The delta form, which is still the prevalent strain in the United States and many other parts of the world, has been on public health officials’ concerns recently. However, as virologists have long cautioned, new variants are likely to emerge for some time, and preliminary data suggests that a new strain is currently circulating in…
It seems like billionaire-backed space enterprises are launching spacecraft all the time these days. So, why does Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin appear to be in jeopardy? Despite a successful summer, recent competition and several controversial tweets — including some false infographics — have left many in the space business critical of Jeff Bezos and his…
I was a fourth-year medical student doing my last clinical rotation when COVID-19 began entering Boston hospitals in March of 2020. I was told to track patients who came into the emergency room with issues that weren’t respiratory in nature back when the efficacy of wearing masks was being debated. On my way to work,…
Tropical Storm Warning Henri made landfall in Rhode Island yesterday afternoon with 60 mph winds, marking it the state’s first named storm in 30 years. In the Northeast, where most hurricane-force storms fade over cooler waters or are pushed into the Atlantic by easterly winds, this was an uncommon occurrence. By the time they approach…
Installed in people’s living rooms, gardens, and businesses across Haiti, a network of low-cost seismometers is assisting scientists in deciphering the inner workings of the magnitude-7.2 earthquake that struck the country’s southern region earlier this month. After the country’s most recent significant earthquake, a magnitude-7 tremor that killed more than 100,000 people in 2010, the…
According to US climate envoy John Kerry, we’ll need “technology we don’t now have” to achieve net zero emission objectives by 2045. He’s half-right, to be sure. Fighting climate change does necessitate inventive, technologically driven concepts that can be tested, copied, and scaled at breakneck speed. But creating entirely new technology isn’t always the answer,…
When someone searches YouTube for a health-related term like “COVID-19,” the majority of the results will now prominently showcase videos from government agencies and healthcare organizations that the site considers to be trustworthy sources of information. According to rules created by a team of experts, the World Health Organization, the Mayo Clinic, and the Children’s…
There are roughly 1,500 potentially active volcanoes around the world, many of which are in the Pacific “ring of fire,” a band of active volcanoes and earthquakes that runs along the Pacific Ocean. Legends and origin stories have sprung up as a result of their presence, such as the genuine account of Nabukelevu’s volcanic explosion.…
Our solar system, with its itty-bitty rocky planets on the inside and gaseous giants on the outer, is looking more and more like an oddball as astronomers continue to uncover scores of exoplanets. Astronomers rarely find Venuses or Earth when they look closely at stars in faraway solar systems. Rather, the common inner planet appears…
The Biden administration announced this week that most Americans will receive COVID booster shots eight months after receiving their second dose of Pfizer’s or Moderna’s messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccinations. People will begin receiving boosters on September 20 pending approval from the US Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine…