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Polio Resurgence in New York State Prompts Rapid Public Health Response
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Polio Resurgence in New York State Prompts Rapid Public Health Response

Andreas Wingert

The July 2022 announcement of a case of paralytic polio in a young adult in New York spurred a rapid public health response. Because only unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated persons are generally at risk of symptomatic polio, and because antiviral or other treatments for polio do not currently exist, vaccination is key to preventing further disease spread.

Posted on thenib.com on September 9, 2019.  Taken from: Naro M, Francis M.  When “Peanuts” Went All In On Vaccinations. Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious virus that has no cure and can cause paralysis or even death. After nearly 40 years of no sustained poliovirus transmission in the United States (US), a case of paralytic polio was confirmed in New York, prompting a rapid public health response by local, state and national authorities. The World Health Organization declared the US polio-free in 1994. But on July 21, 2022, public health officials announced a case of paralytic polio in an...
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The Extraordinary and Disastrous Eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai Volcano
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The Extraordinary and Disastrous Eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai Volcano

Ashley Schefler

The eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai Volcano in January 2022 was the largest our planet has seen in decades, wreaking destruction on the island nation of Tonga in which the volcano resides. Studies of this volcano can help us understand the causes and effects of such massive eruptions, and may even give insight into the geological processes that have shaped the landscape of Mars.

Media from NASA Earth Observatory On January 15, 2022, the largest volcanic eruption in decades devastated the island nation of Tonga in the South Pacific Ocean. The blast released a massive amount of energy, equivalent to between 4 and 18 megatons of TNT, which is hundreds of times more powerful than the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The explosion created a low-frequency pressure wave that circled the Earth, causing the entire atmosphere to oscillate. Ash has coated the islands, causing a serious shortage of clean drinking water, and a tsunami caused by the eruption wrought widespread damage. The effect on...
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The Colorado Wildfires: How Climate Change is Changing Wildfires
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The Colorado Wildfires: How Climate Change is Changing Wildfires

Celeste Cubbage

Recent wildfires in the west are just another example of how wildfire seasons are not only increasing, but also becoming more common all over the country. As weather conditions continue to change due to the global climate crisis, more extreme events such as drought and heat waves cause new areas to become susceptible to the possibility of wildfires.

2020 Colorado Wildfire. Photo by Malachi Brooks, via Unsplash. In 2022, as of early February, there have already been 2,388 fires that have burned a total of 40,822 acres across the U.S., surpassing a 10-year average of 1,924 fires and 38,501 acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. In 2021, the state of California faced unprecedented fires that raged throughout the year, burning a total of 2.5 million acres and changing officials’ definition of the “fire season” to a “fire year.” One of the most recent catastrophic wildfires occured on December 30th of last year, when a suburban neighborhood...
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Parthenogenesis: Virgin Births Provide Hope for the Endangered California Condor
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Parthenogenesis: Virgin Births Provide Hope for the Endangered California Condor

Isabel Thornberry

California condors are a species that have hovered on the brink of extinction for decades, and captive breeding programs established in the 1980s have brought the species’ numbers back from just 22 in 1982 to 525 at the end of 2019. Now, a phenomenon called parthenogenesis, observed in two cases of California condors, brings up many questions around the birds’ reproductive ability and genetic variation.

California Condor. Photo by Chuck Szmurlo, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Parthenogenesis is a form of asexual reproduction whereby females eggs develop into embryos without fertilization from a male. While this phenomenon is commonly observed in fish, reptiles, and plants, it is rare or unknown in birds such as the California condor. As part of the captive breeding program of California condors, Oliver Ryder and his team developed a genetic database for all California condors such that breeding programs can work to maintain genetic variation in condor populations and prevent inbreeding, as described in an article published in October...
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Nobel Prize in Medicine Awarded for Discovery of Temperature and Touch Receptors
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Nobel Prize in Medicine Awarded for Discovery of Temperature and Touch Receptors

Emi Krishnamurthy

The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for research on how we feel temperature, touch, and bodily spatial awareness. This discovery marks a key breakthrough in our previously limited understanding of our sense of touch.

2021 Nobel Laureates in Physiology or Medicine, David Julius (above) and Ardem Patapoudian (below), and the discovered temperature and touch sensing proteins. Images via NobelPrize.org. This year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to David Julius and Ardem Patapoudian for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch, marking a key breakthrough in our understanding of how mechanical stimuli are converted into electrical impulses in the nervous system. Sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste, our five major senses, connect our bodies and brains to the world. A sixth sense, proprioception, which helps our body know where it is...
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The Amazon Rainforest’s Sinking Carbon Sink
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The Amazon Rainforest’s Sinking Carbon Sink

Ashley Schefler

The Amazon rainforest is one of the world’s greatest natural wonders, and was once an important carbon sink in the fight against climate change. However, a newly published study ten years in the making shows that the Amazon has switched from being a carbon sink to a carbon source, releasing more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than it takes in.

