livescience--2020-10-02--Skull reveals Anglo-Saxon teen's nose and lips were cut off 1,100 years ago

About 1,100 years ago in early medieval England , a teenage girl met a horrific end ; her nose and lips were cut off with a sharp weapon , and she may have been scalped , according to a new analysis of her skull .
No one knows why the young woman 's face was mutilated , but her injuries are consistent with punishments historically given to female offenders .
If this woman 's wounds were a punishment , then she is the earliest person on record in Anglo-Saxon England to receive the brutal punishment of facial disfiguration , researchers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ online yesterday ( Oct. 1 ) in the journal .
`` We can only speculate as to what happened in this instance , but the highly formalized nature of the woman 's injuries suggest penalties for specific actions , such as sexual deviancy , or at least a perception of such , '' study lead researcher Garrard Cole , an honorary research fellow at the Institute of Archaeology at University College London , told Live Science in an email .
The skull was originally discovered in the 1960s , during excavations prior to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the village of Oakridge , in the southern county of Hampshire , England .
However , scientists did n't analyze the skull at the time , and it 's unclear whether the skeletal remains of the body were also buried there .
Instead , the skull was put in a collection curated by what is now the Hampshire Cultural Trust .
Recently , the skull was rediscovered during an audit of that collection , and `` the cranium was still covered with soil , indicating it had not been examined , '' said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with his colleagues .
A few tests revealed clues about the individual : An anatomical analysis indicated the skull belonged to a 15- to 18-year-old ; a analysis showed the individual was female ; suggested that the teenager lived sometime between A.D. 776 and 899 ; and an analysis of different isotopes , or versions , of elements from her teeth suggested that she did n't grow up in an area with chalk hills , meaning she was n't born or raised in most of central and eastern southern England .
( Elements @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up in teeth . )
In essence , she may have been a teenage outsider .
The team also assessed the skull 's wounds .
The marks around the and mouth were severe .
`` There were at least two cuts through the bone marking the side of the nasal aperture and the bone between the nose and the upper front teeth , '' Cole said .
`` Both wounds seem to have been made by a sharp , thin-bladed weapon .
In the Anglo-Saxon period [ ] , this is most likely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other sharp-bladed weapon — the sword — would be too heavy and massive . ''
The researchers also noticed a shallow cut across the teenager 's forehead , `` which we interpreted as evidence for hair removal , '' Cole said .
Usually , scalping leaves multiple cut marks , but it 's possible that poor preservation of the skull over hundreds of years obliterated the other cut marks , he said .
The teenager likely did n't survive this traumatic event , as the edges of the wounds show no signs of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ study .
Even if her lips and scalp had been left alone , `` the injury to the individual 's nose could have been sufficient to cause her death , as the wound would probably have damaged the network of in the back of her nose , '' the researchers wrote .
Once cut , these arteries would have gushed blood , and she may have choked to death , they wrote .
The events that led to her demise remain a mystery .
Did a mob punish her for a perceived offense @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a harsh punishment for allegedly committing some type of transgression or deviancy ?
Without more evidence , may never know .
However , `` facial mutilation for females , and its parallel castration for males , does seem to be a long-established , worldwide practice , '' Cole said .
And while Anglo-Saxon rulers did later document this punishment into their formal law codes during the 10th century , this case happened before that .
`` We now know the practice did happen , but have no idea of how frequently it was @ @ @ @ @ @

The cleaned cranium of the 15- to 18-year-old teenager, whose face was mutilated in Anglo-Saxon England.
About 1,100 years ago in early medieval England, a teenage girl met a horrific end; her nose and lips were cut off with a sharp weapon, and she may have been scalped, according to a new analysis of her skull.
No one knows why the young woman's face was mutilated, but her injuries are consistent with punishments historically given to female offenders. If this woman's wounds were a punishment, then she is the earliest person on record in Anglo-Saxon England to receive the brutal punishment of facial disfiguration, researchers wrote in a new study, published online yesterday (Oct. 1) in the journal Antiquity .
"We can only speculate as to what happened in this instance, but the highly formalized nature of the woman's injuries suggest penalties for specific actions, such as sexual deviancy, or at least a perception of such," study lead researcher Garrard Cole, an honorary research fellow at the Institute of Archaeology at University College London, told Live Science in an email.
Related: Photos: Medieval skeletons unearthed near saint's tomb in England
The skull was originally discovered in the 1960s, during excavations prior to the construction of a housing development in the village of Oakridge, in the southern county of Hampshire, England. However, scientists didn't analyze the skull at the time, and it's unclear whether the skeletal remains of the body were also buried there.
Instead, the skull was put in a collection curated by what is now the Hampshire Cultural Trust. Recently, the skull was rediscovered during an audit of that collection, and "the cranium was still covered with soil, indicating it had not been examined," said Cole, who decided to study it with his colleagues.
A few tests revealed clues about the individual: An anatomical analysis indicated the skull belonged to a 15- to 18-year-old; a DNA analysis showed the individual was female; radiocarbon dating suggested that the teenager lived sometime between A.D. 776 and 899; and an analysis of different isotopes, or versions, of elements from her teeth suggested that she didn't grow up in an area with chalk hills, meaning she wasn't born or raised in most of central and eastern southern England. (Elements from consumed water and food eventually end up in teeth.)
In essence, she may have been a teenage outsider.
Image 1 of 4 A close-up view of the trauma found on the teenager's skull. This includes (a) a cut mark by her nasal opening, (b) cut marks from the front of her nose, (c) from above, (d) by the jaw, (e) by the nose, and (f) a sharp nick on the right side of her skull. (Image credit: G. Cole; Copyright Antiquity Publications Ltd.) A view of the teenager's upper jaw, including three of her molars. (Image credit: G. Cole; Copyright Antiquity Publications Ltd.) The skull was found in Oakridge, a village in southern England. (Image credit: Copyright Antiquity Publications Ltd.) The location of the village of Oakridge, in the town of Basingstoke and the county of Hampshire, England. (Image credit: G. Cole; Copyright Antiquity Publications Ltd.)
The team also assessed the skull's wounds. The marks around the nose and mouth were severe. "There were at least two cuts through the bone marking the side of the nasal aperture and the bone between the nose and the upper front teeth," Cole said. "Both wounds seem to have been made by a sharp, thin-bladed weapon. In the Anglo-Saxon period [ A.D. 410 to 1066 ], this is most likely to have been an iron knife. The other sharp-bladed weapon — the sword — would be too heavy and massive."
The researchers also noticed a shallow cut across the teenager's forehead, "which we interpreted as evidence for hair removal," Cole said. Usually, scalping leaves multiple cut marks, but it's possible that poor preservation of the skull over hundreds of years obliterated the other cut marks, he said.
The teenager likely didn't survive this traumatic event, as the edges of the wounds show no signs of healing, the researchers wrote in the study. Even if her lips and scalp had been left alone, "the injury to the individual's nose could have been sufficient to cause her death, as the wound would probably have damaged the network of arteries in the back of her nose," the researchers wrote. Once cut, these arteries would have gushed blood, and she may have choked to death, they wrote.
Related: 12 bizarre medieval trends
The events that led to her demise remain a mystery. Did a mob punish her for a perceived offense? Did local authorities sentence her to a harsh punishment for allegedly committing some type of transgression or deviancy? Without more evidence, archaeologists may never know.
However, "facial mutilation for females, and its parallel castration for males, does seem to be a long-established, worldwide practice," Cole said. And while Anglo-Saxon rulers did later document this punishment into their formal law codes during the 10th century, this case happened before that.
"We now know the practice did happen, but have no idea of how frequently it was applied," Cole said.
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-10-02--Glassified brain cells found in victim of Vesuvius eruption

Preserved brain cells have been found in the remains of a young man who died in the eruption of in A.D. 79 .
The brain cells ' structure is still visible in a black , glassy material found in the man 's skull .
The new discovery of this structure , described today ( Oct. 2 ) in the journal , adds to the accumulating evidence that this glassy material is indeed part of the man 's .
The transformation to glass occurred as a result of extreme heating and rapid cooling .
`` The results of our study show @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , unique of its kind , has frozen the neuronal structures of this victim , preserving them intact until today , '' study lead author Pier Paolo Petrone , a forensic anthropologist at University Federico II of Naples in Italy , said in a statement .
Herculaneum was an ancient town at the foot of Mount Vesuvius , which blew its top in a spectacular eruption nearly 2,000 years ago .
A cloud of hot ash and gases , known as pyroclastic flow , buried Herculaneum as well as its famous neighbor , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and buried the town , rapidly heating organic materials .
Strangely , though , the rapid burial meant that even though materials like wood and flesh were carbonized , or essentially turned to charcoal , they were also preserved as they were in the moments after being suddenly heated to 932 degrees Fahrenheit ( 500 degrees Celsius ) .
In rare cases , this preserved organic material seems to have included brains .
Petrone and his colleagues examined a glassy black material found within the cracked and charred skull of a 20-something-year-old man @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Herculaneum 's Collegium Augustalium , or the College of the Augustales .
This building , near Herculaneum 's main street , was the headquarters of the cult of the Emperor Augustus , an organization that worshiped the emperor as a deity ( a common Roman religious tradition at the time ) .
Petrone and his team have previously analyzed the remains of Herculaneum victims , suggesting that their body tissues in the cloud of hot ash ; earlier this year , they reported in the ( JAMA ) that they had found the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ body of the 20-year-old from the Collegium Augustalium .
Now , using scanning electron microscopy to see the most miniscule details of the sample , the researchers have discovered tiny spherical structures and long tubular structures that look just like neurons and their projections , called axons .
At just 550 to 830 nanometers in diameter , these projections are too tiny to be capillaries .
The spherical structures appear to retain cell membranes as well as internal filaments , or structural proteins inside the cell , and tiny vesicles , or internal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cell surface .
The researchers also used a method called energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy , which uses to determine the chemical makeup of a material .
They found that the sample was rich in and , indicating that it was organic .
Building on the previous research published in JAMA , which detected a number of protein structures in the sample , the researchers compared these ancient proteins to a database of proteins found in the .
They found that all of the proteins they had discovered are present in brain tissue .
For @ @ @ @ @ @ @ known to be involved in the transmission of chemicals known as neurotransmitters through synapses , the gaps between axons .
Based on the concentrations of these proteins and the position of the sample in the back of the skull , Petrone and his colleagues suspect they may have discovered part of the man 's spinal cord and cerebellum , a brain structure at the base of the skull that is involved in movement and coordination .
Finding preserved brain tissue is rare in archaeology .
But on occasion , brain tissue can survive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ For example , one 2,600-year-old skull found in a pit in Northern England contains the with some proteins still intact .
Acidic chemicals from the surrounding clay may have halted decomposition in that case .
have also been found preserved in permafrost , thanks to extreme cold temperatures .

