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FDA approves Moderna's new lower-dose COVID-19 vaccine but with limits on who can use it (LINK) 31 May 2025

— The new vaccine, mNexspike, is a step toward next-generation coronavirus vaccines. It's made in a way that allows for a lower dose, a fifth of the dose of its current COVID-19 vaccine, Spikevax, by refining its immune target. The Food and Drug Administration approved the new vaccine for use in all adults 65 and older, and for people age 12 to 64 who have a least one health condition that puts them at increased risk from the coronavirus. That's the same limit that the FDA set in licensing another COVID-19 vaccine option from competitor Novavax. Moderna's existing vaccine doesn't face those limits and has long been used for anyone ages 6 months and older. The company said it expected to offer both options this fall.

What would happen if the Amazon rainforest dried out? This decades-long experiment has some answers (LINK) — ground.news: 61 media reports (LINK) 29 May 2025

— The forest initially appeared to be resistant to the drought, That began to change about 8 years in, however. "We saw a really big decline in biomass, big losses and mortality of the largest trees." This resulted in the loss of approximately 40% of the total weight of the vegetation and the carbon stored within it from the plot.

EU and six member states take 'historic step' by ratifying UN treaty to protect the high seas (LINK) 28 May 2025

— To come into force, the treaty requires ratification by 60 parties. With these latest additions, the number of ratifications has reached 28. A total of 115 countries have signed the treaty, indicating their potential commitment to ratification. Currently, only about 1 per cent of the high seas is protected. Following years of negotiations, a global consensus on the need to protect the high seas was reached in March 2023. The text of the treaty was formally adopted in June 2023 at the UN headquarters in New York. It allows for the creation of marine protected areas and supports the global goal of safeguarding at least 30 per cent of the world's oceans by 2030. Classified as a "mixed agreement", the treaty needs to be ratified by both the EU and its individual member states separately. Cyprus, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Portugal, and Slovenia joined the EU in submitting their ratification. France and Spain had already ratified the treaty earlier this year.

UN aims to transform urgency into action at Nice Ocean Conference 9-13 June (LINK) 27 May 2025

— "This is an emergency," declared Jérôme Bonnafont, Permanent Representative of France to the UN, during a press conference. "An ecological emergency: we are witnessing the deterioration of the quality of the oceans as an environment, as a reservoir of biodiversity, as a carbon sink." The goal "is to produce a Nice agreement that is pro-oceans, as the Paris Agreement 10 years ago now was for the climate." This agreement will take the form of a Nice Action Plan for the Ocean, a "concise action-oriented declaration", accompanied by renewed voluntary commitments.

— More than 50 world leaders are expected on the Côte d'Azur, alongside 1,500 delegates from nearly 200 countries. The programme includes 10 plenary meetings, 10 thematic roundtables, a blue zone reserved for official delegations, and a series of parallel forums during five days of negotiations.

Refrigerator-sized machine made by New York–based fuels startup Aircela makes gasoline out of CO2 (LINK) 28 May 2025

Trees may be able to warn us when a volcano is about to erupt: changing tree leaf colours can be spotted by satellites in space (LINK) 28 May 2025

— As volcanoes get more active and closer to an eruption, they push magma up closer to the surface, releasing higher levels of carbon dioxide. That in turn can boost the health of the surrounding trees, making leaves greener.

What rodent sleep patterns reveal about memory and emotion (LINK) 28 May 2025

Even with climate initiatives and worldwide policy changes, sea levels could continue to rise at an accelerated rate that will directly threaten millions of lives (LINK) 28 May 2025

— "Mass loss from ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica has quadrupled since the 1990s." The mass ice melting in the Arctic has created a "dominant source of global mean sea-level rise from the cryosphere."

— NOAA notes that high-tide flooding is now up to 900% more frequent than it was just 50 years ago. This has caused many coastal communities to brace for costly flooding and prepare for future "catastrophic" events that could displace large portions of the population.

