Washington Post
Gene editing could revive the American chestnut tree and help fight climate change — but familiar anti-biotechonology activist critics will have none of it
These trees once ruled the canopies of much of Appalachia, with billions of mature American chestnut trees that towered in ...
Is long COVID likely to be progressive or permanent?
Covid is biologically dangerous long after the initial viral infection. One of the leading hypotheses behind long covid is that ...
Repeating AIDS mistakes: Framing monkeypox as a ‘LGBTQ-only virus’ could lead to a wider spread of the disease
As HIV/AIDS surged in previous decades, the government scrambled to address the strange illness that seemed to afflict mostly men ...
Haven’t had COVID yet? You’re part of an exclusive club — but that doesn’t mean you have ‘super immunity’
There are no winners in a pandemic. That said, if you’ve made it to the summer of 2022 without yet ...
Long-awaited malaria vaccines finally reach children’s arms — but how effective are they?
As the World Health Organization announces the next step in its rollout of the world’s first authorized malaria vaccine in ...
Wuhan market COVID-19 origins theory reaffirmed in two new papers; lab leak viewed as ‘possible’ but not ‘plausible’
The coronavirus pandemic began in separate viral spillovers — at least two but perhaps as many as two dozen — ...
How COVID is upending how we normally experience the common flu
At one point last month, children were admitted to Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital with a startling range of seven ...
Many parents reluctant to get their young children vaccinated are not Republican anti-vaccine science rejectionists
More than a decade before the coronavirus pandemic, I began researching how parents decide to reject recommended vaccines for their children ...
Artificial sentience: How close are AI models to achieving consciousness?
LaMDA, short for Language Model for Dialogue Applications, is Google’s system for building chatbots based on its most advanced large ...
Deextinction: How feasible is scientists’ plan to bring back the Tasmanian tiger?
A team of genetic scientists led by biosciences professor Andrew Pask is attempting to make the concept of “de-extinction” a ...
‘A real life hyperpolyglot’: The story of a savant who can speak 24 languages (well, more like 33!)
“So, how many languages do you speak?” “Oh, goodness,” [46 year old carpet cleaner Vaughn] Vaughn says. “Eight, fluently.” “Eight?” ...
Switch in strategy: Why the next COVID vaccine could be a nasal spray
The virus had gained a stunning ability to infect people, jumping from one person’s nose to the next. Cases soared ...
A glass of wine is good for you? Genetic study debunks popular wisdom, linking even modest drinking to cardiovascular disease risk
For decades, scientists have been studying how alcohol affects our bodies. Some studies have suggested modest amounts, such as a ...
COVID brain fog shows similarities with Alzheimer’s disease and ‘chemo brain’
People with “chemo brain” and covid brain fog could not seem more different: Those with “chemo brain” have a life-threatening ...
How did children fare at schools that all but ignored mask mandates? Pretty well, it turns out
As school systems around the country were battening down for their first remote start-of-school in the fall of 2020, the ...
On the path to a universal COVID vaccine
Is chasing the latest variant a viable strategy? Instead of testing and potentially deploying a new shot when a new ...
4 ways to prepare for endless endemic COVID
The prospect of declaring victory is seductive at a time of widespread fatigue. Moreover, the challenge of unpredictability is daunting ...
Viewpoint: Even if dangerous variants emerge in the future, here’s a case for why it’s time to remove all restrictions
As the omicron blizzard recedes, and as more Americans itch for pandemic restrictions to be lifted, a vocal segment of the country ...
7,000 rare diseases: CRISPR gene editing-based therapy has led to cures and offers hope for 30 million Americans
CRISPR-Cas9, whose creators were awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry a mere eight years after its discovery, allows researchers ...
Even though Omicron appears to be peaking, booster shots are still critical. Here’s why
When omicron was first identified in late November and began spreading rapidly in the United States, millions of vaccinated people ...
Pass on only the positive traits? How IVF can stop genetic diseases from reaching offspring
In vitro fertilization (IVF), widely known as a way to help infertile couples have babies, has taken on another remarkable ...
Twindemic: With regular flu cases ticking up, fears of mid-winter health crisis rise
A “twindemic” of covid-19 and influenza is a recipe for public health nightmares. Strict measures to control the spread of ...
Does ‘cringe-worthy baby talk’ between couples serve an evolutionary purpose?
Baby talk is cute when grown-ups dote on babies. But when adults converse with each other? Not so much. Yet ...
Viewpoint: Many white evangelicals invoke bogus ‘Christian beliefs’ to justify vaccine resistance
In the grab bag of reasons for vaccine resistance, the religious exemption claimed by evangelicals is perhaps the most perplexing ...
Major anti-vaccine misinformation disseminators: Pregnancy apps
For generations of parents, Heidi Murkoff’s 1984 pregnancy guide “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” has been a trusty companion, ...
Omicron symptoms similar to seasonal cold and flu
With the omicron variant now the dominant strain in the United States infecting the unvaccinated and fully inoculated alike, health ...
Depression, anxiety and hopelessness: More than one million Americans believed to suffer from long COVID with no relief in sight
Across America, many of the nearly 50 million people infected with the coronavirus continue to suffer from some persistent symptoms, ...
Stylish, elegant — and deadly: Human euthanasia machine will soon be tested on volunteers
People wishing to end their lives in Switzerland — one of a handful of countries that give the option — ...