Selected Sci-News Items May 23 - May 29, 2020

General Interest    Cosmos    Innovation    Health    Nature    Environment    Climate
 
Next (zoom) event so far scheduled for late June -will update a.s.a.p.    
 
 
 
 
   
    
CORONAVIRUS   
 
A Monday Is a Tuesday Is a Sunday as COVID-19 Disrupts Internal Clocks
Scientific American, May 22, 2020
A global natural experiment examines the time warp of life under quarantine.

'It's Something I Have Never Seen': How the Covid-19 Virus Hijacks Cells
STAT, May 21, 2020
"It's something I have never seen in my 20 years of studying viruses," said virologist Benjamin tenOever...referring to how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, hijacks cells' genomes.

That Office AC System Is Great - at Recirculating Viruses
Intelligencer (New York Magazine), May 22, 2020
"It's frustrating that neither the CDC nor the WHO has issued guidance on the potential for airborne transmission, because our whole field has been talking about this since February," says Joseph Allen (Harvard professor & author of Healthy Buildings: How Indoor Spaces Drive Performance and Productivity).  
 
How Do You Stay Safe Now That States Are Reopening? Expert Explains How to Assess Risk When Reconnecting with Friends and Family
The Conversation, May 18, 2020
Although following [the CDC guidelines] should help, it's frustrating there hasn't been more clear, concise communication about the risk of infection

How Long Does Coronavirus Survive on Different Surfaces?
The Guardian, May 27, 2020
As shops prepare to reopen, attention is turning to the period of time the virus remains present on materials.

GENERAL INTEREST  
 
How Polar Explorers Survived Months of Isolation Without Cracking
National Geographic, May 26, 2020
With his ship the Endurance being crushed by pack ice and sinking fast, Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton ordered his men over the side, telling them to take only the barest of personal possessions, a limit of no more than two pounds each.
 
Scratching the Surface: Drones Cast New Light on Mystery of Nazca Lines
The Guardian, May 24, 2020
New research with drones has helped uncover hundreds of figures carved in the desert near the lines in Nazca but which predate them by as much as 1,500 years

Novel Insight Reveals Topological Tangle in Unexpected Corner of the Universe
Phys.Org, May 26, 2020
A certain geometrical structure of knots, which scientists call a Hopfion, manifests itself in unexpected corners of the universe, ranging from particle physics, to biology, to cosmology. Like the Fibonacci spiral and the golden ratio, the Hopfion pattern unites different scientific fields, and deeper understanding of its structure and influence will help scientists to develop transformative technologies.
 
Phishing Is Surging. Here's How To Spot Online Scams
WBUR, May 22, 2020  (w/audio)
According to the FBI, there's been a surge in COVID-19 related internet fraud and phishing scams targeting stimulus checks, small business loans and fake cures or tests.

Mysterious Ancient Rock Art May Have Been Made with Beeswax
Science, May 25, 2020
his 500-year-old rock art is among the rarest in the world. Now, scientists think they know how ancient people made them.

COSMOS  
 
Half the Universe's Ordinary Matter Was Missing - and May Have Been Found
Science News, May 27, 2020
The long-sought (ordinary) matter appears to have been hiding in the gaps between galaxies.

Growing Anomalies at the Large Hadron Collider Raise Hopes
Quanta, May 26, 2020
Recent measurements of particles called B mesons deviate from predictions. Alone, each oddity looks like a fluke, but their collective drift is more suggestive.
   
Astrophysicists Capture New Class of Transient Objects
Phys.Org, May 26, 2020
CSS161010, in fact, has produced some of the fastest outflows in nature, launching gas and particles at more than 55% the speed of light.
 
The Galaxy That Grew Up Too Fast
New York Times, May 20, 2020
A vast wheel of gas in the primordial cosmos is forcing astronomers to rethink how some of the universe's largest structures may have formed.
   
ATLAS Telescope Discovers First-of-Its-Kind Asteroid
Science Daily, May 22, 2020
We often think of asteroids and comets as distinct types of small bodies, but astronomers have discovered an increasing number of "crossovers."    


INNOVATION  
 
3 Ways Scientists Think We Could De-Germ a Covid-19 World
Wired, May 27, 2020
Researchers want to know if we can create an antiviral infrastructure that would protect humans from transmission. Here are a few ideas.

Nanoparticle Antivirals Offer New Way to Fight Coronaviruses But Therapy Is Still in Its Infancy
Chemistry World, May 22, 2020
This is a new approach to tackling viruses - including coronaviruses - that takes advantage of the unique properties of nanoparticles.

This Bionic Eye Is Better Than a Real One, Scientists Say
Futurism, May 20, 2020
"A human user of the artificial eye will gain night vision capability."

Mathematics Can Save Lives At Sea
Phys.Org, May 27, 2020
Haller's research team obtained mathematical results predicting that objects floating on the ocean's surface should congregate along a few special curves (invisible to the naked eye) which they call TRansient Attracting Profiles (TRAPs).

