Science

Rapid tests are effective in detecting BA.2, but the high infectivity of the subvariant means it could jump from person to person before a positive result is detected.

Can we trust rapid COVID tests against BA.2? This is what the experts say

5:00am April 27, 2022

With the BA.2 subvariant of omicron pushing infection rates up, many are reaching for at-home rapid tests. Here's what experts say on how best to use them.

Queue Listen Now

New research finds that previous studies of mental illness using brain scans may be too small for the results to be reliable.

Brain scans may reveal a lot about mental illness, but not until studies get bigger

5:01am April 26, 2022

by Jon Hamilton

Scientists are using MRI scans to understand how mental illness shows up in the bran. But new research raises concerns that existing studies are not reliable because the sample sizes are too small.

Health care workers during a strike in Palo Alto, Calif., on Monday. About 5,000 nurses at Stanford and Packard Children's Hospital began a strike Monday over a fight for what they describe as fair contracts.

Thousands of nurses at Stanford hospitals are striking over wages and mental health

9:32pm April 25, 2022

by Jonathan Franklin

The labor union representing the nearly 5,000 striking nurses says 93% of staff voted to authorize the strike, which does not have an end date.

Brain scan studies need to get much bigger to offer insight into mental illness

5:06pm April 25, 2022

by Jon Hamilton

Researchers say most brain scan studies are too small to explain complex human traits like intelligence or mental health. Meaningful insights will require studies of thousands of brains, not dozens.

This Earth Day, one book presents global warming and climate justice as inseparable

9:31am April 22, 2022

by Barbara King

It's still an open question to what degree our planet will remain habitable in the coming years. Elizabeth Cripps offers an urgent message in What Climate Justice Means and Why We Should Care.

How do you tell your kid that the planet is ending?

How young people are taking action against climate change

9:12am April 22, 2022

Xiye Bastida was raised in the highlands of Mexico with an understanding that she had to thank the Earth for everything it provided. Now, she's dedicated her entire life to the issue of protecting it.

Queue Listen Now

A recent study by the American Lung Association found that more Americans are living in areas with increased levels of air pollution. Los Angeles has recorded the worst levels of ozone for all but one of the past 23 years.

More than 137 million Americans live in areas with poor air quality, report finds

8:24am April 21, 2022

by Dustin Jones

The rising number of fires hamper decades of environmental efforts, and over 40% of Americans — more than 137 million people — live in places with poor air quality, a new report says.

A person holds a mask while walking outdoors in Philadelphia in May 2021.

The DOJ will appeal the recent mask ruling by a federal judge

9:07pm April 20, 2022

by Jaclyn Diaz

This decision to appeal comes just two days after U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle ruled against the federal mask mandate.

Taylor Swift, pictured in 2021, is the inspiration for the name of the newly described Twisted-Claw Millipede, Nannaria swiftae.

Taylor Swift was the inspiration for the name of a new millipede species

8:54am April 20, 2022

by Rina Torchinsky

The Swift Twisted-Claw Millipede, or Nannaria swiftae, was among several new species found in Tennessee.

Airline passengers, some not wearing face masks following the end of the federal mask mandate, sit during a American Airlines flight operated by SkyWest Airlines from Los Angeles International Airport to Denver, on Tuesday.

The judge who tossed mask mandate misunderstood public health law, legal experts say

6:23pm April 19, 2022

Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle's decision hinged on a definition of the word 'sanitation' that public health experts and legal scholars say missed the mark.