Aimee Cunningham

1 month ago | sciencenews.org | Aimee Cunningham

I confess: If I think about skeletons, it’s around Halloween. I especially enjoy the yard displays of larger-than-life skeletons engaging in mundane activities, like walking skeleton dogs. But our own skeletons are something we should be thinking about year-round, especially as we age. Heading into midlife and beyond, bones can lose their heft. A drop below a certain bone density leads to a diagnosis of osteoporosis and bones that are weak and fragile.

1 month ago | sciencenews.org | Aimee Cunningham

Last winter’s respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, season wasn’t as brutal for U.S. babies. A new study suggests two preventive tools — a maternal vaccine and a monoclonal antibody for infants — may have helped. The 2024-25 RSV season was the first in which the vaccine and the monoclonal antibody, which can prevent severe RSV lung infections in babies, were widely available.

1 month ago | sciencenews.org | Aimee Cunningham

Many teens who vape want to quit. A recent clinical trial suggests that a drug used to stop smoking can help. In the last four weeks of a 12-week trial, 51 percent of the 88 teens and young adults taking the drug varenicline, which was paired with counseling and text messaging support, abstained from vaping completely, researchers report April 23 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That’s compared with only 14 percent of the 87 receiving the same support but taking a placebo drug.

2 months ago | autism.einnews.com | Tina Saey |Laura Sanders |Aimee Cunningham

Autism is more common than ever before, a new report suggests. As of 2022, about 1 in 31 children in the United States were diagnosed with autism by the time they were 8 years old, researchers reported online April 15 in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Previous studies had put the number at 1 in 36 in 2020 and 1 in 150 in 2000.

2 months ago | sciencenews.org | Aimee Cunningham

An old drug may find new use as a speedy treatment for venomous snakebites. The drug, called unithiol, has long been used as a therapy for heavy metal poisoning. Research in mice suggests the drug could block damaging proteins that are found in the venom of many vipers. A recent Phase I clinical trial explored different dosages of the drug in people — larger quantities than are used for metal poisoning — and didn’t find safety issues, researchers report in the March eBioMedicine.