Forget retail therapy for some relief from that winter cold - a study by Swiss scientists, released last week, revealed that the flu virus can nestle and survive on banknotes for more than two weeks.
Scientists from Geneva's University Hospital were asked by a Swiss bank to carry out the study amid worries that a flu pandemic could be prolonged thanks to the millions of bank notes in circulation, Le Temps newspaper reported. Between 20 and 100 million banknotes change hands each day in Switzerland alone, it said.
The researchers left small samples of the flu virus on used banknotes which were then left at room temperature. Although the virus only survived in most cases for a few hours, certain highly concentrated samples proved resistant for several days.
PHOTO: EPA
In the worst case, if the virus was mixed with human mucus on the banknote, it could survive for two and a half weeks, Le Temps said.
"This unexpected resilience of the virus suggests that this sort of inert, non-biological support should not be overlooked in pandemic planning," chief researcher Yves Thomas told the paper.
The team will now do further research to see how much of a factor banknotes might be in flu transmission, though Thomas stressed that the main risks remain airborne transmission and direct human contact. (AFP)
為了防止感冒,最好打消購物治療法的念頭。瑞士科學家上週公布的一項研究結果顯示,流感病毒可能附著並存活在鈔票上超過兩週之久。
瑞士法文《時代日報》報導指出,在一片憂心市面上流通的大量鈔票可能延長全國流感疫情的關切聲中,日內瓦大學附屬醫院研究人員受一間瑞士銀行委託進行研究;報導中提到,光是在瑞士,每天就有兩千萬到一億張鈔票在市面上流通。
研究人員將一小部分流感病毒樣本放在舊鈔上,然後置於室溫下;雖然在大部份情況下病毒只能存活數小時,但某些高濃縮的病毒樣本能存活數天之久。
《時代日報》指出,最壞的情況是,若鈔票上的病毒混合了人體黏液,病毒就能存活兩週半之久。
「病毒的頑強超乎預期,這顯示在流行病計畫中,人們不能小覷鈔票這種無生命的、非生物的附著體,」主要研究員伊弗斯.湯瑪士向《時代日報》表示。
研究小組將進一步研究鈔票對病毒傳播的具體影響,但湯瑪士強調,流感病毒主要還是透過空氣和人體直接接觸傳染。
(法新社/翻譯:袁星塵)
Taiwanese cuisine boasts a rich culture of thick soups, with various options available at street vendors or high-end restaurants. In English, this style of dish is typically called “thick soup.” Western cuisine typically uses flour, cream, or mashed vegetables to create a creamy consistency, while in Taiwan, thick soups are made by simply incorporating food starch into the soup and creating a smooth and silky texture. Tutuo fish in thick soup is such a soup with fried tutuo fish chunks, shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and wood ears. 台灣羹品飲食文化豐富,無論是巷口小店或是高檔餐廳,都有提供羹料理。羹在英文稱作「濃湯」,西式濃湯是以麵粉、鮮奶油、蔬菜泥等達到濃稠的口感,台灣的羹湯用太白粉即能做出濃稠絲滑的湯頭。土魠魚羹就是在勾芡的羹湯中加入炸土魠魚塊、香菇、竹筍、木耳等食材的料理。 boast (v.) 擁有(令人驕傲的事物) consistency (n.) 濃稠度 chunk (n.) 厚塊,大塊 wood ear (n. ph.) 木耳 The star of this
Huge stretches of coral reef around the world are turning a ghostly white this year amid record warm ocean temperatures. On April 15, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed the world’s fourth mass global bleaching event is underway — with serious consequences for marine life and for the people and economies that rely on reefs. WHAT ARE CORALS? Corals are invertebrates that live in colonies. Their calcium carbonate secretions form hard and protective scaffolding that serves as a home to many colorful species of single-celled algae. The two organisms have evolved over millennia to work together, with corals providing shelter to algae,
A: So who were Hollywood’s highest-paid stars of 2023? B: No. 5 to No. 2 were: Matt Damon with US$43 million, Ryan Gosling with US$43 million, Tom Cruise with US$45 million, and Margot Robbie with US$59 million. A: Didn’t Tom Cruise top the list? B: Nope, Adam Sandler was No.1, having made US$73 million, which is about NT$2.34 billion. A: Wow, maybe I should change my career to acting. A: 好萊塢去年的片酬排行榜前幾名是誰? B: 第5到2名是︰麥特戴蒙、4300萬美元,雷恩葛斯林、4300萬美元,湯姆克魯斯、4500萬美元,瑪格羅比、5900萬美元。 A: 冠軍竟然不是阿湯哥? B: 是亞當山德勒、片酬7300萬美元,大約23.4億台幣! A: 天啊或許我也該轉行當演員啦。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
A symbol of purity and cleanliness, the color white is the standard color for coats worn by doctors. While this has been the case for well over 100 years, it hasn’t always been so. In fact, before the late 19th century, doctors wore formal black attire, which was similar to that worn by clergymen. Black was chosen for practical reasons—it hid stains from medical procedures and presented a sense of seriousness. The major reason for the color change of the doctor’s coat was to distinguish qualified, professional doctors from those with little or no medical training. Since medical science