In recent weeks, the daily U.S. COVID-19 case and death counts have been hitting all-time highs, while fresh lockdowns and restrictions have been enacted across the country in an attempt to contain the spread of the virus. In response to the economic pain brought on by those measures, Congress is expected to pass a $900 billion economic relief package on Dec. 21.
The relief package is a s…
Read moreCountries’ plans to tackle climate change fall far short of what’s necessary to prevent temperatures from rising to an unsafe level that governments have vowed to prevent, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA). The use of fossil fuels, in particular is continuing to expand globally, putting the world on a dangerous track for increased emissions.
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Read moreFor a few months in the fall of 2021, reports of unchecked violence, abuse, and neglect at the jail on New York City’s Rikers Island were plastered across national news before receding back into the routinized cruelty that constitutes the underbelly of American life. This exceptional coverage of the brutality behind bars provoked universal condemnation. But in its short-lived ascent to the fo…
Read morePfizer Inc. shares fell after it halted early development of an oral drug for weight loss on safety concerns, raising investor anxiety about an alternative therapy the company is still developing.
The drugmaker will stop work on lotiglipron based on data from phase 1 clinical trials and lab measurements showing elevated levels of enzymes called transaminases from an ongoing mid-stage stud…
Read moreThere’s never been much mystery surrounding the murder of Mars. Once a warm, wet world, Mars lost its magnetic field more than 4 billion years ago when its outer core cooled, shutting off the dynamo that kept the field in place. That exposed the planet to the solar wind, which clawed away at the atmosphere; and that in turn allowed the planet’s water to sputter off into space. To lo…
Read moreAs eco-conscious consumers increasingly look for products that can help them reduce their carbon footprint and deal with other environmental hazards, inventors and manufacturers are responding in kind. Here’s a look at some of the smartest sustainable products of the year, from greener shoes to smarter thermostats. (Of course, some would say the most sustainable approach would be to use o…
Read moreAlbert Einstein had to wait nearly a century to be proven right. In 1916, the great physicist predicted that collisions in space could warp the fabric of spacetime itself—like a bowling ball warps the surface of a trampoline—sending out ripples called gravitational waves. It was an utterly counterintuitive idea. Space is empty, and time is, well, time, and neither of them can ripple…
Read moreIf you can think of something, there’s probably a scientist studying it. There are researchers looking into naked mole rat breeding patterns, the aerodynamics of cricket balls, and that people tend to like pizza better than beans. But there are also certain experiments that scientists generally don’t do. They don’t, for instance, genetically modify humans, or clone them. They …
Read moreEach person has a powerful combination of characteristics that influence their chances of living a long life. A 2019 study by the City Health Dashboard analyzed the data from the 500 largest cities in the U.S. provides a case in point: a baby born in the Streeterville community of Chicago, in 2015, could live to be 90 years old, while the life expectancy of another baby born just eight miles aw…
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