A neuron, along with its axons, is visible in this vitrified segment of brain tissue, which was covered by ash when Mount Vesuvius exploded in A.D. 79.
Preserved brain cells have been found in the remains of a young man who died in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79.
The brain cells' structure is still visible in a black, glassy material found in the man's skull. The new discovery of this structure, described today (Oct. 2) in the journal PLOS ONE , adds to the accumulating evidence that this glassy material is indeed part of the man's brain . The transformation to glass occurred as a result of extreme heating and rapid cooling.
"The results of our study show that the vitrification process occurred at Herculaneum, unique of its kind, has frozen the neuronal structures of this victim, preserving them intact until today," study lead author Pier Paolo Petrone, a forensic anthropologist at University Federico II of Naples in Italy, said in a statement.
Related: Photos: The bones of Mount Vesuvius
Herculaneum was an ancient town at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, which blew its top in a spectacular eruption nearly 2,000 years ago. A cloud of hot ash and gases, known as pyroclastic flow, buried Herculaneum as well as its famous neighbor, Pompeii.
This hot ash simultaneously destroyed and buried the town, rapidly heating organic materials. Strangely, though, the rapid burial meant that even though materials like wood and flesh were carbonized, or essentially turned to charcoal, they were also preserved as they were in the moments after being suddenly heated to 932 degrees Fahrenheit (500 degrees Celsius).
In rare cases, this preserved organic material seems to have included brains. Petrone and his colleagues examined a glassy black material found within the cracked and charred skull of a 20-something-year-old man found lying facedown on a bed in Herculaneum's Collegium Augustalium, or the College of the Augustales. This building, near Herculaneum's main street, was the headquarters of the cult of the Emperor Augustus, an organization that worshiped the emperor as a deity (a common Roman religious tradition at the time).
Petrone and his team have previously analyzed the remains of Herculaneum victims, suggesting that their body tissues may have vaporized in the cloud of hot ash; earlier this year, they reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that they had found the glassy remains of a brain in the body of the 20-year-old from the Collegium Augustalium.
Now, using scanning electron microscopy to see the most miniscule details of the sample, the researchers have discovered tiny spherical structures and long tubular structures that look just like neurons and their projections, called axons.
At just 550 to 830 nanometers in diameter, these projections are too tiny to be capillaries. The spherical structures appear to retain cell membranes as well as internal filaments, or structural proteins inside the cell, and tiny vesicles, or internal sacs that help transport proteins to the cell surface.
The researchers also used a method called energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, which uses X-rays to determine the chemical makeup of a material. They found that the sample was rich in carbon and oxygen , indicating that it was organic. Building on the previous research published in JAMA, which detected a number of protein structures in the sample, the researchers compared these ancient proteins to a database of proteins found in the human brain . They found that all of the proteins they had discovered are present in brain tissue. For example, a protein called ATP6VIF is known to be involved in the transmission of chemicals known as neurotransmitters through synapses, the gaps between axons.
Image 1 of 4 (Image credit: Pier Paolo Petrone, University Federico II of Naples, Italy) (Image credit: Pier Paolo Petrone, University Federico II of Naples, Italy) The brain tissue was found in the body of a man uncovered in the Collegium Augustales, a site devoted to the worship of Emperor Augustus. (Image credit: Pier Paolo Petrone, University Federico II of Naples, Italy) A view of the vitrified spinal cord, as seen under a microscope. (Image credit: Pier Paolo Petrone, University Federico II of Naples, Italy)
Based on the concentrations of these proteins and the position of the sample in the back of the skull, Petrone and his colleagues suspect they may have discovered part of the man's spinal cord and cerebellum, a brain structure at the base of the skull that is involved in movement and coordination.
Finding preserved brain tissue is rare in archaeology. But on occasion, brain tissue can survive for hundreds or thousands of years. For example, one 2,600-year-old skull found in a pit in Northern England contains the shrunken remains of a brain with some proteins still intact. Acidic chemicals from the surrounding clay may have halted decomposition in that case. Mammoth brains have also been found preserved in permafrost, thanks to extreme cold temperatures.
Originally published in Live Science.


livescience--2020-10-02--It's time to vote for the chonkiest bear in Katmai National Park

Looking for a distraction from the dumpster fire that is the 2020 election ?
Then this is your reminder to weigh in on a very different election : Choosing the chonkiest grizzly bear in Katmai National Park as part of Fat Bear Week.The annual competition allows internet users to select the heftiest grizzly bear at the park ’ s Brooks River in Alaska .
The bears are currently at the river gorging on salmon in preparation for winter hibernation .
Social media ’ s enthusiasm for the competition is so intense that voters briefly crashed the on Wednesday ( Sept. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Oct. 6 , at which point a winning bear will be crowned fattest of the season .
The voting is entirely subjective and can be based on weight gain , overall size or challenges that the bears have overcome .
Wednesday saw Bear 812 , a young male , defeat experienced mama bear — Bear 402 .
Dark brown Bear 151 , nicknamed “ Walker , ” also beat down Bear 856 , a male who has successfully thrown his weight around at the river since 2011 , according to .
Walker is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1,200 lbs .
( 545 kilograms ) in September 2019 .
Thursday ’ s competition pitted male Bear 32 , affectionately known as “ Chunk , ” against Bear 719 , a mother and a social butterfly who is still sometimes spotted playing with other young bears — an usual behavior for adult females .
Bear 32 won voter ’ s hearts and advanced to the next round .
Also going head-to-head in Thursday ’ s round were Bear 909 , the daughter of a previous Fat Bear Week champion , who beat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who started out her life in January or February as a 1-lb .
( 0.45 kg ) ball of fur and who now weighs at least 60 lbs .
( 27 kg ) .
In Friday ’ s round , Walker goes up against a new challenger , Bear 480 , otherwise known as Otis .
Meanwhile , Bear 812 faces up against a bruiser , Bear 747 , who is estimated to have tipped the scales at 1,400 pounds ( 636 kg ) last September .
The bears can be seen in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rangers will be live on the channel today ( Oct. 2 ) between 2 p.m and 4 p.m. EDT to chat about what the bears are doing and to answer viewer questions .
Katmai 's grizzliest gather at Brooks River between June and October to feed on salmon , which swim upstream to spawn every year .
Park visitors can gather on elevated decks to observe the bears at one of their favorite fishing spots , Brooks Falls , where salmon must leap upstream — and often end up in the waiting maw @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2,200 grizzlies living in the national park , more than the human population of the entire Alaskan Peninsula .

Looking for a distraction from the dumpster fire that is the 2020 election?
Then this is your reminder to weigh in on a very different election: Choosing the chonkiest grizzly bear in Katmai National Park as part of Fat Bear Week.The annual competition allows internet users to select the heftiest grizzly bear at the park’s Brooks River in Alaska.
The bears are currently at the river gorging on salmon in preparation for winter hibernation. Social media’s enthusiasm for the competition is so intense that voters briefly crashed the voting website on Wednesday (Sept. 30). Bracket-style voting runs through Oct. 6, at which point a winning bear will be crowned fattest of the season.
Related: Image gallery: Beastly bears
The voting is entirely subjective and can be based on weight gain, overall size or challenges that the bears have overcome. Wednesday saw Bear 812, a young male, defeat experienced mama bear — Bear 402. Dark brown Bear 151, nicknamed “Walker,” also beat down Bear 856, a male who has successfully thrown his weight around at the river since 2011, according to Katmai National Park . Walker is estimated to have hit the scales at 1,200 lbs. (545 kilograms) in September 2019.
Thursday’s competition pitted male Bear 32, affectionately known as “Chunk,” against Bear 719, a mother and a social butterfly who is still sometimes spotted playing with other young bears — an usual behavior for adult females. Bear 32 won voter’s hearts and advanced to the next round. Also going head-to-head in Thursday’s round were Bear 909, the daughter of a previous Fat Bear Week champion,who beat out Bear 435, a playful cub who started out her life in January or February as a 1-lb. (0.45 kg) ball of fur and who now weighs at least 60 lbs. (27 kg).
In Friday’s round, Walker goes up against a new challenger, Bear 480, otherwise known as Otis. Meanwhile, Bear 812 faces up against a bruiser, Bear 747, who is estimated to have tipped the scales at 1,400 pounds (636 kg) last September.
The bears can be seen in action on the YouTube channel of webcam network Explore . Naturalists and park rangers will be live on the channel today (Oct. 2) between 2 p.m and 4 p.m. EDT to chat about what the bears are doing and to answer viewer questions.
Katmai's grizzliest gather at Brooks River between June and October to feed on salmon, which swim upstream to spawn every year. Park visitors can gather on elevated decks to observe the bears at one of their favorite fishing spots, Brooks Falls, where salmon must leap upstream — and often end up in the waiting maw of a bear. There are approximately 2,200 grizzlies living in the national park, more than the human population of the entire Alaskan Peninsula.
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-10-02--Coronavirus outbreak: Live updates

