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Specifically, we hypothesize that Mucorales-rich cow excrement, given its use in multiple Indian rituals and practices, especially during the pandemic, probably played a key role in India’s CAM epidemic. We also posit that the dispersal of fungal spores most likely occurs through fumes generated from the burning of Mucorales-rich biomass, such as cow dung and crop stubble.

—Jessy Skaria et al., in a recently published mBio paper that identified the ritual use of cow dung as a key contributor to a rash of infections with black fungus linked to COVID-19 cases, or what’s known as COVID-19–associated mucormycosis (CAM), in India last year (March 31)


I feel as though there’s no more poignant signal that you don’t care about trainees than to prioritize protecting and vindicating this one individual over our mental health and physical safety.

—Julia Derk, a postdoc in neurobiology at the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Center, speaking to The Scientist about the fact that cell signaling researcher David Sabatini, who recently resigned from or was fired by three institutions following allegations of sexual misconduct, was being considered for a faculty position at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, where Derk recently completed her PhD (April 29)


False, distorted, and preposterous allegations about me have intensified in the press and on social media in the wake of reports last week that New York University Langone Health was considering hiring me. I understand the enormous pressure this has placed on NYU Langone Health and do not want to distract from its important mission.

—David Sabatini announcing through a public relations firm that he was withdrawing his name from consideration for the position at NYU Grossman School of Medicine (May 3)


Time is not on our side. The disease has had a two-week head start and we are now playing catch-up.

—The World Health Organization’s regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moet, announcing the agency’s declaration of an Ebola outbreak in  the Democratic Republic of Congo, four months after the last one ended (April 24)


This case highlights the potential of the Omicron variant to evade the previous immunity acquired either from a natural infection with other variants or from vaccines. 

—Gemma Recio of Institut Català de la Salut in Spain, speaking at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in late April about the case of a 31-year-old healthcare worker who was infected with SARS-CoV-2 twice—first with the Delta variant and then with Omicron—within three weeks (April 20)