US lawmakers back COVID Chinese lab leak theory after two-year probe

Credit: CC0 Public Domain US lawmakers concluded a two-year investigation Monday into the COVID-19 outbreak that killed 1.1 million Americans—backing the theory that the virus likely leaked from a Chinese…

Five new papers highlight cancer inequities, challenges and opportunities in South Asia

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka — are shown in blue. Credit: Created with mapchart.net A…

AI can predict involuntary admissions and pave way for prevention in psychiatric services

Model performance of the XGBoost model in the test set. (a) Receiver operating characteristics curve. AUROC, area under the receiver operating characteristics curve. (b) Confusion matrix. PPR, positive predictive rate;…

Higher ratio of plant protein to animal protein may improve heart health, study suggests

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Eating a diet with a higher ratio of plant-based protein to animal-based protein may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and coronary heart disease (CHD),…

Mosquito-borne diseases are on the rise—here’s how collecting mozzies in your backyard can help science

by Cameron Webb, Craig Williams, Katherine Baldock, Larissa Braz Sousa and Stephen Robert Fricker, The Conversation With hundreds of different types of mosquito in Australia, knowing what’s biting helps determine…

WeightWatchers combined with weight loss medications may alter alcohol consumption, study finds

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Researchers at Henry Ford Health, collaborating with WeightWatchers International, report that more than 40% of individuals using popular weight loss medications while participating in a WeightWatchers…

3 reasons why kids stick Lego up their nose

Credit: Anete Lusina from Pexels Children, especially toddlers and preschoolers, have an uncanny ability to surprise adults. And one of the more alarming discoveries parents can make is their child…

Africa’s making progress against HIV, but donor funds are drying up—what must change

Credit: Miguel Á. Padriñán from Pexels Remarkable progress has been made against the HIV epidemic in the last two decades. However, a loss of momentum in fighting HIV across the…

Flexibility demands influence motor cortex’s involvement in execution of motor sequences, rat study finds

Simplified schematic representation of the motor control system considered in this study, and the hypotheses about how it is used in response to different challenges. Credit: Mizes et al. The…

SARS-CoV-2 spike protein accumulation linked to long-lasting brain effects

Visualization of SARS-CoV-2 viral tropism in whole mouse bodies and SARS-CoV-2 spike protein persistency in skull marrow and brain. (A–E) SARS-CoV-2-GFP aerosol infection in K18-hACE2 mice. (A) Illustration of SARS-CoV-2-GFP…