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746 articles · page 7 of 16 · The Science front page

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Health & Medicine

Bipartisan bill would move rare disease clinical trials to patients' local doctors

Bipartisan US lawmakers this week introduced the Faster Clinical Trials Act, legislation designed to speed up research into rare disease treatments by creating reusable clinical trial networks and letting patients participate from their local doctor's office. The bill, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Jake Auchincloss and Republican Rep. Morgan Griffith, would direct up to $75 million a year to the FDA and comes a week after the agency announced its own rare disease initiative.

·3 min
Health & Medicine

CDC refuses to identify state of third measles death, alarming transparency experts

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added a third measles death to its dashboard this week but declined to reveal which state it occurred in, drawing sharp criticism from infectious disease and legal experts who say the agency is being less transparent than in the past. The decision comes as the outbreak continues to accelerate, with 4,410 confirmed cases so far this year, nearly double last year's count and an 8% increase in a single week.

·3 min
Health & Medicine

FDA approves first functional cure for chronic hepatitis B, offering hope to millions

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Hibsago (bepirovirsen), the first treatment that offers a functional cure for chronic hepatitis B, a disease affecting more than 250 million people worldwide and causing upwards of a million deaths each year. Clinical trials showed that 19% of patients achieved undetectable virus levels 24 weeks after stopping all therapy, compared with less than 1% under standard care.

·3 min
Earth & Nature

BoM warns of flash flooding and large hail as second storm system hits south-east Queensland

South-east Queensland is facing another day of severe weather on Monday, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning of flash flooding, large hail and wind gusts up to 90 kilometres an hour. The warning covers Brisbane, the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast and inland areas including the Lockyer Valley, Scenic Rim and South Burnett, where very dangerous thunderstorms are possible in the afternoon and early evening.

·3 min·9 sources
Health & Medicine

‘Cruel and pointless’: families react with anger to Covid inquiry report on care homes

Families of care home residents who died during the Covid-19 pandemic have expressed deep anger at the findings of the public inquiry's latest report, which concluded that the entire care sector was an 'afterthought' to government planners and that blanket restrictions led to 'profound isolation''. Relatives say they feel vindicated but also furious that their loved ones suffered unnecessarily.

·3 min
Health & Medicine

Final tests confirm Pope Leo XIV needs no further cancer treatment

Pope Leo XIV will require no further treatment for lung cancer, his doctors announced Wednesday, after final post-operative tests confirmed the disease was a localized pulmonary adenocarcinoma. The 71-year-old pontiff, who had the lower lobe of his right lung removed on October 13, was discharged from hospital on Saturday and has made two public appearances since, including his weekly general audience at St Peter's Square.

·2 min·9 sources
Health & Medicine

NYC Free Eviction Lawyer Program Tied to Drop in ER Visits, But Mental Health Visits Rise, Study Finds

A new study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found that New York City's pioneering program providing free lawyers to low-income tenants facing eviction was associated with a significant drop in emergency room visits in the first neighborhoods where it rolled out. However, the study also found an unexpected increase in emergency department visits related to mental health and substance use disorders in those same areas.

·3 min
Space

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Marks 90 Years of Space Exploration, Unveils Upcoming Missions

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is celebrating its 90th anniversary, tracing its origins to a Halloween rocket test in 1936 by Caltech graduate students. Managed by Caltech for NASA, the lab is marking the milestone with a look at past achievements, first U.S. satellite, first planetary flybys, Mars rovers, and future missions including the SkyFall Mars helicopters, MoonFall lunar drones, and the asteroid-hunting NEO Surveyor.

·4 min
Health & Medicine

Ebola patients in Nigeria and Kenya may have crossed paths at Uganda airport, officials say

Health officials are investigating whether Ebola patients in Nigeria and Kenya could have been exposed to the virus at Uganda's main airport on the same day earlier this month, as Nigeria confirmed its first case matches the Bundibugyo strain behind the major outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that genomic testing had linked the Nigerian case to the DR Congo outbreak, while also exploring whether the two patients overlapped at Entebbe airport on 3 October.

