For The Better

In a real-world setting, analysis showed that risk of infection and severe illness was significantly lower for those who were vaccinated against COVID-19, and cardiac conditions did not increase.

In the culmination of a decade’s worth of effort, scientists analyzed an unprecedented sample of more than 1,500 supernovae classified using machine learning. They placed the strongest constraints on the expansion of the universe ever obtained with the…

A new study identifies, in mice, a critical communication pathway connecting the brain and the body’s fat tissue in a feedback loop that appears central to energy production throughout the body. The research suggests that the gradual deterioration of t…

Researchers have developed a new lithium metal battery that can be charged and discharged at least 6,000 times — more than any other pouch battery cell — and can be recharged in a matter of minutes. The research not only describes a new way to make s…

Africa has a huge diversity of large mammals, but their evolutionary relationships and movement across the continent over time often remain a mystery. A new scientific study sheds light on longstanding questions about the interplay between evolution an…

Researchers tested the surfaces in smoking households where children reside and found troubling results.

Researchers have developed a new soft robot design that engages in three simultaneous behaviors: rolling forward, spinning like a record, and following a path that orbits around a central point. The device, which operates without human or computer cont…

In recent years, there has been rising concern that tiny particles known as microplastics are showing up basically everywhere on Earth, from polar ice to soil, drinking water and food. Formed when plastics break down into progressively smaller bits, th…

A global study shows that the effects of extreme drought — which is expected to increase in frequency with climate change — has been greatly underestimated for grasslands and shrublands. The findings quantify the impact of extreme short-term drought …

New research in the southwestern part of Hawai’i Island shows that identifying and protecting marine ecosystems both down-current and up-current of coral reefs, specifically areas where coral larvae are more likely to survive and thrive, is crucial to …

An analysis of those posts, together with a remote study of individuals with obesity who reported using semaglutide and tirzepatide, found that the drugs decreased cravings and reduced alcohol consumption, according to a new study.

An international team of researchers has found that Africa’s birds of prey are facing an extinction crisis. The report warns of declines among nearly 90% of 42 species examined, and suggests that more than two-thirds may qualify as globally threatened.

An average of 22 adolescents 14 to 18 years of age died in the U.S. each week in 2022 from drug overdoses, raising the death rate for this group to 5.2 per 100,000 — driven by fentanyl in counterfeit pills. The researchers also found 19 ‘hotspot’ coun…

Researchers have developed a groundbreaking artificial intelligence (AI) system that can rapidly detect COVID-19 from chest X-rays with more than 98 percent accuracy.

Certain populations of mosquitoes are more heat tolerant and better equipped to survive heat waves than others, according to new research.

Astronomers have detected a three-ringed structure in the nursery of planets in the inner planet-forming disk of a young star. This configuration suggests two Jupiter-mass planets are forming in the gaps between the rings. The detailed analysis is cons…

Researchers have developed a new AI-powered algorithm to help understand how different cells organize themselves into particular tissues and communicate with one another.

Some bacterial membrane transporters work almost like freight elevators to transport substances through the cell membrane into the interior of the cell. The transporter itself spans the bacterial membrane. Like a forklift, a soluble protein outside the…

A groundbreaking study has found that evolution is not as unpredictable as previously thought, which could allow scientists to explore which genes could be useful to tackle real-world issues such as antibiotic resistance, disease and climate change. Th…