techniques

The deadline is this Friday to submit your new product and have a chance at being selected for a coveted spot in The Scientist’s 2020 competition.

These rapid tests could allow people to find out quickly and easily if they have the disease—if they get regulatory approval for the consumer market.

SalivaDirect, an open-source protocol, avoids many of the supply bottlenecks of other tools and could be offered for as little as $10 a test.

A proof-of-concept study finds some commonly used facial coverings may perform worse than no mask at all.

New studies show that elevated levels of a form of tau called p-tau217 can accurately distinguish Alzheimer’s disease from other forms of dementia, and perhaps even predict it.

An isotopic analysis of eggshell beads dating back more than 30,000 years indicates that they helped build networks that stretched for hundreds of kilometers.

Using pigs as human proxies, forensic entomologists reveal how bodies in vehicles decompose differently from those dumped outside.

Testing out combinations of antiviral proteins from llamas could help researchers create potent virus-neutralizing multimers.

An enzyme pulled from toxic bacteria can enter the organelle and perform single-nucleotide DNA swaps.

Universities and healthcare facilities are planning to use spit tests to conduct large-scale screening.

Scientists are lending their expertise—whatever it may be—to help develop tests, medical devices, and other tools to try to save lives during the pandemic.

In just a few months, researchers have constructed low-cost ventilators that can keep sedated pigs alive. Getting them to work safely and reliably in people is the next challenge.

Onsite testing at wastewater treatment plants could aid efforts to monitor for outbreaks of COVID-19 around the world, but such technologies are in the early stages of development.

A nearly all-female team of researchers developed a PCR diagnostic tool in a record-setting six weeks.

Lacking many diagnostic test results from the first major outbreak, researchers have been left to scour other sources for clues about what happened in the early days of the pandemic.

If proven successful, the five-minute test could be a good temporary indicator before a confirmatory PCR test.

Lesions in the lungs of patients with pneumonia caused by a SARS-CoV-2 infection are distinct from those caused by bacteria.

The company had helped develop a tool to aid decision-making in distributing limited medical equipment among coronavirus patients, but two high-profile retractions call into question the validity of Surgisphere’s work in toto.

After combing through data on public death notices in Minas Gerais state, scientists say the coronavirus death toll in the country is worse than reported.