Year: 2020

Some top scientists in Britain are calling on Prime Minister Boris Johnson's ruling Conservative government to shift strategy on the coronavirus pandemic and adopt a "herd immunity" approach, allowing people who are less likely to become seriously ill from the virus to return to normal…

Two scientists have won this year’s Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing a method of gene editing. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences jointly awarded the $1.1 million prize to Emmanuelle Charpentier of France and Jennifer Doudna of the United States. The academy recognized their work on…

As the COVID-19 pandemic marches on, new, rapid tests offer hope for pumping the brakes on the virus’ spread.  The United States is falling far short in its testing efforts. More than 4 million tests per day would be needed to control the spread of the coronavirus, according to…

Experts from a global chemical weapons watchdog confirmed Tuesday that the substance used to poison Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was from the banned Soviet-style Novichok family of potent nerve agents.  The Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, his wife, Yulia, and son, Zahar, pose for a…

The Food and Drug Administration laid out updated safety standards Tuesday for makers of COVID-19 vaccines after the White House blocked their formal release, the latest political tug-of-war between the Trump administration and the government’s public health scientists.In briefing documents posted on its website, the…

For nearly a year, Benjamin Billal was chained to a rock.“I was taken to a faith healing center by my grandmother and my mother,” Billal told journalists by video link from Monrovia, Liberia on Tuesday. “There, I was shackled. I was chained to a rock,…

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Tuesday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying 60 Starlink satellites for the company's internet satellite constellation system.The launch marks the 13th Starlink mission.  The company says the goal of Starlink is to create a network that…

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now acknowledging that COVID-19 can spread through small particles in the air over an extended distance and for hours at a time.  The CDC has long insisted that the coronavirus is transmitted mainly between people standing…

With U.S. President Donald Trump back at the White House after spending several days in a military hospital, the primary doctor in charge of his COVID-19 treatment is the same, but the extent of the medical facilities available is not. The president’s doctor heads the White…

U.S. President Donald Trump urged Americans not to “be afraid” of COVID-19 after he returned to the White House Monday evening after 72 hours of hospitalization for the deadly virus.In a show of fitness, he climbed the steps of the South Portico, standing on the Truman Balcony where…

Hurricane Delta, the ninth storm of the Atlantic season, prompted forecasters to issue warnings for Mexico and Cuba, with the U.S. Gulf coast in striking distance later this week.  The U.S.-based National Hurricane Center said Mexico issued a hurricane warning for the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula from Tulum north and west to Rio Largartos, including Cozumel. A hurricane watch…

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday said COVID-19 can spread through virus lingering in the air, sometimes for hours, acknowledging concerns widely voiced by public health experts about airborne transmission of the virus. The CDC guidance comes weeks after the agency published…

The list of treatments President Donald Trump has received for his coronavirus infection range from experimental to over the counter. Here are the four most notable.  Antibody therapy Trump received an infusion of antibodies on Friday, the White House said. These germ-blocking proteins aim to prevent…

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday updated its guidance saying COVID-19 can sometimes be spread by airborne transmission.It said some infections can be spread by exposure to the virus in small droplets and particles, or aerosols, that can linger in the…

The World Health Organization says roughly one in 10 people around the world may have been infected with the coronavirus.  The head of the health emergencies program at the World Health Organization, Michael Ryan, said Monday that the agency's “best estimates” indicate 10 percent of…

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany says she has tested positive for COVID-19.“After testing negative consistently, including every day since Thursday, I tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday morning while experiencing no symptoms.” McEnany announced on Twitter.pic.twitter.com/SKT9xq8rqs— Kayleigh McEnany (@PressSec) October 5, 2020She added that…

The 2020 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to scientists Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice of the United States and Michael Houghton of Britain for their “seminal discoveries” into the identification of Hepatitis C virus. The three scientists “have made a…

European Commission Chair Ursula von der Leyen said Monday that she will self-isolate after learning she was exposed last week to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.  Von der Leyen was in Portugal’s capital, Lisbon on September 29, where she attended several meetings and…

Alcohol-related deaths are increasing in the United States, according to a report this month from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The study found that while more men than women died each year from alcohol-related causes, the rate of increase in deaths was higher…

The experimental antibody drug given to President Donald Trump has been called one of the most promising approaches to preventing serious illness from a COVID-19 infection.Its maker, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., said the company agreed to supply a single dose, given intravenously, for Trump at the…

Cameroon says more than 9 million girls aged 9 and above risk developing cervical cancer because their parents have been convinced the human papillomavirus, or HPV, vaccine makes their daughters sterile. Some communities that had accepted the vaccination are now refusing it, claiming that what…

While the world wants flashy quick fixes for everything, especially massive threats like the coronavirus and global warming, next week’s Nobel Prizes remind us that in science, slow and steady pays off.     It may soon do so again.   Science builds upon previous…