KABUL, Afghanistan — For Mohammad Wakil, 23, social distancing is an abstract concept. Every working day, he shakes hands with scores of customers at the teeming bazaar where he sells secondhand shoes. He handles filthy Afghan bank notes. He disdains hand sanitizer. A mask? Forget about it. “There’s no coronavirus,” Mr. Wakil said in late…
Details
She noted, however, that game theory assumes people are rational in their decision-making. Fear can suppress vaccination “to precarious levels insufficient to prevent the spread of an outbreak,” she said. Covid-19 Vaccines › Answers to Your Vaccine Questions With distribution of a coronavirus vaccine beginning in the U.S., here are answers to some questions you…
Details
In the grand pantheon of salad dressings, French dressing can be easily forgotten — a sticky, sweet, carrot-colored blend overshadowed by America’s undisputed heavyweight champion of dressings, ranch. But the federal government has shown great interest in the humble dressing, painstakingly regulating since 1950 the ingredients that it must contain and revising the rules at…
Details
Indeed, the niceties of the simplest pedestrian civilities can overwhelm the more cautious among us. And when we aren’t putting feet in mouths, we’re putting others on the spot by asking them if they’ve been tested and to open their windows to let air in. At a dinner last month at a friend’s house on…
Details
Older adults about to undergo elective surgery should undertake a sustained programme of targeted exercise beforehand to counteract the muscle-wasting effects of bedrest, new research suggests. A study published by researchers in the University of Birmingham’s School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences showed that short term ‘prehabilitation’ strength exercises, undertaken pre-surgery, are insufficient to…
Details
Lower rates of hospital attendance for urgent heart problems during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic may have contributed to avoidable deaths in England, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, a marked decline* in patient visits to Emergency Departments (EDs) was observed in England and…
Details
Ruhee Dewji, a Canadian software developer who lives on her own, took up knitting in early spring at the encouragement of some friends. Before the pandemic, Ms. Dewji, 31, filled her spare time playing music in bands; she found playing on her own during lockdown just emphasized her loneliness. She finds knitting an uncomplicated joy…
Details
For kids (and really, all of us), there’s not a lot about this year that’s normal. One constant? That the great outdoors are just as great as ever. And many federal and state parks and organizations are working on expanding inexpensive access for kids and their families. Yes, we know, it’s cold and dark very…
Details
You’re barreling toward cold, dark days filled with nothing to do, which means now is the perfect time to spend those hours building your own geodesic dome to hide — um, play — in. Adapted from Nomad Press’s “Amazing Math Projects You Can Build Yourself” by Lazlo C. Bardos, this dome is an elegant structure…
Details
As the coronavirus continued to surge across the United States, an independent panel of experts advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted on Saturday to endorse a second coronavirus vaccine for use in the United States. The committee’s recommendation follows an emergency authorization granted by the Food and Drug Administration on Friday. The…
Details