Bacteria is the new black: Scientists create microbes that make self-dyeing textiles
For sustainability-minded fashionistas, materials made by fast-growing, eco-friendly bacteria offer an appealing alternative to leather or faux plastic replacements such as “pleather.” Yet coloring or adding patterns to these bacterial textiles can still mean working with environmentally harmful dyes. A study published last week in
Nature Biotechnology
may offer a solution:
genetically engineering bacteria to produce melanin pigment
so the material can
dye
itself
.
“This is an example of how biology can provide products that not only have remarkable properties, but can also...
Source: ScienceNOW - April 9, 2024 Category: Science Source Type: news
Md. medical device company nabs $22.4M in fresh funding, eyes more
The University of Maryland spinout develops treatments for controlling bleeding during surgery. (Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Pharmaceuticals headlines)
Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Pharmaceuticals headlines - April 4, 2024 Category: Pharmaceuticals Authors: Sara Gilgore Source Type: news
Why Walking Isn ’ t Enough When It Comes to Exercise
Walking is often thought of as a mere mode of transportation: a way to get from point A to point B. Few of us consider the fact that it’s one of the most fundamental, accessible physical activities a person can do.
What’s so great about walking?
Walking might not be as impressive as holding a plank or doing mountain climbers, but “it’s considered a bodyweight exercise, because your large muscle groups are working to move the weight of your body,” says Dr. Marie Kanagie-McAleese, a pediatric hospitalist at University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health and the leader of the Bel Air...
Source: TIME: Health - March 28, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ashley Mateo Tags: Uncategorized Evergreen freelance healthscienceclimate Source Type: news
Does Medicare cover a colonoscopy? Yes, and several other colorectal cancer screening tests, too
Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer worldwide. Older adults should take note: “Most cases of colorectal cancer are detected after age 55, and the risk increases with age,” says Dr. Josh Forman, a gastroenterologist at the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center and…#joshforman #polyps #medicare #medicareadvantage #medicaid #diagnostic #fortunecom (Source: Reuters: Health)
Source: Reuters: Health - March 22, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
A data duel over U.S. maternal mortality
Experts agree that the U.S. maternal mortality rate is unacceptably high. And year after year of data show that disadvantaged groups, particularly Black and Native American women, die at even higher rates than women in the United States overall during pregnancy and childbirth.
But controversy broke out last week over just how bad the situation is, when a paper by academic epidemiologists published in the
American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
(
AJOG
) provoked unusual pushback from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The paper suggested a widely reported tripling in t...
Source: ScienceNOW - March 19, 2024 Category: Science Source Type: news
Why Conspiracies Theories —From Kate Middleton to the Moon Landings—Are So Seductive
If you’re like millions of people worldwide, Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, is very much on your mind this week. That’s because of a royal kerfuffle that erupted recently, when Middleton—who had not been seen in public since January when she underwent abdominal surgery—released a cheery Mother’s Day photo of herself and her children. The next day, the Associated Press pulled down the photo because it turned out to have been digitally altered. Other news agencies followed suit, and Kensington Palace issued an apology signed by Kate.
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Predi...
Source: TIME: Health - March 15, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Jeffrey Kluger Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Source Type: news
Is COVID-19 a Seasonal Virus Yet?
The most common respiratory viruses that cause flu, colds, and RSV tend to cluster in the fall and winter months. Though that means months of elevated risk for sickness, “cold and flu season” is a convenient time for public-health officials to remind people to get vaccinated and wash their hands more frequently.
Experts had hoped that COVID-19 would follow that same pattern, but so far, that’s not the case.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]
COVID-19 occurs in every season
Both flu and RSV tend to plummet to near negligible levels in spring and summer before surging again in the fall ...
Source: TIME: Health - March 6, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alice Park Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 healthscienceclimate Source Type: news
The Anthropocene is dead. Long live the Anthropocene
For now, we're still in the Holocene.
Science
has confirmed that a panel of two dozen geologists has voted down a proposal to end the Holocene—our current span of geologic time, which began 11,700 years ago at the end of the last ice age—and inaugurate a new epoch, the Anthropocene. Starting in the 1950s, it would have marked a time when humanity’s influence on the planet became overwhelming. The vote,
first reported
by
The New York Times
, is a stunning—though not unexpected—rebuke for the proposal, which has been working its way through a formal approval process for
...
