Saturday 10 October 2020

Hurricane Delta roars ashore on storm-battered US southern coast

Hurricane Delta has made landfall on the Louisiana coast, packing ferocious winds and a "life-threatening" storm surge—and driving out residents still rebuilding from a devastating storm less than two months ago.

Mary Ann Shadd Cary, American-Canadian abolitionist, honored in Google Doodle

Google is paying tribute Friday to the first Black female newspaper editor and publisher in North America.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-10-mary-ann-shadd-cary-american-canadian.html

Twitter tightens rules to thwart election threats

Twitter said Friday it will take down calls for violence starting after polls close on US election day and slap warnings on premature victory claims to fight efforts to undermine the election.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-10-twitter-tightens-thwart-election-threats.html

Celebrities to lead TED global call to act on climate crisis

The Pope and Prince William will join activists, artists, celebrities and politicians on Saturday at a free streamed TED event aimed at unifying people to confront the climate crisis.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-10-celebrities-ted-global-climate-crisis.html

World Food Program wins Nobel Peace Prize for hunger fight

The World Food Program won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for fighting hunger and seeking to end its use as "a weapon of war and conflict" at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has driven millions more people to the brink of starvation.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-10-world-food-nobel-peace-prize.html

Hurricane Delta roars ashore on storm-battered US southern coast

Hurricane Delta has made landfall on the Louisiana coast, packing ferocious winds and a "life-threatening" storm surge—and driving out residents still rebuilding from a devastating storm less than two months ago.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-10-hurricane-delta-roars-ashore-storm-battered.html

Friday 9 October 2020

Renewable player overtakes ExxonMobil in market value

After decades of embracing fossil fuels, Wall Street appears to be shifting its allegiance to renewable energy, a sharp turn apparent in the contrasting fortunes of NextEra Energy and Exxon Mobil.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-10-renewable-player-exxonmobil.html

During a highly partisan time in our nation, survey shows broad bipartisan support for a stronger focus on science

A recent survey commissioned by Research!America on behalf of a working group formed to assess America's commitment to science shows overwhelming support for science across political parties. A strong majority of Americans agree that "the COVID-19 pandemic is a disruptive event and requires urgent refocusing of America's commitment to science."

UK early years sector needs new strategy to recruit and support male staff, says study

The UK's early years sector—staffed 96% by women and facing a longstanding recruitment crisis—needs a radical new strategy to gender-diversify its workforce, according to a new report, published today.

Thursday 8 October 2020

Women are more concerned about COVID-19 than men, study finds

A Dartmouth-Gallup study finds that women are more concerned about COVID-19 than men, a difference that transcends party lines. This female perspective towards the pandemic may be overlooked due to the underrepresentation of women in the workplace that is compounded by an underrepresentation in politics, creating what the researchers refer to as a representational "double whammy" effect. The study's findings are published in Politics & Gender.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-10-women-covid-men.html

Stopping opioid-related addiction, harm and accidents after surgery

The opioid crisis, in which addiction and harm are related to pain-relieving opioid drugs, has been well documented. It has been concentrated in the USA but is now affecting most Western nations and increasingly, developing countries also. In some cases, this addiction and subsequent harm begins when the patient is given these drugs for pain relief after surgery.

Pollinator monitoring more than pays for itself

Monitoring schemes to count bees and other pollinating insects provide excellent value for money, and could help save species and protect UK food security, researchers have found.

Ants adapt tool use to avoid drowning

Researchers have observed black imported fire ants using sand to draw liquid food out of containers, when faced with the risk of drowning. This is the first time this sophisticated tool use has been reported in animals. These findings are published in the British Ecological Society journal Functional Ecology.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-10-ants-tool.html

New algorithm sharpens focus of world's most powerful microscopes

We've all seen that moment in a cop TV show where a detective is reviewing grainy, low-resolution security footage, spots a person of interest on the tape, and nonchalantly asks a CSI technician to "enhance that." A few keyboard clicks later, and voila—they've got a perfect, clear picture of the suspect's face. This, of course, does not work in the real world, as many film critics and people on the internet like to point out.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-10-algorithm-sharpens-focus-world-powerful.html