Category: Environment

Even the microwave oven in your kitchen is not immune to bacteria. The irradiating environment within a microwave oven might seem inhospitable to microbes. But swabs from microwave ovens in several different locales identified over 100 bacterial strains, researchers report August 7 in Frontiers in Microbiology. This is the first time that scientists have documented…

In some parts of sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 10 percent of children die before they turn 5 years old (SN: 8/3/22); in 2022 alone, around 2.8 million young children died in the entire region. Most are dying from pneumonia, diarrhea or malaria — diseases that can be treated with antibiotics. But prescribing antibiotics to all children…

For the second time, the World Health Organization has declared that mpox, formerly called monkeypox, is a global health emergency. In 2022, global spread of the virus, which causes rashes, fevers, muscle aches and other symptoms, led to the first emergency declaration (SN: 7/22/22). That version of the virus, called clade II, is still causing…

Neandertals traveled at least two evolutionary paths on their way to extinction around 40,000 years ago, a new study suggests. Whether classified as a separate species or a variant of Homo sapiens, Neandertals have typically been viewed as a genetically consistent population. But an adult male’s partial skeleton discovered in France contains genetic clues to…

Extreme Climate Survey Science News is collecting reader questions about how to navigate our planet’s changing climate. What do you want to know about extreme heat and how it can lead to extreme weather events? As the years passed, Hodge had more frequent and more severe bouts of back pain. Any small movement could be…

Soon people will be able to subdue a severe allergic reaction with a nasal spray instead of an injection. On August 9, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first epinephrine nasal spray for the treatment of severe allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, in adults and kids who weigh 30 kilograms or more. Called neffy,…

Extreme Climate Survey Scientific news is collecting questions from readers about how to navigate our planet’s changing climate. What do you want to know about extreme heat and how it can lead to extreme weather events? What is stage 0 cancer? Stage 0 cancer is a condition where the cells in the body look like…

Extreme Climate Survey Scientific news is collecting questions from readers about how to navigate our planet’s changing climate. What do you want to know about extreme heat and how it can lead to extreme weather events? “Elinzanetant is a promising new nonhormonal treatment,” says Talia Sobel, a women’s health internist specializing in menopause at the…