One of the most comprehensive statistical analyses of drivers of food insecurity across 65 countries has concluded that household income consistently explains more discrepancy in food security than any other factor, including agricultural land resources and production. The Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth study, “Cross-national analysis of food security drivers: comparing results based on…
LA JOLLA, CALIF. – April 16, 2021 – Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys have identified a set of human genes that fight SARS-CoV-2 infection, the virus that causes COVID-19. Knowing which genes help control viral infection can greatly assist researchers’ understanding of factors that affect disease severity and also suggest possible therapeutic options. The genes…
Scientists have figured out how to modify CRISPR’s basic architecture to extend its reach beyond the genome and into what’s known as the epigenome — proteins and small molecules that latch onto DNA and control when and where genes are switched on or off. In a paper published April 9, 2021, in the journal Cell,…
Look deep inside the brain of someone with Alzheimer’s disease, most forms of dementia or the concussion-related syndrome known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and you’ll find a common suspected culprit: stringy, hairball-like tangles of a protein called tau. Such conditions, collectively known as “tauopathies” strike scores of people across the globe, with Alzheimer’s alone…
Aging entails a loss of muscle mass and strength, which in some cases impairs mobility, hinders walking or performance of day-to-day tasks, and exposes the elderly to the risk of falls and hospitalizations. In clinical practice, handgrip measurement is the most widely used method to identify loss of overall muscular strength in older people. Values…
New Haven, Conn. — It is well established that autism occurs much more frequently in boys than in girls, and that girls seem to have a greater resilience to developing the condition. It has been unclear, however, why that is. In a new Yale-led study, researchers find that autism may develop in different regions of…
The main concern about B.1.1.7 is that it is highly infectious and spreads quickly among the unvaccinated, potentially overwhelming hospitals in areas where cases are surging. Do the vaccines work against B.1.1.7? All of the major vaccines in use — Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Sputnik and Novavax — have been shown to be…
Carol Ann Lincoff was born on July 28, 1938, in Pittsburgh. Her father, Escher, owned a jewelry store in suburban Braddock, Pa.; her mother, Jeanne (Katzive) Lincoff, was a travel agent. As a teenager, Carol loved opera, Broadway musicals and old things. She studied English literature at Barnard College, and spent one summer as an…
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci said on Thursday that he hoped the nation would soon be able to resume use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, as a “pause” that now looks indefinite threatened to upend vaccination efforts overseas and in some of the most marginalized communities in the United States. Dr. Fauci, President Biden’s chief…
At Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula, for instance, which abuts Willapa National Wildlife Refuge and Willapa Bay, you might catch sight of a pelagic species like a sooty shearwater, while hundreds of thousands of shorebirds like black-bellied plovers work the wet sand. If you’re extremely lucky, you might see an enigmatic marbled murrelet in an ancient…