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Scientists May Have Answer for Birds' Gross Deformity

An alarming number of birds are being spotted with mangled beaks

(Newser) - Just before the start of the 21st century, scientists spotted chickadees in Alaska with grossly deformed beaks that seriously impeded the animals' ability to do the most basic tasks for survival, such as eating and grooming. With sightings on the rise—throughout the lower 48 states and in chickadees as...

Could an 1890s Smallpox Outbreak Come Back to Haunt Us?

Researchers fear melting permafrost will revive the virus

(Newser) - A video of scientists in hazmat suits incinerating animal carcasses in Siberia looks straight out of a sci-fi movie about a rogue virus, notes Vice News . The scariest part? Such a sight might become more familiar. The video arose because melting permafrost caused a long-frozen reindeer carcass to thaw and...

Getting a Zika Shot May Soon Be the New Normal

Researchers say once virus arrives, it's here to stay

(Newser) - A Zika vaccination is likely in your future, and in the futures of your children and grandchildren. Once the virus reaches the US, it will become a permanent, low-level threat, like the West Nile virus, according to researchers at this week's annual meeting of the Global Virus Network in...

Ancient Virus Could Determine the Sex of Your Baby

'Why ... is a fascinating question'

(Newser) - The sex of baby mice—and quite likely baby humans—is determined by a virus that inserted itself into the mammalian genome 1.5 million years ago, Live Science reports. Yale researchers published their surprising findings on March 30 in Nature . According to a press release , more than 40% of...

Scientists Claim Link Between Herpes Virus and Alzheimer's

Renowned researchers pen an editorial calling for more research into virus and bacteria

(Newser) - Roughly two-thirds of American adults have been exposed to the herpes type 1 virus (oral; type 2 is the genital one), and they could be predisposed to developing Alzheimer's disease later in life. So writes a group of 31 international scientists and clinicians in an editorial in the Journal ...

Country Confirms Zika Crisis, Denies Birth Defects

Colombia's president speaks on the issue

(Newser) - Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos said Saturday that there's no evidence Zika has caused any cases of the birth defect known as microcephaly in his country , though it has diagnosed 3,177 pregnant women with the virus. Santos also announced that a US medical-scientific team will arrive in...

Brazil to Women: Don't Get Pregnant Right Now

Amid fears mosquito-borne virus is causing spike in infant neurological condition

(Newser) - In what Brazil's Health Ministry is calling an "unprecedented situation," six states have declared a state of emergency and health officials are warning women not to get pregnant (especially in the country's northeast) due to a mosquito-carried virus linked to brain damage in infants , CNN reports....

MIT Scientists Figure Out What Happens When We Sneeze

They map out how mucus and saliva break into droplets

(Newser) - A sneeze is not just a sneeze. It is a "high-propulsion" cloud of mucus and saliva that spreads across entire rooms, even reaching ceilings and the ventilation ducts found there, in a matter of minutes. MIT researchers first gained attention last year with these findings, reports CBS Boston , and...

Test Can Detect Every Virus to Afflict Humans, Animals

Even uncommon viruses and ones present in low levels: scientists

(Newser) - A new test developed by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis may prove an invaluable aid to doctors who can't figure out what's wrong with their patients. The test, described in a study in the Genome Research journal, is able to detect, all at...

Scientists Find New Virus Passed Through Blood

Don't fret yet: HHpgV-1 might be good for you

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered a new virus apparently transmitted through blood transfusions. Little else is known about human hepegivirus-1, or HHpgV-1, besides that it looks a bit like hepatitis C and the harmless and perhaps beneficial human pegivirus. "It is the first transfusion-associated virus that's been described in a...

Prehistoric 'Frankenviruses' Could Rise Again

Viruses, buried in permafrost, could be revived with climate change

(Newser) - A 30,000-year-old "giant virus" could be brought back to life thanks to a surprise discovery 100 feet deep in Siberia's permafrost. The virus, Mollivirus sibericum or "soft virus from Siberia," qualifies as giant because it is 0.6 micrometers and can be seen under a...

Deadly New Virus Jumped From Squirrels to People

Mystery of exotic pet breeders' deaths solved

(Newser) - Squirrel breeding is a real job—and apparently a very dangerous one if you're dealing with the wrong kind of squirrel. After the mysterious deaths of three German men who all worked as breeders of variegated squirrels—a kind of squirrel native to Central America that's sometimes kept...

$25 Blood Test Finds Every Virus You've Ever Had

VirScan lets doctors scan for hundreds of viruses at once

(Newser) - Blood tests can reveal a lot about you, from your suicide risk to your need for antibiotics . Now, researchers at Howard Hughes Medical Institute say a simple blood test can identify every virus you've ever had. From just a single drop of blood, VirScan can detect the remains of...

A Schooner Sails the World, Makes Amazing Discoveries

Evidence for 10 times more plankton species than known

(Newser) - From 2009 to 2013, the 110-foot schooner Tara sailed around the world, collecting plankton samples from more than 200 sites, some as deep as 6,500 feet down in the ocean, Science magazine reports. Fighting volatile weather, funding issues, and even the threat of pirates, the Tara expedition team still...

2nd-Deadliest HIV Group Traced to Its Source
 2nd-Deadliest 
 HIV Group 
 Traced to 
 Its Source 
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Mar 7, 2015 7:00 PM CST

2nd-Deadliest HIV Group Traced to Its Source

The origins of all 4 HIV groups have now been pinpointed

(Newser) - Of the four identified groups of human AIDS viruses—HIV-1 M, N, O, and P—only M and N had been traced to their source. Until now. Researchers from institutions around the world, including the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine , are reporting that the origins of groups O (the...

Earth's Deepest Spot Is Alive With 'Unexpected' Bacteria

Microscopic bacteria are alive and well in the Mariana Trench's deepest canyon

(Newser) - To the naked eye, life gets scarce the deeper into the ocean one goes. But both the ocean's surfaces and its floors are teeming with microscopic life, and the deepest point of all—the Challenger Deep canyon in the Mariana Trench nearly seven miles below sea level—is home...

What We Know About the Deadly 'Bourbon Virus'

Only one case has been detected, but others may be out there

(Newser) - The Bourbon virus—so named because it first emerged recently in Bourbon County, Kansas—has puzzled researchers. A man with the first known case of the disease died last year, and since then, experts have been working to learn more about it. A new study outlines findings, NBC News reports....

Lindsay Lohan Contracts Chikungunya

Virus spread by mosquitoes can cause joint pain for months

(Newser) - Not all is well in paradise. Lindsay Lohan has, according to her Twitter and Instagram accounts, contracted the Chikungunya virus, which is spread by mosquitoes and can cause joint pain, swelling, fever, and rash, reports USA Today . On Monday, Lohan, 28, posted her latest update: "Being sick is no...

Origin of Ebola Outbreak: Tiny Guinea Bat?

Team says bats hunted by kids likely started this outbreak

(Newser) - The current Ebola epidemic—which now totals upward of 20,000 cases and more than 7,700 deaths—has already been traced to the tiny village of Meliandou in southern Guinea, where the person thought to be patient zero, 2-year-old Emile Ouamouno, died with Ebola-like symptoms in late 2013. Fruit...

Meet the Germs in Your Local Public Restroom

Even shortly after it's cleaned

(Newser) - Warning: Some readers may find the following information disturbing ... or at least pretty gross. Researchers studying public restrooms found that just an hour after bathrooms were sterilized with bleach solution, they were once again packed with various microbes, NPR reports. In a study over the course of a few months,...

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