livescience--2020-12-11--Coronavirus outbreak: Live Updates

Coronavirus outbreak: Live Updates

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 , .
“ 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 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 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 .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ 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 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 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Times reported .
Several countries have already authorized Pfizer 's vaccine , including Canada , the United Kingdom and Bahrain .
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 , .
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 from the U.S. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 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 .
Canada has authorized Pfizer 's new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 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 .
`` 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 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 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 .
The U.K. 's Regulatory Agency is advising people with a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 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 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 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 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , '' 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 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the vaccination , he added .
`` One has to remember that even things like marmite [ a quintessential British food spread ] can cause unexpected severe allergic reactions.
” 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 from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) .
The documents were released on Tuesday ( Dec. 8 ) , two days before a meeting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which will vote on whether to recommend authorization of the vaccine in the U.S , .
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 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that even one dose provides some protection , the report said .
However , scientists do n'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 .
Overall , the vaccine was 52 % effective after the first dose and 95 % effective after the second dose , the report said .
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 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) 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 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 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 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) review published Tuesday ( Dec. 8 ) confirmed that Pfizer 's vaccine is safe and effective , according to The Washington Post .


livescience--2020-12-11--Army officer's secret journal could offer new clues about the UFO crash in Roswell in 1947

A long-hidden diary belonging to a U.S. intelligence officer has rekindled research into the Roswell Incident , the infamous in Roswell , New Mexico , that took place more than 70 years ago .
When a mysterious object slammed into the desert near the Roswell Army Air Field ( RAAF ) in July 1947 , Maj. Jesse Marcel , an RAAF intelligence officer , was sent to supervise collection of the debris .
A press officer at the RAAF issued a statement on July 8 describing `` the crash and recovery of ' a flying disc , ' '' which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But the next day , another army official told reporters that RAAF officers had recovered a weather balloon , not a flying saucer .
Newspaper photos showed Marcel posing with pieces of what appeared to be a shredded high-altitude weather balloon with a radar reflector .
But in the decades since , many have speculated about the military 's initial `` flying disc '' report , wondering if the wreckage was perhaps more unusual than the photos implied .
Recently , Marcel 's family revealed that he had kept a diary from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the crash , sparking a new investigation by the History Channel in `` Roswell : The First Witness , '' part of the network 's `` `` series .
`` The government claimed they had recovered a UFO — they had a press release about it , '' said Ben Smith , a former CIA operative and the show 's lead investigator .
`` No other government in the world has said 'We have a spacecraft , ' and then the next day there 's another press release that says , 'Never mind @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ' , '' Smith told Live Science .
The show revisits the Roswell crash site , incorporating aerial surveys and mapping , and using multispectral imaging to detect micro-depressions in the ground that could indicate where debris landed , Smith said .
But the central component of the new inquiry is a diary , which Marcel supposedly kept during the time of the Roswell crash , and which is now in the possession of his grandchildren .
Decades after the event , Marcel told an interviewer that he believed the object that crashed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ origins , in 1997 .
Analysis of the diary — and translation of its cryptic language — could reveal coded messages that Marcel wrote about the crash at the time that it happened , Smith said .
Interest in UFOs has n't waned since the Roswell Incident — if anything , recent evidence has amplified it .
In 2017 and 2018 , U.S. Navy pilots recorded three encounters with fast-moving UFOs ( also referred to as UAP , or unidentified aerial phenomena ) ; the Navy officially declassified the videos in April of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a former Pentagon official confirmed the existence of a federal agency that had been since 2007 , and which may still be active today .
But why do the events of Roswell still intrigue people ?
`` It 's the origin story of the UFO , the prospect of a government cover-up for alien contact , '' Smith said .
`` Science fiction already existed but things that passed to us through pop culture found their origins in government secrecy surrounding this strange sequence of events in 1947 , '' he said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . ''
Watch the three-part investigative series , `` `` on the History Channel , premiering Saturday ( Dec. 12 ) at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT .

Major Jesse Marcel, head intelligence officer at the Roswell Army Air Field, investigated and recovered some of the debris from the Roswell UFO site in 1947.
A long-hidden diary belonging to a U.S. intelligence officer has rekindled research into the Roswell Incident, the infamous UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico, that took place more than 70 years ago.
When a mysterious object slammed into the desert near the Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF) in July 1947, Maj. Jesse Marcel, an RAAF intelligence officer, was sent to supervise collection of the debris. A press officer at the RAAF issued a statement on July 8 describing "the crash and recovery of 'a flying disc,'" which many interpreted as evidence of alien contact. But the next day, another army official told reporters that RAAF officers had recovered a weather balloon, not a flying saucer.
Newspaper photos showed Marcel posing with pieces of what appeared to be a shredded high-altitude weather balloon with a radar reflector. But in the decades since, many have speculated about the military's initial "flying disc" report, wondering if the wreckage was perhaps more unusual than the photos implied. Recently, Marcel's family revealed that he had kept a diary from that period that might contain clues about the crash, sparking a new investigation by the History Channel in "Roswell: The First Witness," part of the network's " History's Greatest Mysteries " series.
Related: Flying saucers to mind control: 22 declassified military & CIA secrets
"The government claimed they had recovered a UFO — they had a press release about it," said Ben Smith, a former CIA operative and the show's lead investigator. "No other government in the world has said 'We have a spacecraft,' and then the next day there's another press release that says, 'Never mind, it was just a weather balloon'," Smith told Live Science.
Image 1 of 3 When military officials initially described the wreckage to the press, they called the object a “flying disc,” fueling speculation about its extraterrestrial origins. (Image credit: Roswell Daily Record) Jennifer Naso, a forensic document examiner, inspects Major Marcel's journal with the aid of a video spectral comparator. (Image credit: Photo by A+E Networks Copyright 2020) Major Jesse Marcel, head intelligence officer at the Roswell Army Air Field, investigated and recovered some of the debris from the Roswell UFO site in 1947. (Image credit: Universal History Archive/ Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The show revisits the Roswell crash site, incorporating aerial surveys and mapping, and using multispectral imaging to detect micro-depressions in the ground that could indicate where debris landed, Smith said.
But the central component of the new inquiry is a diary, which Marcel supposedly kept during the time of the Roswell crash, and which is now in the possession of his grandchildren. Decades after the event, Marcel told an interviewer that he believed the object that crashed in the New Mexico desert had extraterrestrial origins, Time reported in 1997. Analysis of the diary — and translation of its cryptic language — could reveal coded messages that Marcel wrote about the crash at the time that it happened, Smith said.
Interest in UFOs hasn't waned since the Roswell Incident — if anything, recent evidence has amplified it. In 2017 and 2018, U.S. Navy pilots recorded three encounters with fast-moving UFOs (also referred to as UAP, or unidentified aerial phenomena); the Navy officially declassified the videos in April of this year, Live Science previously reported . Also in 2017, a former Pentagon official confirmed the existence of a federal agency that had been secretly investigating UFOs since 2007, and which may still be active today.
But why do the events of Roswell still intrigue people?
"It's the origin story of the UFO, the prospect of a government cover-up for alien contact," Smith said. "Science fiction already existed but things that passed to us through pop culture found their origins in government secrecy surrounding this strange sequence of events in 1947," he said.
"It all starts in Roswell."
Watch the three-part investigative series, " Roswell: The First Witness " on the History Channel, premiering Saturday (Dec. 12) at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT.
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-12-11--Child's bones buried 40,000 years ago solve long-standing Neanderthal mystery

