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150 year anniversary: A look at how the telephone changed the world

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Dialing up history The patent for the telephone turns 150 on March 7; the first call was made three days later on March 10, 1876. Related Articles Verizon issues $20 credits to customers affected by outage As protests rage, Iran pulls the plug on contact with the world Before the phone: One of the earliest ways to communicate outside of mail was the telegraph, invented by Samuel Morse in 1837. The telegraph revolutionized long-distance communication by transmitting messages in Morse code over wires. It required skilled operators to encode and decode. 1876 – The very first telephone was developed. Two inventors, Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray, both independently designed devices that could transmit speech electronically.Bell reached the patent office mere hours before Gray and won the famous battle over the invention when his patent was passed on March 7, 1876. Three days later, Bell transmitted the first discernible speech over the telephone to his assistant: “Mr. Wat...
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UC Santa Cruz study finds link between pregnancy and reduced breast cancer risk

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SANTA CRUZ — A recent UC Santa Cruz study, published  in Nature Communications scientific journal, uncovered clues in a decadeslong mystery surrounding the relationship between early pregnancy and breast cancer risk. Early pregnancy, between the ages of 20 and 30, has been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer later in life. The reason why has stumped scientists for years. Now, a research group from UC Santa Cruz has found evidence suggesting that early pregnancy can permanently change the way breast cells age, preventing the accumulation of a type of cells that may contribute to tumor growth. Shaheen Sikandar is an assistant professor at UC Santa Cruz. (Courtesy Shaheen Sikandar)  Shaheen Sikandar, an assistant professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology at UC Santa Cruz, noticed a gap in breast cancer research. Though many studies had looked at aging and breast cancer risk, most of those studies were done on mice that had never been pregnant. “That reall...
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H5N1 bird flu found in elephant seals at Año Nuevo State Park

By Susanne Rust | Los Angeles Times The H5N1 bird flu virus that devastated South America’s elephant seal populations has been confirmed in seals at California’s Año Nuevo State Park, researchers from UC Davis and UC Santa Cruz announced Wednesday. The virus has ravaged wild, commercial and domestic animals across the globe and was found in seven weaned pups. The confirmation came from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s laboratory in Ames, Iowa. The death toll so far was not provided, although a press release from UC Davis noted at least some animals had succumbed. In most wildlife cases, carcasses and tissue samples are sent to the USDA for confirmatory testing. “This is exceptionally rapid detection of an outbreak in free-ranging marine mammals,” said professor Christine Johnson, director of the Institute for Pandemic Insights at UC Davis’ Weill School of Veterinary Medicine. “We have most likely identified the very first cases here because of coordinated teams that have bee...
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Swirling beauty of the Milky Way galaxy’s heart is captured in a new telescope picture

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By MARCIA DUNN CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A telescope in Chile has revealed in unprecedented detail the swirling splendor of star-forming gases at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy . Related Articles NASA conducts second rocket fueling test that will decide when Artemis astronauts head to the moon Obama shuts down alien buzz and says there’s no evidence they’ve made contact NASA delays astronauts’ lunar trip until March after hydrogen leaks mar fueling test Here’s a look at the significance of sending animals to space Disney child star-turned-CEO raises $100 million for California space-antenna firm The picture released Wednesday by the European Southern Observatory zeros in on a region of cold cosmic gases more than 650 light-years across. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles. The clouds of gas and dust surround the supermassive black hole at the galactic dead center. It’s the largest image ever taken by the ALMA antenna network in the Atacama Desert, one of the dri...
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RFK Jr. faces lawsuit by California and 14 other states over US vaccine changes

By Jessica Nix, Bloomberg US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s overhaul of the childhood vaccine schedule is facing a fresh legal challenge from 15 states that argue the changes will make people sicker and strain local budgets. Over the past year, Kennedy dramatically reshaped a key US advisory panel to incorporate vaccine skeptics, then later oversaw changes to the national immunization schedule that pared back the number of shots recommended for America’s children. RELATED:  New Stanford study points to vaccine that protects against multiple infections Related Articles New Stanford study points to vaccine that protects against multiple infections Moderna says the FDA will consider its new flu shot after resolving a public dispute 8 measles cases after sick person went to ninja gym, Costco, capture-the-flag game in Redding Moderna says FDA refuses its application for new mRNA flu vaccine Additional case of measles exposure reported at Disneyland, health official...
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Finding Sanctuary: Ranking the most wanted kelp forests

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Giant kelp and bull kelp forests create habitats that support an amazing diversity of sea life, and their floating canopies are a prominent feature at the surface of California coastal waters. Recently, satellite imagery has shown a dramatic decline in Northern California kelp forests, and a significant, though patchy, loss of kelp forests in central California. Because of cloud cover and the low resolution of satellite imagery, estimates of kelp coverage are inaccurate and smaller kelp canopies can be entirely missed. Kelp restoration efforts have begun to address some of the most obvious losses, but the scale of these human intervention activities is smaller than a football field and will never be able to fully compensate for regional losses of kelp. So, which kelp forests are most critical to restore, and which are worthy of high-resolution monitoring by drones? These and related questions are what Melissa Ashley, a California Sea Grant fellow with Monterey Bay National Marine San...
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NASA conducts second rocket fueling test that will decide when Artemis astronauts head to the moon

By MARCIA DUNN CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA took another crack at fueling its giant moon rocket Thursday after leaks halted the initial dress rehearsal and delayed the first lunar trip by astronauts in more than half a century. Related Articles Surprise shark caught on camera for first time in Antarctica’s near-freezing deep Moderna says the FDA will consider its new flu shot after resolving a public dispute To Bay Area aficionados, fungi are freaky, mystical and overlooked. They’re helping scientists learn more US Cancer Institute studying ivermectin’s ‘ability to kill cancer cells’ RFK Jr. pledged more transparency. Here’s what the public doesn’t know anymore For the second time this month, launch teams began pumping more than 700,000 gallons of supercold fuel into the rocket atop its launch pad. It’s the most critical and challenging part of the two-day practice countdown. The outcome will determine whether a March launch is possible for the Artemis II moon missio...
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