Science News Roundup: 'Extreme' white dwarf sets cosmic records for small size, huge mass; Delta variant gains ground in the U.S., men do worse with COVID-19 and more

Highly contagious Delta variant gaining ground in U.S. Pandemic tied to spike in diabetes in children; type of immune response lasts months after Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine The following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

'Extreme' white dwarf sets cosmic records for small size, huge mass

In their death throes, roughly 97% of all stars become a smoldering stellar zombie called a white dwarf, one of the densest objects in the cosmos. A newly discovered white dwarf is being hailed as the most "extreme" one of these on record, cramming a frightful amount of mass into a surprisingly small package. Scientists said on Wednesday this highly magnetized and rapidly rotating white dwarf is 35% more massive than our sun yet boasts a petite diameter only a bit larger than Earth's moon. That means it has the greatest mass and, counterintuitively, the littlest size of any known white dwarf, owing to its tremendous density.

Delta variant gains ground in the U.S., men do worse with COVID-19

The following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. Highly contagious Delta variant gaining ground in the U.S.

Pandemic tied to spike in diabetes in children; type of immune response lasts months after Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine

The following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. Pandemic tied to a sharp rise in type 2 diabetes in kids