In what the study authors believe is the USA’s first large-scale assessment of avian flu in an urban bird population, a small number of wild birds in New York City have been found to be infected with the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain. While we typically consider the risk to humans to be greatest in rural … Read moreHighly Pathogenic H5N1 Flu Found In New York City Wild Birds By Citizen Scientists
A robust investment in public infrastructure has too often been an American unicorn—desirable yet elusive. Even our vaunted highway system wallowed as an aspirational blueprint for a dozen years before President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. The phrase “infrastructure week” became a running joke during the last administration as promises failed … Read moreWhy America’s Infrastructure Is So Hard To Fix
Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is surrounded by smaller galaxies. The precise number is difficult to estimate – the galaxies are small and dim, and they end up blending with the background objects and foreground stars. Theory suggests that there should be a lot more dwarf galaxies around the Milky Way than we see. But … Read moreOur Galaxy’s Neighborhood Seems More Crowded Than Expected – This Might Be A Big Problem
We tend to think of older people as devoid of sexual desires. This stereotype can feel particularly scary as we age, especially as we begin to notice sex becoming less and less frequent in our lives. Are we turning into them? Is the era of being youthfully sexual coming to an end? Midlife can be … Read moreSex Changes as We Age. Let’s Embrace That
We can only see light that has made it to our vantage point, meaning that there is a limit to how much of the universe we can see – known as the observable universe – as the light has not yet made it to us. In a static universe, the only thing stopping us from … Read moreHow Do We Know There Is Anything Beyond The Observable Universe?
It’s often said that “SOS” – the distress signal put out by troubled ships at sea – means “Save Our Souls” or “Save Our Ship”, but that’s not strictly true. When the “SOS” distress signal was first developed in the early 20th century, it was chosen simply because it had a distinctive Morse code sequence: … Read moreWhat Does “SOS” Mean? It Doesn’t Stand For “Save Our Ship”
The human Y chromosome isn’t what it used to be – long gone are the days when it used to be the same size as its pal, X. It’s now much smaller, but is it set to disappear entirely? And if so, what would happen? The human Y chromosome: an overview Most humans have 23 … Read moreWhat’s Happening With The Y Chromosome?
It is undeniable that we are changing the planet’s climate. The reality of this is backed by study after study – and the latest one shows that the rate at which carbon dioxide is being released into the atmosphere now has no natural counterparts over the last 50,000 years. Researchers analyzed the gas that has … Read moreCarbon Dioxide Increase Is Fastest It Has Ever Been In Last 50,000 Years
New research has found that lowland populations of Papua New Guinea have Denisovan genes that may have helped them develop a resistance to malaria. The findings are part of a larger study that examined whole-genome sequences from highlanders and lowlanders living in the southwestern Pacific country. Papua New Guinea (PNG) has a diverse range of … Read moreSome Papua New Guineans Have Denisovan Genes, And It Might Protect Them From Malaria
Crocodiles and alligators might be some of Earth’s oldest species, but that doesn’t mean they are immune to the problems faced by modern-day reptiles. The Cuban crocodile is a critically endangered species and is thought to have the smallest range of all the crocodilians. Where do Cuban crocodiles live? The Cuban crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer) used … Read moreAthletic, Speedy, And Heavily Armored: Meet The Cuban Crocodile