Human factors in North Pole efficiency, the cost-effectiveness of Christmas, would we see evolution differently if Darwin played Go, our friends the T-cell, and why it is difficult to separate economics from the form of government we choose.
T-cells
The COVID vaccine is out -- and no one needs it more than the elderly. But vaccines don't work as well in older people. A group at Oxford is trying to address this by adding a simple (but nasty-smelling) naturally-occurring chemical that makes damaged cells eat themselves.
A rare genetic disorder that transforms a person's hands and feet, in particular, into tree-bark-like warts and cutaneous horns made news recently. It's truly out of the ordinary. So what's this all about?
A drop in T-cell production may mean that astronauts are at least temporarily immunocompromised by space flight. To those of you who are eager for a trip to Mars, add "immunosuppression" to your list of concerns.