Category Science

A new study finds women who have both ovaries surgically removed before age 50 and carry the APOE4 gene variant face significantly higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This research, analyzing data from over 34,000 women, found hormone therapy can…

Chemicals in drip water form records of ancient fires in speleothem cave structures Jay Alder/Oregon State University In the event of a wildfire, flee into the cave. This is the official emergency policy of Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve,…

It is now five years since clinicians in Wuhan, China, first encountered covid-19 cases in December 2019. Hindsight makes it even clearer how the battle against the disease wasn’t just a fight against a virus, but also a struggle against…

In 2025, we might detect the first signs of life outside our solar system. Crucial to this potential breakthrough is the 6.5-meter-diameter James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Launched aboard an Ariane-5 rocket from Kourou, a coastal town in French Guiana,…

Seaweed is once again showing promise for making cattle farming more sustainable. A new study by researchers at the University of California, Davis, found that feeding grazing beef cattle a seaweed supplement in pellet form reduced their methane emissions by…

Living in the desert is a challenge. But the Mojave desert woodrat has an ace to play: it can eat poison. This allows the cute little rodent to survive and thrive by feeding on toxic creosote bushes. Remarkably, it hasn’t…

This episode is part of “Health Equity Heroes,” an editorially independent special project that was produced with financial support from Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Rachel Feltman: The public health world is filled with heroes, but it doesn’t exactly produce a ton of…

Using artificial intelligence to analyze old topographic maps, researchers have discovered over 1,300 previously unknown abandoned oil and gas wells across California and Oklahoma, highlighting a novel approach to address this widespread environmental hazard. Published in Environmental Science & Technology…

A robot that can jump into flight like a bird could eliminate the need for runways for small fixed-winged drones. Birds use the powerful explosive force generated by their legs to leap into the air and start flying, but building…

Bird flu has crept uncomfortably close to home in recent months. Public health experts have detected nearly five dozen known infections of the H5N1 avian influenza virus in people in the U.S. Dairy farmers are approaching a full year of…