Scientists have sequenced rock-inhabiting microbial communities from 10 sandstone rocks collected from the Joshua tree National Park in California.

ASM is launching multi-stakeholder effort to help advance genetic sequencing and tracking of COVID-19 variants and inform make clinical and public health decisions.

SARS-CoV-2 California (B.1.427/B.1.429) and New York (B.1.526) variants join B.1.1.7, B.1.351, P.1 and B.1.2 lineages, adding to research on how viral evolution may impact COVID-19 vaccine efficacy.