“The stakes are life and death”: Addiction treatment’s Covid-19 challenge

When the Covid-19 pandemic forced much of the US to lock down in the spring of 2020, officials and experts worried the necessary social distancing measures would make another public health crisis — the opioid epidemic — worse. Addiction treatment is traditionally done in person, and restrictions on gatherings and closed businesses would make it…

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The rise in murders in the US, explained

As if the Covid-19 pandemic wasn’t bad enough, America is also seeing a surge in homicides this year. A new report, by the Council on Criminal Justice, found homicides have increased sharply this year across 21 US cities with relevant data: “Homicide rates increased by 42% during the summer and 34% in the fall over…

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Why the CDC changed its Covid-19 quarantine guidelines

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggested on Wednesday that some people who have been exposed to Covid-19 can quarantine for less than two weeks. The agency said a 14-day quarantine, in which people stay home and avoid interacting with others, is still the safest option if they come into close contact — within…

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Why the AstraZeneca-Oxford Covid-19 vaccine is different

If someone told you in March, when the World Health Organization finally called the Covid-19 outbreak a pandemic, that we’d have three strong coronavirus vaccine candidates by mid-November, you might have called that person delusional. Yet with Monday’s news from AstraZeneca and University of Oxford that early results from their phase 3 trial demonstrate their…

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How Californians are resorting to crowdsourcing to get their Covid-19 vaccine

On Wednesday, under increasing criticism for the state’s slow vaccine rollout, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced that all Californians 65 and older will be eligible for the shot. But if you were a Californian who wanted to find more information about where to get that shot for yourself or your loved one, you would’ve been…

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AI has cracked a problem that stumped biologists for 50 years. It’s a huge deal.

DeepMind, an AI research lab that was bought by Google and is now an independent part of Google’s parent company Alphabet, announced a major breakthrough this week that one evolutionary biologist called “a game changer.” “This will change medicine,” the biologist, Andrei Lupas, told Nature. “It will change research. It will change bioengineering. It will…

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Mayo make five changes for trip to Omagh to face Tyrone

MAYO HAVE MADE five changes for Saturday night’s trip to Omagh for a repeat of last year’s All-Ireland final against Tyrone. David McBrien comes in at full-back for his first league start of the season, with Castlebar Mitchels youngster Donnacha McHugh named to start alongside him. Fionn McDonagh, Jason Doherty and Paul Towey are the…

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