Science

What's new in the scientific world

US astronomers discover cosmic missing link black hole. Image via Curiosity.
Science
US astronomers find cosmic missing link black hole

A team of astronomers led by Dr. Dacheng Lin at the University of New Hampshire in Durham believes it has discovered evidence for a particularly elusive kind of black hole that may be a missing link to a wider understanding of these mysterious bodies. Lin's team used the Hubble telescope along with two X-ray measurements to observe what is called an intermediate-mass black hole.

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Wed Apr 01 - BBC
Scientists discover first evidence for deep-sea fish migration route. Image via Science.
Science
Scientists discover fish migration route 4500 ft below sea level

A recently concluded study from a large number of collaborating groups in universities around the world has photographed evidence of a deep-sea fish migration route that was first theorized to exist when scientists noticed that deep-sea fish populations exhibited seasonal patterns. While the exact route is still unclear, scientists have managed to prove that the migration route exists 4,500 feet below sea level in the Atlantic Ocean.

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Sun Mar 29 - Gizmodo
Research finds coronavirus vaccine may last for a long time. Image via Vox
Science
Coronavirus vaccine may be long-lasting, research suggests

Two recently concluded studies conducted independently by Rome's Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases and Ancona University Hospital's Department of Biomedical Sciences and Public Health have discovered through genetic sequencing that the coronavirus mutates very slowly, and therefore a vaccine developed for the virus may help inoculate populations for a long time to come.

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Wed Mar 25 -
US Surgeon General Jerome Adams says the coronavirus pandemic is about to get worse. Image via Fox News.
Science
US Surgeon General warns the COVID-19 pandemic is about to get worse

Appearing on NBC's The Today Show, US Surgeon General Jerome Adams has stated that the coronavirus pandemic is about to get worse this week, with most states in the country facing an alarming rise in the number of newly infected people. The statement comes as New York, New Jersey, California, Connecticut, Oregon and Illinois have seen complete lockdowns, with New York accounting for 6 percent of the world's coronavirus cases.

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Tue Mar 24 - CIDRAP
Harvard study confirms irregular sleeping hours can make you fat, Image via The Overview
Science
Harvard study confirms irregular sleeping hours can make you fat

Harvard recently conducted a study where they traced sleeping habits of 61 students over 30 days and correlated the sleeping habits with grades. The study found that students who went to bed early and woke up early did better in school than those who slept irregular hours. The same study confirmed that Irregular sleepers had delayed circadian rhythms compared to regular sleepers which resulted in weight gain.

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Sat Mar 21 - Inc
Chinese officials say Japanese flu medication favipiravir helped treating coronavirus. Image via Business Insider.
Science
Japanese flu medicine helps against coronavirus, Chinese officials say

Chinese medical officials have stated that they treated 340 coronavirus patients with the Japanese flu medication called favipiravir, which helped in reducing the time the virus infects the body and also improved lung condition in patients. Patients treated in Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus, recovered from the illness in about 4 days as compared to 11 days for patients not treated with favipiravir.

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Thu Mar 19 - NewYorkPost
Researchers find malaria medication may be a cure for COVID-19. Image via New York Post.
Science
Malaria medication could be a cure for coronavirus, research finds

Researchers led by infectious disease expert Didier Raoult have found that the drug hydroxychloroquine, used in the treatment of malaria, could potentially be a cure for the novel coronavirus, with a lab experiment involving 26 patients revealing more than 50 percent of coronavirus-positive patients tested negative for COVID-19 after a week of treatment with hydroxychloroquine.

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Thu Mar 19 - WashingtonExaminer
NASA reveals two asteroids are coming towards Earth in 2020. Image via International Business Times.
Science
Two asteroids coming towards Earth in 2020

American space agency NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies has identified two asteroids that will pass close to the Earth in 2020, with the first, named 2020 EF, passing near the Earth at a speed of 10,000 mph. At 98 feet, 2020 EF is too small to cause significant damage in case of collision, while the second asteroid, 2020 DP4, measuring 180 feet with a speed of 18,000 mph.

