Selected Sci-News Items March 21 - March 27, 2020

General Interest    Cosmos    Innovation    Health    Nature    Environment    Climate

 
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CORONAVIRUS 

Science, March 26, 2020
Scientists took conspiracy theories about SARS-CoV-2's origins seriously, and debunked them

STAT, March 24, 2020
Several dozen are now in development, and you can see highlights of those efforts here. Studies so far are mostly small and lack real control groups, making it hard for researchers to be sure of their conclusions..

New York Times, March 22, 2020
Doctor groups are recommending testing and isolation for people who lose their ability to smell and taste, even if they have no other symptoms.

The Atlantic, March 25, 2020
The U.S. may end up with the worst COVID-19 outbreak in the industrialized world. This is how it's going to play out.

Orion, March 17, 2020
Science writer and Orion contributor David Quammen's 2012 book, Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic charts the ecology and spread of "zoonoses," diseases transmitted between animals and humans, and sounds the alarm for serious political and public health actions to prepare for future pandemics.


GENERAL INTEREST

The Guardian, March 23, 2020
The originals are out of reach for now, but you can still see world-class art - without the queues or ticket prices - with an online tour of these famous museums.

National Geographic, March 17, 2020
Tracking down the culprit behind an outbreak of typhoid fever in 1900s New York was a breakthrough in how symptom-free carriers can spread sickness.

New York Times, March 22, 2020
The most extensive travel restrictions to stop an outbreak in human history haven't been enough. NYT analyzed the movements of hundreds of millions of people to show why.

Cosmos, March 20, 2020
The presence of parasitic worms in raw or undercooked seafood, popular in dishes such as sushi, sashimi, poke and carpaccio, has increased 283-fold since the 1970s.

The Conversation, March 17, 2020
The world has seen pandemics before, and worse ones, too. Consider the influenza pandemic of 1918, often referred to erroneously as the "Spanish flu."


COSMOS

Quanta, March 16, 2020
In our mind's eye, the universe seems to go on forever. But using geometry we can explore a variety of three-dimensional shapes
that offer alternatives to "ordinary" infinite space.

New York Times, March 23, 2020
A popular screen saver takes a break while its inventors try to digest data that may yet be hiding news of extraterrestrials.

Science News, March 23, 2020
Our galaxy spans 1.9 million light-years, a new study finds

Science Daily, March 20, 2020
This is the hypothesis put forward by a theoretical physicist to solve a conundrum that has been splitting the scientific community for a decade: at what speed is the universe expanding?

Cosmos, March 23, 2020
The phenomenon carries more energy than a gamma-ray burst.

 
INNOVATION

Science, March 19, 2020
Antibody tests being rolled out can broadly survey who in cities like New York City (above) cleared an infection with the new coronavirus without knowing it.

New Republic, March 19, 2020
The climate case for making the government the employer of last resort.

Smithsonian Magazine, March 23, 2020
The approach helps remove snails and bugs from the establishment, which opened in 1696, without the need for harsh chemicals that could damage the environment.

MIT Technology Review, March 20, 2020
Regulatory changes and anxiety heightened by isolation are leading to a boom in use of mental health apps and tele-therapy --but are they good enough?

NBC News, March 21, 2020
The efforts come as supply shortages loom in one of the biggest challenges for health care systems around the world.


HEALTH 

New York Times, March 23, 2020
Worried Americans are scrambling to buy wellness products they think will protect against coronavirus. Some may do harm.

Deutsche Welle, March 25, 2020
Cooped up and feeling sluggish, bored, even a bit miserable? Despite being confined to the indoors during the coronavirus outbreak,there are still lots of things you can do to protect your health and well-being.

Market Watch, March 25, 2020
Raisins are surprise offenders this year with neurotoxic insecticide chlorpyrifos, which some research has shown can harm the nervous system in children

Science Daily, March 24, 2020
From the age of 50, there is a decline not just in physical activity but also in cognitive abilities since the two are correlated.

Wired, March 25, 202A
Social Distancing Can Lead To Adverse Psychological and Physiological Effects. But There Are Things You Can Do to Maintain Your Overall Health.


NATURE 

BBC News, March 21, 2020
Cratons are ancient, stable parts of the Earth's continental crust. The North Atlantic Craton stretched from present-day Scotland to North America and broke apart 150m years ago.

New Yorker, March 23, 2020
On slopes shallow enough to accumulate snow but steep enough for it to be unstable, chaos hides beneath the surface.

Cosmos, March 25, 2020
That's even though males don't age faster.

New York Times, March 24, 2020
SARS-CoV-2, the cause of the pandemic, belongs to one of 6,828 named species of virus. Hundreds of thousands more species are known,with perhaps trillions waiting to be found

Deutsche Welle, February 21, 2020
Bats usually conjure images of bloodsucking and disease, but there's a lot more to these creatures of the night. From incredible immune systems to age defiance and pollination, bats are as fascinating as they are spooky.
 
ENVIRONMENT  
 
New York Times, March 25, 2020 
As much of his government battles the coronavirus outbreak, President Trump is pushing ahead with major reversals of environmental regulations, including a restriction on scientific research that some doctors worry would complicate future pandemic controls. 
 
World's Wind Power Capacity Up by a Fifth After Record Year 
The Guardian, March 25, 2020 
Offshore wind-farms and onshore projects in US and China fuel one of strongest years on record.
 
Science News, March 19, 2020
Scientists suspect that other types of sturdy plastic may endure for just as long

Hakai, March 19, 2020
Climate change and ocean acidification are not future problems: they have been affecting marine ecosystems for decades.

Inside Climate News, March 24, 2020
As agriculture expands, habitats will shrink. That will likely lead to higher numbers of the species that transmit deadly diseases


CLIMATE 

Washington Post, March 22, 2020
'Bail out the past or build the future': Use stimulus to boost cleaner energy, advocates say

NBC News, March 23, 2020
"This has never happened before," one scientist said. "We're in completely uncharted territory."

BBC News, March 23, 2020
Denman is one to watch for the future. If its ice were hollowed out, it would raise the global sea surface by 1.5m.

Yale Climate Connections, March 13, 2020
Public health researchers are beginning to conclude there is no safe level of air pollution.

Mongabay, March 18, 2020
An estimated 1,400 gigatons of carbon is currently embedded in the world's permafrost, mostly in the Arctic and sub-Arctic. By comparison, the atmosphere presently
contains just 850 gigatons. Should a major proportion of existing permafrost thaw, the Earth could experience dramatic and very dangerous warming.



 
 
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