Researchers have found traces of 16 types of pharmaceuticals in the Hudson River.

Several areas of the Hudson River have been labeled hot spots for high concentrations of pharmaceuticals, according to new research by the Lamont- Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University. A large portion of the drugs found in the famous New York City river treat blood pressure, cholesterol and common pains and aches.

In 2016, researchers at Columbia University identified 16 different pharmaceutical compounds from samples taken at 72 spots along the Hudson River. The area covered stretched 155 miles, from the northern waters of Troy down to the Battery in New York Harbor.

Researchers found a combination of different pharmaceuticals from drugs that treat ulcers and epilepsy to antibiotics. Some of the highest concentrations of these substances were found near sewage discharge pipes for the city of Kingston.  Other potential hot spots were found near sewage outfalls near Orangetown and Yonkers, where researchers found 90 percent of the 16 compounds they tested for.

The study claims that there is currently no evidence that the compounds lurking in the river water have negative consequences for humans. However, the concentrations could potentially pose a threat to marine life in the Hudson.

“Some levels are high enough that you could be concerned about fish and other aquatic organisms,” said Andrew Juhl, an aquatic biologist at the observatory and co-author of the study.

In addition to the pharmaceutical compounds, researchers also found traces of caffeine and the artificial sweetener, sucralose. This discovery led researchers to believe that sewage is the likely source of most of the pharmaceuticals in the Hudson River.

Other compounds were traced back to blood pressure drugs and anti-ulcer medication, especially one called Zantac, as well as an anti-cholesterol drug called Lopil. Acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, was also found in the river.

The study was published in the journal, Water Research.

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Americans would welcome the idea of microbial alien life, researchers revealed.

If alien life, in its most basic, microbial form, would crash-land on Earth, how would humans react? Would they fear the discovery or be cheerful about it? It appears that most of us would welcome the notion of alien life with open arms, according to a report presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancements of Science.

Michael Varnum, a social psychologist at Arizona State University in Tempe, said that humans would “take the news rather well” if microbial life was discovered in our solar system.

To come to this conclusion, Varnum and his team conducted a survey which involved 500 US volunteers to describe how they would react if they learned that scientists discovered microbial alien life.

Varnum and his colleagues then analyzed each participant’s response using software that determined the number of words indicating a positive emotion, such as “nice”, or negative emotion like “worried”. The researcher’s algorithm also looked for reward- and risk-focused words including “benefit” and “danger”.

According to the report, most people used positive and reward-focused words to describe their potential reactions. The same results prevailed when the participants were asked how everyone else would react to the news.

Varnum and his team conducted another study where they asked another 500 US volunteers to read several newspaper articles. One of them was from 1996 and described the discovery of evidence for fossilized Martian microbes in a meteorite. Another article was from 2010 and was about the creation of a synthetic bacterial cell in a laboratory.

Both groups responded favorably to the articles, however, the most positive reactions were registered among those who read the Martian microbes article. According to Varnum, this would suggest that people are more inclined to discover the presence of alien life rather than the discovery of previously unknown-life forms on Earth.

Varnum, however, notes the small scale of the study as well as the specific population they surveyed. He and his colleagues now hope to perform a similar study on participants from different cultures, to find out if people across the world would react to the news of alien microbes.

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Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, personally paid Stormy Daniels $130 thousand.

President Trump’s longtime attorney, Michael Cohen, claims he personally paid $130 thousand to former porn star, Stormy Daniels, who allegedly had a sexual relationship with Trump in 2006.

Cohen confirmed previous news reports describing the potential cover-up, saying that he paid Stormy Daniels (real name Stephanie Clifford) a month before the 2016 presidential election.

“Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment,” Cohen said.

The lawyer claims that he notified the Federal Election Commission of the arrangements after Common Cause, a non-profit government accountability group, filed a complaint alleging that the payment was of illegal nature.

According to Cohen, the transaction was “lawful” and was not seen as a Trump campaign contribution nor as a campaign expenditure.

Trump’s attorney did not explain why he made the $130 thousand payment to Daniels without seeking reimbursement or for what the money was for in the first place. He stressed that Trump and Daniels did not have any sexual encounters in 2006. However, Cohen declined to answer Tuesday when asked if the payment was intended to silence the former porn actress before the 2016 election.

Daniels was quoted in a 2011 interview where she claimed that Trump had a sexual encounter with her after meeting at a gold tournament in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. This would have taken place a year after his marriage to Melania Trump, the current First Lady of the US.

However, at the end of January of this year, Daniels said via a written statement that the alleged affair never took place. This affirmation was later retracted during her appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Daniels said that she didn’t know where the statement came from and the signature didn’t look like hers.

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A judge awarded $6.7 million to 21 artists whose work at the 5 Pointz site had been whitewashed.

A New York judge has awarded 21 artists who belonged to the iconic graffiti group, 5 Pointz, a whopping $6.7 million after a developer decided to whitewash their murals in Long Island City, Queens.

On Monday, Judge Frederic Block said there was no remorse from the owner of the warehouse building who decided to tear down the artist’s revered work to make room for luxury apartments.

“The sloppy, half-hearted nature of the whitewashing left the works easily visible under thin layers of cheap, white paint,” Judge Block said.

Twenty-one artists sued the owner of a Long Island City, Queens, location known as 5Pointz. Their works had been painted over in 2013, with the buildings being demolished a year later. The ruling was soon followed by a three-week trial in November.

The destruction of 5 Pointz was met with backlash from both New Yorkers and culture enthusiasts. This move was part of the city’s ongoing effort to strip away the cultural identity of New York neighborhoods and gentrify them with luxury condos.

The judge claims that he would not have assessed so much in damages if the owner had waited for his permits and tore down the murals 10 months later than he did. 5 Pointz was stripped of 45 art pieces which prompted the artists to sue under the Visual Artists Rights Act, a 1990 law that protects artwork of “recognized stature”.

The 5Points site had been an internationally-recognized graffiti mecca of sorts ever since the 1990s. Previous arrangements had allowed graffiti artists to legally paint on the building, even allowed artists to live and work inside it.

One of the more renowned voices who opposed 5Pointz’s destruction was Banksy, the elusive British street artist. He pleaded with New York City lawmakers to save the site in 2013 after displaying art all over the city which was part of a campaign called “Better Out Than In”.

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