We spoke with the leader of the World Health Organization’s recent mission to China to probe the origins of the #COVID19 pandemic. Here’s what we learned:
Lab accident hypothesis, while “extremely unlikely,” has not been ruled out, Peter Ben Embarek says after returning from 4-week investigation.
“Figures published in 2011 suggest that, in Australia, producing wheat and other grains results in: at least 25 times more sentient animals being killed per kilogram of useable protein more environmental damage, and a great deal more animal cruelty than does farming red meat. How is this possible? Agriculture to produce wheat, rice and pulses requires clear-felling native vegetation. That act alone results in the deaths of thousands of Australian animals and plants per hectare. Since Europeans arrived on this continent we have lost more than half of Australia’s unique native vegetation, mostly to increase production of monocultures of introduced species for human consumption. Most of Australia’s arable land is already in use. If more Australians want their nutritional needs to be met by plants, our arable land will need to be even more intensely farmed. This will require a net increase in the use of fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides and other threats to biodiversity and environmental health. Or, if existing laws are changed, more native vegetation could be cleared for agriculture (an area the size of Victoria plus Tasmania would be needed to produce the additional amount of plant-based food required). Most cattle slaughtered in Australia feed solely on pasture. This is usually rangelands, which constitute about 70 per cent of the continent.”
Going vegetarian, or even vegan, to minimise animal suffering and promote sustainable agriculture, actually kills more sentient animals living in vegetable crops that livestock farmed in paddocks.
Summary: Study of people who are unable to feel touch reveals surprising new details about how we unconsciously embody our physical selves.
Source: university of chicago medical center.
A team of researchers from Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, working with medical research company 10x Genomics has used a spatial gene expression technology to further define the six-layered human dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. In their paper published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the group describes their use of the new technology and what it allowed them to see in their study of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
An international team led by researchers at the Centre for Palaeogenetics in Stockholm has sequenced DNA recovered from mammoth remains that are up to 1.2 million years old. The analyses show that the Columbian mammoth that inhabited North America during the last ice age was a hybrid between the woolly mammoth and a previously unknown genetic lineage of mammoth. In addition, the study provides new insights into when and how fast mammoths became adapted to cold climate. These findings are published today (February 172021) in Nature.
Around one million years ago there were no woolly or Columbian mammoths, as they had not yet evolved. This was the time of their predecessor, the ancient steppe mammoth. Researchers have now managed to analyze the genomes from three ancient mammoths, using DNA recovered from mammoth teeth that had been buried for 0.7−1.2 million years in the Siberian permafrost.
Healthy, young volunteers will be infected with coronavirus to test vaccines and treatments.
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A baby has been born following a uterus transplant for the first time ever in France, the hospital treating mother and infant said Wednesday. Such births are extremely rare but not unprecedented, and come after a cutting-edge procedure to transplant a healthy uterus into a woman whose own is damaged or missing. The baby, a girl weighing 1.845 kilogrammes (4.059 pounds), was born on Friday, according to the team at the Foch hospital outside Paris.
Gates wants to focus on fixing problems on earth instead of traveling into space.
Gates said he’d rather spend money on measles vaccines than traveling to space in a rocket.
Imperial College expert warns new coronavirus wave could kill tens of thousands of Britons by late summer if lockdown is completely lifted too early.
Professor Azra Ghani revealed how a new model made at Imperial College London forecasts a wave of deaths by summer 2021 if restrictions are eased in July — even despite a successful vaccine rollout.
Creating 3D printed masks for burn victims. These masks help prevent scarring and prepares the recipients for future surgery.
Preventing scarring, providing confidence.
