Texas officials on Saturday lifted a warning for all but one Houston-area community to stop using tap water because it might be tainted with a deadly brain-eating microbe.

In the coming years and decades, various nations want to explore the moon, and plan to send astronauts there again for this purpose. But on our inhospitable satellite, space radiation poses a significant risk. Scientists report for the first time on time-resolved measurements of the radiation on the moon. The measurements show an equivalent dose rate of about 60 microsieverts per hour. In...

Sharing a home with a pet appeared to act as a buffer against psychological stress during lockdown, a new survey shows.

Millions of people turn to their mobile devices when seeking medical advice. They're able to share their symptoms and receive potential diagnoses through chatbot-based symptom-checker (CSC) apps. But how do these apps compare to a trip to the doctor's office? Not well, according to a new study.

Scientists have found that although male and female birds have an almost identical set of genes, they function differently in each sex through a mechanism called alternative splicing.

Researchers suggest that carriers of the genetic mutations PiZ and PiS are at high risk for severe illness and even death from COVID-19. These mutations lead to deficiency in the alpha1-antitrypsin protein, which protects lung tissues from damage in case of severe infections. Other studies have already associated deficiency in this protein with inflammatory damage to lung function in other...

The life-support option known as ECMO appears to be saving lives for many of the critically ill COVID-19 patients who receive it. Patients in a new international study faced a staggeringly high risk of death, as ventilators and other care failed to support their lungs. But after they were placed on ECMO, their actual death rate was less than 40 percent.

Researchers have made new discoveries on the effects of temperature on sustainable polymers. Their findings may help the industry to produce plastics that are better for the environment.

Nearly 30 years after recording a temperature of minus 93.2 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 69.6 Celsius) in Greenland, the measurement has been verified by the World Meteorological Organization as the coldest recorded temperature in the Northern Hemisphere.

Researchers demonstrated a proof-of-concept stem cell treatment in a mouse model of Parkinson's disease. They found that neurons derived from stem cells can integrate well into the correct regions of the brain, connect with native neurons and restore motor functions.

An analysis conducted in 45,000 adults mainly of European ancestry associated 160 genes with brain shrinkage seen on MRI.

Researchers found that gently heating N95 masks in high relative humidity could inactivate SARS-CoV-2 virus trapped within the masks, without degrading the masks' performance.

The right fails to recognise that the Swedes’ real virtue in this pandemic is their social cohesionSweden is to the 21st-century right what the Soviet Union was to the 20th-century left. Conservatives have transformed it into a Tory Disneyland where every dream comes true. On the shores of the Baltic lies a country that has no need to curtail civil liberties and wreck the economy to curb...

Studies show people living in the Arctic Circle are armed with a mindset that helps combat the long ‘polar night’. It might come in handy for us all…When Kari Leibowitz first arrived in the Norwegian city of Tromsø, she was both intrigued by, and fearful of, the approaching winter. Two hundred miles north of the Arctic Circle, the city does not see the sun from mid-November to mid-January....

France’s COVID-19 resurgence is palpable in the buzzing biology lab of this public hospital in the Paris suburb of Argenteuil. More than 1 million of France’s 67 million people took a virus test over the past week, putting labs like this under growing...

What if you could get an accurate weather report as much as three weeks in advance? In some parts of the world, that could soon be possible.Right now, forecasters can reliably predict the weather in most parts of the United States up to eight days in advance, according to the American Meteorological Society. In recent years, research has shown that improving technology could make weather forecasts...

NASA wants to get astronauts on the moon by 2024. Before that, the agency must make sure its spacesuits...

Firefighters and officials at California's largest utility company braced for hot, dry and windy weather in northern and central areas of the state this weekend that may fan the flames of several major wildfires or ignite new ones.

Scientists estimate we will face a health emergency at least once every five years. Our new initiative seeks a better response• Sally Davies is a former chief medical officer for England We are at a crossroads. As the impacts of Covid-19 continue the world over and the second wave moves through Europe, we have a choice to make. Will we simply respond to the here and now, or do we take a moment...

The covid-19 pandemic shocked the world and generated high levels of economic, political, and social uncertainty. And for many people, the virus compounded the growing sense of uncertainty they already felt in their lives as a result of automation, geopolitical tensions, and widening inequalities. With the many sudden changes that covid-19 has brought, planning for the future can feel...

Efforts now turn to the disposal of some 350 whale carcasses after Australia's worst ever stranding.

Proposed centre with up to 250 jobs is linked to EU Copernicus satellite programmeThe UK is at risk of losing the contract for the expansion of a flagship European weather research centre based in Reading because of Brexit.The European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) has been based in Berkshire for the last 45 years but its future EU-funded activities are now the subject of an...

As online voting opens today for the Green Party leadership, 35,000 registered members are getting a chance to decide who will help shape that policy. Here is a look at some of the policies that could gain traction among the party's grassroots...

There was some hope that a reduction in carbon emissions due to the COVID-19 lockdown could be the silver lining to a tragic situation, but it’s unlikely to make a dent in the upward trend of Earth’s rising temperatures, as the planet recorded its second-warmest August on...