tracking

Wastewater Monitoring Offers Powerful Tool for Tracking COVID and Other Diseases

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In 2020 experts at the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and other public health agencies watched a presentation that many thought was impractical at the time. Several companies proposed to regularly sample wastewater from sewers and treatment plants and run tests to detect SARS-CoV-2—the virus that causes COVID-19. People excrete the virus … Read more

Scientists Attached Tracking Devices to Magpies. But Nobody Asked The Magpies

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When we attached tiny, backpack-like tracking devices to five Australian magpies for a pilot study, we didn’t expect to discover an entirely new social behavior rarely seen in birds.   Our goal was to learn more about the movement and social dynamics of these highly intelligent birds, and to test these new, durable and reusable … Read more

Tracking Outbreaks Through Sewers, and Kids’ Vaccines on Hold Again | COVID Quickly, Episode 24

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Tanya Lewis: Hi, and welcome to COVID, Quickly, a Scientific American podcast series. Josh Fischman: This is your fast-track update on the COVID pandemic. We bring you up to speed on the science behind the most urgent questions about the virus and the disease. We demystify the research and help you understand what it really … Read more

We Desperately Need to Modernize Climate Change Emissions Tracking

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At the latest COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, young people from around the world were loudly protesting from the sidelines to hold their elders to task for the catastrophic climate mess Generation Z stands to inherit. Government leaders made pledges that would not only not limit global warming to 1.5 degrees but would instead mean … Read more

FEMA to Start Tracking Race of Disaster-Aid Applicants

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The Federal Emergency Management Agency has received White House approval to begin tracking the race and ethnicity of people who apply for disaster relief so the agency can analyze whether there is discrimination in the distribution of billions of dollars of federal aid. FEMA published a notice yesterday inviting the public to comment over the next two … Read more

NASA is tracking two explorers across Antarctica to prepare humans for Mars

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NASA is tracking two explorers on a 2,268-mile (3,650 kilometers) journey across Antarctica to learn more about humanity’s ability to survive on Mars.  British explorers Justin Packshaw and Jamie Facer Childs are on the 32nd day of an 80-day trek across the southernmost continent as part of the Chasing the Light mission — a grueling … Read more