Nearly 15 million more people died during the pandemic than would have in normal times, the World Health Organization said on Thursday, a staggering measure of Covid’s true toll that laid bare how vastly country after country has undercounted victims. In Mexico, the excess death toll during the first two years of the pandemic was twice as high as the government’s official tally of Covid deaths, the W.H.O. found. In Egypt, excess deaths were roughly 12 times as great as the official Covid toll. In Pakistan, the figure was eight times as high. Those estimates, calculated by a global panel of experts assembled by the W.H.O., represent what many scientists see as the most reliable gauge of the total impact of the pandemic. Faced with large gaps in global death data, the expert team set out to calculate excess mortality: the difference between the number of people who died in 2020 and 2021 and the number who would have been expected to die during that time if the pandemic had not happened.
With the help of the CRISPR/Cas molecular scissors, genetic information in a plant can be modified to make the latter more robust to pests, diseases, or extreme climatic conditions. Researchers have now developed this method further to eliminate the complete DNA of specific cell types and, thus, prevent their formation during plant development. This will also help researchers better understand development mechanisms in plants.
Новую разновидность бактерий из рода клостридий вывели биотехнологи. Новый вид микробов способен синтезировать из углекислого газа чистый ацетон и спирт — изопропанол. Статью с описанием работы опубликовал научный журнал Nature Biotechnology. Исследователи сообщили, что нашли простой способ производства ацетона и изопропанола из выхлопов промышленных предприятий, а также смеси из угарного газа и водорода. Новую разновидность микробов вывели биотехнологи под руководством профессора Северо-Западного университета в Эванстоне (США) Майкла Джуитта. Ацетон и изопропанол, получаемые от бактерий, используют в промышленности, в том числе для производства растворителей и антисептиков. Ученые начали работу с кишечной бактерией Clostridium autoethanogenum, способной преобразовать угарный газ в этиловый спирт. В итоге геном этой разновидности клостридий модифицировали так, чтобы она поглощала углекислый газ и превращала его в различные вещества, не требуя для этого притока энергии и других питательных веществ.
Researchers have enabled a non-verbal person with an advanced degenerative disease to communicate with the aid of two brain implants. The findings of a two-year clinical study, published in the journal Nature Communications on Tuesday, suggest that communication with patients who are completely paralyzed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is possible. ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a progressive neuromuscular condition that causes patients to lose motor function. While ALS is relatively rare, the number of people with the condition globally is increasing, with more than 300,000 people projected to be living with the disease by 2040. There is currently no cure for ALS.
Here’s a New Year’s resolution you can keep: Stop dieting and start savoring your food instead. That may seem like surprising advice, but there’s mounting scientific evidence to suggest that diets don’t work. Research shows that food restriction just makes you want to eat more. And over the long term, dieting can backfire, triggering your body’s survival defenses, slowing your metabolism and making it even harder to lose weight in the future. A resolution to quit dieting doesn’t mean giving up on having a healthier body. But to successfully conquer a dieting habit, you’ll need to let go of old ideas about counting calories, banning your favorite foods and measuring success by a number on a scale.
Nearly 15 million more people died during the pandemic than would have in normal times, the World Health Organization 
With the help of the CRISPR/Cas molecular scissors, genetic information in a plant can be modified to make the latter more robust to pests, diseases, or extreme climatic conditions. Researchers have now developed this method further to eliminate the complete DNA of specific cell types and, thus, prevent their formation during plant development. This will also help researchers better understand development mechanisms in plants.
Новую разновидность бактерий из рода клостридий вывели биотехнологи. Новый вид микробов способен синтезировать из углекислого газа чистый ацетон и спирт — изопропанол. Статью с описанием работы опубликовал научный журнал 
Researchers have enabled a non-verbal person with an advanced degenerative disease to communicate with the aid of two brain implants.
Here’s a New Year’s resolution you can keep: Stop dieting and start savoring your food instead.
