Where Do #Viruses Come From? ...

| #genomics | #Duplodnaviria | #virus | #DNA | #RNA | By @kamalnahas.bsky.social via the-scientist .com

Human brain organoids are too simple to experience consciousness, but neuroscientists think they may be able to one day with tech advances.

Is it unethical to work on a conscious organoid?

Should regulations change?

This and more in my @livescience.com piece 🧠

www.livescience.com/health/neuro...

Bot-made art undermines research and public trust in science, say illustrators frustrated by inaccurate and outlandish depictions.

@kamalnahas.bsky.social @ella-maru.bsky.social‬ ‪@blokoweka.bsky.social‬

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Thrilled to share my first essay for @asimovpress.bsky.social as a columnist!

Model animals like the lab mouse minimize genetic differences. I explored the impact that mutations accruing over time have on their genomes and what effect that has on reproducibility.

press.asimov.com/articles/sta...

Little research has been done on archaea—microbes inhabiting salt lakes, geysers and hydrothermal vents—because scientists assumed they keep to extreme habitats.

But new evidence shows they thrive in the body. Read about what they do there in my latest feature.
www.the-scientist.com/archaea-inha...

The story of how Edward Jenner invented vaccines has been told time and time again.

But you may not know the story of the wounded horse that led French scientist Gaston Ramon to change vaccines forever.

Read all about it in @asimovpress.bsky.social

press.asimov.com/articles/adj...

Edward Jenner administered the world's first vaccine, for smallpox, in 1796. At the time, smallpox caused nearly 1/5 of ALL deaths in London.

But it was the unsung scientists, Gaston Ramon and Alexander Glenny, who discovered adjuvants and made modern vaccines possible.

Story🔻

Many school students get a chance to peer at miniature life through a microscope, but while growing up in a remote town @prakashlab.bsky.social wasn't able to.

That didn't curb his curiosity.

Now he makes frugal microscopes (some out paper!) to expand outreach.

thebrilliant.com/2025/04/02/s...

We are closer than ever to an HIV vaccine (of sorts): A single injection of lenacapavir offers six months of protection!

But getting the medicine to everyone who needs it comes with its own challenges.

Read all about the global effort to end HIV/AIDS in AsimovPress
press.asimov.com/articles/hiv...

Muscle burns calories during exercise, and body-warming brown fat burns calories in the cold, but which is easier to leverage for weight loss?

And how true is the saying that every pound of muscle you put on burns an extra 50 calories per day?

thanks to @nicolanese.bsky.social @livescience.com

Thrilled to see our work with the @bocklab.bsky.social featured in 'The Scientist'!

It's a really great read and builds on an interview I had with the @kamalnahas.bsky.social.

www.the-scientist.com/an-ai-lab-pa...

There are several AI tools that you can use to turn dense research papers (or even a whole PhD thesis!) into easy-listening podcasts.

For Nature Index, I asked scientists to share their experience using these tools for sci comm as well as keeping up with the lit.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Sometimes it's easier to find info by asking ChatGPT a question and then fact-checking its response.

Similarly, scientists can now use an AI chatbot as a starting point to analyze transcriptomics data by feeding it simple prompts like "what cells are these?"

www.the-scientist.com/an-ai-lab-pa...

We know fear triggers an adrenaline rush, but what else can it do?

Here's what happens if you send people to a haunted house attraction and monitor their immune system.

www.newscientist.com/article/2458...

How do bacteria manipulate the immune system?

New research shows that Pseudomonas aeruginosa switches off energy production in immune cells that engulf and destroy microbes.

Scientists are now developing inhibitors to block this process.

www.the-scientist.com/pseudomonas-...