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Her husband collapsed just before reaching the top of the stairs in their small one-bedroom house in São Paulo, Brazil. Frantic, Thais Andrade grabbed the portable pulse oximeter she had purchased after hearing that a low oxygen reading could be the first sign of the novel coronavirus. Erik’s reading was hovering eight points lower than it had that morning. He also looked feverish. “When he hit 90% [on the oximeter], I said we can’t wait anymore,” Andrade recalled. “I called an ambulance.” (Kalaichandran, 8/23)

When Dr. Anthony Fauci spoke recently at a White House briefing about the need for COVID-19 booster shots, buried in his slide show of charts and data points was a little-noticed scientific paper that offers evidence for a reliable way to predict how much protection a COVID-19 vaccine offers. The study appeared on a preprint server earlier this month without much fanfare, but many interested in the future of COVID-19 vaccines had been eagerly awaiting the results. (Palca, 8/23)

At sunrise, when the North Carolina sky slowly wakes up to light blue, Kevin Saunders gets into his white coat and is ready to dive into his research. As a director of research at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute, Saunders studies the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) with hopes of discovering a vaccine that could prevent transmission of the virus and the disease that goes along with it. (Huang, 8/23)

Researchers released a nutritional index this week aiming to inform guidelines and help Americans achieve healthier and more environmentally stable diets. The index ranked foods by minutes gained or lost off healthy life per serving, with processed meats and sugary drinks among the biggest offenders. Findings included over 5,000 foods in the U.S. diet classified by health burden and environmental impacts. "We use the results to inform marginal dietary substitutions, which are realistic and feasible," authors wrote. "We find that small, targeted, food-level substitutions can achieve compelling nutritional benefits and environmental impact reductions." (Rivas, 8/21)