272 articles from WEDNESDAY 22.4.2020

California aims to quintuple its coronavirus testing

California plans to significantly ramp up its coronavirus testing and tracing efforts, as the state strives to reach a point where it could relax stay-at-home rules implemented to contain the outbreak. During a press conference on Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state intends to increase testing capacity from about 16,000 per day to 25,000 by April 30, and reach between 60,000 and 80,000...

Hydroxychloroquine: Trump stops hyping drug after study shows no benefit

Fox News staffers also backed away from promoting drug after a recent US trial did not go wellCoronavirus – live US updatesLive global updatesSee all our coronavirus coverage Donald Trump and conservative supporters have backed away from repeatedly hyping the controversial drug hydroxychloroquine as a potential cure for the coronavirus.Along with Fox News staffers, who have also pivoted from...

Bike lanes provide positive economic impact

Despite longstanding popular belief, bicycle lanes can actually improve business. At worst, the negative impact on sales and employment is minimal, according to a new study. Researchers studied 14 corridors in 6 cities -- Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Memphis, Minneapolis and Indianapolis -- and found such improvements had either positive or non-significant impacts on sales and employment....

Tectonic plates started shifting earlier than previously thought

Scientists examining rocks older than 3 billion years discovered that the Earth's tectonic plates move around today much as they did between 2 and 4 billion years ago. The findings suggest that the continents settled into place and sustained life much earlier than previously thought, and give insights into plate tectonics on other planets.

Disappearing Alaskan sea ice is significant for Arctic marine ecosystem

A new study shows that plant materials originating in Arctic sea ice are significantly incorporated into marine food webs that are used for subsistence in local communities of the greater Bering Strait region. The research has the potential to demonstrate the importance of sea ice ecosystems as a source of food in Arctic waters in Alaska and beyond.

Human-caused warming will cause more slow-moving hurricanes, warn climatologists

Hurricanes moving slowly over an area can cause more damage than faster-moving storms, because the longer a storm lingers, the more time it has to pound an area with storm winds and drop huge volumes of rain, leading to flooding. The extraordinary damage caused by storms like Dorian (2019), Florence (2018) and Harvey (2017) prompted Princeton's Gan Zhang to wonder whether global climate change...

Tectonic plates started shifting earlier than previously thought

An enduring question in geology is when Earth's tectonic plates began pushing and pulling in a process that helped the planet evolve and shaped its continents into the ones that exist today. Some researchers theorize it happened around four billion years ago, while others think it was closer to one billion.

Sweet potato microbiome research important first step towards improving yield

Grown around the world, sweet potatoes are an important source of nutrition particularly in sub-Saharan African and Asian diets. Sweet potatoes are especially significant to sub-Saharan Africa as a source of Vitamin A, a nutrient commonly deficient in the region. While China currently produces the most sweet potatoes by country, sub-Saharan Africa has more land devoted to sweetpotatoes and...

Study finds bike lanes provide positive economic impact

Despite longstanding popular belief, bicycle lanes can actually improve business. At worst, the negative impact on sales and employment is minimal, according to a new study from Portland State's Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC).