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Super computers and the race to defeat a pandemic

It takes a tremendous amount of computing power to simulate all the components and behaviors of viruses and cells.Thomas Splettstoesser scistyle.com, CC BY-ND

Scientists tap the world’s most powerful computers in the race to understand and stop the coronavirus

Jeremy Smith, University of Tennessee

In “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams, the haughty supercomputer Deep Thought is asked whether he can find the answer to the ultimate question concerning life, the universe and everything. He replies that, yes, he can do it, but it’s tricky and he’ll have to think about it. When asked how long it will take him he replies, “Seven-and-a-half million years. I told you I’d have to think about it.”

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Antibody injections could fight COVID-19 infections

Antibodies attacking virus, illustration
Antibodies (pink) attacking a virus particle (blue). STEVEN MCDOWELL/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

An infectious disease expert explains how antibody injections could fight COVID-19 infections

Dimiter Stanchev Dimitrov, University of Pittsburgh

Antibodies are part of us – literally.

We have billions of them in our bodies with a combined weight of about 100 grams, or about the weight of a bar of soap. If there are so many antibodies inside our bodies then they must be safe and very important, right?

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Gold rush, mercury legacy

Artisanal small-scale gold mining polluted this stream and deforested sections of the Madre de Dios area of Peru. Mario Tama/Getty Images

Small-scale mining for gold has produced long-lasting toxic pollution, from 1860s California to modern Peru

Jacqueline Gerson, Duke University; Austin Wadle, Duke University, and Jasmine Parham, Duke University

Gold is everywhere in modern life, from jewelry to electronics to smartphones. The global electronics industry alone uses 280 tons annually. And that demand keeps growing.

But most people know little about the environmental impacts of gold mining. About 15% of world gold production is from artisanal and small-scale mining in over 70 countries throughout Asia, Africa and South America. These operations employ 10 to 19 million workers. They often are poorly policed and weakly regulated.

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Coronavirus – work continues to test existing drugs

We found and tested 47 old drugs that might treat the coronavirus: Results show promising leads and a whole new way to fight COVID-19

The more researchers know about how the coronavirus attaches, invades and hijacks human cells, the more effective the search for drugs to fight it. That was the idea my colleagues and I hoped to be true when we began building a map of the coronavirus two months ago. The map shows all of the coronavirus proteins and all of the proteins found in the human body that those viral proteins could interact with.

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Fish livers found to contain oil from Deepwater Horizon blowout

Researchers use Atlantic mackerel for bait on long-lining fishing sampling expeditions in the Gulf of Mexico.. C-IMAGE Consortium, CC BY-ND

Scientists have found oil from the Deepwater Horizon blowout in fishes’ livers and on the deep ocean floor

Over the decade since the Deepwater Horizon spill, thousands of scientists have analyzed its impact on the Gulf of Mexico. The spill affected many different parts of the Gulf, from coastal marshes to the deep sea.

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SpaceX reaches for milestone in spaceflight

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is raised into a vertical position on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A. NASA/Bill Ingalls

A new era begins as a private company launches astronauts into orbit

On May 27, two American astronauts, Robert L. Behnken and Douglas G. Hurley, are planning to launch from the Kennedy Space Center on a mission to the International Space Station. If successful, this will mark the first time in nine years that American astronauts will launch into space from American soil. What’s even more remarkable is they will not be launched by NASA but by a private company, SpaceX.

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Plankton capture twice as much carbon as scientists thought

Ocean carbon storage is driven by phytoplankton blooms, like the turquoise swirls visible here in the North Sea and waters off Denmark. NASA

Tiny plankton drive processes in the ocean that capture twice as much carbon as scientists thought

Ken Buesseler, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

The ocean plays a major role in the global carbon cycle. The driving force comes from tiny plankton that produce organic carbon through photosynthesis, like plants on land.

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Quarantine screen time could be harmful to kids’ eyesight

With online learning, children are staring at computer screens for more hours each day. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Increasing screen time during COVID-19 could be harmful to kids’ eyesight

Shu-Fang Shih, University of Michigan and Olivia Killeen, University of Michigan

The coronavirus pandemic is remaking the way children learn, and it could have an impact on their eyes.

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COVID-19 and the cytokine storm

www.scientificanimations.com, CC BY-SA

Blocking the deadly cytokine storm is a vital weapon for treating COVID-19

Alexander (Sasha) Poltorak, Tufts University

The killer is not the virus but the immune response.

The current pandemic is unique not just because it is caused by a new virus that puts everyone at risk, but also because the range of innate immune responses is diverse and unpredictable. In some it is strong enough to kill. In others it is relatively mild.

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What needs to go right to get a coronavirus vaccine quickly

Photo of a syringe and vial of medicine
A coronavirus vaccine is coming, but when? Francesco Carta fotografo/Moment via Getty Images

Marcos E. García-Ojeda, University of California, Merced

I, like many Americans, miss the pre-pandemic world of hugging family and friends, going to work and having dinner at a restaurant. A protective vaccine for SARS-Cov2 is likely to be the most effective public health tool to get back to that world.

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