Swabbing floors to detect COVID-19 could be a useful indicator of the disease’s spread

The rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus causing COVID-19, over the past two years has been nothing short of devastating. Although widespread vaccination and new antiviral...

Two glasses of wine might add more sugar to your diet than eating a doughnut

Soft drinks have been the focus of the UK government’s attempts to curb people’s sugar intake in recent years, but the same approach has not yet...

Banning the promotion of soft drinks could be more effective than a sugar tax

COVID: lifting the remaining measures is a dangerous and senseless move – expert view

There cannot be many people who wouldn’t want to return to the carefree ways of 2019. To be free from the concern that you might unknowingly...

1 in 4 Americans are covered by Medicaid or CHIP – a program that insures low-income kids

As of July 2021, a total of 83.6 million Americans were insured through either Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program. That’s almost 1 in 4...

Vaccine hesitancy: Why ‘doing your own research’ doesn’t work, but reason alone won’t change minds

When the Green Bay Packers lost a playoff game to the San Francisco 49ers on Jan. 22, Twitter users were quick to roast Packers’ quarterback Aaron...

How new COVID-19 variants emerge: Natural selection and the evolution of SARS-CoV-2

Nature is analogue. It is not a binary system. In the living world there are no explicit switches that discreetly turn systems on or off. Rather,...

Despite its disastrous effects, COVID-19 offers some gifts to medicine – an immunology expert explains what it can teach us about autoimmune disease

For all the misery that the pandemic has wrought, it has also opened up a vast storehouse of knowledge about medical issues beyond COVID-19. While it’s...

How much exercise should disabled young people get? New recommendations offer advice

Being active is good for both physical and mental health. This is why evidence-based recommendations have long existed to advise people on how much exercise, and...

How humid is it? 3 things to keep you cool in a hot and sticky summer (and 3 things that won’t)

La Niña has resulted in a humid summer for much of eastern Australia. This climate pattern typically causes warm, humid air to rise from the western...