We do n't know whether it was a boy or a girl .
But this ancient child , a Neanderthal , only made it to about two years of age .
This short life , lived about 41,000 years ago , was uncovered at a famous archaeological site in southwestern France , called La Ferrassie .
The remains of several Neanderthals have been found there , including the most recent discovery , the child , known only as La Ferrassie 8 .
When the ancient remains were first found – most at various stages of the early 20th century – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ burials , with Neanderthals laying their departed kin to rest under the earth .
Nonetheless , in contemporary archaeology , doubts now swirl around the question of whether Neanderthals did indeed bury their dead like that , or whether this particular aspect of funerary rites is a uniquely Homo sapiens custom .
In part , the asking of these questions links back to the archaeological techniques and record-keeping used in the past , as the antiquated methods used by archaeologists and anthropologists from the early 20th century ( and even earlier ) mean @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in their findings .
With such a mystery on their mind , a team led by researchers from Le Centre national de la recherche scientifique ( CNRS ) and the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in France has now conducted a thorough re-evaluation of La Ferrassie 8 's ancient remains , which have now been kept in the museum for almost 50 years after being discovered between 1970 and 1973 .
`` The discovery and context of this skeleton has generally been regarded as poorly documented , but in fact this deficiency stems from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the information and materials from La Ferrassie related to the penultimate excavation phase ( 1968–1973 ) , '' the researchers write in their new paper .
`` Indeed , a huge amount of data remained unassessed prior to our current study . ''
In the new work , the researchers reviewed the notebooks and field diaries used by the original excavation team , as well as analysing La Ferrassie 8 's bones .
They also performed new excavations and analyses at the La Ferrassie cave shelter site where the child 's remains were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ approach suggests that – despite the substandard nature of previous research into La Ferrassie 8 's purported burial – the old conclusions were correct : the child was buried .
`` The combined anthropological , spatial , geochronological , taphonomic , and biomolecular data analysed here suggest that a burial is the most parsimonious explanation for LF8 , '' the authors explain .
`` Our results show that LF8 is intrusive within an older ( and archaeologically sterile ) sedimentary layer .
We propose that Neandertals intentionally dug a pit in sterile sediments @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . ''
In reaching this conclusion , the team confirmed that the well-preserved bones were laid to rest in an unscattered manner , remaining in their anatomical position , with the head raised higher than the rest of the body , even though the lay of the land was inclined at a different angle ( suggesting a contrived elevation by Neanderthal hands ) .
Further , there were no animal marks on them , which the team consider another probable sign of a prompt , intended burial .
Especially when compared to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the vicinity .
`` The absence of carnivore marks , the low degree of spatial disturbance , fragmentation , and weathering suggest that they were rapidly covered by sediment , '' the researchers explain .
`` We can not find any natural ( i.e .
non-anthropic ) process that could explain the presence of the child and associated elements within a sterile layer with an inclination that does not follow the geological inclination of the stratum .
In this case , we propose that the body of the LF8 child was laid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sediment . ''
It 's not the first study in recent times to claim new evidence of Neanderthals burying their dead , and it likely wo n't be the last .
The French team say it 's time today 's new-and-improved analytical standards were brought to bear on the varying skeletal remains of La Ferrassie 1 through to 7 , giving us an updated assessment of how they too were interred .
Then , maybe , with all said and done , these very old souls might finally get some rest .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This article was originally published by ScienceAlert .
Read the original article here .

We don't know whether it was a boy or a girl. But this ancient child, a Neanderthal, only made it to about two years of age.
This short life, lived about 41,000 years ago, was uncovered at a famous archaeological site in southwestern France, called La Ferrassie. The remains of several Neanderthals have been found there, including the most recent discovery, the child, known only as La Ferrassie 8.
When the ancient remains were first found – most at various stages of the early 20th century – archaeologists had assumed the skeletons represented intentional burials, with Neanderthals laying their departed kin to rest under the earth.
Nonetheless, in contemporary archaeology, doubts now swirl around the question of whether Neanderthals did indeed bury their dead like that, or whether this particular aspect of funerary rites is a uniquely Homo sapiens custom.
In part, the asking of these questions links back to the archaeological techniques and record-keeping used in the past, as the antiquated methods used by archaeologists and anthropologists from the early 20th century (and even earlier) mean we can't always be entirely confident in their findings.
With such a mystery on their mind, a team led by researchers from Le Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) and the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in France has now conducted a thorough re-evaluation of La Ferrassie 8's ancient remains, which have now been kept in the museum for almost 50 years after being discovered between 1970 and 1973.
"The discovery and context of this skeleton has generally been regarded as poorly documented, but in fact this deficiency stems from a lack of the necessary processing of the information and materials from La Ferrassie related to the penultimate excavation phase (1968–1973)," the researchers write in their new paper.
"Indeed, a huge amount of data remained unassessed prior to our current study."
In the new work, the researchers reviewed the notebooks and field diaries used by the original excavation team, as well as analysing La Ferrassie 8's bones. They also performed new excavations and analyses at the La Ferrassie cave shelter site where the child's remains were found.
The results of their multi-disciplinary approach suggests that – despite the substandard nature of previous research into La Ferrassie 8's purported burial – the old conclusions were correct: the child was buried.
"The combined anthropological, spatial, geochronological, taphonomic, and biomolecular data analysed here suggest that a burial is the most parsimonious explanation for LF8," the authors explain.
"Our results show that LF8 is intrusive within an older (and archaeologically sterile) sedimentary layer. We propose that Neandertals intentionally dug a pit in sterile sediments in which the LF8 child was laid."
In reaching this conclusion, the team confirmed that the well-preserved bones were laid to rest in an unscattered manner, remaining in their anatomical position, with the head raised higher than the rest of the body, even though the lay of the land was inclined at a different angle (suggesting a contrived elevation by Neanderthal hands).
Further, there were no animal marks on them, which the team consider another probable sign of a prompt, intended burial. Especially when compared to the weathered state of various animal remains found in the vicinity.
"The absence of carnivore marks, the low degree of spatial disturbance, fragmentation, and weathering suggest that they were rapidly covered by sediment," the researchers explain.
"We cannot find any natural (i.e. non-anthropic) process that could explain the presence of the child and associated elements within a sterile layer with an inclination that does not follow the geological inclination of the stratum. In this case, we propose that the body of the LF8 child was laid in a pit dug into the sterile sediment."
It's not the first study in recent times to claim new evidence of Neanderthals burying their dead, and it likely won't be the last.
The French team say it's time today's new-and-improved analytical standards were brought to bear on the varying skeletal remains of La Ferrassie 1 through to 7, giving us an updated assessment of how they too were interred.
Then, maybe, with all said and done, these very old souls might finally get some rest.
The findings are reported in Scientific Reports.
This article was originally published by ScienceAlert. Read the original article here.


livescience--2020-12-11--World's largest iceberg still barreling toward penguin habitat, new footage confirms

In July 2017 , a gargantuan spanning five times the area of New York 's five boroughs snapped off the coast of and began to drift northward .
Though its edges have crumbled considerably since then , the iceberg — named A-68a — is still the , 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 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ early April , A-68a measured about 2,000 square miles , or 5,100 square kilometers , in area , ) .
The berg 's steep walls tower 100 feet ( 30 meters ) above the sea , , 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 .
( The waters are occasionally used by both fishery vehicles and pleasure cruises @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Of greater concern to scientists , however , is how deep the iceberg 's keel dips below the ocean 's surface .
When A-68a broke away from the Larsen C Ice Shelf three years ago , its bottom-most point was measured at more than 650 feet ( 200 m ) below the surface , BBC wrote .
It 's possible that the iceberg has shrunken vertically as well as horizontally since then , though the RAF mission did n't immediately reveal any insights there .
The iceberg 's depth matters as the behemoth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a British overseas territory that 's home to millions of , , seabirds and migrating whales .
If A-68a becomes grounded on the seafloor near South Georgia 's coast , it could create a deadly obstruction between the animals and their usual feeding grounds .
`` The actual distance [ the animals ] have to travel to find food ( fish and krill ) really matters , '' Geraint Tarling , an ecologist with the British Antarctic Society , .
`` If they have to do a big detour , it means they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their young in time to prevent them starving to death in the interim . ''
It 's still possible that A-68a will float harmlessly around South Georgia 's coast before drifting further northward — however , the RAF said , it still looks to be on course for a direct hit .
The berg is about 90 miles ( 150 km ) away from the island , and could make landfall by the end of December , the BBC said .

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. (The waters are occasionally used by both fishery vehicles and pleasure cruises, according to the BBC ).
Related: Images of melt: Earth's vanishing ice
Of greater concern to scientists, however, is how deep the iceberg's keel dips below the ocean's surface. When A-68a broke away from the Larsen C Ice Shelf three years ago, its bottom-most point was measured at more than 650 feet (200 m) below the surface, BBC wrote. It's possible that the iceberg has shrunken vertically as well as horizontally since then, though the RAF mission didn't immediately reveal any insights there.
The iceberg as seen by the ESA's Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellite. South Georgia island is on the right. (Image credit: ESA)
The iceberg's depth matters as the behemoth bears down on South Georgia island – a British overseas territory that's home to millions of penguins , seals , seabirds and migrating whales. If A-68a becomes grounded on the seafloor near South Georgia's coast, it could create a deadly obstruction between the animals and their usual feeding grounds.
"The actual distance [the animals] have to travel to find food (fish and krill) really matters," Geraint Tarling, an ecologist with the British Antarctic Society, said in a statement . "If they have to do a big detour, it means they're not going to get back to their young in time to prevent them starving to death in the interim."
It's still possible that A-68a will float harmlessly around South Georgia's coast before drifting further northward — however, the RAF said, it still looks to be on course for a direct hit. The berg is about 90 miles (150 km) away from the island, and could make landfall by the end of December, the BBC said.
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-12-11--COVID-19 vaccines: The new technology that made them possible