Coronavirus outbreak: Live updates

Refresh
90-year-old woman in the UK receives first dose of Pfizer vaccine, FDA review confirms vaccine is safe and effective A 90-year-old woman (who will turn 91 next week) became the first in the world to be given Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine outside of clinical trials, according to the BBC. Margaret Keenan, who is originally from Northern Ireland, was given the vaccine at the University Hospital in Coventry, England. She received the first of 800,000 doses expected to be administered in the U.K. in the coming weeks, according to the BBC. "I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against Covid-19," Keenan said, according to the BBC."It's the best early birthday present I could wish for because it means I can finally look forward to spending time with my family and friends in the new year after being on my own for most of the year." "My advice to anyone offered the vaccine is to take it. If I can have it at 90, then you can have it too," she added. Up to four million doses of Pfizer's vaccine is expected to be given to people in the U.K. by the end of the month. Meanwhile, a 53-page Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review published Tuesday (Dec. 8) confirmed that Pfizer's vaccine is safe and effective, according to The Washington Post.
Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine starts to work just 10 days after 1st dose Pfizer's new COVID-19 vaccine starts to protect people from the novel coronavirus just 10 days after the first dose, according to new documents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The documents were released on Tuesday (Dec. 8), two days before a meeting of the FDA's vaccine advisory panel, which will vote on whether to recommend authorization of the vaccine in the U.S, Live Science reported . The FDA analyzed data from Pfizer's phase 3 clinical trial, which included some 44,000 people in the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Germany and Turkey, about half of whom received the vaccine while the other half received a placebo. Both groups received two shots, 21 days apart. About 10 days after the first dose, there was a noticeable drop-off in new COVID-19 cases in the vaccine group compared with the placebo group, indicating that even one dose provides some protection, the report said. However, scientists don't know how long the protection from a single dose will last, so it will still be important for people to receive two shots, according to The New York Times . Overall, the vaccine was 52% effective after the first dose and 95% effective after the second dose, the report said.
People with significant allergies should avoid Pfizer vaccine, UK warns The U.K.'s Regulatory Agency is advising people with a history of "significant" allergic reactions to avoid Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine, after two National Health Service members developed severe allergic reactions to it on Tuesday (Dec. 8), Live Science reported. "As is common with new vaccines the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) have advised on a precautionary basis that people with a significant history of allergic reactions do not receive this vaccination after two people with a history of significant allergic reactions responded adversely yesterday," Stephen Powis, the national medical director for England's National Health Service said in a statement on Wednesday (Dec. 9). Both workers have a history of severe allergies and carry adrenaline auto injectors (such as EpiPens) around with them, according to The Guardian. Shortly after receiving the vaccine, both NHS workers developed anaphylaxis-like symptoms, or severe allergic reactions, but have recovered after receiving treatment. The MHRA will investigate further and Pfizer and BioNTech will support their investigation, according to Reuters. "Allergic reaction occurs with quite a number of vaccines, and perhaps even more frequently with drugs. So it is not unexpected," Stephen Evans, a professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said in remarks to journalists published by Britain's Science Media Center. “What would be wise, as the MHRA have already advised, would be for anyone who has known severe allergic reaction such that they need to carry an EpiPen, to delay having a vaccination until the reason for the allergic reaction has been clarified," he said. For the general population this does not mean that they would need to be anxious about receiving the vaccination, he added. "One has to remember that even things like marmite [a quintessential British food spread] can cause unexpected severe allergic reactions.”
Canada approves Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine Canada has authorized Pfizer's new COVID-19 vaccine, with the first doses expected to be administered there as early as next week. Health Canada, the country's health regulatory agency, said in a statement on Wednesday (Dec. 9) that it had determined that the vaccine "meets the Department's stringent safety, efficacy and quality requirements for use in Canada," according to CTV News . "We expect vaccines to arrive maybe as early as Monday [Dec. 14]. It takes time to prepare the vaccine," said Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, the top military general leading the vaccine rollout for the Public Health Agency of Canada, according to CTV News. The first doses could be administered by the middle of next week, he said. Canada is the third country in the world to authorize the Pfizer vaccine, following the United Kingdom and Bahrain. The country should receive up to 249,000 doses of the vaccine by the end of December, and has purchased 20 million doses total, with the option to purchase more, CTV News reported.
Daily COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. reaches record-high, surpassed 9/11 On Wednesday (Dec. 9), the U.S. recorded 3,124 new COVID-19 deaths, the highest daily death toll to date, according to CNN . In comparison, 2,977 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks. The U.S. has now recorded 280,488 deaths related to the virus, according to The COVID Tracking Project . A forecast from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts that the total death toll can increase to between 332,000 and 362,000 by January 2, according to CNN. There are currently 106,671 people hospitalized with the virus in the U.S.; 20,903 of them are currently in the ICU and 7,621 are currently on a ventilator, according to the COVID Tracking Project. On Thursday (Dec. 10), the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is set to meet to discuss an emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine.
FDA panel recommends authorization of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine A panel of experts for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recommended that the agency authorize Pfizer's new COVID-19 vaccine in the United States. On Thursday (Dec. 10), the panel voted 17 to 4 to recommend that the vaccine receive emergency use authorization (EUA) for people ages 16 and older, according to The New York Times . The FDA typically follows the advice of its panels, and so today's vote is an important step towards the vaccine's authorization. It is anticipated that the agency will officially authorize the vaccine on Saturday (Dec. 12), the Times reported. Several countries have already authorized Pfizer's vaccine, including Canada, the United Kingdom and Bahrain.
Vaccine approval could come this weekend, as U.S. continues to record high daily death tolls On Thursday (Dec. 10), the U.S. recorded another 2,902 COVID-19 deaths, a day after the country set a record of 3,253 deaths, according to Reuters . “Probably for the next 60 to 90 days, we’re going to have more deaths per day than we had on 9/11 or we had at Pearl Harbor,” Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Council on Foreign Relations on Thursday, according to Reuters. "The reality is the vaccine approval this week is not going to really impact that, I think, to any degree for the next 60 days." On Thursday, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee discussed, voted and recommended that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should grant an emergency use authorization for Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine. The Pfizer vaccine has already been approved in the U.K. and in Canada, and FDA approval for use in the U.S. could come this weekend.
Australia abandons local COVID-19 vaccine after it caused false-positive HIV tests An Australian COVID-19 vaccine that had shown promising results in early trials is being abandoned after researchers found that the shot caused false-positive results on HIV tests. On Friday (Dec. 11), Australian officials said they had canceled an order for some 51 million doses of the vaccine, which was being developed by The University of Queensland and CSL Ltd., a local biotech company, according to The New York Times . In an early trial with 216 participants, the vaccine appeared to be safe and to produce a robust immune response against COVID-19, according to a statement from CSL . But some volunteers falsely tested positive for HIV, which officials feared would undermine trust in the vaccine, the Times reported. The vaccine contained small fragments of an HIV protein, which helped stabilize the vaccine. Some of the participants developed antibodies against these fragments, and these antibodies triggered false positive results on some HIV tests. It's important to note that there is no way for the vaccine to cause an HIV infection, because it contains harmless fragments of the virus.
ICU nurse in New York becomes first person in the US to receive a coronavirus vaccine outside of clinical trials New York, the worst-hit state at the start of the pandemic, just became the first to administer a coronavirus vaccine outside of clinical trials, kicking off a long, massive effort to vaccinate the American people, Live Science reported. Around 9 a.m. E.T. on Monday (Dec. 14), the very first dose of Pfizer and BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine was given to Sandra Lindsay, an intensive care nurse in Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, New York, according to The New York Times. This comes as the U.S. continues to battle a massive wave of the virus that has more than 109,000 people currently hospitalized, according to The COVID Tracking Project. Since the start of the pandemic, New York has recorded more than 780,000 cases of COVID-19 and more than 35,100 deaths, according to The Times. "This vaccine is exciting because I believe this is the weapon that will end the war," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during a live broadcast of the first vaccination. "It's the beginning of the last chapter of the book, but now we just have to do it."
FDA analysis confirms Moderna's vaccine is safe and effective, emergency authorization is likely to come Friday A new briefing document from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released on Tuesday (Dec. 15) confirmed that Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective, according to NPR . Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine is 94% effective and has "a favorable safety profile," according to the document. A panel of experts is set to meet on Thursday (Dec. 17) to discuss the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine and vote on whether or not the FDA should grant emergency approval to the vaccine. Last week, the same panel voted that the FDA should grant emergency approval to Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine; the authorization came a day late and the first doses were given on Monday (Dec. 15). The FDA will likely approve Moderna's vaccine for emergency use on Friday (Dec. 18), according to The New York Times .
FDA authorizes first over-the-counter COVID-19 test The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized the first over-the-counter COVID-19 test, which can be done at home and does not need a prescription. The test, made by the Australia-based company Ellume, provides results in as little as 20 minutes, according to a statement from the FDA . It is a "lateral flow antigen test," meaning it works in a similar way to a home pregnancy test, by running a "liquid sample along a surface with reactive molecules," the FDA said. The test works in conjunction with a smartphone app. Users take a nasal swab and place their sample in an analyzer, which communicates to the smartphone app via Bluetooth. The results are delivered through the app, and also reported to public health authorities (based on a user's zip code) through a secure cloud connection, the company said . Ellume is ramping up production of its test, and expects to produce three million tests in January 2021, and 20 million within the first half of 2021.
A wild mink tested positive for the coronavirus, it may be the first wild animal to have a confirmed case A wild mink in Utah may be the first "free-ranging, native wild animal" confirmed to be infected with SARS-CoV-2, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Live Science reported. The mink was found near a mink farm and likely picked up the infection from the farmed mink. There's no evidence that the virus spread to other minks or wild animals; but if the virus does begin circulating in wild animals, it could pick up mutations that COVID-19 vaccines may not protect well against if it spreads back to humans, according to the report. "If it does [establish a reservoir], then we've got a long-term issue here, where this virus has the potential to be with us for millennia," Sarah Olson, associate director of the health program at the Wildlife Conservation Society, told Vox. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has screened other animal species for the virus near mink farms in Utah, Michigan and Wisconsin, but all of them have tested negative so far, according to a statement.
An FDA advisory panel will meet today to vote on whether to recommend Moderna's coronavirus vaccine for emergency approval On Thursday (Dec. 17), a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee will meet to determine whether to recommend that Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency approval, according to The New York Times . This panel, composed of independent experts, will vote on whether to recommend the vaccine after hearing from the company, FDA scientists and the public, according to The Times. Last week, the same panel of experts met to discuss Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine and voted to recommend emergency authorization; the authorization came the next day. There have now been more than 16.9 million cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. and more than 307,000 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins dashboard . There are currently 113,090 people hospitalized across the country with more than 21,900 of them in the ICU and 7,778 on a ventilator, according to The COVID Tracking Project .
California becomes new epicenter of COVID-19 in U.S. California, once praised for its early pandemic response, is now the new U.S. hotspot for COVID-19 infections. The state has reported an alarming surge in cases, breaking previous records for daily cases. On Thursday (Dec. 17), the state reported some 50,000 COVID-19 infections in 24 hours, and nearly 100,000 in 48 hours, according to The Washington Post . That's more than the daily cases reported in many countries, including India, Germany and Britain, the Post reported. The state also set a record for daily deaths on Thursday, with 379 fatalities reported, up from the previous high of 293. Capacity in intensive care units has also dropped dramatically, with hospitals in Southern California reporting zero percent capacity on Thursday. "I want to be very clear: Our hospitals are under siege, and our model shows no end in sight," said Christina Ghaly, director of Los Angeles County's Department of Health Services, the Post reported.
FDA expected to authorize Moderna's vaccine on Friday The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to authorize Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine on Friday (Dec. 18). Once authorized, it will be the second coronavirus vaccine to get the green light from the agency in just a week, with Pfizer's vaccine gaining authorization on Dec. 11. Moderna is expected to begin shipping 5.9 million doses of its vaccine on Sunday (Dec. 20), with the first deliveries arriving Monday (Dec. 21), according to The New York Times . Unlike the Pfizer vaccine, Moderna's vaccine does not require storage in extremely cold temperatures, and states are hoping to distribute the vaccine to rural hospitals and community health centers, the Times reported.
COVID-19 cases continue to surge across the U.S. There have now been more than 17 million cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. and more than 300,000 deaths, according to The COVID Tracking Project . There are currently 114,237 people hospitalized across the country and 21,900 people in the ICU. California is facing a massive surge in cases; the state reported 41,012 new COVID-19 cases and 300 new deaths on Thursday (Dec. 17), according to the state's COVID-19 dashboard . By comparison, at the start of November, California was reporting a seven-day average of 4,183 cases, compared to an average of 38,774 on Thursday, according to CNN . "We're experiencing an explosive and very deadly surge," Dr. Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles County Public Health Director said, according to CNN. Intensive care unit beds are rapidly filling up across the state; there are only 1,234 ICU beds left available in California, according to the dashboard. Current closures across California are impacting around 98% of the state's population, according to CNN.
London and southeast England are under an emergency lockdown Following concerns of a new version of the coronavirus that might be more transmissible, London and most of southeast England are now under an emergency lockdown, according to The New York Times . Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the lockdown on Saturday (Dec. 19) citing concerns that the mutated virus — which was detected a couple of weeks ago in southeast England — may be as much as 70% more transmissible than previous versions, according to the Times. The new version of the coronavirus is detected in more than 60% of new infections in London and have also been detected in several other countries, according to the Times. But it's not yet clear if this coronavirus version is any more infectious than the last and thorough analyses will need to be conducted before conclusions are made, scientists cautioned. In South Africa, a similar version of the virus has been found in up to 90% of new cases detected since mid-November, according to The Times . It's common for viruses to mutate, and this particular coronavirus has mutated many times since the start of the pandemic. But experts told The Times that it would take years for the virus to mutate enough such that it would make the current vaccines developed to fight COVID-19 ineffective.
Biden gets Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine President-elect Joe Biden received a dose of Pfizer's new COVID-19 vaccine on Monday (Dec. 21), according to The New York Times . He received the shot on camera at the Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware. "I'm doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared when it's available to take the vaccine. There's nothing to worry about," Biden said.
Antarctica has its 1st COVID-19 outbreak The first COVID-19 cases have been reported in Antarctica , meaning the disease has now spread to every continent in the world. On Tuesday (Dec. 22), Chilean officials reported an outbreak of 36 COVID-19 cases at the Chilean research base General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme on the Antarctic Peninsula, according to the BBC . Of these, 26 cases were military personnel and 10 were maintenance workers, the BBC reported. All of these cases have been evacuated from Antarctica to Punta Arenas, Chile, according to The Guardian . Antarctica had been COVID-19 free up until the current outbreak. The continent has no permanent residents, but about 1,000 people, including scientists and other workers, stayed there this past winter, The Guardian reported.
Live updates will continue in 2021!


