Years

Mysterious ‘Russian Flu’ 130 Years Ago May Have Been a Coronavirus, Scientists Say

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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

New atomic clock loses only one second every 300 billion years

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A group of physicists has announced one of the highest performance atomic clocks ever made. The instrument is said to measure time so precisely that it will only lose one second every 300 billion years, allowing for more exact measurements of gravitational waves, dark matter and other physics phenomena. A study based on the UW-Madison-led … Read more

US Could Get a Century’s Worth of Sea Level Rise in Just 3 Decades, Report Warns

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A new federal report with up-to-date projections for all states and territories predicts sea levels in the United States will rise more than three times as fast as they did last century.   According to new lines of data, the average sea level along the nation’s coastline could increase by 0.3 meters (or a foot) … Read more

COVID Dominated Their Science Lives: Here’s What Four Experts Learned over Two Years

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Amesh Adalja, Rupali Limaye, Jeffrey Shaman and Brian Wahl all know SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, inside and out. Adalja, an ER doctor and biosecurity specialist, saw this pandemic coming back in 2018 when he headed a report called The Characteristics of Pandemic Pathogens. It states, “The most probable naturally occurring [global catastrophic biological risk]–level threat that humans face is … Read more

American Woman Appears to Be Entirely Cured of HIV After Unique Medical Treatment

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Ten years ago, an unnamed American woman was diagnosed with HIV. Like the tens of thousands of people who test positive in the US each year, she faced a lifetime of anti-retroviral therapies to keep the virus from obliterating her immune system.   Today, that’s no longer the case. The patient is part of an … Read more

Massive ‘Killer’ Croc Discovered With The Remains of a Dinosaur in Its Stomach

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About 95 million years ago in what is now Australia, a massive crocodile relative clamped down with its powerful jaws on the small body of a dinosaur and gulped nearly all of it down in one mighty swallow.   The crocodilian died soon after, and as it fossilized, so did the partly-digested and near-complete dinosaur … Read more

Western ‘Megadrought’ Is the Worst in 1,200 Years

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The searing “megadrought” that has gripped the southwest U.S. for more than two decades is the driest 22-year period in at least 1,200 years. The region hasn’t seen a more severe drought since the start of the scientific record around the year 800, according to new research published yesterday. An exceptionally dry year in 2021 helped break … Read more

Lichens Could Need More than a Million Years to Adapt to Climate Change

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Often mistaken for primitive plants such as moss (if they are even noticed in the first place), lichens are actually not plants at all. They are a group of versatile symbiotic life-forms that play crucial roles in myriad ecosystems, from rain forests to Arctic tundra. Though some do closely resemble moss, others look like little … Read more

Extreme ‘Megadrought’ Gripping The US Is Like Nothing Seen in 1,200 Years

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The megadrought that has parched the southwestern United States and parts of Mexico over the last two decades is the worst to hit the region in at least 1,200 years, researchers said Monday.   Human-caused global heating accounts for more than 40 percent of the dry spell’s intensity, they reported in the journal Nature Climate … Read more

Incredible 5,000-Year-Old Drum Found in The Grave of ‘Cuddling’ Prehistoric Children

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A Stonehenge-era chalk drum is the “most important piece of prehistoric art to be found in Britain in the last 100 years,” according to the British Museum. The 5,000-year-old drum, discovered within an ancient children’s burial site, is to go on display for the first time next week, per CNN.    It will be unveiled, six … Read more