Axios

A new technology has been developed using CRISPR-based molecular diagnostics to run thousands of tests for diseases simultaneously, per a paper published in Nature today.

Why it matters: COVID-19 has painfully demonstrated the limits of conventional diagnostics methods for infectious disease. A new platform that would allow doctors to test a single sample for thousands of different pathogens could revolutionize disease response.

Remdesivir, an antiviral drug made by Gilead Sciences, appears to help coronavirus patients recover more quickly than no treatment at all, but it does not significantly reduce death, according to preliminary data released today from the National Institutes of Health.

Yes, but: A conflicting trial in China, which also released full data today, said the opposite: That remdesivir doesn't appear to have a lot of clinical benefit.

The National Institutes of Health is spending $1.5 billion in federal stimulus money to speed the development of COVID-19 tests, with a goal of creating "millions" of quick tests every week "by the end of summer 2020, and even more in time for the flu season," the federal agency said Wednesday.

Why it matters: Containing the coronavirus outbreak and resuming a semblance of normal life will require a big increase in the country's testing capacity, which is still well below where experts say it should be.

People around the world are having their dreams invaded — and sleep sabotaged — as the coronavirus pandemic upends our daily lives.

What's happening: "Waking life itself for many has taken on an odd, dreamlike air. For populations unexpectedly and indefinitely confined to their homes, timekeeping no longer seems staked to the orderly movements of the sun, but tied to a cloud selected at random," writes the N.Y. Times' Caity Weaver.

A population of asteroids captured from other stars could be lurking in our own solar system, a new study contends.

Why it matters: Interstellar asteroids and comets represent astronomers' best chances of studying an object from another star system at close range, potentially revealing how unique (or average) we are in the process.

The FCC last week updated its rules around the mitigation of space junk for the first time since 2004, imposing more limits on companies that wish to send their wares to orbit.

Why it matters: Experts are increasingly worried about the number of satellites launching to orbit and how they could contribute to the creation of space junk.

SpaceX's plan to launch NASA astronauts to the International Space Station at the end of May will happen under the long shadow of the coronavirus pandemic.

Why it matters: Instead of a triumphant show of American astronauts launching from American soil for the first time since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011, they will likely take flight amid crowd restrictions and a plea to stay away.

Addressing the coronavirus without paying attention to climate change and biodiversity crises would be a mistake, given the ways in which all three are interrelated, an expert in wildlife conservation told "Axios on HBO."

Why it matters: If we fail to recognize the connection, we are likely to see more difficult-to-tackle diseases jump from animals to humans, the Wildlife Conservation Society's Joe Walston said in an interview.