In a shocking turn of events, hundreds of vials containing live and potentially deadly viruses have gone missing from a laboratory in Queensland, Australia. The breach, which was discovered in August 2023, has triggered a full-scale investigation into what is being described as a serious violation of biosecurity protocols.
The recent discoveries surrounding the second brain (the gut) and the third (the heart) are reshaping how we understand the relationship between our brain, body, and emotions. By recognizing the complexity of these neural networks, researchers and healthcare professionals are uncovering new approaches to treating mental and physical health that go beyond the traditional focus on the brain alone.
Toxic leaders are a widespread issue plaguing employees and organizations across various industries. A 2023 survey found that 87 per cent of professionals have had at least one toxic boss during their careers, with 30 per cent encountering more than one. Another survey found that 24 per cent of employees are currently working under the worst boss they’ve ever had.
Research has linked the warming climate to some of the deaths from exposure to fire smoke in large parts of the world. The number of landscape fire smoke-related deaths globally each year is about 339,000.
Researchers found that people who visited a high-intensity haunted house as a controlled fear experience displayed less brain activity in response to stimuli and less anxiety post-exposure. This finding suggests that exposing yourself to horror films, scary stories or suspenseful video games can actually calm you afterward.
The public deserves honesty and respect. Scientists need to do a better job delivering, says Frederic Bertley, president of the COSI Science Center.
Just like people confronted with a sea of options at the grocery store, bees foraging in meadows encounter many different flowers at once. They must decide which ones to visit for food, but it isn’t always a straightforward choice.
Since 1900, the number of published scientific articles has doubled about every 10 to 15 years; since 1980, about 8% to 9% annually. This growth reflects the immense and ever-growing scope of research across countless topics, from the farthest reaches of the cosmos to the intricacies of life on Earth and human nature.
Could climate engineering help reduce the national security risks of climate change, or would it make things worse? Answering that question is not simple, but researchers who study climate change and national security like we do have some idea of the risks ahead.
The kitchen offers plenty of opportunities to view and explore what physicists call soft matter and complex fluids. Everyday phenomena, such as Cheerios clustering in milk or rings left when drops of coffee evaporate, have led to discoveries at the intersection of physics and chemistry and other tasteful collaborations between food scientists and physicists.
Ancient civilizations constructed buildings right next to each other, which reduced the number of walls exposed to the intense solar radiation. Small courtyards provided lighting and ventilation. Narrow streets ensured shade throughout the day and allowed pedestrians to move comfortably through the city.
While promoting her role in the upcoming film adaptation of the Broadway hit “Wicked,” singer Ariana Grande made a podcast appearance that left many of her fans befuddled and concerned.
A company that makes tests for lead poisoning has agreed to resolve criminal charges that it concealed for years a malfunction that resulted in inaccurately low results. While many of the fault-prone devices were used from 2013 to 2017, some were being recalled as late as 2021. The Justice Department said the malfunction produced inaccurate results for “potentially tens of thousands” of children and other patients.
Although working memory has very limited capacity – at any given time, it can accommodate just four to seven pieces of information – it is essential for normal human functioning and represents what Spitzer calls a ‘superpower’.
There’s been a 50% drop in numbers of maths students at the lowest tariff universities over the five years between 2017 and 2021 in England. As a result, some universities are struggling to keep their mathematics departments open.
Environmental conditions during germination can have profound and long-lasting effects on plants that could increase both their size and their stress tolerance at the same time.
Astonishingly, honeybees possess one of the most complicated examples of nonhuman communication. They can tell each other where to find resources such as food, water, or nest sites with a physical “waggle dance.” This dance conveys the direction, distance and quality of a resource to the bee’s nestmates.
Consumers consider online reviews to be among the most important sources of information for making buying decisions. However, according to a 2019 report by Which?, the U.K.‘s consumer champion organization, many of these reviews on popular websites such as Amazon are fakes.
Every time you flush a toilet, it releases plumes of tiny water droplets into the air around you. These droplets, called aerosol plumes, can spread pathogens from human waste
A new virus called Langya has been discovered in China. It has been detected in 35 people and is thought to have been transmitted by shrews. So far it’s at an early outbreak stage.
Although the name and scenario are fictional, this is a question we have to confront now. In December 2021, Melbourne-based Cortical Labs grew groups of neurons (brain cells) that were incorporated into a computer chip. The resulting hybrid chip works because both brains and neurons share a common language: electricity.
Starting on Jan. 25, 2023, many of the 2,500 institutions and 300,000 researchers that the U.S. National Institutes of Health supports will need to provide a formal, detailed plan for publicly sharing the data generated by their research.
RNA viruses are best known for the diseases they cause in people, ranging from the common cold to COVID-19. They also infect plants and animals important to people.
Russia has dissolved academic connections with the West through legislation on so-called “foreign agents” and “undesirable organizations.” The government ramped up scrutiny of foreign funding and outlawed dozens of Western think tanks, charities, and universities that previously had worked in Russia.
It’s possible for artificial intelligence systems to generate false information in critical fields like medicine and defense that is convincing enough to fool experts.