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Thu Mar 19 - TechTimes
These same drugs are used to treat HIV, image via Getty Images
Science
Antiviral drugs fail to cure coronavirus, study shows

According to one of the first studies on patients seriously ill with the coronavirus, standard anti-viral drugs cannot cure or even treat the coronavirus. The study was carried out in China and the researchers claim that a lot more research is required to have any kind of consensus on the effectiveness of existing medicine.

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Thu Mar 19 - NewYorkTimes
US scientists discover coronavirus can survive in air for three hours, on surfaces for days. Image via New York Times.
Science
COVID-19 can survive on surfaces for days, hours in the air

A new study from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which forms part of the US National Institutes of Health, has discovered that the extremely contagious novel coronavirus COVID-19 can survive in the air and remain infectious for up to three hours, on cardboard surfaces for no more than 24 hours, on copper for 4 hours, and on stainless steel surfaces for about 6 hours.

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Wed Mar 18 - Reuters
Millions of asthma patients at risk in the UK due to coronavirus outbreak. Image via Telegraph.
Science
Millions of asthma patients in the UK at risk due to coronavirus

Following UK's Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson's announcement asking those who were vulnerable to the COVID-19 infection to stay at home for a minimum of 12 weeks, the country's asthma association Asthma UK has questioned how the briefing applies to the 5.4 million asthma patients in the UK, who may experience seriously aggravated asthma symptoms if they contract the coronavirus infection.

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Tue Mar 17 - HuffingtonPost
Vancouver residents will see a gigantic supermoon in April. Image via Narcity.
Science
Vancouver residents will see a gigantic supermoon in April

Though Vancouver residents also saw a supermoon in the month of March, the city will experience yet another gigantic supermoon in April, with the moon appearing as much as 15 percent brighter and 7 percent larger in the sky due to its proximity to the Earth. Ancient farmers named this occurrence the Pink Moon, due to the blooming of the pink moss or wild ground phlox flower in April.

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Tue Mar 17 - RichmondNews
Dozens of pharmaceutical companies are working on a vaccine, image via Getty Images
Science
Australian researchers move one step closer to coronavirus vaccine

Australian researchers have said that they have managed to map the immune system's response to the coronavirus and that it is remarkably similar to the flu. This has allowed them to find what the immune system is lacking to properly fend off the virus. They are now one step closer to a vaccine.

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Tue Mar 17 - Reuters
French health authorities advise against taking anti-inflammatory medication amidst coronavirus pandemic. Image via Vox.
Science
Anti-inflammatory medication may make coronavirus symptoms worse

France's health minister, Olivier Veran, a certified doctor and neurologist, has issued a statement advising against the taking of anti-inflammatory drugs to combat the COVID-19 infection, saying it may make the infection's symptoms worse by suppressing the patient's immune system. Veran instead advises patients to take paracetamol for fevers and consult their doctors for pain relief.

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Sun Mar 15 - TheGuardian
CDC reports almost half of all US adults are now obese, no difference between men or women. Image via The Hill.
Science
CDC reports almost half of all US adults now obese

According to the latest figures from the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 42 percent of all American adults now suffer from obesity, rising sharply from 30 percent at the start of the 21st century. Extreme obesity is also on the rise, with 9.2 percent of the adult population with a BMI of 40 or higher. Furthermore, the CDC reports almost no difference between men and women for obesity.

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Mon Mar 09 - WashingtonPost
This does not indicate a drop in CO2 emissions as a whole, image via Getty Images
Science
Global CO2 emissions from the power sector experience the largest drop since 1990

Global Carbon Dioxide emissions from the power sector dropped by 2% last year, making it the largest drop since 1990. This dip occurred due to the reduction in coal usage in Europe and the United States. Although coal usage in China rose by a large amount as the country became responsible for half the world's coal-fired power generation.

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Mon Mar 09 - Reuters
The service seems to be declining, image via Gearbox
Science
Major gaming studios pull games from Nividia's cloud streaming service

Popular games such as Borderlands and those made by Bethesda will no longer be available on Nividia's revolutionary new GeForce Now streaming service. The service allows users to stream games they already own via a powerful cloud PC, thus letting them play the games their own computers may not be able to run.

