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Topline Pfizer and BioNTech plan to ask regulators to give their Covid-19 vaccine emergency authorization for use in kids aged five and up, the companies said Monday, after announcing the first set of promising results from a major vaccine trial in this age group. Key Facts Early findings from the trial, which involved 2,268 children

The autumn has arrived and with it the return of the academic year. We hope that this one will be a return to something like normality following the huge disruptions to learning caused by the pandemic.  Covid-19 has also kept businesses out of schools too, with most organisations all but stopping their outreach work.  Many

Each Monday I pick out the northern hemisphere’s celestial highlights (mid-northern latitudes) for the week ahead, but be sure to check my main feed for more in-depth articles on stargazing, astronomy, eclipses and more.  What To Watch For In The Night Sky This Week: September 20-26, 2021 This week it’s all about the full “Harvest

In many countries, melanoma skin cancers are caused by UV radiation, but that’s not the case for a mysterious melanoma being studied by Mexican scientist Dr Carla Daniela Robles-Espinoza. Robles-Espinoza, an assistant professor at the International Laboratory for Human Genome Research (LIIGH), at Mexico’s National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), returned to her home country

The year’s most famous full Moon is almost here, but do you know exactly when, where and how to get the very best view? Traditionally called the “Harvest Moon,” the full Moon closest to the fall equinox is so-called because it helps farmers get their crops in late into the night.  These days it’s more

If an assault rifle augmentation system from Elbit Systems works as advertised, special operations troops or dismounted infantry could gain the ability to shoot around corners or fire from the hip “Rambo style” with no loss of accuracy. The Israeli defense company’s Assault Rifle Combat Application System, or ARCAS, consists of an artificial intelligence-powered computer

By studying the topography and mineral composition of a portion of the Arabia Terra, scientists recently found evidence for thousands of “super eruptions,” which are the most violent volcanic explosions known on Earth, happening also on Mars, writes Lonnie Shekhtman for NASA. On Earth, supervolcanoes are defined as a volcano that has had at least

A relatively new virus causing a disease called “Alaskapox” has infected two more people in Fairbanks, Alaska. Alaskapox was first described in a person in 2015, with another infection discovered in August 2020 bringing the total number of people infected so far to four. All four cases have been in the Fairbanks area. The two

You may get a USB cable in a package but that doesn’t mean that you should put the cable inside your package, meaning your penis. If you have a penis or are empathetic towards any penises, a new case report published in the journal Urology Case Reports may make you cringe. For the case report,

As many as 1.9 million people died from work-related diseases and injuries in 2016, according to the first joint estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) and International Labour Organization (ILO). The majority of work-related deaths were due to respiratory and cardiovascular disease. Non-communicable diseases accounted for 81% of these deaths. The greatest causes of

Although scientists discovered that DNA was a double helix in 1953, it was not until 1977 that researchers learned how to synthesize DNA. After 50 years of slow progress, recent technology for reading, writing, and editing DNA is accelerating and becoming more efficient. It’s now possible to give microbes—and increasingly, other kinds of cells—new genetic

Yo, what do Americans want, what do Americans really, really want? That’s not exactly how the Spice Girls song went, but a new Monmouth University Poll of Americans aimed to tell what Americans really, really want when it comes to dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. Of those surveyed from September 9 to 13, 2021, 63%

Want to see a magic trick in space? Emerging research suggests that “mushballs”, a slushy combination of ammonia and water, might explain some weird readings at Uranus and Neptune. We’ve already tracked this process in action at Jupiter, where ammonia is found deeper in the atmosphere than thought because of these slushy treats. Now it’s

Topline Changes to periods and unexpected vaginal bleeding after getting vaccinated against Covid-19 should be investigated, according to an immunology expert writing in the British Medical Journal on Wednesday, who said there is no evidence the vaccines affect fertility and that “robust research” would help tackle rampant misinformation.  Key Facts More than 30,000 women across

Back in the twelfth century astronomers in China and Japan gazed skywards and saw a “guest star,” a new point of light that suddenly shone as bright as the planet Saturn for 185 nights before fading. Ever since then astronomers have wondered what these recorded sightings were of, exactly, since “supernovae”—exploding stars—leave behind a glowing

When was the last time you picked up a magic lamp, only to be thwarted by the fine print of a genie? You thought you came up with the perfect wish – one that will guarantee you riches, true love, and eternal happiness. But, alas, you didn’t really understand what you were asking. And bam!

Images of polar bears clinging to small blocks of ice are often used as a symbol of the ill effects of climate change.  Now, scientists say they have found another way in which polar bear populations are suffering because of climate change — increased inbreeding, which could be leading to less genetic diversity. Norwegian researchers

Scientists in the UK have created a super-strong concrete-like material made of extra-terrestrial dust along with the blood, sweat and tears of astronauts. Their study, published today in the journal Materials Today Bio, could improve the prospects for constructing bases and even colonies on the Moon and Mars. The cost of taking a single brick

“All hope abandon, ye who enter in!” – Canto III of Dante’s Inferno. According to Christian tradition, the inner Earth is a place of eternal damnation. Italian poet Dante Alighieri (who died on this day 700 years ago) imagined an especially elaborate version of Hell in his Divine Comedy. He included in his description of the

The first all-civilian mission to orbit our planet is set to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 reusable rocket during a launch window that opens on Wednesday, September 15, 2021. Unlike the super-short flights to the edge of space by Richard Branson in Virgin Galactic’s supersonic jet plane and Jeff Bezos in a Blue Origin