Experts explain the many risks involved - and how to lower your risk if you decide to do it.

The process of deciding when a vaccine appears to be safe and effective isn't as straightforward as the general public might believe.

Fever, runny nose, headache? Lost your sense of taste or smell? Your guide to differentiating between the three illnesses.

People with extra weight may struggle to mount a robust immune response to the coronavirus - and may respond poorly to a vaccine.

Among the 50 U.S. counties with the highest concentrations of students and overall populations of at least 50,000, 20 have consistently reported higher rates of new virus cases than their states have since Sept. 1, according to an Associated Press analysis.

GENERAL INTEREST

The discovery supports a rapid westward dispersal of modern humans across Eurasia within a few thousand years of their first appearance in southeastern Europe.

Ecologists confirm Alan Turing's theory for fairy circles.

Here is how a perfectly ordinary number captured the interest of sci-fi enthusiasts, geeks and mathematicians.

New genetic evidence builds the case that single-celled marine microbes might chow down on viruses.

Many islands around the world can be reached only by traveling hundreds or even thousands of miles across open water, yet nearly all islands that people live on were settled by between 800 to 1,000 years ago.

 

It was an old idea of Stephen Hawking's: Unseen "primordial" black holes might be the hidden dark matter. It fell out of favor for decades, but a new series of studies has shown how the theory can work.

Researchers have detected a group of lakes hidden under the red planet's icy surface.

A team of astrophysicists from the United States and Egypt has determined that [baryonic] matter makes up 31% of the total amount of matter and energy in the Universe, with the remainder consisting of dark energy.
 

Extremely massive fundamental particles could exist, but they would seriously mess with our understanding of quantum mechanics.

   

Hugh Everett blew up quantum mechanics with his Many-Worlds theory in the 1950s. Physics is only just catching up. 

INNOVATION

Great leaps forward in safe, successful pregnancies and congenital defect prevention await, but so do a host of ethical questions.

Forget artificial sweeteners. Researchers are now developing new forms of real sugar, to deliver sweetness with fewer calories. But tricking our biology is no easy feat.

Breakthrough that builds on plastic-eating bugs first discovered by Japan in 2016 promises to enable full recycling.

The device can power up to 100 light-emitting diode lights as well as temperature sensors.

Tim Kendall, former Facebook manager, told lawmakers that the company "took a page from Big Tobacco's playbook, working to make our offering addictive at the outset."

 

A fruit used for centuries in countries around the world is getting the nutritional thumbs-up from a team of researchers. Breadfruit, which grows in abundance in tropical and South Pacific countries, has long been a staple in the diet of many people. The fruit can be eaten when ripe, or it can be dried and ground up into a flour and repurposed into many types of meals.

Being home-bound for so long contorts the body, weakens the heart and lungs and even impairs brain function. The effects of life in isolation may stay with us beyond the pandemic's end (whenever that may be).

Experts explain why getting vaccinated is important every year-and especially during a pandemic.

Consumer Reports found toxic PFAS chemicals in several popular water brands, especially carbonated ones.

People who retire early suffer from accelerated cognitive decline and may even encounter early onset of dementia.

NATURE 

While the Y chromosome's role was believed to be limited to the functions of the sexual organs, a scientist has shown that it impacts the functions of other organs as well.

Whether crows, ravens, and other "corvids" are making multipart tools like hooked sticks to reach grubs, solving geometry puzzles made famous by Aesop, or nudging a clueless hedgehog across a highway before it becomes roadkill, they have long impressed scientists with their intelligence and creativity.

How a steady diet of fertilizers has turned crops into couch potatoes.

Over the past 75 years, flowers have also adapted to rising temperatures and declining ozone by altering ultraviolet (UV) pigments in their petals.

Surveyors have been attempting to measure the mountain's precise elevation since the 1850s.

ENVIRONMENT

In case you're missing the forest for the trees, here are a few reminders why woodlands are wonderful.

Federal, state and local governments all have a hand in protecting public water systems and private wells from contamination.

As nearly 150 global leaders lined up - virtually - to address Wednesday's UN biodiversity summit, the stakes could not have been higher.

The Obama administration directed the EPA to focus on climate-related threats. Now, the Trump administration refuses to even use the word.

While climate change remains environmental issue #1, the worries over plastic in our water, soil, food, and bodies continue to grow.

CLIMATE 

To understand what's happening today, we need to go back nearly 40 years.

Global warming is deepening blankets of warmer water that alter ocean currents, hinder absorption of carbon, intensify storms and disrupt biological cycles.

More than 1 million disaster-related displacements have occurred each year on average in the U.S. since 2016. Some people never return home.

The "blob" of hotter ocean water that killed sea lions and other marine life in 2014 and 2015 may become permanent.