A citizen science program that began over a decade ago has confirmed the use of dragonflies to measure mercury pollution, according to a study in Environmental Science & Technology. The national research effort, which grew from a regional project to collect dragonfly larvae, found that the young form of the insect predator can be used as […]
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Mouthwashes could reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission, study shows
Sars-Cov-2 viruses can be inactivated using certain commercially available mouthwashes. This was demonstrated in cell culture experiments by virologists from Ruhr-Universität Bochum together with colleagues from Jena, Ulm, Duisburg-Essen, Nuremberg and Bremen. High viral loads can be detected in the oral cavity and throat of some Covid-19 patients. The use of mouthwashes that are effective […]
Electric cooker an easy, efficient way to sanitize N95 masks, study finds
Owners of electric multicookers may be able to add another use to its list of functions, a new study suggests: sanitization of N95 respirator masks. The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign study found that 50 minutes of dry heat in an electric cooker, such as a rice cooker or Instant Pot, decontaminated N95 respirators inside and […]
FDA study shows the body absorbs chemicals in sunscreen products
For the second time this year, researchers at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have released a study showing that many popular sunscreen products release chemicals into the body through the skin at levels beyond what the agency considers healthy. The FDA gets concerned if ingredients are found in the bloodstream at a level […]
Anti-Malarial Drug: Tryptophan Deficiency May Underlie Quinine Side Effects
Researchers have found that the anti-malarial drug quinine can block a cell’s ability to take up the essential amino acid tryptophan, a discovery that may explain many of the adverse side-effects associated with quinine. Once confirmed, these findings would suggest that dietary tryptophan supplements could be a simple and inexpensive way to improve the performance […]
In cell studies, seaweed extract outperforms remdesivir in blocking COVID-19 virus
In a test of antiviral effectiveness against the virus that causes COVID-19, an extract from edible seaweeds substantially outperformed remdesivir, the current standard antiviral used to combat the disease. Heparin, a common blood thinner, and a heparin variant stripped of its anticoagulant properties, performed on par with remdesivir in inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 infection in mammalian cells. […]
Particulate plutonium released from the Fukushima Daiichi meltdowns
Small amounts of plutonium (Pu) were released from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) reactors into the environment during the site’s 2011 nuclear disaster. However, the physical, chemical, and isotopic form of the released Pu has remained unknown. Now, recent work published in the journal Science of the Total Environment has shown that Pu was […]
Cloth masks: Dangerous to your health?
The widespread use of cloth masks by healthcare workers may actually put them at increased risk of respiratory illness and viral infections and their global use should be discouraged, according to a UNSW study. The results of the first randomized clinical trial (RCT) to study the efficacy of cloth masks were published in the journal BMJ […]
Track the Coronavirus Outbreak on Johns Hopkins Live Dashboard
This tracker from Johns Hopkins University provides realtime information and counts cases of COVID-19 coronavirus in China, as well as around the world, including numbers of deaths, recovered patients, and countries affected. The World Health Organization has its own coronavirus dashboard as well, but includes only its own information, whereas the Hopkins team synthesizes data from WHO and four […]
Potential of using psychedelic drugs in psychiatry
Before they were banned about a half century ago, psychedelic drugs like LSD and psilocybin showed promise for treating conditions including alcoholism and some psychiatric disorders. In a commentary publishing April 2 in the journal Cell, part of a special issue on medicine, researchers say it’s time for regulators, scientists, and the public to “revisit drugs […]