The Daily Populous

Saturday December 26th, 2020 morning edition

image for Coronavirus: France finds first case of new variant

Coronavirus: France finds first case of new variant Published duration 6 hours ago.

France has confirmed the first case in the country of the more contagious coronavirus variant recently identified in the UK.

The appearance of the new coronavirus variant in England triggered travel curbs with dozens of countries.

France closed its border but ended its ban on Wednesday, providing people tested negative before travelling.

Last week, France lifted its national lockdown, but the government said the infection rate had not fallen sufficiently for a further easing.

France has reported more than 2.5 million confirmed Covid infections since the start of the outbreak, with more than 62,000 deaths.

media caption Isabella Hussell was onboard a ferry from Portsmouth to France when it was cancelled. »

Underwater Meadows of Seagrass Could Be the Ideal Carbon Sinks

Authored by smithsonianmag.com

Ecosystems capable of absorbing and storing large amounts of carbon dioxide know as “carbon sinks” are ideal for this.

In principle, all living organisms – all animals, plants, algae and bacteria – consist of carbon and so function as a carbon sink.

So while a forest is a moderately efficient carbon sink, its capacity to retain carbon in the forest floor is limited. »

One person is dying from Covid-19 every 10 minutes in Los Angeles County

Authored by edition.cnn.com

(CNN) Los Angeles County public health officials reported 148 new Covid-19 deaths on Thursday, the second day in a row that the county reported its highest number of new deaths.

"A person now dies every 10 minutes in L.A. County from COVID-19," Los Angeles County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said in a statement, "and since many of these deaths are preventable our collective focus should be on doing right to save lives.".

According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health's Thursday news release, there are about 6,500 people hospitalized with Covid-19 in the county, 20% of whom are in intensive care units -- a pandemic high. »

Korean artificial sun sets the new world record of 20-sec-long operation at 100 million degrees

Authored by phys.org

It is an achievement to extend the 8 second plasma operation time during the 2019 KSTAR Plasma Campaign by more than 2 times.

In its 2018 experiment, the KSTAR reached the plasma ion temperature of 100 million degrees for the first time (retention time: about 1.5 seconds).

So far, there have been other fusion devices that have briefly managed plasma at temperatures of 100 million degrees or higher. »