Days before her 91st birthday , Margaret Keenan became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine outside of clinical trials .
Keenan , who was sporting a polka-dot cardigan over a festive shirt , was given the first dose of a two-dose vaccine at the University Hospital Coventry in England , setting off the first mass vaccination effort against a virus that has now infected at least 70 million people worldwide and killed 1.5 million .
An 81-year-old named William Shakespeare was next in line for the vaccine .
Keenan and Shakespeare are also the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ setting , to be given a vaccine that harnesses `` mRNA '' technology .
This relatively new tech , which relies on a synthetic strand of genetic code called messenger RNA ( mRNA ) to prime the immune system , had not yet been approved for any previous vaccine in the world .
But the COVID-19 pandemic served as an unexpected proof of concept for mRNA vaccines , which , experts told Live Science , have the potential to dramatically reshape vaccine production in the future .
In fact , two COVID-19 vaccines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 95 % and 94.1 % effective , respectively , at preventing an infection with the novel coronavirus causing COVID-19 .
On Thursday ( Dec. 10 ) , a panel of experts voted and recommended that the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) grant emergency approval to Pfizer 's vaccine , or permission for it to be distributed prior to full approval under emergency situations like a pandemic .
The panel is set to assess Moderna 's vaccine on Dec. 17 .
Healthcare workers and vulnerable individuals in the U.S. could receive the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
COVID-19 has really `` laid the foundation '' for rapid production of new vaccines , such as mRNA vaccines , to fight future pathogens , said Maitreyi Shivkumar , a virologist and senior lecturer in molecular biology at De Montfort University in Leicester , England .
`` With the technology that we 've developed for SARS-CoV-2 , we can very easily transfer that to other emerging pathogens . ''
Here 's how mRNA vaccines work , and why they could make such a difference for vaccine development .
Cells store DNA that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ When a cell needs to make a protein , it copies the appropriate instructions onto a messenger RNA molecule — a single strand of genetic material .
A cellular machine called a ribosome then runs along this code , reads it , and shoots out the correct building blocks to make the protein .
Proteins are the essential workers of the body , forming the structure of cells , making tissue , fueling chemical reactions and sending messages : Without them , everything would shut down .
Around three decades ago , scientists @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the lab , deliver it into human cells and use the body to make any protein they wanted , such as proteins that could help fight a range of diseases in the body from cancers to respiratory illnesses .
In 1990 , researchers at the University of Wisconsin and biotech company Vical Incorporated figured out how to make mRNA that could direct mice cells to create proteins , .
In the 1990s , Hungarian-born scientist Katalin Karikó started building on this work , but ran into major roadblocks , the biggest being that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ foreign and destroy it , sometimes even creating a dangerous inflammatory response .
A decade later , while working at the University of Pennsylvania , Karikó and her collaborator Dr. Drew Weissman , figured out that they could create an invisibility cloak for synthetic mRNA by swapping out a piece of the mRNA code for a slightly altered one , .
That tiny edit allowed synthetic mRNA to slip right into cells without rousing the immune system , a finding that the researchers published in multiple papers starting in 2005 , according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attention of two key scientists : one who later helped found Moderna and another who helped found BioNTech .
Neither company initially set out to develop mRNA vaccines against infectious diseases , but eventually started to expand into that field with mRNA flu , cytomegalovirus and Zika virus vaccines in development or clinical trials .
But then a deadly virus presented a unique opportunity to test , in large groups of people , just how powerful the technology could be .
On Jan. 10 , Chinese researchers first published the genetic sequence of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; within a week , Weissman and his team at the University of Pennsylvania were already developing synthetic mRNA against the virus and both Moderna and Pfizer licensed this team 's formulation from The University of Pennsylvania , according to a perspective posted on Sep. 3 in the journal .
Within 66 days of the sequence being published , Moderna , in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases , developed a vaccine and kickstarted the first U.S. clinical trial to test it against COVID-19 .
Five of the vaccines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; though they are made from different recipes , they use the same underlying concept .
Both Moderna 's and Pfizer 's vaccines are made up of synthetic mRNA that carries the code for the spike protein .
The mRNA is enveloped inside a fatty nanoparticle that acts as a Trojan horse , infiltrating human cells and delivering the spike-building instructions without awakening the immune system .
Once cells have gotten hold of the mRNA , they create the spike protein , which in turn triggers the immune system to produce an arsenal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and thus protect the body against SARS-CoV-2 .
The vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer are likely so successful because they 're `` mimicking a viral infection , '' by activating two major immune responses in the body , said Dr. Otto Yang , a professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases and of microbiology , immunology , and molecular genetics at the University of California , Los Angeles .
The better-known response involves antibodies : The cells expel the spike proteins they make ; these trigger the immune system to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Live Science .
Antibodies are found in blood , tissues and fluids — but they ca n't access a virus that 's already inside the cell , `` so the immune system evolved a way to deal with that , '' Yang said .
That response involves killer T cells , also known as CD8 T cells .
These killers scan cell surfaces — cells display small pieces of all the proteins they make on their surface — and destroy the ones that are infected by a virus .
SARS-CoV-2 vaccines can also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cells : after the mRNA prompts cells to make the spike protein , cells display processed fragments of it on its surface .
This gives mRNA vaccines an advantage over more traditional vaccines such as those for flu or rabies , that are made from killed versions of the actual pathogen or their target proteins .
Killed virus vaccines ca n't get into cells , so they trigger antibodies but not the killer T-cell response , Yang said .
But mRNA vaccines are n't the only ones that trigger both these immune responses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ made from a weakened cold virus called an adenovirus that infects chimpanzees , also does , Yang said .
This adenovirus is genetically modified to not be able to replicate in the body and to include the genetic code for the spike protein .
These vaccines also prompt the cells to create the proteins themselves , rather than providing already-made ones ; and because the cells make the proteins , they display fragments of them on their surfaces .
Vaccines like the Oxford vaccine also show great promise in the future of vaccine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And such vector vaccines have been studied extensively when compared to mRNA vaccines , according to the JAMA perspective .
But the Oxford vaccine , developed with AstraZeneca , showed less efficacy than the mRNA vaccines did ; in late-stage clinical trials , the Oxford vaccine was 62 % effective at protecting against COVID-19 in participants who were given two full doses and 90 % effective at protecting those who were first given a half dose and then a full dose , according to findings published on Dec. 8 in the journal .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ but one major possibility is that the Oxford vaccine could be overwhelming the immune system when people are given an initial full dose .
In addition to the spike protein , the adenovirus also has its own proteins .
Because all of these proteins are foreign to the body , the immune system creates defenses against all of them .
`` There 's no way that the immune system has any sort of guidance that 'OK , I 'm only supposed to make a response against spike , ' '' Yang said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ vaccines are more targeted , telling the immune system to respond only to the spike protein .
But before we can say that mRNA vaccines are fundamentally better than other options , Yang said , scientists need to see detailed data from the trials , rather than gleaning information from `` snippets from press releases . ''
It 's also not yet known how long mRNA vaccine-induced immune responses will last .
That being said , mRNA vaccines are the `` first technology that allows us to [ make killer T cell responses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , '' Yang said .
Though rare , live but weakened virus vaccines have a slight risk of causing a more serious disease , whereas mRNA vaccines , as far as we know , do not , he added .
mRNA vaccines do not integrate into our DNA ( the DNA is stored in a cell 's inner core called the nucleus , a place that the synthetic mRNA does n't go ) and the mRNA generally degrades after a few days , Shivkumar said .
In the first day that Pfizer 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , two people who had a history of severe allergic reactions had anaphylaxis-like symptoms , prompting the U.K. 's regulatory agency to warn people with severe allergies to avoid getting that particular vaccine .
But experts say the general population should n't be anxious about getting this vaccine and it is n't totally unexpected as allergic reactions can occur with a number of vaccines , .
`` I do not believe that mRNA vaccines pose any significant greater chance of a severe allergic reaction than other vaccines , '' said Justin Richner , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ microbiology and immunology at the University of Illinois ( who previously , as a postdoctoral fellow , collaborated with Moderna on their as-of-yet unapproved mRNA vaccine to fight the Zika virus ) , noting that the safety data from the mRNA vaccine trials looked very similar to other vaccines .
`` If anything , I would predict that there is less likely to be an allergic reaction in the mRNA vaccines as the production does not require eggs like other vaccines , '' he said .
( Most flu-vaccines are made using eggs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protein , according to the CDC ) .
Another huge advantage of mRNA vaccines is how quickly and easily they can be developed .
`` The beauty of the mRNA platform is that you can easily swap out the genetic code , '' Richner said .
In theory , if scientists know what proteins to target on a virus to stop it from infecting human cells , such as the spike protein for SARS-CoV-2 , they can use the same platform that was developed for other vaccines such as the COVID-19 vaccine and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spike protein with the code for the new protein .
The real problem lies in finding the correct target , Richner said .
Because scientists had previously conducted research on similar — those that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome ( SARS ) and Middle East respiratory syndrome ( MERS ) — they knew early on that the spike protein was probably the optimal target , Richner said .
But they may not get so lucky with other viruses , as previous failures , such as with HIV , have revealed .
mRNA vaccines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ develop , and in theory , scale up more easily when compared to traditional vaccines .
That 's because older vaccine technologies rely on growing the virus or the proteins in the lab , Shivkumar said .
Traditional vaccines are often grown in eggs or cells and then weakened or killed .
`` After obtaining knowledge of the pathogen , '' researchers can synthesize and have an mRNA vaccine ready for delivery in about a week , Richner said .
`` For traditional vaccine development , this process would take at a minimum @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' mRNA is a chemical that can be made in a factory setting ( such as in a test tube or tank ) `` relatively easily '' once a pipeline is established , Richner said .
`` Manufacturing is going to be a big advantage going forward . ''
Pfizer recently experienced production delays , but those delays are only `` because it 's the first time making an mRNA vaccine to this scale , '' he added .
Still , this easy genetic swap is n't a sole capability of mRNA vaccines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have this advantage .
`` The Oxford vaccine is more traditional , but it is , again , slightly sort of a jump from the traditional ones because it has the same backbone , '' Shivkumar said .
Prior to the pandemic , the group that was developing the Oxford vaccine was working on a vaccine against the coronavirus that causes MERS so `` they actually just swapped in the SARS-CoV-2 sequence into that same backbone , '' she said .
But with the adenovirus vector vaccines , scientists still have to rely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , growing an adenovirus in the lab .
Theoretically , mRNA vaccines can tackle any virus — and one day , might even be able to tackle multiple pathogens at once , according to the JAMA perspective .
But practically , we wo n't know how universal these vaccines can become when confronted with a variety of new viruses .
SARS-CoV-2 is `` not a particularly difficult virus , '' said Dennis Burton , a professor of immunology and microbiology at the Scripps Research Institute in California .
There will likely be `` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be better able to judge how universal RNA vaccines could be .
Still , there 's `` every chance '' mRNA can be truly revolutionary , but we need more information before we can be sure , he told Live Science .
Either way , no matter how quickly genetic information can be swapped in and out of mRNA vaccines , `` you ca n't skip all the safety data , '' Richner said .
The `` slowdown is always going to be the clinical trial , '' Richner said .
Despite their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ limitations .
For instance , right now , Pfizer 's mrNA vaccine must be stored at polar temperatures of minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit ( minus 70 degrees Celsius ) .
`` Especially in developing countries and countries where it 's impossible to have minus-80 freezers everywhere , I think it 's still not ideal , so you would still need to rely on the more traditional vaccines , '' Shivkumar said .
Moderna 's vaccine can be stored at freezer temperatures of minus 4 F ( minus 20 C ) .
The difference @ @ @ @ @ @ @ likely comes down to the recipe that the company used to make them ; the ultra-cold temperature may keep either the nanoparticle shell or the mRNA more stable , Yang said .
But if those mRNA vaccines could be stored and delivered at higher temperatures , with the impressive efficacy that they showed , `` I can imagine that they will sort of be a game-changer globally , '' Shivkumar added .
In the future , Pfizer may be able to improve their vaccine to be more stable at higher temperatures , Richner @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vaccines did n't produce a strong enough response compared to more traditional vaccines , Shivkumar said .
`` Because with the mRNA you use such low levels and it degrades so quickly , the amount of protein produced will be relatively lower than if you were to be given either a protein or an attenuated virus , '' she said .
But clearly scientists have figured out how to make mRNA stable enough to trigger a strong protective response .
While this would need to be checked with every pathogen , it 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , '' Shivkumar added .
`` It 's very exciting to have these mRNA vaccines , '' said Dr. Octavio Ramilo , the chief of infectious diseases at Nationwide Children 's Hospital , Columbus , Ohio .
But `` it will be good to have more than just one strategy , '' because you never know which one will stick , he said .
Not all platforms will necessarily work as well for every pathogen , especially since each virus might have a unique strategy to hide from the immune system , he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ understand how these vaccines will work in children and the elderly , Ramilo said .
Though many of the trials have included elderly participants , children have been absent .
Children can respond to vaccines differently than adults , Ramilo told Live Science .
Especially babies ' immune systems change `` dramatically in the first year , '' Ramilo said .
The flu virus tends to impact children and the elderly more severely than other age groups , Ramilo said .
But vaccines do n't work as well in those groups , he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ understanding how they work `` is going to be fundamental to leverage and to make them work in different situations , '' he added .
And if another new virus comes along years from now , we 'll hopefully have learned lessons from 2020 .
The pandemic served as a `` proof of concept '' that mRNA experts had been waiting for , Yang said .
The fastest vaccine developed to date prior to the COVID-19 pandemic was the Mumps vaccine , which took four years to develop and license it in 1967 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to develop the vaccine , the Ebola vaccine was the fastest ever tested in clinical trials — which took less than a year — during the Ebola outbreak across West Africa .
That is , until the world was faced with a deadly pandemic .
Just nine months into the pandemic , the fact that new vaccines are already finished clinical trials `` is pretty impressive , '' Yang said .
`` When you 're talking about a vaccine possibly being FDA-approved only a few months after it was first tried in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` I 'm not sure that it could actually be much quicker than this . ''