·3 min·3 sources
Health & Medicine

Starship Hospital nurse warns staff shortages causing cancer treatment delays, medication errors

A nurse at Auckland's Starship children's hospital has gone public with warnings that chronic staff shortages are leading to cancer treatment delays of up to a week, unsafe nurse-to-patient ratios, and daily medication errors. Hospital director Dr Greg Williams says the hospital is confident in the quality and safety of care, that medication error rates are very low, and that vacant nursing roles are being recruited for.

·3 min
Health & Medicine

Psychedelics show anti-inflammatory potential in Parkinson's study, researchers say

New research offers some of the first evidence in humans that psychedelics may help combat inflammation throughout the body, according to a study published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry. The findings, drawn from a small pilot study of 12 patients with Parkinson’s disease, show significantly lower levels of inflammatory markers and reduced mitochondrial stress after two sessions with psilocybin.

·3 min
Health & Medicine

Proteins in blood could predict prostate cancer a decade in advance, Oxford study finds

Oxford University researchers have identified a set of proteins in the blood that may indicate a man's risk of developing prostate cancer more than a decade before diagnosis, including markers for aggressive, life-threatening disease. The largest study of its kind, published in European Urology, examined blood samples from over 2,500 men and tracked them for an average of 16 years.

·3 min
Health & Medicine

WA school funding rule forces eight-year-olds to manage type 1 diabetes alone, parents say

Western Australian children with type 1 diabetes are losing automatic school support after Year 2, forcing families and schools to navigate a case-by-case funding extension process that parents and the opposition say is unsafe and outdated. Alana Marshall, mother of eight-year-old Declan, has joined Opposition Education Minister Liam Staltari in launching a petition calling for the state government to scrap the age cut-off.

·2 min·4 sources
Science

Solar Orbiter traces magnetic switchback to its birthplace in the Sun's corona

A serendipitous encounter by the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter has allowed scientists to trace a giant magnetic switchback directly back to the Sun's corona, resolving a long-standing debate about where these kinks in the solar magnetic field form. The findings, published in Nature Astronomy, show that the plasma inside the switchback originated in an ultra-hot closed magnetic loop near a coronal hole, consistent with the process of interchange reconnection.

·3 min
Science

Physicists trap single positron for months, paving way for precision antimatter tests

Physicists at Northwestern University have successfully trapped a single positron, the antimatter counterpart of the electron, for months in a cryogenic vacuum trap, a breakthrough that allows for the most precise measurements yet of antimatter properties. The achievement, reported in Physical Review Letters, brings scientists closer to testing one of the fundamental principles of modern physics: CPT symmetry, which requires particles and their antiparticles to have matching properties.

·3 min·3 sources
Health & Medicine

Penicillin Allergy Overdiagnosed: New Australian Guidelines Urge Reassessment for Millions

The Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA) has published revised guidelines revealing that the majority of Australians labeled with penicillin allergy are not truly allergic. The change, based on new evidence, aims to improve patient care, reduce healthcare costs, and combat antimicrobial resistance by ensuring appropriate use of narrow-spectrum antibiotics.

·2 min·2 sources
Health & Medicine

Large study finds ultra-processed foods not uniformly linked to colorectal cancer, some may lower risk

A study of more than 460,000 older Americans has found no overall association between total ultra-processed food consumption and colorectal cancer incidence, challenging the assumption that all such foods carry equal risk. Instead, researchers report that some ultra-processed foods, such as whole grains and dairy products, were linked to lower colorectal cancer rates, while processed meats were tied to higher risk.

·3 min
Space

Mars's mysterious cloud may form by 'flash-freezing' without dust particles

For decades, planetary scientists have puzzled over a thin, 1,800-kilometre-long cloud that appears every summer morning west of Mars’s Arsia Mons volcano. A new study published in Nature Geoscience proposes that the cloud forms through homogeneous nucleation, a process in which water vapour spontaneously freezes into ice without needing the dust particles that normally seed cloud formation. If confirmed, it would be the first known natural occurrence of a phenomenon long dismissed as a laboratory curiosity.

·2 min
Earth & Nature

Chiricahua becomes 64th US national park

Chiricahua National Monument in southeastern Arizona has been redesignated as Chiricahua National Park, becoming the 64th national park in the United States and the fourth in Arizona, joining Petrified Forest, Saguaro, and the Grand Canyon. The change, effective October 20, 2026, keeps existing boundaries and management but is expected to draw significantly more visitors to the area's distinctive rock formations, dark skies, and wildlife.

·2 min