Rachel Feltman: Happy Monday, listeners. For American scientist‘s Science quicklyI am Rachel Feltman. Launch of the week by catching up with some of the latest scientists.
(CLIP: “None of my things”, by Arthur Benson))
Feltman: First of all, we have a quick update of one of our Sciam correspondents. On January 20, President Donald Trump signed a decree indicating his intention to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization, or who. Here to unpack this for us, Tanya Lewis, a chief editor covering health and medicine to American scientist.
On the support of scientific journalism
If you appreciate this article, plan to support our award -winning journalism by subscription. By buying a subscription, you help to ensure the future of striking stories about discoveries and ideas that shape our world today.
Tanya Lewis: The World Health Organization is a United Nations agency. It was founded in 1948 and has nearly 200 member states. It has a fairly wide range, work to expand access to health care worldwide to the response to epidemics of disease and pandemics.
Trump therefore published an executive decree which indicated that he intended to withdraw from the WHO, but the complete process actually takes a year. He tried to do it during his last mandate, but Biden reversed him before he took effect.
Trump said he is withdrawing because he thinks that the organization has poorly managed the cocovio pandemic and because he thinks that the United States pays an unjust part of the agency’s financing. It is true that we pay the most of all member countries, but most of our contributions are in fact voluntary and assigned to specific projects.
(CLIP: “The Farmhouse”, by Maple Silver))
Lewis: The one who is certainly not perfect. He made notable mistakes during the pandemic. For example, the agency initially rejected the possibility that the virus is in the air, and it was very slow to correct this idea, but it has always played an important role in the communication of information to countries and helping them to access vaccines and treatments for disease.
WHO has a very wide discount, which undoubtedly makes it more difficult to achieve a single objective, and ultimately, it really does not have the power to enforce the rules on its Member States.
Being part of which means that the United States gets a seat at the table for how the rest of the world treats the main health challenges, and experts have told me that if we leave, it will create a void that China will likely fill . WHO also shares important data and information with its member states, such as the SARS-COV-2 genetic sequence, the virus that causes COVID. Our CDCs and other health agencies can fill some of these shortcomings, but the American withdrawal will certainly have a great impact on WHO and other countries. A clear global communication will be particularly important if we face a pandemic of bird flu, which constitutes a growing threat here in the United States
Many WHO member states are low or intermediate income countries that depend on the public health expertise of American scientists because they do not have a solid CDC. These countries may have much more difficulty fighting against disease epidemics or improving access to health care. And even if it seems that the which gets much more from the United States than the reverse, it is really important to be one of these wider conversations around global public health threats, because if there is one thing that We have learned of the cocovated pandemic, it is that viruses and diseases do not respect borders, and if we do not know what threats there are in the world, we will not be able to protect the Americans at home.
Feltman: Thank you for this explanator, Tanya. The listeners, we keep an eye on this described and other decrees linked to science and health as we go forward.
Now forget things on earth for a minute by checking some space news.
(CLIP: “Handwritten writing”, by Frank Jonsson))
Feltman: Last Tuesday, scientists Publication in the journal Astronomy and astrophysics has described an exoplanet with wind speeds that shame those found in our own solar system. WASP-127B, which is around 520 light years, To supersonic winds from jettream Unlike everything we have seen before. At the equator of the planet, the winds move to around 20,100 miles per hour. Although some other exoplanets have been found with faster atmospheric wind speeds, it is the fastest jet flow found around an entire planet, according to Reuters. For the context Our own planet Jet Streams Can sometimes do it more than 275 miles per hour. And the fastest winds in Neptune, which are largely considered to have the strongest winds in our solar system, can exceed 1,100 miles per hour.
WASP-127B is a type of gas giant known as “hot Jupiter”, which, among other things, means that it is quite close to its host star. The windy world is around a third larger than Jupiter, but only has 16% of the mass, so it’s quite soft. He also has a side facing his sun in broad daylight. In fact, one of the study authors told Reuters that this fierce influence provides the main energy source for these intense winds.
