Health & Science – Page 14 – TheMinotVoice.com

Burgum declares statewide fire, drought emergency

by: Josh Wolsky | June 27, 2017

Governor Burgum declared a statewide drought emergency; the action allows the National Guard to be activated if necessary. “These conditions present a serious threat to the health and safety of local area citizens and their personal property,” Burgum said in a statement. “Significant manpower and equipment will be required for response and recovery operations.”

Read & Share sourced from: Bismarck Tribune

Scientific American Labels Precision Farming as a Technology to Watch

by: Josh Wolsky | June 26, 2017

We all gotta eat, the world’s population keeps on growing. And we don’t seem to be growing a lot of new land, so we’re going to have to feed the growing population with the food production areas already in use. And toward that end, precision farming is a concept that has a high ceiling. Companies

Read & Share sourced from: Scientific American

SD congresswoman’s family-based substance abuse treatment bill passes House

by: Josh Wolsky | June 26, 2017

Last week, the U.S. House unanimously passed the Supporting Families in Substance Abuse Treatment Act. The program allows foster care dollars to go towards keeping families together while parents in trouble because of drug abuse stay in a treatment center that can accommodate the whole family.

Read & Share sourced from: Grand Forks Herald

How Sweden is pushing toward the seemingly impossible goal of zero emissions

by: Josh Wolsky | June 26, 2017

Our distant Scandinavian relatives have built themselves some pretty sustainable energy infrastructure, just 5% of Sweden’s energy comes from fossil fuels. But they’ve set an even higher goal — be 100% sustainable by 2045. And the problems they have to solve in order to get there and the manner in which they’re attempting to solve

Read & Share sourced from: Quartz

Health Department warns of cyanotoxin in North Dakota waters, animal deaths reported

by: Josh Wolsky | June 24, 2017

The hotter-than-usual weather combined with little rain has sped up mother nature’s clock when it comes to creating ripe conditions for blue-green algae development. The blue-green algae release cyanotoxins into water sources that can be fatal if ingested. Several cattle deaths have already been reported. Kim Fundingsland with the Minot Daily News has the story.

Read & Share sourced from: Minot Daily News

Local angel fund from Dakotas gets farm-tech app

by: Josh Wolsky | June 24, 2017

A North Dakota farm technology company that’s developed an app that streamlines contracts between farmers and local elevators has gotten a financial boost from a South Dakota-based angel fund. Myrian\d Mobile the app developer out of Fargo; The Falls Angel Fund out of Sioux Falls liked Myriad’s prospects and chose to invest $1.35 million to

Read & Share sourced from: Bismarck Tribune

Africa is now the world’s testing ground for commercial drones

by: Josh Wolsky | June 24, 2017

North Dakota likes to think of itself as a leader in UAS investment. And in the U.S., we are. But on a global scale, strict U.S. regulations are dampening the industries ability to advance at the pace dictated by commercial demands and technical ability. In Africa, regulatory burdens aren’t a problem there we’re seeing drones

Read & Share sourced from: Quartz

CHART: Who Wins, Who Loses With Senate Health Care Bill

by: Josh Wolsky | June 23, 2017

If you’re confused by who to trust with regards to the news about the Republican-drafted revision Obamacare, Gisele Grayson with NPR put together a simple chart that outlines the proposed legislation’s impacts. It’s pretty straight forward information from a news source that I still trust operates with healthy dose of professional and journalistic integrity.

Read & Share sourced from: NPR

Watch the Human Brain Come to Life in This Stunning Piece of Art

by: Josh Wolsky | June 22, 2017

Our understanding of how the human brain connects, stores, and processes information is really just beginning, but there’s new data that suggests the way our neurons connect has a few more dimensions than we might have imagined. That’s a lot to wrap your head around, I know. So, perhaps, it may be easier just to

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North Dakota to Join Group of 13 States Threatening to Sue California Over Coal Divestment Initiative

by: Josh Wolsky | June 22, 2017

Politics, policy, and activism all go hand in hand, and sometimes the best way to advance an agenda is through the back door. At least, that’s the what North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem suspects with regard to recently introduced policy by California’s Insurance Commissioner that would force insurance companies to disclose investments in fossil

Read & Share sourced from: Say Anything Blog.com

Congress Working on National Self-Driving Car Regulations

by: Josh Wolsky | June 21, 2017

The U.S. Congress has finally acknowledged that self-driving cars are coming whether we’re afraid of them or not. And if that’s the case, then we should probably have a few laws and regulations that govern the who, how, and when they’re operated. And as lawmakers are quickly finding out, self-driving cars not only a new

Read & Share sourced from: WIRED

Google is positioning its new job-search product as an effort to save America

by: Josh Wolsky | June 21, 2017

Disruption in the job market, as well as a general shortage of workers, has led Google to step into problem solving mode for America. Google strength is information gathering and aggregating, and they’re hoping to leverage those abilities into creating an aggregate job board that better connects workers and companies. Quartz has the story.

Read & Share sourced from: Quartz

Opioid epidemic is swamping U.S. hospitals with 1.3M ER trips, hospitalizations

by: Josh Wolsky | June 21, 2017

The opioid drug crisis is one of those issues that might not hit home unless you have a personal experience with a family member or friend, but the trickle-down impacts of the problem are effecting all of us in less obvious ways. And one area where the crisis is putting pressure on our systems is

Read & Share sourced from: The Washington Post

Are You a Magnet for Mosquitoes?

by: Josh Wolsky | June 20, 2017

When it comes to mosquitoes, we either know the person or we assume we are the person that gets bit more often than everyone else. It’s a phenomenon that we know little about — at least scientifically, but one research study is setting out to change that using a hundred sets of twins and a

Read & Share sourced from: Scientific American

New Sniff Tech Could Protect Cops From Synthetic Opioids

by: Josh Wolsky | June 20, 2017

A less-considered consequence of stronger drugs like fentanyl on the streets is increased likelihood of accidental ingestion by law enforcement officers. And there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest this is a problem. Eric Niiler with WIRED has the story on new technology that’s helping police identify drugs and protecting officers at the same time.

Read & Share sourced from: WIRED

Ohio Opioid Addiction Lawsuit Targets Pharmaceutical Companies

by: Josh Wolsky | June 1, 2017

The state of Ohio is suing five pharmaceutical companies for what the state contends is their direct role in fueling the opioid epidemic that’s sweeping the country. The quote from Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine that tells the story of how the state intends to direct the case… Defendants persuaded doctors and patients that what

Read & Share sourced from: NPR