Mathematical modeling suggests counties are still unprepared for COVID spikes
America was unprepared for the magnitude of the pandemic, which overwhelmed many counties and filled some hospitals to capacity. A new paper in PNAS suggests there may have been a mathematical method, of sorts, to the madness of those early COVID day.....»»
Evacuating in disasters like Hurricane Milton—there are reasons people stay, and it"s not just stubbornness
As Hurricane Milton roared ashore near Sarasota, Florida, tens of thousands of people were in evacuation shelters. Hundreds of thousands more had fled coastal regions ahead of the storm, crowding highways headed north and south as their counties issu.....»»
Wildlife loss is taking ecosystems nearer to collapse, new report suggests
Even for a conservation biologist numbed to bad news about nature, the biennial Living Planet report from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is a stark reminder of our failure to arrest the loss of biodiversity—the variety of living things and the ecosy.....»»
Is COVID-19 infecting wild animals? Researcher test species from bats to seals to find out
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers have found coronavirus infections in pet cats and dogs and in multiple zoo animals, including big cats and gorillas. These infections have even happened when staff were using personal protective e.....»»
Study finds it could take over 40 years to flush PFAS out of groundwater
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, known commonly as PFAS, could take over 40 years to flush out of contaminated groundwater in North Carolina's Cumberland and Bladen counties, according to a new study from North Carolina State University. The study.....»»
European forest plants are migrating westwards: Research suggests nitrogen is the main cause
New research reveals nitrogen pollution, and to a lesser extent climate change, unexpectedly as the key driver behind surprising westward shifts in the distribution of plants......»»
Assessment of damaged archaeological sites suggests they require individual protection concepts
An analysis of the damage to archaeological sites documented after a heavy rainfall event in July 2021 in parts of Germany shows that several factors increase the risk of damage to archaeological sites due to heavy rainfall and flooding events. For e.....»»
Declines in plant resilience threaten carbon storage in the Arctic
Rapid warming has impacted the northern ecosystem so significantly that scientists are concerned the region's vegetation is losing the ability to recover from climate shocks, suggests a new study......»»
Psychedelic Mushrooms Are Getting Much, Much Stronger
Cultivators are turning to genetic sequencing and cellular-manipulation techniques to breed highly potent mushrooms—leaving some unprepared psychonauts in distress......»»
Hurricane Milton Shows How a Storm’s Category Doesn’t Tell the Full Story
Milton’s reclassification to a Category 3 storm suggests it is weakening, but the scale accounts only for wind speed and not hurricane size, storm surge heights, or rainfall—which are all catastrophically large......»»
Carefully exposing children to more misinformation can make them better fact-checkers, study suggests
In an era when online misinformation is seemingly everywhere and objective facts are often in dispute, UC Berkeley psychologists in a new study have presented a somewhat paradoxical partial solution: Expose young children to more misinformation onlin.....»»
Stressed bees make pessimistic choices and may experience emotion-like states, new research suggests
Stressed bees are much more likely to make pessimistic choices and lack a buzz in life, new research has revealed......»»
Scientists discover novel series of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro inhibitors for potential new COVID-19 treatments
New research from The Wistar Institute's Salvino lab, led by professor Joseph Salvino, Ph.D., has identified a novel series of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro inhibitors that may lead to potential new COVID-19 treatments that—according to preclinical testing—eff.....»»
Study suggests elephants remember zookeepers after many years
An elephant never forgets, as the saying goes. In fact, there is evidence that proboscideans still remember the waterholes they once visited decades later. They also often recognize fellow elephants that they have not encountered for a long time. But.....»»
Research suggests Earth"s oldest continental crust is disintegrating
Earth's continental configurations have changed dramatically over its billions of years' history, transforming not only their positions across the planet, but also their topography as expansion and contraction of the crust made a mark on the landscap.....»»
Singapore families show high resilience during pandemic
A recent study by the National University of Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS Medicine) analyzing the resilience of Singaporean families during the COVID-19 pandemic has uncovered significant findings that highlight how most families wi.....»»
Michigan Department of Natural Resources confirms state"s worst deer disease outbreak since 2012
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has confirmed the state's worst deer disease outbreak since 2012 with cases found in 11 southwest counties, officials said......»»
Study: Job embeddedness impacts voluntary turnover in the midst of job insecurity
During the Great Resignation, the United States experienced a significant uptick in voluntary employee resignations about one year into the COVID-19 pandemic. The early stages of the pandemic, however, were plagued by high unemployment. In order to s.....»»
Wastewater Offers an Early Alarm System for Another Deadly Virus
A surveillance system proven during Covid-19 is now being used to track outbreaks of RSV......»»
Study suggests statistical "noise" affects perceived evolutionary rates
For decades, researchers have observed that rates of evolution seem to accelerate over short time periods—say five million years versus fifty million years. This broad pattern has suggested that "younger" groups of organisms, in evolutionary terms,.....»»
Return-to-office mandates may not be the solution to downtown struggles that Canadian cities are banking on
In recent months, many Canadian employers in both the public and private sectors have implemented return-to-office mandates, requiring workers that transitioned to remote or hybrid work during the COVID-19 pandemic to work in-person again......»»