A Washington State resident has bird flu, and it’s a different type than what was seen in previous infections, State health officials said on November 15, 2025. It is the nation’s first human case of bird flu since February. The older adult with underlying health conditions remains hospitalized. State health officials had announced the preliminary...
Tag: Science
Science quiz: Pick up the phone
Science quiz: Pick up the phone Visual: Name the historic antitrust lawsuit that resulted in the breakup of the entity denoted by this famous logo, with significant implications for telecommunications in the US. START THE QUIZ 1 / 6 | Visual: Name the historic antitrust lawsuit that resulted in the breakup of the entity denoted...
Why does smoke from a stove or hearth irritate the eyes?
Question from Sahad Chembra A: When smoke gets in your eyes, it is not really the small pieces of the ash that make your eyes water up. Instead, the culprits are mostly the chemicals riding along with them. Smoke from wood, cigarettes, and garbage contains many irritating gases, such as formaldehyde and acrolein. When these...
The myth of the ‘normal’: what does your lab report really mean?
When the U.S. wrestler and actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was in his prime, his Body Mass Index (BMI) was around 33 kg/m², technically ‘obese’ by World Health Organization (WHO) standards. Yet no one watching him could call him unhealthy. This paradox is one glimpse of how numbers alone can’t be used to define good...
In Delhi study, ragas in the operation theatre cut anaesthesia use
At first glance, the photograph looks like a scene from a science-fiction film or one of those viral, digitally altered images. A woman lies calm on an operating table under bright white lights, a headset snug over her ears. But it’s real and was taken inside a hospital in New Delhi more than a year...
Do animals have mental health problems?
Many scientists believe at least some animals can have problems that are similar to human mental health disorders. We can’t ask them how they feel, so we look for changes in behaviour, body chemistry, and brain activity that match what we see in stressed or unwell humans. Some companion animals make for clear examples. Some...
Roundworms do inherit info on threats to avoid, but with a catch
Animals often meet the same threats across generations. A central question in biology is whether experience with a threat can be passed from parents to offspring in a way that changes the latter’s behaviour. In the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, one such experience is learning to avoid a dangerous bacterium called Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain PA14. Previous...
