Why COVID's XBB.1.5 'Kraken' Variant Is So Contagious

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January 10, 2023

Epidemiology Why COVID's XBB.1.5 'Kraken' Variant Is So Contagious A new variant of the virus that causes COVID has mutations that make it more transmissible, but vaccines are still likely to protect against severe disease By Ed Browne

Quantum Computing Are Quantum Computers about to Break Online Privacy? A new algorithm is probably not efficient enough to crack current encryption keys—but that's no reason for complacency, researchers say By Davide Castelvecchi,Nature magazine

Neurology Here's What We Know about Stuttering Stuttering is a complex neurodevelopmental condition, and learning about its causes will hopefully reduce the stigma surrounding it By Xiaofan Lei,The Conversation US

Sponsor Content Provided by Phenome Health The New Science of Disease Prevention Medicine today treats the sick, but the ultimate goal is to keep people well. The new field of phenomics aims to do that by crunching  data on a person’s genetics, biomarkers, lifestyle and environment.  Learn more

Climate Change Double Disaster: Wildfires Followed by Extreme Rainfall Are More Likely with Climate Change These events can cause devastating landslides and flash floods By Andrea Thompson

Pharmaceuticals 'Breakthrough' Obesity Drugs Are Effective but Raise Questions Drugs that reduce excess weight linked to chronic health problems have shown striking results in trials and in practice By McKenzie Prillaman,Nature magazine

Climate Change Half of All Mountain Glaciers Are Expected to Disappear by 2100 Even if the world meets its most ambitious climate targets, about half of all mountain glaciers will melt away by the end of the century By Chelsea Harvey,E&E News

Engineering Flavor-Enhancing Spoons and Chopsticks Could Make Food Taste Better New types of cutlery can enhance flavors such as sweetness or saltiness for a more satisfying meal By Saugat Bolakhe

Cosmology How Star Collisions Forge the Universe's Heaviest Elements Scientists have new evidence about how cosmic cataclysms forge gold, platinum and other heavy members of the periodic table By Sanjana Curtis

Fossil Fuels U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Went Up Again in 2022 Though renewable energy surpassed coal generation for the first time in 60 years, causing U.S. power emissions to decline, emissions from buildings and transportation went up in 2022 By Benjamin Storrow,E&E News

FROM THE STORE Special Editions Volume 30, Issue 4s

FROM THE ARCHIVE Who Is Dying from COVID Now and Why Nearly three years into the pandemic, COVID's mortality burden is growing in certain groups of people By Melody Schreiber | November 2022

QUOTE OF THE DAY "Certainly there have been tremendous waves of infection with each different variant, but to a large degree, the vaccines have held their protection against severe disease." Alessandro Sette, professor at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology

WHAT WE'RE READING 'Disruptive' Science Has Declined--And No One Knows Why The proportion of publications that send a field in a new direction has plummeted over the past half-century. By Max Kozlov | Nature News | Jan 04, 2023

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