Foreign influence campaigns, or information operations, have been widespread[1] in the run-up to the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Influence campaigns are large-scale efforts to shift public opinion, push false narratives or change behaviors among a target population. Russia[2], China[3], Iran[4], Israel[5] and other nations have run these...
Is it COVID-19? Flu? At-home rapid tests could help you and your doctor decide on a treatment plan
A scratchy, sore throat, a relentless fever, a pounding head and a nasty cough – these symptoms all scream upper respiratory illness. But which one?
Many of the viruses that cause upper respiratory infections such as influenza A or B[1] and the virus that causes COVID-19[2] all employ similar tactics. They target the same areas in your...
Many stable atoms have ‘magic numbers’ of protons and neutrons − 75 years ago, 2 physicists discovered their special properties
The word magic is not often used in the context of science. But in the early 1930s, scientists discovered that some atomic nuclei[1] – the center part of atoms, which make up all matter – were more stable than others. These nuclei had specific numbers of protons or neutrons, or magic numbers, as physicist Eugene Wigner[2] called them....
MicroRNA is the Nobel-winning master regulator of the genome – researchers are learning to treat disease by harnessing how it controls genes
When Victor Ambros[1] and Gary Ruvkun[2] discovered a new molecule they called microRNA in the 1980s, it was a fascinating diversion from what for decades had been called the central dogma of molecular biology[3].
Recognized with the 2024 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine[4], Ambros and Ruvkun had identified a new kind of genetic...