After COVID-10 Pandemic, Humanity Might Deal Next With Serious Climate Change Effects

We continue to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected not only the state of public health in every nation, but also our economic stability. The COVID-19 cases worldwide continue to climb at a rapid rate, with now more than 17 million people contacting the severe pneumonia-like disease. We can say that there is still no end is sight in dealing with this pandemic. The bad news, however, is that we might have to deal with another major problem while our plate is still full.

The United Nations weather agency gave a heads up that the impacts of global warming is getting worse by the day. Due to human activities, it is feared that global temperatures would rise uncontrollably to the point that the ice caps in the polar regions would start melting. Recently, the recorded temperatures in Siberia for the month of June have exceeded the monthly average by 10°C.

We Must Now Start Taking Action To Prevent The Crippling Effects Of Climate Chnage

The record high temperature in Siberia has spawned the unusual number of devastating fires in the Arctic region. Our greatest fears are now turning into a reality as for the past couple of months, the ice caps off the Arctic coast in Russia have been quickly melting.

The effect of global warming is being felt sooner than we initially expected, as the rate of heating in the Arctic is actually twice faster than the global average. Keep in mind that this will not only affect the ecosystems in the Arctic region. The effect of rapidly heating up Arctic circle will influence weather patterns thousands of miles away.

This would mean more severe drought or more damaging tropical cyclone activity worldwide. The extent of this drastic changing climate is still unknown, so as early as now, we must now make our move to prevent these things from taking place.

One thing we can do to help is to educate ourselves about the bad human practices that exacerbate the impact of global warming to our environment. You can go visit https://www.fudacustoms.com/fake-yeezys-how-to-spot/ to get all the information you will need about this subject.

You can also raise awareness to your friends and family so that they can also start making their move to help Mother Nature. For one, you can make use of art for this very important cause.

COVID-19 : Caused by Hybrid of Bat and Pangolin Viruses

Research work undertaken by a team of scientists from different universities, was able to trace the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on a genetic analysis of the viruses, they arrived at a conclusion that the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the COVID-19 infectious disease was a hybrid of bat and pangolin viruses.

Scientist and researchers from the New York University, the Duke University, the University of Texas at El Paso and the Los Alamos National Laboratory, found out that the coronavirus strain that infects bats had exchanged genes with the coronavirus strain that infects pangolin. The merger produced SARS-CoV-2, a hybrid virus that made direct infections possible on humans.

What Makes the SARS-CoV-2 Virus Different from Earlier Coronaviruses

Where the first SARS virus shifted from bats to civets, and the MERS were transmissions between bats and dromedary camels, the bat-pangolin SARS-CoV-2 virus, developed a genetic material that enabled the strain to directly infect humans.

The explanation was provided by Feng Gao, M.D. a professor of Medicine at Duke University’s Division of Infectious Diseases and School of Medicine; being the author of the study published online in the Science Advances journal last May 29, 2020. .

The Study Demonstrates Proof of Pangolin Virus’ Role in the Emergence of a New Coronavirus

 

According to Dr. Gao, a genetic analysis of the novel coronavirus confirmed that the pangolin coronavirus was the closest relative to the virus! but different from the typical pangolin virus strain that does not cause direct infection to humans.

However, Dr. Gao said they found a receptor-binding site, which is part of the spike protein that enables the novel coronavirus to bind to the cell membrane. The binding site made it possible for the SARS-CoV-2 virus to attach to a cell surface protein found abundant in the cells of human respiratory, intestinal epithelia and kidney organs.

He added that on its own, Pangolin coronavirus cannot efficiently infect humans. Yet its bat coronavirus ancestor allowed it to create a different binding site.

Elena Giorgi, co-lead author and staff scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory said that others have already examined the sequences of the Pangolin coronavirus before. Still, half of the scientific community still had reservations about the role it played in the development of the novel coronavirus

Ms. Giorgi said

“In our study, we showed proof that there was indeed a rich history in the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. We were able to demonstrate that the viruses evolved through the reshuffling of genetic material between the coronaviruses of bats and pangolins, before the novel coronavirus acquired the ability to jump to humans and infect human cells.”