Epidemiology
Why Do Variants Such as Delta Become Dominant?
Mutations that make a virus more transmissible are only part of the equation
Stories by Sara Reardon
Public Health
How the Delta Variant Spreads So Quickly
Viral load is roughly 1,000 times higher in people infected with the Delta variant than those infected with the original coronavirus strain, according to a study in China
Public Health
COVAX Effort to Vaccinate the World Is Faltering
The international collaboration does not have enough COVID vaccine doses to meet its goals, so wealthy countries must step up to fill the gap
Neuroscience
Injection of Light-Sensitive Proteins Restores Blind Man’s Vision
The first successful clinical test of optogenetics lets a person see for the first time in decades, with help from image-enhancing goggles
Policy
New Arkansas Law—and Similar Bills—Endanger Transgender Youth, Research Shows
The legislation runs counter to evidence that puberty blockers and hormone treatments are safe and save lives
Public Health
A Visual Guide to the New Coronavirus Variants
The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus seems to be suddenly acquiring mutations at a rapid rate. The most worrying variants, first discovered in South Africa and Brazil, increase the virus’s contagiousness and may even help it evade the human immune system...
Public Health
The Most Worrying Mutations in Five Emerging Coronavirus Variants
Here is a guide to novel versions of the COVID-causing virus—and genetic changes that can make them more contagious and evasive in the body
Public Health
The U.K. Coronavirus Mutation Is Worrying but Not Terrifying
There is evidence the new variant could be more transmissible, yet vaccines work very well against it
Public Health
Who Will Get COVID Vaccines First, and Who Will Have to Wait?
In the U.S., health workers come first. But for other groups, scientists and policy makers are weighing a mix of disease risks, logistics and ethics
Medicine
For COVID Drugs, Months of Frantic Development Lead to Few Outright Successes
There have been mixed results as researchers try to stop a disease they are still trying to understand
Policy
Leading Scientists Urge Voters to Dump Trump
Journals and Nobelists, usually cautious, cite unprecedented damage and incompetence in calls for a U.S. leadership change
Biology
Plants Have Hormones, Too, and Tweaking Them Could Improve Food Supply
Crops sense and respond to drought, pests and other stressors in surprising ways, researchers are discovering
Biotech
Step Aside, CRISPR: RNA Editing Is Taking Off
Making changes to the molecular messengers that create proteins might offer flexible therapies for cancer, pain or high cholesterol, in addition to genetic disorders
Biotech
Rise of Robot Radiologists
Deep-learning algorithms are peering into MRIs and x-rays with unmatched vision, but who is to blame when they make a mistake?
Public Health
The U.S. Opioid Epidemic Is Driving a Spike in Infectious Diseases
Researchers around the country are scrambling to understand these outbreaks, but lack solid data on case numbers
Biology
Massive Study Finds No Single Genetic Cause of Same-Sex Sexual Behavior
Analysis of half a million people suggests genetics may have a limited contribution to sexual orientation
Health
Trials Test if C-section Babies Benefit from Mom’s Microbes
Swabbing infants with mothers’ vaginal bacteria could affect the children’s health, but critics warn of sparse data and high risk
Policy
Big Changes Needed to Fight Harassment, Group Tells US Biomedical Agency
Advisory panel says US National Institutes of Health should treat sexual harassment more seriously and do more to help affected researchers
Policy
Trump Administration Halts Fetal-Tissue Research by Government Scientists
Policy also requires ethics review for any grant applications to the National Institutes of Health that involve fetal tissue
Policy
Trump Seeks Big Cuts to Science Funding—Again
The president wants to cut spending at the National Institutes of Health and Environmental Protection Agency, but it is not clear whether Congress will go along