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Sat Mar 07 - PCGamer
Scientists may find cure for COVID-19 in decade-old coronavirus vaccine. Image via Vuuzle.
Science
Decade-old coronavirus vaccine may help scientists find a cure for COVID-19

A Houston-based genetic engineering company named Greffex Incorporated may have developed a coronavirus vaccine 10 years ago that may prove to be crucial to stemming the outbreak of the COVID-19 infection. While the two strains of coronavirus are somewhat different, they are 80 percent genetically identical, says Dr. Maria Bottazzi, co-director of Baylor's Center for Vaccine Development, which was involved in developing the decade-old vaccine.

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Thu Mar 05 - HoustonPublicMedia
It is not the largest asteroid to pass by the planet,image via istock
Science
NASA says massive asteroid will narrowly miss Earth

NASA has said a 2.5-mile-wide asteroid will pass by and narrowly miss Earth on April 29th, reassuring people not to worry. Although if the asteroid did hit the planet, it is large enough to cause global effects. NASA is also working on a program that will help humanity repel an asteroid if it does seem to be on its way to crashing into the planet.

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Wed Mar 04 - CNN
Longer summers increase the chances of bushfires, image via Getty Images
Science
Summers in Australia are now twice as long, scientists suspect climate change

According to a new report, summers in Australia are now twice as long as they used to be in the 50s and 60s. The summer has been extended by 31 days in most of the country's capital cities and many suspect climate change is the cause of this drastic change.

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Mon Mar 02 - ABCNews
Iconic Princeton University mathematician and physicist Freeman Dyson dead at 96. Image via News Booklet.
Science
Legendary physicist Freeman Dyson dies aged 96

Freeman Dyson, the famous mathematician and iconic physics professor at Princeton University, has died aged 96 due to injuries sustained from suffering a fall during his visit to the university. Dyson's contributions to physics include the famous Dyson Sphere, which has been featured in Star Trek, and the Dyson Tree, a genetically modified plant that would be able to survive a journey into space.

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Fri Feb 28 - MaineRepublic
Scientists find largest explosion since the Big Bang in the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster. Image via Cnet.
Science
Scientists find the largest explosion since the Big Bang

A collaboration of scientists operating telescopes in the US, Europe, India, and Australia have found what they believe to be the greatest explosion in the universe since the Big Bang. The explosion is believed to have been caused by a supermassive black hole in the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster containing thousands of galaxies. The black hole blew a one-and-a-half-million light-year hole in the middle of the cluster.

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Fri Feb 28 - BBC
Celebrated NASA scientist Katherine Johnson, who worked on the Apollo missions, dead at 101. Image via The Verge.
Science
Celebrated NASA scientist Katherine Johnson dies at 101

Celebrated NASA scientist Katherine Johnson, one of the only black women during the 1950s who worked on NASA's Apollo Missions, has died aged 101. Johnson was part of the key NASA team responsible for making complex calculations with only a slide rule and pencil that eventually landed the Apollo 11 on the moon, and allowed it to return to Earth safely.

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Mon Feb 24 - NewYorkTimes
The AI is the first of its kind, image via Getty Images
Science
Scientists use revolutionary new AI to create powerful antibiotic

Senior researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have created a powerful AI that can analyze one hundred million chemical compounds in a matter of days. They then used this AI to create the most powerful antibiotic that has ever been discovered. This breakthrough will help scientists keep up with bacteria that become resistant to medicine over time.

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Sat Feb 22 - BBC
Scientists have named a newly discovered species of temperature-sensitive snail in honor of Greta Thunberg. Image via Yahoo News.
Science
Scientists name temperature-sensitive snail in honor of student activist Greta Thunberg

The famous student environment activist Greta Thunberg, along with winning the Time magazine Person of the Year award and a Nobel Peace Prize nomination, has now been accorded the unique honor of having a newly discovered species named after her. The creature belongs to a family of temperature-sensitive land snail and has been named Craspedotropis gretathunbergae.

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Fri Feb 21 - RT