feed info

190 articles from Yahoo!

AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine candidate begins late-stage U.S. study

Trial participants will receive either two doses of the experimental vaccine, dubbed AZD1222, four weeks apart, or a placebo, the company said. The trial is being conducted under U.S. government's Operation Warp Speed program, which aims to accelerate development, manufacturing and distribution of vaccines and treatments for COVID-19. U.S. President Donald Trump has said a vaccine for the novel...

COVID-19 often goes undiagnosed in hospital workers; virus may impair heart functions

A high proportion of COVID-19 infections among U.S. healthcare personnel appear to go undetected, according to a report on Monday in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Between April and June, among more than 3,000 frontline workers in 12 states, roughly 1 in 20 had antibody evidence of a previous COVID-19 infection, but 69% of those...

Composing for flamingos: Duo pens score for nature special

The man who composed the music to “The Lion King” is just as comfortable with real lions, too. Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer scores such stunning nature sequences as goofy flamingos on parade and lions hunting in the Namib desert for “Planet Earth: A Celebration.” The animals are acting on instinct and so is Zimmer, in a way. The one-hour special pulls together sequences from...

Scientists see downsides to top COVID-19 vaccines from Russia, China

High-profile COVID-19 vaccines developed in Russia and China share a potential shortcoming: They are based on a common cold virus that many people have been exposed to, potentially limiting their effectiveness, some experts say. CanSino Biologics' vaccine, approved for military use in China, is a modified form of adenovirus type 5, or Ad5. The company is in talks to get emergency approval in...

How common cold viruses are being used in vaccines from Russia, China

The modified adenovirus type 5 (Ad5) viruses used in these vaccines were first created by Canadian researcher Dr. Frank Graham at a Dutch lab in the 1970s. WHAT ARE VECTORS USED IN VACCINES AND HOW DO THEY WORK? Vectors are materials used as mechanisms to carry genetic information into human...

Scientists see downsides to top COVID-19 vaccines from Russia, China

High-profile COVID-19 vaccines developed in Russia and China share a potential shortcoming: They are based on a common cold virus that many people have been exposed to, potentially limiting their effectiveness, some experts say. CanSino Biologics' vaccine, approved for military use in China, is a modified form of adenovirus type 5, or Ad5. The company is in talks to get emergency approval in...

770-pound crocodile caught at Outback tourist destination

Wildlife rangers have trapped a 4.4-meter (14.5-foot) saltwater crocodile at a tourist destination in Australia’s Northern Territory, the biggest caught in the area in years, a wildlife ranger said Monday. The 350-kilogram (770-pound) male was caught in the Flora River at a remote nature park 120 kilometers (75 miles) southwest of the Outback town of Katherine, said Katherine senior wildlife...


SUNDAY 30. AUGUST 2020


AstraZeneca diabetes drug improves survival in kidney disease patients study shows

The British drugmaker said Farxiga was shown in a study to cut the risk of dying from any cause for people suffering from chronic kidney disease by 31% when compared to a group on placebo. Farxiga is among AstaZeneca's five best-selling drugs and brought in revenues of $1.54 billion in 2019 for treating diabetes. It also reduced the risk of deteriorating kidney function by 39% in the...


SATURDAY 29. AUGUST 2020


The Climate Legacy of Racist Housing Policies

RICHMOND, Va. -- On a hot summer's day, the neighborhood of Gilpin quickly becomes one of the most sweltering parts of Richmond.There are few trees along the sidewalks to shield people from the sun's relentless glare. More than 2,000 residents, mostly Black, live in low-income public housing that lacks central air conditioning. Many front yards are paved with concrete, which absorbs and...

With Elon Musk’s help, ‘three little pigs’ demonstrate Neuralink’s brain implant

With grudging assistance from a trio of pigs, Neuralink co-founder Elon Musk showed off the startup's state-of-the-art neuron-reading brain implant and announced that the system has received the Food and Drug Administration's preliminary blessing as an experimental medical device. During today's demonstration at Neuralink's headquarters in Fremont, Calif., it took a few minutes for...


FRIDAY 28. AUGUST 2020


Mother Nature on steroids: Early signs point to devastating California fire season

Record temperatures have exacerbated the state’s ongoing drought and triggered dry-lightning that started more than 700 fires, some in redwood rainforests and Joshua trees that do not normally burn. Firefighters had a grip on the three largest blazes on Friday in the San Francisco Bay Area but warned residents to prepare for fall winds that typically drive the state’s largest fires. With...

Mother Nature on steroids: Early signs point to devastating California fire season

Record temperatures have exacerbated the state’s ongoing drought and triggered dry-lightning that started more than 700 fires, some in redwood rainforests and Joshua trees that do not normally burn. Firefighters had a grip on the three largest blazes on Friday in the San Francisco Bay Area but warned residents to prepare for fall winds that typically drive the state’s largest fires. With...

Fossil Reveals 'One of the Cutest Dinosaurs' Ever Found

Some 20 years ago, someone smuggled dinosaur eggs from Argentina to the United States illegally. The smuggler probably had little clue that inside one of the eggs was one of the best-preserved skulls of a dinosaur embryo ever found, which is now giving us new insights into the facial appearance of one line of our planet's erstwhile rulers."When I had a look at this specimen, I quickly...

You Can't Escape Lice, Even 6,500 Feet Below the Ocean

Darling, it's better under the sea, unless you're an insect. You might find some bugs skimming the surface of a pond or even creating their own scuba bubble to dive beneath the surface of inland lakes. But insects are virtually absent from the open ocean.If you look at the hind flippers of southern elephant seals, however, you will find some insects that have made their way to a partially...

Warsaw zoo tests effect of hemp oil on elephants' stress

Scientists at Warsaw's zoo have been taking blood, saliva and other samples from the zoo's three elephants in recent days to prepare to test whether giving them hemp oil can reduce their stress. Dr. Agnieszka Czujkowska, a zoo veterinarian, said hemp oil, also known as CBD, or cannabidiol oil, has been shown to reduce anxiety and stress in other animals, including horses and dogs. “Basically...

Lock of Lincoln's hair and bloodied telegram up for auction

This is one macabre auction: A lock of Abraham Lincoln's hair, wrapped in a bloodstained telegram about his 1865 assassination, is up for sale. Boston-based RR Auction said bidding has opened online for the items ahead of a live auction scheduled for Sept. 12 in New Hampshire. The auction house set the minimum bid at $10,000 but expects the lock and telegram to fetch $75,000 or more, spokesman...

Singapore battles record dengue outbreak with more mosquitoes

From the high balcony of a Singapore public housing block, an environment official steadies his mosquito launcher, the latest contraption authorities have devised to combat a record outbreak of the tropical disease dengue. With the click of a button and a whirr of a fan, a hatch opens and 150 lab-reared male mosquitoes are sent flying, off in search of a female companion with whom they can mate...

Mammal-like Triassic creature beat polar winters by hibernating

The tusks of a stoutly built plant-eating mammal relative that inhabited Antarctica 250 million years ago are providing the oldest-known evidence that animals resorted to hibernation-like states to get through lean times such as polar winters. The research published on Thursday focused on a four-legged forager called Lystrosaurus whose fossils have been found in China, Russia, India, South Africa...

Mammal-like Triassic creature beat polar winters by hibernating

The tusks of a stoutly built plant-eating mammal relative that inhabited Antarctica 250 million years ago are providing the oldest-known evidence that animals resorted to hibernation-like states to get through lean times such as polar winters. The research published on Thursday focused on a four-legged forager called Lystrosaurus whose fossils have been found in China, Russia, India, South Africa...