• Nearly 108,000 Overdose Deaths in 2021 Bear Out a Prediction from Five Years Ago

    A grim prediction made half a decade ago by University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health epidemiologists and modelers has come true: More than 100,000 people are now dying from drug overdoses annually in the U.S.

  • U.S. Tracks Monkeypox Case Tied to Recent Canadian Travel

    By Stephanie Soucheray

    US officials have confirmed a case of monkeypox in a Massachusetts resident who had recently traveled to Canada. This is the first monkeypox case detected this year in the United States. In 2021, both Maryland and Texas reported single cases in residents who had recently traveled to Nigeria, where the virus is endemic.

  • Gain-of-Function Studies Need Stricter Guidance: Researchers

    Researchers and biosecurity specialists are calling on the U.S. government to issue clearer guidance about experiments the government might fund which would make pathogens more transmissible or deadly.

  • As Science Evolves, Policy Framework Needs to as Well

    In late February, the NIH and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy asked the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity NSABB to make swift progress on its long-overdue review. The panel plans to draft a report outlining its recommendations by the end of the year.

  • Climate Change Could Spark the Next Pandemic

    As the Earth’s climate continues to warm, researchers predict wild animals will be forced to relocate their habitats — likely to regions with large human populations — dramatically increasing the risk of a viral jump to humans that could lead to the next pandemic.

  • Fact Checks Effectively Counter COVID Misinformation

    By Jim Hanchet

    New study finds that journalistic fact checks are a more effective counter to COVID-19 misinformation than the false news tags commonly used by social media outlets. “We find that more information may be an antidote to misinformation,” conclude the authors of the study.

  • Strengthening the Nation’s Early Warning System for Health Threats

    The White House hosted the Summit on Strengthening the Nation’s Early Warning System for Health Threats in support of the launch of the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics (CFA). The launch of the CFA fulfills requirements in National Security Memorandum-1 (NSM-1), which instructed U.S. leadership to strengthen the international COVID-19 response and advance global health security and biological preparedness.

  • Developing New Vaccine Against Three Biothreat Pathogens

    Scientists are seeking to develop a multi-pathogen vaccine that will protect against three bacterial biothreat pathogens.

  • Water Scarcity Predicted to Worsen in More than 80% of Croplands Globally

    Global warming is inexorably leading to water scarcity, and more than 80 percent of the world’s croplands will be affected by this scarcity by 2050. One way to mitigate the effects of growing scarcity is improving irrigation infrastructure and irrigation efficiency.

  • WHO Estimates Nearly 15 Million Deaths Linked to COVID Pandemic

    The World Health Organization said more than twice as many people died as a result of the COVID pandemic than official data shows, if including deaths of other causes that might not have occurred in more typical times.

  • Does Free Speech Protect COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation?

    By Sharon Beckstrand

    “The Supreme Court has held that many kinds of false statements are protected speech under the First Amendment,” says Stanford University’s Michelle Mello. “The Supreme Court’s general finding is that false statements can often be valuable in terms of allowing people to challenge widely held beliefs without fear of repercussions, and that things could go pretty wrong if the government had a wider berth to regulate them.”

  • Farming the Next Front in Russia’s War on Ukraine

    By Heather Murdock

    In recent months, food shortages resulting from the war in Ukraine have circled the globe, with price hikes of 20% to 50% for ordinary bread reported from Brazil to Pakistan and Egypt. Ukraine and Russia are among the world’s most important food exporters, providing more than a quarter of the world’s wheat supply, along with other important crops such as corn, sunflower seed oil and barley.

  • Russia's Claims of Ukrainian Biological Weapons: A Propaganda Ploy?

    By Roman Goncharenko

    Since its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has claimed Kyiv is developing biological weapons with support from the US and Germany. Experts familiar with laboratories in Ukraine say the accusations are groundless.

  • Comparing Geologic Repository Assessment Tools

    A computer modeling system is designed to answer critical safety assessment questions about future disposal options for spent nuclear fuel deep underground and the system of tunnels, containers and possible concrete-like barriers used to keep the radioactive material contained far from the surface and water sources.

  • Why the Food Crisis Will Pass

    Even though the food crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine is now causing acute problems, there is no reason for panic, according to University of Copenhagen food economist Henning Otte Hansen. High food prices will not last because the agricultural sector is equipped to ramp up production and stabilize markets.