Reducing the burden of tuberculosis treatment
mit.edu – Drug delivery system would allow patients to switch from daily to monthly doses.
Source: Malvika Verma, et al. A gastric resident drug delivery system for prolonged gram-level dosing of tuberculosis treatment. Science Translational Medicine, 2019.
Vibrating ‘mohawk’ may cause concussion side effects
futurity.org – Hits to the side of the head, which damage the brain's corpus callosum, could be behind concussion symptoms.
Source: Fidel Hernandez, et al. Lateral impacts correlate with falx cerebri displacement and corpus callosum trauma in sports-related concussions. Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology, 2019.
A small-molecule drug can block a broad range of flu viruses in mice
arstechnica.com – Rare antibodies help us design a drug that could help after we've caught the flu.
Source: Maria J. P. van Dongen, et al. A small-molecule fusion inhibitor of influenza virus is orally active in mice. Science, 2019.
Climate change limits forest recovery after wildfires
sciencedaily.com – New research suggests climate change makes it increasingly difficult for tree seedlings to regenerate following wildfires in low-elevation forests, which could contribute to abrupt forest loss.
Source: Kimberley T. Davis, et al. Wildfires and climate change push low-elevation forests across a critical climate threshold for tree regeneration. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019.
Study: E-cigarette flavors draw more kids than adults
upi.com – E-cigarettes may help people kick the habit of smoking but they're also attracting new people to the potentially toxic chemical nicotine.
Source: Samir S. Soneji, Kristin E. Knutzen, Andrea C. Villanti. Use of Flavored E-Cigarettes Among Adolescents, Young Adults, and Older Adults: Findings From the Population Assessment for Tobacco and Health Study. Public Health Reports, 2019.
Forests are becoming less able to bounce back from wildfires
newscientist.com – Climate change is causing forests around the world to lose their ability to recover from devastating wildfires
Source: Eugene R. Wahl, Eduardo Zorita, Valerie Trouet, Alan H. Taylor. Jet stream dynamics, hydroclimate, and fire in California from 1600 CE to present. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019.
Is the truth out there? New paper proposes solution to the Fermi paradox
digitaltrends.com – Where are all the aliens? The Fermi paradox asks why, given how vast the universe is, no other civilizations have contacted us here on Earth. A new paper uses computer modelling to show it wouldn't necessarily take all that long for space-faring civilizations to travel across the galaxy.
Source: Jonathan Carroll-Nellenback, Adam Frank, Jason Wright, Caleb Scharf. The Fermi Paradox and the Aurora Effect: Exo-civilization Settlement, Expansion and Steady States. arXiv, 2019.
Secretive new frog species from ancient lineage discovered in India
newscientist.com – A new species of frog discovered on the forest floor in India’s Western Ghat mountain range is the only member of an ancient lineage stretching back millions of years
Source: Seenapuram Palaniswamy Vijayakumar, et al. A new ancient lineage of frog (Anura: Nyctibatrachidae: Astrobatrachinae subfam. nov.) endemic to the Western Ghats of Peninsular India. PeerJ, 2019.
Water Moving on the Moon
nextbigfuture.com – NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has observed water molecules moving around the dayside of the Moon. The Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) measurements of the sparse layer of molecules... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Source: Amanda R. Hendrix, et al. Diurnally-Migrating Lunar Water: Evidence from Ultraviolet Data. Geophysical Research Letters, 2019.
Air pollution causes 800,000 extra deaths a year in Europe and 8.8 million worldwide
eurekalert.org – Air pollution could be causing double the number of extra deaths a year in Europe than has been estimated previously, according to a study published in the European Heart Journal.
Source: Jos Lelieveld, et al. Cardiovascular disease burden from ambient air pollution in Europe reassessed using novel hazard ratio functions. European Heart Journal, 2019.
