Latest Articles
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Mar- 2022 -6 MarchCOVID-19
Deer, Mink and Hyenas Have Caught COVID-19 – Animal Virologists Explain Coronavirus in Animals and Why Humans Need To Worry
Lead image: White-tailed deer are one of the few wild species that scientists have found to be infected with the coronavirus – at least so far. Credit: Andrew C/WikimediaCommons, CC BY In April 2020, tigers and lions at the Bronx Zoo made the news when they came down with COVID-19. In the months following these surprising diagnoses, researchers and veterinarians found SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in nearly a dozen other species, both in captivity and in the wild. How are so many animals catching the coronavirus? And what does this mean for human and animal health? We are…
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4 MarchHealth
Combination Treatment Is Effective for Treating Smokers Who Drink Alcohol Heavily
One in five people who smoke also drink heavily, but they show worse outcomes than non-heavy drinkers in quitting smoking and are often excluded from smoking cessation trials. Knowing how challenging it can be to quit smoking, Andrea King, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Chicago, wanted to find a treatment that could help smokers to quit, particularly those who would describe themselves as heavy drinkers. It may be easy to dismiss heavy drinking and smoking behaviors as “bad habits,” but there are biological mechanisms that tie the two tightly together. To this point, King’s…
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4 MarchMoon
A Rocket Is Going To Crash Into the Moon Friday – NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Will Get an Up-Close View of the Smoldering Crater
Lead Image: Artist’s animation of a rocket booster crashing into the moon. The accidental experiment will shed light on the physics of impacts in space. On March 4, 2022, a lonely, spent rocket booster will smack into the surface of the Moon at nearly 6,000 mph. Once the dust has settled, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will move into position to get an up-close view of the smoldering crater and hopefully shed some light on the mysterious physics of planetary impacts. As a planetary scientist who studies the Moon, I view this unplanned impact as an exciting opportunity. The Moon has…
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3 MarchHealth
For Getting Better Sleep, Resistance Exercise May Be Superior to Aerobic Exercise
A new study found that resistance exercise may be superior to aerobic exercise as a way to get better sleep. A year-long resistance exercise program improved sleep quality, duration and other indicators of a good night’s sleep more so than aerobic exercise, combined aerobic and resistance exercise, and no exercise. Researchers say interventions focused on resistance exercises may be a way to improve sleep and, in turn, cardiovascular health. Resistance exercise may be superior to aerobic exercise as a way to get better sleep, and sleep is important for cardiovascular health, according to preliminary research to be presented at the…
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2 MarchAstronomy
“Closest Black Hole” System Doesn’t Contain a Black Hole – “Stellar Vampirism”
In 2020 a team led by European Southern Observatory (ESO) astronomers reported the closest black hole to Earth, located just 1000 light-years away in the HR 6819 system. But the results of their study were contested by other researchers, including by an international team based at KU Leuven, Belgium. In a paper published today, these two teams have united to report that there is in fact no black hole in HR 6819, which is instead a “vampire” two-star system in a rare and short-lived stage of its evolution. The original study on HR 6819 received significant attention from both the…
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