As of mid-December, hospitals on average had just 22 percent of their intensive care unit (ICU) beds available across the country, and many were completely full. As the Covid-19 surge continues to intensify, lack of ICU beds can have dire consequences, including not being able to properly care for the sickest patients, potentially rationing lifesaving Read more about Hospital ICUs are filling up. It’s even worse than it sounds.[…]
The room didn’t spin like they say it does. My life didn’t flash before my eyes. I had no difficulty understanding the verdict: It was incurable. They could offer no prognosis. They had some general ideas about how they might treat me; it was considered “manageable” in its normal form, but in my case, there Read more about I was always terrified of wasting time. A cancer diagnosis made me reconsider.[…]
Governors, mayors, and public health officials are sounding the alarm about rising levels of Covid-19 across every part of the country. The disease is surging, the death toll is soaring, and it’s clear that some states need more restrictive measures to control the spread. What continues to frustrate so many leaders is that nine months Read more about How we can encourage people to wear masks — for others’ sake[…]
Two highly effective Covid-19 vaccines are now being administered across the United States, and more are in the pipeline. Almost 2 million people have already received the first of two doses of these vaccines, and officials are aiming to immunize one-third of the US population by the end of March 2021. It’s a stunning accomplishment Read more about The 4 major unknowns of how vaccines will affect the Covid-19 pandemic[…]
It’s the year 2020, and scientists are still discovering new species of life on Earth. No one knows exactly how many types of life are yet undescribed in the scientific literature; estimates range from around 86 percent to as high as 99.99 percent. And even though we’re living through an age of great biodiversity loss, Read more about In 2020, scientists documented hundreds of new species. Here are a few.[…]
It’s year-end-list season. Usually, the Vox science team has some fun and compiles a year-end list of bad ideas in health and science that ought to die with the end of the year. In the past, we’ve targeted homeopathic medicine, declared it was time to end the relevance of the fatally flawed Stanford Prison Experiment, Read more about The worst idea of 2020[…]
Updated Thu 8:10 PM Ardscoil Rís 1-17 St Kieran’s College 0-15 Robert Cribbin reports from Croke Park ARDSCOIL RÍS OF Limerick captured their first ever All-Ireland senior hurling colleges title after claiming a five-point victory over Kilkenny aristocrats St Kieran’s College in Croke Park this afternoon. Ardscoil Rís were appearing in their fourth ever final Read more about History for Ardscoil Rís as they take a first colleges title back to Limerick[…]
There’s a growing consensus in the climate change community that the key to transitioning the US economy from fossil fuels is to electrify everything — shift the electricity grid over to carbon-free power and shift other big polluting sectors like transportation and heating over to electricity. When it comes to transportation, electrification is going to Read more about Big electric trucks and buses are coming. Here’s how to speed up the transition.[…]
In the middle of March, while many Americans were panic-buying milk and toilet paper, Michael Redmond had other things on his mind: how to safely house the dozens of people who rely on his organization for a bed to sleep in every night. The executive director of the Upper Valley Haven social service agency in Read more about Social distancing is a luxury many can’t afford. Vermont actually did something about it.[…]
Close the bars. Open the schools. Public health experts have been repeating this same refrain since the summer, when many states and cities reopened businesses like bars, restaurants, and gyms — all areas where the coronavirus is thought to spread readily — without a clear plan to reopen school buildings. And the call has only Read more about Why restaurants are open and schools are closed[…]