Experts: Don’t use steroids to treat Covid-19 cases
Reading Time: 2 minutesSTEROIDS should be avoided in the treatment of the current novel coronavirus, experts have advised. A commentary article published in The Lancet concludes that, based on evidence from previous outbreaks of similar types of infection such as SARS, steroids provide little benefit to patients and could do more harm than good. They say that clinicians […]
Artificial intelligence yields new antibiotic
Reading Time: 3 minutesUSING a machine-learning algorithm, MIT researchers have identified a powerful new antibiotic compound. In laboratory tests, the drug killed many of the world’s most problematic disease-causing bacteria, including some strains that are resistant to all known antibiotics. It also cleared infections in two different mouse models. The computer model, which can screen more than a […]
Which is the most expensive snake in the world?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteGREEN TREE pythons are the most expensive snake in the world. It is a very rare species and is worth up to a staggering amount of [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”2,3,5″ ihc_mb_template=”1″ ] RM 1.8 million. It can be found on Indonesian islands, throughout the eastern rain forests of Cape York in Australia and Papua New Guinea. […]
Why do dogs have a shorter lifespan compared to humans?
Reading Time: 2 minutesEACH dog’s expected lifespan may differ from one to another. A small dog is expected to live 10 to 15 years, a medium-sized dog to live 10 to 13 years and a large dog to live between 8 to 12 years. Dogs have the tendency to age faster compared to humans, with an average lifespan […]
How do deep-sea creatures survive extreme pressure unlike humans?
Reading Time: 2 minutesDEEP-SEA creatures are organisms that live thousands of feet below the photic zone – the uppermost layer of the ocean that receives sufficient sunlight to carry out their survival activities. Examples of deep sea creatures include sharks, crabs, sea urchins, vampire squids and whales. These organisms are subjected to extreme [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”2,3,5″ ihc_mb_template=”1″ ] […]
What is the largest living thing on Earth
Reading Time: < 1 minuteTHE LARGEST living thing on Earth is a single fungus known as Armillaria ostoyae . The discovery of this humongous fungus in 1998 which occupies approximately 2384 acres of soil in the Malheur National Forest in Oregon heralded a new record holder for the title of [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”2,3,5″ ihc_mb_template=”1″ ] world’s largest known organism. […]
Malaysia joins global race to develop COVID-19 vaccine
Reading Time: 2 minutesMALAYSIA has joined the global race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 infections. The Institute for Medical Research has agreed to collaborate with the Malaysian Vaccines and Pharmaceutical Sdn Bhd, a local veterinary vaccines manufacturer and the Tropical Infectious Diseases Research and Education Center (TIDREC) of University Malaya to engage in testing a currently available […]
Coronavirus outbreak raises question: Why are bat viruses so deadly?
Reading Time: 4 minutesIT’S NO coincidence that some of the worst viral disease outbreaks in recent years — SARS, MERS, Ebola, Marburg and likely the newly arrived 2019-nCoV virus — originated in bats. A new University of California, Berkeley, study finds that bats’ fierce immune response to viruses could drive viruses to replicate faster, so that when they […]
To predict an epidemic, evolution can’t be ignored
Reading Time: 2 minutesWHEN scientists try to predict the spread of something across populations — anything from a coronavirus to misinformation — they use complex mathematical models to do so. Typically, they’ll study the first few steps in which the subject spreads, and use that rate to project how far and wide the spread will go. But what […]
Preventing spread of SARS-COV-2 in humans
Reading Time: 2 minutesSEVERAL coronaviruses circulate worldwide and constantly infect humans, which normally caused only mild respiratory disease. Currently, however, we are witnessing a worldwide spread of a new coronavirus with more than 90,000 confirmed cases and over 3,000 deaths. The new virus has been named SARS coronavirus-2 and has been transmitted from animals to humans. It causes […]