livescience--2020-10-02--Trump tests positive for COVID-19: What are the risks?

U.S. president Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the novel coronavirus .
This comes a month before the 2020 presidential election and a couple of days after Trump 's and former Vice President Joe Biden 's chaotic first presidential debate in Ohio .
The 74-year-old president , who spent months downplaying the severity of the coronavirus , mocking masks and pushing for the country to re-open , is in a high-risk group for contracting severe disease due to his age .
The risk of hospitalization with COVID-19 for those between 65 and 74 years of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is for those between the ages of 18 and 29 , while the risk of death is 90 times higher , according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) .
`` Tonight , @ FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19 .
We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately .
We will get through this TOGETHER !
, '' Trump early Friday morning ( Oct.2 ) .
His tweet became his most shared ever , .
It 's not clear if the two are experiencing any symptoms @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , early in the morning that they are quarantining at home and are `` feeling good . ''
Trump 's personal physician , Dr. Sean Conley also released a memo early Friday saying they `` are both well at this time , and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence . ''
COVID-19 can begin as an asymptomatic disease before the person develops symptoms , said Dr. Amesh Adalja , an infectious-diseases specialist and a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with age and certain risk factors such as obesity , .
`` Obviously , someone that 's older and more obese is at more risk of having symptomatic disease than someone who is n't as old or is n't as obese , '' Adalja told Live Science .
Trump and Melania were tested for the virus yesterday ( Oct. 1 ) , after news broke that his close advisor Hope Hicks had tested positive .
Hicks traveled on Air Force One with Trump to and back from the presidential debate in Cleveland on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a Minnesota rally the next day , .
Hicks started to show mild symptoms on the plane ride home from the rally on Wednesday evening ( Sept. 30 ) , but she was isolated from other passengers , according to an anonymous administration official , .
But it 's unclear when and how Trump was infected , or whether he could have also potentially exposed Biden on the debate stage on Sept. 29 .
The two candidates were tested before the debate , according to The Associated Press .
But it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ while still being infected with the virus , Adalja said .
That test was conducted at “ one moment in time , ” and it ’ s not clear exactly when he was tested and when he was exposed , Adalja said .
What 's more , though the candidates did n't shake hands and were socially distant , `` in special circumstances , when people are speaking forcibly or yelling , there is a possibility droplets can travel [ farther than ] 6 feet , '' Adalja told Live Science .
`` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' But this is all guesswork .
`` There 's a lot of speculation going on without enough timeline , '' he said .
Trump has frequently downplayed the need for masks and rarely wears them in public .
`` I wear masks when needed , '' Trump said at the debate and then proceeded to mock Biden for wearing masks too frequently .
`` I do n't wear masks like him , '' Trump said .
`` Every time you see him he 's got a mask .
He could be speaking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shows up with the biggest mask I 've ever seen . ''
Trump also traveled to a private fundraiser on Thursday , the day he tested positive , at his Bedminster resort in New Jersey , according to The Associated Press .
Trump joins several other prominent world leaders who have had COVID-19 , including U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson , who was ultimately admitted to the intensive care unit for his disease , and Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro , who , like Trump , has spent a good deal of time downplaying @ @ @

