Since the first lab-modified virus capable of replication was generated in 1974, an evidence-based consensus has emerged that many changes introduced into viral genomes are likely to prove unstable if released into the environment. On this basis, many virologists would question the release of genetically modified viruses that retain the capacity to spread between individual vertebrate hosts. Researchers from Germany, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States now point out in a...
(HealthDay)—The Abbott BinaxNOW and Quidel QuickVue – two widely used rapid at-home COVID tests – may fail to spot evidence of the Omicron variant in the first days after infection, even when people are carrying substantial levels of the virus, preliminary research suggests. The researchers focused on 30 people infected with COVID at five workplaces that experienced what were most likely outbreaks of the Omicron variant in December. The people received both saliva-based PCR tests (the...
The world we experience is governed by classical physics. How we move, where we are, and how fast we're going are all determined by the classical assumption that we can only exist in one place at any one moment in time. But in the quantum world, the behaviour of individual atoms is governed by the eerie principle that a particle's location is a probability. An atom, for instance, has a certain chance of being in...
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, TESS, was launched in 2018 with the goal of discovering small planets around the sun's nearest neighbour stars. TESS has so far discovered 172 confirmed exoplanets and compiled a list of 4,703 candidate exoplanets. Its sensitive camera takes images that span a huge field of view, more than twice the area of the constellation of Orion, and TESS has also assembled a TESS Input Catalog (TIC) with over 1...
Researchers are one step closer to developing a blood test that provides a simple biochemical hallmark for depression and reveals the efficacy of drug therapy in individual patients. Published in a new proof of concept study, researchers led by Mark Rasenick, University of Illinois Chicago distinguished professor of physiology and biophysics and psychiatry, have identified a biomarker in human platelets that tracks the extent of depression. The research builds off of previous studies by several investigators that...
U.S. authorities have asked telecom operators AT&T and Verizon to delay for up to two weeks their already-postponed rollout of 5G networks amid uncertainty about interference with vital flight safety equipment, reports Tech Xplore. The two companies said Saturday they are reviewing the request. The U.S. rollout of the high-speed mobile broadband technology had been set for Dec. 5, but was delayed to Jan. 5 after aerospace giants Airbus and Boeing raised concerns about...
Philip O'Keefe, a 62-year-old amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patient in Australia recently became the first person to post a message on social media using only his thoughts. On Dec. 23, he posted an initial brief message, "Hello World," on Twitter, reports Tech Xplore. The technology that allowed O'Keefe to send his message was developed by brain computer interface company Synchron. The device is called the Stentrode Brain Computer Interface (SBCI), a type of endovascular brain implant....
Some people diagnosed with HIV are able to eradicate the virus without antiretroviral medications or even stem cell transplants, possessing the ability to naturally suppress the virus and achieve a medically verifiable cure. Scientists call this small population elite controllers, a moniker that reflects their unique ability to keep one of the most notorious viruses at bay. Two of these patients have garnered fame in the scientific literature in recent months, each known mostly by...
Realizing the vision of culturing organs for use in life-saving transplantation procedures is a long way off, but the work of professor Jacob Hanna on stem cells is paving the way for this to become a reality. Hanna and his team from the Weizmann Institute of Science's Molecular Genetics Department have found a way to culture human stem cells in a much earlier state than was previously possible. The stem cells they created are also far more competent,...
We use 'it's not rocket science' and 'it's not brain surgery' almost interchangeably to say that we don't think something is very difficult to do or to understand. Which phrase is more deserving? And more importantly, should rocket scientists or brain surgeons be crowned winners of the wits? A research team led by University College London neuroscientist Dr. Inga Usher set out to provide the answers. Findings published in the BMJ are actually encouraging for the...
