A new variant of an influenza virus that circulates in pigs has been jumping occasionally into people, providing a surprisingly early opportunity for public health officials to test out some of the lessons learned from the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. Since the virus was first spotted in July, there have been 10 cases, all but one of which were children under the age of 10. (The exception was a 58-year-old.) All the cases have been in the U....
Thomas Eric Duncan’s family has been imprisoned in a borrowed home for a few weeks now, purportedly under police guard. This quarantine is an attempt to keep any Ebola virus from spreading further after their loved one died of the disease on October 8. That quarantine has not been applied to hospital workers who came into contact with Duncan on either his first visit to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital—when he was turned away—or his second visit two days later....
Researchers have developed a novel polymer device that can pick up on trace amounts of explosive vapors. The work, described in today’s issue of the journal Nature, could “deliver sensors that can detect explosives with unparalleled sensitivity,” its inventors suggest. Aimée Rose and her colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology used a type of compound known as a semiconducting organic polymer (SOP) in their design. When exposed to laser light, this type of compound subsequently produces its own additional laser light–a process called lasing....
Now in its 15th year, The Tribeca Film Festival of New York City has a long-standing commitment to showcasing films with “realistic and compelling” science and technology stories, dating back to its founding sponsorship by The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. That often means digging deeply into topics in the headlines, like last year’s Short Documentary Award winner, Body Team 12, did with the Ebola outbreak in Liberia. This year’s festival made some headlines of its own, when founder Robert De Niro selected, and then, under pressure, rejected Vaxxed, a documentary by disgraced doctor Andrew Wakefield that rehashes his debunked theory that vaccines cause autism....
It was the largest and most important investigation of treatments for high blood pressure ever conducted, with a monumental price tag to match. U.S. doctors enrolled 42,418 patients from 623 offices and clinics, treated participants with one of four commonly prescribed drugs, and followed them for at least five years to see how well the medications controlled their blood pressure and reduced the risk of heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular problems....
For an extended version of this article, click here. Anyone who has ever been in an earthquake has vivid memories of it: the ground shakes, trembles, buckles and heaves; the air fills with sounds of rumbling, cracking and shattering glass; cabinets fly open; books, dishes and knickknacks tumble from shelves. We remember such episodes—with striking clarity and for years afterward—because that is what our brains evolved to do: extract information from salient events and use that knowledge to guide our responses to similar situations in the future....
When three 775-foot-tall smoke stacks at the Navajo Generating Station came tumbling down in December, sending plumes of dust into the sky and thundering reverberations off the mesas of the Arizona high desert, it marked the end of an era. The federal government was instrumental in engineering the rise of the 2,250-megawatt coal plant 45 years ago, one of the country’s largest prior to its closure in 2019. Now, President Biden faces questions about how to replace it, marking an early test of his promises to weave environmental and social justice into his climate agenda....
At a lot of Thanksgiving dinners, people go around the table and take turns talking about something they’re thankful for. It’s nice! This Thanksgiving season, we’d like to share some of the things that people at Scientific American are thankful for. And we’d love to know what you’re thankful for. If you share this story or tag us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or wherever you’re celebrating with your virtual communities, we’ll highlight the responses to help everyone appreciate what’s right in the world, even in 2020....
The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. The Kingdom of Tonga doesn’t often attract global attention, but a violent eruption of an underwater volcano on January 15 has spread shock waves, quite literally, around half the world. High-resolution Himawari satellite imagery of the #HungaTongaHungaHaapai volcanic eruption in Tonga �� Our climate stations recorded a brief spike in air pressure as the atmospheric shock wave pulsed across New Zealand....
In the 1970s, the world reached peak child—the highest rate of human population growth. Since then, countries in Asia, the Americas, Australia and Europe have all seen birth rates decline dramatically and in Africa, the number of children in families has dropped from an average of more than six to around four. But that decline in Africa is slower than the birth rate drops in other parts of the world. The persistence of that relatively high birth rate stems from a wide range of factors, including cultural influences, economics, and a lack of access to birth control or family planning....
Did you like this interview? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. In this interview, Ancient History Encyclopedia is talking to Simon Young, the founder of Lithodomos VR, which is a company based in Melbourne, about their new platform Ancient World! Simon (Lithodomos VR): Hi, Kelly. It is great to be here, and I am so happy to be able to chat with you today about Lithodomos and about Ancient World....
Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. A symbol is an image or object which represents an abstract concept, often having to do with one’s religious beliefs. Every civilization, from the most ancient to the present, has made use of symbols to make the abstract concrete and visible and to provide assurance that a higher power was interested in, and sympathetic towards, the struggles of human beings....
Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Roman mosaics were a common feature of private homes and public buildings across the empire from Africa to Antioch. Not only are mosaics beautiful works of art in themselves but they are also an invaluable record of such everyday items as clothes, food, tools, weapons, flora and fauna....
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in the July 1994 issue of Scientific American and describes the first tentative sighting of the top quark. Confirmation came a year later. We have resurfaced this article to commemorate the end of the Tevatron. Rumors had been circulating since last summer, so it seemed to be just a matter of time before an official announcement would be made. When the call came, the expectant media circus descended on the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Batavia, Ill....
Four new substances have been added to a list of chemicals that may cause cancer compiled by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The list of known carcinogens now includes a chemical called ortho-toluidine, which is used to make rubber chemicals, pesticides and dyes. Recent research has linked the substance to bladder cancer in people. Three other substances were added to a list of agents that are “reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens....
Owning a plug-in hybrid car just got a little easier… if you live in San Jose, Calif., that is. If so, you can now drive your car downtown, park and recharge your battery by plugging into the power supply on a nearby lamppost. Coulomb Technologies in nearby Campbell has installed four charging stations in the city—three in a parking garage on 4th Street and one curbside across from city hall. Using the company’s ChargePoint Network, subscribers receive a smart card that allows them to fuel up at any station....
SHANGHAI – One aspect of this country’s high-speed economic growth is that Chinese are getting richer and prefer to have their own cars. After decades of streets crowded with bicyclists pedaling their way to work, suddenly China has blossomed into the world’s largest auto market. But that isn’t something worth celebrating, at least not for Chinese mayors. In fact, cities here are trying hard to pry drivers out of their shiny new cars and lure them into mass transit....
The Congo’s Mount Nyiragongo erupted Saturday night (May 22), sending thousands of people fleeing across the border into Rwanda and filling the skies with orange-red smoke. By Sunday morning, the lava flow had slowed, stopping just short of the area’s major transit hub Goma, and so far no directly related injuries or deaths have been reported. The 11,385-foot-tall (3,470 meters) volcano is topped with a giant lava-filled crater measuring some 1....
As you read these words, the air’s molecules are zipping around you at 2,000 miles per hour, faster than a speeding bullet, and bombarding you from all sides. Meanwhile the atoms and molecules that make up your body incessantly tumble, vibrate or collide with one another. Nothing in nature is ever perfectly still, and the faster things go, the more energy they carry; the collective energy of atoms and molecules is what we call, and feel as, heat....
Most of us associate Breathalyzers with drunk-driving arrests. But breath tests can reveal a lot more than how many alcoholic beverages a person chugged. They’re also used to diagnose some medical conditions, including jaundice in babies, lactose intolerance and ulcers, as well as to monitor whether asthma drugs are effective. And researchers say breath analyzers may one day be used to quickly identify a slew of other disorders, including cancer, leading to early detection and treatment....
