Reuters notes the “miraculous speed” of mRNA vaccines, while also calling it “a glimpse of what’s possible if it can be applied post-pandemic to treat cancer or rare diseases.” The vaccine market alone is worth about $35 billion each year, and investors apparently believe mRNA companies will capture around two-third of that, leading market researcher Bernstein to evalaute the combined worth…
Tag: diseases
New strain of Covid-19 explained
A new strain of the virus that causes Covid-19 appears to be spreading fast in the the UK. Why it matters that the coronavirus is changing, and what it means for vaccine effectiveness. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/new-strain-of-covid-19-explained…
FDA Approves Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 Vaccine For Emergency Use in America
Friday night America’s Food and Drug Administration finally authorized Pfizer and BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use in the United States, reports CNN. The Verge calls it “a landmark moment in the fight to suppress a virus that has killed nearly 300,000 people in the United States and sickened tens of millions around the world.” The vaccine is authorized in the…
Celebrating the Path-Breaking Research That Lead to Coronavirus Vaccines
The Washington Post tells the remarkable story of how both Moderna’s vaccine and the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine relied on a specially designed spike protein partially created by America’s Vaccine Research Center — along with messenger RNA, “a technology never before harnessed in an approved vaccine.” And also decades of path-breaking research: If, as expected in the next few weeks, regulators give those…
Reversal of Biological Clock Restores Vision In Old Mice
John Trumpian shares a report from SciTechDaily: Harvard Medical School scientists have successfully restored vision in mice by turning back the clock on aged eye cells in the retina to recapture youthful gene function. The team’s work, described today in Nature, represents the first demonstration that it may be possible to safely reprogram complex tissues, such as the nerve cells of…
How Prestige Journals Remain Elite, Exclusive And Exclusionary
An anonymous reader shares a report: Last week, Nature journals unveiled their “landmark” open-access option. Nature journals will charge authors, starting in January 2021, up to $11,400 to make research papers free to read, as an alternative to subscription-only publishing. Scientists from around the world received this news with outrage and disappointment on social media. Nature’s announcement comes on the heels…
Illegal Tampering By Diesel Pickup Owners Is Worsening Pollution, EPA Says
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: The owners and operators of more than half a million diesel pickup trucks have been illegally disabling their vehicles’ emissions control technology over the past decade, allowing excess emissions equivalent to 9 million extra trucks on the road, a new federal report has concluded. The practice, described in a report…
1% of Farms Operate 70% of World’s Farmland
One percent of the world’s farms operate 70% of crop fields, ranches and orchards, according to a report that highlights the impact of land inequality on the climate and nature crises. The Guardian reports: Since the 1980s, researchers found control over the land has become far more concentrated both directly through ownership and indirectly through contract farming, which results in more…
To reduce chances of spreading coronavirus, keep indoor air clean
Being indoors with other people is a recipe for spreading the coronavirus. But removing airborne particles through proper ventilation and air filtration can reduce some of that risk. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/keeping-indoor-air-clean-reduce-spread-coronavirus…
Moderna Becomes Second Firm To Reveal Positive Results With Nearly 95% Protection In Trials
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: More than 1 billion people could be immunized against coronavirus by the end of next year with shots from the first two companies to reveal positive results, after the latest vaccine was shown to be nearly 95% effective in trials. With the US’s top infectious diseases official, Anthony Fauci, hailing “the light…