Image Source: MedPage Today Topics: Biology, Biotechnology, Civilization, COVID-19, DNA, Epidemiology Currently authorized bivalent COVID-19 boosters demonstrated similar protection against symptomatic illness from the XBB/XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariants as from BA.5-related subvariants, according to a CDC study. From December 2022 to January 2023, the bivalent boosters’ vaccine effectiveness (VE) against symptomatic infection was a similar 48%Continue reading “Wonderful…”
Category Archives: DNA
The Decline of Disruptive Science…
The proportion of disruptive scientific papers, such as the 1953 description of DNA’s double-helix structure, has fallen since the mid-1940s.Credit: Lawrence Lawry/SPL Topics: DNA, Education, Philosophy, Research, Science, STEM The number of science and technology research papers published has skyrocketed over the past few decades — but the ‘disruptiveness’ of those papers has dropped, accordingContinue reading “The Decline of Disruptive Science…”
Grievance, Gridlock, Grift…
Topics: Civics, Civil Rights, Civilization, Democratic Republic, DNA, Existentialism, Fascism The genesis of grievance The man who was least deserving of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in history is the beginning of the roots of white fragility. It wasn’t that he might have had learning disabilities or wasn’t suited for college. He turned his focusContinue reading “Grievance, Gridlock, Grift…”
Soap-Like Properties…
Topics: Biology, Biotechnology, DNA, Molecules DNA molecules are not fixed objects – they are constantly getting broken up and glued back together to adopt new shapes. Davide Michieletto explains how this process can be harnessed to create a new generation of “topologically active” materials. Call me naive, but until a few years ago I had never realizedContinue reading “Soap-Like Properties…”
Zombie Apocalypse…
Topics: Biology, COVID-19, DNA, Economics, Environment, Evolution, Existentialism Ed Rybicki, a virologist at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, concentrated his article in Scientific American on the viruses dominating the news cycle in the early 2000s: Ebola, Marburg, and HIV. Not comforting, but he said, “HIV, which is thought to have first emergedContinue reading “Zombie Apocalypse…”
Your Brain on Covid…
Topics: Biology, COVID-19, DNA, Research Note: I have friends who thankfully survived infection now affected by this phenomenon. The article thus grabbed my attention. SARS-CoV-2 appears to travel widely across the cerebral cortex “Brain fog” is not a formal medical descriptor. But it aptly describes an inability to think clearly that can turn up inContinue reading “Your Brain on Covid…”
The Anatomy of Delta…
Topics: Biology, Biotechnology, COVID-19, DNA, Existentialism, Research The coronavirus sports a luxurious sugar coat. “It’s striking,” thought Rommie Amaro, staring at her computer simulation of one of the trademark spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2, which stick out from the virus’s surface. It was swathed in sugar molecules, known as glycans. “When you see it with allContinue reading “The Anatomy of Delta…”
Elephants, Mice, and Clocks…
Topics: Biology, DNA, Evolution, Research In her laboratory in Barcelona, Spain, Miki Ebisuya has built a clock without cogs, springs, or numbers. This clock doesn’t tick. It is made of genes and proteins, and it keeps time in a layer of cells that Ebisuya’s team has grown in its lab. This biological clock is tiny,Continue reading “Elephants, Mice, and Clocks…”
VOC…
Topics: Biology, COVID-19, DNA, Research Variant Reported cases in US Number of Jurisdictions Reporting B.1.1.7 16,275 52 B.1.351 386 36 P.1 356 25 Source: CDC Download Accessible Data [XLS – 738 B] CDC is closely monitoring these variants of concern (VOC). These variants have mutations in the virus genome that alter the characteristics and cause theContinue reading “VOC…”
Women’s History Month, and CRISPR…
Topics: Biology, Chemistry, DNA, Nobel Prize, Research, Women in Science This year’s (2020) Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to two scientists who transformed an obscure bacterial immune mechanism, commonly called CRISPR, into a tool that can simply and cheaply edit the genomes of everything from wheat to mosquitoes to humans. The award went jointlyContinue reading “Women’s History Month, and CRISPR…”
Physics and Nano 