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, hospitalization, ICU admission and mortality, according to researchers.

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, fewer pups survived their most vulnerable period because temperatures during their critical post-birth 'denning period' increased over the same time...

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 Black families of being uninsured, researchers found. The team identified the spatial distribution of social and environmental stressors across...

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 a million years. This would make them older than Dinkinesh, also called Lucy, the world's most famous Australopithecus fossil.

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 years -- meaning the energy they get from food is less than what they expend. Three of those six years came in the most recent years of the study,...

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. The study's findings are critical because as the Amazon moves closer towards a 'tipping point', they provide a robust evidence base to inform urgently...

Medicare could waste up to $605 million per year on the controversial Alzheimer's drug aducanumab if it is eventually approved for widespread use because it is supplied in vials containing fixed doses that may not be appropriate for all patients -- resulting in the trashing of large volumes of unused drug.

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 idea of potentially habitable planets into question.

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 findings offer hope for more targeted cancer drugs.

A new study sheds light on how trade, and centrality in the global wheat trade network, affect food security. The study shows that many countries depend on trade to fulfill their food needs. Further, the global wheat trade is concentrated in a handful of countries whereby disruption in only a few countries would have global impacts, researchers suggest.

Researchers found mice were more likely to get infected by Omicron than other variants but with significantly lower mortality rates.

Eating a larger proportion of protein while dieting leads to better food choices and helps avoid the loss of lean body mass, according to a new study.

In a pair of studies, scientists have deepened investigations into the genetic origins of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in children, describing multiple gene variants that contribute to disease risk.

Using a method that works backward from a set of observed earthquakes to test seismic models that fit those observations, researchers working in the Delaware Basin were able to determine whether earthquakes in the region since 2017 were caused by oil and gas operations.

Between 2013 and 2018, rates of antibiotic use and sepsis decreased in 152 hospitals, diminishing fears that sepsis improvement efforts will lead to antibiotic overuse.

Researchers have found that people may have a tendency to form friendships with individuals who have a similar body odor. The researchers were even able to predict the quality of social interactions between complete strangers by first 'smelling' them with a device known as an electronic nose, or eNose. These findings suggest that the sense of smell may play a larger role in human social...

Researchers have unlocked an evolutionary mystery of a deadly pathogen responsible for fueling the superbug crisis: it can reproduce by having sex. And while such fraternizing is infrequent, scientists report it could be producing more drug-resistant and more virulent strains of Candida auris, capable of spreading faster.

Researchers found that targets of cyberbullying were more likely to report suicidal thoughts and attempts, above and beyond offline bullying.

Researchers have discovered the first viruses infecting a group of microbes that may include the ancestors of all complex life. The discovery offers tantalizing clues about the origins of complex life and suggests new directions for exploring the hypothesis that viruses were essential to the evolution of humans and other complex life forms.

Chaos in natural populations appears to be much more common than previously recognized, according to a new analysis. Populations of organisms in natural ecosystems fluctuate a lot, and a key question for ecologists is whether those fluctuations are regular (varying around some theoretically 'stable' equilibrium), random (completely unpredictable), or chaotic. Chaotic systems, like the weather, can...

During three months of treatment for smoking cessation following hospital discharge, a healthcare system-based model using proven medications and counseling calls achieved better quit rates for adults who smoked than referral to a state telephone quitline.

Sea cucumbers' self defense trick could boost multi-million dollar industry.