Science

LIVE VIDEO: NASA Attempts To Deflect Small Asteroid

The New York Times reports: NASA officials express optimism that DART is not going to miss. “I’m highly confident that we are going to hit on Monday,” Lindley Johnson, NASA’s planetary defense officer said during a news conference last week, “and it will be a complete success.” NASA has succeeded at intentionally crashing spacecraft into celestial bodies before. For instance, …

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Study Links COVID To Increased Risk Of Alzheimer’s

The Associated Press reports: COVID-19 infection may significantly boost an older person’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, a new, large-scale study suggests. People 65 and older who contracted COVID were nearly 70% more likely overall to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s within a year of their infection, researchers report. The elderly fared even worse, with the risk of Alzheimer’s doubling in …

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New York Governor Declares Polio State Of Emergency

Via press release from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul: WHEREAS, a case of paralytic polio was identified on July 21, 2022, in an unvaccinated resident of Rockland County who had no international travel during the incubation period for polio; WHEREAS, the poliovirus that infected the Rockland County individual has been identified as a case of vaccine-derived poliovirus, the last of …

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Scientists Issue New Warning On “Doomsday Glacier”

The Daily Beast reports: Antarctica’s “doomsday glacier” is “retreating”—or collapsing—at a rate that has stunned scientists to the point they claim the potential impact is “spine-chilling”. Scientists have been studying the Thwaites Glacier, which is approximately the size of Florida, in order to predict the impact of global sea rise levels. In a study published Monday in the journal Nature …

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NASA Again Scrubs Launch Of Artemis Moon Rocket

Orlando’s ABC affiliate reports: The second attempt to launch NASA’s Artemis I mission from Kennedy Space Center has been scrubbed for Saturday. The Artemis I mission management team tried to launch the new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft Saturday afternoon. Artemis I will launch the SLS rocket – also called the mega moon rocket – and send …

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Update: NASA Scrubs Artemis Launch Over Fuel Leaks

CBS News reports: After months of tests, troubleshooting and repairs, engineers fueled the Space Launch System moon rocket for blastoff early Monday on NASA’s long-overdue Artemis 1 test flight, a critical mission to send an unpiloted Orion crew capsule on a 42-day mission beyond the moon and back. Running late because of stormy weather and troubleshooting to resolve an apparent …

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Ashes Of Star Trek Stars To Launch On Vulcan Rocket

The Verge reports: The ashes of Nichelle Nichols, the actress who played Lieutenant Nyota Uhura in the original Star Trek, will get sent into deep space on a rocket that memorializes her and several other Star Trek veterans. Nichols’ son, Kyle Johnson, donated her ashes after she died in July at age 89. Nichols’ ashes will head to space on …

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Fauci Announces That He’ll Step Down In December

The Washington Post reports: Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s preeminent infectious-disease expert who achieved unprecedented fame while enduring withering political attacks as the face of the coronavirus pandemic response under two presidents, plans to step down in December after more than a half-century of public service, he announced Monday. Fauci, 81, has led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious …

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WHO Names Latest Monkeypox Variant As “Clade IIb”

Via press release: A group of global experts convened by WHO has agreed on new names for monkeypox virus variants, as part of ongoing efforts to align the names of the monkeypox disease, virus and variants—or clades—with current best practices. The experts agreed to name the clades using Roman numerals. The monkeypox virus was named upon first discovery in 1958, …

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NY State Official: Hundreds May Be Infected With Polio

NBC New York reports: There are new concerns about the potential spread of polio in New York, with the state health commissioner saying there could be “hundreds” of people infected as new evidence shows the virus has been found in samples from multiple counties. “Based on earlier polio outbreaks, New Yorkers should know that for every one case of paralytic …

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Polio Virus Detected In New York County Wastewater

Spectrum New York reports: The polio virus has been detected in wastewater samples from early June in Rockland County and is genetically linked to a case confirmed last month in the area, New York state Department of Health officials said Monday. The polio cases are also genetically linked to samples from greater Jerusalem, Israel, but that “does not imply that …

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Russia To Leave International Space Station In 2024

The Associated Press reports: Russia will opt out of the International Space Station after 2024 and focus on building its own orbiting outpost, the country’s newly appointed space chief said Tuesday. Yuri Borisov, who was appointed earlier this month to lead the state-controlled space corporation Roscosmos, said during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that Russia will fulfill its …

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First Image Released From Webb Space Telescope

Via press release: The international NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has delivered the deepest, sharpest infrared image of the distant Universe so far. U.S. President Joe Biden unveiled the image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, known as Webb’s First Deep Field, during a White House event on Monday 11 July. The image – which focuses on a spot in the …

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WaPo: Latest Subvariant Is Raising Risk Of Reinfection

The Washington Post reports: America has decided the pandemic is over. The coronavirus has other ideas. The latest omicron offshoot, BA.5, has quickly become dominant in the United States, and thanks to its elusiveness when encountering the human immune system, is driving a wave of cases across the country. Many people now see the pandemic as part of the fabric …

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NYC Issues Mask Advisory As Cases Surge Once Again

New York City’s CBS affiliate reports: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says COVID is a concern in New York City. All five boroughs have a “high” community level and that’s prompting local health officials to recommend New Yorkers wear masks again. The city is up to a 15.4 percent positivity rate. But going back to wearing masks might …

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Brain Exam Shows That Late NFL Star Had Stage 2 CTE

The Washington Post reports: Former NFL star Demaryius Thomas was diagnosed with Stage 2 chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), his family said in a statement on Tuesday, after doctors at the Boston University CTE Center studied the former wide receiver’s brain. Thomas was found dead in December at his Roswell, Ga. home at the age of 33, and while the cause …

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Study: Long COVID Less Likely With Omicron Variant

Ars Technica reports: Among adults vaccinated against COVID-19, the odds of developing long COVID amid the omicron wave were about 20 percent to 50 percent lower than during the delta period, with variability based on age and time since vaccination. The finding comes from a case-control observational study published this week in The Lancet by researchers at Kings College London. …

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New Test Measures Potential Immunity To Coronavirus

Changing America reports: Researchers have developed a new type of blood test to check for potential COVID-19 immunity. How the test works is explained in a study published this week in Nature Biotechnology. The test, called dqTACT, requires the mixture of a small blood sample with peptides, essentially a chain of proteins, from the COVID-19 virus. Once the mixture takes …

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NASA To “Examine Unidentified Aerial Phenomena”

Via press release from NASA: NASA is commissioning a study team to start early in the fall to examine unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) – that is, observations of events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena – from a scientific perspective. The study will focus on identifying available data, how best to collect future …

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CDC Raises Monkeypox Alert: Wear Masks On Transit

NBC News reports: The CDC is raising its alert level for monkeypox to level two, all at an abundance of caution. This means health officials are recommending that travelers wear masks on planes and other public transits. “The number of cases of monkeypox has continued to increase to almost 1,000 people now with confirmed or suspected cases in more than …

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