Category: Current Events

Vikings were in North America by 1021 CE

Post author By danelabonte
Post date 2021-10-20

“…the results suggest that the Norse cut down these trees within a few months of each other in 1021.”

“That precision was possible thanks in part to the IntCal20 calibration curve, which is the first radiocarbon calibration curve to break down changes in atmospheric carbon levels into single-year increments.”

“The Norse may have been at the site slightly earlier, but they were definitely there and cutting down trees by 1021.”

(https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/10/vikings-were-in-north-america-by-1021-ce/)

In 1960, L’Anse aux Meadows was discovered “with the assumed historical age of ca AD 1000”.

In the 1970s and 1980s, charcoal was used for radiocarbon dating.

In 2016, “progress in high-precision calibrations of radiocarbon dates has led to evaluations of earlier research” and concluded that “the calibrated age range of L’Anse aux Meadows is AD 975–1020.”

(https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/radiocarbon/article/critical-review-of-radiocarbon-dating-of-a-norse-settlement-at-lanse-aux-meadows-newfoundland-canada/2278148D033FEB9E42DD0A78B742CE13)

With this new research, we now have an even more definitive date.

Current Events Health

NFL agrees to end race-based brain testing in $1B settlement

Post author By danelabonte
Post date 2021-10-20

“The NFL agreed to end race-based adjustments in dementia testing that critics said made it difficult for Black retirees to qualify for awards in the $1 billion settlement of concussion claims, according to a proposed deal filed Wednesday in federal court.”

“The NFL had agreed in June, amid an uproar, to halt the use of race-norming, which assumes Black players start with lower cognitive function. That makes it harder to show they suffer from a mental deficit linked to their playing days.”

“The Black retirees will now have the chance to have their tests rescored or, in some cases, seek a new round of cognitive testing…”

(https://apnews.com/article/f9c8c931467c815099dce0ed42652379)

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_traumatic_encephalopathy)

Image (https://abc7.com/amp/nfl-dementia-concussion-settlement/11146620/)

Current Events Health Science

New research shows tuberculosis is mostly spread by breathing aerosolized bacteria

Post author By danelabonte
Post date 2021-10-20

“The finding upends conventional wisdom regarding coughing, long thought to be the main route of transmission.”

“As much as 90 percent of TB bacteria released from an infected person may be carried in tiny droplets, called aerosols, that are expelled when a person exhales deeply…”

“Researchers previously believed that most TB transmission occurred when an infected person coughed, spraying droplets containing the bacteria into the air. Some bacteria were thought to be released when a person breathed, but much less than by coughing.
“The new finding does not change that understanding: A single cough can expel more bacteria than a single breath. But if an infected person breathes 22,000 times per day while coughing up to 500 times, then coughing accounts for as little as 7 percent of the total bacteria emitted by an infected patient…”

“Tuberculosis is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which usually attacks the lungs. It is the world’s deadliest infectious disease after Covid-19, claiming more than 1.5 million lives last year — the first increase in a decade, according to a report published last week by the World Health Organization.”

“The report echoes an important finding of the Covid pandemic: The coronavirus, too, spreads in aerosols carried aloft, particularly in indoor spaces…”

(https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/19/health/tuberculosis-transmission-aerosols.html)

(https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mycobacterium_tuberculosis_8438_lores.jpg)

Current Events Health Science

EPA unveils strategy to regulate toxic ‘forever chemicals’

Post author By danelabonte
Post date 2021-10-19

“PFAS, called “forever chemicals” because they last so long in the environment, have been associated with serious health conditions, including cancer and reduced birth weight.
“PFAS is short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances that are used in nonstick frying pans, water-repellent sports gear, stain-resistant rugs and countless other consumer products. The chemical bonds are so strong that they don’t degrade or do so only slowly in the environment and remain in a person’s bloodstream indefinitely.”

“The EPA will move to set aggressive drinking water limits for PFAS under the Safe Drinking Water Act and will require PFAS manufacturers to report on how toxic their products are. The agency also will designate PFAS as hazardous substances under the so-called Superfund law that allows the EPA to force companies responsible for the contamination to pay for the cleanup work or do it themselves.

