“It’s like the guy went crazy with Photoshop,” said one expert in scientific image manipulation.The journalists at BuzzFeed News are proud to bring you trustworthy and relevant reporting about the coronavirus. To help keep this news free, and sign up for our newsletter, .The founder of Surgisphere, the little-known health data analytics company blamed for the retraction of two prominent scientific papers on , is in more trouble.On Friday evening, Elisabeth Bik, a consultant who in analyzing scientific papers for signs of data manipulation, spotted multiple duplications in images from a...…“It’s like the guy went crazy with Photoshop,” said one expert in scientific image manipulation.The journalists at BuzzFeed News are proud to bring you trustworthy and relevant reporting about the coronavirus. To help keep this news free, and sign up for our newsletter, .The founder of Surgisphere, the little-known health data analytics company blamed for the retraction of two prominent scientific papers on , is in more trouble.On Friday evening, Elisabeth Bik, a consultant who in analyzing scientific papers for signs of data manipulation, spotted multiple duplications in images from a...WW…

Studies show pink eye can be a symptom of COVID-19, but it's rare.Vice President Mike Pence's left eye became a focus of fevered speculation during the debate on Wednesday, after people noticed it showed signs of redness and claimed this could indicate a COVID-19 infection.Pink eye, or conjunctivitis, is a of COVID-19, but it is relatively rare — and many other viruses or bacteria can cause this very common condition. As of now, it's unclear what caused the redness in Pence's eye. BuzzFeed News contacted the vice president's office and the Trump campaign for comment but did not immediately...…Studies show pink eye can be a symptom of COVID-19, but it's rare.Vice President Mike Pence's left eye became a focus of fevered speculation during the debate on Wednesday, after people noticed it showed signs of redness and claimed this could indicate a COVID-19 infection.Pink eye, or conjunctivitis, is a of COVID-19, but it is relatively rare — and many other viruses or bacteria can cause this very common condition. As of now, it's unclear what caused the redness in Pence's eye. BuzzFeed News contacted the vice president's office and the Trump campaign for comment but did not immediately...WW…

First GEDmatch, the DNA database that helped identify the Golden State Killer, was hacked. Then email addresses from its users were used in a phishing attack on another leading genealogy site.On July 19, genealogy enthusiasts who use the website to upload their DNA information and find relatives to fill in their family trees got an unpleasant surprise. Suddenly, more than a million DNA profiles that had been hidden from cops using the site to find partial matches to crime scene DNA were available for police to search.The news has undermined efforts by , the forensic genetics company that ,...…First GEDmatch, the DNA database that helped identify the Golden State Killer, was hacked. Then email addresses from its users were used in a phishing attack on another leading genealogy site.On July 19, genealogy enthusiasts who use the website to upload their DNA information and find relatives to fill in their family trees got an unpleasant surprise. Suddenly, more than a million DNA profiles that had been hidden from cops using the site to find partial matches to crime scene DNA were available for police to search.The news has undermined efforts by , the forensic genetics company that ,...WW…

As a World Health Organization and Chinese study into the origins of the pandemic gives no conclusive answers, the controversial theory that the virus emerged from a lab refuses to go away.After a month of gathering information in China, and even longer turning the findings into a , an international team of experts on Tuesday delivered its conclusions on the origins of the .The bottom line: We still don’t know where SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, came from — and it’s possible we never will.The most likely explanation, according to experts convened by the World Health...…As a World Health Organization and Chinese study into the origins of the pandemic gives no conclusive answers, the controversial theory that the virus emerged from a lab refuses to go away.After a month of gathering information in China, and even longer turning the findings into a , an international team of experts on Tuesday delivered its conclusions on the origins of the .The bottom line: We still don’t know where SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, came from — and it’s possible we never will.The most likely explanation, according to experts convened by the World Health...WW…

The president-elect ran with an ambitious climate plan. Congress could derail it.Joe Biden, who ran on the most progressive climate platform ever in a US presidential election, just won the presidency. Now converting that platform into meaningful action could prove his administration’s toughest challenge.The reality of the climate situation is grim. Even before Donald Trump took office, the world was hurtling toward catastrophic warming. His actions as US president made things worse. Carbon dioxide and methane levels in the atmosphere are soaring. There’s been more than 1 degree Celsius of...…The president-elect ran with an ambitious climate plan. Congress could derail it.Joe Biden, who ran on the most progressive climate platform ever in a US presidential election, just won the presidency. Now converting that platform into meaningful action could prove his administration’s toughest challenge.The reality of the climate situation is grim. Even before Donald Trump took office, the world was hurtling toward catastrophic warming. His actions as US president made things worse. Carbon dioxide and methane levels in the atmosphere are soaring. There’s been more than 1 degree Celsius of...WW…

After four years of relentless attacks on science, researchers and doctors are hopeful that Biden will fight the pandemic and climate change.BuzzFeed News has journalists around the US bringing you trustworthy stories on the 2020 Elections. To help keep this news free, .For scientists who have watched in horror as President Donald Trump relentlessly insulted, undermined, and ignored science, while during a historic pandemic, Joe Biden’s victory on Saturday was a long-awaited cause for celebration.“It feels very much like the four-year war on science has come to an end,” Jacquelyn Gill, an...…After four years of relentless attacks on science, researchers and doctors are hopeful that Biden will fight the pandemic and climate change.BuzzFeed News has journalists around the US bringing you trustworthy stories on the 2020 Elections. To help keep this news free, .For scientists who have watched in horror as President Donald Trump relentlessly insulted, undermined, and ignored science, while during a historic pandemic, Joe Biden’s victory on Saturday was a long-awaited cause for celebration.“It feels very much like the four-year war on science has come to an end,” Jacquelyn Gill, an...WW…

AdvertisementMany Americans are clinging to the idea that if Joe Biden wins the presidential election, calm can return to a nation riven by protests and rattled by President Donald Trump’s authoritarian rhetoric.Not so fast, caution two academics who claim they have devised a measure of political instability that shows that the nation will still be a powder keg that is waiting to blow, even if a Biden landslide means that Trump has little choice but to step aside.“The tendency is to blame Trump, but I don’t really agree with that,” Peter Turchin, an evolutionary anthropologist at the...…AdvertisementMany Americans are clinging to the idea that if Joe Biden wins the presidential election, calm can return to a nation riven by protests and rattled by President Donald Trump’s authoritarian rhetoric.Not so fast, caution two academics who claim they have devised a measure of political instability that shows that the nation will still be a powder keg that is waiting to blow, even if a Biden landslide means that Trump has little choice but to step aside.“The tendency is to blame Trump, but I don’t really agree with that,” Peter Turchin, an evolutionary anthropologist at the...WW…