Earlier this summer, the Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee set about "); background-size: 1px 1px; background-position: 0px calc(1em + 1px);" target="_blank">crunching data on more than 40,000 genes from 17,000 genetic samples in an effort to better understand "); background-size: 1px 1px; background-position: 0px calc(1em + 1px);" target="_blank">Covid-19. Summit is the "); background-size: 1px 1px; background-position: 0px calc(1em + 1px);" target="_blank">second-fastest computer in the world, but the process — which involved analyzing 2.5 billion genetic combinations — still took more than a week.

When Summit was done, researchers analyzed the results. It was, in the words of Dr. Daniel Jacobson, lead researcher and chief scientist for computational systems biology at Oak Ridge, a ""); background-size: 1px 1px; background-position: 0px calc(1em + 1px);" target="_blank">eureka moment." The computer had revealed a new theory about how Covid-19 impacts the body: "); background-size: 1px 1px; background-position: 0px calc(1em + 1px);" target="_blank">the bradykinin hypothesis. The hypothesis provides a model that explains many aspects of Covid-19, including some of its most "); background-size: 1px 1px; background-position: 0px calc(1em + 1px);" target="_blank">bizarre symptoms. It also suggests 10-plus potential treatments, many of which are already FDA approved. Jacobson's group "); background-size: 1px 1px; background-position: 0px calc(1em + 1px);" target="_blank">published their results in a paper in the journal eLife in early July.