News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
In 1889, a mysterious respiratory illness emerged in Russia and then spread across the globe, triggering at least three waves of infection over the course of several years. Now, some scientists suspect that this illness, dubbed the “Russian flu,” actually may have been caused by a pandemic coronavirus similar to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, The New … Read more
The mysterious source of a globe-spanning tsunami that spread as far as 6,000 miles (10,000 kilometers) from its epicenter was an “invisible” earthquake, a new study has found. In August 2021, an enormous tsunami rippled out into the North Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. It was the first time a tsunami had been recorded in … Read more
Hacking coughs, uncontrollable sneezing, high fevers and pounding headaches can make anyone miserable – even a dinosaur. Recently, researchers identified the first evidence of respiratory illness in a long-necked, herbivorous type of dinosaur known as a sauropod, which lived about 150 million years ago during the Jurassic period (201.3 million to 145 million years ago) in what is now … Read more
The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption reached an explosive crescendo on Jan. 15, 2022. Its rapid release of energy powered an ocean tsunami that caused damage as far away as the U.S. West Coast, but it also generated pressure waves in the atmosphere that quickly spread around the world. The atmospheric wave pattern close to the eruption was quite complicated, but … Read more
A huge study of US military personnel suggests almost all cases of multiple sclerosis are triggered by the common Epstein-Barr virus, meaning a vaccine could largely eradicate the condition Health 13 January 2022 By Michael Le Page The Epstein-Barr virus viewed under a microscope Mediscan/Alamy It has long been suspected that the common Epstein-Barr virus … Read more
Extreme weather in Alaska that has brought record high temperatures and torrential downpours has left authorities in the far northern US state warning of “Icemageddon”. Huge sheets of ice are blocking roads and choking traffic in Fairbanks, Alaska’s second largest city, reported the state’s transportation department, which has coined the neologism – a play on … Read more
The years following the asteroid impact that wiped out non-avian dinosaurs were dark times — literally. Soot from raging wildfires filled the sky and blocked the sun, directly contributing to the wave of extinctions that followed, new research has found. After the asteroid struck, around 66 million years ago, the cataclysm extinguished many forms of … Read more
Forests have a localised cooling effect, and in tropical areas where deforestation has occurred, outdoor workers are now feeling the heat more Environment 17 December 2021 By Carissa Wong Areas of forest that have been cleared for oil palm plantations in Indonesia HOTLI SIMANJUNTAK/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Deforestation in tropical regions of Asia, Africa and the Americas has … Read more