Search Results for: Virus
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6,286 results for: Virus
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Faster, Cheaper, Better
Methods now under development could make DNA sequencing quicker and less expensive, paving the way for the day when treatments can be tailored to each person's genetic profile.
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Health & MedicineDangerous History
The genome of the TB bacterium has small but significant pockets of diversity, giving scientists new targets for preventing and treating the disease.
By Emily Sohn -
EcosystemsSlime Dwellers
The health of corals, and their adaptability in the face of adversity, may rest largely on the microbes they recruit into a slime that coats their surfaces.
By Janet Raloff -
MathThe Power of Being Influenced
Network theory shows that the best way to spread ideas is to focus on people who are influenced rather than the influential.
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Health & MedicineSickening Food
If food that was going to leave you with gut-wrenching cramps — or more — tasted sickening, few people would indulge. The problem, of course, is that sickening food can taste quite scrumptious. Foods that look, smell, and taste yummy can still harbor disease-causing pathogens. Mead et al./Emerging Infectious Diseases Indeed, when the hour of […]
By Janet Raloff -
Health & MedicineDrink Those Antioxidants
Mention antioxidants and most people will immediately think of vitamins–typically C and E–usually in the form of mega-dose capsules available at the local drug store. However, a new study finds that many common beverages also deliver a healthy antioxidant serving. R. Savidge These beverages may give some protection against the ravages of oxidizing chemicals that […]
By Janet Raloff -
Health & MedicineGerm-Fighting Germs
Plants and animals arent the only things that get sick. Even pathogenic microbes can succumb to infections. Federal plant pathologists are now looking to capitalize on that phenomenon as a strategy to fight off food poisoning. R. Savidge Though nature seals most fruits and vegetables in germ-resistant peels and rinds, once those outer barriers are […]
By Janet Raloff -
Health & MedicineA Cold Observation about Wine (with recipe)
Show this story to your boss, and she might just offer you a glass or two of wine. After all, downing this beverage–especially the red varieties–appears to help ward off the common cold, according to a new study. Though colds usually arent dire, they remain one of the leading causes of missed days at work. […]
By Janet Raloff -
Health & MedicineWest Nile Worries Are No Reason to Give Up Breast-feeding
West Nile virus infections are spreading like wildfire–and not just through bug bites. Although the vast majority of the nearly 2,800 U.S. cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) so far this year were picked up from mosquitoes, at least 3 people–and possibly 15–appear to have acquired the virus from infected […]
By Janet Raloff -
Health & MedicineSweet Treatment for SARS
Since severe acute respiratory syndrome–or SARS–burst on the scene this past March, physicians have reported more than 8,400 cases worldwide. The flulike lung disease appears to have emerged in mainland China, where officials have acknowledged 7,083 cases so far. In the future, people with the intense flu- and pneumonia-like symptoms of SARS could find relief […]
By Janet Raloff -
TechWash Those Hands!
A Florida-based company is now developing a laser-based scanning technology to scout for dirty hands. Installed in restaurant washrooms or daycare centers, it could identify fecal traces — evidence that hand washing was incomplete. Indeed, these sensors might even be coupled to a lock that allows workers back into a kitchen after a restroom break, notes Richard Stroman, vice president of eMerge Interactive, which is applying for a patent on the system. Kitchen or food-processing-plant workers who don't pass the laser test would be forced to go back and lather up again.
By Janet Raloff -
Health & MedicineA Virus Crosses Over to Wild-Animal Hunters
A potentially dangerous virus is moving from nonhuman primates to Africans who hunt and eat wild animals, a new study suggests.