- Email: [email protected]
60 Seconds
For new stories every day, visit newscientist.com/news
IT’S another ominous milestone. In July, the world’s surface was the hottest it has been since records began, according to NASA. That means it is probably at its hottest since the last interglacial period 125,000 years ago.
Chris Hondros/Getty Images
Never been this hot
60 Seconds
Feverish fight Central Africa’s yellow fever outbreak has claimed nearly 500 lives, with thousands more suspected cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola. A campaign to vaccinate half a million people in the Congolese capital of Kinshasa began this week, using a diluted dose to make vaccine stocks go further.
“A warmer planet means more extreme weather events, and that’s exactly what we are seeing”
Hackers peddle wares
Alan Williams/Naturepl.com
This record for the hottest month will not last long: as the planet continues warming, it will get smashed again and again. And average annual temperatures are Polio returns soaring too, with 2016 expected JUST as Africa was due to celebrate to be the hottest year on record two polio-free years, comes the at around 1.2 °C above the average announcement that the virus pre-industrial temperature. has paralysed two children This means we are well on course in Nigeria’s Borno state. The to breach the warming limit, continent had been on track to agreed at last year’s UN climate be declared officially polio free conference in Paris, by 2036. in just one year’s time. A warmer planet means more “The overriding priority now is extreme weather events, and to rapidly immunise all children that’s exactly what we are seeing. around the affected area and For instance, the temperature in ensure no other children succumb,” Mitribah, Kuwait, reached 54 °C said Matshidiso Moeti, the World on 21 July. That’s the hottest temperature reliably recorded outside of Death Valley, California. “This is a reminder that the world cannot afford to be Extreme rainfall events like complacent while we are the one that caused extensive on the brink of eradication” flooding in Louisiana in the past week will also become ever Health Organization’s regional more common, as a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture. director for Africa. Nigeria previously had a large incidence of polio. In 2012, the country accounted for more than half of all cases globally. But an immunisation campaign meant it was able to celebrate two years without a new case in July. “This is an important reminder that the world cannot afford to be complacent, as we are on the brink of polio eradication,” said Michel Zaffron, director of the WHO’s polio eradication programme. “We are confident that with a swift response and strong collaboration with the Nigerian –Tasty, but tainted– government, we can soon rid the
–Viral protection–
country of polio once and for all.” Only 21 wild polio cases have been reported around the world so far this year, compared with 34 at the same point in 2015. The WHO has been predicting that the virus will be eradicated by 2019. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only other countries still reporting cases of polio. Here the Taliban has opposed vaccination.
Toxic taps LEAD is leaching into Australia’s drinking water, with brass taps the likely culprit. Lead, which is often added to brass, is a neurotoxin that is particularly harmful to children. Exposure has been linked to falls in IQ and attention span. A study detected lead in 56 per cent of samples from kitchen taps in 212 homes in New South Wales. Eight per cent of the samples exceeded the national limit of 10 micrograms of lead per litre. A handful had almost 90 micrograms per litre, comparable to levels during the recent crisis in Flint, Michigan, after distribution pipes began to corrode. The researchers have still to test whether the levels correlate with health problems, but co-author Paul Harvey at Macquarie University in Sydney believes they could be harmful (Environmental Research, doi.org/bn7s).
Hacker group Shadow Brokers are auctioning what they say are stolen surveillance software tools developed by a team linked to the US National Security Agency, although some security experts say it could be a hoax. Samples of the tools released so far are relatively old, but could potentially get around common types of firewall.
Timely infections Check the clock. A study of circadian rhythms shows that mice are more susceptible to viral infection at the end of their waking period, or when their body clocks are disrupted (PNAS, doi.org/bn7n). This could mean that shift workers are more susceptible to viral diseases, says team member Rachel Edgar at the University of Cambridge.
Space crew downsized It could get a bit lonely up there. Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, may lower its crew complement on the International Space Station from three to two, leaving the ISS with five astronauts. Russia may also cut down on cargo flights to the ISS to reduce costs.
Charitable by nature How giving you are could be down to your brain, according to scans that picked out a region in the cerebral cortex. People who are more empathetic show more activity in this “generosity centre”, and were faster at learning how to reward others when playing a computer game (PNAS, doi.org/bn7p).
