A few years ago, I received a handwritten letter in the mail from a person I didn’t know. The writer was the executive director of a summer camp. He had read my father’s obituary in the local newspaper. My dad wasn’t famous, but he’d led a remarkable life. Born to a Scottish maid and Irish…
First there was the Zoom boom, followed quickly by Zoom fatigue. Then everyone became a gamer, inviting visitors to their virtual islands and sending friends digital gifts. There were raves, meetings, meditations and movie nights, all of which took place on the internet. Now, months later and with no sign of the virus’ end in…
The gate to the orphanage was smaller than I remembered. Nearly 25 years had passed since I lived there. I wondered if coming back was a good idea. My best friends Phu, Francis and Will had planned this trip to Vietnam and invited me to come. I met them 15 years earlier when I was…
Washington, DC – July 24, 2020 – A team of researchers showed that artificial intelligence (AI) could help predict the type of bacteria that caused the infection in patients with pneumonia. The research is presented at ASM Microbe Online, the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. “This research highlights the potential of AI…
A Nature study authored by a global team of scientists and led by Sumit Chanda, Ph.D., professor at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, has identified 21 existing drugs that stop the replication of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The scientists analyzed one of the world’s largest collections of known drugs for their ability…
An experimental messenger RNA (mRNA)-based vaccine against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) elicits protective immune responses in mice and non-human primates, researchers report on July 23rd in the journal Cell. Two injections of the vaccine were sufficient to induce robust immunity, completely preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection in mice. “The robust protection observed in the…
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The National Institutes of Health awarded Penn State researchers a $1.85 million grant to develop a new way to test if dysfunctions in certain areas of the brain lead to mental health complications and brain disorders. If proven, the research would lead to better mental health treatments. Like the internet, the…
While the technology for developing artificial intelligence-powered chatbots has existed for some time, a new viewpoint piece in JAMA lays out the clinical, ethical, and legal aspects that must be considered before applying them in healthcare. And while the emergence of COVID-19 and the social distancing that accompanies it has prompted more health systems to…
NEW YORK, NY (July 24, 2020) — The number of heart transplants in the United States declined sharply during the beginning of the pandemic, even in areas of the country with few COVID-19 cases at the time, according to an analysis by researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. The study found that the number…
WASHINGTON, July 24, 2020 — Journalists may now apply for press credentials for the American Chemical Society (ACS) Fall 2020 Virtual Meeting & Expo, one of the largest scientific conferences of the year. The meeting will be held online Aug. 17-20, 2020. Thousands of scientists and other attendees are expected to gather for more than…