Days before her 91st birthday, Margaret Keenan became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine outside of clinical trials.
Keenan, who was sporting a polka-dot cardigan over a festive shirt, was given the first dose of a two-dose vaccine at the University Hospital Coventry in England, setting off the first mass vaccination effort against a virus that has now infected at least 70 million people worldwide and killed 1.5 million. An 81-year-old named William Shakespeare was next in line for the vaccine.
Keenan and Shakespeare are also the first humans, outside of a trial setting, to be given a vaccine that harnesses "mRNA" technology. This relatively new tech, which relies on a synthetic strand of genetic code called messenger RNA (mRNA) to prime the immune system, had not yet been approved for any previous vaccine in the world.
Related: Coronavirus live updates
But the COVID-19 pandemic served as an unexpected proof of concept for mRNA vaccines, which, experts told Live Science, have the potential to dramatically reshape vaccine production in the future. In fact, two COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna, are 95% and 94.1% effective, respectively, at preventing an infection with the novel coronavirus causing COVID-19.
Margaret Keenan, 90, is applauded by staff as she returns to her ward after becoming the first person in the U.K. to receive the Pfizer/BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 8, 2020. (Image credit: Jacob King - Pool / Getty Images)
On Thursday (Dec. 10), a panel of experts voted and recommended that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) grant emergency approval to Pfizer's vaccine, or permission for it to be distributed prior to full approval under emergency situations like a pandemic. The panel is set to assess Moderna's vaccine on Dec. 17. Healthcare workers and vulnerable individuals in the U.S. could receive the Pfizer vaccine as early as next week.
COVID-19 has really "laid the foundation" for rapid production of new vaccines, such as mRNA vaccines, to fight future pathogens, said Maitreyi Shivkumar, a virologist and senior lecturer in molecular biology at De Montfort University in Leicester, England. "With the technology that we've developed for SARS-CoV-2, we can very easily transfer that to other emerging pathogens."
Here's how mRNA vaccines work, and why they could make such a difference for vaccine development.
Tapping into a natural process
mRNA vaccines are inspired by basic biology.
Cells store DNA that holds coded instructions for making proteins. When a cell needs to make a protein, it copies the appropriate instructions onto a messenger RNA molecule — a single strand of genetic material. A cellular machine called a ribosome then runs along this code, reads it, and shoots out the correct building blocks to make the protein. Proteins are the essential workers of the body, forming the structure of cells, making tissue, fueling chemical reactions and sending messages: Without them, everything would shut down.
Around three decades ago, scientists realized that they could synthesize mRNA in the lab, deliver it into human cells and use the body to make any protein they wanted, such as proteins that could help fight a range of diseases in the body from cancers to respiratory illnesses. In 1990, researchers at the University of Wisconsin and biotech company Vical Incorporated figured out how to make mRNA that could direct mice cells to create proteins, according to Business Insider .
A cellular machine known as a ribosome runs along the strand of mRNA and shoots out the correct building blocks for the spike protein. (Image credit: Shutterstock)
In the 1990s, Hungarian-born scientist Katalin Karikó started building on this work, but ran into major roadblocks, the biggest being that the mice's immune system would deem synthetic mRNA foreign and destroy it, sometimes even creating a dangerous inflammatory response. A decade later, while working at the University of Pennsylvania, Karikó and her collaborator Dr. Drew Weissman, figured out that they could create an invisibility cloak for synthetic mRNA by swapping out a piece of the mRNA code for a slightly altered one, according to STAT News . That tiny edit allowed synthetic mRNA to slip right into cells without rousing the immune system, a finding that the researchers published in multiple papers starting in 2005, according to STAT News. These results caught the attention of two key scientists: one who later helped found Moderna and another who helped found BioNTech.
Neither company initially set out to develop mRNA vaccines against infectious diseases, but eventually started to expand into that field with mRNA flu, cytomegalovirus and Zika virus vaccines in development or clinical trials. But then a deadly virus presented a unique opportunity to test, in large groups of people, just how powerful the technology could be.
On Jan. 10, Chinese researchers first published the genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus on a preprint online; within a week, Weissman and his team at the University of Pennsylvania were already developing synthetic mRNA against the virus and both Moderna and Pfizer licensed this team's formulation from The University of Pennsylvania, according to a perspective posted on Sep. 3 in the journal JAMA .
Within 66 days of the sequence being published, Moderna, in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, developed a vaccine and kickstarted the first U.S. clinical trial to test it against COVID-19.
Five of the vaccines currently in clinical trials are mRNA vaccines; though they are made from different recipes, they use the same underlying concept.
Both Moderna's and Pfizer's vaccines are made up of synthetic mRNA that carries the code for the spike protein. The mRNA is enveloped inside a fatty nanoparticle that acts as a Trojan horse, infiltrating human cells and delivering the spike-building instructions without awakening the immune system. Once cells have gotten hold of the mRNA, they create the spike protein, which in turn triggers the immune system to produce an arsenal of cells to fight the spike protein and thus protect the body against SARS-CoV-2.
'Mimicking a viral infection'
The vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer are likely so successful because they're "mimicking a viral infection," by activating two major immune responses in the body, said Dr. Otto Yang, a professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases and of microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The better-known response involves antibodies: The cells expel the spike proteins they make; these trigger the immune system to create antibodies against them, Yang told Live Science. Antibodies are found in blood, tissues and fluids — but they can't access a virus that's already inside the cell, "so the immune system evolved a way to deal with that," Yang said.
Related: 14 coronavirus myths busted by science
That response involves killer T cells, also known as CD8 T cells. These killers scan cell surfaces — cells display small pieces of all the proteins they make on their surface — and destroy the ones that are infected by a virus. SARS-CoV-2 vaccines can also wave a warning flag for killer T cells: after the mRNA prompts cells to make the spike protein, cells display processed fragments of it on its surface.
This gives mRNA vaccines an advantage over more traditional vaccines such as those for flu or rabies, that are made from killed versions of the actual pathogen or their target proteins. Killed virus vaccines can't get into cells, so they trigger antibodies but not the killer T-cell response, Yang said.
But mRNA vaccines aren't the only ones that trigger both these immune responses; the University of Oxford vaccine, made from a weakened cold virus called an adenovirus that infects chimpanzees, also does, Yang said. This adenovirus is genetically modified to not be able to replicate in the body and to include the genetic code for the spike protein. These vaccines also prompt the cells to create the proteins themselves, rather than providing already-made ones; and because the cells make the proteins, they display fragments of them on their surfaces.
Vaccines like the Oxford vaccine also show great promise in the future of vaccine development, experts told Live Science. And such vector vaccines have been studied extensively when compared to mRNA vaccines, according to the JAMA perspective. But the Oxford vaccine, developed with AstraZeneca, showed less efficacy than the mRNA vaccines did; in late-stage clinical trials, the Oxford vaccine was 62% effective at protecting against COVID-19 in participants who were given two full doses and 90% effective at protecting those who were first given a half dose and then a full dose, according to findings published on Dec. 8 in the journal The Lancet .
It's not yet clear why, but one major possibility is that the Oxford vaccine could be overwhelming the immune system when people are given an initial full dose. In addition to the spike protein, the adenovirus also has its own proteins. Because all of these proteins are foreign to the body, the immune system creates defenses against all of them. "There's no way that the immune system has any sort of guidance that 'OK, I'm only supposed to make a response against spike,'" Yang said. On the other hand, the mRNA vaccines are more targeted, telling the immune system to respond only to the spike protein.
