- US and Philippine forces sink a ship during largescale drills in the disputed South China Sea The Associated Press
- VIDEO: Marine ACVs Make Operational Premiere in Balikatan 2024 Exercise – USNI News USNI News
- US AC-130J Ghostrider Destroys Chinese ‘Fishing Boat’ In Rare Military Drills Targeting Notorious Vessels EurAsian Times
- Philippine, US, Australian forces show off combined fires capabilities, destroy ship in Balikatan training event DVIDS
- US-Philippines Balikatan drills simulate conflicts over Taiwan, South China Sea South China Morning Post
Tag Archives: Sink
Will ‘Aquaman 2’ Sink or Swim at the Christmas Box Office? – Variety
- Will ‘Aquaman 2’ Sink or Swim at the Christmas Box Office? Variety
- ‘Aquaman 2’ The Big Fish In Warner Bros Christmas Troika With ‘Wonka’ & ‘Color Purple’, But Holiday Box Office Not Looking Bright – Preview Deadline
- ‘Aquaman’ enters rough waters. Why superhero movies have had a no-good, very bad year CNN
- With Aquaman sequel’s release, one DC movie era ends and another begins CNBC
- Aquaman 2’s Opening Weekend Box Office Tracking Lower Than The Marvels Superherohype.com
‘I just want to say thanks’ – Gasly pays tribute to departing Alpine bosses as he lets news ‘sink in’ – Formula 1
- ‘I just want to say thanks’ – Gasly pays tribute to departing Alpine bosses as he lets news ‘sink in’ Formula 1
- Abiteboul: Alpine F1’s 100-race plan flawed amid Szafnauer exit Motorsport.com
- Formula 1: Otmar Szafnauer’s departure exposes Alpine’s biggest problem Beyond the Flag
- Szafnauer spotted in Aston Martin hospitality, will a return happen? GPblog
- “I was quite surprised”: Sergio Perez feels former boss Otmar Szafnauer ‘lacked time’ to fulfill his potential at Alpine F1 Sportskeeda
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Survivors Allege Greek Coast Guard Caused Migrant Boat to Sink – The Daily Beast
- Survivors Allege Greek Coast Guard Caused Migrant Boat to Sink The Daily Beast
- Survivors describe chaos and desperation aboard ill-fated migrant boat near Greece CNN
- Around 350 Pakistanis were on migrant boat that sank off Greece and many still missing, official says PBS NewsHour
- Hundreds still missing in migrant boat accident as sub accident captures more attention NBC News
- ‘If they had left us be, we wouldn’t have drowned:’ CNN investigation raises questions about Greek coast guard’s account of shipwreck tragedy CNN
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Wetland emission and atmospheric sink changes explain methane growth in 2020
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The Hidden Things Lurking in Sink Drains Can Be Dangerous, Even Deadly : ScienceAlert
Sink drains and plumbing are generally unpleasant places, at least from a human perspective.
If you’re a fungus, though, you may feel differently. In fact, one reason we’re often repulsed by sinks – along with dirty sponges and other sink paraphernalia – is precisely because they’re such great habitats for unsavory microbes.
In a new study by researchers from the University of Reading and UK Center for Ecology & Hydrology, scientists took a deep dive into this murky ecosystem, investigating more than 250 “restroom sink fungal communities” on a university campus.
Led by University of Reading bioinformatician Soon Gweon, the research team collected samples from restroom sink drains and P-traps in 20 buildings across the university’s main campus.
The researchers used sterile cotton swabs to collect samples from drains and P-traps, recording details on the qualities of each sink that included its location, purpose, gender label for bathrooms, and whether the water flowing down the drain was hot or cold. Extracting DNA from the samples, they used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and bioinformatic processing to help identify the sinks’ microbial residents.
The results showed moldy jungles of fungal diversity, like tiny rainforests in drains.
It may seem obvious that dank places like these would support microbial life, but the mere presence of fungi isn’t the main takeaway. These fungal communities are diverse, the researchers report, yet also incredibly similar to each other.
The sinks hosted 375 genera of fungi – the taxonomic rank above species – from an array of classes, orders, and families. The study found fungi representing seven different phyla, the taxonomic rank below kingdom.
Despite high biodiversity within each sink, all the fungal communities showed surprisingly similar taxonomic profiles, the researchers report, meaning the roster and ratio of fungi didn’t vary much from sink to sink, or even from building to building.
