If you’re over 75, catching covid-19 can be like playing Russian roulette
MIT Technology
Are you hiding from covid-19? I am. The reason is simple: the high chance of death from the virus. I was reminded of the risk last week by this report[1] from the…
Browsing Tag
Biotechnology
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Another experimental covid-19 vaccine has shown promising early results
The news: An experimental covid-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer and BioNTech provoked immune responses in 45 healthy volunteers, according to a preprint paper on medRXiv[1]. The levels of antibodies…
There’s not one reason California’s covid-19 cases are soaring – there are many
It’s troubling, if not surprising, to see covid-19 cases spiking across the American South[1] and Southwest, where public officials delayed lockdowns, rushed to reopen businesses, or refused to require people…
The US now has more covid-19 tests than it knows what to do with
So how much testing should the US really be doing? American public health experts have never agreed. The economist Paul Romer has said we need to be doing 30 million tests…
Our biggest questions about immunity to covid-19
We’re still not very sure how covid-19 immunity works. As we inch closer to a vaccine and pin our hopes on herd immunity to allow us to safely open up…
Here’s how genes from covid-19 survivors could help you
Potential weapons against covid-19 include manufactured antibodies, serum transfusions from survivors, antivirals, steroids, and more than 100 vaccine candidates, some now advancing toward decisive tests in volunteers. But there’s another…
The UK is abandoning its current contact tracing app for Google and Apple’s system
The news: The UK is going to abandon its current contact tracing app in favor of one based on technology built by Apple and Google, the BBC[1] reports. Tests of…
What’s a coronavirus superspreader?
As we learn more about how the coronavirus spreads between people, there’s more evidence to suggest that most infections are transmitted by a select few individuals we call “superspreaders.” Here’s…
Lab-grown mini-lungs could reveal why covid-19 kills
Inside the biosafety level 4 lab at the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) in Boston, researchers wear three sets of gloves and breathe air piped into moon suits through…
A drug that cools the body’s reaction to Covid-19 appears to save lives
In an advance toward conquering covid-19, doctors in Michigan say an antibody drug may sharply cut the chance patients on a ventilator will die. The problem: The pandemic viral disease…
