Daily COVID-19 deaths in US reach highest level since May

The surging coronavirus is taking an increasingly dire toll across the U.S. just as a vaccine appears close at hand, with the country now averaging over 1,300 COVID-19 deaths per day—the highest level since the calamitous spring in and around New York City.

Mobile e-commerce startup Wish files IPO, claims 108 mn users

The operator of the mobile e-commerce startup Wish filed documents for a share offering Friday, revealing a user base of more than 100 million.

Toronto goes back into lockdown because of a surge in cases

Canada's largest city is going back into lockdown because of a surge in COVID-19 cases.

After more than a decade, ChIP-seq may be quantitative after all

For more than a decade, scientists studying epigenetics have used a powerful method called ChIP-seq to map changes in proteins and other critical regulatory factors across the genome. While ChIP-seq provides invaluable insights into the underpinnings of health and disease, it also faces a frustrating challenge: its results are often viewed as qualitative rather than quantitative, making interpretation difficult.

Study: Countering hate on social media

The rise of online hate speech is a disturbing, growing trend in countries around the world, with serious psychological consequences and the potential to impact, and even contribute to, real-world violence. Citizen-generated counter speech may help discourage hateful online rhetoric, but it has been difficult to quantify and study. Until recently, studies have been limited to small-scale, hand-labeled endeavors.

States unfairly burdening incarcerated people with 'pay-to-stay' fees

Pay-to-stay, the practice of charging people to pay for their own jail or prison confinement, is being enforced unfairly by using criminal, civil and administrative law, according to a new Rutgers University-New Brunswick led study.

Study suggests that in the future glaucoma eye tests could be performed at home

Glaucoma is a chronic condition that affects cells at the back of the eye. It is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide, and is responsible for 1 in 10 cases of serious sight impairment in the UK.

Zebra finches amazing at unmasking the bird behind the song

If songbirds could appear on "The Masked Singer" reality TV competition, zebra finches would likely steal the show. That's because they can rapidly memorize the signature sounds of at least 50 different members of their flock, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley.

Researchers examine which approaches are most effective at reducing COVID-19 spread

Simon Fraser University professors Paul Tupper and Caroline Colijn have found that physical distancing is universally effective at reducing the spread of COVID-19, while social bubbles and masks are more situation-dependent.

Science reveals secrets of a mummy's portrait

How much information can you get from a speck of purple pigment, no bigger than the diameter of a hair, plucked from an Egyptian portrait that's nearly 2,000 years old? Plenty, according to a new study. Analysis of that speck can teach us about how the pigment was made, what it's made of—and maybe even a little about the people who made it. The study is published in the International Journal of Ceramic Engineering and Science.

Frequent, rapid testing could cripple COVID within weeks, study shows

Testing half the population weekly with inexpensive, rapid-turnaround COVID-19 tests would drive the virus toward elimination within weeks— even if those tests are significantly less sensitive than gold-standard clinical tests, according to a new study published today by University of Colorado Boulder and Harvard University researchers.

Birx says U.S. COVID cases are skyrocketing as holidays approach

The new coronavirus is spreading across America with unprecedented speed, the White House Coronavirus Task Force said in its first briefing in four months on Thursday.

Behavioral, psych condition care shifted to telemedicine during COVID-19

(HealthDay)—Office-based visits for behavioral and psychiatric conditions decreased in association with the COVID-19 pandemic, although increases in telemedicine visits offset these decreases, according to a research letter published online Nov. 17 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Add kids to COVID vaccine trials, pediatricians' group says

(HealthDay)—Children should be included in COVID-19 vaccine trials at the earliest possible stage, a leading group of U.S. pediatricians says.

Apple to press ahead on mobile privacy, despite Facebook protests

Apple confirmed Thursday it would press ahead with mobile software changes that limit tracking for targeted advertising—a move that has prompted complaints from Facebook and others.

Switch to electric vehicles could 'end oil era': analysis

Emerging markets switching from petrol and diesel engines to electric vehicles (EVs) could save $250 billion annually and slash expected growth in global oil demand by as much as 70 percent, an industry analysis showed Friday.

Australia signals shift away from climate credit 'cheating'

Australia's prime minister said the country may no longer rely on a much-criticised accounting tactic to meet its emissions targets, stepping away from an approach international partners had labelled "cheating".

Health experts clash over use of certain drugs for COVID-19

Health officials around the world are clashing over the use of certain drugs for COVID-19, leading to different treatment options for patients depending on where they live.

South Australia to end lockdown early after pizza parlour blunder

South Australia's six-day "circuit-breaker" lockdown will be cut short, officials said Friday, blaming a pizza parlour worker who misled contact tracers about how he contracted the virus.

