Month: August 2020

China’s Sinopharm Laboratory will begin human clinical trials for a possible vaccine against COVID-19 in Peru on Monday.Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra announced Thursday that 6,000 volunteers will participate in the trials.Vizcarra expects a second clinical trial, by the firm AstraZeneca in association with Oxford University, will begin by the end of August.Vizcarra said Peru will be part of the World Health Organization initiative to vaccinate at least 20% of the global population, which would mean around 6.6 million Peruvians. So far, Peru has reported more than 560,000 coronavirus cases and more than 27,000 deaths.  …

Sometime next year, genetically modified mosquitoes will be released in the Florida Keys in an effort to combat persistent insect-borne diseases such as Dengue fever and the Zika virus.The plan approved this week by the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District calls for a pilot project in 2021 involving the striped-legged Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is not native to Florida. But it does transmit several diseases to humans, particularly in the Keys island chain where nearly 50 cases of Dengue fever have been reported so far this year.The plan by the Oxitec biotechnology company is to release millions of male, genetically altered mosquitoes to mate with the females that bite humans because they need the blood. The male mosquitoes, which don’t bite, would contain a genetic change in a protein that would render any female offspring unable to survive — thus reducing the population of the insects that transmit disease, in theory.Kevin Gorman, an Oxitec scientist, said Thursday in a phone interview from the United Kingdom that the company has successfully done such projects in the Cayman Islands and Brazil.”It’s gone extremely well,” Gorman said. “We have released over a billion of our mosquitoes over the years. There is no potential for risk to the environment or humans.”Oxitec points to numerous studies by government agencies, ranging from the Environmental Protection Agency to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that underscore the safety of the project. Several Florida government agencies have approved it as well.Yet, there are people who worry …

U.S. space weather forecasters say the Earth on Thursday received a glancing blow from a “coronal mass ejection” (CME) – effectively, a solar eruption – first detected on the surface of the sun four days ago.  The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the agency responsible for monitoring the weather for much of North America, also does its best to monitor “weather” in space.   NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center Lead Forecaster Bob Rutledge said space weather is, for the most part, solar activity. The forecasters use satellites and other Earth-based instruments to monitor what the sun is sending out. For example, solar wind consisting of protons and electrons in a state known as a plasma continuously flows out of the sun. But during periods of high solar activity, Rutledge said, forecasters watch for CMEs, which can eject billions of tons of plasma and magnetic field material from the sun’s corona. One such event was observed Sunday, and by its size and the rate of its speed as it left the sun, it was forecast to pass by the Earth on Thursday. Rutledge said this was not a big event, and even if the full force of it hit the Earth, it would have minimal effect — a G-1 or less on their geomagnetic storm scale. At this level, such an event might cause some fluctuations on the power grid, possibly some minor effects on satellite operations, and maybe aurora borealis (northern lights) activity in northern latitudes.  Rutledge said that if this …

The man-made mega constellation orbiting Earth grew again this week after another history-making commercial launch.  Satellite images document a quarter century of melting ice on Earth, plus images of our home planet from space and of space from our home planet.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space.Produced by:  Arash Arabasadi …

Environmentalists are increasingly alarmed at the growing pace of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.  With the fire season under way, Brazil’s rainforests face the threat of even more destruction. The number of trees destroyed has accelerated since Jair Bolsonaro became president in 2019.  Facing criticism, the Brazilian leader is defending his policy on rainforests and countering critics by enacting what he says is a zero-tolerance campaign to stop those who are illegally burning down the country’s forests.  Edgar Maciel in Sao Paulo has the story, in this report narrated by Jonathan Spier.Camera: Edgar Maciel, TV Brazil      Produced by:  Jon Spier  …