“The Defense Department said it is moving to assess and clean up PFAS-contaminated sites throughout the country, while the Food and Drug Administration will expand testing of the food supply to estimate Americans’ exposure to PFAS from food. And the Agriculture Department will boost efforts to prevent and address PFAS contamination in food.”

(https://apnews.com/article/business-environment-and-nature-environment-pollution-99866ff7b0bf7e110fcbf056ba2c5c09)

(https://www.epa.gov/pfas/pfas-explained)

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Per-_and_polyfluoroalkyl_substances)

Current Events Humanity

Partisan divide in media trust

Post author By danelabonte
Post date 2021-09-01

(https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/08/30/partisan-divides-in-media-trust-widen-driven-by-a-decline-among-republicans/)

Current Events Health Humanity Science

The (in)accuracy of the foundations of psychology

Post author By danelabonte
Post date 2021-07-31

“It’s possible around 50 percent of the published psychological literature fails upon retesting, but no one knows precisely the extent of the instability in the foundations of psychological science.”

(https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/22360363/replication-crisis-psychological-science-accelerator)

Current Events Health Humanity

Pandemic Poverty in the US

Post author By danelabonte
Post date 2021-07-30

“Poverty in the US will be cut by 45% this year thanks to the massive government intervention during the pandemic, meaning 20 million fewer people are in poverty now than in 2018. The decline in poverty over the last three years is almost 3x the previous record drop.”

“The combined benefits have the largest impact on children, reducing their projected 2021 poverty rate 81 percent relative to what it would be without any benefits (from 30.1 percent to 5.6 percent).”

Source (https://www.urban.org/research/publication/2021-poverty-projections-assessing-impact-benefits-and-stimulus-measures)

Via (https://www.morningbrew.com/daily/issues/2021/07/30)

Current Events Science Space

Astrophysicists report first detection of light from behind a black hole

Post author By danelabonte
Post date 2021-07-29

“Researchers observed bright flares of X-ray emissions, produced as gas falls into a supermassive black hole. The flares echoed off of the gas falling into the black hole, and as the flares were subsiding, short flashes of X-rays were seen – corresponding to the reflection of the flares from the far side of the disk, bent around the black hole by its strong gravitational field.”

“The strange discovery, detailed in a paper published July 28 in Nature, is the first direct observation of light from behind a black hole – a scenario that was predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity but never confirmed, until now.”

(https://news.stanford.edu/press-releases/2021/07/28/first-detection-ehind-black-hole/)

Current Events History Humanity Nature Science

Sponge-like fossil could be Earth’s earliest known animal

Post author By danelabonte
Post date 2021-07-29

Crystalline tubes seen in rocks (left) might have been formed when the collagen-like skeleton of an 890-million-year-old sponge decayed and fossilized. Some modern sponges have internal scaffolding (right) that resembles the shapes in the rocks.
Credit: Elizabeth C. Turner

“Fossil discovered in northwestern Canada could rewrite the early history of animal life — but some palaeontologists are not convinced it’s real.”

“Most major groups of animals — including arthropods, molluscs and worms — first appear in the fossil record during the Cambrian explosion, 541 million years ago. But according to a paper published today [28 July 2021] in Nature, sponge fossils from northwestern Canada could be 350 million years older, significantly pushing back the date of Earth’s earliest-known animals.”

“It’s such a big claim that you really have to eliminate all the other possibilities.”

(https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02066-9)

Current Events

US left Afghan airfield at night, didn’t tell new commander

Post author By danelabonte
Post date 2021-07-06

The U.S. left Afghanistan’s Bagram Airfield after nearly 20 years by shutting off the electricity and slipping away in the night without notifying the base’s new Afghan commander, who discovered the Americans’ departure more than two hours after they left, Afghan military officials said.

(apnews.com/article/bagram-afghanistan-airfield-us-troops-f3614828364f567593251aaaa167e623)