The researchers note they aren’t sure what drives this similarity, but note that the similarity in sink fungi from different restrooms and buildings could reflect “similar usage” by those in the community.
All these sinks are mainly used for handwashing, with many of those making use of the facilities hailing from the broader university population, and any of whom could be exposed to the microbes when they use the sinks.
“We spend 90 percent of our time indoors, so we are exposed to fungi in our homes and workplaces,” Gweon says.
“For most people, this isn’t a problem, but for those who are immunocompromised, certain fungal species can cause serious infections.”
The study suggests sink drains and P-traps aren’t just nice places for microbes to live, but could serve as reservoirs for some molds, yeasts, and other fungi, potentially harboring and helping spread species that can sicken humans.
“It isn’t a big surprise to find fungi in a warm, wet environment. But sinks and P-traps have thus far been overlooked as potential reservoirs of these microorganisms,” Gweon says.
“This could be a really important finding for those who are trying to help immunocompromised people avoid infections by some of the opportunistic pathogens that may be lurking in sinks, such as Fusarium.”
Sink drains and pipes offer a unique habitat for fungi in the built environment, Gweon and his colleagues note, thanks to continuous moisture, temporary temperature changes, high pH from detergents, and the potential accumulation of organic matter.
Fungi in sinks also need to be tough, though. They face blasts of hot water, for example, plus variable acidity levels and food availability. Some fungi might exploit detergents in soap as a carbon-rich food source, the researchers suggest.
The most abundant and ubiquitous genus found in the new study was Exophiala, the researchers report, a “black yeast” that includes terrestrial and aquatic species.
“Exophiala species can be considered opportunistic pathogens causing cutaneous and superficial infections,” they write. These may not pose a high risk overall, but “fatal systemic infections have been documented.”
The study was published in Environmental DNA.
Why some feces float and others sink
Scientific Reports (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-22626-x” width=”800″ height=”530″/>
Illustration showing the role of gut microbial influence on fecal floatation in mice. The illustration was created using in BioRender.com. Credit: Scientific Reports (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-22626-x
A team of researchers at the Mayo Clinic has solved the mystery of why some people find their bowel movements floating while others find theirs sinking to the bottom of the toilet bowl. In their paper published in the journal Scientific Reports, the group describes their accidental discovery of the answer.
Prior to the 1970s, scientists believed that fecal matter either sank or floated depending on the amount of fat it contained. Experiments showed that not to be the case. Instead, trials with healthy human subjects showed that the difference was due to the amount of gas in a given fecal sample. But the question still remained: Why does fecal matter from some people tend to have more gas, and hence, more buoyancy than that of others?
In this new effort, the researchers were studying the microbiome of several lab mice, and sterilized the guts of some of them as a way to isolate differences in digestion and overall health related to different bacteria. As the experiments proceeded, the researchers noticed that none of the fecal samples produced by the sterilized mice floated. In mice, normally half of samples are floaters.
That suggested that floating fecal matter was related to the makeup of the gut microbiome. The researchers then collected stool samples from healthy mice that were not part of the original study, but who produced floaters, and injected the material into the guts of the sterile mice. They found that all of the test mice began producing floaters. This, the researchers contend, suggests that the reason some fecal matter floats is due to the nature of the bacteria in the gut—some produce more gas than others.
The researchers were not able to isolate the bacteria that produced more gas, but did note that Bacteroides ovatus has previously been found to produce more flatulence in human patients. Logic suggests it is likely one of the culprits responsible for the formation of floaters in humans, and perhaps in lab mice. The team suggests more work will need to be done to confirm their suspicions and to find other bacteria involved in producing more gas, and thus floaters.
More information:
Syed Mohammed Musheer Aalam et al, Genesis of fecal floatation is causally linked to gut microbial colonization in mice, Scientific Reports (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-22626-x
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First on CNN: Next spring the economy will sink into a 1990-style mild recession, Fitch says
New York
CNN Business
—
Stubborn inflation and the Federal Reserve’s jumbo-sized interest rate hikes will drive the American economy into a 1990-style mild recession starting in the spring, Fitch Ratings warned on Tuesday.
In a report obtained first by CNN, Fitch slashed its US growth forecasts for this year and next because of one of the most aggressive inflation-fighting campaigns by the Fed in history. US GDP is now expected to grow by just 0.5% next year, down from 1.5% in the firm’s June forecast.
