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The FDA is considering new pills that could treat people in early stages of COVID. Here's what to know about how they work, how effective they are and the impact they could make on the pandemic.

Virus carrying corrective gene may have caused study participant’s bone marrow disorder

Share Patients with lung cancer (shown here) developed a wide array of resistance mechanisms to a KRAS inhibitor drug. SPL/Science Source Tumors find many ways to evade groundbreaking cancer drug Jun. 23, 2021 , 5:45 PM Researchers were ecstatic 2 years ago when, after decades of effort, they devised drugs that could block a tumor-promoting protein in cancer patients called KRAS, which previously seemed impervious to treatment. But many of these KRAS inhibitors—the first of which was ...

Escherichia coli, researchers incorporated several unnatural amino acids into bacterial proteins. STEVE GSCHMEISSNER/Science Source New approach to rewriting bacteria’s genetic code could lead to novel medicines Jun. 3, 2021 , 4:10 PM Virtually all living organisms construct their proteins from combinations of 20 different amino acids. To add new amino acids to the mix, scientists have re-engineered genes and other bits of protein-building machinery, resulting in proteins with unique ...

An old antidepressant helps the immune system fight tumors in mice May. 14, 2021 , 2:00 PM Drugs that unleash the body’s immune system to attack tumors, known as checkpoint inhibitors, have put some cancer patients into remission for years. But many others don’t benefit from the treatments. Now, researchers have found that an old type of antidepressant boosts the power of these inhibitors in mice—and they suspect it could do the same in people. It’s the “first study” to suggest such...

Mammals can breathe through their intestines May. 14, 2021 , 11:20 AM On a good day, things exit through the anus. But in rodents and pigs in respiratory distress, oxygen can be absorbed by tissues in the rectum, helping the animals recover, a new study suggests. The scientists behind the research propose that flushing oxygen into the rectum could one day help save human lives if conventional ventilation methods are unavailable. “It looks like a crazy idea,” says Sean Colgan, a gastroentero...

The numerals in the illustration show the main mutation sites of the B.1.1.7 variant first detected in the U.K., which is more transmissible than other variants. Here, the viruss spike protein (red) is bound to a human cell (blue). Juan Gaertner/Science Source Back in the fall, Tom Wenseleers made a bold claim on Twitter. He tweeted that the new coronavirus variant emerging in the U.K. was more transmissible — or could spread more quickly — than over versions of the virus. "I po...

Science’s COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Heising-Simons Foundation. A team of prominent scientists has doubled down on its controversial hypothesis that genetic bits of the pandemic coronavirus can integrate into our chromosomes and stick around long after the infection is over. If they are right—skeptics have argued that their results are likely lab artifacts—the insertions could explain the rare finding that people can recover from COVID-19 but then test positive for SARS-CoV-2 ...

Scientists are spotting new coronavirus variants almost on a daily basis. So far public health experts are still most worried about three important ones.

Mon, 15 Feb 2021 18:00 UTC A new study blames a comet fragment for the death of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. But most experts maintain that an asteroid caused this cataclysmic event. © Roger Harris/Science Source An artist’s rendering of the impact event 66 million years ago that ended the reign of dinosaurs. In one searing apocalyptic moment 66 million years ago, Earth was transformed from a lush haven into a nightmare world with a fiery wound that bled soot into the skies. The extra...