ScienceDaily: Science & Society News

Using datasets from neurosurgical patients and those with brain lesions, researchers mapped lesion locations associated with spiritual and religious belief to a specific human brain circuit.

Antibiotic sales soared during India's first surge of COVID-19, suggesting that the drugs were inappropriately used to treat mild and moderate COVID-19 infections, according to new research. The excessive usage is especially concerning because antibiotic overuse increases the risk for drug-resistant infections -- not just in India, but worldwide.

Plastic waste is considered one of the biggest environmental problems of our time. Researchers surveyed consumers in Germany about their use of plastic packaging. Their research reveals that fundamental changes in infrastructures and lifestyles, as well as cultural and economic transformation processes, are needed to make zero-waste shopping the norm.

A new report raises serious questions about the benefits, risks and ethics of a new service -- which the authors call 'embryo selection based on polygenic scores,' or ESPS -- that allows in vitro fertilization patients to select embryos with the goal of choosing healthier and even smarter children.

Researchers can gather highly accurate information about social trends and groups by asking about a person's social circle rather than interrogating their own individual beliefs.

A longitudinal study of healthy adults finds upward or downward changes in wealth were associated with respective lower or higher levels of cardiovascular events.

In a new paper, experts review the vaccine research and development process and propose areas where reforms could increase access, speed time to market and decrease costs -- from research and development, to manufacturing and regulation, to the management of incentives like patents and public funding.