The World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Europe office said it has begun discussions with Russia regarding the COVID-19 vaccine that the nation approved last week without the advanced trials normally required to prove a vaccine works.In a virtual news conference from the organization’s Copenhagen office, the WHO Europe’s senior emergency official Catherine Smallwood said there have been several direct discussions between Russia’s teams and the WHO’s pre-qualification colleagues, primarily on how the organization is going to assess the potential vaccine.The WHO Europe’s regional director, Hans Kluge, said that while any potential vaccine is good news, all must go through the same vigorous assessments. Smallwood added “This concern that we have around safety and efficacy is not specifically for the Russia vaccine, it’s for all of the vaccines under development.”  Smallwood acknowledged that the WHO was taking an “accelerated approach” to try to speed development of coronavirus vaccines but said “it’s essential we don’t cut corners in safety or efficacy.”Kluge cautioned that even once a vaccine or vaccines are approved, that will not be the end of the pandemic. “The end of the pandemic will be the day when everyone of us will take the responsibility and have been learning how to behave with the virus. And that depends on us, that day can even be tomorrow.” …

While medical school students gain key healing skills as their education progresses, one important quality seems to wane: empathy.According to a study from FILE – Medical students hug during a demonstration, June 5, 2020, in Salt Lake City, Utah.DOs are fully licensed physicians who practice in all areas of medicine, according to the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM),  and empathy is an important part of their program.“Emphasizing a whole-person approach to treatment and care, DOs are trained to listen and partner with their patients to help them get healthy and stay well,” according to the American Osteopathic Association.  In the study, women score higher in empathy than male students, African American students score higher than white students, and Asian Americans score the lowest. But everyone shows a decline going into that third year.”As students progress through medical school, you expect FILE – A medical student from Touro University Nevada talks with a man in a temporary parking lot shelter at Cashman Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada, March 30, 2020.In the medical publication STAT, Dr. Lawrence G. Smith said the COVID-19 pandemic will result in doctors with greater degrees of empathy.“As my students and others all across the country make their rounds, they will likely notice that while an infectious disease like COVID-19 afflicts people regardless of race or wealth or education, its impact varies widely based on socioeconomic status,” Smith wrote.“Such a realization can and must change everything about the way medical students perceive their profession, as …

Firefighters in Brazil say strong winds and hot dry weather are making it difficult to battle thousands of blazes burning in the Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland. Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) said it spotted more than 3,100 fires in the first two weeks of August — five times as many as the same period last year. “We saw hundreds of fires along the journey throughout the day,” Brazilian Environment Minister Ricardo Salles said Tuesday. “Places where the planes and firemen have fought the fires directly without stopping, but still the fires are causing great damage to fauna, flora and to the Pantanal region.”  The Pantanal is 10 times the size of Florida’s Everglades. The World Wildlife Fund says it is home to more than 4,700 plant and animal species, including some threatened animals. Experts blame the fires, in part, to higher than average temperatures and below average rainfall since mid-July.   …

The Washington State Department of Agriculture announced it has trapped a male Asian giant hornet – the first male of the invasive species to be detected in the United States.At a news conference late Tuesday, WSDA officials say the hornet was caught in a trap the agency set in a rural area of northwestern Whatcom County in late July. It was found near an area where a dead mated queen hornet was found earlier this year, and where suspected bee kill was found last year. State labs confirmed it was a male late last week.The Asian hornets, dubbed “murder hornets” for their aggressive nature, are the world’s largest hornet and a predator of honeybees and other insects. They are native to Japan but found their way to the U.S. last year.A small group of Asian giant hornets can kill an entire honeybee hive in a matter of hours, which is why they are of concern to agriculture officials. More than 1,000 traps have been placed to capture the hornets alive. That would allow entomologists to tag the hornets and hopefully trace them back to their colonies where they could be eradicated.Adults can be nearly two inches long, and have a distinctly light-orange head with prominent black eyes, a black thorax and a black-and-yellow striped abdomen. Although it is not typically aggressive toward humans, the state’s Agriculture Department says the monster hornet can inflict a powerful sting.Officials have found a total of seven Asian giant hornets in Washington state, all of …

