Flood threats from moon wobble

Changes in the moon’s orbit could lead to record flooding on Earth, a new study by NASA and the University of Hawaii has warned. The so-called wobble in the moon’s orbit is entirely natural and plays out over an 18.6-year cycle, reports CBSNews. com. Half of that cycle creates lower high tides and higher low tides, the other causes higher high tides and lower low tides. Normally these wobbles aren’t an issue.

But with sea levels rising because of climate change, researchers believe the next wave of high-tide floods will be more intense and frequent. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported 600 of these floods in the U.S. in 2019; during the next wobble, in the mid-2030s, NOAA expects three to four times that number. The entire coastline of the U.S. mainland, along with Hawaii and Guam, will be affected. During certain alignments of the moon, Earth, and sun, floods could happen every day. “Lowlying areas near sea level are increasingly at risk and suffering due to the increased flooding,” says NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, “and it will only get worse.”

.com. Up to 20 percent of Covid survivors are thought to suffer from long Covid, which can cause fatigue, breathlessness, headaches, and muscle pains. Researchers from Imperial College London examined blood samples from dozens of people and found that so-called autoantibodies were common in long Covid patients but not present in people who had recovered quickly from the disease or had never tested positive for the virus. Unlike regular antibodies that help fight off infections, autoantibodies mistakenly target a person’s own tissues and organs. These rogue antibodies have been linked with autoimmune conditions such as Graves’ disease and arthritis, and could be a cause of long Covid. Lead researcher Danny Altmann says that while the study is at an early stage, the findings are a “very exciting advancement.” He hopes that a long Covid blood test will be developed within six to 18 months.