127 articles from TUESDAY 3.5.2022

Floods, new mystery disease impact starving marine turtles

University of the Sunshine Coast researchers and wildlife rescuers have joined forces as they deal with a large increase in stranded, sick, and deceased marine turtles from recent floods and the discovery of a mystery disorder that is eating away at turtle shells.

Corn genetic heritage the strongest driver of chemical defenses against munching bugs

Plants release chemical distress signals when under attack from chewing insects. These "911 calls," as entomologist Esther Ngumbi refers to them, alert other bugs that dinner or a nice place to lay their eggs is available nearby. If predatory or parasitic insects detect the right signal, they swoop in like saviors to make a meal out of—or lay their eggs in—the bodies of the herbivore insects.

Pfizer accused of Covid profiteering as first-quarter sales hit $26bn

Pharma firm criticised over pricing and for keeping monopoly control over vaccine and new Paxlovid pillSee all our coronavirus coveragePfizer has made nearly $26bn (£21bn) in revenues in the first three months of the year, the bulk from its Covid-19 vaccine and new pill to treat the virus, prompting fresh accusations of pandemic profiteering.Covid vaccines have saved many lives around the world...

Tasmania goes net carbon negative by reducing logging

Tasmania has become one of the first jurisdictions in the world to reduce their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and increase removals to become net carbon negative, according to new research from The Australian National University (ANU) and Griffith University.

Covid hospitalisation may affect thinking similar to 20 years of ageing

Some people experience lingering cognitive decline, with degree of impairment linked to illness severityPeople who have been hospitalised with Covid may be left with difficulties in thinking comparable in magnitude to ageing 20 years, research suggests.As the pandemic swept the world it became apparent that coronavirus could not only cause immediate health problems but also leave some people with...

Face shape influences mask fit, suggests problems with double masking against COVID-19

In a new study, researchers used principal component analysis along with fluid dynamics simulation models to show the crucial importance of proper fit for all types of masks and how face shape influences the most ideal fit. They modeled a moderate cough jet from a mouth of an adult male wearing a cloth mask over the nose and mouth with elastic bands wrapped around the ears and calculated the...

Indigenous peoples have shucked billions of oysters around the world sustainably

A new global study of Indigenous oyster fisheries shows that oyster fisheries were hugely productive and sustainably managed on a massive scale over hundreds and even thousands of years of intensive harvest. The study's broadest finding was that long before European colonizers arrived, the Indigenous groups in these locations harvested and ate immense quantities of oysters in a manner that did not...

Indigenous peoples have shucked billions of oysters around the world sustainably

A new global study of Indigenous oyster fisheries co-led by Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History anthropologist Torben Rick and Temple University anthropologist and former Smithsonian postdoctoral fellow Leslie Reeder-Myers shows that oyster fisheries were hugely productive and sustainably managed on a massive scale over hundreds and even thousands of years of intensive harvest. The...

Face shape influences mask fit, suggests problems with double masking against COVID-19

In its updated guidance at the start of 2022, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said loosely woven cloth masks offer the least protection against COVID-19, and N95 and KN95 masks offer the most protection. Still, after more than two years since the pandemic began, there is not a full understanding of mask characteristics for the most optimal protection.

Predicting how soon the universe could collapse if dark energy has quintessence

A trio of astrophysicists, two from Princeton, the other from New York University, has calculated estimations on how soon the universe could collapse if theories regarding dark energy as having quintessence are correct. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Cosmin Andrei, Anna Ijjas, and Paul Steinhardt suggest it could be as soon as 100 million years from...

Triplewise information tradeoff in quantum measurement has been proved

Schrödinger's cat is a thought experiment designed to explain quantum superposition and quantum measurement, which are the core characteristics of quantum physics. In this experiment, the cat inside the box can be both alive and dead at the same time (quantum superposition), and its state (dead or alive) is decided the moment the box is opened (measured). Such quantum superposition and...

Spacecraft navigation uses X-rays from dead stars

The remnants of a collapsed neutron star, called a pulsar, are magnetically charged and spinning anywhere from one rotation per second to hundreds of rotations per second. These celestial bodies, each 12 to 15 miles in diameter, generate light in the X-ray wavelength range. Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign developed a new way spacecraft can use signals from multiple...