High inflation will “prove too much of a drain” on household income next year, Fitch said, shrinking consumer spending to the point that it causes a downturn during the second quarter of 2023.
Fitch, one of the world’s top three credit rating agencies, assesses the ability of companies and nations around the world to repay their debt, providing key guidance for investors.
The gloomy forecast adds to the growing fear among investors, economists and business leaders that the world’s largest economy is on the verge of a recession — just 2.5 years after the last one.
The silver lining, however, is that the next recession may not be nearly as destructive as the last two major ones.
“The US recession we expect is quite mild,” economists at Fitch Ratings said.
The credit ratings firm argued that the United States enters this difficult period from a position of strength — especially because consumers are not saddled with quite as much debt as in the past.
“US household finances are much stronger now than in 2008, the banking system is healthier and there is little evidence of overbuilding in the housing market,” Fitch Ratings economists wrote.
The Great Recession, which began in late 2007, was the worst downturn since the Great Depression and nearly led to the collapse of the financial system. The Covid recession, beginning in early 2020, caused the unemployment rate to skyrocket to nearly 15%.
By contrast, Fitch Ratings sees the unemployment rate rising from just 3.5% today to 5.2% in 2024. That translates to the loss of millions of jobs, but not nearly as many as those lost during the prior two recessions.
“Fitch Ratings expects a very strong consumer balance sheet and the strongest labor market in decades to cushion the impact of a likely recession,” the report said.
Despite rising recession fears, the job market remains very tight, with the supply of workers failing to keep up with demand for labor. Firings are low, quits and job openings are high.
Fitch says the next recession will likely be “broadly similar” to the one that started in July 1990 and ended in March 1991.
There are intriguing similarities between today and the early 1990s.
Much like today, the 1990 recession occurred after the Fed scrambled to fight inflation by rapidly raising interest rates.
Likewise, that downturn was preceded by a war-fueled oil shock. Back then, it was Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait that drove up gasoline and energy prices for Americans.
Today’s period of high energy prices is linked in large part to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a conflict that has also raised food prices.
The 1990-1991 recession helped doom the political fortunes of then-President George H.W. Bush.
In the 1992 race for the White House, Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton blamed Bush’s policies for the recession and a Clinton strategist coined the phrase, “It’s the economy, stupid,” highlighting the importance of that issue for voters.
Recent polls indicate voters today are also intensely focused on the state of the economy. In a New York Times poll published Monday, 44% of likely voters said economic concerns are the most important issue facing America — far higher than any other issue.
Inflation remains the biggest cloud hanging over the US economy. The high cost of living is eroding the value of worker paychecks and souring consumer confidence. Persistent inflation has also caused the Federal Reserve to slam the brakes on the economy by dramatically raising interest rates.
That’s why economists in a separate survey, from The Wall Street Journal, peg the chance of a recession in the next 12 months at 63%, the highest level in more than two years.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told CNBC last week that a “very, very serious” mix of challenges is likely to cause a recession by the middle of next year.
Fitch Ratings said there is still the risk of a deeper recession than the one that began in 1990, in part because US companies are carrying more debt relative to the size of the economy than 30 years ago. The report also cited the “highly uncertain” impact of the Fed’s efforts to shrink its $9 trillion balance sheet.
The biggest bright spot in the economy is the jobs market, where the unemployment rate is tied for the lowest level since 1969. However, Fed officials expect the jobless rate to rise in the coming quarters and Bank of America is warning the US economy will lose 175,000 jobs a month during the first quarter of next year.
Even White House officials are conceding a downturn could be in the cards.
President Joe Biden told CNN’s Jake Tapper last week a “slight recession” is possible, though he doesn’t anticipate it.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told ABC News over the weekend that a recession is “possible but not inevitable.”
Although risks have clearly increased, a recession is not a foregone conclusion.
No one, not even the Fed, knows exactly how all of this will play out. It’s impossible to say what happens to a $23 trillion economy two years after a once-in-a-century pandemic and in the midst of a war in Europe. There is no playbook for this.
China tech shares sink as U.S. export curbs raise chip sector hurdles
By Josh Horwitz and Jason Xue
SHANGHAI, Oct 10 (Reuters) – Shares in Chinese tech giants Alibaba Group (9988.HK) and Tencent (0700.HK) as well as in chipmakers slumped on Monday, as investors were spooked by new U.S. export control measures aimed at slowing Beijing’s technological and military advances.
