Abstracts: Maria, AIDS Drugs, and More
• Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico on Wednesday, the strongest storm the U.S. territory has seen in nearly a century. Since yesterday, 3.5 million people are without power, and it might take up to six months to completely restore electricity. (NBC)
• Companies that produce generic AIDS drugs will start sending them to 92 poor countries, staring in Africa, at no more than $75 per year per patient, thanks to a pledge made by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The deal could save health officials more than $1 billion over the next six years and reduce the demand for pricier second and third-line therapies. (Reuters)
• In response to growing pressure from Congress and the public, Facebook has agreed to hand over 3,000 political ads linked to Russian accounts to Congressional committees. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said advertisers will now have to reveal the pages or companies that pay for their ads. The announcement comes two weeks after it was found that Russian agents secretly purchased Facebook ads during the 2016 presidential election. (Wired)
• Recently discovered DNA from Africa reveals how the invention and propagation of farming impacted ancient Africans’ genetic makeup. The DNA, dating between 8,000 and 1,000 years ago, also showed evidence for adaptive evolution in genes associated with taste. (BBC)
• New research explains why stingless bees will sometimes kill their queen bee if she produces sterile males. Rarely, a queen bee will mate with a male possessing the same complementary sex determination gene as hers, resulting in sterile male offspring and leading the rest of the colony to replace her with one of her “normal” daughters. (The Independent)
• Farming is becoming more feasible in Alaska, where local produce is rare. Rising temperatures have allowed more plants to grow in the state, which is warming twice as fast as most of the country. (High Country News)
• A British soccer team considered the first all-vegan professional sports team ever also plays on an organic, vegan field that is trimmed by a solar-powered lawnmower. The soccer team was transformed into a green enterprise by multi-millionaire Dale Vince, who bought the fourth-tier soccer club after the previous club owners went into debt. (The New Yorker)
• And finally, children inherit four times as many genetic mutations from their fathers as from their mothers. Mutations create variations in the human genome, but they are also responsible for many rare diseases. (The Guardian)