COVID-19 antibodies present in patients four months after recovery: study
In previous studies, antibody levels dropped sharply within a few months after COVID-19, raising questions about the duration of immunity that infection may provide. The new finding may have implications for reinfection risks and vaccine durability, said Kari Stefansson, chief executive of deCode Genetics, which conducted the study. To get a sense of how many people in Iceland had been infected...
Large antibody study offers hope for virus vaccine efforts
Tuesday’s report, from tests on more than 30,000 people in Iceland, is the most extensive work yet on the immune system’s response to the virus and is good news for efforts to develop vaccines. If a vaccine can spur production of long-lasting antibodies like natural infection does, it gives hope that “immunity to this unpredictable and highly contagious virus may not be fleeting,”...
How Japan, which has the world's oldest population, has so far managed to keep its nursing homes safe during the pandemic
Experts say Japan's success comes down to a culture that respects the elderly, as well as taking the pandemic seriously from the...
Review: 'Perilous Bounty' argues U.S. farmlands are in peril
Americans long have taken abundant and cheap food for granted, blessed as we are by millions of acres of fertile farmland, particularly in California and the central states. Both practices ultimately will be catastrophic, he...
A grieving daughter in Wuhan is suing China, saying its early cover-up of COVID-19 killed her father. In response, the authorities intimidated her family.
Zhao Lei told Sky News "I think the government covered up some facts," meaning continued life as normal, leading to her father's infection and...
UN agency laments summer's 'deep wound' to Earth's ice cover
The United Nations weather agency says this summer will go down for leaving a “deep wound” in the cryosphere -- the planet’s frozen parts -- amid a heat wave in the Arctic, shrinking sea ice and the collapse of a leading Canadian ice shelf. The World Meteorological Organization said Tuesday that temperatures in the Arctic are rising twice as fast as the global average, provoking what...
Climate change: Power companies 'hindering' move to green energy
New research suggests utilities are dragging their feet when it comes to embracing wind and...
Wildlife Photographer of the Year: How many crocodiles can you see?
Gharial crocodiles may number less than 1,000 individuals in the wild - but there is always...
Can I use a face shield instead of a mask?
Face shields have the added benefit of protecting your eyes and discouraging you from touching your face by acting as a physical barrier, says Christopher Sulmonte, project administrator of the biocontainment unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Meanwhile, the available research so far indicates that the best face shields for preventing viral spread are hooded or wrap around the sides and bottom of...
Artists create paintings designed to be tempered in space on Blue Origin’s rocket
Uplift Aerospace and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket venture plan to put paintings where virtually no art has gone before: on the side of a rocket ship. The "canvases" for these works are exterior panels that will be mounted on Blue Origin's suborbital New Shepard spaceship, sent to the space frontier during an uncrewed test flight, then returned to Earth for delivery...