Robert Kennedy Jr's CDC removes COVID-19 vaccine from schedule for healthy children and pregnant women despite expert objections (LINK) — ground.news: 377 media reports (LINK) 27 May 2025

Protecting chimps, hippos and turtles: IUCN recommends five new World Heritage areas (LINK) 27 May 2025

— Areas in Guinea-Bissau, Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) (extension), Mozambique (extension), Sierra Leone and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea have put forward as outstanding places for potential World Heritage status. "IUCN is the official advisor on nature to the World Heritage Committee. If the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) intergovernmental World Heritage Committee follows IUCN's advice when it next meets for its 47th session in July, amazing landscapes, seascapes, and areas of rich geodiversity and biodiversity (including sites protecting up to 850,000 migratory birds, Western Chimpanzees and numerous coral reef fish) will [be] inscribed on the World Heritage list."

— "There's a need for greater action on the imbalance of the World Heritage List, and to support regions and countries that are underrepresented," said Tim Badman, Director of World Heritage at IUCN. "The nomination of these extraordinary sites as World Heritage areas is a positive step towards addressing the gaps on the List and safeguarding some of the planet's most unique sites for nature and people."

Charted: the world's most educated countries: Switzerland No 2 behind Ireland for % with degree, China last (LINK) 27 May 2025

Fish don't sleep like humans. here's part of what they do instead: they are able to rest while, for the most part, remaining aware enough to tell if there's a predator approaching. During this period, their metabolism significantly slows, they usually stop swimming, and their gills pump less often (LINK) 27 May 2025

All living things emit a subtle glow that ceases at the time of death (LINK) 26 May 2025

— Life involves constant chemical activity inside each cell. Sometimes, these metabolic processes release extremely low-intensity light in the spectral range of 200 to 1,000 nm. This is too faint for the naked eye to see, but many animals, plants, and even bacteria give off this gentle energy. Experts studying this glow see potential in measuring it for non-invasive tests. The researchers discovered that living animals show higher emissions than animals that have recently died. They used specialized imaging setups to capture the photons in a pitch-black space.

New "more contagious" COVID-19 variantt, spreading through Asia and linked to a virus surge in China, has been found among international travelers to New York, other states (LINK) 25 May 2025

Mice use not only touch but also sound to navigate their environments through whisker-generated sounds: the findings by Weizmann Institute's Brain Sciences Department in Israel could inspire new directions in robotics, sensory rehabilitation, and brain research (LINK) 24 May 2025

Why birds fly in a V shape: not wholly unlike cyclists drafting off one another in a race, but it also helps with navigation and maintaining group cohesion, allowing birds to communicate, see each other clearly, and keep a steady formation (LINK) 24 May 2025

— A 2015 study by researchers at the University of Bern demonstrated that birds flying in the V not only take turns flying at the front position, but they are careful to match the amount of time they spend flying at the back as they do at the front.

Well actually, there is no permanent dark side of the moon: the moon has its own rotation and orbit (LINK) 24 May 2025

Only one country in the world produces all the food it needs, study finds: out of 186 countries, only Guyana produces enough food to self-sufficiently feed all its citizens without foreign imports (LINK) 22 May 2025

— China and Vietnam were close behind, being able to produced enough food in six out of seven food groups. Worldwide, the study found that 65 per cent of countries were overproducing meat and dairy, compared to their own population's dietary needs. Just one in seven of the tested countries were judged self-sufficient in five or more categories. Switzerland: 0.

Moderna withdraws application for US approval of combined flu-Covid shot, plans to resubmit vaccine application later this year (LINK) 21 May 2025

— The decision comes a day after the US FDA said it would require new clinical trials for approval of annual Covid-19 boosters for healthy people under 65 years old. Shares of the company have been battered by declining Covid revenue as well as investor concerns spurred by the appointment of the vaccine skeptic Robert F Kennedy Jr as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Guardian: UnitedHealth secretly paid nursing homes to reduce hospital transfers (LINK) 21 May 2025

UnitedHealth statement: There is nothing secret about our programs with Skilled Nursing Facilities (LINK) 21 May 2025

WHO members agree to 20% rise in mandatory contributions (LINK) 21 May 2025

— World Health Organization member states have agreed in committee talks to raise their mandatory contributions by 20% from 2026. If the resolution is backed in the plenary session, the organisation's budget for 2026-2027 will rise to $5.1bn.

