Just when you thought it was safe to get back on the subway, new research reveals there are thousands of mysterious viruses and bacteria infesting public transportation all over the world. They found 31 bacteria species present in nearly every locale—including ones that cause body odor and acne—forming a ‘core urban microbiome.’ Beyond that, each … Read more
Russia is seeking to unlock unknown prehistoric viruses up to 50,000 years old by extracting biological material from carcasses of ancient animals frozen in permafrost. Scientists from the Kremlin’s equivalent of Porton Down are this week taking samples from a collection of specimens preserved in ice which have been found in recent years. They are … Read more
Just when we thought we were about to defeat Covid-19 by launching our Oxford vaccine, an alarming strain of the virus has emerged to strike fear into the ministers and experts fighting the pandemic. Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitted yesterday that he is ‘incredibly worried’ about the fast-spreading mutant strain that has emerged in South … Read more
Doctor who discovered Ebola warns that world could be hit by new deadly ‘Disease X’ that is as fast-spreading as Covid and as deadly as the African virus Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfum helped discover Ebola virus in 1976 He said new potentially fatal viruses emerge from Africa’s tropical rainforests ‘Disease X’, which stands for unexpected, … Read more
By David Churchill What has happened to the coronavirus to trigger such concern? A new strain of Covid has developed which is said to spread far faster. A ‘strain’ is a new version of a virus which has genetic mutations. The new strain is a version of Sars-Cov-2, the coronavirus which causes the disease Covid-19. … Read more
Bioterrorists can trick scientists into making dangerous toxins or viruses by infecting lab computers with malware that alters synthetic DNA they produce for experiments A new cyberattack tricks scientists into making toxic chemicals or viruses Hackers can infect computers with malware to change DNA sequences They can bypass protocols set to scan DNA for malicious … Read more
Can viruses such as the one that causes Covid-19 attack our brains and change our behaviour — thereby prolonging an outbreak? That’s the suggestion from U.S. researchers who say that the coronavirus may be manipulating the behaviour of infected people, sometimes even before they show symptoms, so they become more sociable. In fact, such behaviour-changing … Read more
More pandemic-causing diseases are likely to jump from animals to humans in the near future because of modern lifestyles, a top professor warned today. Sarah Gilbert, the brains behind Oxford University’s Covid vaccine, said rising world travel and growing populations drove up the risk of outbreaks of zootonic infections. Animal-borne diseases have become more common … Read more
Whether they’re in China, Hong Kong or Japan, they’ve become a familiar sight: men with giant cylinders on their backs spraying everything around them. Lampposts, train carriages, classrooms, railings, restaurants, bars, shops, airports, entrances to hospitals, schools, government buildings – they are all targets. And it seems to have paid off in the fight to … Read more
Discovery of pulsars British astronomer Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell was the first person to discover a pulsar in 1967 when she spotted a radio pulsar. Since then other types of pulsars that emit x-rays and gamma rays have also been spotted. Pulsars are essentially rotating, highly magnatised neutron stars but when they were first discovered … Read more