In an oceanic omen for climate change’s intensifying effects, new research shows that seagrass suffers from a lesion-filled wasting disease through large swaths of intertidal meadows in the Pacific Northwest. The grasses’ once vibrant root systems are deteriorating. The research was published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science. “Not only are we seeing more seagrass wasting disease […]
Bethesda, MD (May 14, 2021) — Inpatient consults for alcohol-related gastrointestinal (GI) and liver diseases have surged since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and remained elevated, according to research selected for presentation at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2021. The proportion of patients that required inpatient endoscopic interventions for their alcohol-related GI and liver diseases […]
“Make no mistake: opening Texas prematurely will only lead to faster Covid spread, more sickness and overcrowding in our hospitals, and unnecessary deaths.” The Republican governor of Texas issued an executive order Tuesday lifting the populous state’s mask mandate and other remaining coronavirus-related restrictions, a move public health experts and Democratic critics characterized as dangerously […]
The United States surpassed 300,000 recorded deaths from COVID-19 Monday — the same day the first American was vaccinated against the coronavirus that causes the disease. The grim number comes about two weeks after millions of Americans defied warnings to avoid travel and gathered with family members for the Thanksgiving holiday. According to the […]
While wandering middle Alaska this summer, I noticed orange spruce trees along the entire length of the Denali Highway, from Paxson to Cantwell. In what looked like a dendrological case of frostbite, tips of every branch were afflicted with something. The real show happened when the wind blew: An entire valley glowed apricot. After […]
July 30, 2020 ANCHORAGE — Alaska’s syphilis outbreak is growing, with cases that more than doubled in 2019 to 2018. “This is the largest number of syphilis cases that we have ever had reported in one year,” said Alaska Department of Health and Social Services HIV/STD Program Manager Susan Jones. Overall, combined rates of syphilis, gonorrhea […]
An international team of scientists has found evidence connecting an unexplained period of extreme cold in ancient Rome with an unlikely source: a massive eruption of Alaska’s Okmok volcano, located on the opposite side of the Earth. Around the time of Julius Caesar’s death in 44 BCE, written sources describe a period of unusual […]
“Trump is exploiting a public health crisis to help an industry known for pumping diseases and antibiotics into oceans.” President Donald Trump issued an executive order late Thursday that environmentalists warned will accelerate the corporate exploitation of oceans by relaxing regulations on and streamlining the construction of industrial offshore aquaculture facilities, which critics deride as “floating […]
WASHINGTON – The top U.S. infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, warned Sunday there is an “extraordinary risk” of the further spread of the ravaging coronavirus if the United States is reopened to business and returned to a sense of normalcy too quickly on May 1, as President Donald Trump is considering. Fauci […]