Report of the Director-General to Member States at the 78th World Health Assembly (LINK) 19 May 2025

— Member States have given us, US$ 4.2 billion for two years Member States have given us, US$ 4.2 billion for two years — or 2.1 billion a year — is not ambitious, it's extremely modest. I hope you will agree with me, and I will tell you why: US$ 2.1 billion is the equivalent of global military expenditure every eight hours; US$ 2.1 billion is the price of one stealth bomber — to kill people; US$ 2.1 billion is one-quarter of what the tobacco industry spends on advertising and promotion every single year. And again, a product that kills people.

RFK Jr's FDA limits use of Covid vaccine: The vaccine will now only be available to high-risk individuals and will not be administered to those who may need it to protect others (LINK) 18 May 2025

FDA approves Novavax COVID-19 protein-based shot but with unusual restrictions: for use only in adults 65 and older, or those 12 to 64 who have at least one health problem that puts them at increased risk from COVID-19 (LINK) 16 May 2025

Most rigorous study to date directly challenges the common belief that 5G wireless signals cause harm. (LINK) 16 May 2025

— A recent experiment at Constructor University in Germany exposed human cells to electromagnetic frequencies well beyond those of 5G towers. Scientists bombarded human skin cells with electromagnetic waves that were ten times stronger than the recommended exposure limit, way above those produced by 5G towers, for up to 48 hours. The results were damning: nothing happened.

Climate crisis threatens the banana, the world's most popular fruit, research shows: Fourth most important food crop in peril as Latin America and Caribbean suffer from slow-onset climate disaster (LINK) 12 May 2025

Who are the Japanese? DNA study reveals three, not two, ancestral groups (LINK) 11 May 2025

— For years, it was believed that Japan's ancestry stemmed mainly from the Jomon hunter-gatherers and rice-farming migrants from East Asia. But this new research adds a third player to the mix: the Emishi, a lesser-known group from northeast Asia.

Scientists at UC San Diego discover hidden cause of Alzheimer's hiding in plain sight: the PHGDH gene directly causes disease and discovered a drug-like molecule, NCT-503, that may help treat the disease early by targeting the gene's hidden function: gene previously identified as a biomarker for Alzheimer's disease (LINK) 10 May 2025

Failed Soviet Venus lander Kosmos 482 crashes to Earth after 53 years in orbit: Reentry occurred over the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta, Indonesia, according to Russia's space agency Roscosmos. Kosmos 482 appears to have fallen harmlessly into the sea. It's unclear when or if we'll get a definitive answer to where Kosmos 482 came down (LINK) 10 May 2025

Despite flooding, Florida's real estate is booming because of climate denial bubble (LINK)10 May 2025

Sixth Meeting of Group of Friends of Traditional Medicine held in Geneva (LINK) 9 May 2025

— the Group of Friends of Traditional Medicine host a high-level side event during the 78th World Health Assembly (WHA78) on 23 May 2025 from 6:00 to 7:30 PM at the UN Palais des Nations, Geneva. Titled "Traditional Medicine: From Traditional Heritage to Frontier Science, for Health for All", the event will highlight the growing global momentum to integrate Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine (TCIM) within universal health systems and sustainable development frameworks. (ANI)

UK: 2024 Sir Paul Curran award for academic journalism goes to Paul Whiteley (LINK) 9 May 2025

— Paul has contributed 120 articles to The Conversation since August 2014, helping readers understand the seismic political shifts that have taken place over that period. Paul's award was linked to his work analysing the rise of the Reform party at a time when hard evidence is hard to come by.

