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Biology and Life Sciences

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Commentary
Origin Story: How Did the Coronavirus Emerge?
President Joe Biden has called for the U.S. intelligence community to redouble efforts to determine the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. In conducting this investigation, it might be useful to avoid only focusing on a binary choice. That is, either the virus escaped from the laboratory or from a spillover from an infected animal to a human.
Jun 2, 2021
Article
The Internet of Bodies Will Change Everything, for Better or Worse
The rise of devices that connect the human body to the web is accelerating rapidly. This Internet of Bodies could revolutionize health care and improve our quality of life. But without appropriate guardrails, it could also jeopardize our most intimate personal information and introduce several ethical concerns.
Oct 29, 2020

Explore Biology and Life Sciences

Brochure
Spotlight 2022–2023
The events of 2022 underscore the continuous nature of change and the constant need for policy informed by evidence. Spotlight 2022-2023 highlights selected projects that we undertook in our 30th anniversary year to address some of today's most pressing policy issues.
Jan 24, 2023
Journal Article
Examining the Cross-sectional Association Between Neighborhood Conditions, Discrimination, and Telomere Length in a Predominantly African American Sample
Disproportionate exposure to adverse neighborhood conditions and greater discrimination may contribute to health disparities among African Americans.
Jan 10, 2023
Commentary
Digital Health Products Miss a Massive and Crucial Piece of a Person's Health
Our health is heavily influenced by our surroundings—including the health of the people around us. For digital health companies to credibly claim to improve people's health, their next step could be an increased willingness to look beyond an individualized notion of health and to work with public health agencies.
Dec 27, 2022
Commentary
Biotechnology and Today's Warfighter
Biotechnology has a broad and often misunderstood scope, one with significant implications for today's warfighter, and it may be reaching a critical junction. As it continues to mature, proactive policy becomes necessary for the federal government to leverage emerging capabilities effectively and remain competitive.
Oct 25, 2022
News Release
Life Sciences Sector on the Cusp of Realising Game-Changing Potential of Quantum Computing Technologies
While a growing body of evidence shows the possible disruptive impact of quantum technologies across many sectors in the future, until now there has been little study into the potentially transformative impact of quantum computing in the life sciences.
Oct 5, 2022
Report
Using Quantum Computers and Simulators in the Life Sciences: Current Trends and Future Prospects
We analysed the research landscape associated with the application of quantum technologies to the life sciences, highlighting current developments, opportunities and challenges, initiatives, and activities to help enable the ecosystem in the future.
Oct 5, 2022
Commentary
Improving How Medicines R&D Is Financed Could Support Innovation and Benefits for Patients
Tackling chronic and infectious diseases depends to a large extent on the ability to develop innovative and affordable medicines that are available to patients in need. Policymakers will need to tackle challenges from multiple angles to avoid reducing barriers in one area at the expense of exacerbating challenges in another.
Aug 25, 2022
Dissertation
Gaps between Medical Cannabis Research and Policy
Examines what is known about the therapeutic efficacy of cannabis products, the degree to which patients buy dispensary products in a manner that is consistent with clinical research, and what factors may be driving clinically inconsistent purchases.
Aug 24, 2022
Blog
U.S. Labor Market, 988 Hotline, Firearm Homicides: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on the U.S. economy’s uneven pandemic recovery, a new national mental health hotline, firearm homicides, and more.
Jul 22, 2022
Commentary
Doubling NIH Funding for Women's Health Would Yield Substantial Return on Investment
The scientific evidence base generally is biased toward the male body as a result of a long history of generous funding for diseases that predominantly affect men and underfunding for those that predominantly affect women. But the cost of the science pales in comparison to the price we continue to pay for what we don't know about caring for women.
Jul 8, 2022
Commentary
Microbiome-Based Health and Wellness Innovation
Microbiome research and development may lead to an increasing number of therapeutic and well-being breakthroughs. But regulating microbiota-related products poses a challenge that could require innovative approaches.
Jul 6, 2022
Commentary
Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion in Health Care Innovation
For health care innovations to have the fairest and broadest possible benefit to society, efforts could be made to attend to all stages of the innovation pathway to identify opportunities to mitigate biases through diversity, equality, and inclusion.
Jul 6, 2022
Commentary
Setting the Direction for the UK's Research Relationship with China
UK-China research has the potential to sustain the very forms of academic excellence that a more-isolationist approach sets out to protect, while also raising the possibility of bridge-building and tackling shared problems. For this to become a reality, knowledge and understanding of China in the United Kingdom must improve.
Jun 30, 2022
Journal Article
The Financial Ecosystem of Pharmaceutical R&D: An Evidence Base to Inform Further Dialogue
This study's overarching conclusion is that a drug's expected financial return ultimately determines whether it is developed up to launch.
Jun 24, 2022
News Release
Don't Cut Research Ties with China, Say UK Academics
A new study from the not-for-profit research institute RAND Europe involving more than 80 UK-based academics from a range of disciplines and institutions finds a resounding appetite for continued collaboration with Chinese colleagues, despite acknowledged tension over security concerns.
Jun 22, 2022
Journal Article
Digital Technologies for Key Public Health Functions: Results of an ECDC Expert Consultation, May/June 2021
In 2019, the ECDC initiated a project to assess the impact of technical advances on its key functions. The results will serve as a source of information for ECDC and its stakeholders to prepare for and benefit from advances to improve disease surveillance, prevention and control.
Jun 1, 2022
Journal Article
Digital Technologies for the Surveillance, Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases: A Scoping Review of the Research Literature, 2015–2019
The objective of this review is to obtain an estimate of the size and nature of the literature available on digital technologies with the potential to benefit or disrupt public health functions, focusing on infectious disease surveillance, prevention and control.
Jun 1, 2022
Research Brief
Assessing the potential impact of developments in genetic testing on the British insurance industry
Predictive genetic testing provides individuals with information about their future risk of developing health conditions. Determining whether a genetic test could affect the insurance industry is complex and needs to be evaluated on a per-test basis.
Apr 8, 2022
Multimedia
The Economic Benefits of Investing in Women's Health Research
RAND senior sociologist Chloe Bird explains that the benefits of investing in women's health research aren't limited to women's health, but rather include the potential for enormous economic gains.
Mar 7, 2022
News Release
COG-UK Consortium's Pathogen Genomics Expertise Played Important Role in UK Response to COVID-19; Valuable Contribution to Public Health Genomics Should Not Be Lost
The COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium's efforts to sequence and understand the diverse variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, have been key to informing public health decisionmaking and efforts to control its spread.
Feb 15, 2022

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RAND Topic:
Biology and Life Sciences

Topic Synonyms:
Human Biology;
Social Biology

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