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The living descendants of enslavement are revealed through ancient DNA
Researchers at the Smithsonian’s College of Science, Harvard Medical School and the Catoctin Historical Society have used genetic data to identify the living relatives of African-Americans who were buried in the remains of 27 workers from the world’s first black coal mine in Washington DC. The researchers analysed the remains using genetic data from 23…
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Texas Medicaid has been dropping since April
The number of people on Medicaid in the US is likely to drop by a total of 20 million in the next few months due to the pandemic, according to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The number of people on Medicaid rose from 93 million in March to more than 95 million in…
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The United States is going to cool off after a historic heatwave in the Southwest
The US state of Arizona has reported 25 deaths due to heat as of July 21, with 249 more being investigated, the county’s Public Health Department said. Meanwhile, Phoenix saw its first major monsoon storm since June 15. The overnight low at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport fell under 90 degrees Fahrenheit for the first…
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Air quality in some cities can be worse because of fireworks
The US’ Canada Day celebration in Montreal was cancelled due to poor air quality. The event was supposed to take place with fireworks, but they were called off amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this month, La Jolla in California and Ocean Beach in Florida had switched to drone displays for Fourth of July celebrations after…
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Meet the first responders of the boom
US’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued guidance for designing clinical trials of psychedelic therapies. It said that clinical trials have yet to answer several questions about efficacy, the safety of long-term repeat and optimal psychotherapy protocols. The FDA added that clinical trials have yet to answer questions about efficacy, the safety of long-term…
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The U.S. has an air quality alert out from Canada’s smoke
The US’ Washington, Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis and New York were among the 10 cities worldwide with worst air quality and pollution on Thursday, according to international air quality monitoring website IQAir.com. People with respiratory problems should avoid outdoor activities and people without respiratory problems should reduce their exposure to air pollution, according to AirNow agency.
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Scientists face challenges in the elimination of Malaria
Researchers from Germany and Japan claim they have isolated a vaccine candidate that could help prevent malaria. The vaccine, CIS42LS, is a monoclonal antibody against Plasmodium falciparum. The researchers are hopeful that the antibody could be administered subcutaneously in adults too. Malaria is the second-largest killer of kids in the world with an estimated one…
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How genetically modified mosquitoes could be eliminated from the world
A study has suggested that incorporating genetically modified mosquitoes into a mosquito genome could break malaria transmission in sub-Saharan Africa, but no gene-drive mosquitoes have yet been released in the wild. The study analysed the distribution of 22 species of mosquito in sub-Saharan Africa between 1898 and 2016 to assess the shifts in mosquito ranges…
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South Korea is becoming more anxious as Japan prepares to release wastewater
Japan’s nuclear watchdog on Wednesday said that the water released into the ocean from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami “poses no health or environmental threat”. According to the watchdog, the amount of tritium in the water is less than what TEPCO says is the concentration of tritium in the…
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The hunter-gatherer lifestyle is good for the gut
Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, US, are developing scientific capabilities to support Diarrheal Disease research at the International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research in Bangladesh. The program allows people from the centre who are coming for six months at a time to come for six months at a time.
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Growth is caused by Y chromosomal loss in cancer
Scientists have found that Y chromosome, which is often found in men, can be spontaneously lost during cell division. Researchers said they have also found that Y chromosome, which isOften found in men, can be spontaneously lost during cell division. A number of conditions, including heart disease and neurodegenerative conditions, can be related to the…
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The smoke is getting worse for everyone
Wildfire smoke is likely to cause more respiratory problems in low-income families, a study by researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the University of California at Berkeley found. The researchers said lower-income families are more exposed to the risk of respiratory problems due to the smoke. As many as 65% of people who live in…
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The Age of Flames Reaches the US East Coast
As US parts of the country witnessed unhealthy air quality due to smoke from Canada’s wildfires, a paediatrician said, “Kids breathe faster and take in more polluted air.” She added, “You can get a high-efficiency air filter and put it on a box fan to get about 50% reduction in air pollution indoors.”
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The age of flames has reached the US East Coast
Wildfire smoke from wildfires in Canada is the result of climate change and human interference in order to send toxic smoke to the East Coast, said Johns Hopkins University professor Peter DeCarlo. The air quality in the US was expected to be poor on Thursday and Friday due to the smoke. However, the weather conditions…
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The Canadian fires have caused a haze to blanket the East Coast
The Air Quality Index (AQI) in some areas of the US has risen as high as 100 on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). The AQI is expected to continue to rise on Thursday and Friday amid the smoke from Canada’s wildfires, a report said. Wildfires in Canada have caused over 1 lakh…
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There is a haze over the East Coast due to the Canadian wildfires
Air quality in the US has deteriorated to “very poor” or ‘poor’ levels due to the smoke from wildfires in Canada, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). New York City’s public school system said that it was cancelling all outdoor activities. Millions of people along East Coast and further inland woke up to…
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The battle against tobacco has not been won
African Tobacco Control Alliance has ranked 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa according to how much influence the tobacco industry wielded over them. The main components include monitoring tobacco use, banning tobacco use in public spaces, providing cessation services to people who want to quit, placing graphic warning labels on tobacco products and banning tobacco companies…
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There’s a secret key that is blowing in the wind
Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle have claimed to have found an automated way to collect eDNA from the UK’s air Quality Monitoring Network (QMAN) using existing networks of air-monitoring stations. They ran a pilot study in which they had access to existing UK air-quality monitoring stations in London and near Edinburgh. These…
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The surgeon general made a wake-up call
A report by the Johns Hopkins University in the US has said frequent use of social media can lead to changes in the brain that’s important for emotional learning and behaviour. The report also cited research that up to 95% of teens reported using at least one social media platform, while more than one-third said…
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Surgeon General Warns that social media can be a serious risk to youth
American Medical Association (AMA) has issued an advisory for policymakers, technology companies and researchers on how to improve the protection of children and minors from beingharassed and from harmful content on social media. It has recommended more research into the impacts of social media use. It also called for social media companies to share data…
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A mental-health crisis gripping science is caused by toxic research culture
The science of mental health is emerging an epidemic in the US, Canada and India, according to a report. The report cited a study which found that rates of depression and burnout are similar with those found in high-risk occupations such as health care. “Yet the research system still tends to put power in hands…
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The Surgeon General thinks that social media may be harmful to teen health
The US Surgeon General, Dr Vivek Murthy, has said that the age of frequent social media use reveals criticality in brain development. The report says, “A highly sensitive period of brain development occurs between the ages of 10 to 19, coinciding with a period when up to 95% of 13 to 17 year olds and…
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Women are suing Texas claiming the state’s anti- abortion laws hurt them
Eight more women are joining a lawsuit against the state of Texas that claims its abortion bans put their health at risk while facing pregnancy-related medical emergencies. “It concerns me, yeah, because…the statute was never intended to restrict access to medically-necessary abortions,” the women said. The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union…
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The appeals court seems to be suspicious of the steps that F.D.A. takes to ease access to abortion pill
The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal filed by pharmaceutical company Danco on an emergency stay issued by a lower court on its sale of mifepristone, also called RU-486, and use of it without a prescription. Danco argued that the emergency stay was “an unprecedented judicial assault” on the regulatory process that…
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Death cap mushrooms and poison fungi have a new antidote in the works
A team of Chinese and Australian researchers has claimed to have discovered an antidote for death cap poisoning that’s already approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Researchers tested the antidote by exposing cells to Amanita phalloides, which is considered one of the most poisonous mushrooms. They found that mutations in the STT3B…