Scientists from the University of Copenhagen, in collaboration with colleagues from the CENIEH (National Research Center on Human Evolution) in Burgos, Spain, and other institutions, have retrieved genetic information from an 800,000-year-old human fossil for the first time.

Infants who were started on solid foods at or before three months of age showed changes in the levels of gut bacteria and bacterial byproducts measured in their stool samples. These changes may be linked to a predisposition to being overweight.

Researchers have been developing a hybrid system combining bacteria and nanowires that can capture the energy of sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into building blocks for organic molecules.

As an estimated 68% of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050, urban planning against pandemics will become even more essential in years to come. Here are some ways smart cities can defend against pandemics in the future.

In the time of COVID-19, the Internet is aflush with expert advice about social distancing. At the same time, raw emotion has driven many to massive trips to the grocery store. In addition to toilet paper, alcohol-based hand sanitizer is the favorite on everybody’s panic-shopping list. The sale of hand sanitizers has gone up almost 500%, in contrast to soap, which has gone up a paltry 70%. So why do experts advise social distancing, and are hand sanitizers the answer to all our problems?

So-called “legacy” PFAS are potentially harmful to health and consequently analysts have been looking to detect them in consumer products such as drinking water. We spoke to Dr Katherine C. Hyland from SCIEX, about sources of PFAS that are contaminating our water system, the hazards posed to consumers and the outlook for detection and prevention strategies.