Republican-leaning counties saw a sharp rise in birth rates compared to Democratic-leaning counties after Donald J. Trump’s surprise win in the 2016 presidential election, reveals a forthcoming study from the University of California San Diego. Democratic counties, on the other hand, experienced a baby slump. The paper’s authors find that this difference between Republican versus […]

The virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, can directly infect a specialized type of kidney cell. The discovery helps explain why acute kidney injury is one of the main complications observed in patients with severe COVID-19, according to biomedical engineers and virologists at Duke University. The research appeared online April 20 in the journal Frontiers in […]

Religious shoppers are less likely to buy such items when they feel unconditionally loved by God Whether it is marketing a tea to sharpen thinking, or sheets that promote sounder sleep, the $10 billion self-help industry has always attracted consumers with products that promise to improve aspects of their bodies and their lives. However, certain consumers may […]

A plant virus that infects legumes, called cowpea mosaic virus, has a special power that you may not have known about: when injected into a tumor, it triggers the immune system to treat the cancer—even metastatic cancer—and prevents it from recurring. For the past seven years, researchers at the University of California San Diego and […]

GDP: This brief acronym is believed to represent the sum total of a country’s wealth. Gross Domestic Product has been used by economists since the end of the last world war to track the runners and riders in the global race for prosperity. While we may glimpse GDP figures amid TV news graphics and shrug, […]

Words influence the way we see the world. In 2015, we warned that the language used by the west to describe Russia’s armed intervention in Ukraine was a jumble of euphemism and understatement that failed to serve the public interest. The problem hasn’t gone away. Today there may be a reckoning in the west with how political […]

An international team of researchers has identified DNA mutations in a gene that senses viral RNA, as a cause of the autoimmune disease lupus, with the finding paving the way for the development of new treatments. Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease which causes inflammation in organs and joints, affects movement and the skin, and […]

Adding an organometallic compound to a perovskite solar cell can enhance their efficiency and their stability spectacularly, enabling them to run for 1000 hours with only a minimal drop in performance. The researchers believe the cells can now take the first steps towards commercialisation. Perovskite solar cells have multiple advantages over silicon solar cells. Most […]

The US has destroyed the last of its 18,000 VX-filled rockets, meaning it has now eliminated 470 tonnes of VX, sarin and mustard gas – almost all that remains of the country’s chemical weapons stockpile that was once around 30,000 tonnes. Venomous agent X, also known as VX, is an extremely toxic thiophosphonate. An oily, […]

MIT researchers have developed a portable desalination unit, weighing less than 10 kilograms, that can remove particles and salts to generate drinking water. The suitcase-sized device, which requires less power to operate than a cell phone charger, can also be driven by a small, portable solar panel, which can be purchased online for around $50. […]