The Biden administration published a sweeping set of export controls on Friday, including a measure to cut China off from certain semiconductors made anywhere in the world with U.S. equipment.
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The raft of measures, some of which take immediate effect, could amount to the biggest shift in U.S. policy toward exporting technology to China since the 1990s.
Experts said the new rules will have a broad impact, slowing China’s efforts to develop its own chip industry and advance commercial and state research involving military weapons, artificial intelligence, data centres and many other areas that are powered by supercomputers and high-end chips.
The new controls also come at a time when the global chip industry is already facing major headwinds from tumbling demand post-COVID in computers, smartphones and other electronic devices and has warned of weak revenue.
The most immediate impact is likely to be felt by Chinese chipmakers, they said.
Under the new regulations, U.S. companies must cease supplying Chinese chipmakers with equipment that can produce relatively advanced chips – logic chips under 16 nanometers (nm), DRAM chips below 18 nm, and NAND chips with 28 layers or more – unless they first obtain a license.
That’s set to affect China’s top contract chipmakers – Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) (0981.HK) and Hua Hong Semiconductor Ltd (1347.HK) – as well as state-backed leading memory chipmakers Yangtze Memory Technologies Co Ltd (YMTC) and Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT).
“The measures will hobble the Chinese chip sector and will scupper numerous growth plans and potentially set back innovation in both the East and the West,” said Danni Hewson, an analyst at AJ Bell.
“There will be plenty of boardrooms hosting top level meetings over the next few days considering the implications of U.S. export controls.”
Chinese foundries have a fraction of the global contract chip market, which is dominated by Taiwan’s TSMC (2330.TW), but they control about 70% of the domestic market, underscoring Beijing’s efforts to boost self-sufficiency in chips.
In memory chips, industry watchers have pegged YMTC and CXMT as China’s best hopes for breaking into the global market, going neck and neck with top players such as Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) and Micron Technology (MU.O).
The new regulations will now pose major hurdles for the two Chinese memory chipmakers, analysts said.
“The advancement of memory will be limited as there is no opportunity to upgrade process equipment, no opportunity to expand production, and the market will be lost,” Gu Wenjun, who leads research at Shanghai-based consultancy ICWise, wrote in a research note.
The blocking of equipment supplies for high-end chip production could also have a cascading impact on simpler chips, analysts said.
Stewart Randall, who tracks China’s semiconductor sector at Shanghai-based consultancy Intralink, said that for NAND chips, the same equipment used to produce 128-layer NAND can also produce simpler 64-layer NAND.
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Saturday called the move an abuse of trade measures designed to reinforce the United States’ “technological hegemony”.
U.S. toolmakers now required to halt shipments to wholly Chinese-owned factories producing advanced logic chips include KLA Corp (KLAC.O), Lam Research Corp (LRCX.O) and Applied Materials Inc .
Shares of Lam Research and Applied Materials fell 1.3% and 0.6%, respectively, in U.S. premarket trading.
In advanced AI chips – Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD.O) – which are among the major vendors supplying to China, slipped about 1%, each.
“This could hardly come at a worse time for Nvidia given that it’s already faced a highly challenging period due to supply chain snarl-ups and slowing demand for gaming consoles,” said Susannah Streeter, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
SUPERCOMPUTERS, DATA CENTERS
The rules also include blocking shipments of a broad array of chips for use in Chinese supercomputing systems which can be used to develop nuclear weapons and other military technologies.
Some industry experts say the ban could also hit commercial data centres at Chinese tech giants. Shares in e-commerce company Alibaba and social media and gaming company Tencent, both of which rely on data centres extensively, dropped 3.3% and 2.5%, respectively.
A steep decline in tech shares led China’s market down on its first post-Golden Week holiday trading on Monday.
An index measuring China’s semiconductor firms (.CSIH30184) tumbled nearly 7%, and Shanghai’s tech-focused board STAR Market (.STAR50) declined 4.5%.
SMIC dropped 4%, chip equipment maker NAURA Technology Group Co (002371.SZ) sank 10% by the daily limit, and Hua Hong Semiconductor plunged 9.5%.
Shares in AI research firm SenseTime (0020.HK) and surveillance equipment maker Dahua Technology (002236.SZ), which will be cut off from chips made using U.S. technologies, tumbled 5.7% and 10%, respectively.