Police on Mauritius have arrested the captain of the Japanese carrier that ran aground off the coast last month, spilling 1,000 metric tonnes of oil and causing possible irreparable damage to coral reefs.Sunil Kumar Nandeshwar, the Indian captain of the MV Wakashio, was charged Tuesday with “endangering safe navigation.” He faces a bail hearing next week.The ship’s first officer was also arrested, and investigators say they are interviewing all crew members.The investigation will center on why the Wakashio went off course. It was supposed to stay at least 16 kilometers from the shore but was about two kilometers away when it ran aground on a coral reef.“The route set five days before the crash was wrong and the boat navigation system should have signaled that to the crew, and it seems the crew ignored it. The boat did also fail to send out an SOS (when it ran aground) and did not respond to attempts by the coast guard to get in touch,” a maritime official told Reuters.The Wakashio became disabled July 25 and started leaking oil almost two weeks later. Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth says bad weather is the reason crews didn’t start pumping oil from the ship almost immediately.About 1,000 metric tonnes leaked into the Indian Ocean surrounding Mauritius and another 3,000 was pumped out before the ship broke in two.The oil spilled into the precious waters of the Mahebourg Lagoon, and environmentalists fear the endangered reefs along the coast may be damaged forever.Half of the ship …

Scientists in Kenya have harvested 10 eggs from the last two remaining northern white rhinos in the race to keep the species from total extinction.The two females – Najin and Fatuwill who are mother and daughter – live at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy. Because neither one would be able to carry a pregnancy to full term, the scientists hope to create viable embryos and implant them into southern white rhinos. Czech and German experts are leading the effort.“If you want to start a population of the northern white rhino, one baby is not enough, you need as many babies as possible,” Jan Stejskal of the Czech Republic’s Dvůr Králové Zoo says.Eggs harvested from Najin and Fatuwill last year resulted in three viable embryos that are now frozen.Conservationists are waiting for the onset of the reproductive cycle of the surrogates but say that is nearly impossible to tell when they are ready. The scientists plan to introduce a southern rhino bull to the females and watch if they go into heat.The northern white rhino is the world’s most endangered mammal, with only two remaining females. The last male died in 2018.The northern white rhino differs from the southern rhino because of their hairy ears and tails. They are also smaller than the southern white rhino.The northern white rhino used to be relatively plentiful throughout east and central Africa but have been nearly wiped out because of poaching. …

A new study predicts major U.S. population areas will be seeing the most extreme increases in heat in the coming decades, some of which could experience 30 times more extreme heat than previously predicted.The study was conducted by researchers at Arizona State University and was published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Researchers made projections for extreme heat and cold exposure in 47 major cities in the U.S., accounting for population size, warming caused by urban development, and local standards for extreme heat.To break down the local effects of global temperature rise, the research team measured the effect of heat in “person-hours” — defined as a human being exposed to extreme heat for one hour. They incorporated three metrics:1. Local definitions of what an “extreme” temperature is;2. How city environments change the effects of extreme heat;3. the effect of population migration and growth.The researchers considered local standards for extreme heat when making their calculations because, for example, a 100-degree day in locations like Pheonix or Austin, Texas, would feel not feel extreme to locals. The same heat in New York City could result in fatalities — especially among more vulnerable populations, like people who are elderly and homeless.With that in mind, the researchers came up with two categories — absolute increases and relative increases in extreme heat.Their top three cities for absolute increases in people affected by extreme heat include New York, Los Angeles, and Washington. The most intense relative increase — calculated by combining temperature factors with population …

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) director-general Tuesday issued another warning against “vaccine nationalism,” — countries putting their own interests ahead of others in trying to secure supplies of a possible vaccine.  At the agency’s regular briefing in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “Nationalism exacerbated the pandemic and contributed to the total failure of the global supply chain,” noting shortages of protective gear when the pandemic first hit caused by some nations hoarding resources.The WHO chief said that countries needed to work together to “prevent vaccine nationalism,” so in the event a vaccine or vaccines are developed, those at the highest risk will have equal access.WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a session of the WHO Executive Board held virtually by video-conference, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, May 22, 2020, in this image provided by the World Health Organization in Geneva.Tedros said the world is so interconnected we will need each other more than ever once a vaccine or vaccines are approved for use. As an example, he said “a vaccine developed in one country may need to be filled in vials with stoppers that are produced in another, using materials for the high-grade glass that is only available from yet another country.”Meanwhile, WHO officials warned the world’s young people they are not immune to COVID-19 and their behavior is putting everyone else at risk.WHO epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove noted the proportion of younger people among those infected had risen globally in the past month, putting at risk vulnerable sectors …