The Pigeon Express
Scientists tallying the economic damage wrought by invasive pests across the world found two species are responsible for more harm than any other. The American bullfrog and brown tree snake have collectively caused $16.3 billion in global damage since 1986. In addition to ecological harm, the invasive pair have ruined farm crops and triggered costly […]
No amount of alcohol is healthy if you are younger than 40, mostly due to alcohol-related deaths by auto accidents, injury and homicide, according to a new global study. If you are 40 or older without underlying health conditions, however, the new research found small amounts of alcohol might reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, […]
Analysis of wine has found two glasses could be enough to reach the recommended daily sugar limit for adults. Research by Alcohol Health Alliance UK found some bottles had up to 59g of sugar, more than a glazed doughnut. An independent laboratory analysed bottles of red, white, rosé, fruit and sparkling wine from popular UK […]
People with high blood pressure who take paracetamol on prescription could be increasing their risk of heart attacks and strokes, a study suggests. Doctors should think about the risks and benefits to patients taking it over many months, the University of Edinburgh researchers say. Taking the painkiller for headaches and fevers is safe, they stress. […]
The Covid-19 pandemic reduced life expectancy in 2020 by the largest amount since World War Two, according to a study published by Oxford University, with the life expectancy of American men dropping by more than two years. Life expectancy fell by more than six months compared with 2019 in 22 of the 29 countries analysed […]
Scientists have discovered why the ‘Delta’ variant is more contagious and spread around the world so quickly. Researchers at the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention in China looked at people infected with the mutation, also known as B.1.617.2. They found that it makes copies of itself more quickly and has a shorter […]
A research by the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States have found that pupil size can tell about a person’s intelligence. The study was published in the June issue of Cognition. Jason Tsukahara and Randall Engle, the scientists who performed the study, wrote along with Alexander Burgoyne in a Scientific American article. “We […]
There are at least 50 billion individual wild birds in the world, according to a new study. House sparrows alone make up about 1.6 billion of these. Three other species – European starlings, barn swallows and ring-billed gulls also have a population exceeding one billion birds. However, one in ten bird species are rare with fewer than […]