Lee Ardis

Boston University researchers claim to have developed new, more lethal COVID strain in lab

Researchers at Boston University added a spike protein from the Omicron variant with the original Wuhan strain, which has an 80% kill rate.

Researchers at Boston University say they have developed a new COVID strain that has an 80% kill rate following a series of similar experiments first thought to have started the global pandemic that began in China.

The variant, a combination of omicron and the original virus in Wuhan, killed 80% of the mice infected with it, the university said. When mice were only exposed to omicron, they experienced mild symptoms.

The research was conducted by a team of scientists from Florida and Boston at the school’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories.

Damage from weather, climate disasters could exceed $100B in 2022, NOAA says

Just 15 events have killed more than 340 people in 2022.

Damage from weather and climate disasters in 2022 could exceed $100 billion in the U.S. by the end of the year, according to estimations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

So far this year, 15 events — including the recent Hurricanes Fiona and Ian — have incurred damages of more than $1 billion, NOAA announced on Tuesday. It is the 8th consecutive year in which the U.S. has endured 10 or more billion-dollar disaster events.