189 articles from MONDAY 11.11.2019

New particle analysis technique paves way for better air pollution monitoring

A new technique for continuously monitoring both the size and optical properties of individual airborne particles could offer a better way to monitor air pollution. It is especially promising for analyzing fine particulate matter measuring less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5), which can reach deep into the lungs and cause health problems.

That Tiny Black Dot on the Sun Today? It Was Mercury, in a Rare Celestial Crossing

(CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.) — Mini Mercury skipped across the vast, glaring face of the sun Monday in a rare celestial transit. Stargazers used solar-filtered binoculars and telescopes to spot Mercury — a tiny black dot — as it passed directly between Earth and the sun on Monday. The eastern U.S. and Canada got the whole 5 ½-hour show, weather permitting, along with Central...

Hurricanes have become bigger and more destructive for USA

A new study shows that hurricanes have become more destructive since 1900, and the worst of them are more than 3 times as frequent now than 100 years ago. A new way of calculating the destruction unequivocally shows a climatic increase in the frequency of the most destructive hurricanes that routinely raise havoc on the North American south- and east coast.

How two strains of one bacterium combine to cause flesh-eating infection

A new study used genetic analysis to reveal how two different strains of a single species of flesh-eating bacteria worked in concert to become more dangerous than either one strain alone. The work suggests that other difficult-to-treat infections may be polymicrobial and treating only one organism in a polymicrobial infection could be the cause of many secondary infections and chronic infections...

Flesh-eating infection caused by two microbe strains discovered by doctors

Infection found in patient who required quadruple amputation after developing rare conditionDoctors have discovered an aggressive flesh-eating infection that spreads around the body when two strains of microbe combine to overcome the host’s defences.The infection was found in a patient who required a quadruple amputation after they developed necrotising fasciitis, a rare bacterial condition that...

Gold mining critically impairs water quality in rivers across Peruvian biodiversity hotspot

A Dartmouth study finds that artisanal-scale gold mining is altering water clarity and dynamics in the Madre de Dios River watershed in Peru, a tropical biodiversity hotspot. Higher levels of suspended sediment were found in rivers near the mining sites, with increasing impacts as mining has become more widespread in the past two decades. The elevated sediment levels contain mercury and other...

New research explains how HIV avoids getting ZAPped

Humans have evolved dynamic defense mechanisms against the viruses that seek to infect our bodies—proteins that specialize in identifying, capturing and destroying the genetic material that viruses try to sneak into our cells.

Hurricanes have become bigger and more destructive for the U.S., study finds

A new study by researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Aslak Grinsted, Peter Ditlevsen and Jens Hesselbjerg shows that hurricanes have become more destructive since 1900, and the worst of them are more than three times as frequent now than 100 years ago. A new way of calculating the destruction, compensating for the societal change in wealth, unequivocally shows a...