— "There is no simple answer to what causes autism, more than 50 years of scientific research has shown. It is a complex neurodevelopmental condition that arises from a constellation of genetic factors and environmental influences."
— Bramble Cay is tiny island, made of sand, about 50 kilometres off the coast of Papua New Guinea. For more than a thousand years, the melomys dwelled and dined on the low-growing plants that clung to the sand, but then humans started changing the climate. As sea levels rose, salt water flooded the island, choking the local flora. Between 2004 and 2014, the volume of leafy plants on Bramble Cay shrank by 97%. With their food source gone, the melomys soon followed.
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr's overhaul of vaccine policy involved stopping nearly $500 million in mRNA vaccine research, discontinuing routine COVID vaccinations for kids and expectant mothers, and prioritizing immunizations for seniors and those at higher risk.
— The tool was trained on anonymized health data from nearly 2.3 million people in the UK and Denmark. When researchers asked Delphi-2M to generate synthetic health futures for people at age 60, the projections closely matched population-level outcomes a decade later. Accuracy dropped when applied to Danish data, showing the model isn’t equally reliable across populations. Additionally, like all predictive AI, the model reflects the biases of the datasets it was trained on. For example, the UK Biobank data skews toward wealthier, healthier participants, which could distort risk estimates for underrepresented groups. Researchers warn that Delphi-2M is not a diagnostic tool, but more a useful forecasting engine that can detect general risks and planning preventive care.
— The research has been hailed as a "leap forward" in the legal battle to hold big oil accountable for the damages being caused by the climate crisis.
— "Extreme sea levels that have been historically rare will likely be experienced annually by 2050 in many low-lying cities and small islands, and will become common by 2100 due to projected global mean sea-level rise."
— These subtypes affect different brain regions first, meaning the symptoms patients experience vary dramatically based on which type they develop. "This revelation represents the most important advancement in Alzheimer’s research in over two decades. The medical establishment has been treating all Alzheimer's patients with the same approach for thirty years, despite growing evidence that patients respond differently to identical treatments." The new research methodology examined tau protein deposits — twisted protein fibres that accumulate in Alzheimer's brains — using advanced molecular analysis techniques. Instead of looking at overall brain damage, scientists mapped exactly where different types of tau proteins clustered and how they spread through neural networks.
— The pharmaceutical industry has invested over $100 billion in Alzheimer's drug development over the past two decades, with most trials ending in failure or showing minimal effectiveness. This research finally explains the disappointing results.
— ECtHR's finding was that the implementation of adaptation measures is insufficient to offset the increased number of heat-related deaths driven by rising temperatures. Emission reductions are therefore required for Switzerland to meet its legal obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.
— An Australian study found people working from home not only slept for almost half an hour longer, they did more work in the extra time they gained from not having to commut. Around 43% of that time was used to do extra work, but it also allowed workers to handle household or caregiving responsibilities. About a third of the extra time was also used for leisure and physical activity. Workers' diets also changed for the better. While snacking and alcohol consumption initially increased, overall, participants moved toward eating healthier meals with an increase in fruit, vegetable, and dairy consumption and more home-cooked meals. When it came to productivity, the study backed up what the majority of other statistics have shown: Workers were just as, if not more, productive when teleworking.
— The type of office we work in has a big effect on our well-being. A study from Karlstad University published in Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health looked at associations between office type and how easy employees felt it was to interact with coworkers, their subjective well-being, and job satisfaction. The team found that the more workers there were in an office, the less satisfied those workers were with their jobs, resulting in lower overall well-being.