Source: ScienceNOW - March 5, 2024 Category: Science Source Type: news
Why Older Adults Need Another COVID-19 Shot
Older adults should get the COVID-19 vaccine more frequently than previously recommended, according to new guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Health officials are urging people ages 65 and older to receive another vaccine dose in the spring, or at least four months after their most recent dose.
CDC director Dr. Mandy Cohen announced the decision after a CDC advisory committee, which is made up of independent vaccine and infectious disease experts, voted 11-1 to make the change. “An additional vaccine dose can provide added protection that may have decreased over time for thos...
Source: TIME: Health - February 29, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alice Park Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 healthscienceclimate Source Type: news
Imaging AI yields opportunities, challenges in sustainability
AI yields much promise in medical imaging, but radiology leaders should be cognizant of the technology’s environmental impact, according to a paper published February 27 in Radiology.
A team led by Florence Doo, MD, from the University of Maryland in Baltimore outlined strategies on how radiologists can better practice sustainability when implementing AI into their clinical workflows.
“Radiology departments should be aware of the energy required to train and deploy AI models in order to balance the associated greenhouse gas emissions with the potential for AI to improve environmental sustainability in radiology,” K...
Source: AuntMinnie.com Headlines - February 27, 2024 Category: Radiology Authors: Amerigo Allegretto Tags: Imaging Informatics Artificial Intelligence Source Type: news
Climate Change Will Make Locust Outbreaks ‘ Increasingly Hard to Prevent and Control ’
Extreme wind and rain may lead to bigger and worse desert locust outbreaks, with human-caused climate change likely to intensify the weather patterns and cause higher outbreak risks, a new study has found.
The desert locust — a short-horned species found in some dry areas of northern and eastern Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia — is a migratory insect that travels in swarms of millions over long distances and damages crops, causing famine and food insecurity. A square kilometer swarm comprises 80 million locusts that can in one day consume food crops enough to feed 35,000 people. The U.N.’s Food...
Source: TIME: Science - February 14, 2024 Category: Science Authors: CARLOS MUREITHI / AP Tags: Uncategorized climate change healthscienceclimate wire Source Type: news
ChatGPT shows promise for improving breast cancer education materials
ChatGPT can simplify responses to questions about breast cancer prevention and screening by improving the reading ease and readability of educational materials while maintaining overall clinical appropriateness, researchers have found.The findings could translate to better support for patients navigating breast cancer screening, wrote a team led by Hana Haver, MD, of the University of Maryland Medical Intelligent Imaging Center in Baltimore. The study findings were published February 2 in Radiology: Imaging Cancer."In the context of breast cancer screening, increasing the readability of patient-facing material has been sho...
Source: AuntMinnie.com Headlines - February 5, 2024 Category: Radiology Tags: Clinical News Subspecialties Womens Imaging Breast Breast Imaging Source Type: news
Sheppard Pratt pays nearly $3M for two properties near Mt. Vernon
The properties are located across from the University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus. Read on for more on Sheppard Pratt's plans. (Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines)
Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines - January 10, 2024 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Matt Hooke Source Type: news
Marriage Is on the Decline. Does It Matter?
But opinions haven’t always shaken down along the usual partisan lines. University of Maryland economics professor Melissa Kearney made the case for marriage to her fellow liberals in her widely discussed book The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling…#universityofmaryland #melissakearney #times #nicholaskristof #kearney #politicomagazine #mattbruenig #peoplespolicyproject #stephaniecoontz #kayhymowitz (Source: Reuters: Health)
Source: Reuters: Health - January 6, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Biden aims for a Donald Trump-George Washington contrast
It is becoming less clear how true that assertion is the further the country moves away from the riots that day. A recently released Washington Post-University of Maryland poll found that 34 percent of Republicans voters falsely believe the FBI organized the attempted insurrection. The Biden…#republicans #fbi #valleyforge #georgewashington #continentalarmy #americanrevolution #army #trump #mccaininstitute #charleston (Source: Reuters: Health)
Source: Reuters: Health - January 5, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
