Gene therapy pioneer Richard Jude Samulski remembers when he avoided the words “gene therapy.” In the mid-2000s, he told people he worked on “biological nanoparticles,” even attempting to trademark the…
Category: Health & Medicine
What do we mean by ‘COVID-19 changes your brain’?
Like all writers, I spend large chunks of my time looking for words. When it comes to the ultracomplicated and mysterious brain, I need words that capture nuance and uncertainties.…
A gene therapy for hemophilia boosts levels of a crucial clotting protein
A gene-based therapy is potentially a step closer to becoming a one-time treatment for men with hemophilia. The life-threatening genetic disorder hinders the body’s ability to form blood clots. In…
School mask mandates in the U.S. reduced coronavirus transmission
The verdict is, once again, in: Masking in schools is effective. During the COVID-19 pandemic’s delta variant wave, schools that required masking had approximately one-fourth the rates of in-school coronavirus…
50 years ago, oxygen was touted as a potential memory loss treatment
Retaining older people’s memory — Science News, March 18, 1972 In spite of the age-old yearning for the Fountain of Youth, there is a marked lack of research toward retaining…
Genetically modified mosquitoes could be tested in California soon
Genetically modified mosquitoes might soon be whining on both U.S. coasts. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved two more years of testing Oxitec’s genetically modified mosquitoes as living pest…
Some E. coli set off viral grenades inside nearby bacteria
Some bacteria can trigger unexploded viral grenades in neighboring bacteria’s DNA. Certain Escherichia coli bacteria, including some that live in human intestines, make a chemical called colibactin. That chemical awakens…
A hit of dopamine sends mice into dreamland
A quick surge of dopamine shifts mice into a dreamy stage of sleep. In the rodents’ brains, the chemical messenger triggers rapid-eye-movement sleep, or REM, researchers report in the March…
How to interpret the CDC’s new mask guidelines
One moment, Campbell County in Wyoming’s northeastern corner was an area of high levels of transmission of the coronavirus, a scenario in which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and…
How omicron’s mutations make it the most infectious coronavirus variant yet
In November, a new coronavirus variant took the world by storm. Omicron has since caused an unprecedented wave of infections, striking about 90 million people in just 10 weeks. That’s…
