25 articles from SATURDAY 11.3.2023

'Pineapple express' storm wallops California

Dozens of evacuation orders were in place Friday as a powerful atmospheric river, known as a "Pineapple express," surged into an already-sodden California, sparking warnings of widespread flash flooding.

Two exoplanets orbiting a sun-like star discovered

Astronomers report the discovery of two new exoplanets orbiting a bright sun-like star about 175 light years away. The newfound alien worlds, designated HIP 104045 b and HIP 104045 c, were classified as a Jupiter analog and a super Neptune planet, respectively. The finding was detailed in a paper published March 2 on the pre-print server arXiv.

Using a standard RGB camera and AI to obtain vegetation data

Aerial imagery is a valuable component of precision agriculture, providing farmers with important information about crop health and yield. Images are typically obtained with an expensive multispectral camera attached to a drone. But a new study from the University of Illinois and Mississippi State University (MSU) shows that pictures from a standard red-green-blue (RGB) camera combined with AI...

Don’t forget to floss: the science behind dementia and the four things you should do to prevent it

A picture is emerging of a healthy lifestyle which is key to the condition’s prevention – exercise, being sociable, and looking after your earsThe idea was simple. Recruit hundreds of people in their 80s and 90s, equip them with fitness trackers, and monitor their physical activity. Then, when the participants died, collect their brains and examine the tissue. Is there evidence, lurking in the...

‘Profiteering’ of Covid pandemic must never be repeated, world figures warn

Scathing open letter accuses big pharma of ‘exploiting’ publically funded vaccines and says humanity must come before commerceThe Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, former first lady of South Africa and Mozambique Graça Machel and former UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon are among nearly 200 signatories to a letter calling on governments to “never again” allow “profiteering and...

White House budget includes ambitious push to eliminate hepatitis C

The Biden administration's fiscal year 2024 budget proposal, announced yesterday, aims to eliminate hepatitis C from the United States by creating a nationwide program to fight the disease. If funded by Congress, the 5-year, $11.3 billion program would expand testing, broaden access to powerful antiviral drugs, and boost awareness. “I can’t really recall a circumstance quite...