Human behavior drives the evolution of biological organisms in ways that can profoundly adversely impact human welfare. Understanding people’s incentives when they do so is essential to identify policies and other strategies to improve evolutionary outcomes. In a new study, researchers bring the tools of economics and game theory to evolution management. From antibiotic-resistant bacteria…

Deaths of children and adolescents in China due to infectious diseases were becoming rare prior to the covid-19 pandemic, according to a new study. Quarantinable conditions with high death rates such as cholera and plague had effectively disappeared and many traditional and vaccine-preventable infectious diseases of childhood including diarrhea, measles and rubella became uncommon. The…

COVID-19 has shown us images of patients dying in isolation, apart from loved ones during their final moments. But even before the pandemic, harrowing deaths were all too common in most parts of the world, a new survey of end-of-life care shows. The study ranked 81 countries on how well their health systems provide for…

Strategically increasing testing capacity, either by making diagnostic tests faster or more available, can reduce reliance on costly preventative interventions, such as distancing and shutdowns, according to researchers. «The global spread of SARS-CoV-2 and the strategies used to manage it have come at significant societal costs; for example, shutdowns of non-essential businesses and stay-at-home orders…

An online COVID-19 symptom tracking tool developed by researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center ensures a person’s confidentiality while being able to actively monitor their symptoms. The tool is not proprietary and can be used by entities that are not able to develop their own tracking systems. Identifying and monitoring people infected with COVID-19, or…

Patients in most countries of the world do not have access to basic cancer medicines, according to new research. Their article asked oncologists worldwide to list the most important cancer medicines and to describe whether patients could access these medicines in their home country. The World Health Organization (WHO) has updated and released an Essential…

Transgender and other youths with diverse gender identities are victimized up to three times more than their peers, according to a new study. The students were part of a statewide survey of eighth- through 12th-grade youths in Illinois schools. «Transgender youths reported the highest rates of all forms of peer victimization, which were double to…

A new study finds forensics researchers use terms related to ancestry and race in inconsistent ways, and calls for the discipline to adopt a new approach to better account for both the fluidity of populations and how historical events have shaped our skeletal characteristics. «Forensic anthropology is a science, and we need to use terms…

Two algorithms that account for distinctive use of repeated words and word pairs require as few as 50 tweets to accurately distinguish deceptive ‘troll’ messages from those posted by public figures. Troll internet messages aim to achieve a specific purpose, while also masking that purpose. For instance, in 2018, 13 Russian nationals were accused of…

When traffic is clogged at a downtown intersection, there may be a way to reduce some of the congestion: Eliminate a few left turns. According to Vikash Gayah, associate professor of civil engineering at Penn State, well-placed left-turn restrictions in certain busy intersections could loosen many of the bottlenecks that hamper traffic efficiency. He recently…