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| + | 6 New Strands of Coronavirus in Myanmar | ||
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| + | In Myanmar, Researchers recently discovered 6 new coronaviruses, the same family as the current COVID-19 virus. These new coronaviruses originated from bats, and they suspect that they are not harmful to humans, but they still can not take any chances. However, scientists still need to be extremely careful. It is said that not only COVID-19 but every three out of four viruses originated from animals, especially bats. However, this type of result is not surprising to scientists, as it is predicted that there are 150 coronaviruses around the world. | ||
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| + | Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/smithsonian-scientists-discover-six-new-coronaviruses-bats-myanmar-180974657/ | ||
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Do Face Mask Really Help? | Do Face Mask Really Help? | ||
Revision as of 04:18, 23 April 2020
Noel's Article Summary Page
6 New Strands of Coronavirus in Myanmar
In Myanmar, Researchers recently discovered 6 new coronaviruses, the same family as the current COVID-19 virus. These new coronaviruses originated from bats, and they suspect that they are not harmful to humans, but they still can not take any chances. However, scientists still need to be extremely careful. It is said that not only COVID-19 but every three out of four viruses originated from animals, especially bats. However, this type of result is not surprising to scientists, as it is predicted that there are 150 coronaviruses around the world.
Do Face Mask Really Help?
With COVID-19 being a pandemic, killing thousands of people, most are trying ways to prevent ways to contract the virus or spread it to other people. One of the common ways is wearing a face mask when going outside. Face masks are not completely ineffective, preventing virus fluid from entering your nose and mouth. They also serve as a great reminder to not touch your face. If you are sick, it helps other people from getting infected as it keeps infected fluid inside your body. However, you aren't completely invincible. There is still a chance you can contract the virus even with N95 masks, which is more effective in stopping air particles. For now, all we can do is to social distance, wash our hands, and to stop touching our faces.
Source: https://www.popsci.com/story/health/do-face-masks-work/
Robot Dogs Learns New Tricks by Observing the Real Dogs
Researchers from Google have started to use data from actual dogs to help their robot dogs do simple dog tasks. This includes running like dogs or chasing their tails. There have been multiple types of robots that have conquered great feats of agility or athleticism. However, it is still hard to program robot dogs to be like actual dogs since robots are way less flexible than their real-life counterparts. In the end, they were able to recreate walking and spinning, but still have not recreated quick acts, like running or jumping. That can all come in the near future.
Source: https://www.popsci.com/story/technology/google-dog-robot/
New Discovery of Dinosaur DNA
DNA or any other Genetic Material is not meant to last long. It begins to decay right after death. However, in a 2012 study, it is said that DNA in a Moa's bones only halves itself every 521 years, meaning it slowly deteriorates. Recently, some scientist has found evidence of a chemical signature that is similar to DNA in fossils. If receiving genetic material like this is possible, this could open a huge amount of possibilities and help provide information on recently extinct animals. It is only a matter of time until scientists perfect and confirm these genetic traces.
Source:https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/possible-dinosaur-dna-has-been-found/#
The Environmental Effect of COVD-19
Recently, it has been said that COVID-19 has had a positive effect. A lot of the population is currently social distancing and self-isolating in their homes, waiting out the virus. This means that humans will not have as much effect on the environment because we are all staying home. Orbital Instruments from space observed that the NO2 levels in China have dropped substantially. NO2 is a pollutant and harmful gas emitted by cars or power plants. This phenomenon isn't only happening around China, but occurring around the entire world.
Source: https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-changes-pollution-over-china.html
A Bee That's Half-Male, Half-Female
A scientist by the name of Erin Krichilsky found a bee with interesting characteristics. On the right side of its body was the characteristics of a female bee and on the left side was the characteristics of a male bee. This bee was apparently an extremely rare gynandromorph or an animal that contains both female and male characteristics that are observable. The characteristics were exactly symmetrical, making it obvious that it was a gynandromorph. Apparently, these type of occasions occurs if a second sperm cell can find its way into an already fertilized egg, however, it isn't completely confirmed if they dissect the bee itself and researching it.
