Robots working in abattoirs, sky-high vertical farms, more gene-edited foods in our supermarkets and automated farming systems could all help guarantee food supply in the next pandemic. University of Queensland Professor Robert Henry said the technologies had all been in various stages of planning prior to COVID-19, but food producers would now be moving much...
COVID-19 has led to a global economic slowdown that is affecting all four pillars of food security – availability, access, utilization, and stability – according to a new article from researchers at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), published in the journal Science. Agricultural and food markets are facing continuous disruptions due to labor shortages...
According to researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the implementation of social distancing policies corresponded with significant reductions in transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and reduced community mobility, both in the U.S. and globally, providing evidence that social distancing is a useful tool in preventing further spread of COVID-19. The study,...
A new study finds that healthcare workers in the United States are struggling with a suite of mental-health challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study reports that healthcare workers are at greater risk than the general public of experiencing health problems such as depression. One striking finding is that, on average, healthcare professionals reported enough...
As provinces across Canada are deciding how to restart schools during the pandemic, a research review has found children are not a major source of transmission of COVID-19. A second review has found strain on families, particularly women with children. The rapid evidence reviews were completed by the National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools...
Thus far, COVID-19 has cost at least $2.6 trillion and may cost ten times this amount. It is the largest global pandemic in 100 years. Six months after emerging, it has killed over 600,000 people and is having a major impact on the global economy. “How much would it cost to prevent this happening again?...
Frequent social media use can impact depressive symptoms over time for LGBTQ youth, according to research from a Washington State University communication professor. Traci Gillig, an assistant professor in the College of Communication at Washington State University, found that when LGBTQ adolescents attended a social media-free summer camp, they experienced a reduction in depressive symptoms,...
Rustling leaves, light rain at the window, a quietly ticking clock – muffled sounds, just above the threshold of hearing. One moment we perceive them, the next we don’t, even if we, or the sounds, don’t seem to change. Many studies have shown that we never process an incoming stimulus, be it a sound, an...
The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea A paper came out in Nature on July 22 that further underscores earlier studies that show that neither the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine nor chloroquine prevents SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – from replicating in lung cells. Most Americans probably...
The COVID-19 pandemic has spawned an infodemic, a vast and complicated mix of information, misinformation and disinformation. In this environment, false narratives – the virus was “planned,” that it originated as a bioweapon, that COVID-19 symptoms are caused by 5G wireless communications technology – have spread like wildfire across social media and other communication platforms....
