Humanity faces greater existential threats than it did during the Cold War, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

The Doomsday Clock, created 76 years ago by atomic scientists to warn against a human-made apocalypse, has moved to 90 seconds to midnight.

Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the climate crisis, and biological threats such as the unchecked spread of COVID-19 were the leading reasons given by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS), a non-profit organization of scientists and policy experts, for setting the hands of the clock closer to human extinction than they have ever been before — including at the height of the Cold War.

For the past three years the clock has been stuck at 100 seconds to midnight, hovering at what was until now the closest-ever point to humanity's annihilation. Now, "largely, but not exclusively" due to growing risks in the war in Ukraine, it has ticked one step closer.

About five percent of the population in industrialized nations suffer from autoimmune diseases. The most commonly occuring organ specific autoimmune diseases are the group of autoimmune thyroid diseases, followed by gluten-sensitive enteropathy (celiac disease) and autoimmune liver disease. Karsten Conrad and colleagues deliver the guide to the serological diagnosis of organ specific autoimmune diseases. The book consists of two alphabetically organized sections: The first deals with autoantibodies, the second with autoimmune or potential autoimmune diseases as well as symptoms related to particular organ specific autoimmune diseases.

Severe courses of COVID-19 infection not only impair lung function, but can also cause life-threatening consequences for the heart. The spectrum ranges from acute inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis) to chronic restriction of the heart's pumping function. The basic patterns of damage have not yet been completely proven. An interdisciplinary research team led by Professor Dr. Danny Jonigk, Christopher Werlein and Private Lecturer (PD) Dr. Mark Kühnel from the Institute of Pathology at the Hannover Medical School (MHH) has now used innovative molecular methods and a high-resolution microscopy technique to show how the ongoing inflammation in COVID-19 attacks the heart tissue and, in the long term, remodels the smallest coronary vessels by directing special precursor cells of the immune system from the blood into the heart. The study was published in the renowned journal Angiogenesis.

The moment a person dies, their body begins to break down as cells wither and bacteria invade. But how long does it take for a body to fully decompose? Although the process of decomposition starts within minutes of death, there are a number of variables, including the ambient temperature, soil acidity and coffin materials, which can affect how long it takes a body to skeletonize. However, on average, a body buried within a typical coffin usually starts to break down within a year, but takes up to a decade to fully decompose, leaving only the skeleton, Daniel Wescott, director of the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State University, told Live Science.