COVID-19 vaccines reduced the potential global death toll during the pandemic by more than half in the year following their implementation, a mathematical modelling study published today in The Lancet Infectious Diseases estimates.

On the evening of June 17, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Ukrainian paramedic Yulia “Taira” Paevska had been released from Russian captivity. Paevska has long been hailed as a hero in Ukraine, known for saving hundreds of lives as a volunteer medic in the Donbas. At the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Paevska spent more than two weeks evacuating the wounded in besieged Mariupol (the harrowing footage from her body camera was later published by the Associated Press). After Russian troops captured Paevska on March 16, pro-Kremlin media began smearing her as a “Nazi” and accusing her of terrible crimes. As a result, news of Paevska’s release sent the rumor churning once again as pro-Kremlin bloggers wondered how it was even possible for Russia to let her go.

As many as one in 500 men may carry an extra sex chromosome — either an X or a Y — but very few of them likely know about it, a new study suggests.

The research, published June 9 in the journal Genetics in Medicine(opens in new tab), included data from more than 207,000 men who provided information to the U.K. Biobank, a repository of genetic and health data from half a million U.K.-based participants. Typically, males carry one X- and one Y-shaped sex chromosome in each of their cells, but among the study participants, there were 213 men who carried an extra X chromosome and 143 that had an extra Y.

In late April, Irina Danilovich, a nurse from Crimea, was kidnapped by four men wearing civilian clothing and balaclavas. After two weeks of searching, her friends and lawyers managed to learn she was being held in a pre-trial detention center in Simferopol on charges of illegally storing explosives. Irina herself has denied the charges and says the case is fabricated; the Russian Justice Ministry says she’s a “foreign agent.” She’s currently still in custody.

When someone gets an infection, most people think it’s the immune system kicking into gear when they feel some of the body’s natural defenses like a fever, chills, or fatigue. What most people don’t know is that it’s actually the brain behind all of this.

Anton Fedoseyev, a 21-year-old from Russia’s Leningrad region, died near Kharkiv in May 2022. Fedoseyev was born with a birth defect that affected his face and had long dreamed of getting plastic surgery. He signed a contract with the army to earn money to pay for the operation. He spoke to Sever Realii, a division of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, before his death.

Certain chemical compounds trigger a stressful response. Scientists recently discovered something about male mice that's utterly bananas: The distinctive scent of a banana stresses them out.