Scientists find 78% of people don’t show symptoms of coronavirus — here’s what that could mean

Apr13
by on April 13, 2020 at 5:00 pm
Posted In: syndication


The COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, with 1.4 million cases and almost 75,000 deaths reported worldwide as of April 7. To slow down the spread and reduce mortality, governments across the world have put in place social distancing measures. When such measures are lifted, the “flattened epidemic curve” is expected to start rising again in the absence of a vaccine. As most testing takes place inside hospitals in the UK and many other countries, the confirmed cases so far largely capture people who show symptoms. But to accurately predict the consequences of lifting the restrictions, we need to understand how…

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We might’ve finally found dinosaur DNA, but some scientists don’t think it’s the real deal

Apr12
by on April 12, 2020 at 3:00 pm
Posted In: syndication, world


Researchers in China and the US have found material in a dinosaur fossil that they claim looks like DNA. In a new paper in National Science Review, Alida Bailleul and colleagues report on their discovery of remarkably well-preserved cartilage from a Late Cretaceous dinosaur, Hypacrosaurus, from North America, dated at between 74 million and 80 million years old. They highlight microstructures within the cartilage that they identify as nuclei and chromosomes from within its cells and also DNA. If accurate, this would be a hugely significant find. But can this report stand the scrutiny of a sceptical world? There are…

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Here’s why we’ll never know if a high viral load corresponds to a worse case of coronavirus

Apr11
by on April 11, 2020 at 5:00 pm
Posted In: syndication, world


Healthcare workers are likely to be in contact with many COVID-19 patients every day. Being in contact with more people with the disease means that, in theory, they will be exposed to higher doses of the coronavirus over time. Does that mean they are at greater risk of contracting the disease, as reports from some countries suggest? We know for some diseases that the dose of virus a person is exposed to will directly correlate with how severe the disease is. A good example of this is influenza. A 2015 study from the US showed that the higher the dose…

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