Science

Since the earliest days of the pandemic, health officials have gauged the threat of COVID-19 by comparing it to the flu. At first, it wasn’t even close. People hospitalized in 2020 with the then-novel respiratory disease were five times more likely to die of their illness than were patients who had been hospitalized with influenza […]

Deaths from drug overdoses fell last year in the United States as fewer people lost their lives to fentanyl and other opioids, marking the first time the death toll had dropped in five years, according to newly released estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Federal officials said the numbers show a 3%

There is a bird flu outbreak going on. Here is what you need to know about it: What is bird flu? Bird flu is what’s known as a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus. The “highly pathogenic” part refers to birds, which the virus is pretty adept at killing. In virology speak, the virus is of

Do you want to live to 100? The path to becoming a healthy centenarian — as opposed to just a centenarian — is surprisingly different for those born as women and men, says social researcher and author Maddy Dychtwald. And it’s never too early to start on the journey, even when you’re young and spry.

Kori Thompson had long wrestled with the idea of having a child. The 24-year-old worried about the world a kid would face as climate change overtook the globe, fearing the environmental devastation and economic strain that could follow. He had been thinking about getting a vasectomy ever since he learned about the sterilization procedure from

A few weeks ago, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology declared that the Pacific Ocean is no longer in an El Niño state and has returned to “neutral.” American scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have been more hesitant, but they estimate that there is an 85% chance that the Pacific will enter a

A different kind of storm could complicate this weekend’s plans. For the first time since January 2005, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has issued a severe geomagnetic storm watch for Friday evening. The category G4 watch from NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center signals the possibility that a concentration of energy flaring from the

You feel a cold coming on, or maybe it’s already upon you: the telltale cough, sore throat and stuffy head. You swing by the drugstore, where a shelf full of over-the-counter products containing the mineral zinc claim to be able to shorten the duration of your symptoms. The promise of relief is tempting. But is

Year after year, Los Angeles County has seen devastating losses on its streets as homeless people bedding down in tents, under tarps and on sidewalks died of drug overdoses at soaring rates. Now a newly released report shows that the death rate from overdoses stopped rising among unhoused people in the county in 2022 —

Fake versions of Botox have popped up in California, raising alarm among public health officials who warn that counterfeit versions of the injections can lead to symptoms such as slurred speech and breathing problems. “Counterfeit or incorrectly administered Botox, even in small amounts, can result in serious health problems and even death,” Dr. Tomás J.