Science

ABC News reports: We’re taught in elementary school that there are seven continents on Earth — Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America. But geography textbooks across the world might have to add one more to that list — Zealandia. Zealandia is a continent that is 94 percent submerged underwater, which is why it took so long …

Buzzfeed reports: The US Department of Agriculture has banned scientists and other employees in its main research division from publicly sharing everything from the summaries of scientific papers to USDA-branded tweets as it starts to adjust to life under the Trump administration, BuzzFeed News has learned. According to an email sent Monday morning and obtained by BuzzFeed News, the department …

The Washington Post reports: In a powerful testament to the warming of the planet, two leading U.S. science agencies Wednesday jointly declared 2016 the hottest year on record, surpassing the previous record set just last year — which, itself, had topped a record set in 2014. Average surface temperatures in 2016, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, were …

Because of course. Reuters reports: Vaccination skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he will oversee a presidential panel to review vaccine safety and science at the request of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in a move likely to reignite debate despite now-debunked research that tied childhood immunizations to autism. “President-elect Trump has some doubts about the current vaccine policy, and he …

GeekWire reports: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is committing up to $140 million to help Boston biotech company Intarcia Therapeutics develop an HIV prevention device. The funds will help Intarcia adapt its Medici technology program to deliver a steady stream of HIV medication to healthy patients over an extended period of time. The matchstick-sized device is similar to a …

AFP reports: A giant South Korean-built manned robot that walks like a human but makes the ground shake under its weight has taken its first baby steps. Designed by a veteran of science fiction blockbusters, the four-metre-tall (13-foot), 1.5 ton Method-2 towers over a room on the outskirts of Seoul. The hulking human-like creation bears a striking resemblance to the …

News-Medical reports: The first large-scale clinical trial of a long-acting injectable drug for HIV prevention began today. The study, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, will examine whether a long-acting form of the investigational anti-HIV drug cabotegravir injected once every 8 weeks can safely protect men and transgender women from HIV infection at least as well as the anti-HIV …

Via STAT: Gargling with Listerine can eliminate gonorrhea throat infection, scientists reported on Tuesday in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections. Scientists led by Dr. Eric Chow of the Melbourne Sexual Health Center ran two experiments. First they added Listerine Cool Mint or Total Care to lab dishes full of Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacteria. Undiluted, both flavors left zero bacteria alive in …

The Guardian reports: Humans are woefully unprepared for a surprise asteroid or comet, a Nasa scientist warned on Monday, at a presentation with nuclear scientists into how humans might deflect cosmic dangers hurtling toward Earth. “The biggest problem, basically, is there’s not a hell of a lot we can do about it at the moment,” said Dr Joseph Nuth, a …

The Washington Post reports: Alarmed that decades of crucial climate measurements could vanish under a hostile Trump administration, scientists have begun a feverish attempt to copy reams of government data onto independent servers in hopes of safeguarding it from any political interference. The efforts include a “guerrilla archiving” event in Toronto, where experts will copy irreplaceable public data, meetings at …

The Associated Press reports: John Glenn, an astronaut, senator and old-fashioned American hero, died Thursday at the age of 95, the Columbus Dispatch reported. Glenn was the last survivor of the Mercury 7, selected in 1959 as NASA’s first group of astronauts. He became the first American to orbit the Earth on Feb. 20, 1962. It was a solo flight, …

Will this also be the last time we see the red ribbon hanging at the White House? Via press release: December 1 marks World AIDS Day across the globe, and serves as a way to recommit ourselves to ending HIV/AIDS as a public health threat. Throughout his Administration, President Obama propelled America’s leadership on HIV/AIDS by both developing the first …

The New York Times reports: The Food and Drug Administration gave permission Tuesday for large-scale, Phase 3 clinical trials of the drug — a final step before the possible approval of Ecstasy as a prescription drug. If successful, the trials could turn an illicit street substance into a potent treatment for PTSD. Through a spokeswoman, the F.D.A. declined to comment, …

ABC News Australia reports: For $US20, a group of high school students has created 3.7 grams of an active ingredient used in the medicine Daraprim, which would sell in the United States for between $US35,000 and $US110,000. Pyrimethamine, the active ingredient in Daraprim, treats a parasitic infection in people with weak immune systems such as pregnant women and HIV patients. …

The change was made last week but we were rather busy with other things. Reuters reports: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said on Thursday it added seven new agents, including the HIV virus and an industrial solvent, to its list of carcinogens. The list identifies factors including chemicals, agents like viruses, X-rays and ultraviolet radiation, and divides …

Gizmodo reports: Scientists in the UK have developed a USB stick that can quickly and accurately measure the amount of HIV is in a patient’s blood. The medical device was created by scientists at Imperial College London and tech firm DNA Electronics, and all it needs is a simple drop of blood to measure HIV-1 levels. It then creates an …

Scientific American reports: HIV probably arrived in the U.S. around 1971—a decade before AIDS was recognized as a disease and a dozen years before scientists discovered the virus that causes it—according to a new analysis of viral genomes from New York City and San Francisco. The genetic evidence upends a longstanding myth that a French-Canadian flight attendant started the U.S. …

An innovative campaign and the song really IS fantastic. Mark King breaks it down at My Fabulous Disease: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has produced a music video that joyfully educates gay men about HIV prevention options. And it is foot-stomping fabulous. The song, “Collect My Love,” was released by The Knocks and it features vocals by …

The Associated Press reports: Most people are trying to avoid Florida mosquitoes, blamed for dozens of cases of the Zika virus. But Republican Rep. David Jolly decided to make a point Wednesday by bringing a container of them to the House floor. “The politics of Zika are garbage right now,” the Florida lawmaker said in a short, angry speech condemning …

CNN reports: An experimental drug shattered and removed toxic plaques in the brains of patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease, researchers said Thursday. Given to patients once a month for a year, infusions of the drug aducanumab cleared the brain of the deposits, which experts believe play a crucial role in disrupting cellular processes and blocking communication among nerve cells. Although …