Tina Saey

United States, Washington, D.C.

Senior Writer, Molecular Biology at Science News

Senior writer covering molecular biology for @ScienceNews Geek. Lover of science fact and fiction. Standard disclaimers may apply. Mileage will vary. She/her

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Articles

Personalized gene editing saved a baby, but the tech’s future is uncertain

1 week ago | sciencenews.org | Tina Saey

When a baby born in Philadelphia was announced as the first person to get a gene therapy designed just for him, many people hailed the achievement as a starting point to treat virtually any genetic disease. But there is a long road that researchers and regulators need to pave before other people with genetic disorders can get bespoke gene therapies. Here’s what you need to know about this personalized therapy and how it may affect gene therapy moving forward.
FDA plan to ban fluoride supplements baffles and alarms dental experts

3 weeks ago | sciencenews.org | Tina Saey

A decades-old dental health treatment may soon vanish in the United States. Access to fluoride supplements, prescribed to prevent cavities in children without access to fluoridated water, is now under threat from a controversial move by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Humans have shockingly few ways to treat fungal infections

3 weeks ago | sciencenews.org | Tina Saey

Season two of the streaming series The Last of Us has arrived on Max (light spoilers ahead), bringing viewers back to a world where people combat zombies puppeteered by a mind-controlling fungus. Guns and flames help the characters survive onscreen. In the real world, fighting fungal infections is less action-packed, but no less fraught. At the heart of the show is Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a girl immune to the pandemic fungus.
Putrid plants can reek of hot rotting flesh with one evolutionary trick

1 month ago | sciencenews.org | Tina Saey

Some plants stink of rotting meat or dung, which helps them attract flies for pollination. How plants make the carrion stench, which is usually produced by bacteria feasting on decaying corpses, has been a mystery until now. Several types of plants have independently evolved to make the fetid odor thanks to a few tweaks in one gene, researchers report May 8 in Science.
Bird flu in cows shows no signs of adapting to humans - yet

1 month ago | sciencenews.org | Tina Saey

WASHINGTON — When traces of H5N1 bird flu showed up in cow’s milk last year, it raised fears that the virus could become more infectious to humans. So far, that hasn’t happened, virologist Richard Webby reported April 23 at the World Vaccine Congress Washington. Cows were surprise hosts for the virus. Influenza viruses latch on to sialic acid attached to sugar molecules that decorate the outside of cells.
Autism rates rose again. Experts explain why

1 month ago | sciencenews.org | Tina Saey |Laura Sanders

Autism is more common than ever before, a new report suggests. As of 2022, about 1 in 31 children in the United States were diagnosed with autism by the time they were 8 years old, researchers reported online April 15 in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Previous studies had put the number at 1 in 36 in 2020 and 1 in 150 in 2000.
Autism rates rose again. Experts explain why

1 month ago | autism.einnews.com | Tina Saey |Laura Sanders |Aimee Cunningham

Autism is more common than ever before, a new report suggests. As of 2022, about 1 in 31 children in the United States were diagnosed with autism by the time they were 8 years old, researchers reported online April 15 in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Previous studies had put the number at 1 in 36 in 2020 and 1 in 150 in 2000.
Biological sex is more complex than just male or female

1 month ago | snexplores.org | Tina Saey

advocacy: Work performed to support some cause, idea or program. People who do this work are known as advocates. For instance, advocates might campaign for some change, speak up on behalf of someone or something in court (or other public forum), or write commentaries (opinion pieces) on a topic for some news outlet. average: (in science) A term for the arithmetic mean, which is the sum of a group of numbers that is then divided by the size of the group.
The U.S. measles outbreak shows no signs of slowing

2 months ago | sciencenews.org | Tina Saey

The death of a second child from measles is raising alarm bells anew that an ongoing outbreak of the highly contagious disease is larger than official numbers suggest. And it comes at a time when the Trump administration’s widespread cuts to public health funding and jobs are gutting the ability to tackle infectious diseases. The child, who died April 3 from measles pulmonary failure, was unvaccinated and had no underlying health conditions, Texas health officials announced April 6.
How U.S. public health cuts could raise risks of infectious diseases

2 months ago | sciencenews.org | Tina Saey

At 6 a.m. on March 25, Philip Huang, director of the Dallas County Health and Human Services department, got a devastating email. Millions of dollars in federal grants that the health agency had were suddenly gone. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had just rescinded about $12 billion from thousands of state and local health agencies, including Huang’s.