Ebola Recovery: How Did Dallas Nurses Get Well So Quickly?

 Posted on May 26, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  573 words  |  Trudie Dory

The two nurses in Dallas who became infected with Ebola this month may have recovered so quickly because of their youth, as well as the protective equipment they were wearing at the time of infection, according to a doctor who has treated Ebola patients. Today (Oct. 28), nurse Amber Vinson, who was infected with Ebola earlier this month, was declared free of the virus, and was released from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, where she was treated. [Read More]

Fast-spreading UK coronavirus variant: All your questions answered

 Posted on May 26, 2023  |  8 minutes  |  1557 words  |  Patria Henriques

Editor's Note: This story was last updated on Feb. 1, 2021. A scary new strain of coronavirus, innocuously named B.1.1.7, has recently exploded across southeast England, prompting the government to tighten lockdowns on the region. Though we don't know all the details, experts are increasingly confident it is more easily transmitted than other strains. Here's everything we know so far about this novel strain. What is it?The B.1.1.7  strain of SARS-CoV-2 is a version of the virus with 23 mutations, eight of which are in the spike protein the virus uses to bind to and enter human cells, Science Magazine reported. [Read More]

Firm Handshakes Help Land Jobs

 Posted on May 26, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  552 words  |  Fernande Dalal

If you're seeking employment, get a grip. A firm handshake is key to landing a job. In a new study, scientists put 98 students through mock job interviews with businesspeople. The students also met with trained handshake raters who, unbeknownst to the students, rated their grips. Separately, the businesspeople graded each student's overall performance and hireability. The two group's scores were then compared. Students who got high handshake marks were also rated most hireable. [Read More]

Long-Term Birth Control More Effective than the Pill

 Posted on May 26, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  798 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Women who use long-acting methods of birth control are less likely to wind up pregnant than women who use shorter-term methods, which require daily or monthly remembering, a new analysis says. The results showed that women using birth control pills, skin patches or vaginal rings were 20 times more likely to have an unplanned pregnancy than women who used intrauterine devices (IUDs) or implants placed under the skin of the upper arm. [Read More]

Mendocino Wildfire Becomes California's Largest, and It's Still Growing

 Posted on May 26, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  334 words  |  Patria Henriques

California is battling its largest wildfire ever recorded, along with 15 other major ones across the state.  The Mendocino Complex Fire is actually two separate fires, both of which began burning in late July: the Ranch Fire and the River Fire. They haven't merged yet, but they are close enough to each other that officials from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection are counting them as one huge wildfire. [Read More]

Science in Ice: Lab Operates Inside a Glacier

 Posted on May 26, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  729 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Nearly 700 feet (more than 200 meters) under the Svartisen glacier in northern Norway, researchers are huddled together underground. In the world's only lab located inside one of these giant hunks of ice, they are carrying out some of the best experiments on the movement and composition of glaciers ever done. The lab, operated by the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, is located above the Arctic Circle. It started out as a tunnel for hydropower, but then researchers persuaded the hydropower company to dig out one small extra tunnel just for them and created a valuable in-site lab. [Read More]

Shootings Are Now the 3rd-Leading Cause of Death in US Kids

 Posted on May 26, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  608 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Gun-related injuries are now the third-leading cause of death among children ages 1 to 17 in the United States, according to a new report. The results show that almost 1,300 children in the U.S. die from gunshot wounds yearly, and an additional 5,790 children are treated for gunshot wounds and survive each year, the researchers found. The leading cause of death for this age group is unintentional injuries (other than firearm injuries), primarily due to motor vehicle crashes or drowning; the second leading cause of death for this age group is cancer, according to the CDC. [Read More]

Should you still wear a mask indoors? It depends.

 Posted on May 26, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  767 words  |  Patria Henriques

In May, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued new, less-restrictive recommendations for mask wearing for those who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. According to the most recent guidelines, vaccinated people can now go without masks in most indoor and outdoor settings, and unvaccinated people can forgo masks outside, as long as they're not in crowded settings.  Due to the more contagious delta variant of the coronavirus, which is now spreading across the U. [Read More]

Tattoos Linked to Hard-to-Treat Bacterial Infection

 Posted on May 26, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  490 words  |  Trudie Dory

A rare but difficult-to-treat bacterial infection that usually strikes people with impaired immune systems is showing up for the first time in healthy individuals getting tattoos, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today. Two cases of skin infections caused by this bacterium, called Mycobacterium haemophilum, have occurred in individuals receiving tattoos in the Seattle area, the CDC said. These bacteria are in the same family as those that cause tuberculosis and leprosy. [Read More]

The Link Between Climate Change and 'Flesh-Eating' Bacteria

 Posted on May 26, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  952 words  |  Trudie Dory

It's that time of the year again: when the weather is warm, and people are swarming the beach. That means it's also the time of year when doctors see a sharp rise in a certain type of "flesh-eating" bacterial infections called vibriosis. These infections are caused by Vibrio bacteria, which thrive in warm, coastal seawater and often infect widely consumed shellfish species, like oysters. Scientists warn that as climate change causes an increase in sea surface temperatures and a rise in sea levels, Vibrio infections will become more common. [Read More]