Science

An experimental HIV vaccine based on mRNA -- the same technology used in two highly successful Covid-19 vaccines -- has shown promise in experiments in mice and monkeys, according to a study published Thursday in Nature Medicine.

The research, which was carried out by scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Moderna and other institutions, demonstrated that the vaccine was safe and prompted desired antibody and cellular immune responses against an HIV-like virus.

As a former national team cyclist who'd fix her own bikes, and before that as a child helping out on her family's cattle farm, NASA trainee astronaut Christina Birch has plenty of experience working with her hands.

With America's sights now set on returning to the Moon -- this time establishing long-term habitats -- Birch is dreaming big: "If I could assist the mission in any way, by helping build something on the Moon, that would be super cool," she told AFP.

Chilean paleontologists on Wednesday presented their findings on a dinosaur discovered three years ago in Patagonia which they said had a highly unusual tail that has stumped researchers

The remains of the Stegouros elengassen were discovered during excavations in 2018 at Cerro Guido, a site known to harbor numerous fossils, by a team who believed they were dealing with an already known species of dinosaur until they examined its tail.

Celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz officially announced he would run for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania Tuesday.

Writing in the Daily Beast, a fellow physician said that he has the same amount of enthusiasm for Oz's candidacy as he would with a case of dysentery, the intestinal infection that causes bloody diarrhea.

For decades, neuroscientists have been debating the question: How much free will do people actually have? Why are some people inclined to make better, wiser decisions than others? And why do some people, even those considered highly intelligent, act on their worst impulses while others don't?

Those are the sort of questions that neuroscientists have been grappling with over the years.

In a series of tweets on Saturday morning of dubious scientific value, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) urged her followers to sue doctors to force them to prescribe ivermectin -- a deworming paste -- for the treatment of Covid-19 and to also file a wrongful death suit if a family member was denied and passed away.

According to the Georgia Republican -- who helped run a family construction business before being elected to the House -- ivermectin is used in Africa --which she believes has lower Covid death rates -- and therefore should be used in the U.S. instead of CDC-approved vaccines.

Long before the COVID-19 pandemic and the concomitant vaccine, the anti-vaccination movement was mainly identified with one very specific myth: the idea that vaccines cause autism.

Aside from being patently offensive to neurodiverse and autistic people (including this writer), version 1.0 of the anti-vax movement was also dangerous because its adherents made it easier for infectious diseases to spread. This wasn't just a theoretical fear: local measles outbreaks in places like Disneyland that occurred increasingly throughout the 2010s were tied to the increasing number of anti-vaxxers, who had collectively lowered the herd immunity numbers for diseases like measles which were once nearly eradicated in the United States.

Astrology has enjoyed something of a revival in recent years. A Pew Research poll released in 2018 found that 29% of American adults — roughly one in four — believed in astrology. And a new study conducted by researchers at Lund University in Sweden offered some reasons for that revival, ranging from "narcissism" to "stress."

In an article published by Psych News Daily on November 20, writer Douglas Heingartner notes, "Scientists do not know why astrology is undergoing what these researchers call a 'revival,' but they do point out that past research has found people are more likely to embrace astrology and other scientifically questionable beliefs when they are under stress. Prior studies, for example, have found a link between personal turmoil and a belief in astrology."

Homo bodoensis is the new name given to a human ancestor who lived half a million years ago in Africa. The species is named after a skull from Bodo D'ar, Ethiopia.

The finding was made nearly 50 years ago, and it has been described by several different names over the decades. The new name is the result of a new reassessment of the fossil record. Species names are frequently revised thanks to the complicated nature of biological diversity and the rules constructed to categorize it. But when it comes to human ancestors, species names can carry emotional and political baggage, which the rules don't easily account for.

Mothers: they bring you into this world, shower you with care, and help you build up a mind map of local foraging sites while you're still a flightless pup latched to their nipples.

A new study published in Current Biology on Wednesday by Israeli researchers sheds light on how mammal parents help their young learn critical life skills -- in this case Egyptian fruit bats, as they soar through the night evading predators and finding figs.

A NASA mission to deliberately smash a spacecraft into an asteroid -- a test run should humanity ever need to stop a giant space rock from wiping out life on Earth -- blasted off Tuesday from California.

It may sound like science fiction, but the DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) is a real proof-of-concept experiment, the goal of which is to slightly alter the trajectory of the asteroid Dimorphos.