Biomedicine & Disease
Why this COVID-19 spike is different: Current U.S. mutated version much more infectious than first wave virus but no more deadly
[A new COVID-19] mutation makes the virus more likely to infect people but does not seem to make them any ...
Flu vaccine makers plan to increase production as they brace for unprecedented winter season
Even though flu season doesn’t begin until the fall, major flu vaccine manufacturers say they plan to boost production by ...
First COVID-19 vaccines on track to arrive late 2020, faster than thought possible
Three companies with funding from the US government—AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and Moderna—are on track to distribute the first commercial ...
Viewpoint: Anti-GMO groups push ‘natural’ COVID cures, deny pandemic-fighting biotech solutions
One of the primary arguments hurled at proponents of genetic engineering is that the crops, medicines and vaccines produced using ...
The Three Stooges illustrate why coronavirus-fighting ‘antibody cocktails’ could help contain the virus well before a vaccine
“You imbecile!” bellowed Moe Howard as he stuck a finger up the nose of Curly. Moe the bully would often ...
Podcast: Let the light shine—Tackling eye disease with gene therapy
Researchers are bringing discoveries about the underlying genetic faults that cause eye diseases all the way through to game-changing gene ...
Infographic: How COVID-19 mutated to infect the world
A change in the virus was appearing again and again. This mutation, associated with outbreaks in Europe and New York, ...
Podcast: Getting from one generation to the next – the life and work of pioneering embryologist Dame Anne McLaren
Geneticist Dr Kat Arney reflects on the life and work of Dame Anne McLaren, one of the leading embryologists of ...
Quest for a coronavirus vaccine ‘reinvigorating’ anti-vax conspiracy theories
There is no COVID-19 vaccine, but there are already COVID-19 vaccine conspiracies. Even as vaccines for the disease caused by ...
Another pandemic? New swine flu identified in China could jump to humans
[A] new finding that pigs in China are more and more frequently becoming infected with a strain of influenza that ...
Eliminating Parkinson’s may eventually be possible with a ‘stunning’ single treatment
[Researchers found] a new therapeutic approach for Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. Just a single treatment to inhibit [the ...
What’s a life worth in dollars and cents? Should that influence who gets treated for expensive disease treatments?
Austin was three years old and Max was a newborn when their mother, Jenn McNary, learned they had a rare ...
Viewpoint: Human challenge trials – volunteers intentionally infected with COVID-19 – are ‘uninformative, unnecessary and unethical’
Deliberately infecting volunteers with SARS-CoV-2 to test the efficacy of vaccine candidates is unnecessary, uninformative, and unethical. … [O]ne prominent ...
Viewpoint: Blacks raise questions about racial stereotyping of autism diagnoses and therapies
Part of the reason people are quick to stereotype me is that there is no research on middle-aged black women ...
Repairing retinas and restoring vision: Generating photoreceptors directly from skin cells offers ‘quick and easy’ therapy
Damage to the retina can have serious consequences and lead to retinal diseases. Even cutting edge medicine like cell therapy ...
Viewpoint: Just one COVID-19 vaccine is not enough to win the war. We need an army
Scientists have created more than 70 vaccine candidates so far. “If we end up with two, three, or four vaccines, ...
How COVID-19 works to destroy our sense of smell
[A]nosmia [loss of sense of smell] seen with COVID-19 is present in 30–98 percent of infected people seen in hospitals, ...
How widespread is the pandemic? Proposed global blood bank could provide missing answers
Michael Mina is out for blood—millions of samples, which a nascent effort dubbed the Global Immunological Observatory (GIO), would monitor ...
We’ve successfully flattened the curve. Now get ready for an ‘agonizing’ COVID-19 plateau
As the summer gets into full swing and much of the country lifts its restrictions on distancing… it’s important to ...
Teaching AI to diagnose COVID-19 by analyzing CT scans
In China, CT scans are already used as a COVID-19 diagnostic tool when a patient arrives at a healthcare setting ...
Is speed more important than safety? Operation Warp Speed triggers public fears regulators are cutting coronavirus vaccine corners
"I'm a bit concerned to see there's a fair amount of skepticism in the American public about whether or not ...
Viewpoint: We still don’t know how deadly COVID-19 is—and why it doesn’t really matter
We’ve learned an incredible amount about the novel coronavirus these last few months… But we’re still struggling to answer what ...
5 percent of COVID-19 survivors have super strength ‘neutralizing antibodies’ crucial for developing a vaccine
The discovery of antibodies that block the most infectious elements of the coronavirus is helping Bay Area scientists unlock the ...
The ’airborne virus scientist’ public health officials turn to to assess dangers from COVID-19 in the air
[Aerosol scientist Dr. Linsey Marr’s] scientific curiosity and her multidisciplinary background have made her one of the world’s leading scientists ...
Infographic: No more shots? Next-gen vaccine ‘sheets’ melt on the tongue
Two issues influencing the accessibility of many vaccines are their needs for constant refrigeration from production until use and for ...
Podcast: Lab-grown livers coming soon? Regenerative farming won’t stop climate change; COVID halts gene-therapy studies
Scientists have grown tiny human livers from skin cells and transplanted them into rats, moving us closer to saving thousands ...
Mosquito spit might be a universal vaccine ‘Holy Grail’ – preventing everything from malaria to Zika
Her idea revolved around mosquito spit. Building on the work of colleagues and other scientists, [Jessica] Manning, a clinical researcher ...
COVID-19 recoverers appear to rapidly lose antibodies, leaving them vulnerable to reinfection within months
Infections caused by coronavirus cousins such as SARS and MERS result in antibodies that remain in the body for nearly ...
