This year in the United States, 14 people have tested positive for avian influenza, or bird flu. Nine of those became infected after coming into contact with poultry, and four got the virus from exposure to dairy cows. The source of the remaining, most recent case remains a mystery. The Centers for Disease Control and … Read more
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Africa currently imports around 40 million tons of wheat annually at a staggering cost of $15 billion. Most African countries rely heavily on wheat imports, with some importing up to 100% of their supply. However, countries like Ethiopia and Zimbabwe have made significant strides toward self-sufficiency. Ethiopia has expanded irrigated wheat … Read more
On Monday, September 16, the US Coast Guard is convening a Marine Board of Investigation hearing into the loss of OceanGate’s Titan submersible in June 2023 and the deaths of the five people on board, including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush. It intends to use the two-week livestreamed hearing in Charleston, South Carolina, to help it … Read more
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain A pair of asteroid dynamics researchers from Universidad Complutense de Madrid Ciudad Universitaria have found that a small asteroid will make one orbit around the Earth starting this month before departing back into other parts of the solar system. In their paper published in the journal Research Notes of the AAS, … Read more
This story originally appeared on WIRED en Español and has been translated from Spanish. C/2023 A3, also known as Tsuchinshan–ATLAS and considered “the comet of the century,” will appear in all its splendor in our sky during September and October 2024. Due to its characteristics, astronomers believe it will be exceptionally bright, similar to Halley’s … Read more
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain A hawk-eyed photographer has thrilled scientists by snapping a threatened bird of prey in Papua New Guinea, more than five decades since it was last officially documented, the World Wildlife Fund said Friday. The New Britain Goshawk is only found on Papua New Guinea’s New Britain island and is considered threatened, … Read more
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain In a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), researchers analyzed how erratic weather events, increasingly intensified by global warming, affect global production and consumption across different income groups. The paper, “Global economic impact of weather variability on the rich and the poor,” has been published in … Read more
Three huge blazes are burning in hills around Los Angeles. Cooler weather on Thursday aided firefighters battling out-of-control blazes around Los Angeles, but officials warned the fast-moving fires were unpredictable and could suddenly explode. Around 173 square miles (450 square kilometers) have been torched in the three fires, which have destroyed dozens of homes and … Read more
(a) Unoxidized cracks in SOAC@BNf/SiBN under oxygen atmosphere, (b) Initial oxidation structure of SOAC@BNf/SiBN fibers under oxygen atmosphere, (c) Microscopic dynamic process of the dual-feedback mechanism, (d) Self-healing morphology of dual-feedback cracks, (e) Crystal structure of the mullite. Credit: Journal of Advanced Ceramics, Tsinghua University Press Fiber-reinforced ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) have been the primary … Read more
A new enzyme-inspired, small-molecule catalyst developed at the University of Illinois holds alcohols and alkenes in just the right proximity and position to join into ethers, key functional components of many consumer goods and pharmaceuticals. Credit: Jose Vazquez Taking inspiration from enzymes, chemists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign developed a catalyst to simplify the … Read more