Aerial photograph of the Amazon rainforest taken near Manaus, Brazil. By Neil Palmer/CIAT, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. The Amazon rainforest is one of the world’s greatest natural wonders. It is the largest tropical rainforest on Earth, spanning 2.6 million square miles (roughly 70% the size of the United States). The Amazon contains at least 10% of the world’s known species, and, for many years, it has functioned as an important carbon sink. If you’ve been following the news on climate change, you probably know that trees are one of the good guys in the story, able to store...
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Russia’s Neutrino Detector: A New Realm of High-Energy Particle Physics
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Russia’s Neutrino Detector: A New Realm of High-Energy Particle Physics

Lydia Guertin

Scientists in Russia recently launched a new telescope designed to detect heavy particles coming from all across the galaxy, moving us closer than ever to understanding extreme astrophysics.

Setup view of the Antares Neutrino Telescope, François Montanet Via Wikimedia Commons Some of the biggest mysteries in modern astronomy involve the emission of neutrinos, including high-energy astrophysical events like supernovae and black hole formation that also emit high-energy light in the form of gamma rays. These neutrinos are subatomic particles that interact very weakly with their surroundings, so they can only be observed using very sensitive telescopes, complicating the process to observe them. To further the studies of extreme phenomena like black holes, rapidly-rotating neutron stars called pulsars, and galaxy merger events, where two galaxies collide, scientists in Russia...
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Ingenuity: The First Powered Flight on Mars
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Ingenuity: The First Powered Flight on Mars

Hannah James

Ingenuity, which landed on Mars in February 2021, is the first powered aircraft to take place on Mars. Exploring Mars from the air gives scientists a unique perspective: they will be able to survey Mars’ geology in ways never attempted before.

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter on the belly of the Perseverance rover, ready to be dropped off at the helicopter’s deployment location. Photo by NASA. Ingenuity, which landed on Mars in February 2021, is the first powered aircraft to take place on Mars. Exploring Mars from the air gives scientists a unique perspective: they will be able to survey Mars’ geology in ways never attempted before. The Perseverance Rover has recently made headlines as the most recent rover to be sent to the red planet. Its main objective is to detect signs of life and to collect rock and soil samples....
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Bark Bacteria May Limit Tree Greenhouse Gas Emissions
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Bark Bacteria May Limit Tree Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Emi Krishnamurthy

Wetland trees are an unexpected but major source of global methane emissions. Methane-oxidizing bacteria recently discovered in tree bark could inform how climate scientists and legislators approach future methane mitigation strategies.

Paperbark Trees in Coombabah Lake Conservation Park. Photo by Silverish Lily via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0. Wetland trees are an unexpected but major source of global methane emissions. Methane-oxidizing bacteria recently discovered in tree bark could inform how climate scientists and legislators approach future methane mitigation strategies. Methane comprises 10% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, but can be 32-87 times more potent than carbon dioxide at warming Earth’s atmosphere. Natural sources produce millions of metric tons of methane every year because of climate change feedback systems, with wetland forests contributing about one-third of total methane emissions...
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What We’ve Learned from Juno’s Latest Laps Around Jupiter
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What We’ve Learned from Juno’s Latest Laps Around Jupiter

Lydia Guertin

You may have seen the gorgeous pictures of Jupiter floating around your twitter feed, but they only scratch the surface of the incredible discoveries the Juno spacecraft has sent back to Earth.

Jupiter’s (cyclonic) south pole, taken by the Juno spacecraft. NASA, 2017. You may have seen the gorgeous pictures of Jupiter floating around your twitter feed, but they only scratch the surface of the incredible discoveries the Juno spacecraft has sent back to Earth. “Every 53 days, we go screaming by Jupiter, get doused by a fire hose of Jovian [pertaining to Jupiter] science, and there is always something new,” says Scott Bolton of his experience as principal investigator aboard the 10-year-old Juno mission.  Since July 4, 2016, when the Juno spacecraft was close enough to Jupiter to complete one orbit...
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Scientists Clone Disease-Threatened Ferret Species to Introduce Genetic Diversity
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Scientists Clone Disease-Threatened Ferret Species to Introduce Genetic Diversity

Griffin Kaulbach

For the endangered species of black-footed ferrets, scientists are going beyond the typical conservation methods. Biotech companies and wildlife conservation organizations are working together to implement reproductive cloning to introduce genetic diversity into the disease-threatened ferret species. If successful, this method will create a more resilient population and show that reproductive cloning has the potential to save more of our vulnerable native species.

Endangered black-footed ferret in an outdoor preconditioning pen at the National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center in Colorado. Photo by Stewart Brand for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. For the conservation of endangered black-footed ferrets, scientists are going beyond protected areas and habitat restoration. Biotech companies and wildlife conservation organizations are working together to implement reproductive cloning to introduce genetic diversity into the disease-threatened ferret species. If successful, this method will create a more resilient population and show that reproductive cloning has the potential to save more of our vulnerable native species. In 1988, a Wyoming rancher was surprised when...
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Swirling Plasma Clouds: What We Know About Space Hurricanes
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Swirling Plasma Clouds: What We Know About Space Hurricanes

Lydia Guertin

On August 20, 2014, researchers at Shandong University in China noticed some strange readings at Earth’s polar regions. While they didn’t know it then, the team at Shandong University was watching the first observed space hurricane.