75 Technological Innovations for Our Future Farming Toolbox
Anthropocene, May 22, 2020
New agricultural technologies are swiftly being developed. But, they will need the right social, economic, and political conditions to truly take off.


HEALTH   
 
Did You Know You Have 5 Different Appetites?
Mother Nature News, May 22, 2020
And what you eat can send this fine-tuned system into disarray.

What Does a Dishwasher or Washing Machine's Sanitizing Cycle Really Do?
Washington Post, May 26, 2020
Some machines you may already have in your house say they are built for sanitizing, but what does your dishwasher or washing machine's sanitizing cycle mean?

New Approach to Some Mental Disorders
Science Daily, May 26, 2020
Depression, anxiety and PTSD might not be disorders at all, according to biological anthropologists.  
 
The 7 Things You Need for an Ergonomic Workstation
New York Times, May 25, 2020
If you're working from home indefinitely, it may be time to upgrade that home office.
 
Coronavirus Antigen Tests: Quick and Cheap, But Too Often Wrong?
Science, May 22, 2020
After a painfully slow rollout of diagnostic testing for active coronavirus infections across the country, some 400,000 people a day in the United States may now receive such a test, estimates suggest.

NATURE
 
Rare White Grizzly Bear Sighted in Canadian Rockies
The Guardian, May 22, 2020 (w/video)
Family on remote highway stumble upon predator, whose highly unusual coloring is caused by a recessive gene.
 
How Animals Sense Earth's Magnetic Field
Astrobiology, May 18, 2020
If you have ever wondered how homing pigeons make round trips without GPS, or how pregnant sea turtles find the same beach on which they were born decades earlier to lay their own eggs, it is all thanks to their sense of magneto-reception.  
 
So Niche You've Never Heard of Them: Meet Western Australia's Underground Orchids
Particle, May 20, 2020
A plant that's not green and lives entirely underground? How is that possible?
 
The U.S. Is Getting Shorter, as Mapmakers Race to Keep Up
New York Times, May 22, 2020
Scientists are hard at work re-calibrating where and how the nation physically sits on the planet. It's not shrinkage - it's "height modernization."

Herd Of Fuzzy Green 'Glacier Mice' Baffles Scientists
NPR/Morning Edition, May 22, 2020 (w/audio + images)
These moss balls can persist for years and move around in a coordinated, herd-like fashion that the researchers can not yet explain.


ENVIRONMENT
 
'Billions of Years of Evolutionary History' Under Threat
BBC News, May 26, 2020
"Weird and wonderful" animals unlike anything else on Earth are sliding silently toward extinction.

Coronavirus Wipes Out 5 Years of US Solar Job Growth
GreenTechMedia, May 18, 2020
The American solar industry is losing jobs at a faster rate than the broader economy, SEIA says.
 
States Sue to Block Trump From Weakening Fuel Economy Rules
New York Times, May 27, 2020
At stake in the lawsuit is the single biggest effort by the United States to fight the climate crisis.

Rio Tinto Blasts 46,000-Year-Old Aboriginal Site to Expand Iron Ore Mine
The Guardian, May 26, 2020
Mining company was given permission to blast Juukan Gorge cave, which provided a 4,000-year-old genetic link to present-day traditional owners.

Mississippi River Delta Marshes Have Hit a Tipping Point
Yale Environment 360, May 26, 2020
New research finds that marshes in the Mississippi River Delta have hit a tipping point and will likely drown this century due to sea level rise.


CLIMATE   
 
These Researchers Spent a Winter Trapped in Arctic Ice to Capture Key Climate Data
Nature, May 2020 (great images)
They circled the region a few times and, when they spotted a seemingly solid section nearby, the pilot repeatedly tapped the helicopter against the ice to test whether the surface was stable.

Can Planting a Trillion Trees Stop Climate Change? Scientists Say it's a Lot More Complicated
Inside Climate News, May 27, 2020
Compared with cutting fossil fuels, tree planting would play only a small role in combating the climate crisis.

What Will It Take to Cool the Planet?
New Yorker, May 21, 2020 (Bill McKibben)
Description and links allowing you to change different variables to see what it would take to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions enough to get us off our current impossible track (screeching toward a world something like four degrees Celsius hotter) and onto the merely miserable heading of 1.5 to two degrees Celsius envisioned in the Paris climate accords.

Democrats Launch Climate Change Task Force
Living On Earth, May 22, 2020 (w/audio)
Discussion about a unity task force on the climate crisis with members pulled from both the progressive and moderate wings of the Democratic party.

Atlantic Hurricanes Will be More Frequent and More Severe This
Mother Jones, May 22, 2020
In terms of actual weather events, that translates to between 13 and 19 storms severe enough to be named and up to six major hurricanes.  
   



 
 
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