U.S. president Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. This comes a month before the 2020 presidential election and a couple of days after Trump's and former Vice President Joe Biden's chaotic first presidential debate in Ohio.
The 74-year-old president, who spent months downplaying the severity of the coronavirus, mocking masks and pushing for the country to re-open, is in a high-risk group for contracting severe disease due to his age.
The risk of hospitalization with COVID-19 for those between 65 and 74 years of age is 5 times higher than it is for those between the ages of 18 and 29, while the risk of death is 90 times higher, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) .
Related: Coronavirus live updates
"Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!," Trump wrote on Twitter early Friday morning (Oct.2). His tweet became his most shared ever, according to Axios .
It's not clear if the two are experiencing any symptoms. Melania Trump, who is 50, wrote on Twitter early in the morning that they are quarantining at home and are "feeling good." Trump's personal physician, Dr. Sean Conley also released a memo early Friday saying they "are both well at this time, and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence."
COVID-19 can begin as an asymptomatic disease before the person develops symptoms, said Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious-diseases specialist and a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore. The severity of the disease increases with age and certain risk factors such as obesity, according to a previous Live Science report . "Obviously, someone that's older and more obese is at more risk of having symptomatic disease than someone who isn't as old or isn't as obese," Adalja told Live Science.
Trump and Melania were tested for the virus yesterday (Oct. 1), after news broke that his close advisor Hope Hicks had tested positive. Hicks traveled on Air Force One with Trump to and back from the presidential debate in Cleveland on Tuesday (Sept. 29) and to a Minnesota rally the next day, according to Bloomberg . Hicks started to show mild symptoms on the plane ride home from the rally on Wednesday evening (Sept. 30), but she was isolated from other passengers, according to an anonymous administration official, The Associated Press reported .
But it's unclear when and how Trump was infected, or whether he could have also potentially exposed Biden on the debate stage on Sept. 29. The two candidates were tested before the debate, according to The Associated Press. But it’s possible that Trump could have tested negative while still being infected with the virus, Adalja said. That test was conducted at “one moment in time,” and it’s not clear exactly when he was tested and when he was exposed, Adalja said.
What's more, though the candidates didn't shake hands and were socially distant, "in special circumstances, when people are speaking forcibly or yelling, there is a possibility droplets can travel [farther than] 6 feet," Adalja told Live Science. "It is not an ironclad number."
But this is all guesswork. "There's a lot of speculation going on without enough timeline," he said.
Trump has frequently downplayed the need for masks and rarely wears them in public.
"I wear masks when needed," Trump said at the debate and then proceeded to mock Biden for wearing masks too frequently. "I don't wear masks like him," Trump said. "Every time you see him he's got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away from it, he shows up with the biggest mask I've ever seen."
Trump also traveled to a private fundraiser on Thursday, the day he tested positive, at his Bedminster resort in New Jersey, according to The Associated Press .
Trump joins several other prominent world leaders who have had COVID-19, including U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was ultimately admitted to the intensive care unit for his disease, and Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro, who, like Trump, has spent a good deal of time downplaying the pandemic.


livescience--2020-10-03--Can a cat parasite control your mind?

Can a cat parasite control your mind?

There 's a single-celled parasite called Toxoplasma gondii , and it can turn a normally risk-averse mouse into a bold , cat-seeking rodent .
Cats that devour such mice can then pass the parasite onto humans .
But once humans are infected , what happens to them ?
Do they become Toxoplasma gondii zombies , acting however the parasite deems fit ?
The answer is complex ; studies show that people who test positive for this condition are more likely to take certain kinds of risks than those who do n't have toxoplasmosis , but it 's not yet clear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ live in most mammals , but its life cycle traditionally involves living first inside a mouse or rat .
That 's likely because cats prey on rodents , giving the parasite a way to reach the cat gut — the only known place where the parasite can reproduce , as cat guts are rich in linoleic acid , an ingredient necessary for Toxoplasma gondii sex , a 2019 study posted on the preprint database found .
To aid this transition from vermin to feline host , Toxoplasma gondii has a pretty disturbing technique @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the behavior of rodents , making them less afraid of taking risks .
It is also known to make mice attracted to the scent of cat poop .
In other words , the parasite does something to the brain of mice and rats to make them more likely to dart out in front of a cat to then be caught , killed and eaten .
Humans are not immune to Toxoplasma gondii — in fact , at least a third of the world 's population is thought to have , the infection this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when they clean out their pet cat 's litter box , but many of us simply eat undercooked meats or unwashed vegetables .
So , what does this mean for the one in three of us who end up playing host to the parasite ?
`` When you first get infected , you might have mild flu-like symptoms but most of us do n't even realize .
If you 're a pregnant women then it 's more concerning because it can harm the child , but largely , infected people show almost no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said Markus Fitza , a professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management in Germany , whose research has focused on how the parasite can affect decisions made in the business world .
But that 's not where the story ends .
`` The fundamentals of the human brain are fairly similar to that of a mouse in the grand scheme of things , '' he told Live Science .
In short , just like an infected mouse is more adventurous , an infected human is also more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pretty devastating consequences .
At least two studies — one analyzing and another looking at nearly 600 people in the Czech Republic — have shown that people who test positive for Toxoplasma gondii are more likely to have a car crash .
There isn ’ t a lot of evidence to explain why and how latent infections of toxoplasmosis might affect people ’ s personalities , such as making them less afraid of risk .
The researchers behind the car crash studies , however , wrote that the parasite leaves behind life-long cysts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ increase the production of dopamine ( a chemical messenger in the brain that is known to affect people 's risk and reward calculations ) , and that may have a role to play .
Related : Why do our brains have folds ?
Toxoplasmosis is also linked to rage problems .
People with the psychiatric disorder known as Intermittent Explosive Disorder , or IED , were twice as likely to have a toxoplasmosis diagnosis than healthy individuals with no psychiatric diagnosis , .
Interestingly though , a decreased fear of peril may also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work has shown that entrepreneurs are more likely to be infected than the general population and that entrepreneurs with the parasite tend to earn , on average , $ 6,000 more per year than those without it .
In one study , he and colleagues tested nearly 1,500 biology and business studies students at a major U.S. university .
The results showed that business majors were 1.4 times more likely to test positive for the parasite than biology majors , and within business majors , those specializing in entrepreneurship were 1.7 times more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ less risky business studies subspecialties .
Fitza also tested 197 professionals attending entrepreneurship workshops and events .
He found that 124 of them had been infected by the parasite .
Of those 124 professionals , 17 had started their own business compared with just four out of the 73 non-infected people who attended the same events .
While his sample size was small , the findings have been backed up by .
The working theory is that Toxoplasma gondii is manipulating people 's brains into making them less afraid of quitting their jobs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their own company .
`` We ca n't say for sure this is what 's happening , '' said Fitza .
`` But this is the argument we 're making based on our studies . ''
However , scientists have yet to pin down a direct way that Toxoplasma gondii might control human minds , .
In rodents , it 's possible that the parasite secretes molecules that somehow rewire the brain ; others think it may be due to brain cysts interfering with dopamine production ; and another idea is that Toxoplasma @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which may , in turn , change brain behavior and function , a 2019 study in the journal found .
That said , humans with toxoplasmosis are n't mindless zombies doing the parasite 's bidding .
When in humans , there is no benefit to the parasite in making human behavior more risky ; any effects are just a hangover from it manipulating the mouse brain , which is advantageous to the parasite .
But given that the parasite might lead to some behavioral changes in humans , be mindful of that if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your car to a potential business opportunity .

There's a single-celled parasite called Toxoplasma gondii, and it can turn a normally risk-averse mouse into a bold, cat-seeking rodent. Cats that devour such mice can then pass the parasite onto humans.
But once humans are infected, what happens to them? Do they become Toxoplasma gondii zombies, acting however the parasite deems fit?
The answer is complex; studies show that people who test positive for this condition are more likely to take certain kinds of risks than those who don't have toxoplasmosis, but it's not yet clear how this happens.
Related: Why do cats hate car rides?
Toxoplasma gondii can live in most mammals, but its life cycle traditionally involves living first inside a mouse or rat. That's likely because cats prey on rodents, giving the parasite a way to reach the cat gut — the only known place where the parasite can reproduce, as cat guts are rich in linoleic acid, an ingredient necessary for Toxoplasma gondii sex, a 2019 study posted on the preprint database bioRxiv found.
To aid this transition from vermin to feline host, Toxoplasma gondii has a pretty disturbing technique: brain manipulation. The parasite alters the behavior of rodents, making them less afraid of taking risks. It is also known to make mice attracted to the scent of cat poop. In other words, the parasite does something to the brain of mice and rats to make them more likely to dart out in front of a cat to then be caught, killed and eaten. Humans are not immune to Toxoplasma gondii — in fact, at least a third of the world's population is thought to have toxoplasmosis , the infection this parasite causes. Some humans get infected when they clean out their pet cat's litter box, but many of us simply eat undercooked meats or unwashed vegetables. So, what does this mean for the one in three of us who end up playing host to the parasite?
The Toxoplasma gondii parasite goes from rodents to cats, which can then expose it to humans, including pregnant women. (Image credit: Shutterstock)
"When you first get infected, you might have mild flu-like symptoms but most of us don't even realize. If you're a pregnant women then it's more concerning because it can harm the child, but largely, infected people show almost no health issues or noticeable symptoms," said Markus Fitza, a professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management in Germany, whose research has focused on how the parasite can affect decisions made in the business world.
But that's not where the story ends. "The fundamentals of the human brain are fairly similar to that of a mouse in the grand scheme of things," he told Live Science.
In short, just like an infected mouse is more adventurous, an infected human is also more prone to take risks — sometimes with pretty devastating consequences. At least two studies — one analyzing 370 people in Turkey and another looking at nearly 600 people in the Czech Republic — have shown that people who test positive for Toxoplasma gondii antibodies are more likely to have a car crash. There isn’t a lot of evidence to explain why and how latent infections of toxoplasmosis might affect people’s personalities, such as making them less afraid of risk. The researchers behind the car crash studies, however, wrote that the parasite leaves behind life-long cysts in the brain , which is thought to increase the production of dopamine (a chemical messenger in the brain that is known to affect people's risk and reward calculations), and that may have a role to play.
Related: Why do our brains have folds?
Toxoplasmosis is also linked to rage problems. People with the psychiatric disorder known as Intermittent Explosive Disorder, or IED, were twice as likely to have a toxoplasmosis diagnosis than healthy individuals with no psychiatric diagnosis, Live Science previously reported .
Interestingly though, a decreased fear of peril may also have its advantages. Fitza's own work has shown that entrepreneurs are more likely to be infected than the general population and that entrepreneurs with the parasite tend to earn, on average, $6,000 more per year than those without it. In one study, he and colleagues tested nearly 1,500 biology and business studies students at a major U.S. university. The results showed that business majors were 1.4 times more likely to test positive for the parasite than biology majors, and within business majors, those specializing in entrepreneurship were 1.7 times more likely to test positive over students in less risky business studies subspecialties.
Fitza also tested 197 professionals attending entrepreneurship workshops and events. He found that 124 of them had been infected by the parasite. Of those 124 professionals, 17 had started their own business compared with just four out of the 73 non-infected people who attended the same events. While his sample size was small, the findings have been backed up by subsequent, larger studies . The working theory is that Toxoplasma gondii is manipulating people's brains into making them less afraid of quitting their jobs and going it alone to start up their own company. "We can't say for sure this is what's happening," said Fitza. "But this is the argument we're making based on our studies."
However, scientists have yet to pin down a direct way that Toxoplasma gondii might control human minds, Live Science previously reported . In rodents, it's possible that the parasite secretes molecules that somehow rewire the brain; others think it may be due to brain cysts interfering with dopamine production; and another idea is that Toxoplasma gondii triggers inflammation in rodent brains, which may, in turn, change brain behavior and function, a 2019 study in the journal mBio found.
That said, humans with toxoplasmosis aren't mindless zombies doing the parasite's bidding. When in humans, there is no benefit to the parasite in making human behavior more risky; any effects are just a hangover from it manipulating the mouse brain, which is advantageous to the parasite. But given that the parasite might lead to some behavioral changes in humans, be mindful of that if you have cats and you're driving your car to a potential business opportunity.
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-10-04--New space toilet reaches the final frontier

