60-second Science

Celebrating those who strive to overcome disparities in cancer care to bring quality services to their patients, the Cancer Community Awards, sponsored by AstraZeneca, created the Catalyst for Equity Award. We spoke with Dr. Anne Marie Murphy, executive director of Equal Hope and winner of the award in 2021, to learn more about what’s happened since her organization received the award.

A pair of studies show that male bottlenose dolphins rely on wingmen when wooing mates—and that they cultivate these friendships by being vocal.

Celebrating those who are making a patient’s experience as easy as possible during an extraordinarily difficult time, the Cancer Community Awards, sponsored by AstraZeneca, presents an individual or organization with a Catalyst for Care Award. We spoke with the 2021 winner, Unite for HER’s founder and CEO Sue Weldon, to hear more about what’s happened since her organization received the award.

On this episode of the COVID, Quickly podcast, we talk about getting reinfected with the coronavirus just a month or two after an earlier bout—and the difference that trusting others can make in a pandemic.

Jacob Sagiv is a chemist who studies properties of self-assembled monolayers. This year, he shared The Kavli Prize in Nanoscience for his research.

Lung cancer is the number-one cause of cancer deaths in the world. But how many lives would be saved if doctors could diagnose and treat it before it progresses?

A new subpopulation of Greenland polar bears offers insights into how this species might hang on as Arctic ice disappears.

On this episode of the COVID, Quickly podcast, we talk about the increase in new Omicron subvariants. Should fall vaccine boosters contain standard Omicron or some of those new subvariants instead?

Researchers design an artificial neuron that can trigger closure of a Venus flytrap.

On this episode of the COVID, Quickly podcast, we discuss some parents breathing a collective sigh of relief and the paradox of how effective vaccines can make it harder to create new drugs to treat patients who get the coronavirus.

Researchers tricked out conventional camera traps to snap headshots of Puma concolor, revealing a better way to track the elusive species.

Huda Zoghbi is a clinician-scientist who studies the molecular mechanisms of neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration. This year she shared the Kavli Prize in Neuroscience for discovering the genetic pathways behind serious brain disorders.

Appointing women to leadership positions renders organizations more likely to describe all women as being powerful, persistent and bold.

On this episode of the COVID, Quickly podcast, we clear up some data misconceptions, get to the bottom of the booster uptake issue and talk Novavax.

Bacteria resistant to methicillin emerged in hedgehogs long before the drug was prescribed to treat infections.

For meerkats in the Kalahari Desert, rising temperatures spark deadly outbreaks of tuberculosis.

Today we bring you a new episode in our podcast series COVID, Quickly. Every two weeks, Scientific American’s senior health editors Tanya Lewis and Josh Fischman catch you up on the essential developments in the pandemic: from vaccines to new variants and everything in between. You can listen to all past episodes here. 

Technology editor Sophie Bushwick breaks down the precedent for using your phone to monitor personal health data.

A new study links sea ice decline with increasing wildfire weather in the Western U.S.

Today we bring you a new episode in our podcast series COVID, Quickly. Every two weeks, Scientific American’s senior health editors Tanya Lewis and Josh Fischman catch you up on the essential developments in the pandemic: from vaccines to new variants and everything in between. You can listen to all past episodes here.