Web-based DNA sequencer applications are under attack from a mysterious hacker group using a still-unpatched zero-day to take control of targeted devices. The attacks have started two days ago, on June 12, and are still going on, according to Ankit Anubhav, a security researcher with NewSky Security, who shared his findings with ZDNet. HACKERS PLANTING SHELLS ON [...]
Antibiotics were one of the most important scientific developments of the 20th century, helping to easily control bacterial infections and make previously life-threatening procedures and illnesses safe. But inversely, they might also be one of the biggest medical issues of the 21st century, as bacteria evolve resistances to our best drugs. Now, a bacterial gene that grants resistance [...]
Coffee has been part of the human diet for about 1,000 years. During much of that time, it has stimulated controversy — and in the age of Starbucks, the dispute has blossomed from a tempest in a coffee pot to grounds for serious debate. Some of coffee's negative press seems to depend on the widespread [...]
Supermarkets in Vietnam have adopted an initiative from Thailand that makes use of banana leaves instead of plastic as a packaging alternative. Rimping supermarket in Chiangmai, Thailand earned praise on Facebook for coming up with the eco-friendly packaging after a local firm featured it on their page last week. Image by 41330 from Pixabay [...]
Pillsbury has recalled 4,620 cases — or 36,960 5-pound bags — of Best Bread Flour because the wheat used to make it was used in flour that’s been linked to an E. coli outbreak. This answers the question “More to come?” in the headline of Thursday’s Miami Herald story on King Arthur’s flour recall. Those flours, as [...]
Some adults may need a measles booster Like the bad guy in a horror movie, the measles just won’t die. The current measles outbreak continues to spread across the U.S. “Measles spreads very quickly among people who aren’t protected from it,” says infectious disease specialist Kristin Englund, MD. “When somebody is coughing or sneezing, the virus [...]
The dossier on cancer researcher Xifeng Wu was thick with intrigue, if hardly the stuff of a spy thriller. It contained findings that she’d improperly shared confidential information and accepted a half-dozen advisory roles at medical institutions in China. She might have weathered those allegations, but for a larger aspersion that was far more problematic: [...]
Polluted waterways help fuel drug resistance in bacteria In a massive survey of rivers across 72 countries, researchers found antibiotics at 66 percent of 711 sites sampled. Many of the most drug-polluted waterways were in Asia and Africa, where there hadn’t been much data until now. Environmental pollution from antibiotics is one driver of microbial [...]
Almost two-thirds of the rivers studied contained enough antibiotics to contribute to the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Each year, humans produce, prescribe, and ingest more antibiotics than they did the year before. Those drugs have done wonders for public health, saving millions from infections that might otherwise have killed them. But the drugs' influence [...]
Key Points Question Are increased numbers of steps per day associated with lower mortality rates among older women? Findings In this cohort study of 16 741 women with a mean age of 72 years, steps per day were measured over 7 days. Women who averaged approximately 4400 steps/d had significantly lower mortality rates during a follow-up of 4.3 [...]