A robotic Cygnus spacecraft successfully blasted off from Virginia late Friday ( Oct. 2 ) carrying nearly 4 tons of gear , including a new space toilet , to the International Space Station .
A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket lit up the night sky alongside a nearly full moon at 9:16 p.m. EDT ( 0116 GMT on Oct. 3 ) as it launched to the space station from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA 's on Wallops Island , Virginia .
The craft is hauling 7,624 lbs .
( 3,458 kilograms ) of cargo that includes scientific equipment , an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and other supplies for the Expedition 63/64 astronauts living and working on the space station .
The launch came after a series of delays due to weather this week and less than 24 hours after a launch abort late Thursday ( Oct. 1 ) due to a ground support equipment issue .
Related : See amazing launch photos of Antares and Cygnus NG-13 !
Along with crew supplies and hardware , the launch today sent a number of exciting scientific investigations and equipment to the space station .
One of the most anticipated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , formally known as .
The astronauts on the space station will test the $ 23 million commode for future use on station and by future crews on missions to the moon .
The Cygnus is carrying a number of other investigations as well .
For example , the radish-growing experiment aims to expand our knowledge of growing plants and food in space .
With this experiment , researchers will test how the plants grow with different light and soil conditions .
This `` could help optimize growth of the plants in space @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their nutrition and taste , '' .
Another experiment will help scientists develop more effective and safer cancer treatments .
While Testing cancer drugs in microgravity could help reveal treatments that `` make good candidates for safer , more effective , and affordable medicines to treat leukemia and other cancers , '' NASA wrote in the same statement .
Another experiment will use a customized 360-degree camera that launched to the station in December 2018 to create that will allow people to experience what life is really like inside the space station and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And will examine a unique process that could help astronauts on the space station to produce water and energy by converting the urea in human urine into ammonia .
Additionally , not an experiment , but a skincare serum to the space station .
There , astronauts will photograph the commercial product in the space station 's cupola window .
This endeavor is part of NASA 's efforts to engage more with commercial activity in low Earth orbit .
Tonight 's launch was previously scheduled to take place Tuesday evening ( Sept. 29 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` due to poor weather conditions anticipated Tuesday and Wednesday , '' .
An attempted launch on Thursday was aborted two minutes and 40 seconds before liftoff due to the ground support equipment glitch .
Northrop Grumman engineers were able to identify and address the issue in time for tonight 's successful launch .
The Cygnus is built by Virginia-based company Northrop Grumman , which , like SpaceX , holds a space station resupply contract with NASA .
Northrop Grumman named this Cygnus spacecraft the S.S. Kalpana Chawla , paying homage to astronaut @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , died in the 2003 Columbia space shuttle tragedy .
Chawla also flew on Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator .
She was the first woman of Indian origin to ever go to space .
NG-14 is the 14th launch for Cygnus and the spacecraft 's 13th mission to the space station .
`` As the 14th flight to the ISS , the Cygnus has been a workhorse for us in bringing cargo and removing cargo from the ISS ... it 's brought up tens and tens @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And it 's key [ in bringing ] a lot of the research , crew supplies , critical spares that we need on ISS in order to continue operations , '' Dorth said .
The Cygnus spacecraft will arrive at the space station on Sunday ( Oct. 4 ) .
There , NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy , the expedition 63 commander , will grapple the craft with the station 's robotic arm .
Flight engineer and Roscosmos cosmonaut Ivan Vagner will act as a backup .
After capturing Cygnus , with help @ @ @ @ @ @ @ station 's robotic arm will rotate and install the craft on the space station 's unity module , where it will remain until mid-December before departing to burn up in Earth 's atmosphere .
Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd @ space.com or follow her on Twitter @ chelsea_gohd .
Follow us on Twitter @ Spacedotcom and on Facebook .

A robotic Cygnus spacecraft successfully blasted off from Virginia late Friday (Oct. 2) carrying nearly 4 tons of gear, including a new space toilet, to the International Space Station.
A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket lit up the night sky alongside a nearly full moon at 9:16 p.m. EDT (0116 GMT on Oct. 3) as it launched the Cygnus NG-14 mission to the space station from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia.
The craft is hauling 7,624 lbs. (3,458 kilograms) of cargo that includes scientific equipment, an experimental space toilet, food, hardware and other supplies for the Expedition 63/64 astronauts living and working on the space station.
The launch came after a series of delays due to weather this week and less than 24 hours after a launch abort late Thursday (Oct. 1) due to a ground support equipment issue.
Related: See amazing launch photos of Antares and Cygnus NG-13!
A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket carrying the Cygnus NG-14 cargo ship launches toward the International Space Station from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia on Oct. 2, 2020. (Image credit: NASA TV)
Launching science to space
Along with crew supplies and hardware, the launch today sent a number of exciting scientific investigations and equipment to the space station. One of the most anticipated items onboard is a new space toilet, formally known as the Universal Waste Management System . The astronauts on the space station will test the $23 million commode for future use on station and by future crews on missions to the moon.
The Cygnus is carrying a number of other investigations as well. For example, the radish-growing experiment Plant Habitat-02 aims to expand our knowledge of growing plants and food in space. With this experiment, researchers will test how the plants grow with different light and soil conditions. This "could help optimize growth of the plants in space as well as provide an assessment of their nutrition and taste," according to a NASA statement .
Another experiment will help scientists develop more effective and safer cancer treatments. While Testing cancer drugs in microgravity could help reveal treatments that "make good candidates for safer, more effective, and affordable medicines to treat leukemia and other cancers," NASA wrote in the same statement.
Another experiment will use a customized 360-degree camera that launched to the station in December 2018 to create an immersive virtual reality experience that will allow people to experience what life is really like inside the space station and even "outside" on spacewalks. And a different investigation will examine a unique process that could help astronauts on the space station to produce water and energy by converting the urea in human urine into ammonia.
Additionally, Estée Lauder will be launching not an experiment, but a skincare serum to the space station. There, astronauts will photograph the commercial product in the space station's cupola window. This endeavor is part of NASA's efforts to engage more with commercial activity in low Earth orbit.
Launch delays and details
Tonight's launch was previously scheduled to take place Tuesday evening (Sept. 29), but the liftoff was delayed "due to poor weather conditions anticipated Tuesday and Wednesday," NASA wrote . An attempted launch on Thursday was aborted two minutes and 40 seconds before liftoff due to the ground support equipment glitch. Northrop Grumman engineers were able to identify and address the issue in time for tonight's successful launch.
The Cygnus is built by Virginia-based company Northrop Grumman, which, like SpaceX, holds a space station resupply contract with NASA. Northrop Grumman named this Cygnus spacecraft the S.S. Kalpana Chawla, paying homage to astronaut Kalpana Chawla who, along with six other astronauts, died in the 2003 Columbia space shuttle tragedy. Chawla also flew on Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator. She was the first woman of Indian origin to ever go to space.
NG-14 is the 14th launch for Cygnus and the spacecraft's 13th mission to the space station.
"As the 14th flight to the ISS, the Cygnus has been a workhorse for us in bringing cargo and removing cargo from the ISS ... it's brought up tens and tens of tons of metric tons of cargo. And it's key [in bringing] a lot of the research, crew supplies, critical spares that we need on ISS in order to continue operations," Dorth said.
Docking with the space station
The Cygnus spacecraft will arrive at the space station on Sunday (Oct. 4). There, NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, the expedition 63 commander, will grapple the craft with the station's robotic arm. Flight engineer and Roscosmos cosmonaut Ivan Vagner will act as a backup.
After capturing Cygnus, with help from mission control in Houston, the station's robotic arm will rotate and install the craft on the space station's unity module, where it will remain until mid-December before departing to burn up in Earth's atmosphere.
Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.