Back on earth, we have a disturbing update of the bird flu. January 17th The US Food and Drug Administration has announced New policies and regulations for pet manufacturers in response to more than a dozen deaths or diseases in domestic cats. According to the agency, cases of H5N1 in domestic and wild cats have been connected to raw food products in Colorado, Washington, Oregon and California. According to the CDC and the American Veterinary Medical Association, the food for cooked and pasteurized pets are the safest options, in particular given the influenza epidemic in progress. But the FDA now requires manufacturers of food and dog food that uses raw poultry or beef products to develop and implement food security plans that take into account the H5N1.
(CLIP: “It does not end here (instrumental)”, by Néhemia Pratt))
Feltman: For some pets, an infection of the bird flu can have serious consequences. While dogs generally only seem to suffer from a light disease when it is infected with H5N1, Cats can feel convulsions and blindness. Now there is currently no evidence that Cats can transmit bird flu to humansBut although the risk of such a jump is extremely low, it is not zero, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. Of course, you are much more at risk if you participate in raw dairy products and unpasteurized products yourself. But if you are afraid to change your purchasing habits, whether for you or for your pets, the good news is that there is no evidence that Raw Dairy offers human health benefits – from the Less that you would also not get drinking pasteurized Dairy consumption – and the World Small Animal Veterinary Association said it’s true for raw meat and dairy products for cats.
In other health news, two new studies offer advice on treating surgery and serious illnesses. An article published Tuesday in the British Journal of Sports Medicine concentrated on the way the physical form can improve results during cancer treatment. The article, which examined 42 previous studies involving nearly 47,000 patients, I found this muscle strength was associated with a significantly lower risk of death, and the high cardiorepiratory form had a similar link. Researchers say that it is possible that tailor -made strength training and other training programs can promote better results for cancer patients.
(CLIP: “These rainy days”, by Lake Elm))
Feltman: Another Study published last Wednesday in the Bmj Explored the importance of prehabilitation, alias Prehab. You are probably already familiar with the idea of rehabilitation – the type of physiotherapy and support that you could get after particular types of surgery. Prehab allows people to access nutritional support, exercise advice, cognitive training and other potentially useful services Before planned surgery.
According to the new study, which examined data of more than 186 clinical trials involving a total of more than 15,000 patients, there is coherent evidence that prehab improves surgical results. Researchers say that the effects of prehabs based on exercise are particularly important. And although researchers called for a more in -depth survey on exactly which types of prehab are the most effective and why, the main author of the study noted in a press release only if you prepare to undergo surgery , it’s always a good idea to ask your doctor of Prehab Options.
Okay, let’s finish on a fun note. You have heard of contagious laughter and probably contagious yawning. But what about contagious pee?
In a Study published last week Current biologyResearchers from the University of Kyoto in Japan have described an unusual social phenomenon in captive chimpanzees. After spending more than 600 hours observing animals, researchers concluded that chimpanzees are still as slightly more likely to pee after seeing other chimpanzees do it. The effect was amplified if the chimpanzees were physically closer to each other.
(Clip: Themed music)
Feltman: The researchers also noticed that the social position of a chimpanzee seemed to have an impact on their status as an influencer of urine: the chimpanzees at low row were more likely to copy the behavior of the bathroom of the high -ranking chimpanzees. And to that, I say: “Gee Whiz!” Sorry.
This is all for this week’s news. We will be back on Wednesday to talk about the science of the sun. And Friday, we will discuss with a human behavior expert on the reason why being cynical may not be as protective as you think.
Science quickly is produced by me, Rachel Feltman, with Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff Delviscio. Shayna has and Aaron Shattuck checks our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Subscribe to American scientist For new scientists up to date and in -depth.
For American scientistHere is Rachel Feltman. Spend a good week!