Tag Archives: science

Study: New Alzheimer’s Drug Slows Cognitive Decline

The Washington Post reports: An experimental Alzheimer’s drug slowed cognitive and functional decline by 27 percent in a closely watched clinical trial, the sponsors of the medication said Tuesday, increasing the therapy’s chance for approval as soon as early next year. Japanese drugmaker Eisai and its American partner, Biogen, in a news release said the slowing of deterioration, compared with …

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LIVE VIDEO: NASA Attempts To Deflect Small Asteroid

The New York Times reports: NASA officials express optimism that DART is not going to miss. “I’m highly confident that we are going to hit on Monday,” Lindley Johnson, NASA’s planetary defense officer said during a news conference last week, “and it will be a complete success.” NASA has succeeded at intentionally crashing spacecraft into celestial bodies before. For instance, …

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NASA About To Test Asteroid Deflection System [VIDEO]

Space.com report: NASA is just days away from slamming a spacecraft into an asteroid 7 million miles (11 million kilometers) from Earth. The agency’s long-awaited Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission will impact with the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos on Monday (Sept. 26), if all goes according to plan. The DART mission launched on Nov. 23, 2021 on top of a …

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Study Links COVID To Increased Risk Of Alzheimer’s

The Associated Press reports: COVID-19 infection may significantly boost an older person’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, a new, large-scale study suggests. People 65 and older who contracted COVID were nearly 70% more likely overall to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s within a year of their infection, researchers report. The elderly fared even worse, with the risk of Alzheimer’s doubling in …

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Update: NASA Scrubs Artemis Launch Over Fuel Leaks

CBS News reports: After months of tests, troubleshooting and repairs, engineers fueled the Space Launch System moon rocket for blastoff early Monday on NASA’s long-overdue Artemis 1 test flight, a critical mission to send an unpiloted Orion crew capsule on a 42-day mission beyond the moon and back. Running late because of stormy weather and troubleshooting to resolve an apparent …

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Study: COVID Drug Ineffective In Adults Ages 40-65

USA Today reports: Pfizer’s COVID-19 pill appears to provide little or no benefit for younger adults, while still reducing the risk of hospitalization and death for high-risk seniors, according to a large study published Wednesday. The results from a 109,000-patient Israeli study are likely to renew questions about the U.S. government’s use of Paxlovid, which has become the go-to treatment …

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Biden Thanks Fauci For Decades Of Public Service, Calls US “Stronger, More Resilient, Healthier Because Of Him”

Via press release from the White House: During my time as Vice President, I worked closely with Dr. Anthony Fauci on the United States’ response to Zika and Ebola. I came to know him as a dedicated public servant, and a steady hand with wisdom and insight honed over decades at the forefront of some of our most dangerous and …

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Fauci Announces That He’ll Step Down In December

The Washington Post reports: Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s preeminent infectious-disease expert who achieved unprecedented fame while enduring withering political attacks as the face of the coronavirus pandemic response under two presidents, plans to step down in December after more than a half-century of public service, he announced Monday. Fauci, 81, has led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious …

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NY State Official: Hundreds May Be Infected With Polio

NBC New York reports: There are new concerns about the potential spread of polio in New York, with the state health commissioner saying there could be “hundreds” of people infected as new evidence shows the virus has been found in samples from multiple counties. “Based on earlier polio outbreaks, New Yorkers should know that for every one case of paralytic …

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Polio Virus Detected In New York County Wastewater

Spectrum New York reports: The polio virus has been detected in wastewater samples from early June in Rockland County and is genetically linked to a case confirmed last month in the area, New York state Department of Health officials said Monday. The polio cases are also genetically linked to samples from greater Jerusalem, Israel, but that “does not imply that …

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WHO: Window Is Closing To Stem Monkeypox Outbreak

Reuters reports: Scientists advising the World Health Organization (WHO) on monkeypox say the window is closing to stop its spread, with cases currently doubling every two weeks, raising concerns that it will take several months for the outbreak to peak. WHO Europe has forecast just over 27,000 monkeypox cases in 88 countries by Aug. 2, up from 17,800 cases in …

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New York State Health Officials Report Case Of Polio

Reuters reports: A case of polio has been identified outside New York City and confirmed by federal health officials, the New York State Health Department said on Thursday in what would be the nation’s first known case of the disease in at least thirty years. The CDC, which confirmed the case, has said no cases of polio have originated in …

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Anthony Fauci Likely To Retire By End Of Biden’s Term

The Washington Post reports: Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s preeminent infectious-diseases expert who has served as the face of the coronavirus pandemic response for more than two years, will retire by the end of President Biden’s term after more than 50 years in government, he confirmed Monday to The Washington Post. “By the time we get to the end of …

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First Image Released From Webb Space Telescope

Via press release: The international NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has delivered the deepest, sharpest infrared image of the distant Universe so far. U.S. President Joe Biden unveiled the image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, known as Webb’s First Deep Field, during a White House event on Monday 11 July. The image – which focuses on a spot in the …

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FDA To Consider First-Ever OTC Birth Control Pill

Axios reports: Pharmaceutical company HRA Pharma submitted an application to the Food and Drug Administration on Monday asking to sell a birth control bill over-the-counter, rather than via prescription. If approved, it would be the first ever birth control pill to be available over-the-counter in the U.S. The application was submitted just weeks after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. …

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WaPo: Latest Subvariant Is Raising Risk Of Reinfection

The Washington Post reports: America has decided the pandemic is over. The coronavirus has other ideas. The latest omicron offshoot, BA.5, has quickly become dominant in the United States, and thanks to its elusiveness when encountering the human immune system, is driving a wave of cases across the country. Many people now see the pandemic as part of the fabric …

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FDA: Booster Against New Subvariants Coming This Fall

Via press release from the FDA: As we move into the fall and winter, it is critical that we have safe and effective vaccine boosters that can provide protection against circulating and emerging variants to prevent the most severe consequences of COVID-19. Following a thorough discussion on June 28, 2022, an overwhelming majority of the advisory committee voted in favor …

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Study: COVID Vaccines Saved 20M Lives In First Year

The Associated Press reports: Nearly 20 million lives were saved by COVID-19 vaccines during their first year, but even more deaths could have been prevented if international targets for the shots had been reached, researchers reported Thursday. The effort, though marred by persisting inequities, prevented deaths on an unimaginable scale, said Oliver Watson of Imperial College London, who led the …

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New Test Measures Potential Immunity To Coronavirus

Changing America reports: Researchers have developed a new type of blood test to check for potential COVID-19 immunity. How the test works is explained in a study published this week in Nature Biotechnology. The test, called dqTACT, requires the mixture of a small blood sample with peptides, essentially a chain of proteins, from the COVID-19 virus. Once the mixture takes …

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WHO To Convene Emergency Meeting On Monkeypox, Decide On New “Non-Stigmatizing” Name For Disease

Reuters reports: The World Health Organization will convene an emergency committee on Thursday next week to assess whether the monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern. That is the highest level of warning issued by the U.N. agency, which currently applies only to the COVID-19 pandemic and polio. There have been 1,600 confirmed and 1,500 suspected cases …

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