But before we can say that mRNA vaccines are fundamentally better than other options, Yang said, scientists need to see detailed data from the trials, rather than gleaning information from "snippets from press releases." It's also not yet known how long mRNA vaccine-induced immune responses will last. That being said, mRNA vaccines are the "first technology that allows us to [make killer T cell responses] without giving a whole live virus," Yang said. Though rare, live but weakened virus vaccines have a slight risk of causing a more serious disease, whereas mRNA vaccines, as far as we know, do not, he added.
mRNA vaccines do not integrate into our DNA (the DNA is stored in a cell's inner core called the nucleus, a place that the synthetic mRNA doesn't go) and the mRNA generally degrades after a few days, Shivkumar said.
In the first day that Pfizer's vaccine was administered to several thousand people, two people who had a history of severe allergic reactions had anaphylaxis-like symptoms, prompting the U.K.'s regulatory agency to warn people with severe allergies to avoid getting that particular vaccine. But experts say the general population shouldn't be anxious about getting this vaccine and it isn't totally unexpected as allergic reactions can occur with a number of vaccines, Live Science reported .
"I do not believe that mRNA vaccines pose any significant greater chance of a severe allergic reaction than other vaccines," said Justin Richner, an assistant professor in the department of microbiology and immunology at the University of Illinois (who previously, as a postdoctoral fellow, collaborated with Moderna on their as-of-yet unapproved mRNA vaccine to fight the Zika virus), noting that the safety data from the mRNA vaccine trials looked very similar to other vaccines. "If anything, I would predict that there is less likely to be an allergic reaction in the mRNA vaccines as the production does not require eggs like other vaccines," he said. (Most flu-vaccines are made using eggs so they can contain bits of egg protein, according to the CDC ).
The coronavirus invades human cells using spike proteins that line its surface. Coronavirus vaccines prompt the immune system to build up a defense against the spike proteins. (Image credit: Shutterstock)
Swap the code
Another huge advantage of mRNA vaccines is how quickly and easily they can be developed.
"The beauty of the mRNA platform is that you can easily swap out the genetic code," Richner said. In theory, if scientists know what proteins to target on a virus to stop it from infecting human cells, such as the spike protein for SARS-CoV-2, they can use the same platform that was developed for other vaccines such as the COVID-19 vaccine and just swap out the code for the spike protein with the code for the new protein.
The real problem lies in finding the correct target, Richner said.
Because scientists had previously conducted research on similar coronaviruses — those that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) — they knew early on that the spike protein was probably the optimal target, Richner said. But they may not get so lucky with other viruses, as previous failures, such as with HIV, have revealed.
mRNA vaccines are cheaper, easier and faster to develop, and in theory, scale up more easily when compared to traditional vaccines. That's because older vaccine technologies rely on growing the virus or the proteins in the lab, Shivkumar said. Traditional vaccines are often grown in eggs or cells and then weakened or killed.
"After obtaining knowledge of the pathogen," researchers can synthesize and have an mRNA vaccine ready for delivery in about a week, Richner said. "For traditional vaccine development, this process would take at a minimum one month and usually several months."
mRNA is a chemical that can be made in a factory setting (such as in a test tube or tank) "relatively easily" once a pipeline is established, Richner said. "Manufacturing is going to be a big advantage going forward." Pfizer recently experienced production delays, but those delays are only "because it's the first time making an mRNA vaccine to this scale," he added.
Still, this easy genetic swap isn't a sole capability of mRNA vaccines, as the adenovirus vector vaccines also have this advantage. "The Oxford vaccine is more traditional, but it is, again, slightly sort of a jump from the traditional ones because it has the same backbone," Shivkumar said. Prior to the pandemic, the group that was developing the Oxford vaccine was working on a vaccine against the coronavirus that causes MERS so "they actually just swapped in the SARS-CoV-2 sequence into that same backbone," she said. But with the adenovirus vector vaccines, scientists still have to rely on the slower biological processes, namely, growing an adenovirus in the lab.
Theoretically, mRNA vaccines can tackle any virus — and one day, might even be able to tackle multiple pathogens at once, according to the JAMA perspective. But practically, we won't know how universal these vaccines can become when confronted with a variety of new viruses. SARS-CoV-2 is "not a particularly difficult virus," said Dennis Burton, a professor of immunology and microbiology at the Scripps Research Institute in California. There will likely be "more severe tests and then you'll be better able to judge how universal RNA vaccines could be. Still, there's "every chance" mRNA can be truly revolutionary, but we need more information before we can be sure, he told Live Science.
Either way, no matter how quickly genetic information can be swapped in and out of mRNA vaccines, "you can't skip all the safety data," Richner said. The "slowdown is always going to be the clinical trial," Richner said.
Polar temperatures
A worker at the Italian company Desmon transports a refrigerator inside the company's industrial shed in southern Italy, on Nov. 19, 2020. Desmon is slated to produce the new transport and refrigerated storage system for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. (Image credit: Manuel Dorati/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Despite their promise, mRNA vaccines still have some limitations. For instance, right now, Pfizer's mrNA vaccine must be stored at polar temperatures of minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 70 degrees Celsius). "Especially in developing countries and countries where it's impossible to have minus-80 freezers everywhere, I think it's still not ideal, so you would still need to rely on the more traditional vaccines," Shivkumar said.
Moderna's vaccine can be stored at freezer temperatures of minus 4 F (minus 20 C). The difference in storage requirements between the two vaccines likely comes down to the recipe that the company used to make them; the ultra-cold temperature may keep either the nanoparticle shell or the mRNA more stable, Yang said.
But if those mRNA vaccines could be stored and delivered at higher temperatures, with the impressive efficacy that they showed, "I can imagine that they will sort of be a game-changer globally," Shivkumar added. In the future, Pfizer may be able to improve their vaccine to be more stable at higher temperatures, Richner said.
Related: The most promising coronavirus vaccine candidates
In the past, mRNA vaccines didn't produce a strong enough response compared to more traditional vaccines, Shivkumar said. "Because with the mRNA you use such low levels and it degrades so quickly, the amount of protein produced will be relatively lower than if you were to be given either a protein or an attenuated virus," she said. But clearly scientists have figured out how to make mRNA stable enough to trigger a strong protective response. While this would need to be checked with every pathogen, it's clear the technology has "definitely improved," Shivkumar added.
"It's very exciting to have these mRNA vaccines," said Dr. Octavio Ramilo, the chief of infectious diseases at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio. But "it will be good to have more than just one strategy," because you never know which one will stick, he said. Not all platforms will necessarily work as well for every pathogen, especially since each virus might have a unique strategy to hide from the immune system, he added.
It's also important to understand how these vaccines will work in children and the elderly, Ramilo said. Though many of the trials have included elderly participants, children have been absent. Children can respond to vaccines differently than adults, Ramilo told Live Science.
Especially babies' immune systems change "dramatically in the first year," Ramilo said. The flu virus tends to impact children and the elderly more severely than other age groups, Ramilo said. But vaccines don't work as well in those groups, he said. So having multiple platforms and understanding how they work "is going to be fundamental to leverage and to make them work in different situations," he added.
And if another new virus comes along years from now, we'll hopefully have learned lessons from 2020. The pandemic served as a "proof of concept" that mRNA experts had been waiting for, Yang said. The fastest vaccine developed to date prior to the COVID-19 pandemic was the Mumps vaccine, which took four years to develop and license it in 1967. Not counting the years it took to develop the vaccine, the Ebola vaccine was the fastest ever tested in clinical trials — which took less than a year — during the Ebola outbreak across West Africa. That is, until the world was faced with a deadly pandemic.
Just nine months into the pandemic, the fact that new vaccines are already finished clinical trials "is pretty impressive," Yang said. "When you're talking about a vaccine possibly being FDA-approved only a few months after it was first tried in a human that is amazingly fast."
"I'm not sure that it could actually be much quicker than this."
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-12-11--Why an Australian COVID-19 vaccine caused false-positive HIV tests

