COVID-19 pandemic has ‘significantly strained’ hospitals, HHS report finds as staff suffered burnout

U.S. hospitals say they have been operating in ‘survival mode’ for the majority of the coronavirus pandemic. According to a new report released by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) inspector general on Wednesday, medical centers said that staffing shortages have impacted patient care.  What’s more, the exhaustion of long shifts and dealing … Read more

Health: Women experience ‘significantly faster’ declines in cognition than men

Women experience ‘significantly faster’ declines in cognition than men and are at higher risk of dementia, scientists warn Researchers from the US analysed on 26,088 people who took cognitive tests This included 11,775 men and 14,313 women with an average starting age of 58 The team found the memory abilities of men and women decline at similar … Read more

Say cheese! Mars’ ‘Happy Face’ crater has significantly grown over a decade due to thermal erosion

Mars has something to smile about! The infamous ‘Happy Face’ crater near the Red Planet’s south pole has gotten noticeably bigger over the last decade. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter first recorded the grinning visage in 2011, using its powerful High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera. Researchers compared an image of the crater from October 2011 to … Read more

House prices set to fall ‘significantly’ in the coming months

House prices look set to fall ‘significantly’ over the next few months amid ongoing lockdown restrictions and the end of the stamp duty holiday, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Last month, property prices, sales and buyer demand all increased, but at a slower pace than seen in previous months, Rics said. Predictions … Read more

Tom Parker reveals brain tumour has ‘significantly reduced’ and is ‘responding well’ to treatment

Tom Parker has revealed his stage 4 brain tumour has ‘significantly reduced’ and is ‘responding well’ to treatment. The Wanted singer, 32, took to Instagram on Thursday to update fans on his progress after receiving his terminal diagnosis of glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain cancer, in October. In a lengthy post, Tom said it … Read more

COVID-19: Countries led by women have NOT fared significantly better in the pandemic

Countries led by women have NOT fared significantly better in the COVID-19 pandemic than those led by men, study finds US and UK experts compared data on COVID-19 mortalities across 175 countries Of these nations, 16 are led by women and 159 are governed by male leaders  The team found no statistically significant difference in … Read more

Pupils in England are performing significantly worse in sciences than they were five years ago

Teenagers are failing the acid test in sciences: Pupils in England are performing significantly worse in the subject than they were five years ago, international study finds Growing proportion of children were not meeting benchmarks even before virus Percentage of Year 9 pupils performing below international benchmark rose UK school standards minister acknowledged the ‘quality … Read more

High blood pressure in your 40s and 50s significantly affects the brain in later life

High blood pressure in your 40s and 50s significantly affects the brain in later life, researchers have found.  A study based on brain scans from 37,000 people reveals that raised blood pressure in middle age – even at levels that wouldn’t usually require drug treatment – leads to extensive damage to the ‘white matter’ of … Read more

Covid deaths can be ‘significantly reduced’ if age groups don’t mix

People only socialising within their own age groups could ‘significantly reduce’ deaths from coronavirus and provide an alternative to lockdown, a study claims. Researchers from the University of Haifa, Israel, created a large computer simulation to evaluate different scenarios for easing lockdown measures – including by age group. They found that there would be between … Read more

Men who add nuts to diet can ‘significantly improve sperm quality’

Men who add a handful of nuts to their diet can increase their sperm quality and fertility, a new study shows. Spanish researchers compared men who were fed a mixture of tree nuts – almonds, hazelnuts and walnuts – over 14 weeks as a supplement to their standard Western diet with those who weren’t.  The inclusion … Read more