人類は長い間、温かい血液のおかげで真菌の感染から守られてきた。しかし、気候変動がそれを台無しにするかもしれない。近年、カエルツボカビ症が世界中の両生類に壊滅的な打撃を与えているように、地球温暖化が進めば、真菌感染に耐性をもっていた温血種の生物にも感染が拡がる可能性がある。すでに世界では、毎年3億人以上が深刻な真菌感染症にかかっている。人類は、真菌類という地上で最大の王国についていまこそ学ばなければならない。
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新型コロナウイルスは、繰り返し発生する「エンデミック」になる。そのとき人類は、どう立ち向かうべきなのか？
新型コロナウイルスの新たな変異株である「オミクロン株」が急速に全世界に広がるなか、新型コロナウイルスが特定の地域で継続的に発生するエンデミック（風土病）の状態になる可能性が指摘されている。そもそも、何をもって「エンデミック」の状態と呼ぶのか？ そしてエンデミックの状態になったとき、人類はいかにウイルスと闘い、共存していくことになるのか。
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ヒトの細胞を“プログラミング”する：難病の新たな治療法につながる技術、英国のスタートアップが開発中
ヒトの細胞を自在にプログラミングすることで、オーダーメイドで細胞を作成する新たな技術の開発に英国のスタートアップが取り組んでいる。将来的にはアルツハイマー病のような疾患の細胞治療など、まったく新しい治療法や薬の開発につながる可能性を秘めている
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US preps vaccine contingencies amid panic over poorly understood omicron
Vaccines offer “at least some protection” against omicron, Biden believes.
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes testifies in her own criminal trial
One of the biggest mysteries in former Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes’ high-profile fraud trial was whether or not she would testify. So it was a shock late Friday afternoon when the Stanford dropout took the stand, eleven weeks after the trial began. Now that the prosecution has rested its case — questioning witnesses […]
Poison in the Air
ProPublica undertook an analysis that has never been done before. Using advanced data processing software and a modeling tool developed by the Environmental Protection Agency, we mapped the spread of cancer-causing chemicals from thousands of sources o…
Contact Tracing On Old Town Road
How scientists say a hit song is like an infectious disease “The most important finding of the study is that we have shown that it makes sense to use a mathematical model of disease spread to study song popularity and that opens the door for all kinds …
“Soon, you can log in to MetaFilter using your analprint”
The Verge: “The idea for an analprint was sparked by Salvador Dalí, who discovered that ‘the anus has 35 or 37 creases, which are as unique as fingerprints'” Real clear science: “A team of researchers primarily based out of Stanford University has engi…
Israel’s DiA gets $14M to expand AI-driven ultrasound analysis
Israel-based AI healthtech company, DiA Imaging Analysis, which is using deep learning and machine learning to automate analysis of ultrasound scans, has closed a $14 million Series B round of funding. Backers in the growth round, which comes three years after DiA last raised, include new investors Alchimia Ventures, Downing Ventures, ICON Fund, Philips and […]
Patchwork Health raises £3.5M to fix the staff scheduling disaster inside stressed hospitals
The tyranny of the Excel spreadsheet continues, and especially in rostering staff. Nowhere is this more acutely felt in today’s COVID-pressured hospital wards, which are now depleted not just by the disease but by staff burnout from patchy-over or under-scheduling of staff hours. Two doctors realized this and decided to create a startup. Patchwork Health […]