An Australian 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 .
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 .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which officials feared would undermine trust in the vaccine , the Times reported .
`` [ The vaccine ] was likely to work .
But we knew that we did n't want to have any issues with confidence , and this false-positive test may have caused some confusion and lack of confidence , '' Brendan Murphy , secretary of Australia 's Department of Health , .
The vaccine contained small fragments of an HIV protein , which helped stabilize the vaccine .
Some of the participants developed antibodies against these fragments , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 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 .
Trial participants had been informed that they might generate some antibodies to this portion of the vaccine , `` but it was unexpected that the levels [ of antibodies ] induced would interfere with certain HIV tests , '' the CSL statement said .
The Australian government plans to increase orders of other COVID-19 vaccines , including vaccines made by AstraZeneca @ @ @ @ @ @ @

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] was likely to work. But we knew that we didn't want to have any issues with confidence, and this false-positive test may have caused some confusion and lack of confidence," Brendan Murphy, secretary of Australia's Department of Health, told the BBC .
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.
Trial participants had been informed that they might generate some antibodies to this portion of the vaccine, "but it was unexpected that the levels [of antibodies] induced would interfere with certain HIV tests," the CSL statement said.
The Australian government plans to increase orders of other COVID-19 vaccines, including vaccines made by AstraZeneca and Novavax, the Times reported.
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-12-11--1,800-year-old altar to pagan god Pan hidden in a Byzantine church

Archaeologists in Israel have discovered an ancient altar honoring the Greek god Pan , the deity of flocks and shepherds , but whoever inscribed it botched the job .
The inscriber basically ran out of room — etching letters outside the altar 's rectangular frame and also shrinking letters toward the end , to make them fit .
`` The inscriber was no pro , '' Avner Ecker , project co-director and archaeologist at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan , Israel , , an Israeli newspaper .
Related : In Photos : Tomb of the Maccabees possibly found Archaeologists found @ @ @ @ @ @ @ while excavating a church .
The volcanic basalt altar dates to the second or third century , but it was repurposed as a support brick in the fifth-century church , largely built out of limestone and located in what is now the Banias Nature Reserve in northern Israel .
Whoever built the church apparently did n't want worshippers seeing a dedication to the god Pan , so the altar was turned around , possibly to debase and humiliate any pagans who still practiced `` old '' polytheistic beliefs , Adi Erlich , project @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Archaeology at Haifa University , said in a statement .
`` The wall is made of small simple stones and there 's this one great big stone , '' Erlich told Haaretz .
The dedication , written in Greek , likely composed by a pilgrim , says : `` Atheneon son of Sosipatros of Antioch is dedicating the altar to the god Pan Heliopolitanus .
He built the altar using his own personal money in fulfillment of a vow he made . ''
The archaeologists noted that the altar does n't just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Heliopolitanus Pan , '' a combination of the gods Pan and Zeus , who was popular among people in Antioch , located near what is now the Turkey-Syria border .
The pilgrim , `` Atheneon son of Sosipatros , '' likely traveled about 200 miles ( 320 kilometers ) from Antioch to reach the area , which is now just north of Golan Heights , Israel .
It stands just a stone 's throw from the popular Banias waterfall , a spot once called Paneas that was associated with the god Pan .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ back to the third century B.C.
, and a temple dedicated to Pan was completed there in about 20 B.C.
, according to The Times of Israel .
Later , the area became a key center of early Christianity , and a Byzantine church was built over the Pan temple in about A.D. 400 .
`` This site would have had tremendous significance for Christians of the Byzantine era , who believed that this is where Jesus told Peter , ' I give you the keys to the kingdom of Heaven , ' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a larger project to conserve archaeological sites located in areas protected by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority .

Whoever inscribed this altar went outside the rectangular box and shrank the letters, too.
Archaeologists in Israel have discovered an ancient altar honoring the Greek god Pan, the deity of flocks and shepherds, but whoever inscribed it botched the job.
The inscriber basically ran out of room — etching letters outside the altar's rectangular frame and also shrinking letters toward the end, to make them fit.
"The inscriber was no pro," Avner Ecker, project co-director and archaeologist at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel, told Haaretz , an Israeli newspaper.
Related: In Photos: Tomb of the Maccabees possibly found
Archaeologists found the altar lying sideways on the ground while excavating a Byzantine church. The volcanic basalt altar dates to the second or third century, but it was repurposed as a support brick in the fifth-century church, largely built out of limestone and located in what is now the Banias Nature Reserve in northern Israel. Whoever built the church apparently didn't want worshippers seeing a dedication to the god Pan, so the altar was turned around, possibly to debase and humiliate any pagans who still practiced "old" polytheistic beliefs, Adi Erlich, project co-director and archaeologist at the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at Haifa University, said in a statement.
"The wall is made of small simple stones and there's this one great big stone," Erlich told Haaretz.
The dedication, written in Greek, likely composed by a pilgrim, says: "Atheneon son of Sosipatros of Antioch is dedicating the altar to the god Pan Heliopolitanus. He built the altar using his own personal money in fulfillment of a vow he made."
The archaeologists noted that the altar doesn't just say "Pan," but "Heliopolitanus Pan," a combination of the gods Pan and Zeus, who was popular among people in Antioch, located near what is now the Turkey-Syria border.
The pilgrim, "Atheneon son of Sosipatros," likely traveled about 200 miles (320 kilometers) from Antioch to reach the area, which is now just north of Golan Heights, Israel. It stands just a stone's throw from the popular Banias waterfall, a spot once called Paneas that was associated with the god Pan. People worshipping Pan at this waterfall dates back to the third century B.C., and a temple dedicated to Pan was completed there in about 20 B.C., according to The Times of Israel . Later, the area became a key center of early Christianity, and a Byzantine church was built over the Pan temple in about A.D. 400.
"This site would have had tremendous significance for Christians of the Byzantine era, who believed that this is where Jesus told Peter, 'I give you the keys to the kingdom of Heaven,'" Erlich told The Jerusalem Post .
The excavation is part of a larger project to conserve archaeological sites located in areas protected by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-12-12--Flying fish: Real fish, but not really flying

