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How Showing Special Kindness To Some Can Have Moral Consequences

7:42am July 03, 2020

by Shankar Vedantam

A type of discrimination is overlooked because it's rooted, not in hate, but in love. Our Hidden Brain team asks why good deeds, those we do for spouses or neighbors, can sometimes lead to injustice.

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Gilead Sciences, maker of the antiviral drug remdesivir, has come up with a price for the COVID-19 treatment that was less than some analysts expected.

Remdesivir Priced At More Than $3,100 For A Course Of Treatment

7:39pm June 29, 2020

by Sydney Lupkin

An experimental COVID-19 medicine that has been shown to shorten the time people with severe illness have to stay in the hospital finally has a price tag that's lower than some analysts expected.

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A Chrysopelea paradisi snake flying in the air during experiments in The Cube at Virginia Tech. Left: the snake is fully extended just after take-off from the branch on the left. Right: the snake undulating during flight.

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How Snakes Fly (Hint: It's Not On A Plane)

5:46pm June 29, 2020

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

A snake researcher always wondered how flying snakes propelled themselves. Then, someone told him he should work with the snakes in The Cube — a vast theater space with cameras everywhere.

New Research Shows People Are Not As Divided Along Political Lines As They Think

4:13pm June 26, 2020

by Hannah Allam

It is no secret that the U.S. citizens are deeply divided along political lines. But a new study has found that Americans are not nearly as divided as they might think.

Internationally, scientists now have on file the genomes of more than 47,000 different samples of the virus that causes COVID-19 — up from just one in January. Here's a transmission electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles (orange) isolated fro

This Coronavirus Doesn't Change Quickly, And That's Good News For Vaccine Makers

5:00am June 26, 2020

by Jon Hamilton

A coronavirus vaccine could become ineffective if the virus were to undergo certain genetic changes. But so far, so good: Scientists see no evidence that's happening.

How Mutations In The Coronavirus May Affect Development Of A Vaccine

6:23pm June 25, 2020

by Jon Hamilton

Researchers around the world are tracking the mutations in the coronavirus as it reproduces and spreads to ensure changes in the virus do not affect the development of the vaccine.

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New research shows that dolphins can learn foraging behavior from other dolphins.

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Dolphins Learn Foraging Tricks From Each Other, Not Just From Mom

4:07pm June 25, 2020

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Scientists have found that dolphins learn a neat trick to trap fish by watching their close associates do it. This means that dolphins aren't just motivated to learn from their mothers.

This image shows the buildup of toxic tau proteins in the medial temporal gyrus of a human brain. Though some drugs can now remove these proteins, that hasn't seemed to ease Alzheimer's symptoms. It's time to look more deeply into how the cells work, scie

Alzheimer's Researchers Go Back To Basics To Find The Best Way Forward

11:28am June 25, 2020

by Jon Hamilton

After a decade of failure in treating Alzheimer's with drugs, the National Institutes of Health is funding a five-year effort in Seattle to learn more about how the disease starts in the brain.

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A laboratory technician holds a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate ready for a trial in May 2020.

All You Wanted To Know About Coronavirus Vaccine Science But Were Afraid To Ask

10:22am June 24, 2020

by Joe Palca

Some of the technology behind coronavirus vaccine development dates back to the first vaccines; other techniques are much newer. Here are eight top strategies scientists are pursuing.

Thousands of people stand among the ancient stones at Stonehenge in Salisbury, England, at sunrise on the summer solstice. Archaeologists on Monday announced the discovery of a ring of shafts about 2 miles away.

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Immense Neolithic Ring Discovered Near Stonehenge

8:45am June 23, 2020

by Vanessa Romo

The massive prehistoric structure "is significantly larger than any comparative prehistoric monument that we know of in Britain, at least," a lead researcher in the project says.