The analysis of ancient DNA allows scientists to trace human evolution and make important discoveries about modern populations. The data revealed by ancient DNA sampling can be valuable, but the human remains that carry this ancient DNA are often those of the ancestors of modern Indigenous groups, and some communities have expressed concerns about the [...]

A new Covid-19 variant, XBB.1.5, is spreading rapidly throughout the United States. In December 2022, the proportion of new Covid-19 infections due to this Omicron offshoot have increased from 4% to 18%, according to a January 6 release from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and is projected to rise further still. In some parts [...]

The EctoLife Artificial Womb Facility envisages a controversial new way to be pregnant, with the baby growing in an idealized, but completely inhuman environment: transparent “growth pods” arranged by their hundreds in human baby farming operations. To be clear from the outset: this is just a concept at this stage, the brainchild of Berlin-based “producer, [...]

Nurses in both the U.S. and U.K. flexed their bargaining muscle over the last few weeks amid increasing pressure on the countries’ respective health care system due to COVID-19. About 7,000 nurses from two New York City hospitals, Mount Sinai Hospital and Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, returned to work on January 12 after [...]

Health-care systems are rolling out artificial-intelligence tools for diagnosis and monitoring. But how reliable are the models? Each day, around 350 people in the United States die from lung cancer. Many of those deaths could be prevented by screening with low-dose computed tomography (CT) scans. But scanning millions of people would produce millions of images, [...]

WALL STREET JOURNAL–The result is a more efficient way to build muscle mass and strength, say proponents, who claim that one 20-minute session of whole-body zapping achieves the same benefits as two and half hours of conventional strength training. In the U.S., the workouts are offered by about 400 fitness centers, spas and other outlets, and [...]

WHO–Globally, more than 3 million new cases and 10 000 deaths have been reported in the week of 26 December 2022 to 1 January 2023. This represents a reduction in weekly cases and deaths of 22% and 12%, respectively. In the last 28 days (5 December 2022 to 1 January 2023), over 14.5 million cases [...]

The European Union and China on Tuesday moved closer to a political standoff over the COVID-19 crisis, with Beijing vehemently rejecting travel restrictions some EU nations have started to impose that could be expanded in coming days. An EU offer of help, including vaccine donations, was also as good as slapped down, with Beijing insisting the situation [...]

Severance, a popular Emmy Award-winning show streaming on Apple TV+, is a rich cultural artifact. It concerns a team of office workers at a morally questionable company that performs brain surgery on employees to sever the consciousness of their work and personal lives. The four of us were so taken by the show that we wrote [...]

A baby has been born in the United Kingdom from 26-year-old sperm. His 47-year-old father, Peter Hickles, describes it as a miracle. “ The fact that he was basically ready to go just before Euro 96 and was born before the World Cup is amazing,” he told The Guardian. Mr Hickles froze his sperm in 1996 [...]