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17 August 2020
International Observe the Moon Night: An Opportunity for Global Outreach
International Observe the Moon Night is an annual worldwide public engagement program that encourages observation, appreciation, and understanding of our Moon and its connection to planetary science and exploration. It is also a time to celebrate our personal and cultural connections to Earth’s nearest celestial neighbor.
24 July 2020
Zoonotic Diseases: Plugging the Source Before the Flood
A whopping seventy-five percent of emerging diseases have been said to be zoonotic, meaning that such diseases can spread from wildlife to humans, an example being our current pandemic consisting of Covid-19 a bat-to-human infection.
22 July 2020
The Four Corners Outbreak of 1993
In May, 1993 a 19-year old man suddenly developed shortness of breath while driving through the Four Corners region in New Mexico. He had complained of fever and muscle pain a few days before, but generally was in good health. By the time he pulled over and paramedics arrived, he had gone into respiratory failure and later died from an acute pulmonary edema in the emergency department of Gallup Indian Medical Center.
21 July 2020
Debunked Myths about the Bubonic Plague
The Black Death, believed to have been caused by infection with the bacterium Yersinia pestis, killed about 100 million people worldwide in the fourteenth century. However, there is still much that is unknown about this deadly disease, also known as the bubonic plague, and there are still myths about it that continue to be spread. Even though it wiped out a decent portion of Europe all those years ago, if someone were to contract the disease today it no longer means death thanks to modern medicine.
17 July 2020
Research Suggests Leprosy to be a Zoonosis, The Reservoir: Armadillos
Leprosy, renamed Hansen’s Disease, is a chronic condition caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae (M. leprae). The disease primarily targets the skin and peripheral nerves, however new forms of the bacteria have also been found to affect other areas such as the eyes, testicles, and bones. An individual, once infected, typically shows an incubation period of three to seven years.
15 July 2020
Tongue worms, they’re not just for reptiles…..humans too!
Tongue worm disease caused by the parasite Linguatula serrata is a blood sucking parasite that belongs to the group Pentastomida. This species generally inhabits the upper respiratory tract of terrestrial, carnivorous vertebrates. It is mainly found in reptiles and bird species.
14 July 2020
Winston Churchill and the Spanish Flu
Winston Churchill is notable one of the most influential people to ever live being recognized for many public policies that he had implemented in England during his time serving in parliament. What is not talked about to a great detail is how he attempted to establish many policies dealing with certain wildlife diseases such as the Spanish flu.
13 July 2020
A Troubling Site: Mass Death of Botswanan Elephant Population
Since early March, there has been mass death among the elephant population in Botswana. The cause? We don’t know. The Botswanan government has ruled out three causes: poison, poaching, and anthrax. Yet, there has been significant question in the government’s handling of elephant mortality.
3 July 2020
15 feet Tall and Threatened!
Wild giraffes across Africa are suffering from multiple skin disorders. The Rothschild’s giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschild) population is shrinking at an alarming rate in Kenya and Uganda. Located in Uganda, Murchison Falls National Park (MFNP) did a survey in 2016 that discovered that one third of their giraffes had rash-like lesions of unknown origin.
29 May 2020
#AGURocks: Cover of the Science Mag
Ever since Nick Shackleton first showed his clarinette skills on one of the first ICP conferences (most likely on the ICP3 in Cambridge) it has become a habit to have a Paleomusicology concert the night before the conference ends. It used to be quite classical but it has become more casual during the last years.
The Plainspoken Scientist is the science communication blog of AGU’s Sharing Science program. With this blog, we wish to encourage scientists to reach out to non-scientists and to do so with plainspoken discussion.
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