Two genome sequences of the European medicinal leech Hirudo medicinalis have just been revealed in a pair of papers, and the unexpected…
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post Two Views of Leeches, A Century Apart
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post How an Antibody Cocktail Against COVID-19 Channels the 3 Stooges – But is a Great Idea
“You imbecile!” bellowed Moe Howard as he stuck a finger up the nose of Curly. Moe the bully would often flick his…
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post Protests and the Pandemic: Will COVID-19 Resurge?
Events have collided in a way that even the most imaginative fiction writer couldn’t have conjured up: a global assault by an…
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post Dr. Fauci Optimistic About COVID-19 Vaccine Progress
On June 2, JAMA (the Journal of the American Medical Association) held a Q+A for the media with Dr. Anthony Fauci, director…
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post The Fallacy of the “Make It So” Mentality to Rush a COVID-19 Vaccine
Taking a meatloaf out of the oven too soon is an inconvenience, easily corrected by shoving it back in until it’s ready…
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post Microbiome Analysis of Ancient Feces
Sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish who left a pile of poop. Humans who live in multi-cat or multi-canine households might…
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post Will the COVID-19 Pandemic End Like War of the Worlds or Logan’s Run?
In moments when I am not obsessively reading technical reports on COVID-19, my mind drifts to science fiction plots involving invaders. Do…
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post Meet the Cammalleri Sisters: How Did They Live to Be 106 and 113?
Recently in my endless email about COVID-19 popped up a new paper analyzing the health of two Italian sisters who lived to…
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post Rare Disease Families Cope With COVID
Families that have members with rare diseases may face challenging situations during the pandemic. They’re experts in navigating complex medical situations, but…
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post A Tribute to Max Randell, Gene Therapy Pioneer
I awoke on Monday morning to the sad news that Max Randell had passed away on April 18. He would have been…
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post Dr. Fauci Evokes Memories of Past Rock Star Scientists
As Anthony Fauci, MD, long-time head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), emerged as the voice of reason…
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post A Brief History of Plagues and Pandemics: From the Black Death to COVID-19
Daily life in the age of coronavirus has affected us in different ways. For science writers, it means that many of the…