In warm ocean waters around the world , you may see a strange sight : A fish leaping from the water and soaring dozens of meters before returning to the ocean 's depths .
Early Mediterranean sailors thought these flying fish returned to the shore at night to sleep , and therefore called this family of marine fish Exocoetidae ( in Latin , `` ex- '' means `` out of '' and `` koitos '' means bed ) , according to Steve N.G .
Howell 's book `` The Amazing World of Flyingfish '' ( Princeton University Press , 2014 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of flying fish , all of which tend to be cigar-shaped with long , wide pectoral fins on either side of their bodies .
Broadly speaking , there are two categories of flying fish : `` two-wingers , '' whose two large pectoral fins comprise most of the flying `` lift '' surface ; and `` four-wingers , '' which also have two enlarged pelvic fins in addition to the two long pectoral fins .
All flying fish have an asymmetrical , vertically forked tail ( a shape known as hypocercal ) , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bottom lobe of the fork , making it look sort of like a boat ’ s rudder .
These unusual fish range in length from about 6 to 20 inches ( 15 to 50 centimeters ) , or about one or two brick lengths .
Juvenile fish will begin `` flying '' once they reach about 2 inches ( 5 cm ) in length , according to biologist John Davenport 's 1994 review on flying fish published in the journal Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries .
Davenport proposes that these species of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' as a way to evade speed-swimmer predators such as the dolphinfish ( Coryphaena hippurus ) .
The fish 's eyes , particularly the cornea ( the pyramid-shaped barrier that protects their eyes ) , have evolved to enable the fish to see underwater as well as in the air , according to a 1967 study published in the journal Nature .
Flying fish are n't picky eaters but mainly dine on small crustaceans and fish , according to a report by the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency .
Flying fish soar at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The fish are so fast , that for decades , biologists could n't tell for sure if the fish were propelling themselves by flapping their pectoral fins and flying like a bird , or if the fish were using some unique method of propulsion .
It was n't until 1941 that scientists published high-speed photographs of flying fish in action in the journal Zoologica .
The photos showed that flying fish leap out of the water and glide , before propelling themselves back into the air .
Flying fish swim towards the surface @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1 meter ) per second ( which is 20-30 times their body length per second ) , beating their tail furiously and holding their pectoral fins tightly against their body .
When they erupt out of the water , they spread their enlarged fins and glide .
Related : How flying fish took flight ?
Fossils may tell us The longest flying fish glide ever recorded was a fish that soared for 45 seconds at an estimated speed of 30 km/h ( 19 mph ) , according to Guinness World Records .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2008 by a Japanese film crew traveling on a ferry in Kagoshima , Japan .
The farthest recorded flight distance of a flying fish is about 1,312 feet ( 400 m ) , according to Davenport 's 1994 review .
Flying fish can gain heights of up to 26 feet ( 8 m ) above the surface , and can perform consecutive glides , according to biologist Frank Fish 's 1990 review published in the Journal of Zoology .
When the fish splashes back down into the water at the end of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ super fast , picking up speed to produce enough thrust to lift out of the water again .
The fish may have up to 12 successive glides , Fish wrote .
Davenport and other fish experts suspect that flying fish would be unlikely to fly at temperatures lower than 68 degrees Fahrenheit ( 20 degrees Celsius ) , as cooler temperatures tend to impede the muscle function necessary to achieve the speeds necessary for launching out of the water .
Flying fish are not considered endangered or threatened , and are categorized as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources .
In recent decades , the fourwing flying fish ( Hirundichthys affinis ) has been at the center of an international dispute between the neighboring Caribbean island nations of Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago .
The fish is a commercially-targeted species in both countries .
Barbados has even adopted the slogan `` Land of the Flying Fish , '' in recognition of the fish 's long cultural and economic importance .
But a change in the fish 's migratory patterns , possibly due @ @ @ @ @ @ @ swimming more frequently in the waters surrounding Trinidad and Tobago , and commercial fishers from Barbados have followed .
Tobagonian fishers accuse Barbadians of overfishing in water that does n't belong Barbados , but `` as a traditional food source for Barbados , Barbados fishermen believe they have the right to catch the fish wherever the fish might be , '' researchers wrote in a summary of the conflict published in 2007 in the journal Marine Policy .
In 2006 , an arbitral case to settle the fishery dispute established each country 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by both nations .
Nonetheless , the conflict seems to persist , and the authors of the 2007 summary suggest that a negotiated agreement involving a limited access program and fishing quotas would be the best way to manage the fishery in the future .
• Watch how flying fish try ( unsuccessfully ) to evade fast-swimming predators in this video from BBC Earth .
• Here 's how to make the national flying-fish dish of Barbados , according to National Foods of the World .
• Read about flying fish in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Orleans .

The flying fish is an excellent in-air glider, but contrary to its name, the fish doesn't actually fly as a bird does.
In warm ocean waters around the world, you may see a strange sight: A fish leaping from the water and soaring dozens of meters before returning to the ocean's depths. Early Mediterranean sailors thought these flying fish returned to the shore at night to sleep, and therefore called this family of marine fish Exocoetidae (in Latin, "ex-" means "out of" and "koitos" means bed), according to Steve N.G. Howell's book "The Amazing World of Flyingfish" (Princeton University Press, 2014).
What are flying fish?
There are about 40 species of flying fish, all of which tend to be cigar-shaped with long, wide pectoral fins on either side of their bodies. Broadly speaking, there are two categories of flying fish: "two-wingers," whose two large pectoral fins comprise most of the flying "lift" surface; and "four-wingers," which also have two enlarged pelvic fins in addition to the two long pectoral fins. All flying fish have an asymmetrical, vertically forked tail (a shape known as hypocercal), with vertebrae extending into the longer, bottom lobe of the fork, making it look sort of like a boat’s rudder.
These unusual fish range in length from about 6 to 20 inches (15 to 50 centimeters), or about one or two brick lengths. Juvenile fish will begin "flying" once they reach about 2 inches (5 cm) in length, according to biologist John Davenport's 1994 review on flying fish published in the journal Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries. Davenport proposes that these species of fish evolved the ability to "fly" as a way to evade speed-swimmer predators such as the dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus).
Related: Flying fish evolved to escape prehistoric predators
The fish's eyes, particularly the cornea (the pyramid-shaped barrier that protects their eyes), have evolved to enable the fish to see underwater as well as in the air, according to a 1967 study published in the journal Nature.
Flying fish aren't picky eaters but mainly dine on small crustaceans and fish, according to a report by the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency.
Flying fish confused early mariners, who thought these odd swimming and flying creatures would return to shore at night to sleep. (Image credit: Getty images)
Flying fish don't actually fly; they glide
Flying fish soar at very high speeds above the water. The fish are so fast, that for decades, biologists couldn't tell for sure if the fish were propelling themselves by flapping their pectoral fins and flying like a bird, or if the fish were using some unique method of propulsion. It wasn't until 1941 that scientists published high-speed photographs of flying fish in action in the journal Zoologica. The photos showed that flying fish leap out of the water and glide, before propelling themselves back into the air.
Flying fish swim towards the surface at speeds of about 3 feet (1 meter) per second (which is 20-30 times their body length per second), beating their tail furiously and holding their pectoral fins tightly against their body. When they erupt out of the water, they spread their enlarged fins and glide.
Related: How flying fish took flight? Fossils may tell us
The longest flying fish glide ever recorded was a fish that soared for 45 seconds at an estimated speed of 30 km/h (19 mph), according to Guinness World Records. The record flight was caught on camera in 2008 by a Japanese film crew traveling on a ferry in Kagoshima, Japan. The farthest recorded flight distance of a flying fish is about 1,312 feet (400 m), according to Davenport's 1994 review.
Flying fish can gain heights of up to 26 feet (8 m) above the surface, and can perform consecutive glides, according to biologist Frank Fish's 1990 review published in the Journal of Zoology. When the fish splashes back down into the water at the end of a glide, it will immediately start swimming super fast, picking up speed to produce enough thrust to lift out of the water again. The fish may have up to 12 successive glides, Fish wrote.
Davenport and other fish experts suspect that flying fish would be unlikely to fly at temperatures lower than 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius), as cooler temperatures tend to impede the muscle function necessary to achieve the speeds necessary for launching out of the water.
Aerial view of two flying fish gliding above water. Flying fish have been known to "fly" to up 26 feet (8 m) above the water's surface. (Image credit: Getty images)
Fishing for flying fish
Flying fish are not considered endangered or threatened, and are categorized as a species of least concern by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
In recent decades, the fourwing flying fish (Hirundichthys affinis) has been at the center of an international dispute between the neighboring Caribbean island nations of Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. The fish is a commercially-targeted species in both countries. Barbados has even adopted the slogan "Land of the Flying Fish," in recognition of the fish's long cultural and economic importance.
But a change in the fish's migratory patterns, possibly due to global warming, has seen them swimming more frequently in the waters surrounding Trinidad and Tobago, and commercial fishers from Barbados have followed. Tobagonian fishers accuse Barbadians of overfishing in water that doesn't belong Barbados, but "as a traditional food source for Barbados, Barbados fishermen believe they have the right to catch the fish wherever the fish might be," researchers wrote in a summary of the conflict published in 2007 in the journal Marine Policy.
In 2006, an arbitral case to settle the fishery dispute established each country's maritime borders and was considered a victory by both nations. Nonetheless, the conflict seems to persist, and the authors of the 2007 summary suggest that a negotiated agreement involving a limited access program and fishing quotas would be the best way to manage the fishery in the future.
Additional resources:


livescience--2020-12-12--Ancient Egyptian hoard of counterfeit 'dirty money' unearthed

