Another explosive wildfire season is underway in California, with more than a million acres already burned in 2021. While still short of the unprecedented 2020 fire season, the blazes this year are well above average and are still gaining ground. The Caldor Fire burning near Lake Tahoe has forced thousands of people to evacuate as…
Month: March 2022
What the Novavax vaccine means for the global fight against Covid-19
Another Covid-19 vaccine, this one from the biotech firm Novavax, has posted superb results in a phase 3 clinical trial, the company announced on Monday. But with more than half of US adults now vaccinated against Covid-19, the biggest impact of these results may be in other countries. The Novavax vaccine stands out from other…
The new Alzheimer’s drug that could break Medicare
Medicare, the federal health insurance program that covers Americans over 65, is facing an impossible dilemma: Should it cover a new and expensive medication for Alzheimer’s disease, which afflicts 6 million Americans and for which there is no existing treatment, even though the drug might not actually work? It is an enormous question. Alzheimer’s patients…
“Back to normal” puts us back on the path to climate catastrophe
The Covid-19 pandemic upended daily life so drastically that there was a moment when it seemed to be making a dent in the climate crisis. Rush-hour traffic disappeared, global travel slowed to a crawl, and the resulting economic tailspin sent energy-related pollution plummeting almost 6 percent globally. This kind of decline in pollution is unprecedented…
The West has all the ingredients for another terrible wildfire season
Summer has not officially started yet, but wildfire season has already arrived in the US. Now an intense heat wave coupled with extreme drought is threatening to make things worse. Large wildfires have already burned 981,000 acres this year to date, more than the 766,000 acres burned by the same time last year, according to…
What’s with these invasive “crazy” worms and why can’t we get rid of them?
Tiny, wriggling horrors are hatching right now, under our feet, across the country. No, not the billions of Brood X cicadas emerging throughout the eastern US. I’m talking instead about baby invasive “crazy worms” that thrash through garden, farm, city, and forest soil, growing to 3 to 6 inches in length, sucking up nutrients, and…
The World Health Organization broke its own rules to spend millions on BCG consultants
The world’s leading health organization, the WHO, repeatedly broke its own rules and spent millions of dollars on high-priced management consultants, according to a new independent audit — even as the United Nations agency has struggled to pay for lifesaving equipment and vaccines in its global Covid-19 response. An unnamed consulting company, which Vox has…
How Indigenous memories can help save species from extinction
From his home in remote coastal British Columbia, Ernest Mason, a 77-year-old elder and hereditary chief of the Kitasoo/Xai’xais Nation, remembers. He remembers a childhood fishing trip with his father, when they packed sleeping bags but caught so many halibut they were home before dark. He remembers setting traps for pink Dungeness crab and floating…
Cork’s sole 2021 All-Star nominee likely to miss rest of season
SEAN MEEHAN LOOKS set to miss the rest of Cork’s season as he undergoes surgery to repair a hamstring injury. The talented defender, who was the only Cork player nominated for an All-Star in 2021, will fly to the UK today ahead of the operation, according to county board chairman Marc Sheehan. “Sean Meehan, our…
Big wins for Louth and Laois in Division 3, as promotion race from basement heats up
National Football League results Division 3 Wicklow 0-8 Laois 1-17 Fermanagh 0-14 Louth 2-12 Division 4 Sligo 3-19 London 0-10 Carlow 1-10 Leitrim 2-14 Cavan 1-7 Tipperary 1-11 Wexford 0-15 Waterford 0-14 Advertisement ********** IT WAS A mixed afternoon for the promotion-chasers in Division Four of the National Football Leagues. They all came head-to-head as…