What the scientists are saying…

The beads that beat Columbus

We know how Christopher Columbus reached the Americas, in 1492. What is less clear is how beads from his native Italy got there at least 12 years before him. Radiocarbon dating of organic samples attached to Venetian glass beads found in Alaska has shown that European goods were being traded in the Americas from as early as 1440. The blue “trade” beads were excavated at Punyik Point, a known seasonal site for Inuit peoples, and dated to between 1440 and 1480. As it is unlikely they came across the Atlantic, the suggestion is that the beads, having originated in a workshop in Venice, were transported along the Silk Road to China – and then eastwards through Siberia to the Bering Strait, the channel that separates Russia from Alaska. This, say the archaeologists, makes them “the first documented instance of the presence of indubitable European materials in prehistoric sites in the Western Hemisphere as the result of overland transport across the Eurasian continent.” However, it is now widely acknowledged that the Vikings reached the Americas in the 1000s – half a millennium before Columbus.

The deadly effect of pollution

Pollution from fossil fuels is killing twice as many people as previously estimated. Researchers at Harvard and University College London calculated that, in 2012, fine particulate matter was a contributory factor in the death of 99,000 people in the UK; in 2016, the Royal College of Physicians put the number of deaths from outdoor pollution at 40,000. Worldwide, well over eight million people die each year as a result of breathing air that is polluted by particles from fossil fuels, the study found. China, India, the eastern US and

Fossil fuel pollution is contributing to deaths

Europe were the worst affected areas. According to the data, 30.7% of deaths in Eastern Asia (which included China), 16.8% of those in Europe and 13.1% of those in the US can be attributed to fossil fuel pollution. “We were initially very hesitant when we obtained the results because they are astounding, but we are discovering more and more about the impact of this pollution,” said Dr Eloise Marais, a study co-author. “It’s pervasive. The more we look for impacts, the more we find.” The research was based on detailed mapping of PM2.5 levels in different areas, and extensive data on the impact of such pollution.

Covid patients suffer from PTSD

A third of Covid-19 patients who require ventilation are later diagnosed with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder – and so are many patients who experience milder symptoms, according to a study published in the journal BJPsych Open. The research was based on 13,000 people in the UK, who had either tested positive for Covid or had symptoms of it. Some 30% had experienced breathing problems. Around a quarter had not required medical help; 1.3% had had assistance at home; 1.1% had been admitted to hospital, but had not been put on a ventilator; and 0.5% had been put on a ventilator. The researchers found that 35% of the ventilator patients later had symptoms of PTSD, along with 18% of those who were admitted but not ventilated, 16% of those who had help at home, and 11% of those who’d required no help. Overall, 41% of all patients experienced at least one PTSD symptom to an extremely high degree, with flashbacks being the most common one.

The biggest Covid risk factors

A history of pneumonia is a major risk factor for death from Covid-19, according to a new study. Researchers at Harvard University used electronic health records belonging to 17,000 people in America who’d tested positive for the virus in 2020 to create models that would predict the most severe outcomes. They found that although age was “by far the most important feature for predicting Covid-19 mortality”, a prior case of pneumonia came second. However, they stressed that a person who has had a single case of pneumonia may not be at high risk; it’s likely that the pneumonia is an indicator of an underlying chronic disease – such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – that has gone undiagnosed, they said. In a separate study, researchers found that Covid patients are three times more likely to end up in intensive care if they suffer from periodontitis, a form of gum disease which can cause inflammation.