#scientific-community

#scientific-community

Following his recent retirement, Dr. Anthony Fauci reflected on his government role during the COVID-19 pandemic.When asked about the high per capita COVID-19 death rate in the U.S., Fauci replied, "Something clearly went wrong.And I don't know exactly what it was.But the reason we know it went wrong is that we are the richest country in the world, and on a per capita basis we've done worse than virtually all other countries.

In medicine as elsewhere in life, if you ask the wrong question, you're likely to get the wrong answer.So if the question is, "Do masks worn outside medical settings work to protect against COVID-19 and respiratory diseases?"- or its politically charged companion, "Do you believe in masks?" - don't be surprised if the answers you receive are simplistic or wrong.

While astronomers have discovered more than 5,000 exoplanets (other worlds orbiting other stars beyond our Sun), they've caught very few in the act of being born.In fact, until recently, they'd only found two - PDS b and PDS c, gas giant exoplanets orbiting a dwarf star about 370-light years from Earth in the constellation Centaurus.

"According to the petition, the Federal Circuit has invalidated every medical diagnostic patent to come before it since Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., 'powerfully undercutting the incentive to innovate and invest in life-saving medical diagnostics.'"CareDx, Inc. and the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University earlier this week filed a petition for certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court asking the justices to review a 2022 decision holding certain claims of its patents directed to detection levels of donor cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in the blood of an organ transplant patient patent ineligible.

An international team of scientists who spent five years studying the poo of 647 Danish babies found something astonishing.The nappy samples contained 10,000 species of virus-10 times the number of bacterial species in the same children.Most of the viruses had never been described before.This may alarm many readers.

What if you could just put on your headphones and boost your brain, calm your nerves, and increase your focus with just a few odd tones?It's a hack that sounds like something out of science fiction but is actually starting to gain traction among psychotherapists and other experts thanks to the growing evidence from some small studies showing that you can hack your brain with binaural beats.

An open letter signed by Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, Andrew Yang, and many others asks that companies like OpenAI (which Musk cofounded) stop releasing new AI models until the risks can be better understood and better managed.But the AI genie's already well out of the bottle and expandingand there may be no pausing that.

British architect Norman Foster has unveiled details of the masterplan to redevelop Kharkiv, which will include a "landmark building" designed by the architect, on a trip to the Ukrainian city.Working pro bono with engineering studio Arup, the Norman Foster Foundation and Kharkiv Group of Architects, Foster + Partners founder Foster has developed a masterplan for the rejuvenation of the city following heavy bombardment during Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Marcelo Knobel, professor of physics and former rector at the University of Campinas, said he feared that constant attacks on universities as "nest of communists," where lots of money is spent with no societal benefit, will have left a lasting impression on Bolsonaro's supporters that will be hard to overturn.It will be a very complicated period."Brazilian academics hope the country's upcoming presidential election will bring an end to Jair Bolsonaro's "war on science" but have admitted that, even if the populist leader loses, his influence will be slow to fade.

The popularity of ChatGPT has caught the attention of big tech.Two weeks ago, Microsoft announced a $10 billion investment in OpenAI, the creator of the chatbot that has popularized generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems.And on Monday, Google presented Bard, its own AI chatbot.The tool, which is currently in the testing phase, works very similar to ChatGPT, although Google says that it is more powerful and reliable.

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Dr. Michael Osterholm about what the general public can understand about the origins of COVID-19.ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: Three years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, the debate over where it came from seems to be getting more confusing.Eight U.S. government agencies are investigating COVID's origins.

Molds of an ichthyosaur skeleton.TOP: The Yale cast of the specimen discovered in 1819.BOTTOM: The recently discovered cast in Berlin.(Royal Society Publishing)In 1819, the complete fossil of an ichthyosaur dazzled scientists and the public.Thought to have been collected by pioneering English paleontologist Mary Anning, the fossil fanned interest in massive creatures that roamed Earth and swam the oceans millions of years ago.

PoliticsUnited States of America FBI Director Christopher Wray has accused China of obstructing US efforts to find the cause of the coronavirus pandemic.He said his agency believes COVID-19 spread due to a lab accident in the city of Wuhan.The COVID-19 pandemic was likely caused by a leak from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray said.

uring the pandemic, postdoc Julie Sesen started to feel overwhelmed by the amount of plastic used by the scientific community.Sesen studies pediatric tumors and cerebrospinal disease at Boston Children's Hospital (BCH), where in 2020 many researchers were testing the community for COVID-19.Every day, researchers there and at scientific centers across the country inevitably threw away hundreds of single-use masks and plastics.

The zombie apocalypse depicted in the popular video game series and newly adapted HBO series "The Last of Us" derives from a mutation to a type of fungus called cordyceps.Surprise!Cordyceps is real, and some 600 variations of it can be found around the world, primarily in Southeast Asia.Surprise again!

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Lecanemab, a breakthrough drug to treat Alzheimer's, that is manufactured by biotechnology companies Biogen and Eisai.The drug is an intravenously administered humanized monoclonal antibody that targets amyloid, the toxic protein in the brain linked to the cognitive disease.

The X-37B orbital test vehicle concluded its sixth successful mission early Saturday.Staff Sgt.Adam Shanks/United States Space Force Loud booms heard in Florida marked the return of the X-37B, the U.S. Space Force's uncrewed orbital test vehicle, after the secretive space plane's sixth and longest mission yet.

Civic Duty
NASA is crowdsourcing photos from civilians to study a mysterious aerial phenomenon that stumped scientists have dubbed "sprites."The agency announced the convening of its latest "citizen science project," which they're calling "Spritacular" and which will source images of the fascinating - and yes, vaguely otherworldly-looking - sprite phenomenon, as well as other Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) that can occur in proximity to thunderstorms and produce strange flashes of light.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona  NASA's InSight lander may have had its last hurrah.Researchers have learned that a marsquake the lander detected in Mars' Amazonis Planitia region on December 24th, 2021 was actually a meteoroid impact - the first time any mission has witnessed a crater forming on the planet.