Science

Jennifer Doudna: What does CRISPR mean for the future of human evolution?

9:25am January 07, 2022

In 2011, biochemist Jennifer Doudna helped discover the genetic editing tool CRISPR. Today CRISPR is actively deployed in clinical trials with the potential to cure disease—and alter human evolution.

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NOAA's National Weather Service Director Louis Uccellini (L), gives a tour of NOAA's Center for Weather and Climate Prediction, to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker (2ndL), Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) (3rd-R), NOAA Acting Administrator Kathryn Sullivan (

Science

Making weather forecasts is hard. Getting people to understand them is even harder

5:45am January 07, 2022

by Jeffrey Pierre

After nearly a decade, the director of the National Weather Service has stepped down. Getting the public to understand weather is just as important as the science that delivers the forecasts, he says.

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A commuter masks up for a bus ride in Liverpool, England. The omicron variant of the coronavirus has surged in the U.K. and is now dominant in the U.S. as well. There's now data indicating just how severe its symptoms might be.

What we know about the symptoms — and the severity — of the omicron variant

8:39pm January 06, 2022

Researchers are looking at data from U.S. cases to determine if the variant causes milder disease. Even if the answer is yes, they say, rates of hospitalization could be high during the surge.

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'Vacuuming animal DNA out of air' may be a way to track wild endangered species

5:25pm January 06, 2022

by Geoff Brumfiel

Researchers sampled air from a zoological park and found DNA from nearby animals. They hope the work can be used to track endangered species in the wild.

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Licensed practical nurse Yokasta Castro, of Warwick, R.I., draws a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine into a syringe. The vaccines have now been linked to minor changes in menstruation, but are still considered safe.

COVID vaccines may briefly change your menstrual cycle, but you should still get one

5:00pm January 06, 2022

by Geoff Brumfiel

The new research affirms what many individuals had reported. But it also shows the changes to the menstrual cycle are mostly minor and brief, more akin to a sore arm than a dangerous reaction.

A young person wears a mask while waiting in line at a COVID-19 testing site on the Martin Luther King Jr. medical campus on Monday in Los Angeles.

California extends its indoor mask mandate until February as omicron surge continues

11:01pm January 05, 2022

by Jonathan Franklin

So far, nearly 80% of California residents have been vaccinated with at least one dose of the COVID vaccine. The extended statewide mask mandate is set to expire on Feb. 15.

A doctor loads a dose of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine into a syringe, on Dec. 2, 2021, at a mobile vaccination clinic in Worcester, Mass.

CDC recommends Pfizer COVID booster for kids as young as 12

10:13pm January 05, 2022

by Jonathan Franklin

The new recommendation for adolescents age 12-17 came hours after a panel of CDC advisers voted in favor of it. The boosters should be given five months after initial immunization.

Science

NC State geologist on lessons from Sparta, Winston-Salem earthquakes

5:12pm January 05, 2022

by Paul Garber

In August 2020, the biggest earthquake in North Carolina in over a century struck near Sparta and caused millions of dollars of damage.

Starting this month, alert consumers may have noticed labels on some foods that say "bioengineered" or "derived from bioengineering," per new federal standards.

GMO is out, 'bioengineered' is in, as new U.S. food labeling rules take effect

4:36pm January 05, 2022

by Joe Hernandez

A new national standard is meant to give consumers clarity about how their food was produced, but critics say the rules will introduce more confusion and don't go far enough.

Dr. Peter Hotez and Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi of Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine have developed a COVID-19 vaccine that could prove beneficial to countries with fewer resources.

A Texas team comes up with a COVID vaccine that could be a global game changer

3:52pm January 05, 2022

by Joe Palca

Peter Hotez and Maria Elena Bottazzi used an oldie-but- goodie technology to devise a vaccine that's easy to make — and relatively cheap. India has already ordered 300 million doses.

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