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Wildfires are making their way east—where they could be much deadlier
While California and other western states face a high wildfire risk, the region’s wide expanses of wilderness are less likely to threaten humans. Not so in the eastern and southern United States, where population density puts more people and property at risk. According to the U.S. Census, 56 percent of the U.S. population lives in the eastern and southern regions of the country, compared to just 24 percent in the West. New research shows that there may be cause for concern in the East as well, where fire size, numbers, and total area burned seem to be increasing.
READ MORE IN NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
Idalia and a ‘Supermoon’ Could Swamp Charleston and Savannah
On Wednesday morning, Darragh Simon skimmed the aisles for last minute items at Royall Ace Hardware in Mount Pleasant, S.C., a suburb of about 95,000 located to the east of Charleston Harbor. Awaiting the storm, she ran through what she called “her mental check list of items” — water, batteries, flashlights and candles at the ready.
Ms. Simon noticed the storm changing rapidly overnight, which put her on edge. “I’ve lived through a lot of hurricanes and rarely see one that comes on this strong this fast,” she said, even after losing her home and nearly all her belongings to Hurricane Hugo in 1989.
“Those were tough times,” Ms. Simon said. “I had a 1-year-old and 3-year-old living in an Airstream.”
READ MORE IN THE NEW YORK TIMES
The U.S. plans to limit PFAS in drinking water. What does that really mean?
The Environmental Protection Agency announced on April 10 the first-ever limits on per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as forever chemicals, in drinking water. The agency says that the new rule will protect 100 million Americans from six PFAS known to accumulate in the body and cause a host of health problems—including kidney and testicular cancer as well as pregnancy-induced hypertension, preterm birth, and liver and immune system problems.
READ MORE IN NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
MENTAL HEALTH
Americans Are Lonelier than Europeans in Middle Age
The pandemic normalized remote work, online grocery delivery and Peloton workouts. Americans’ growing home-based to-do lists make the U.S. a country with one of the most productive workforces in the world—but at what cost?
In recent years we’ve lost many of the touchpoints of social interaction—whether in the workplace, grocery store or gym—that make us uniquely human. Isolation has long been a problem for older American retirees, widowed people or those struggling with health problems that force them to be homebound. A growing body of research, however, shows that for many Americans, loneliness is creeping into the middle-age years.
READ MORE IN SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
Why We Believe the Myth of High Crime Rates
Americans are convinced that they are living in a world ravaged by crime. In major cities, we fear riding public transportation or going out after dark. We buy weapons for self-defense and skip our nightly jogs. Next to the weather, the explosion of crime is a favorite topic of conversation. The overwhelming consensus is that crime is only getting worse. According to a Gallup poll, in late 2022, 78 percent of Americans contended that there was more crime than there used to be.
These perceptions would make sense if they were accurate, but they aren’t. Crime, in fact, is down in the U.S., rivaling low levels that haven’t been seen since the 1960s.
READ MORE IN SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
This Public Health Measure Bridges the National Divide over Firearms—Just Don’t Call It Gun Control
Reading about death and suicidality can be distressing. Please read this in a moment where you feel safest and ready to do so.
For Jess Hegstrom, suicide prevention coordinator for Lewis and Clark County, Montana, the greatest gifts we can give to people struggling with suicide are time and space between their thoughts and their firearms. Suicide is often an impulsive decision, she says, but with guns, “you can’t call a bullet back.” When you’re in a dark place and don’t have access to highly lethal means such as a firearm, you’re less likely to die, she says.
READ MORE IN SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
PALEONTOLOGY
Ancient Egyptian Mummies Reveal What Diseases Plagued the Civilization
Ancient Egypt—a civilization that was one of the most powerful the world has ever seen and which lasted for nearly 3,000 years—was among the first to mummify its dead, providing us a window into its people’s culture, language and politics, as well as their health. Now a new study has uncovered intimate details of the disease landscape that set this civilization apart from others of its time, including a surprising role played by the society’s lifeblood: the Nile River.
READ MORE IN SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
How Humans Lost Their Tails
Tails are a common feature across the animal kingdom. Nearly every class of vertebrate has them. Reptiles use them for self-defense and attacking prey. Tails help with balance and communication in dogs and cats and aid navigation in birds. Humans’ primate ancestors had them, too. Our forebears used them to grasp branches while swinging through the trees—until their tails vanished from the fossil record about 25 million to 20 million years ago in one of the most important evolutionary changes in human ancestry.
READ MORE IN SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
Females Dominate Males in Many Primate Species
The new study also peered back in time, examining fossils for any physical indications of dominance patterns in the last common ancestor of all primates. Using a method called ancestral state reconstruction, the researchers looked at canine tooth size and estimated body size based on the fossils of eight different extinct primates—distant ancestors of modern species. “While patterns of intersexual dominance don’t fossilize, indicators of dominance do,” says study co-author Christopher Kirk, an anthropologist at the University of Texas at Austin.
READ MORE IN SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
LONG COVID
4 Years In, a Sobering Look at Long COVID Progress
Four years ago in the spring of 2020, physicians and patients coined the term "long COVID" to describe a form of the viral infection from which recovery seemed impossible. (And the old nickname "long-haulers" seems so quaint now.) What started as a pandemic that killed nearly 3 million people globally in 2020 alone would turn into a chronic disease causing a long list of symptoms — from extreme fatigue, to brain fog, tremors, nausea, headaches, rapid heartbeat, and more.
READ MORE IN MEDSCAPE
New Evidence Suggests Long COVID Could Be a Brain Injury
Brain fog is one of the most common, persistent complaints in patients with long COVID. It affects as many as 46% of patients who also deal with other cognitive concerns like memory loss and difficulty concentrating. Now, researchers believe they know why. A new study has found that these symptoms may be the result of a viral-borne brain injury that may cause cognitive and mental health issues that persist for years.
READ MORE IN MEDSCAPE
How to Fix $1.6 Billion Long COVID Program: Experts Weigh In
When the National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched a $1 billion dollar research effort in 2021 focused on long COVID, hopes were high that it would lead to some answers for the mysterious riddle of the complex condition. Now, more than 3 years later and with total funding of about $1.6 billion, critics contend the federal government has little to show for its efforts.
READ MORE IN MEDSCAPE