Health, features and articles | Educational Science

Jun 30, 2021

How 350 vaccinated people caught COVID-19 in huge Cape Cod outbreak

A large COVID-19 outbreak in a Cape Cod town has changed health officials' understanding of the coronavirus delta variant, and played a key role in the decision to recommend masks indoors even for people fully vaccinated against the virus. The outbreak occurred in Provincetown, Massachusetts, after July 4 celebrations, and...

Jun 30, 2021

What's happening inside Simone Biles' brain when the 'twisties' set in?

American gymnast Simone Biles withdrew from several Olympic events this week, including the latest withdrawal from the vault and uneven bars finals, after experiencing a case of the twisties — what gymnasts describe as losing control of their body mid-trick and losing sense of where they are in the air....

May 31, 2021

Is the COVID-19 vaccine causing rare myocarditis cases?

Researchers in Israel say they've found a possible link between the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and cases of heart inflammation in young men ages 16 to 30, according to a report submitted this week to the country's Ministry of Health. The report concluded that around 1 in 5,000 men who receive...

May 31, 2021

Boy gets burned by wet cement in rare case

A 7-year-old boy who accidentally got wet cement all over his head and torso ended up in the emergency room after the cement mixture burned his skin, according to a new report. A family member had been mixing and pouring cement when the boy, who was playing nearby, walked under...

May 31, 2021

COVID-19 was spreading in the US by December 2019, mounting evidence suggests

The novel coronavirus may have already arrived in the U.S. by late December 2019, adding to the evidence that the virus was already lurking here at least a month before the country's first reported case, according to a new study. The study researchers analyzed more than 24,000 blood samples collected...

May 31, 2021

Scientist recovers coronavirus gene sequences secretly deleted last year in Wuhan

Finding the origin story for SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for nearly 3.9 million deaths worldwide, has been largely hampered by lack of access to information from China where cases first popped up. Now, a researcher in Seattle has dug up deleted files from Google Cloud that reveal 13 partial genetic...

Apr 30, 2021

First genetically modified mosquitoes released in US

The biotech firm Oxitec has released its genetically modified mosquitoes in the Florida Keys, with the goal of suppressing wild, disease-carrying mosquito populations in the region. This is the first time genetically modified mosquitoes have been released in the U.S. Oxitec previously released its modified Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in Brazil,...

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...