9 Environmental stories that don't get as much coverage as they should: from whales to soil microbes, our planet's living systems are fraying in silence. (LINK) 8 May 2025

Switzerland unveils a national drought-detection system (LINK) 8 May 2025

CERN detects lead atoms turning into gold (LINK) 8 May 2025

— Lead is made of 82 protons and around 126 neutrons at its core. Gold instead has 79 protons, just three fewer than lead. Removing three protons from each lead atom is what is needed to make this transmutation. The ALICE experiment of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) looks at what happens when heavy ions smash together. Mostly, it is to understand the quark-gluon plasma that existed in the first moments after the Big Bang. But smashing lead ions together can break those atoms into more commonly recognizable forms, such as the conversion of lead to gold.

Moderna study shows immune response in older adults for a combo flu and COVID-19 shot (LINK) 7 May 2025

Old Soviet Venus lander Kosmos 482's fall to Earth in coming days after 53 years in orbit (LINK) 7 May 2025

World's richest 10% caused two-thirds of global heating since 1990, study calculates (LINK) 7 May 2025

— "We link the carbon footprints of the wealthiest individuals directly to real-world climate impacts," lead author Sarah Schoengart, a scientist at ETH Zurich, told AFP. "It's a shift from carbon accounting toward climate accountability." Emissions from the wealthiest 10 percent in China and the United States — which together account for nearly half of global carbon pollution — each led to a two-to-threefold rise in heat extremes.

Hours before a solar eclipse, spruce trees 'talk' to each other (LINK) 7 May 2025

— Custom sensors were placed across a forest in the Dolomite mountains in Italy. Using the sensors, the team recorded simultaneous bioelectrical responses from the spruce trees. Before and during the eclipse, electrical activity from individual trees became "significantly" more synchronized, the researchers found. This phenomenon, they say, is evidence the forest is a unified living system.

Climbing gyms are as polluted as busy city streets — and shoes are to blame (LINK) 7 May 2025

Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation collapse warning: The circulation is crucial in controlling the global climate by dispersing heat and affecting weather patterns. It also sustains marine ecosystems by allowing nutrient exchange. It balances the climate, especially in areas such as Western Europe (LINK) 6 May 2025

Sir David Attenborough Ocean film is 'greatest message he's told': "After almost 100 years on the planet, I now understand the most important place on Earth is not on land, but at sea." (LINK) 6 May 2025

Scientists at the MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms have taken the first ever photos of atoms interacting in free space: the new quantum microscope shows particles behaving exactly as predicted by theory. (LINK) 5 May 2025

UK supermarket chain Sainsbury unveils mind-blowing new plan for unsold food: an initiative to transform its food waste into fuel for its fleet of heavy goods vehicles. 'Food waste is a global tragedy' (LINK) 4 May 2025

World may be 'post-herd immunity' to measles, top US scientist says: as infections pummel communities in the US, Mexico and Canada, fear of 'the most contagious human disease' grows (LINK) 3 May 2025

2 major US scientific societies to do own climate assessment after Trump administration dismissed authors (LINK) 3 May 2025

National Science Foundation cut off all funding to scientists in 30 April order (LINK) 2 May 2025

Human wounds heal nearly 3 times slower than other animals': Even compared to chimpanzees, our closest relatives, our wounds are slow to recover — but it could be the outcome of us ditching our fur long, long ago. (LINK) 2 May 2025

Study challenges leading theories on consciousness origins: results suggested sensory and perceptual processing areas, rather than the prefrontal cortex, may play a more central role in conscious experience. This discovery could advance efforts to detect covert consciousness in unresponsive patients and reshape future research directions. (LINK) 2 May 2025

The computational limit of life may be so much higher than we thought, scientist says: quantum processes in a biological system, when taken together, far exceed the computing power of even the most advanced quantum computer. (LINK) 2 May 2025