A new study published in Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology looked at the evolution of neurologic symptoms in non-hospitalized COVID-19 long-haulers at the Northwestern Medicine Neuro COVID-19 Clinic and discovered most long-haulers continue to experience symptoms such as brain fog, numbness/tingling, headache, dizziness, blurred vision, tinnitus and fatigue on average of 15 months after disease onset. Researchers analyzed […]
Sci/Tech
NOAA predicts above-normal 2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season
Forecasters at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, a division of the National Weather Service, are predicting above-average hurricane activity this year — which would make it the seventh consecutive above-average hurricane season. NOAA’s outlook for the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, which extends from June 1 to November 30, predicts a 65% chance of an above-normal season, […]
Should There Be More Microbes on Your Plate?
May 18, 2022 – Our diets provide us with the building blocks we need to stay healthy and fight disease. The nutrients in foods and beverages can be tallied up to know if we are getting what our bodies need. Yet what if a nutrient has been overlooked? For instance, friendly microbes in raw and […]
“Natural Immunity” from Omicron is Weak and Limited, Study Finds
In unvaccinated people, infection with the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 provides little long-term immunity against other variants, according to a new study by researchers at Gladstone Institutes and UC San Francisco (UCSF), published today in the journal Nature. In experiments using mice and blood samples from donors who were infected with Omicron, the team found that the Omicron […]
Strange dreams might help your brain learn better, according to research by HBP scientists
A new study by researchers from the University of Bern, Switzerland suggests that dreams – especially those that simultaneously appear realistic, but, upon a closer look, bizarre – help our brain learn and extract generic concepts from previous experiences. The study, carried out within the Human Brain Project and published in eLife, offers a new theory […]
Dynamic rivers contribute to Amazon’s rich bird diversity
One of the most contentious questions in evolutionary biology is: how did the Amazon become so rich in species? A new study focused on birds examines how the movements of rivers in the Amazon have contributed to the area’s exceptional biological diversity. The U.S. National Science Foundation-funded team, led by American Museum of Natural History scientists, found that […]
We got it! Astronomers reveal first image of the black hole at the heart of our galaxy
Washington, D.C. – During a press conference hosted by the U.S. National Science Foundation with the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration in Washington, D.C. today, astronomers unveiled the first image of the supermassive black hole at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy. This result provides overwhelming evidence that the object is indeed a black hole […]
NASA’s InSight Records Monster Quake on Mars
NASA’s InSight Mars lander has detected the largest quake ever observed on another planet: an estimated magnitude 5 temblor that occurred on May 4, 2022, the 1,222nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. This adds to the catalog of more than 1,313 quakes InSight has detected since landing on Mars in November 2018. The […]
Scientists identify the most extreme heatwaves ever recorded globally
A new study has revealed the most intense heatwaves ever across the world – and remarkably some of these went almost unnoticed decades ago. The research, led by the University of Bristol, also shows heatwaves are projected to get hotter in future as climate change worsens. The western North America heatwave last summer was record-breaking […]
Fungi-based meat alternatives to help save Earth’s forests
Substituting just a fifth of meat from cattle with microbial protein – a meat alternative produced in fermentation tanks – by 2050 could halve deforestation, a new analysis by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) now published in Nature finds. The market-ready meat alternative is very similar in taste and texture, but is […]
Cognitive impairment from severe COVID-19 equivalent to 20 years of ageing, study finds
Cognitive impairment as a result of severe COVID-19 is similar to that sustained between 50 and 70 years of age and is the equivalent to losing 10 IQ points, say a team of scientists from the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London. The findings, published in the journal eClinicalMedicine, emerge from the NIHR COVID-19 BioResource. The […]
Scientists Announce Comprehensive Regional Diagnostic of Microbial Ocean Life using DNA Testing
Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) used tools of genetics research akin to those used in genealogical research to evaluate the diversity of marine life off the California coast. The result is a breakthrough technique that researchers […]
Study links urbanization to poor ecological knowledge, less environmental action
May 4, 2022 – A new study by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and collaborators highlights a sharp contrast between urban and suburban ways of thinking about coastal ecosystems. The authors of the study used statistical and cognitive science techniques to analyze data from a survey of 1,400 residents across […]
Shuffling the Deck: Biologists investigate what happens when traits jump between branches of the tree of life
May 3, 2022 – We all must play the game of life with the cards we’re dealt, so the common aphorism goes. In biology, this means organisms must compete through natural selection with the genes and anatomy they were born with. But the saying is a lie. Okay, it’s not exactly a lie, but modern […]
Climate Change Will More Than Double the Risk of Intense Tropical Cyclones by 2050
Human-caused climate change will make strong tropical cyclones twice as frequent by the middle of the century, putting large parts of the world at risk, according to a new study published in Scientific Advances. The analysis also projects that maximum wind speeds associated with these cyclones could increase by around 20%. Despite being amongst the […]
Webb in full focus
Alignment of the James Webb Space Telescope is now complete. After full review, the observatory has been confirmed to be capable of capturing crisp, well-focused images with each of its four powerful onboard science instruments. Upon completing the seventh and final stage of telescope alignment, the team held a set of key decision meetings and unanimously agreed […]
NASA: A Salty Sanctuary in Baja California Sur
Laguna Ojo de Liebre on the Pacific coast of Mexico is the site of one of the largest saltworks in the world. The lagoon and saltworks lie near the town of Guerrero Negro, about halfway between the U.S-Mexico border and the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. The saltworks was founded here in 1954. Each […]
Johns Hopkins Students Create Lymphedema Early Detection Sensor
A sensor created by Johns Hopkins University graduate students to detect very early-stage lymphedema could spare thousands of patients a year, many women with breast cancer, from the painful, debilitating condition. Lymphedema is a gradual buildup of lymphatic fluid in the extremities, often following cancer treatment, that causes swelling and pain. It’s treatable if caught […]
Wildfires in US, Canadian Boreal Forests Could Release Sizable Amount of Remaining Global Carbon Budget
WASHINGTON (April 27, 2022)—A paper by U.S. scientists published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances today finds that fires occurring in U.S. and Canadian boreal forests between now and 2050 could release about 3% of the remaining global carbon budget unless greater investments are made to limit fire size in these carbon-rich forests. The first-of-its-kind […]
WMO: Hurricane Committee retires Ida, prepares for 2022 season
Geneva, April 27, 2022 (WMO) – The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Hurricane Committee has retired Ida from the rotating lists of Atlantic tropical cyclone names because of the death and destruction caused by the category 4 hurricane in the United States of America in 2021. Imani will instead be used in the lists of names, which are […]