From habitat degradation to squalid animal treatment, our part in allowing “zoonotic” diseases like covid-19 to leap into humans is becoming ever clearer Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24933240-800-how-our-abuse-of-nature-makes-pandemics-like-covid-19-more-likely/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Tag: diseases
Huawei Turns To Pig Farming as Smartphone Sales Fall
Huawei is turning to technology for pig farmers as it deals with tough sanctions on its smartphones. From a report: The Chinese telecoms giant was stopped from accessing vital components after the Trump administration labelled it a threat to US national security. In response to struggling smartphone sales, Huawei is looking at other sources of revenue for its technology. Along with…
Start-up founder Mary-Brenda shares how learning can empower you to discover a world without limits
Meet Mary-Brenda! She is an entrepreneur and founder of a social impact start-up focused on expanding access to affordable, clean energy throughout Nigeria. She is also a lifelong learner with ambitious academic goals and a thirst for new skills and knowledge that she can apply to make a positive impact in the world. She ultimately […]
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Ghana Scientist Tries Gene Editing To Create Healthier Sweet Potatoes
The Cornell Alliance for Science seeks to build “a significant international alliance of partners” to “correct misinformation and counter conspiracy theories” slowing progress on climate change, synthetic biology, agricultural innovations, and other issues. Slashdot reader wooloohoo shares their article about research on Ghana’s first gene-edited crop — a high-yielding sweet potato with increased beta carotone content. “For sweet potatoes, we want…
How Our Brutal Science System Almost Cost Us a Pioneer of mRNA Vaccines
Long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes: As the first COVID-19 vaccines arrived at Penn Medicine last year, Penn Today reported with great pride, “It was mRNA research conducted at Penn—by Drew Weissman, a professor of Infectious Diseases, and Katalin Karikó, an adjunct associate professor—that helped pave the way for the development of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID vaccines.” While Weissman and Karikó…
Misleading Viral Claims Show Dangers of Preprint Servers, Researchers Warn
Scientific researchers worry that the capacity for spreading misinformation “goes far beyond the big-name social media sites,” warns the Washington Post. Citing pre-print servers and unvetted “research repositories,” they note that “Any online platform without robust and potentially expensive safeguards is equally vulnerable.” “This is similar to the debate we’re having with Facebook and Twitter. To what degree are we creating…
Video game graphics cards can simulate monkey brains on the cheap
Simulating brains in software could help find cures for diseases like Alzheimer’s, but normally requires a supercomputer. Now researchers have found that video game graphics cards can achieve the same results Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2266304-video-game-graphics-cards-can-simulate-monkey-brains-on-the-cheap/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Why Scientists Are Very Worried About the Variant From Brazil
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: New coronavirus variants seem to be cropping up everywhere. There’s one from the U.K., which is more contagious and already circulating in the United States. There’s one from South Africa, which is forcing Moderna and Pfizer to reformulate their COVID-19 vaccines and create “booster” shots, just to make sure the vaccines maintain their…
Smartwatches Can Help Detect COVID-19 Days Before Symptoms Appear
Smartwatches and other wearable devices that continuously measure users’ heart rates, skin temperature and other physiological markers can help spot coronavirus infections days before an individual is diagnosed. From a report: Devices like the Apple Watch, Garmin and Fitbit watches can predict whether an individual is positive for COVID-19 even before they are symptomatic or the virus is detectable by tests,…
Autopsies Reveal the Terrible Damage COVID-19 Can Inflict On the Human Brain
“As COVID-19 relentlessly infects more and more of us, scientists are getting a close look at the strange and frightening damage it can inflict on our bodies,” writes Science Alert (in an article shared by long-time Slashdot reader AmiMoJo):
We’ve known since early in the pandemic this disease wreaks havoc on more than just the respiratory system, also causing gastrointestinal conditions, heart…