COVID-19 poses the greatest threat to older people, but vaccines often don’t work well in this group. Scientists hope drugs that rejuvenate the immune system will help. — Read on http://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02856-7
Tag: Health
COVID-19 Environment – Are Pandemics Good for the Environment?
COVID-19 environment - An anthropologist looks at past disease outbreaks to consider how the COVID-19 crisis may—or may not—benefit the environment. — Read on http://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/covid-19-environment/
Covid-19 driving a digital health care revolution – Asia Times
Back in October, former Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang first cautioned that the world is now undergoing a Fourth Industrial Revolution, — Read on asiatimes.com/2020/05/covid-19-driving-a-digital-health-care-revolution/
The Man Who Saw the Pandemic Coming – Issue 83: Intelligence – Nautilus
Dennis Carroll doesn’t mean to sound callous when he says the coronavirus outbreak was predictable. And he doesn’t. He sounds sympathetic to people frightened by the outbreak. He has been an eyewitness to people around the world suffering from similar viruses. Most of all, Carroll sounds authoritative. For decades, Carroll has been a leading voice [...]
Seven books on the fascinating human brain [reading list] | OUPblog
The human brain is often described as the most complex object in the known universe – we know so much, and yet so little, about the way it works. It’s no wonder then that the study of brain today encompasses an enormous range of topics, from abstract understanding of consciousness to microscopic exploration of billions of neurons. [...]
How Chronic Stress Can Change the Brain | RealClearScience
Overcoming stressful events can make us more resilient. But when the stress is severe or chronic – for example caused by the breakdown of a marriage or partnership, death in the family or bullying – it needs to be dealt with immediately. That’s because repeated stress can have a huge impact on our brain, putting [...]
From a Pink Squiggle to the Human Genome Project – Issue 44: Luck – Nautilus
The polymerase chain reaction makes copies of DNA and it doesn’t, strictly speaking, need T. acquaticus in order to work. Instead, what it needs is a polymerase, a type of enzyme involved in building and repairing DNA. Scientists take DNA from an organism that contains a segment of DNA they want to copy, and mix [...]
How Your Body Knows What Time It Is – Issue 83: Intelligence – Nautilus
The human mind and body have a built-in circadian system, a coordinated assembly motivated to perform certain tasks, what we might call the macrobiological clock. At the molecular level there is a circadian oscillator, specific cell groups that work together, like the mechanism of a clock, to cause a larger system of mind and body [...]
A Life-Saving Philosophy Professor (guest post by Arthur Ward) – Daily Nous
On February 20th, just last week, I donated my left kidney to a stranger. Because of my donation, two other people agreed to donate their kidneys as well, resulting in three simultaneous life-saving transplants. More transplants may still happen in the future as part of the “kidney chain” that I initiated. As a philosopher with [...]
How to Prepare Now for the Complete End of the World – The New York Times
When the end comes, some will not be waiting in a bunker for a savior. They will stride out into the wilderness with confidence, ready to hunt and kill a deer, tan its hide and sleep easily in a hand-built shelter, close by a fire they made from the force of their two palms on [...]
