An ability to build up higher concentrations of viral particles in people’s airways and mutations that might boost its ability to infect human cells could be what gives the Delta variant its evolutionary edge.

The genomes of living animals are littered with DNA from long-gone relatives, providing a lens on evolution, past extinctions, and perhaps even solutions to agricultural problems.

Researchers in a small but growing field search for neural correlates of religiosity and spirituality.

Cases of influenza and other respiratory viruses sank dramatically during the pandemic, with potential implications for both people and pathogens.  

A combination of approaches, including uterus transplantation and the joining of two animals’ circulatory systems, allowed males to bear pups, according to a preprint. But some experts say the experiments were not justified.  

Mix-and-match shots could simplify vaccine rollout and stimulate more-robust immune responses. Ongoing clinical trials will soon give answers.

Engineered viruses that don’t replicate provide a tractable model for scientists to safely study SARS-CoV-2, including research into vaccine efficacy and emerging variants.

Facing new variants of SARS-CoV-2, some vaccines may offer more robust protection or be more easily redesigned to target them.

With many millions of people waiting several weeks to receive a second COVID-19 vaccine dose in some countries, experts consider the possibility that SARS-CoV-2 could evolve vaccine resistance.

Manipulating the production of new neurons can improve cognition in animal models of the disease, raising the possibility that figuring out a way for humans to make more neurons could make a difference for people with dementia.

Scientists across the world are closely tracking the spread of mutations in the coronavirus and investigating whether they could render current vaccines less effective.

As politicians try to schedule an end to the pandemic, scientists say the virus will stick around as an endemic disease similar to the common cold.

Autopsy studies have yet to find clear evidence of destructive viral invasion into patients’ brains, pushing researchers to consider alternative explanations of how SARS-CoV-2 causes neurological symptoms.

The third FDA approval of an RNAi-based therapeutic marks the growing success of a technique that took two decades to get off the ground.

Some researchers have turned their focus to artificial intelligence to study an underused symptom common to most respiratory pathogens—cough.

Long before Moderna’s and Pfizer’s COVID-19 shots, scientists had been considering the use of genetically encoded vaccines in the fight against infectious diseases, cancer, and more.

A study makes policy recommendations to optimize citations, but critics say it fails to acknowledge that citations are a biased and narrow measure of scientific success.

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, taps into human proteases such as furin to enter cells. Temporarily inhibiting those enzymes might stymie infection.

Researchers turn to familiar model animals, along with some fresh strategies, to develop countermeasures against SARS-CoV-2 and investigate the biology of infection.