“More and more colleges are testing wastewater from dorms to monitor the spread of the coronavirus. It’s often cheaper — and can detect an infection days before respiratory symptoms show up, or even if they never do.”
Interesting work being done by colleges to prevent/control the spread of COVID-19!
Wearing a face mask takes some getting used to. To get the most benefit, you need to avoid these common mistakes.
Masks in a variety of colors, styles and materials have appeared on the faces of people around us. While it’s good news that many people are doing their part to slow the spread of coronavirus, the bad news is that many people are wearing their masks wrong.
“Wearing a mask takes some getting used to, for sure,” said Dr. Scott Segal, chairman of anesthesiology at Wake Forest Baptist Health. “You are probably wearing it exactly right if it’s a little stuffy.”
One of the biggest mistakes people make is that they fidget with their masks, and pull them under their noses or completely off their faces to rest under their chins. “You should absolutely not be pulling up and putting down your mask while you’re out,” said Shan Soe-Lin, a lecturer at the Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. “If you’re going to go to the trouble of using a mask, leave it on.”
Here are the dos and don’ts of wearing a mask.
And once you’ve figured out the correct position for wearing your mask, follow these tips to stay safe:
Always wash your hands before and after wearing a mask.
Use the ties or loops to put your mask on and pull it off.
Don’t touch the front of the mask when you take it off.
For apartment dwellers, put the mask on and remove it while inside your home. Elevators and stairwells can be high-contamination areas.
Wash and dry your cloth mask daily and keep it in a clean, dry place.
Don’t have a false sense of security.
Masks offer limited protection, and work better when combined with hand washing and social distancing. “It’s not that one excludes the other,” said Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University. “They compound the effects of the other.”
Just when you think you might have this science thing down, a pissed off black lab mouse humbles you by trying to take a chunk out of your middle finger….
Joan A. Steitz (b. 1941) is a biologist whose research focused on RNA and its interaction with ribosomes, for which she won the Lasker-Koshland Award for Special Achievement in Medical Science.
She obtained her PhD from Harvard and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge. Her research offered groundbreaking insight into autoimmune diseases, their causes and treatments. She is a Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University.
A follow up to my previous post on Vibrio prevalence in North and South Carolina! A great example of how climate change won’t just affect wildlife and natural places, but also human health! And this is just the tip of the melting iceberg of climate change and human health interactions…..
Did y’all have flesh eating bacteria on your 2020 bingo card? Vibrio bacteria has been wreaking havoc long before 2020, and will only become more prevalent with the effects of climate change. Unfortunately, this has to be treated as an emerging threat to human health. Currently, severe vibrio infection (“flesh-eating”) is rare, but lesser forms of infection often go undiagnosed. This could lead to cases going unreported, and the threat underestimated.
An appreciation post for one of my favorite birds, the Anhinga! These birds are good divers and will completely submerge to catch their prey. Since they have no oils on their wings to repel water, anhingas have to stretch out their wings to let them dry before they can fly!
Pictures taken at Huntington Beach State Park, Murrels Inlet, SC
In April 2019, in response to a community-based sanctuary nomination, NOAA announced its intent to designate a new national marine sanctuary in New York’s eastern Lake Ontario.
The proposed sanctuary would celebrate the area’s unique history and heritage and provide a national stage for promoting tourism and recreation.
NOAA welcomes your input about the proposal during the public comment period which ends tomorrow! To learn how you can submit your comments, visit: https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/lake-ontario/.
(Photo: Nick Zachar/NOAA. Image description: A diver shines a light on a submerged shipwreck.)
Both were filled at the same time with the same water, only one had oysters.
Fun Fact: Oysters are so tolerant that they can accumulate toxins from Harmful Algal Blooms like red tide, leading to illnesses with fun sounding names like Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (saxitoxin, which is 1000 times more potent than sarin nerve gas based on the LD50), Neurotoxic Shellfish Poisoning (brevetoxin, produced by Karenia brevis “red tide”), and Diarrhetic Shellfish poisoning (okadaic acid produced by Dinophysis algae). Gotta love it.
December 1st is World AIDS Day! Spent a few hours helping to spread the word about HIV/AIDS prevention, testing and treatment at the South Carolina State House! ❤️
The first nuclear reactor, dubbed Chicago Pile-1, was constructed on a squash court underneath the University of Chicago by a team led by Italian physicist Enrico Fermi. It was made of of a “pile” of uranium, graphite (used as a moderator) and cadmium control rods, which act as neutron absorbers to “control” or “slow down” the reaction. It first achieved a self sustaining nuclear reaction on December 2nd, 1942 at 3:25 pm.
Happy (late) Thanksgiving, everyone! I am so thankful that y’all have stuck around to share my love of science with me!
In support of our Indigenous People here in North America, I want to show you a map you don’t always get to see. Visit this site for an even better visual!
Native American women are much more likely to be the victims of violence than the general American population. To learn more, find resources, and support those helping to bring justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women, consult the links below…
Happy (late) Thanksgiving, everyone! I am so thankful that y’all have stuck around to share my love of science with me!
In support of our Indigenous People here in North America, I want to show you a map you don’t always get to see. Visit this site for an even better visual!
Native American women are much more likely to be the victims of violence than the general American population. To learn more, find resources, and support those helping to bring justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women, consult the links below…
A really interesting TedTalk explaining why mental health care is important and why we need to #endthestigma, especially during a pandemic (even though the video is pre- COVID).
If you are struggling with mental health, know that I understand and I am here with you. It has been hell at times, but you are not alone. ❤️
