Category: 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)

Art Science

Candle smoke

Post author By danelabonte
Post date 2021-08-23

The smoke of a candle after blowing it out. (@macrofying)

Source (https://www.instagram.com/p/CSE_G0hoCOo/)

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 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 Health Science

99% of COVID-19 deaths in U.S. involve unvaccinated people

Post author By danelabonte
Post date 2021-07-05

The United States of America has registered over 605,000 deaths in the COVID-19 pandemic, the highest national toll so far in the world.

(globalnews.ca/news/8001754/u-s-covid-deaths-unvaccinated-people/)

Engineering Nature Science Tech

Cellular fluidics

Post author By danelabonte
Post date 2021-07-02

“A technological platform has been developed in which millimetre-scale cubes are assembled into 3D structures that control capillary action — enabling programmable fluid flows and modelling of a range of fluidic processes.”

“In this platform, millimetre-scale cubes known as unit cells have internal architectures that draw up fluids through capillary action. The combined capillary action of stacked unit cells produces a vertical flow of fluid.
“The authors report that a tree-like structure built from the unit cells continuously delivers liquid from a reservoir to the tips of the branches, where the liquid evaporates — a process that mimics transpiration in natural trees.”

“The flow of liquid in natural structures, such as tree leaves or soil, depends on the arrangement of the components in those structures³. Cellular fluidics is therefore the perfect tool with which to mimic such liquid flow, because the unit cells can be arranged in the same way as can the building blocks of the natural structures.”

“…the authors derived a theoretical model that describes how strut diameter and the number of cells coupled together influence the overall capillary action of a cellular fluidics system.”

Article (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01708-2)

Paper (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03603-2)

Current Events Nature Science

Japan’s cherry blossoms are emerging increasingly early

Post author By danelabonte
Post date 2021-03-31

“Experts think climate change is to blame”

“Diarists have keenly chronicled the comings and goings of cherry blossoms for centuries—records from Kyoto, the old capital, date back 1,200 years. This precious, ancient data set reveals a disturbing trend: in recent decades, the blossoms have emerged much sooner than they once did.”