5 Important New Findings

A roundup of Covid-19 research from the past week

• Lasting damage: Some important biological functions in 34 patients with mild and severe cases of Covid-19 “failed to return to normal” even after they recovered, Chinese…

CRISPR, Tiny Towns, and Dr. Oz

A summary of Covid-19 stories we’re reading today

• The race is on to make faster, cheaper tests for diagnosing Covid-19. One of the new approaches being considered involves the gene editing tool CRISPR, which could…

A CRISPR-Based Test Can Detect Coronavirus in 40 Minutes

The test we currently rely on can take over six hours

A new, inexpensive test can diagnose Covid-19 in 40 minutes using minimal lab equipment. The test isn’t available to…

The Latest: There’s a better mask than the N95

Dear Reader,

You read that right: There’s a mask that’s more effective than the N95, and it’s reusable. Right now it’s only used by industry (think factory work, farming, mining, etc.) and not health care. But as writer…

Privacy concerns with Google and Apple’s disease-surveillance tech:

Google and Apple have teamed up to track Covid-19’s spread through new software for “contact tracing,” a disease-surveillance strategy usually done via human interviews. The new Bluetooth-enabled tech uses…

Time to put the vape away: It’s becoming clear that certain risk factors lead to more severe cases of Covid-19. Obesity and serious heart conditions are some likely culprits, but emerging evidence also points to a problematic habit: vaping. Studies suggest that, similar to smoking, using e-cigarettes causes lung injury that increases the likelihood…