Tag Archives: science

The Washington Post reports: America has decided the pandemic is over. The coronavirus has other ideas. The latest omicron offshoot, BA.5, has quickly become dominant in the United States, and thanks to its elusiveness when encountering the human immune system, is driving a wave of cases across the country. Many people now see the pandemic as part of the fabric …

Via press release from the FDA: As we move into the fall and winter, it is critical that we have safe and effective vaccine boosters that can provide protection against circulating and emerging variants to prevent the most severe consequences of COVID-19. Following a thorough discussion on June 28, 2022, an overwhelming majority of the advisory committee voted in favor …

The Associated Press reports: Nearly 20 million lives were saved by COVID-19 vaccines during their first year, but even more deaths could have been prevented if international targets for the shots had been reached, researchers reported Thursday. The effort, though marred by persisting inequities, prevented deaths on an unimaginable scale, said Oliver Watson of Imperial College London, who led the …

Changing America reports: Researchers have developed a new type of blood test to check for potential COVID-19 immunity. How the test works is explained in a study published this week in Nature Biotechnology. The test, called dqTACT, requires the mixture of a small blood sample with peptides, essentially a chain of proteins, from the COVID-19 virus. Once the mixture takes …

Reuters reports: The World Health Organization will convene an emergency committee on Thursday next week to assess whether the monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern. That is the highest level of warning issued by the U.N. agency, which currently applies only to the COVID-19 pandemic and polio. There have been 1,600 confirmed and 1,500 suspected cases …

Via press release from NASA: NASA is commissioning a study team to start early in the fall to examine unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) – that is, observations of events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena – from a scientific perspective. The study will focus on identifying available data, how best to collect future …

Reuters reports: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Tuesday it had removed a mask recommendation from its monkeypox travel notice to avoid “confusion” over the disease, which primarily spreads through direct contact. “Late yesterday, CDC removed the mask recommendation from the monkeypox Travel Health Notice because it caused confusion,” a CDC spokesperson said on Tuesday. …

NBC News reports: The CDC is raising its alert level for monkeypox to level two, all at an abundance of caution. This means health officials are recommending that travelers wear masks on planes and other public transits. “The number of cases of monkeypox has continued to increase to almost 1,000 people now with confirmed or suspected cases in more than …

The Daily Beast reports: In a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, a group of researchers led by neuroscientists at Yale University uncovered an experimental drug taken orally that appears to reverse brain damage in mice afflicted by Alzheimer’s, and could protect the brain from future damage for at least one month. If its success and remarkable …

Via press release from the World Health Organization: Since 13 May 2022, monkeypox has been reported to WHO from 23 Member States that are not endemic for monkeypox virus, across four WHO regions. Epidemiological investigations are ongoing. The vast majority of reported cases so far have no established travel links to an endemic area and have presented through primary care …

ABC News reports: Abbott Laboratories said Thursday that it is working to develop a test that it would then provide to partners of its Pandemic Defense Coalition, a spokesperson said. Abbott’s announcement comes one day after Roche announced it had developed three kits to detect the virus. Roche, which is based in Switzerland, said one test detects orthopoxviruses, which is …

CNN reports: The US Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention has identified nine monkeypox cases in seven states as of Wednesday, Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a news briefing on Thursday. Cases have been identified in Massachusetts, Florida, Utah, Washington, California, Virginia and New York. All of the cases “are within gay, bisexual men and other men who have …

Bloomberg News reports: The US Supreme Court turned away a challenge to New York’s requirement that schoolchildren be vaccinated against serious diseases, refusing to question the state’s 2019 repeal of its longstanding exemption for families with religious objections. The justices without comment left in place a state court ruling that said New York wasn’t targeting religion when it eliminated the …

Space.com reports: The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has done it again. The scientists who in 2019 gave us our first-ever direct image of a black hole are back with results a little closer to home. During joint news conferences held around the world today (May 12), they unveiled our first view of the supermassive black hole at the heart of …

CTV News reports: A policy change years in the making, on Thursday Health Canada approved Canadian Blood Services’ submission to eliminate the three-month donor deferral period for gay and bisexual men as well as some other folks in the LGBTQ2S+ community. Moving away from a blanket ban, the national blood donor organization will be able to screen all donors regardless …

Bloomberg News reports: Researchers have identified five types of bacteria that are linked to aggressive prostate cancer. The bacteria was common in urine and tissue samples from men with the condition, a new study found. It is hoped the findings could help pave the way for treatments that could target this bacteria and slow or prevent the development of aggressive …

ABC News reports: Heather Simpson of Dallas, Texas, said she turned to wellness groups and became an online influencer almost overnight when she posted anti-vaccine beliefs on Facebook after watching an anti-vaccine documentary. “At the time, I was a stay at home mom. I was lonely. I didn’t have family or friends close by,” Simpsons said. When Simpson started sharing …

Via press release from the CDC: Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the first COVID-19 diagnostic test that detects chemical compounds in breath samples associated with a SARS-CoV-2 infection. The test can be performed in environments where the patient specimen is both collected and analyzed, such as doctor’s offices, hospitals and mobile …

UPI reports: COVID-19 causes loss of sense of smell in some of those infected by not only damaging the tissue in the nasal cavity, but also the area of the brain responsible for controlling the senses, a study published Monday by JAMA Neurology found. The white matter region of the brain plays a key role in communication between cells in …

Courthouse News Service reports: Brain injuries that result from Covid-19 infections, such as small bleeds and intense inflammation, are present in primates who have been infected, even when the infections were mild, according to a new study published Friday. This new finding from researchers at Tulane University was published in an article in the science journal, Nature Communications. It is …