-
2 months ago | 
organicconsumers.org | Organic Bytes |Chiana Dickson |Libby Leonard |Jess Cockerill
Organic BytesNewsletter #881: Farms Shouldn’t Be Toxic Sewage Sludge Dumps! In a classic kick-the-can-down-the-road move, on January 14, 2025, the Biden Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency finally admitted “forever chemicals” are contaminating U.S. farmland because of the EPA’s own long-standing policy of promoting toxic sewage sludge “fertilizer” as the way to dispose of waste from water-treatment plants.
-
Jan 16, 2025 | 
sciencealert.com | Jess Cockerill
At least six pet cats in Los Angeles County have died from bird flu, and more are sick with the virus, after consuming either raw pet food or raw milk containing infective particles of the H5N1 virus. One unfortunate five-cat household lost two feline members of their family after the cats ate two brands of commercially available raw pet food. Because these were strictly indoor-only cats, their diet of raw pet foods was easily identified as a potential route of infection.
-
Jan 13, 2025 | 
sciencealert.com | Jess Cockerill
Waves that ripple from Earth's centre can be used to sense what it's made of, and where those materials might be found. A team from Swiss university ETH Zurich and the California Institute of Technology has used these waves to discover chunks of Earth's plates in places they really shouldn't be. Earth scientists have been using seismic waves to plot our world's subterranean landscape for over a century.
-
Jan 10, 2025 | 
sciencealert.com | Jess Cockerill
Just a few fossil fragments of a tiny creature discovered thousands of miles north of its contemporaries have shaken our understanding of global dinosaur history. "It was basically the size of a chicken but with a really long tail," says lead author Dave Lovelace, a vertebrate paleontologist from the University of Wisconsin Geology Museum.
-
Jan 9, 2025 | 
sciencealert.com | Jess Cockerill
Tiny bubbles trapped in ancient Antarctic ice have revealed surges in global wildfire coinciding with signs of abrupt climate change. While temperature variations, changes in tropical rainfall, and spikes in methane are known traits of climate shifts, until now, fires had not been part of the equation. "We didn't go into it necessarily looking for signals of fires," lead author and climate scientist Ben Riddell-Young told ScienceAlert.
-
Jan 6, 2025 | 
sciencealert.com | Jess Cockerill
When it comes to flying long distances, bats need to overcome physics that forces the rest of us mammals right back down to Earth. One species' has a trick up its membranous sleeves, new research reveals, allowing it to surf storm fronts for hundreds of miles. Each spring in Europe, hordes of female common noctule bats (Nyctalus noctula) wake from winter hibernation and fall pregnant with sperm that's been stored in their uteruses for months.
-
Jan 6, 2025 | 
sciencealert.com | Jess Cockerill
Case numbers of the infectious disease tularemia, also termed 'rabbit fever', have jumped in the United States over the past decade, according to a new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disease, caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis, can be transmitted to humans in many ways, including bites from infected ticks and deer flies, and skin contact with infected rabbits, hares, and rodents, all of which are particularly susceptible to the disease.
-
Jan 5, 2025 | 
sciencealert.com | Jess Cockerill
Researchers have discovered a link between a chronic gut infection caused by a common virus and the development of Alzheimer's disease in some people. Most people encounter cytomegalovirus (CMV) during childhood, and after the initial infection the virus remains in the body for life, usually dormant. By the age of 80, 9 out of 10 people will have CMV's telltale antibodies in their blood.
-
Jan 1, 2025 | 
sciencealert.com | Jess Cockerill
Low doses of a drug used to treat ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) could help people focus on the road when driving for long, monotonous stretches risks sending their mind wandering. Researchers from Australia's Swinburne University were curious about risks and benefits the pharmaceutical methylphenidate might have on driving performance, specifically in cases of individuals who don't have ADHD.
-
Dec 30, 2024 | 
sciencealert.com | Jess Cockerill
Exposure to a trio of chemicals found in many everyday household and industrial items may have contributed to millions of cases of heart disease, stroke, and deaths over the years according to estimations of the health and economic impacts of common plastic additives. An international team of researchers pooled findings from over 1,700 existing studies from 38 different countries investigating links between people's exposure to the chemicals and certain health impacts.
