Science

Arduous trip through Amazon brings COVID-19 vaccines to vulnerable groups | Science

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A version of this story appeared in Science, Vol 374, Issue 6575. “Vaccine! Let’s vaccinate everyone!” Shouts go up from the steep and muddy banks of the Iriri River in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon forest. A team of doctors, nurses, and nongovernmental organization (NGO) workers are hauling plastic foam boxes from a small … Read more

Gene pinpointed that helps put human hearts in the right place | Science

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From the outside, humans are pleasingly symmetrical, with arms, legs, and eyes that have matching right and left sides. But inside, it’s a different story: our heart is on the left; our liver is on the right. Lungs and kidneys are also asymmetric. Now researchers have pinned down a gene that helps developing organs find … Read more

NASA’s Webb telescope takes flight—a Christmas gift to astronomers everywhere | Science

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NASA’s most expensive telescope ever is in space at last. The $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope, an instrument expected to revolutionize astronomy by gathering light from the atmospheres of alien worlds and the universe’s first galaxies, launched at 7:20 a.m. Eastern Time on a sultry Christmas morning from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana. Some … Read more

Biggest science news of 2021: Weather records around the world weren’t just broken, they were smashed

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Record-shattering fires, freezes and rainfall around the world made it all too clear that extreme weather is fast becoming the new normal Environment 15 December 2021 By Adam Vaughan A firefighter in California in August REUTERS/Fred Greaves DEADLY fires, floods and freezes struck around the world this year, as a report by the world’s top … Read more

The James Webb Space Telescope Is on The Launchpad!

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The science community is getting a very long-awaited Christmas gift this year – the much-delayed launch of the James Webb Space Telescope!  The successor to the much-loved Hubble, the James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST, was originally scheduled to be launched in 2007. Now, 14 years later, all systems seem to finally be ready to … Read more

U.S. allows Merck’s COVID-19 pill amid safety, variant concerns | Science

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The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday authorized another new pill to treat the Omicron variant, this time from Merck. While Pfizer’s antiviral may prove to be more effective, and Merck’s pill has left some scientists questioning the dangers behind its mechanism of action, molnupiravir will be another weapon in the armamentarium of … Read more

Biggest science news of 2021: COP26 Glasgow climate summit lays the groundwork for a decade of action

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Within days of the dramatic closing of November’s COP26 climate summit, the Glasgow Climate Pact was already having an impact Environment 15 December 2021 By Adam Vaughan COP26 president Alok Sharma was visibly emotional in the summit’s closing moments REUTERS/Phil Noble JUST days after it was agreed on by nearly 200 countries at the COP26 … Read more

Novavax’s long-awaited COVID-19 vaccine authorizations offer an alternative to mRNA | Science

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The small Maryland biotechnology company Novavax has finally joined the ranks of high-profile COVID-19 vaccine developers after winning emergency authorizations in recent days for its candidate. The decisions by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Commission make the company’s product the first protein-based vaccine green-lighted by those bodies and opens it to broad … Read more

FDA greenlights Pfizer’s oral COVID-19 drug | Science

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted an emergency use authorization for the potent oral antiviral regimen developed by Pfizer to treat COVID-19, making it just the second such drug to receive a regulatory greenlight by any country. Last month, the United Kingdom authorized the use of a Merck-made pill that appears much … Read more