A shortage of silver caused by the collapse of leading Bronze Age civilizations around the eastern Mediterranean about 1200 B.C .
resulted in the original `` dirty money '' — several hundreds of years before coins had been invented .
The ancient counterfeiting was revealed by archaeologist Tzilla Eshel , then a doctoral student at the University of Haifa , who studied the chemical composition of 35 buried hoards of Bronze Age found at archaeological sites around Israel .
In eight of the hoards — dating from the time of the `` Late Bronze Age collapse , '' when the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ demises — had been deliberately debased , with cheaper alloys of copper substituted for much of the silver and an outer surface that looked like pure silver .
Because the hoards date back to the when the region , then known as , was ruled by ancient Egypt , the researchers think this deception originated with the Egyptian rulers , possibly to disguise the fact that their supplies of the precious silver widely used as currency were failing .
Related : Photos of ancient cult temple for worship of Canaanite storm god Baal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ own , and the precious metal had to be imported .
But the silver trade appears to have quickly come to an end when the nearby kingdoms started collapsing between about 1200 and 1150 B.C .
`` There was a shortage of silver , probably related to the Late Bronze Age collapse , '' Eshel told Live Science .
`` [ Counterfeiting ] continued after the Egyptians left Canaan , but they were probably the ones who initiated it . ''
Long before , probably in the kingdom of Lydia in western Asia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ silver was widely used as a currency throughout the ancient Mediterranean .
Originally , the precious metal was valued by its weight , either of cut scraps of silver and broken jewelry for small amounts or of entire ingots for larger amounts .
, too , was used as a means of exchange , but it was much rarer and more expensive in most regions , whereas silver was less expensive and much more common .
The research by Eshel and her colleagues , to be published in the January 2021 issue of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ debased silver hoards : one from Beit Shean in northern Israel and another from Megiddo , — a Canaanite city famed for several ancient battles , that gave its name as in the Christian bible to a mythical war at the end of the world .
Both hoards dated from the 12th century B.C.
, Eshel said , when Egypt 's New Kingdom had ruled Canaan by right of conquest for about 300 years .
The Beit Shean hoard of silver , which weighs about 5.5 ounces ( 157 grams ) , contained @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which had been alloyed with copper and other cheap metals .
The ingots had an enriched silver surface but a copper-rich core that may have been achieved by slowly cooling the ingot after it was melted and poured out .
The Megiddo hoard , which weighed 3.4 ounces ( 98 grams ) had an even lower amount of silver — around 20 % .
But the debasement had been disguised by the addition of the elemental metal arsenic , which gives a silvery shine to copper .
Both methods of silver debasement would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and knowledge to achieve , Eshel said .
`` They are both quite sophisticated methods , but it could have been that the arsenic [ method ] was easier . ''
Eshel suspects that the practice of debasing silver used as currency became accepted and then widespread as the shortage of silver continued in Canaan .
`` I think it may have started as a forgery or counterfeiting , and then maybe it became a convention over time , '' she said .
`` I do n't think you can produce silver-copper-arsenic ores @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one would notice , because it corrodes [ by turning green ] over time . ''
The ancient practice of cutting into silver ingots also appears at around the same time , and it may have been a way to check if the ingots were silver all the way through and not copper at their cores , she said .
Almost three centuries later , as new powers like the Neo-Assyrians , Persians and Greek colonies started to take control of the region , the raw silver used as currency regained its purity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the mid-10th century B.C.
, `` the silver was pure … signaling a previously unrecognized large-scale import of silver , '' the researchers wrote .
The reasons for the about 3,200 years ago in the eastern Mediterranean are hotly debated .
Economic disruptions , , volcanic eruptions , earthquakes and piracy have all been blamed for the sudden end of many powerful kingdoms in the region , including the collapse of the Hittite Empire in Anatolia , the end of the ancient Egyptian period of the New Kingdom , and the in Greece @

A shortage of silver caused by the collapse of leading Bronze Age civilizations around the eastern Mediterranean about 1200 B.C. resulted in the original "dirty money" — several hundreds of years before coins had been invented.
The ancient counterfeiting was revealed by archaeologist Tzilla Eshel, then a doctoral student at the University of Haifa, who studied the chemical composition of 35 buried hoards of Bronze Age silver found at archaeological sites around Israel.
In eight of the hoards — dating from the time of the "Late Bronze Age collapse," when the region's most powerful kingdoms suffered often-violent demises — had been deliberately debased, with cheaper alloys of copper substituted for much of the silver and an outer surface that looked like pure silver.
Because the hoards date back to the when the region, then known as Canaan , was ruled by ancient Egypt, the researchers think this deception originated with the Egyptian rulers, possibly to disguise the fact that their supplies of the precious silver widely used as currency were failing.
Related: Photos of ancient cult temple for worship of Canaanite storm god Baal
Canaan had no silver ores of its own, and the precious metal had to be imported. But the silver trade appears to have quickly come to an end when the nearby kingdoms started collapsing between about 1200 and 1150 B.C.
"There was a shortage of silver, probably related to the Late Bronze Age collapse," Eshel told Live Science. "[Counterfeiting] continued after the Egyptians left Canaan, but they were probably the ones who initiated it."
One of the Canaanite silver hoards found at Beth Shean in northern Israel was dated to the 12th century B.C. It contains ingots with a surface of silver around a copper-rich core. (Image credit: Courtesy Beth Shean expedition)
Debased silver
Long before coins were invented , probably in the kingdom of Lydia in western Asia Minor about the seventh century B.C., silver was widely used as a currency throughout the ancient Mediterranean.
Originally, the precious metal was valued by its weight, either of cut scraps of silver and broken jewelry for small amounts or of entire ingots for larger amounts.
Gold , too, was used as a means of exchange, but it was much rarer and more expensive in most regions, whereas silver was less expensive and much more common.
The research by Eshel and her colleagues, to be published in the January 2021 issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science , identified two of the earliest debased silver hoards: one from Beit Shean in northern Israel and another from Megiddo, — a Canaanite city famed for several ancient battles, that gave its name as Armageddon in the Christian bible to a mythical war at the end of the world.
Related: Biblical battles: 12 ancient wars lifted from the bible
Both hoards dated from the 12th century B.C., Eshel said, when Egypt's New Kingdom had ruled Canaan by right of conquest for about 300 years.
The Beit Shean hoard of silver, which weighs about 5.5 ounces (157 grams), contained ingots of only 40% silver, which had been alloyed with copper and other cheap metals. The ingots had an enriched silver surface but a copper-rich core that may have been achieved by slowly cooling the ingot after it was melted and poured out.
The Megiddo hoard, which weighed 3.4 ounces (98 grams) had an even lower amount of silver — around 20%. But the debasement had been disguised by the addition of the elemental metal arsenic, which gives a silvery shine to copper.
Both methods of silver debasement would have taken a considerable amount of work and knowledge to achieve, Eshel said. "They are both quite sophisticated methods, but it could have been that the arsenic [method] was easier."
Broken silver jewelry, scraps of silver and silver ingots were widely used throughout the eastern Mediterranean as a form of currency many centuries before the invention of coins. (Image credit: Ivgeni Ostrovski/Israel Antiquities Authority )
Late Bronze Age collapse
Eshel suspects that the practice of debasing silver used as currency became accepted and then widespread as the shortage of silver continued in Canaan.
"I think it may have started as a forgery or counterfeiting, and then maybe it became a convention over time," she said. "I don't think you can produce silver-copper-arsenic ores for over 250 years and that no one would notice, because it corrodes [by turning green] over time."
The ancient practice of cutting into silver ingots also appears at around the same time, and it may have been a way to check if the ingots were silver all the way through and not copper at their cores, she said.
Almost three centuries later, as new powers like the Neo-Assyrians, Persians and Greek colonies started to take control of the region, the raw silver used as currency regained its purity, according to the study.
From the mid-10th century B.C., "the silver was pure … signaling a previously unrecognized large-scale import of silver," the researchers wrote.
The reasons for the Late Bronze Age collapse about 3,200 years ago in the eastern Mediterranean are hotly debated.
Economic disruptions, droughts , volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and piracy have all been blamed for the sudden end of many powerful kingdoms in the region, including the collapse of the Hittite Empire in Anatolia, the end of the ancient Egyptian period of the New Kingdom, and the fall of the Mycenaean culture in Greece.
Originally published on Live Science.