The Mystery of a Narwhal Tusk
Many assume that the tusk or horn of a Narwhal is used as a weapon, but scientists are now claiming that these tusks can be used as a mating signal. Not much is known about a Narwhal tusk because it is hard to study them in the wild. They decided to compare the overall whale size to the tusk size in order to provide evidence, depending on the disproportionate growth of the sexual trait. Scientists studied 250 male narwhals, finding out that males of the same size had varied tusk sizes from a foot to at least 8 feet. This may be evidence for a communication structure, but since it has been observed that there are scars on narwhals, there is always the chance that it has been used as a weapon.
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/whats-a-narwhals-tusk-for/
Jellyfish Give a Toxic Sting Without Tentacles
If you have ever gotten out of the water from a swim at the beach, you may have experienced a strange itchy or burning feeling. It is called stinging water and the cause is still unknown; however, scientists may have an answer. They believe a type of jellyfish called the Cassiopea might be the suspect of the stinging water. These jellyfish have a soft, and circular body with tentacles floating above them. They sting their victims by releasing mucus into the water, but scientists have never explored what in the mucus is causing the irritation. The plumes of mucus that are released have tiny spheres and are covered nematocysts, which regular jellyfish stinging cells have. Studying this animal can lead to and understanding the biological process which can both help humans and animals.
Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/cause-mystery-stings-ocean-confirmed-180974198/
The Future is here: DNA Data Storage
DNA Data storage systems sound fictional or an invention to be made in the future; however, scientists have somehow made DNA data storage possible. Currently, humans are producing massive amounts of DNA and soon enough, our data storage will not be able to handle that much data. However, DNA can be used to store 215 petabytes, or 215 million gigabytes each gram. This is possible because scientist encodes data in the four Nucledtide bases, A, T, C, and G. Using these bases, a DNA strand is synthesized and stored in a special bottle and will be decoded for data if needed once again. This technology is not ready because of the cost and the speed of the data transfer. It costs about $7,000 only to synthesize two megabytes of DNA and it is extremely slow to code and decode the DNA back into data. Hopefully, this technology improves and only pushes the way forward for the usage of DNA.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/03/dna-could-store-all-worlds-data-one-room
A Decrease in History Majors
In the past few years, there has been a decrease in the number of people majoring in history. In 2008, there were about 35,000+ people majoring in history but in 2017, there are only 20,000+ majoring in history. People are avoiding the history major because adults and students alike are preferring to take high-paying jobs instead of jobs they enjoy. Students and parents are deciding to major in something more simple and majoring in subjects that include STEM. In order to increase the number of history majors, people are working to prove myths and facts about the history and are arguing they need people that are sharp eyes, and with a perspective on the future, like historians.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-people-major-history-180970913/
The Voice of a 3,000-year-old Mummy
Recently, scientists from universities in England have recreated the voice of a 3,000-year-old ancient Egyptian priest mummy, Nesayamun. By using 3D printing, medical scanners, and an electronic larynx, they managed to replicate a single vowel sound. They had to take exact measurements of the larynx and throat by using a non-destructive CT scan. However, scientists were not able to get an exact replica of the sound because the tongue had deteriorated over the 3,000 year time period. Nonetheless, this technology has helped in developments to hear vocal tracts from someone long dead.
A 500 Year in the Making Exhibition
An ongoing exhibition at Manhattan’s Grolier Club is containing five hundred years’ worth of women’s works, celebrating the ignored history of women. All 200 of these letters, books, and journals were compiled by Lisa Unger Balkins. This never before seen exhibition contains works from famous names like Harriet Beecher Stowe, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Emmeline Pankhurst. Inspired by Baskin’s collection, the Grolier Club continues to show these works and include any and all women within the amount selected. The producers of this event decided they wanted to bring to light the untold stories of ordinary women in history.
Daily Dose of Internet
A youtube channel going by the name of "Daily Dose of Internet" is growing exponentially and currently has six million subscribers on Youtube. The owner of the channel, Jason Gryniewicz, had decided to post a video of random clips he had found on the internet. It currently has 3.5 million views and several thousand likes. From this point, he posted videos of random things you might find on the internet. Gryniewicz's videos consist of flaming burgers, sharks that glow in the dark, 3D printed steaks, and so on. It's interesting what you might find.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdC0An4ZPNr_YiFiYoVbwaw/videos
