dangerous – Page 2

What we know about MIS-C, a rare but dangerous illness striking children weeks after they get COVID-19

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

What we know about MIS-C, a rare but dangerous illness striking children weeks after they get COVID-19

While most children who get COVID-19 develop little more than a mild illness, several hundred have ended up in hospital intensive care units with alarming symptoms that begin appearing weeks after the initial infection. The view through an electron microscope shows the spikes that create the ‘corona’ effect on the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, CC BY-ND This new condition progresses rapidly and can strike multiple organs and systems, including the heart, lungs, eyes, skin and gastrointestinal system. It’s known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C. More than 790 U.S. cases had been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as of Sept. 3, and 16 of those children have died. I have been consulting on M...

Extreme wildfires can create their own dangerous weather, including fire tornadoes – here’s how

26Aug

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

Extreme wildfires can create their own dangerous weather, including fire tornadoes – here’s how

It might sound like a bad movie, but extreme wildfires can create their own weather – including fire tornadoes. It happened in California as a heat wave helped to fuel hundreds of wildfires across the region, many of them sparked by lightning. One fiery funnel cloud on Aug. 15 was so powerful, the National Weather Service issued what’s believed to be its first fire tornado warning. So, what has to happen for a wildfire to get so extreme that it spins off tornadoes? As professors who study wildfires and weather, we can offer some insights. How extreme fire conditions form Fires have three basic elements: heat, fuel and oxygen. In a wildland fire, a heat source ignites the fire. Sometimes that ignition source is a car or power line or, as the West saw in mid-August, lightning strikes. Ox...

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

How dangerous heat waves can kill

Heat waves are the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the United States, not the more photogenic windstorms and floods. Hotter summers from climate change are causing concerns over new dangers to people. As a medical school professor, I’ve focused on physiology, neuroscience, the evolution of the big brain and, more recently, climate science and civilization’s vulnerability to abrupt shocks from climate change. Today I’m wearing my physiologist’s hat and asking: How do heat waves kill? We can take the heat – usually Thanks to our meat-eating ancestors, who could run down prey in long midday chases on the African savanna, we humans are able to keep our body temperature in the range where we function best in a wide range of conditions, even those combining extreme heat with extreme...

What is a derecho? An atmospheric scientist explains these rare but dangerous storm systems

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE, VIDEO REELS

What is a derecho? An atmospheric scientist explains these rare but dangerous storm systems

Thunderstorms are common across North America, especially in warm weather months. About 10% of them become severe, meaning they produce hail 1 inch or greater in diameter, winds gusting in excess of 50 knots (57.5 miles per hour), or a tornado. The U.S. recently has experienced two rarer events: organized lines of thunderstorms with widespread damaging winds, known as derechos. Derechos occur fairly regularly over large parts of the U.S. each year, most commonly from April through August. Dennis Cain/NOAA Derechos occur mainly across the central and eastern U.S., where many locations are affected one to two times per year on average. They can produce significant damage to structures and sometimes cause “blowdowns” of millions of trees. Pennsylvania and New Jersey received the brunt of a d...

What are Asian giant hornets, and are they really dangerous? 5 questions answered

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT, VIDEO REELS

What are Asian giant hornets, and are they really dangerous? 5 questions answered

According to recent press reports, two Asian giant hornets – a species not known to occur in North America – were found in northwest Washington state in late 2019, and a hornet colony was found and eliminated in British Columbia. Now scientists are trying to determine whether more of these large predatory insects are present in the region. Entomologist Akito Kawahara explains why headlines referring to “murder hornets” are misleading. Asian giant hornets (Vespa mandarinia japonica) drinking sap from tree bark in Japan. Alpsdake/Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 1. How common are these hornets in Asia, and how much alarm do they cause? The Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia) is fairly common in many parts of Asia, where it is called the “Giant hornet.” Growing up in Japan, I saw them relatively freque...

The Shooting Statistics Are Clear: It’s Not Schools That Are Dangerous

21May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

The Shooting Statistics Are Clear: It’s Not Schools That Are Dangerous

Every day, 42 Americans die in gun homicides, the grim backdrop against which to talk about school shootings. In the three months between the 10 shot dead in Santa Fe, Texas, on Friday, and the 17 in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14, around 4,000 Americans lost their lives in firearms homicides. In the initial horror following a school shooting, we witness the “thoughts and prayers,” finger-wagging from politicians not wanting to “politicize” the shooting, and promises to “do something.” Then, just as predictably, nothing happens. Or, worse, bad things are done. The survivors of the February shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, Florida, took center stage to argue passionately for action, and adults initially appeared to be listening. Gov. Rick Scott signed a reform bill in...

Driving As A Black Person In America Was So Dangerous Black Folks Had To Publish A How-To Manual For Simply Surviving On The Road

9Feb

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

Driving As A Black Person In America Was So Dangerous Black Folks Had To Publish A How-To Manual For Simply Surviving On The Road

America was a dangerous place when Jim Crow mandates ruled the land. Laws separated blacks and whites, the KKK was alive and well, and lynchings were far too common. One white woman's lie even started the 1923 Rosewood Massacre - an event that completely destroyed the lives of many black citizens. Racial discrimination after the Civil War was so severe and potentially life-threatening for blacks that Victor Green developed a book that helped navigate the racist waters. Green's original 1936 Negro Motorist Green Book was an annual pamphlet that focused on safe spaces in New York City, but it eventually expanded to include the whole country. The innovative work suggested travel destinations and establishments that weren't racist so that African Americans could avoid the danger and humiliati...