livescience--2020-10-03--Amazing images: The best science photos of the week

Each week at Live Science we find the most interesting and informative articles we can .
Along the way , we uncover some amazing and cool images .
Here you 'll discover the most incredible photos we found this week , and the remarkable stories behind them .
Looking for a distraction from the dumpster fire that is the 2020 election ?
Then this is your reminder to weigh in on a very different election : Choosing the chonkiest in Katmai National Park as part of .
The annual competition allows internet users to select the heftiest grizzly bear at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Alaska .
The bears are currently at the river gorging on salmon in preparation for winter hibernation .
Social media ’ s enthusiasm for the competition is so intense that voters briefly crashed the on Wednesday ( Sept. 30 ) .
Bracket-style voting runs through Oct. 6 , at which point a winning bear will be crowned fattest of the season .
Mama Bear 402 ( shown above ) was recently knocked out of the contest by blubbery newcomer , Bear 812 .
The voting is entirely subjective and can be based on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the bears have overcome .
Simply vote with your eyes , your heart and your strong inner desire to hibernate until springtime .
Read more : It 's time to vote for the chonkiest bear in Katmai National Park In July 2019 , fishers trawling the Mediterranean Sea south of Sardinia , Italy , accidentally pulled a mutant from the depths .
Ensnared in their net among hundreds of other fish , and assorted marine life was a blackmouth catshark ( Galeus melastomus ) — seemingly born without or teeth .
While @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , discoloration and other genetic skin mutations in sharks before , this rare catch is the first and only known case of a shark living with a `` severe lack of all skin-related structures [ including ] teeth , '' according to a study published July 16 in the .
Perhaps stranger still , the abnormal shark seemed to be living a relatively normal life until it was scooped from the sea , lead study author Antonello Mulas said .
When he and his colleagues examined the shark , they found that it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grown at a typical rate , and had a belly full of food when it died .
The shark 's appearance was almost certainly the result of a genetic mutation , the researchers said .
Read more : 'Naked ' shark was born without skin or teeth in world first If life does exist on Venus , NASA may have first detected it back in 1978 .
But the finding went unnoticed for 42 years .
Life on Venus is still a long shot .
But there 's reason to take the idea @ @ @ @ @ @ @ team of scientists made a bombshell announcement in the journal : Using telescopes , they 'd detected phosphine , a toxic gas long proposed as a possible sign of alien microbial life , in the upper part of the planet 's thick atmosphere .
Now , digging through archival NASA data , Rakesh Mogul , a biochemist at Cal Poly Pomona in California , and colleagues have found a hint of phosphine picked up by Pioneer 13 — a probe that reached Venus in December 1978 .
The discovery , published to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reviewed , does n't tell researchers much beyond what was reported in Nature Astronomy — though it does make the presence of phosphine even more certain , they said .
The 1978 data comes from the Large Probe Neutral Mass Spectrometer ( LNMS ) , one of several instruments that descended into Venus ' atmosphere as part of the Pioneer 13 mission ( illustrated above ) .
Read more : Did NASA detect a hint of life on Venus in 1978 and not realize it ?
A brutal attack on an Iron Age @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or late third century B.C .
left more than a dozen bodies — men , women and children — scattered and smoldering in the streets , as the town burned .
Injuries inflicted upon the people who died were horrific .
One person was decapitated , two had severed arms , and the remains of nearly half of the individuals showed signs of mutilation , archaeologists recently discovered .
New analysis of the victims ' bones — the first detailed investigation of their injuries — suggests that they were murdered by a neighboring @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or an act of revenge .
The site of the massacre was once a bustling , economically thriving town called La Hoya , located in northern Spain 's Rioja Alavesa region .
It was occupied from the 15th century B.C .
to the third century B.C.
, and at its peak was home to about 1,500 people .
Since excavations began in 1973 , researchers have uncovered an increasingly grisly story .
Burned skeletons — at least 13 complete and partial remains — were found lying in the streets and inside buildings .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the bodies nor any defensive wounds , suggesting the victims died in a mysterious surprise attack .
contains more than half of the world 's freshwater in its sprawling , frozen ice sheet , but humanity 's decisions over the next century could send that water irreversibly into the sea .
If is allowed to continue unchecked , Antarctica will soon pass a `` point of no return '' that could reduce the continent to a barren , ice-free mass for the first time in more than 30 million years , according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the journal .
`` Antarctica is basically our ultimate heritage from an earlier time in Earth 's history .
It 's been around for roughly 34 million years , '' study co-author Anders Levermann , a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research ( PIK ) in Germany , .
`` Now our simulations show that once it 's melted , it does not regrow to its initial state [ until ] temperatures go back to pre-industrial levels … a highly unlikely scenario .
In other words : What we lose @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . ''
In the study , PIK researchers ran computer simulations to model how Antarctica will look thousands of years from now , depending on how high average global temperatures rise in response to modern emissions .
They found that if global temperatures rise by 18 F ( 10 C ) for any sustained period of time , the continent is doomed to be `` virtually ice-free '' within 200,000 years .
Should the continent lose all of its ice , global sea levels will rise by nearly 200 feet ( 58 m @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kukri snakes in Thailand .
These snakes use enlarged , knifelike teeth in their upper jaws to slash and disembowel toad prey , plunging their heads into the abdominal cavities and feasting on the organs one at a time while the toads are still alive , leaving the rest of the corpse untouched .
While you 're recovering from the horror of that sentence , `` perhaps you 'd be pleased to know that kukri snakes are , thankfully , harmless to humans , '' amateur herpetologist and naturalist Henrik Bringsøe , lead @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gruesome technique , .
This grisly dining habit was previously unknown in ; while some rip chunks from their prey , most snakes gulp down their meals whole .
Scientists had never before seen a snake Bury its head inside an animal 's body to slurp up organs — sometimes taking hours to do so , Bringsøe and his colleagues reported .
Read more : Snakes disembowel toads and feast on the living animal 's organs one by one Ancient Roman emperors ' faces have been brought to life in digital reconstructions ; @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Emperors Caligula , and , among others .
The features of these long-dead rulers have been preserved in hundreds of sculptures , but even the most detailed carvings ca n't convey what these men truly looked like when they were alive .
To explore that , Canadian cinematographer and virtual reality designer Daniel Voshart used a neural network called to analyze 800 busts and model more realistic facial shapes , features , hair and , and to add vivid color .
Voshart then fine-tuned Artbreeder 's models using Photoshop , adding details gleaned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the emperors from historical texts , to make the portraits really come to life .
For the emperor Caligula ( shown above ) , who ruled from A.D. 37 to 41 , Voshart adjusted the Artbreeder model using descriptions that included `` head misshapen , eyes and temples sunken , '' and `` eyes staring and with a glare savage enough to torture , '' from a paper titled `` Personal Appearance in the Biography of the Roman Emperors , '' published in 1928 in the journal .
A Stone Age skull @ @ @ @ @ @ @ marks of a failed brain surgery and postmortem decapitation .
The skull , which may have belonged to an adult woman , dates back to approximately 4800 B.C .
to 4550 B.C .
Archaeologists found the skull deep inside Dehesilla Cave on the Iberian peninsula , alongside a second adult skull — perhaps from a man — and the remains of a young goat , they reported Aug. 13 in the journal .
The morbid and unusual discovery raises the possibility that the bones were brought to the cave for some sort of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , an archaeologist at the University of Seville in Spain , wrote in the paper .
One or both of the individuals may have even been victims of human sacrifice .
Read more : Failed brain surgery and possible human sacrifice revealed in Stone Age burial Remnants of water once found on the surface of Mars may be hidden in a handful of small lakes below the Red Planet 's south pole , and more could exist , according to new research .
For decades , researchers have suspected that water lurks below @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as it does here on Earth .
In 2018 , scientists detected evidence for such a reservoir on the Red Planet — signs of a lake about 12 miles ( 19 kilometers ) across and hidden below about a mile ( 1.5 km ) of ice at the south pole of Mars .
In the new study , to learn more about this hidden water , researchers used the MARSIS radar sounder instrument on board the European Space Agency 's spacecraft to scan a 155-by-185 mile ( 250-by-300 km ) area surrounding the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the liquid nature of the previously observed lake , narrowing down its dimensions to about 12 by 18 miles ( 20 by 30 km ) in size .
Moreover , the researchers identified three other lakes on the order of 6 by 6 miles ( 10 by 10 km ) in size .
Strips of dry rock separate these smaller patches of water from the main lake , the scientists said .
Read more : 4 supersalty lakes may be hiding under the ice cap at Mars ' south pole A young woman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ larvae lurking in her brain — a very unusual diagnosis considering she had no risk factors for the condition , according to a new report of the case .
Indeed , it 's believed to be the first `` locally acquired '' case of the disease in Australia , that is , in someone who had n't traveled out of the country , the report said .
The 25-year-old woman went to the hospital after experiencing headaches for a week , according to the report , published Sept. 21 in The American Journal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ did n't go away when she took painkillers , which usually cured her headaches , and her vision became blurry at times .
An MRI of her head revealed a single brain lesion , which doctors suspected was either a brain abscess or tumor .
But when doctors performed brain surgery to remove the lesion , they got a surprise .
The lesion was really a cyst , and it was n't made of human tissue .
Further tests revealed that the cyst contained .
The woman was diagnosed with , a parasitic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ microscopic eggs from a pork tapeworm ( Taenia solium ) .
Read more : Woman 's odd headache was from tapeworm larvae in her brain • Earth from Above : 101 Stunning Images from Orbit • From Big Bang to Present : Snapshots of Our Universe Through Time