The impact on tech shares outside of China was limited on Monday as financial markets in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan were closed for separate holidays.
European tech index (.SX8P) slipped 0.8%, while New York-listed shares of Chinese firms Alibaba , JD.com and Pinduoduo (PDD.O) fell nearly 1.5% each.
Analysts expect the impact on TSMC, the world’s top contract chipmaker, to be limited as most of its advanced chip orders comes from U.S.-based customers such as Apple (AAPL.O) and Qualcomm (QCOM.O), although it generates around 10-12% of its revenue from China.
South Korea on Saturday also expected no significant disruption to equipment supply for Samsung and SK Hynix’s (000660.KS) existing chip production in China.
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Reporting by Josh Horwitz and Jason Xue; Additional reporting by Anisha Sircar and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Writing by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Chargers vs. Raiders score, takeaways: Justin Herbert, Los Angeles sink Las Vegas in Week 1 AFC West showdown
The Los Angeles Chargers are looking to pull off what the other L.A. team accomplished last season by winning the Super Bowl. Their 2022 campaign got off to a solid start as the Chargers defeated the rival Las Vegas Raiders, 24-19.
With the revamped AFC West, every divisional matchup matters — even in Week 1. With an MVP candidate and a revamped defense for L.A., everyone had eyes on this matchup, and the Chargers certainly didn’t disappoint. Justin Herbert completed 26 of 34 passes for 279 yards and three touchdowns. He not only managed the game, but picked and chose his shots, and found success doing so. Keenan Allen led the team with four catches for 66 yards, but exited early due to a hamstring injury. Free-agent addition DeAndre Carter impressed, catching three passes for 64 yards and a touchdown.
As for the Raiders, Derek Carr completed 22 of 37 passes for 295 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions, while his new wideout Davante Adams caught 10 passes for 141 yards and one score. The Las Vegas offense scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter to make things close, but turned the ball over on downs the next possession following the two-minute warning, which sealed the deal.
Here are some key takeaways from the AFC West showdown between the Chargers and Raiders:
Why the Chargers won
There’s plenty of credit to go around when it comes to this Chargers win. It wouldn’t be fair to pick one player, or position group or side of the ball for that matter as to offend the other. Herbert looked fantastic, completing 26 of 34 passes for 279 yards and three touchdowns. The ground game wasn’t too effective, but it didn’t have to be with how the defense played.
Carr was sacked five times for a loss of 29 yards and he threw three interceptions. Even when the Raiders scored a fourth-quarter touchdown to pull within five points and then forced a Chargers’ three-and-out, the L.A. defense stood tall and forced the Raiders to turn the ball over on downs. Newcomer and former Raider Khalil Mack recorded three sacks to go along with six total tackles, and he was arguably the player of the game.
Why the Raiders lost
The Chargers did look like the better team on Sunday, but you have to credit the Raiders for outscoring their opponent 16-7 in the second half. To put it bluntly, Vegas lost the turnover battle 3-0, and the offensive line struggled against this tenacious Chargers pass rush. On the flip side, the Raiders didn’t record a single sack!
The Raiders got behind the eight ball a bit in the first half, as the Chargers scored 14 unanswered in the second quarter. Down 17-3 at halftime, it felt like an uphill battle the entire way. Week 1 is Week 1, but moving forward, we should keep an eye on if Vegas can one, score points, and two, protect Carr.
Turning point
This was the moment of all moments — the play that ultimately determined the game. Fourth-and-8 with the game on the line, and Carr was sacked by Mack for the third time. You can’t talk enough about how good Mack was on Sunday, and he’s clearly a playmaker that will step up in big moments — not only to sack the quarterback — but also jar the ball loose.
Play of the game
Alright, so the Raiders didn’t have their best performance in Week 1, but at the same time, this is the first game of the regular season. We didn’t see all that this team is capable of. Adams is a huge addition for this squad given his rapport with Carr, and he certainly showed out in his first game as a Raider. The former Packer caught 10 passes for 141 yards — which included this 41-yard thing of beauty.
Whether it’s his release, his route running, his catching ability or what he does after the reception, this guy is just elite. Make sure you watch until the end of the clip.
What’s next
The Raiders return to Vegas next week to host the Arizona Cardinals (0-1) on Sunday, Sept. 18, while the Chargers hit the road to take on the Kansas City Chiefs (1-0) on Thursday, Sept. 15.
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