Discovery of Hepatitis C Snags Nobel Prize in Medicine

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October 05, 2020

Dear Reader, The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was jointly awarded to Harvey J. Alter, Charles M. Rice and Michael Houghton for the discovery of the hepatitis C virus, which causes severe liver disease and chronically infects more than 70 million people worldwide. Read our lead story for the details. Up next, an expert on airborne virus transmission explains the conditions in which President Trump or his family could have infected former Vice President Biden or anyone else at the debate. And lastly, check out a piece on how the family tree of humanity is much more interconnected than we tend to think.

Sunya Bhutta, Senior Editor, Audience Engagement @sunyaaa

Medicine Discovery of Hepatitis C Snags Nobel Prize in Medicine Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice share the award for identifying the virus behind the blood-borne liver disease By Tanya Lewis

Public Health How Trump Could Have Exposed Biden and Others to COVID at the Debate An expert on airborne virus transmission explains the risks of talking loudly without wearing a mask in an indoor environment By Tanya Lewis

Evolution Humans Are All More Closely Related Than We Commonly Think Humanity's most recent common ancestor and so-called genetic isopoint illustrate the surprising connections among our family trees By Scott Hershberger

Natural Disasters Hurricane-Resistant Building Code Helped Protect Alabama from Sally's Winds Coastal areas of the state are national leaders in adopting a standard that protects roofs By Daniel Cusick,E&E News

Space 'Supernova Slice' Simulates Blasts of Dying Stars A door-sized experiment models massive star explosions By Nola Taylor Redd

Neuroscience These Researchers are Putting Fly Babies into Virtual Reality A new system called PiVR creates working artificial environments for small animals such as zebra fish larvae and fruit flies. Developers say the system's affordability could help expand research into animal behavior.  By Macarena Carrizosa,Sophie Bushwick

Behavior & Society How to Unlearn Racism Implicit bias training isn't enough. What actually works? By Abigail Libers

Space Life's Small-Molecule Problem What if the signature of living things is the lack of a simple signature? By Caleb A. Scharf

FROM THE STORE Technology vs. Truth: Deception in the Digital Age In the digital age, information, both true and false, spreads faster than ever. The same technology that provides access to data across the globe can abet the warping of truth and normalization of lies. In this eBook, we examine the intersection of truth, untruth and technology, including how social media manipulates behavior, technologies such as deepfakes that spread misinformation, the bias inherent in algorithms and more.

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