Author: houssem23
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Why mpox is a global health emergency — again
For the second time, the World Health Organization has declared that mpox, formerly called monkeypox, is a global health emergency. In 2022, global spread of the virus, which causes rashes, fevers, muscle aches and other symptoms, led to the first emergency declaration (SN: 7/22/22). That version of the virus, called clade II, is still causing…
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Some meteors leave trails lasting up to an hour. Now we may know why
To leave a lasting trail, meteors need to aim low. A new survey of shooting stars shows that meteors that blaze through 90 kilometers up in the sky leave a persistent afterglow, unlike those that burn up at greater heights. Meteors are normally blink-and-you’ll-miss-it events. A particle of space dust leaves a fiery trail of…
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More than 4 billion people may not have access to clean water
Access to clean water is a human right — one that half of the world may not have. Out of the roughly 8 billion people on Earth, more than 4.4 billion lack access to safely managed drinking water, researchers report August 15 in Science. The estimate, based on computer simulations of data from low- and…
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Expanding antibiotic treatment in sub-Saharan Africa could save kids’ lives
In some parts of sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 10 percent of children die before they turn 5 years old (SN: 8/3/22); in 2022 alone, around 2.8 million young children died in the entire region. Most are dying from pneumonia, diarrhea or malaria — diseases that can be treated with antibiotics. But prescribing antibiotics to all children…
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The asteroid that may have killed the dinosaurs came from beyond Jupiter
Earth’s most famous killer asteroid came from the outer reaches of the solar system, researchers report in the Aug. 16 Science. About 66 million years ago, an asteroid slammed into the sea just off Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, forming the Chicxulub crater. That powerful impact may have triggered a mass extinction event on Earth, killing off…
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More than 100 bacteria species can flourish in microwave ovens
Even the microwave oven in your kitchen is not immune to bacteria. The irradiating environment within a microwave oven might seem inhospitable to microbes. But swabs from microwave ovens in several different locales identified over 100 bacterial strains, researchers report August 7 in Frontiers in Microbiology. This is the first time that scientists have documented…
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Astronauts actually get stuck in space all the time
Imagine going on a weeklong business trip and not coming home until the following year. That may be the situation for U.S. astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, whose eight-day mission to the International Space Station has already stretched to more than two months and is likely to go even longer. The pair launched to…
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The world’s record-breaking heat has lasted 14 months. When will it end?
In its latest global climate report, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed that July was the 14th straight month of record-breaking heat. That, in and of itself, is a new record. In the last 175 years, there has been only one other hot streak that comes close in terms of longevity. According to NOAA,…
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People with food and other allergies have a new way to treat severe reactions
Soon people will be able to subdue a severe allergic reaction with a nasal spray instead of an injection. On August 9, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first epinephrine nasal spray for the treatment of severe allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, in adults and kids who weigh 30 kilograms or more. Called neffy,…
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Can scientists make fruits and veggies resilient to climate change?
In 2023, a new type of apple made its commercial debut at a trade show in Berlin. The Tutti is crisp, juicy and has that perfect blush tinge — a lovely cultivar that took decades to produce. But it has a bigger claim to fame: It is designed to thrive at temperatures as high as…