bodies.

A study of 10,775 high-risk adult patients during the COVID-19 delta variant surge in late 2021 finds that treatment with one of three anti-spike neutralizing monoclonal antibodies for mild to moderate symptoms led to low rates of severe disease, hospi…

Over a 30-year period, African wild dogs shifted their average birthing dates later by 22 days, an adaptation that allowed them to match the birth of new litters with the coolest temperatures in early winter. But as a result of this significant shift, …

Higher COVID-19 mortality rates among Black communities in Louisiana can be linked to pervasive health vulnerabilities associated with racism, including the location of many Black neighborhoods near industrial facilities and the higher likelihood among…

For decades, scientists have studied these fossils of early human ancestors and their long-lost relatives. Now, a dating method developed by geologists just pushed the age of some of these fossils found at the site of Sterkfontein Caves back more than …

Physicians were 20 to 30 percent less likely to prescribe an analgesic during nightshifts (compared to daytime shifts) and prescribed fewer painkillers than were generally recommended by the World Health Organization, according to a new study.

The endangered southern resident killer whale population isn’t getting enough to eat, and hasn’t been since 2018, a new study has determined. The animals have been in an energy deficit, averaged across spring, summer and fall, for six of the last 40 ye…

A major study into landscape changes in the Brazilian Amazon sheds new light on the many environmental threats the biome faces — but also offers encouraging opportunities for ecological sustainability in the world’s most biodiverse tropical forest. Th…

Liquid water is an important prerequisite for life to develop on a planet. As researchers report in a new study, liquid water could also exist for billions of years on planets that are very different from Earth. This calls our currently Earth-centred i…

Researchers have linked resistance to treatment for a deadly form of kidney cancer to low mitochondrial content in the cell. When the researchers increased the mitochondrial content with an inhibitor, the cancer cells responded to the treatment. Their …