Author: Ranveer Kumar
An Israeli worker in a hazmat suit sprays disinfectant in the cabin of an Israir Airlines Airbus A320 airplane at Ben Gurion International Airport on June 14, 2020. Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP via Getty Images If you’re still disinfecting just about everything you own to prevent the spread of COVID-19, it’s time to stop. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its guidance Monday for how to clean and disinfect surfaces properly to prevent the spread of COVID-19 at home and in facilities. The agency now says, by and large, good old fashioned cleaning with soap and water or detergent can protect against…
BU environmental expert says the Nintendo racing game has important lessons for social and economic programs that could benefit the world’s developing regions Many Mario Kart enthusiasts are familiar with the rush of racing down Rainbow Road, barely squeaking around a corner, and catching a power-up from one of the floating square icons on the screen—or, less ideally, slipping on a banana peel laid by another racer and flying off the side of the road into oblivion. This heated competition between multiple players, who use a variety of game tokens and tools to speed ahead or thwart their competitors, is…
Every fall more than half of the coho salmon that return to Puget Sound’s urban streams die before they can spawn. In some streams, all of them die. But scientists didn’t know why. Now a team led by researchers at the University of Washington Tacoma, UW and Washington State University Puyallup have discovered the answer. When it rains, stormwater flushes bits of aging vehicle tires on roads into neighboring streams. The killer is in the mix of chemicals that leach from tire wear particles: a molecule related to a preservative that keeps tires from breaking down too quickly. This research was…
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Eucalyptus, a pest-resistant evergreen valued for its hardy lumber and wellness-promoting oil, can be genetically modified not to reproduce sexually, a key step toward preventing the global tree plantation staple from invading native ecosystems. Oregon State University’s Steve Strauss led an international collaboration that showed the CRISPR Cas9 gene editing technique could be used with nearly 100% efficiency to knock out LEAFY, the master gene behind flower formation. “The flowers never developed to the point where ovules, pollen or fertile seeds were observed,” Strauss said. “And there was no detectable negative effect on tree growth or form.…
Highlights Use of cosmetics/personal care products is related to urinary PB/BP concentrations. MeP, BP-1, BP-3, and ƩBPs are associated with higher risk of endometriosis. TAP and TBARS are related to lower and higher risk of endometriosis, respectively. Oxidative stress did not modify the associations between exposure and the disease. Aim: To explore the relationship of urinary concentrations of different congeners of benzophenones and parabens with the utilization of cosmetics and personal care products (PCPs) and their impact on the risk of endometriosis, and to evaluate the influence of oxidative stress on associations found. Methods: This case-control study comprised a subsample…
Researchers have found a way to use chaos to help develop digital fingerprints for electronic devices that may be unique enough to foil even the most sophisticated hackers. Just how unique are these fingerprints? The researchers believe it would take longer than the lifetime of the universe to test for every possible combination available. “In our system, chaos is very, very good,” said Daniel Gauthier, senior author of the study and professor of physics at The Ohio State University. The study was recently published online in the journal IEEE Access. The researchers created a new version of an emerging technology called physically unclonable functions,…
New research shows the permanent rise of oxygen in our atmosphere, which set the stage for life as we know it, happened 100 million years later than previously thought. A significant rise in oxygen occurred about 2.43 billion years ago, marking the start of the Great Oxidation Episode — a pivotal moment in Earth’s history. An international research team including a UC Riverside scientist analyzed rocks from South Africa formed during this event. Findings, published this week in the journal Nature, include the discovery that oxygen fluctuated dramatically after its early appearance until it became a permanent constituent of the atmosphere…
This is the third year that Newsweek has partnered with Statista Inc, the respected global data research firm, to reveal the World’s Best Hospitals— and it may be our most important ranking yet. As the events of 2020 made clear, our lives and those of our loved ones may rest on the kind of health care we have access to. The 2,000 hospitals named in this list—which covers 25 countries, including United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Canada —stand out for their consistent excellence, including distinguished physicians, top-notch nursing care and state-of-the-art technology. Of course we hope that we, and you, won’t need to seek care or visit a friend…
A shipment of 700,000 doses was expected to arrive in Israel on Sunday but was halted until further notice. Pfizer has halted shipments of coronavirus vaccines to Israel in outrage over the country failing to approve transfer of payment for the last 2.5 million vaccines it supplied to the country, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Senior officials at Pfizer have said they are concerned that the government-in-transition will not pay up and the company does not want to be taken advantage of. They said that they do not understand how such a situation can occur in an organized country. Army…
A 20-year search of water weeds and cyanobacteria has turned up a bird-killing toxin Mysterious deaths of bald eagles, mallards and other lake life in the southeastern United States have puzzled scientists for more than 20 years. After a long slog exploring the quirks of cyanobacteria gluing themselves to an invasive water weed, a research team has found a toxin that could be the culprit. And it’s an odd one, the team reports March 26 in Science. Nicknamed AETX, the toxin has an unusual chemical structure requiring building blocks rich in the element bromine, says Susan Wilde, an aquatic ecologist at the…