COVID-19 FAQ: What is the importance of physical activity for teenage girls’ during the pandemic?
Research suggests that COVID-19-related lockdowns negatively affect teenagers and especially adolescent girls’ mental health....
Science for those who want the facts
Stay informed with the latest scientific research broken down by experts into 3-minute Digests.
Popular Topics
COVID-19 FAQ: Why are men at a higher risk of critical COVID-19 and death?
Men are 2.4 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than women, according to a study from May 2020 investigating the role of gender in the disease....
COVID-19 FAQ: How do we stop viruses infecting us from animals?
The coronavirus causing the current pandemic appears to have jumped into human beings from animals. How could we stop this from this happening? It depends on how we treat the environment and the habitats of wild animals....
COVID-19 FAQ: How are existing drugs repurposed to treat the illness?
In the absence of specific drugs designed for COVID-19, researchers and clinicians are trying find already licensed products to treat severe cases of the illness. This concept is called drug repurposing....
COVID-19 FAQ: Can we design drugs that slow down viral replication in our own cells?
The coil –the genetic blueprint for replication – can misfold into unusual shapes. Since the world is still waiting for a COVID-19 vaccine, any treatment that can slow down the spread of infection would be welcome. However, our gr...
COVID-19 FAQ: I heard of mRNA vaccines but what are self-amplifying RNA vaccines and how can they help?
Just like other vaccines, mRNA vaccines teach the body to defeat disease, but in a radically new way (mRNA stands for messenger RNA and its role is to convey genetic information to ‘molecular factories’ in our bodies where protein...
COVID-19 FAQ: Could blocking the secondary docking mechanism of the virus reduce infection?
In 10 seconds? Researchers have found important “co-receptors” that help the entry of SARS-CoV-2 into our cells. By blocking them with an existing therapy, the infectivity of the virus can be significantly reduced. The finding ha...
COVID-19 FAQ: Could a nasal treatment protect against the novel coronavirus?
In 10 seconds? Researchers have created a compound, that dramatically reduced the amount of SARS-CoV-2 virus in lab animals. The potential treatment could help quickly clear infection and human trials are likely to start in month...
COVID-19 FAQ: How can steroids save the lives of critically ill patients?
In 10 seconds? Recent research papers have confirmed that steroids can significantly reduce the risk of death in critically ill COVID-19 patients. The results came from several clinical trials involving licenced, immediately avai...