The remnants of Hurricane Ida reached the New York City area on Wednesday, battering the region with record rainfall that flooded streets, subways, and basements. New York and New Jersey declared states of emergency, and officials in the Northeast had reported more than two dozen deaths as of Thursday afternoon. Ida, which made landfall in Louisiana on Sunday, tied for the fifth-strongest hurricane in US history and has been blamed for deaths across seven states. The toll is likely to rise as surveys of the damage continue. Ida is one of a slew of summer disasters — among them deadly heat waves and catastrophic fires — reminding Americans that the…

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 in modern human history — it’s as though the emissions output of the entire European Union had suddenly disappeared. It led many to wonder if the Covid-19 crisis would at least give us a little extra time to avert climate emergency. More than a year after Covid-19 abruptly changed everyone’s routines, the United States is…

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 and other families with members who endure mild cognitive impairment that may progress to Alzheimer’s have been waiting decades for an effective treatment. For them, even a few more months of life with improved cognition, one more birthday party or a grandchild’s graduation, is the priority. But the evidence on whether Biogen’s treatment, called aducanumab,…

Click:Journal DIY Set 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 Covid-19 vaccines because it uses a technology that has not been deployed to date. It can also be stored at ordinary refrigerator temperatures, unlike some other vaccines that have strict freezer requirements that complicate distribution. Novavax said its vaccine candidate was 90 percent effective overall against Covid-19 cases that produce symptoms, and…

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 the National Interagency Fire Center. In Arizona, more than 208,000 acres have burned, sending smoke into Colorado. The 123,000-acre Telegraph Fire is now in Arizona’s top 10 largest fires in history. In Utah, blazes have charred more than 25,000 acres, with a new fire ignited every day for three weeks. California has seen a fourfold…

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 identified as BCG, charged the World Health Organization $11.72 million since the start of the pandemic for contracts that were dubiously awarded, according to the audit. These revelations, which one expert called “disturbing” in an interview with Vox, came after a Vox investigation showed how management consulting firms such as BCG and McKinsey have become…

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 transforming rich leaf litter into coarse droppings. All while laying nearly 20 hardy worm cocoons a month, without needing a mate. Variously known as jumping worms, snake worms, Alabama jumpers, and Jersey wrigglers, common Amynthas species are a super-powered version of the more familiar, squishy languidness of the garden-variety European earthworms (whose genus name, Lumbricus,…

Picture this: You’ve worked hard all year. You’re burned out. Every atom in your brain and body is crying out for a relaxing vacation. Luckily, you and your partner have managed to save up $3,000. You propose a trip to Hawaii — those blue waves are calling your name! Just one problem: Your partner refuses, arguing that you both should donate the money to charity instead. Think how many malaria-preventing bednets $3,000 could buy for kids in developing countries! You might find yourself thinking: Why does my partner seem to care more about strangers halfway around the world than about me? A philosopher would tell you that your partner may…

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 joint-captain, is off to London for his surgery on his hamstring on Tuesday,” he said.  “We wish him well on that. He’s facing (lengthy) rehabilitation certainly after that.” It generally takes athletes at least three to six months before returning to the field following hamstring surgery so, depending on the severity of the injury, Meehan…

Click:discount geomembrane liner manufacturer 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 Click Here: laois gaa jerseys 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 the top of the table tightens, and the basement battle heats up. Cavan’s 100% record came to an end after a four-point defeat to Tipperary in Kingspan Breffni Park, though they remain at the summit. Both sides won provincial titles on a dramatic November day in…