Official: Italy to start COVID vaccinations in January

A significant number of Italians who want to be vaccinated against COVID-19 should have received their shots by next September, Italy's special commissioner for the virus emergency said Thursday.

Idaho is top pick for Energy Department nuclear test reactor

The U.S. government said Thursday that Idaho is its preferred choice ahead of Tennessee for a test reactor to be built as part of an effort to revamp the nation's fading nuclear power industry by developing safer fuel and power plants.

Coaching sales agents? Use AI and human coaches

Researchers from Temple University, Sichuan University, and Fudan University published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that explores the growing use of AI to coach sales agents to determine if there are any caveats that inhibit the effective use of this technology.

Simple, no-cost ways to help the public care for the commons

Researchers from University of Wisconsin-Madison, New York Institute of Technology, University of Iowa, and Cornell University published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that examines whether it is possible to make people feel as if the property is theirs—a feeling known as psychological ownership—and how this affects their stewardship behaviors.

Limited access to buprenorphine restricts resident physicians treating opioid abusers

A survey of resident physicians in Florida indicates they are interested in treating opioid addiction but face barriers to offering patients treatment using buprenorphine, an FDA-approved medication shown to successfully decrease opioid use, overdose events, and deaths associated with opioids.

The microbiome of Da Vinci's drawings

The work of Leonardo Da Vinci is an invaluable heritage of the 15th century. From engineering to anatomy, the master paved the way for many scientific disciplines. But what else could the drawings of Da Vinci teach us? Could molecular studies reveal interesting data from the past? These questions led an interdisciplinary team of researchers, curators and bioinformaticians, from both the University of Natural Resources and Life Science and the University of Applied Science of Wien in Austria, as well as the Central Institute for the Pathology of Archives and Books (ICPAL) in Italy, to collaborate and study the microbiome of seven different drawings of Leonardo Da Vinci.

Researchers reverse severe lymphatic disorder in patient with Noonan syndrome

Researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have resolved a severe lymphatic disorder in a girl with Noonan Syndrome that had led to upper gastrointestinal bleeding, fluid collection around the lungs, and numerous surgeries that had been unable to resolve her symptoms. By identifying a genetic mutation along a pathway related to lymphatic vessel development and function, the research team was able to target the pathway using an existing drug they had used in a previous case to remodel a patient's lymphatic system.

Climate change and 'atmospheric thirst' to increase fire danger and drought in NV and CA

Climate change and a "thirsty atmosphere" will bring more extreme wildfire danger and multi-year droughts to Nevada and California by the end of this century, according to new research from the Desert Research Institute (DRI), the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, and the University of California, Merced.

Predicting preterm births

Predicting preterm birth can be difficult, especially for women who have not given birth. It has long been known that the best predictor of preterm birth is someone who has had a prior preterm birth; however, this information is helpful only in second and subsequent pregnancies. For women in their first pregnancy, it is a challenge for obstetricians and midwives to advise them on their risks. To address this issue, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital studied how family history can predict preterm birth. Their findings were published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

College students are less food insecure than non-students

College students are significantly less likely to be food insecure than non-students in the same age group, according to a new study from the University of Illinois.

Infectiousness peaks early in COVID-19 patients, emphasising the need to rapidly isolate cases: study

Although SARS-CoV-2 genetic material may still be detected in respiratory or stool samples for several weeks, no live virus (that can cause infection) was found in any type of sample collected beyond nine days of symptoms starting and people with SARS-CoV-2 are mostly likely to be highly infectious from symptom onset and the following five days, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis of three human coronaviruses published in The Lancet Microbe journal.

How rotavirus causes severe gastrointestinal disease

Rotavirus is a major cause of diarrhea and vomiting, especially in children, that results in approximately 128,000 deaths annually. The virus triggers the disease by infecting enterocyte cells in the small intestine, but only a fraction of the susceptible cells has the virus. In the mid-90s, scientists proposed that the small portion of infected cells promotes severe disease by sending out signals that disrupt the normal function of neighboring uninfected cells, but the nature of the signal has remained a mystery.

Spill-over effects show prioritising education of very poorest improves attainment of all

International development projects that target the education of the world's very poorest children and marginalised girls also significantly improve other young people's attainment, according to new research that suggests such initiatives should become a priority for international aid.

Artificial intelligence and satellite technologies reveal detailed map of air pollution across UK

A novel method that combines artificial intelligence with remote sensing satellite technologies has produced the most detailed coverage of air pollution in Britain to date.

Children's Hospital Los Angeles conducts largest pediatric genomic COVID-19 study to date

When it comes to children, it is becoming clear that COVID-19 impacts them more than was initially realized. Yet there is relatively little information about SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease, in pediatric populations. Scientists at Children's Hospital Los Angeles have just published the largest pediatric COVID-19 study to date, suggesting, for the first time, a possible link between specific viral mutations and severity of the disease.