Science, Health, Tech

Educators in the First State should start getting vaccinated next week. 

The Zwaanendael Museum in Lewes is collecting plastic recyclables.

The online system for seniors in Delaware to sign up to receive the coronavirus vaccine is already getting lots of traffic.

DNREC has issued permits to Mountaire Farms to make improvements to its Millsboro wastewater treatment facility.

This comes a month after a $65 million settlement in state court between the chicken processor and local residents who say the site contaminated area groundwater.

A bill to eventually expand renewable energy use in the First State will be heard in committee Tuesday. 

Part of the state’s push to get COVID-19 vaccines out and into people’s arms involves trying to get more volunteers for the Delaware Medical Reserve Corps.

Officials say both medical and nonmedical volunteers have a role to play with vaccine distribution.

Delaware Public Media’s Nick Ciolino recently spoke with Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long - who is also a Principal Investigator with the Medical Reserve Corps - about the corps and its role.

The pandemic has upended how kids are learning as schools work in either hybrid or remote formats.  And that has raised questions about the impact on their mental health.

But the pandemic can also affect children’s physical health – especially this time of year when going outside to play may be less of an option.

Contributor Larry Nagengast looks how COVID is curtailing kids’ exercise. and what some are trying to do about that.

Funding for community tree projects in the First State is available again.

The Delaware Urban and Community Forestry Program is offering support to encourage projects that help increase Delaware’s tree canopy.

COVID-19 hospitalizations reached another all-time high in Delaware. The state reported 473 hospitalizations Monday with 55 cases considered critical. 

Salt marshes are known as a “sink” for global warming-causing carbon.

That’s important for Delaware, since the small, coastal state has lots of these ecosystems.

But what scientists didn’t know is that they also hold another, even more potent greenhouse gas - methane. That’s the conclusion of research out of the University of Delaware.

In this week’s Enlighten Me, Delaware Public Media’s Sophia Schmidt talks UD researcher Rodrigo Vargas about how science missed this detail, and what it might mean for mitigating climate change.

The Delaware River Basin Restoration Project will receive $10 million in the 2021 federal budget.

The study of the two Milford area watersheds begins this year.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) recently awarded a coalition of Delaware groups a $110,042 grant to do the work. 

Delaware has plans to spend some of the new funds raised from its tax on opioids. 

State public health officials urge Delawareans not to go out or gather with others on New Year’s Eve to prevent spread of the coronavirus.

State health officials are trying to prevent another surge in coronavirus cases to flood the hospitals over the holidays.

Delaware healthcare workers continue to receive the coronavirus vaccine, days after the state accepted its first shipment of doses. 

Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware awards grants to 17 nonprofits.

The social determinants of health grants total more than $1.9 million, and are through Highmark’s donor-advised fund, BluePrints for the Community.