Once again so much new stuff on health and biology but we do have a couple of papers in economics and sociology!

• First, we have a simple and rather straightforward paper about a result that is perhaps obvious. A team of China-based researchers have published a paper claiming that antihistamines inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection. The mechanism is that the histamine receptor H1 acts as an alternative receptor for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Antihistamines then competitively bind to HRH1, blocking the viral spike protein from gaining access. This discovery might seem less urgent now that the pandemic is under control and vaccines exist, but as virologists warn, SARS-CoV-2 could yet evolve and make a comeback and it’s always good to have more tools in our arsenal.
• Next we have a paper whose very technical title both makes it difficult to understand and perhaps understates its significance. It describes using something they call bridge DNA to insert DNA at specific genomic target sites and allows programmable DNA excision and inversion. The specific details are far beyond my layman’s understanding but the upshot is that this comprises a new DNA editing tool far above the capabilities of the CRISPR/Cas 9 genetic scissors. Given how much of a difference CRISPR made, this is surely a Nobel Prize-level discovery and a harbinger of much accelerated development in the biosciences.
• This next paper is sure to be contentious in a US election year and like all such papers which attempt to find statistical correlations in large masses of data, I would be cautious about its findings. Its objective is no less than to find correlations between intelligence and political beliefs, focusing on left-wing and liberal ideals. The result is the expected one that social liberalism and lower fondness for authoritarianism is correlated with higher intelligence, as measured by both IQ and educational attainment.
• The next paper however is less flattering to liberals. There has been a lot of interest lately in studying the effects of potential Universal Basic Income schemes. This experiment compared 1,000 low-income individuals who were given a substantial amount of money unconditionally over three years with a control group. They found no significant effects on investments in human capital and no impact of quality of employment. Instead they found increases in time spent on leisure. Arguably this still represents a net increase in human welfare but it will be hard to politically sell as government policy.
• Finally here’s a discovery that is both fun and made me wonder why no one ever noticed it before. In addition to many other elements that already make Komodo dragons so deadly, It seems that their teeth are coated with a layer of iron and that helps them to keep the edges sharp. This discovery was made when someone noticed orange pigment on the serrated edge of their teeth and analyzed the substance to find that it contains concentrated iron. It rather puzzles me why no one noticed this before and it is apparently the first time this kind of coating has been found in any animal. It all feels too much like science-fiction to be true but for now, I suppose it stands as an established scientific fact.