Each week at Live Science we find the most interesting and informative articles we can. Along the way, we uncover some amazing and cool images. Here you'll discover the most incredible photos we found this week, and the remarkable stories behind them.
Gargantuan "growlers"
(Image credit: RAF)
In July 2017, a gargantuan iceberg spanning five times the area of New York's five boroughs snapped off the coast of Antarctica and began to drift northward.
Though its edges have crumbled considerably since then, the iceberg — named A-68a — is still the largest on Earth , and it's currently barreling toward an island wildlife refuge in the South Atlantic Ocean. New aerial footage taken by the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force (RAF) reveals just what that island might be up against.
For starters, the RAF footage really drives home how massive this ice giant is. (As of early April, A-68a measured about 2,000 square miles, or 5,100 square kilometers, in area, Live Science previously reported ). The berg's steep walls tower 100 feet (30 meters) above the sea, according to RAF News , and are gouged with tunnels, fissures and caves. Huge chunks of ice, or "growlers," are rapidly cracking off on all sides, leaving behind a trail of debris that could impede boat traffic in the future.
[Read more: World's largest iceberg still barreling toward penguin habitat, new footage confirms ]
Clear head, nine arms, can't lose
(Image credit: Kyodo News via Getty Images)
A nine-armed octopus caught off Japan's coast nearly ended up being dinner, until the family preparing it noticed its extra limb and sent it to a museum instead, according to news sources. While unusual, this extra appendage — which wasn't fully formed, but a small offshoot on a regular arm — isn't unheard of in octopuses, said Michael Vecchione, an invertebrate zoologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., who was not involved with this octopus's discovery.
Octopuses are capable of regenerating their arms, but "sometimes regeneration doesn't work quite right," Vecchione told Live Science. "If an arm gets damaged, it might regenerate wrong; it could wind up with extra tissue growing out, and that extra tissue could turn into an arm."
The nine-armed oddity was caught in a trap with three other octopuses on Nov. 13 in Shizugawa Bay, in the northeastern town of Minamisanriku, Japan, according to The Mainichi , a Japanese newspaper.
[Read more: Rare 9-armed octopus found off Japan coast ]
The sound of a supernova
(Image credit: NASA)
In space, nobody can hear you scream — or explode, or collapse, or slowly collide with a neighboring galaxy. But now, thanks to a new " data sonification " program at NASA, you can at least get a sense of what some of the most extreme phenomena in the universe might sound like when converted to sound played by Earthly instruments.
To hear what that sounds like, we turn to NASA's Chandra X-ray center — which has been imaging distant galaxies with its Chandra X-ray observatory for 20 years now. In their new initiative, Chandra researchers have taken three iconic images from their archives and translated different frequencies of light into different pitches of sound.
The first video shows the crab nebula (a supernova remnant powered by a windy neutron star , shown above). In NASA's data sonification of the nebula, X-ray light (blue and white) is represented by brass instruments; optical light (purple) is played by string instruments; and infrared light (pink) is represented by woodwinds. The sounds converge near the center of the nebula, where a rapidly swirling pulsar is blasting gas and radiation in all directions. Listen to this cosmic symphony (and two others) at the link below.
[Read more: This is what a supernova sounds like, according to NASA ]
Pterosaur's missing cousin
(Image credit: Rodolfo Nogueira)
Nearly nothing is known about the family tree of pterosaurs — iconic reptiles that flew alongside the dinosaurs . These now-extinct beasts appear in the fossil record with already developed wings and senses adapted for flying, with researchers having nary a clue about their immediate evolutionary history.
But now, the pterosaur's family tree has a new branch; an enigmatic group of small reptiles, known as lagerpetids, might be the closest-known pterosaur relatives on record, the researchers of a new study say.
Unlike pterosaurs, however, lagerpetids did not fly. "Now, we have an idea of what a flightless pterosaur relative would look like," study co-researcher Sterling Nesbitt, an associate professor of geosciences at Virginia Tech, told Live Science.
[Read more: Missing link in pterosaur origins discovered ]
The changing face of ice
(Image credit: NOAA/Photo courtesy of Caitlin Bailey, GFOE, The Hidden Ocean 2016: Chukchi Borderlands)
From vanishing sea ice to blistering air temperatures to zombie fires , climate change is reshaping the Arctic. And that transformation may be permanent, researchers said on Tuesday (Dec. 8) at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU).
The Arctic has warmed and melted at an alarmingly accelerating pace over the last 15 years, and the impacts are accumulating so rapidly that "there's no reason to think that in 30 years anything will be as it is today," Rick Thoman, an Alaska climate specialist with the International Arctic Research Center (IARC) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), said at the conference, held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on Tuesday.
This year's news was not good: June snow cover across the Eurasian Arctic was at its lowest in 54 years; coastal permafrost erosion is increasing; and glaciers and ice sheets in Greenland continued a trend "of significant ice loss," according to the report.
[Read more: Dramatic transformation of the Arctic landscape may be permanent ]
Starship down
(Image credit: SpaceX)
SpaceX's Starship spaceflight system just took a big step on its path to Mars. The latest Starship prototype, a shiny silver vehicle known as SN8, launched on an epic high-altitude test flight on Dec. 9, taking off at 5:45 p.m. EST from SpaceX's facility near the South Texas village of Boca Chica.
The goal was to soar about 7.8 miles (12.5 kilometers) into the sky, perform some complex aerial maneuvers — including a "belly flop" like the one the final Starship will perform when coming back to Earth on operational flights — and then land safely near the launch stand. The 165-foot-tall (50 meters) SN8 appeared to notch all of these big milestones, except for the final one: The vehicle hit its landing mark but came in too fast, exploding in a dramatic fireball 6 minutes and 42 seconds after liftoff.
SN8's rapid unplanned disassembly did nothing to dampen the spirits of SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk, who was thrilled by the results of today's flight.
[Read more: SpaceX's Starship SN8 prototype soars on epic test launch, with explosive landing ]
Amazonian universe
Billions of lasers shot from a helicopter flying over the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest have detected a vast network of long-abandoned circular and rectangular-shaped villages dating from 1300 to 1700, a new study finds.
The round villages all had remarkably similar layouts, with elongated mounds circling a central plaza, like marks on a clock. "These latter elongated mounds, when seen from above, look like the rays of the sun, which gives them the common name of 'Sóis,'" the Portuguese word for "suns," the researchers wrote in the study.
The discovery is part of a new archaeological focus on the pre-Columbian Amazon. Within the past 20 years, researchers have learned that the rainforest's southern rim was home to a great diversity of soil-sculpting cultures that engineered the landscape before the Europeans arrived. Within the past decade, scientists have uncovered the remnants of so-called "mound villages," which are shaped as circles or rectangles, and connected by road networks.
[Read more: Archaeologists find vast network of Amazon villages laid out like the cosmos ]
The sky is falling
(Image credit: ESA)
Have you ever seen 40,000 shooting stars blaze across the sky at the same time?
If you'd like to, the European Space Agency (ESA) is offering you two options: Either stare at the night sky for about half a million years as our solar system drifts steadily through the Milky Way (some patience required) — or, watch a new 60-second time-lapse simulation of the same thing, courtesy of the ESA's Gaia space observatory.
In the new simulation, 40,000 stars — all located within 325 light-years of Earth's sun — whiz through space, leaving long trails of light behind them. Each point of light represents one real object in the Milky Way, and each shining trail shows that object's projected movement through the galaxy over the next 400,000 years. Brighter, faster streaks are located closer to our solar system, while dimmer, slower ones live much farther away.
[Read more: Epic time-lapse shows what the Milky Way will look like 400,000 years from now ]
Gold in the garden
(Image credit: © The Trustees of the British Museum)
A family in England was weeding their garden when they unearthed a valuable treasure — a buried hoard of gold coins dating back to the 1400s, depicting English monarchs from Edward IV to Henry VIII.
The hoard — a stash of 63 gold coins and one silver coin — contains money minted over a period of nearly 100 years, from the late 15th to the 16th centuries. Four of the coins feature Henry VIII and, curiously, one of the initials of three of his wives: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour.
Upon finding the cache, the family, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, a county in southeastern England, notified the British Museum, which runs the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS). This program partners with local people who find historical artifacts in the United Kingdom, so the findings can be documented and studied, the British Museum said in a statement Thursday (Dec. 10).
[Read more: Gold coin stash from time of Henry VIII found in English garden ]
Enigma of the deep
(Image credit: Florian Huber/WWF)
Divers trying to remove old fishing nets from the Baltic sea have accidentally stumbled on a Nazi code-making machine. The Enigma machine, as it's called, looks a bit like a typewriter. In fact, the diver who found the device on the ocean floor initially thought that's what the artifact was, according to AFP . But the diving team, on assignment for the conservation group World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), quickly realized that they had something much stranger.
During World War II, Enigma machines were used to encode German military messages, in hopes of preventing Allied powers from learning about troop movements and other plans. The devices consisted of a keyboard and a series of rotors that did the encoding. The rotors substituted different letters for the ones typed in; different Enigma machines used between three and eight rotors, which moved independently after each keystroke so that the same initial letter typed into the machine would appear as multiple different letters in the final code.
The Enigma machine found by the WWF diving crew was at the bottom of the Bay of Gelting in northeast Germany. It had three rotors, making it the type used on warships, not U-boats. That suggests that the machine may have been tossed overboard in the final days of World War II, in an attempt to keep the technology out of enemy hands, historian Jann Witt of the German Naval Association told the DPA news agency.
[Read more: Nazi 'Enigma' machine found at the bottom of the Baltic Sea ]
Originally published on Live Science.