Rise in defense spending means smaller increase for science in new U.S. budget | Science

Last week, Congress agreed to give roughly 5% more money to many federal science agencies when it passed a $1.5-trillion government budget for 2022. But what science advocates had hoped would be a banner funding year fell victim to a bipartisan push to spend much more on defense than President Joe Biden had requested—and to … Read more

Even Mild COVID Can Increase the Risk of Heart Problems

Scientists have long been aware that respiratory infections—such as influenza or certain types of coronaviruses—can trigger heart disease. This happens because they cause inflammation, which plays a major role in cardiovascular problems. Even before the first case of COVID-19 had been confirmed in the U.S., interventional cardiologist Mohammad Madjid began looking into the potential effects … Read more

Humanity Just Produced The Biggest Increase in Global CO2 Emissions Ever Recorded

Global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose by 6 percent in 2021 to a record 36.3 billion metric tons, their highest ever level, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday.   “The increase in global CO2 emissions of over 2 billion metric tons was the largest in history in absolute terms, more than offsetting the previous year’s … Read more

Huge Study Finds Blood Proteins That Could Increase Risk of Severe COVID

Multiple factors play a role in complex diseases like COVID, and knowing what they are is important for predicting how different people will be affected. Early on in the pandemic, being older, overweight, or smoking were identified as increasing your risk of developing severe COVID. This then informed public health decisions – the elderly were … Read more

Climate change: Most schemes to capture and reuse carbon actually increase emissions

Carbon capture and utilisation technologies, which aim to pull carbon dioxide from the air and use it for emissions-lowering processes, emit more carbon than they remove Environment 18 February 2022 By Alex Wilkins A carbon capture facility at the Hawiyah Natural Gas Liquids Recovery Plant in Saudi Arabia Maya Siddiqui/Bloomberg via Getty Images Most carbon … Read more

A New Study Has Found The Year When Sea Level Rise Truly Began Accelerating

A global analysis of sea levels over the past 2,000 years has found a rapid rate of increase in line with the Industrial Revolution. By 1863, researchers found the rate of sea level rise had clearly surpassed background variability. Unsurprisingly, it’s around this time that the first hints of ocean warming and glacier melt from … Read more

Changing Your Diet Can Add Up to 10 Years to Your Life Expectancy, New Study Shows

Everyone wants to live longer. And we’re often told that the key to doing this is making healthier lifestyle choices, such as exercising, avoiding smoking, and not drinking too much alcohol. Studies have also shown that diet can increase lifespan.   A new study has found that eating healthier could extend lifespan by six to … Read more

The Science Behind Why Some of Us Can’t Grow Big Muscles After Turning 50

There is perhaps no better way to see the absolute pinnacle of human athletic abilities than by watching the Olympics. But at the Winter Games this year – and at almost all professional sporting events – you rarely see a competitor over 40 years old and almost never see a single athlete over 50.   … Read more

US on Track For ‘Staggering’ Flood Damage by 2050, Scientists Predict

Climate change is on track to ramp up the annual cost of US flood damage more than 25 percent by 2050, according to new research Monday that warns disadvantaged communities will likely bear the brunt of the financial burden.   The study published in the journal Nature Climate Change used new flood models to map … Read more

Don’t Freak Out if a COVID Vaccine Slightly Changes Your Period Cycle, Says Study

Women vaccinated against COVID-19 saw a slight delay in their period of almost a day compared to those who were unvaccinated, a US government-funded study said Thursday. But the number of days of bleeding was not affected, according to the research carried out on nearly 4,000 individuals and published in Obstetrics & Gynecology.   Lead … Read more