Vaccine made of live malaria parasites shows early success in clinical trial
An experimental malaria vaccine that contains live parasites protected nearly all recipients from infection in a small clinical trial. Participants in the study, published on June 30 in Nature, were given a shot containing live Plasmodium falciparum parasites, along with drugs to kill any parasites that reached the liver or...
How some institutions address academic bullying said to be rife in universities
Academic bullying remains a scourge in research and higher institutions of learning around the world. Alexandra Olaya-Castro, vice-dean for equality, diversity and inclusion in the faculty of mathematical and physical sciences at University College London (UCL), says her institution established a Report + Support tool in 2019 to addresses the...
Press Freedom in Latin America suffers as governments enforce Covid protocols
Many of the emergency measures enacted in Latin America in response to Covid-19 restricted media freedom and could have negative long-term implications for free expression, according to a new report released as pandemic deaths in the region surpassed one million and vaccine access remained sparse. The report, Covid-19 Response Measures...
Bullying: Universities around the world grapple with academic-related stressors
Bullying is endemic in academia, an environment riddled with hierarchies and hyper-competition, exacerbated by an over-reliance on temporary contracts and the pressure to land highly coveted tenured positions. To give a sense of the scale of the problem, in any 12-month period, on average, 25 per cent of faculty members...
What’s the colour of sleep? How genetic code determines area code and rest time
What’s the colour of sleep? How the genetic code determines area and resting time Remember the line from that old folk song? If living were a thing that money could buy You know the rich would live and the poor would die. Sadly, there’s little “if” about it. On average,...
Sleep disorder: Delaying school start times key to teen students’ attention span, output
For African Americans, markedly higher rates of sleep apnea sabotage slumber, says Girardin Jean-Louis, a sleep researcher at New York University. One reason for this difference is that non-Hispanic Blacks are 1.3 times as likely to be overweight or obese as non-Hispanic whites, federal data show, and this excess weight...
Planning for nyama choma from the grazing field and the science of getting flavourful roast meat
Meat scientists (many of them, unsurprisingly, in Texas) have spent whole careers studying how to produce the tenderest, most flavourful beef possible. Much of what they’ve learned holds lessons only for cattle producers and processors, but a few of their findings can guide backyard grill masters in their choice of...
Antibodies in breast milk fend off Covid infection before it takes root in newborns
Researchers have long known that new-born babies don’t effectively produce antibodies against harmful bacteria and viruses; and it can take three to six months for this kind of protection to kick in. To help in those early days, a mother’s breast milk overflows with antibodies capable of staving off potential...
Revealed: Covid vaccine is just as beneficial for breastfeeding moms, pregnant women
Molly Siegel had long awaited a Covid-19 vaccine. As an obstetrician at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, she regularly saw pregnant people with Covid-19 and knew that the vaccine was the best way to protect herself, her family and others in her workplace. But with a seven-month-old baby at home...
Other than booze makers, perfume producers are also in the race for undersea historic yeasts
A few beverage-makers and scientists argue that using more diverse strains of yeast can also strongly influence the flavour and robustness of the finished product. In short, trying an unusual yeast could result in better beer, so many are turning to forgotten strains from the past. Scientists at Brewlab, a...
