September 25, 2025 4 min read Cow Udders Could Brew Up Dangerous New Bird Flu Strains Cells in cow udders could act as a site for human flu and bird flu viruses to swap genes and generate dangerous novel strains By Chris Simms edited by Tanya Lewis Cow udders may provide a hotspot for bird…
The average size of trees in the Amazon rainforest has been steadily increasing as carbon dioxide levels have risen, meaning these larger trees play a more important role in determining whether the forest can remain a carbon sink. How forests will react to a changing climate is an open question. For example, one hypothesis is…
In the dog days of summer, popping a tray of water into the freezer to make ice cubes may seem mundane. But at the smallest scales, we still don’t know a lot about how freezing unfolds. Now, the first ever molecular-scale movies of ice reveal that the resulting crystal is surprisingly flexible, researchers report September…
This article is part of “Innovations In: RSV,” an editorially independent special report that was produced with financial support from MSD, Sanofi and AstraZeneca. At first, Ethel Branch thought her two-year-old son, Patro, had a cold or maybe the flu. But on a chilly day in November 2022, a seemingly common childhood ailment took a…
When the contraceptive pill first became available in the US, women weren’t warned of possible side effects, such as heart attacks and blood clots. It took around a decade before anything was done. In her 1969 book The Doctor’s Case Against The Pill, journalist and activist Barbara Seaman collected testimonies from women who had long…
This article is part of “Innovations In: RSV,” an editorially independent special report that was produced with financial support from MSD, Sanofi and AstraZeneca. Susan Green developed a stubborn cough in December 2023. It has never gone away. Nearly two years after contracting respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, Green, now aged 72, still suffers from…
Molecular gas and X-ray emission around Sagittarius A*, the Milky Way’s black hole Mark D. Gorski et al. (CC BY 4.0) We have found hot wind blasting out from our galaxy’s supermassive black hole for the first time, which could help us understand its mysterious inactivity. Compared to many other supermassive black holes that lie…
September 24, 2025 3 min read Infections of Drug-Resistant ‘Nightmare Bacteria’ Are Surging in Hospitals The infection rate of one type of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales bacteria has risen by more than 460 percent in recent years. Scientists say people receiving treatment in hospitals are at highest risk By Lauren J. Young edited by Tanya Lewis Microbiologist…
The carbon-capture-and-storage cement planet in Padeswood, Wales Padeswood CCS Commercial-scale carbon-capture systems for cement plants are now being deployed, raising hopes that one of the trickiest industrial sectors to decarbonise could finally be on the path towards net-zero emissions. The world’s first carbon-capture plant on a cement works has been up and running in Norway…
According to Martin Makary, head of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the drug leucovorin will help “hundreds of thousands of kids” with autism. But a day after Makary praised leucovorin’s powers at a White House event, some specialists are warning that the science to warrant Makary’s enthusiasm is far from solid. Those researchers…