20 August 2016 | NewScientist | 7
IT’S another ominous milestone. In July, the world’s surface was the hottest it has been since records began, according to NASA. That means it is probably at its hottest since the last interglacial period 125,000 years ago.
Chris Hondros/Getty Images
Never been this hot
60 Seconds
Feverish fight Central Africa’s yellow fever outbreak has claimed nearly 500 lives, with thousands more suspected cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola. A campaign to vaccinate half a million people in the Congolese capital of Kinshasa began this week, using a diluted dose to make vaccine stocks go further.
“A warmer planet means more extreme weather events, and that’s exactly what we are seeing”
Hackers peddle wares
Alan Williams/Naturepl.com
This record for the hottest month will not last long: as the planet continues warming, it will get smashed again and again. And average annual temperatures are Polio returns soaring too, with 2016 expected JUST as Africa was due to celebrate to be the hottest year on record two polio-free years, comes the at around 1.2 °C above the average announcement that the virus pre-industrial temperature. has paralysed two children This means we are well on course in Nigeria’s Borno state. The to breach the warming limit, continent had been on track to agreed at last year’s UN climate be declared officially polio free conference in Paris, by 2036. in just one year’s time. A warmer planet means more “The overriding priority now is extreme weather events, and to rapidly immunise all children that’s exactly what we are seeing. around the affected area and For instance, the temperature in ensure no other children succumb,” Mitribah, Kuwait, reached 54 °C said Matshidiso Moeti, the World on 21 July. That’s the hottest temperature reliably recorded outside of Death Valley, California. “This is a reminder that the world cannot afford to be Extreme rainfall events like complacent while we are the one that caused extensive on the brink of eradication” flooding in Louisiana in the past week will also become ever Health Organization’s regional more common, as a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture. director for Africa. Nigeria previously had a large incidence of polio. In 2012, the country accounted for more than half of all cases globally. But an immunisation campaign meant it was able to celebrate two years without a new case in July. “This is an important reminder that the world cannot afford to be complacent, as we are on the brink of polio eradication,” said Michel Zaffron, director of the WHO’s polio eradication programme. “We are confident that with a swift response and strong collaboration with the Nigerian –Tasty, but tainted– government, we can soon rid the
–Viral protection–
country of polio once and for all.” Only 21 wild polio cases have been reported around the world so far this year, compared with 34 at the same point in 2015. The WHO has been predicting that the virus will be eradicated by 2019. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only other countries still reporting cases of polio. Here the Taliban has opposed vaccination.
Toxic taps LEAD is leaching into Australia’s drinking water, with brass taps the likely culprit. Lead, which is often added to brass, is a neurotoxin that is particularly harmful to children. Exposure has been linked to falls in IQ and attention span. A study detected lead in 56 per cent of samples from kitchen taps in 212 homes in New South Wales. Eight per cent of the samples exceeded the national limit of 10 micrograms of lead per litre. A handful had almost 90 micrograms per litre, comparable to levels during the recent crisis in Flint, Michigan, after distribution pipes began to corrode. The researchers have still to test whether the levels correlate with health problems, but co-author Paul Harvey at Macquarie University in Sydney believes they could be harmful (Environmental Research, doi.org/bn7s).
Hacker group Shadow Brokers are auctioning what they say are stolen surveillance software tools developed by a team linked to the US National Security Agency, although some security experts say it could be a hoax. Samples of the tools released so far are relatively old, but could potentially get around common types of firewall.
Timely infections Check the clock. A study of circadian rhythms shows that mice are more susceptible to viral infection at the end of their waking period, or when their body clocks are disrupted (PNAS, doi.org/bn7n). This could mean that shift workers are more susceptible to viral diseases, says team member Rachel Edgar at the University of Cambridge.
Space crew downsized It could get a bit lonely up there. Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, may lower its crew complement on the International Space Station from three to two, leaving the ISS with five astronauts. Russia may also cut down on cargo flights to the ISS to reduce costs.
Charitable by nature How giving you are could be down to your brain, according to scans that picked out a region in the cerebral cortex. People who are more empathetic show more activity in this “generosity centre”, and were faster at learning how to reward others when playing a computer game (PNAS, doi.org/bn7p).
20 August 2016 | NewScientist | 7