Obsessive gamers’ hours at the computer have now topped scientists’ efforts to improve a model enzyme, in what researchers say is the first crowdsourced redesign of a protein. The online game Foldit allows players to fiddle at folding proteins on their home computers in search of the best-scoring (lowest-energy) configurations. Researchers have previously reported successes…
Researchers developing extra-contagious strains of H5N1 avian influenza have agreed to pause their work for 60 days. The moratorium is a response to public fear and alarm in the scientific community, which has split over whether the research could inadvertently lead to release of a nightmare disease. Depending on perspective, the moratorium is either a…
Proposed changes in the definition of autism would sharply reduce the skyrocketing rate at which the disorder is diagnosed and might make it harder for many people who would no longer meet the criteria to get health, educational and social services. The results of a new analysis are preliminary, but they offer the most drastic…
Flu pandemics have been linked to fluctuations in climate, and new research connects the world’s four most recent pandemics to the cyclical cooling of the Pacific Ocean near the equator. The connection? Changes in ocean temperature affect migrating birds, which are major contributors to the spread and mixing of flu viruses. An earlier study had…
CodeHeart, a mobile application to speed diagnosis of heart attacks, has been under development in the Washington DC area for two years, but it’s still struggling to enlist emergency medical crews’ participation for a pilot project. The slow going reflects the complicated nature of mobile solutions for the health-care-provider market, which has generally taken a…
British scientist Stephen Hawking has decoded some of the most puzzling mysteries of the universe but he has left one mystery unsolved: How he has managed to survive so long with such a crippling disease. The physicist and cosmologist was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease when he was a 21-year-old student at Cambridge University. Most…
An adenovirus isolated from chimpanzee feces is proving more effective than human adenoviruses as a vaccine vector for hepatitis C. Collecting stool samples from zoos and animal facilities, Alfredo Nicosia of Okairos in Rome, Italy and his team isolated and characterized almost 30 different chimp adenovirus serotypes from some 1,000 stool samples. They made safe…
Dutch scientists have created a version of the deadly H5N1 bird flu that’s easily transmitted. In an unprecedented move, a U.S. board asks that some details of the research not be published.
The bright lights of a big city, as seen from space, may predict outbreaks of some diseases, such as measles, and help officials to prevent epidemics. By analyzing changes in the brightness of cities over time, researchers in a new study are estimating changes in population density—an important factor in disease spread. Seasonal changes in…
Could studying the placebo effect change the way we think about medicine?