All Stories by Erin Garcia de Jesús
- Health & Medicine
Why the coronavirus’s delta variant dominated 2021
Mapping delta’s unique group of mutations and how they enhance the virus’s life cycle show why the variant spread so easily and caused so much havoc.
- Microbes
A bacteria-virus arms race could lead to a new way to treat shigellosis
As bacteria that cause shigellosis evolve to escape a virus, the microbes may become less deadly, a hopeful sign for “phage therapy.”
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50 years ago, a 6-year-old boy became the first known rabies survivor
In 1971, a doctor thought he’d found a cure for rabies. Fifty years later, we still don’t have one.
- Health & Medicine
What we know and don’t know about the omicron coronavirus variant
The new omicron variant has lots of mutations and sparked a surge of cases in South Africa, but researchers still don’t know a lot about it.
- Health & Medicine
What parents need to know about Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for kids ages 5 to 11
Federal health officials authorized the Pfizer vaccine for this age group on October 29.
- Health & Medicine
Here’s what we know about booster shots for Moderna’s and J&J’s COVID-19 vaccines
Immunity against the coronavirus is waning, but additional doses of the same or different COVID-19 vaccines could help protect vulnerable people.
- Health & Medicine
Why only some people will get COVID-19 booster shots at first
In the United States, boosters may next go to people 65 and older, those at high risk for severe disease and people whose jobs put them at high exposure risk.
- Life
A beautiful oak leaf portrait won the 2021 Nikon Small World photography contest
The annual competition showcases otherworldly photos that capture microscopic features of nature and science.
- Animals
A newfound boa sports big eyes and a square nose
Among the smallest boas in the world, the Hispaniolan vineboa inhabits a small patch of dry forest along the Dominican Republic’s border with Haiti.
- Health & Medicine
These charts show that COVID-19 vaccines are doing their job
COVID-19 shots may not always prevent infections, but for now, they are keeping the vast majority of vaccinated people out of the hospital.
- Physics
50 years ago, physicists thought they found the W boson. They hadn’t
Fifty years after a false-alarm discovery, physicists have caught the W boson and are using it to unravel mysteries of particle physics.
- Health & Medicine
How coronavirus vaccines still help people who already had COVID-19
Coronavirus vaccines give the immune system of previously infected people a boost, probably giving those people better protection against new variants.
