Bats that normally migrate more than 1500 kilometres in the winter are staying closer to home as the world warms, with young males being the first to make the change Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2255030-young-bats-accept-reality-of-climate-change-before-older-generations/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Tag: Bats
Disease-carrying animals thrive on our farmed land and in our cities
Farming and other human activities are changing the world in a way that favours animals carrying more diseases, including bats – the source of the new coronavirus Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2250927-disease-carrying-animals-thrive-on-our-farmed-land-and-in-our-cities/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Why the Pandemic Is So Bad in America
A virus has brought the world’s most powerful country to its knees. From a report: A pandemic can be prevented in two ways: Stop an infection from ever arising, or stop an infection from becoming thousands more. The first way is likely impossible. There are simply too many viruses and too many animals that harbor them. Bats alone could host thousands…
Ancestors of coronavirus have been hiding out in bats for decades, ready to infect humans
The SARS-CoV-2 lineage circulated in bats for 50 or 60 years before jumping to humans at the end of last year, a new study finds. Source: https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-circulating-bats-decades.html
Interview with the Science Writer Who Predicted the Pandemic 8 Years Ago
In 1945, after atomic bomb detonations at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, several former Manhattan Project scientists founded the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Publishing continuously since 1945, its current deputy editor, science writer DanDrollette, is also a Slashdot reader, and shared one of the nonprofit magazine’s thought-provoking new interviews:
In 2012, author David Quammen wrote a book, Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next…
Why bats don’t get sick from the viruses they carry, but humans can
Bats carry a lot of viruses, some of which make people sick. So why don’t bats get sick from these pathogens? Source: https://www.livescience.com/why-bats-not-sick-from-viruses-carried.html
Seven new coronaviruses have been found lurking in bats in Africa
By testing bats in Gabon, researchers found seven coronaviruses that are new to science, but we don’t yet know if they could jump to people and cause illness Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2243749-seven-new-coronaviruses-have-been-found-lurking-in-bats-in-africa/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
President Trump Just De-Funded a Research Nonprofit Studying Virus Transmissions
Charlotte Web writes: The U.S.-based research non-profit Ecohealth Alliance has spent 20 years investigating the origins of infectious diseases like Covid-19 in over 25 countries, “to do scientific research critical to preventing pandemics.” America just cut it’s funding. Trump’s reason? “Unfounded rumors” and “conspiracy theories…without evidence,” according to reports in Politico and Business Insider. The group had received a total of…
US Probes University of Texas Links To Chinese Lab Scrutinized Over Coronavirus
The Education Department has asked the University of Texas System to provide documentation of its dealings with the Chinese laboratory that U.S. officials are investigating as a potential source of the coronavirus pandemic. From a report: The request for records of gifts or contracts from the Wuhan Institute of Virology and its researcher Shi Zhengli, known for her work on bats,…
Vampire bats practice social distancing when they feel ill
Vampire bats are social creatures that build relationships through grooming and food sharing, but when they feel ill they self-isolate and call out for contact far less Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2242385-vampire-bats-practice-social-distancing-when-they-feel-ill/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…