Degrees of Separation
When Earth experienced
one of its most intense solar
storms, inundations of solar
radiation that can affect
things like power grids and
navigation systems. Experts found traces of the storm,
which was 10 times stronger than any recorded by
scientific instruments, locked in ice cores and tree rings.Roughly
how much
narrower than
a human hair
researchers
think fossilized dark matter impressions would be. In a
recent paper, experts suggest dark matter — the elusive
stuff that makes up most of the universe — could have left
minuscule traces in ancient rocks, similar to how nuclear
fission events can create tiny tunnels through the rocks’
microstructure. Only now do we have the technology to
spot such infinitesimal imprints, the authors say.How long ago, at minimum,
researchers think the first
flowers bloomed. Experts
at the Nanjing Institute of
Geology and Paleontology
of the Chinese Academy of Sciences picked apart 264
fossil specimens of Nanjinganthus dendrostyla, dating the
ancient flower to the Early Jurassic.How many species of arthropods —
invertebrates like beetles, flies, ants and
spiders — left DNA traces on wildflowers,
in a sample analyzed in research in Ecology
and Evolution. Using wildflowers this way
could give researchers a shortcut for studying the diversity
of insects and other arthropods in a given area in the future.How many genomes
researchers analyzed
of people with the
degenerative joint disease
osteoarthritis, according
to results published in Nature Genetics. By comparing
these genomes with those of roughly 378,000 people
without osteoarthritis, the team revealed 52 new genetic
changes linked to the disabling disease.How far in advance experts can detect
damage from Alzheimer’s disease before
symptoms appear, thanks to a new
blood test developed at the Washington
University School of Medicine. The
researchers found that as neurons deteriorate in the brain,
certain proteins reach the bloodstream. The new test
might play a key role in identifying drugs that can slow
or stop the disease.100,000x
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TRENDING
In the United States, a trip to the doctor can break the bank. But
in the last few years, Americans have seen attempts to reform
policy and health care systems. Has anything changed? That’s
what researchers asked in a recent study published in the journal
Health Affairs. The team used data published by the Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to determine
how much the U.S. shells out per capita for health care compared
with other high-income countries. When they compared that
spending with overall economic growth, measured in gross
domestic product (GDP), and availability of care, things didn’t
look so good for Americans.
High Prices Still Ramp Up
Health Care Costs
Source: “It’s still the prices, stupid: Why the US spends so much on health care,
and a tribute to Uwe Reinhardt,” Health Affairs, 2019
- *Annual growth rates are adjusted for inflation.
16 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
Annual Per Capita Health Care Spending
Average Increase* Per Year, 2000 to 2015-
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Comparison of Health Care Services
$9,
U.S. $4,
Switzerland $7,
$3,
$4,
Canada $2,
Median across all $4,
OECD countries $1,
*35 members in 2016 and 30 in 2000
2016
2000
Health care 2.8%
spending 2.6%
Drug spending 3.8%
1.1%
0.9%
GDP 1.2%
U.S.
Median of OECD countries
(Per 1,000 people)
Doctors
Nurses
U.S.
OECD median
9
U.S.
9.
OECD median
Acute
Care
Hospital
Beds
2.
U.S.3.
OECD medianTHE CRUX