Illustration based on recent confirmation of first-ever observed space hurricane. Qing-He Zhang/Shandong University eOn August 20, 2014, researchers at Shandong University in China noticed some strange readings at Earth’s polar regions. There were no solar flares, abnormal geomagnetic conditions, or other phenomena that could explain these readings, yet there was a storm building at the North Pole. This was no ordinary storm: massive plasma clouds with spiraling arms were beginning to take shape, pulling electrons in from Earth’s magnetic field lines. While they didn’t know it then, the team at Shandong University was watching the first observed “space hurricane.” These...
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Creating a Real Warp Drive: Zero to 299,800,000 in No Time
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Creating a Real Warp Drive: Zero to 299,800,000 in No Time

Lydia Guertin

A warp drive is a type of engine designed to travel at the speed of light, which is a revolutionary concept, if one can solve the issue of hurtling a spacecraft with much more mass than a photon through space.

Concept model of an Alcubierre Drive. Via NASA. In 1994, Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre proposed something seemingly out of science-fiction: a real, working warp drive with the capacity to travel faster than the speed of light. Well, “working” in the theoretical sense, but even then it did not quite follow the ever-present laws of physics. A warp drive is a type of engine designed to travel at the speed of light, which is a revolutionary concept, if one can solve the issue of hurtling a spacecraft with much more mass than a photon through space. This idea, while not practical...
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Harnessing Plants’ Carbon Storage for a Greener Future
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Harnessing Plants’ Carbon Storage for a Greener Future

Griffin Kaulbach

In La Jolla, California, the founders of the Harnessing Plants Initiative (HPI) at the Salk Institute are thinking about the big question that connects agriculture, wetland restoration, and atmospheric climate change: How can we safely use plant pathways to capture and store carbon, while restoring our agricultural and coastal environments?

In sunny La Jolla, California, the founders of the Harnessing Plants Initiative (HPI) at the Salk Institute are thinking about the big question that connects agriculture, wetland restoration, and atmospheric climate change: How can we safely use plant pathways to capture and store carbon, while restoring our agricultural and coastal environments? According to Joanne Chory, leading Lebanese American plant biologist and co-director of HPI, “If we can optimize plants’ natural ability to capture and store carbon, we can develop plants that not only have the potential to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere but that can also help enrich soils...
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Four New Exoplanets Discovered

Hannah James

The discovery of four new exoplanets gives insight into how scientists search for habitable or previously inhabited exoplanets.

An artist’s rendering of five planets orbiting TOI-1233, four of which were discovered using the Transiting Exoplanet Satellite Survey (TESS), an MIT-led NASA mission. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech The discovery of four new exoplanets gives insight into how scientists search for habitable or previously inhabited exoplanets. Exoplanets are just like the planets in our very own solar system, but with one key difference: They orbit around other stars instead of the Sun. Because exoplanets orbit bright stars, they are very difficult to detect with telescopes, so the discovery of an exoplanet is a very big deal. MIT researchers recently discovered four new...
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You’ve Got Mail, And It’s From Spinach
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You’ve Got Mail, And It’s From Spinach

Cat Kim

The idea of plant-to-human communication may seem far-fetched, but not for a certain team of chemical engineers. With the power of nanobionics, Dr. Michael Strano’s chemical engineering lab at MIT implemented a process in which the ordinary spinach plant can detect toxic nitroaromatic compounds found in explosives and relay such detections wirelessly — in the form of an email.

Spinach plant. Photo by Jyotishmita Bhagawati, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. The idea of plant-to-human communication may seem far-fetched, but not for a certain team of chemical engineers. With the power of nanobionics, Dr. Michael Strano’s chemical engineering lab at MIT implemented a process in which the ordinary spinach plant can detect toxic nitroaromatic compounds found in explosives and relay such detections wirelessly — in the form of an email. Plant nanobionics, according to Dr. Strano, aims to “introduce [structures] into the plant to give it non-native functions.” Strano’s lab previously created carbon nanotubes — cylindrical molecules made of...
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A New SPARC of Hope for Fusion Energy
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A New SPARC of Hope for Fusion Energy

Celeste Cubbage

A new spark of hope has recently emerged in the field of clean energy technology: the SPARC fusion reactor. Scientists and technicians affiliated with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have been collaborating on this new fusion energy reactor, which has more promising projections than previous reactors.

Model of SPARC under design by MIT and Commonwealth Fusion Systems. Rendering by T. Henderson, CFS/MIT-PSFC, via Wikimedia Commons  A new spark of hope has recently emerged in the field of clean energy technology: the SPARC fusion reactor. Scientists and technicians affiliated with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have been collaborating on this new fusion energy reactor, which has more promising projections than previous reactors. Fusion energy provides a carbon-free, abundant power source that is safer than nuclear power with virtually no long-life radioactive waste. Matter becomes plasma by being heated in...
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