Health, features and articles | Educational Science

Apr 30, 2021

First remains from doomed 19th-century Arctic expedition identified

On July 9, 1845, John Gregory, an engineer on an ocean expedition to the Arctic, wrote a letter to his wife, Hannah, from a stop in Greenland. That was the last time his family would hear from Gregory, who, along with 128 others, perished after their ships became trapped in...

Apr 30, 2021

FDA okays emergency use of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for young teens

On Monday (May 10), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) extended emergency approval for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to include adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15 years old. The original emergency approval, issued on Dec. 11, 2020, allowed Pfizer's vaccine to be given to those who were...

Apr 30, 2021

Woman gets 6 doses of COVID-19 vaccine at once

A woman in Italy accidentally received six doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine all at once, according to news reports. The 23-year-old woman did not experience any serious side effects from the vaccine overdose, CBS News reported. The accident happened Sunday (May 9) at the Noa Hospital in Tuscany, Italy,...

Apr 30, 2021

New coronavirus found, and it jumped from dogs to people

A new coronavirus has been discovered, and it may have jumped to humans from dogs. In a new study, researchers detected a new canine coronavirus in a swab sample obtained from a Malaysian child diagnosed with pneumonia in 2018. If the virus is confirmed to cause disease in humans, it...

Apr 30, 2021

Genes from algae helped a blind man recover some of his vision

A blind man who could only perceive the faintest bit of light can now perceive fuzzy shapes, thanks to gene therapy and a pair of specially engineered goggles. The man was diagnosed with a condition called retinitis pigmentosa 40 years ago, at the age of 18, according to a new...

Apr 30, 2021

Influential panel recommends removing '14-day rule' on lab-grown embryos

An influential scientific panel says researchers should be allowed to grow human embryos in a lab for more than two weeks and recommends lifting the so-called 14-day rule, according to news reports. The 14-day rule refers to a strict cap placed on the length of time lab-grown embryos are allowed...

Apr 30, 2021

Human brain: Facts, functions & anatomy

The human brain is the command center for the human nervous system. It receives signals from the body's sensory organs and outputs information to the muscles. The human brain has the same basic structure as other mammal brains but is larger in relation to body size than the brains of...

Mar 31, 2021

Woman gives birth to twins conceived three weeks apart

A woman in England became pregnant while already pregnant, ultimately giving birth to rare twins conceived three weeks apart, according to recent news reports. Typically, when a woman becomes pregnant, her body kick-starts several biological processes aimed at preventing a concurrent pregnancy, including releasing hormones to stop ovulation. But in...

Mar 31, 2021

Rare autoimmune disorder caused a woman's nose to collapse

A rare autoimmune disorder decimated the cartilage and bone in a woman's nose, causing her nose to collapse and sink into her face. When the 34-year-old woman checked into a facial plastic surgery clinic, her nasal bride had completely collapsed, causing the tip of her nose to retract, according to...

Mar 31, 2021

People are taking an animal deworming drug for COVID-19, and it's a really bad idea

People are taking dangerous doses of an anti-parasitic drug as a COVID-19 treatment, even though there is no solid evidence that it has any benefit for the disease. The drug, called ivermectin, is often used to treat or prevent parasitic diseases in animals, such as heartworm, according to the Food...

Mar 31, 2021

COVID-19 booster shots may be needed within 12 months, US officials say

People vaccinated against COVID-19 may require booster shots within nine to 12 months of their initial vaccination, Reuters reported. Evidence suggests that the coronavirus vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna offer at least six months of robust protection from COVID-19 infection. But even if this protection lasts for longer, several...

Mar 31, 2021

UK researchers will deliberately reinfect people with COVID-19 in new 'challenge study'

Researchers in the U.K. are looking for volunteers who have already had COVID-19 for a challenge study that will deliberately reexpose them to the novel coronavirus. The goal of the study is to understand what immune response is needed to protect against reinfection with COVID-19, according to a statement from...

Mar 31, 2021

J&J coronavirus vaccine can resume in US, CDC advisory panel recommends

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory panel voted to recommend that the U.S. resume administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for people 18 years of age and older. This comes after an 11-day pause in administering the vaccine prompted by reports of extremely rare, but severe, blood...

Mar 31, 2021

Novel coronavirus really is seasonal, study suggests

Warm temperatures and tropical climates may really help reduce the spread of COVID-9, a new study suggests. The study found that places with warm temperatures and long hours of sunlight — such as countries close to the equator and those experiencing summer — had a lower rate of COVID-19 cases,...

Feb 28, 2021

Why is China giving travelers anal tests for COVID-19?

Travelers to some Chinese cities have been required to take anal swab tests for COVID-19, a measure that has sparked outcries from other countries, according to news reports. This week, officials in Japan complained that some Japanese citizens arriving in China had been subjected to the tests, which caused great...