A study by a team of researchers led by a Texas A&M University professor has found that not wearing a face mask dramatically increases a person’s chances of being infected by the COVID-19 virus. Renyi Zhang, Texas A&M Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and the Harold J. Haynes Chair in the College of Geosciences, and…
When drought reshuffles the green-up of habitats that mule deer migrate across, it dramatically shortens the annual foraging bonanza they rely on. That is the main finding of a new University of Wyoming study, which shows the benefits of migration are likely to decrease for mule deer and other migratory herbivores as drought becomes more…
Parasite infections are a constant presence for many people who live in tropical regions, particularly in less industrialized areas. These often chronic conditions are at best unpleasant; more seriously, children with parasite diseases that cause diarrhea can die of malnutrition or dehydration. In Genome Biology, a study led by University of Pennsylvania scientists investigated the…
Many coronavirus patients seem to get better at first, then rapidly decline and are overtaken by an overwhelming immune response that causes the body to turn on itself. This “cytokine storm” was once an arcane phenomenon familiar mainly to rheumatologists who study when and how the immune system’s safeguards fail. But it has become increasingly…
Here’s what you need to know: ImageConstruction workers in Manhattan returned to work during the first phase of reopening on Monday.Credit…Brittainy Newman for The New York Times ECONOMIC ROUNDUP Stocks fall, 1.5 million more U.S. workers file for unemployment, and Congress is divided on extending aid. Stocks on Wall Street suffered their sharpest daily decline…
Plastic pollution isn’t just fouling the world’s oceans. It is also in the air we breathe, traveling on the wind and drifting down from the skies, according to a new study. More than 1,000 tons of tiny fragments rain down each year on national parks and wilderness areas in the American West alone, equivalent to…
The playground padlocks are starting to come off. Now that all 50 states have begun to reopen, children in some areas are once again zipping down slides and swinging from monkey bars after months of waiting. A handful of states, including Massachusetts, Colorado, Ohio and Iowa, announced in June that playgrounds could start reopening, though…
Riot helmets, ballistic vests, shields, batons — fully decked-out police officers have become staples in New York City as the protests against racism and police brutality approach their third week. But increasingly, one piece of equipment has attracted attention with its absence: the face mask. On any given day, any corner, any group of officers,…
A young woman whose lungs were destroyed by the coronavirus received a double lung transplant last week at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, the hospital reported on Thursday, the first known lung transplant in the United States for Covid-19. The 10-hour surgery was more difficult and took several hours longer than most lung transplants because…
According to Nancy Lublin, the chief executive and co-founder of Crisis Text Line, a free mental health texting service providing confidential crisis intervention, the top three topics in conversations since the pandemic began have been “anxiety,” “depression” and “relationships.” But in the past week, as the demonstrations over the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor…