Ancient DNA reveals the appearance of a 6th century Chinese emperor

What did an ancient Chinese emperor from 1,500 years ago look like? A team of researchers reconstructed the face of Chinese Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou using DNA extracted from his remains. The study, published March 28 in the journal Current Biology, suggests the emperor’s death at the age of 36 might be linked to … Read more

US restores handful of wildlife protections axed by Trump

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain The US administration of President Joe Biden on Thursday announced further protections for endangered species and their habitats, restoring a set of regulations weakened by Donald Trump. The new rules were touted as evidence of Biden’s commitment to tackling climate change, though some environmental groups said the changes fell short of … Read more

Positive associations between premenstrual disorders and perinatal depression

Women affected by premenstrual disorders have a higher risk of perinatal depression compared with those who do not, according to research published March 28 in the open access journal PLOS Medicine. The relationship works both ways: those with perinatal depression are also more likely to develop premenstrual disorders after pregnancy and childbirth. This study suggests … Read more

Suppressing boredom at work hurts future productivity, study shows

Credit: CC0 Public Domain Boredom is more common at work than in any other setting, studies show, and employees are bored at work for more than 10 hours per week on average. Even astronauts and police officers get bored on the job. No occupation is immune. Boredom serves an important purpose—it signals the need to … Read more

Kate Middleton cancer news: Princess of Wales didn’t want William in her video for ‘personal’ reasons

The Crown cannot be blamed for Princess Kate conspiracy theories, says Jonathan Pryce Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email The Princess of Wales did not want her husband by her side in the video revealing her cancer diagnosis for … Read more

Manganese plays a surprising role in soil carbon sequestration

Manganese in the soil of boreal forests has been found to work against the carbon storage capacity of these crucial northern habitats. Located predominantly in cold regions at high latitude, boreal forests are estimated to store nearly 30 percent of the world’s soil carbon, making them the world’s largest reservoir of land-based carbon. This stored … Read more

For struggling organizations, fostering social connections can help recruit and retain scarce volunteers

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain At a time when America needs volunteers more than ever, to tackle social problems from homelessness to disaster recovery, fewer people have been volunteering. The number of volunteers for nonprofit and community-based organizations declined recently for the first time in decades, from 30% of the population in 2019 to 23% in … Read more