Category: Science and Tech
Anti-COVID drug accelerates viral evolution
Nature Molnupiravir, an antiviral drug used to treat COVID-19, induces numerous mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome that can increase the rate at which the virus evolves — yielding viral variants that might survive and be passed on. Drugs are potent weapons against viral pathogens. During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were intensive […]
Oct 24, 2023
Smell loss from COVID fades quickly with help of new pill
Nature The antiviral drug ensitrelvir eases both smell and taste loss, and is one of the few COVID-19 drugs available to people not at high risk of grave illness. New clinical-trial data suggest that an antiviral pill called ensitrelvir shortens the duration of two unpleasant symptoms of COVID-19: loss of smell and taste. The medication is among the first […]
Oct 17, 2023
Holy immunity! Bat genes key against COVID, cancer
CSHL Bats have acquired remarkable traits throughout their evolution. They’re the only mammals that can fly, and they live much longer than other animals their size. But perhaps most impressive is their robust immune system. It protects bats from viruses that wreak havoc in humans, like COVID-19 or Ebola. It also keeps bats relatively cancer-free. How? […]
Oct 17, 2023
Lab Leak Fight Casts Chill Over Virology Research
NYT Scientists doing “gain-of-function” research said that heightened fears of lab leaks are stalling studies that could thwart the next pandemic virus. Questions about whether Covid leaked from a Chinese laboratory have cast a chill over American virus research, drying up funding for scientists who collect or alter dangerous pathogens and intensifying a debate over […]
Oct 17, 2023
How gene editing could help curb the spread of bird flu
MIT Technology Review The disease kills millions of birds each year, and it has recently started to spread among mammals too. Gene editing could help prevent chickens from catching and spreading bird flu, according to a proof-of-concept study. Researchers used the gene-editing tool CRISPR to alter the DNA of 10 chickens to resist the bird […]
Oct 10, 2023
RedHill’s antiviral, once tested for COVID, works in mice with Ebola
Fierce Pharma RedHill Biopharma, in collaboration with the U.S. Army, announced Oct. 3 that twice-daily oral doses of the medication opaganib boosted survival from about six days in controls to 11 days in animals infected with the virus. In the group treated with the highest dose, 30% of the mice survived, compared to none of […]
Oct 3, 2023
Nobel Prize in medicine awarded to scientists who laid foundation for messenger RNA vaccines
Washington Post The Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded Monday to two scientists whose research laid the groundwork for messenger RNA vaccines that transformed the threat of the coronavirus pandemic. Early in her career, Katalin Kariko, 68, a Hungarian-born scientist, saw mRNA’s medical potential and pursued it with ferocious and single-minded tenacity that exiled her to the outskirts […]
Oct 3, 2023
ABC News While there is no specific test to determine if someone is experiencing long COVID, a new study published in Nature used blood tests to find new insight into what biological markers are associated with this collection of mysterious conditions reported by millions of Americans. Researchers used machine learning to help analyze immune markers and hormone […]
Sep 26, 2023
Supercomputer simulation attacks problem of drug-resistant bacteria
Los Alamos National Laboratory Understanding molecular processes can improve the antibiotics and vaccines that fight disease A first-ever, atom-by-atom supercomputer simulation shows how antibiotics kill bacteria and illustrates other processes of the molecular machinery in living cells. The research opens fresh pathways to improving antibiotics, designing new ones to fight drug-resistant bacteria and developing vaccines […]
Sep 19, 2023
Wait, Is That Rapid Test Really Expired?
NYT As Covid cases rise, at-home tests are a critical tool to keep yourself and others safe. Here are answers to a few common questions about when and how to use them. Since the public health emergency expired, lab P.C.R. tests — the gold standard for detecting Covid-19 — have become more expensive and less accessible for many people. […]
Aug 29, 2023
