Science

Studies into how pain and breathing are connected could lead to safer pain drugs

6:08pm December 17, 2021

by Jon Hamilton

Scientists may have learned why opioids depress breathing while relieving pain. The finding could lead to pain drugs that don't cause respiratory failure, the usual cause of death in opioid overdoses.

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Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks during a media briefing at the Pentagon last month. The military branches have begun discharging people who refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

U.S. military moves to discharge service members who refuse to get vaccinated

4:47pm December 17, 2021

by Matthew S. Schwartz

Military officials say that, after months of warnings, they have begun disciplinary actions. The Army has reprimanded 2,700 soldiers and said it will begin discharge proceedings in the new year.

The most distant galaxy ever discovered, GN-z11, is shown within a Hubble Space Telescope deep sky survey and highlighted in the inset. This galaxy existed only 400 million years after the Big Bang.

Science

This new space telescope should show us what the universe looked like as a baby

2:22pm December 17, 2021

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

The upcoming launch of NASA's powerful James Webb Space Telescope should let astronomers see what some of the universe's first stars and galaxies looked like soon after the Big Bang.

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The leggiest animal on the planet, Eumillipes persephone, from Australia. (A) female with 330 segments and 1,306 legs (paratype specimen, T147124). (B) ventral view of legs (male holotype, T147101). (C) dorsal view of head and ventral view of gonopods (ma

Science

A millipede with 1,300 legs has been found in Australia. It's a new record by far

11:52am December 17, 2021

by Scott Neuman

Entomologists discovered a new species far underground. Despite millipede meaning "a thousand feet," it's the first to have more than 750.

Science
Arts

Amy Webb: A Glimpse Into The Future

9:36am December 17, 2021

This hour, futurist Amy Webb guides us through innovations that give a glimpse into the future of transportation, wellness, tech, commerce, and travel ... and the impacts they'll have on our lives.

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Scientists say that underdog wins, like when Leicester City beat 5000-to-1 odds against them to take the 2016 Premier League, may be a thing of the past as matches become more predictable.

European soccer matches have become predictable, study finds. Salary caps might help

5:01am December 17, 2021

After analyzing some 88,000 European soccer matches, scientists say games have become more predictable over time and hypothesize that salary caps could help revive the surprise.

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A coyote makes its way through the snow on a hillside north of Reno, Nev.

New legal battle over predator killing in Nevada wilderness

2:41am December 17, 2021

by The Associated Press

Conservationists are suing three federal agencies over an environmental review the government says satisfies requirements to resume killing wildlife in federally protected wilderness areas in Nevada.

Sikhulile Moyo, the laboratory director at the Botswana-Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership and a research associate with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, headed the team that identified the omicron variant.

The scientist in Botswana who identified omicron was saddened by the world's reaction

7:19pm December 16, 2021

by Melody Schrieber

He and his team were stunned by the number of mutations. They felt they'd made a contribution by alerting the world to a dangerous variant. Then came the travel bans for residents of southern Africa.

Researchers are learning that the coronavirus can infect neurons and may cause lasting damage in some cases.

From blood clots to infected neurons, how COVID threatens the brain

3:26pm December 16, 2021

by Jon Hamilton

The virus that causes COVID-19 can cause strokes, inflammation, oxygen deprivation and infection in the brain. And each of these may lead to long-term neurological problems.

A woman is administered a COVID-19 vaccine at a center on the outskirts of Sarajevo. Bosnia has so far inoculated just under a quarter of its 3.3 million people, one of the lowest rates in Europe.

Vaccine skeptics in Eastern Europe are having a change of heart

5:48am December 16, 2021

by The Associated Press

With surging coronavirus infections and countries making it more difficult for the unvacccinated to travel, some vaccine skeptics are now coming around.