livescience--2020-08-13--Should you ditch your gaiter as a face mask? Not so fast, scientists say.

Face masks play a critical role in helping to curb the spread of the novel , and could save tens of thousands of lives in the U.S. if everyone wore them in public , experts have said .
Yes , some face masks are more protective than others .
But that doesn ’ t mean wearing neck gaiters — stretchy pieces of fabric that people , especially runners , pull up to cover their nose and mouth — is worse than wearing no masks at all , as some have suggested .
These news articles were based on a study @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in which researchers tested a novel method for evaluating the effectiveness of face masks .
In other words , it was a study conducted to test a methodology .
However , the researchers did explore some mask effectiveness in a `` proof-of-principle '' test , to evaluate whether they could use this particular method to measure mask effectiveness .
To do that , they had a handful of participants try out multiple types of masks .
`` The mask tests performed here … should serve only as a demonstration , '' the authors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ variations are to be expected , for example due to difference in physiology , mask fit , head position , speech pattern , and such . ''
In this setup , a person wears a face mask and speaks in the direction of a laser beam set up inside a box that 's expanded to be a sheet of light — and the droplets that come out of their mouths and through the masks scatter light , which is detected using a cellphone camera .
A simple computer algorithm counts the droplets in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their method with 15 different face masks and face coverings ; one participant tried out all the masks and four tried a subset of the masks .
During each trial , the researchers had the participants say `` stay healthy , people , '' five times , and measured the number of droplets they emitted .
The authors found that the number of droplets that escaped through the masks varied greatly .
They did not see `` any appreciable droplet '' emission from the N95 respirator , for example , though those should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , co-author Martin Fischer , a chemist and physicist at Duke University in North Carolina , said at a today ( Aug. 13 ) .
The Duke team also tested a range of cotton masks and found that they blocked about 80 % of the droplets coming out of the mouth , Fischer said .
However , in this proof-of-principle setup , some masks seemed to allow more droplets through than others .
The gaiter mask produced 10 % more droplets than when the person did not wear a mask , according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this could be because the gaiter mask split the large droplets from the person 's mouth into smaller droplets , which increased their count .
That is `` somewhat concerning , '' as little droplets can hover in the air for longer and be easily carried away by air currents , Fischer said .
That being said , the gaiter was only tested on a single person , making it likely that differences between individual speakers would overwhelm any difference between masks that they noted .
What 's more , the researchers tested @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was very thin and made up of a mix of 8 % spandex and 92 % polyester ) .
The public should `` absolutely not '' use this as evidence that neck gaiters are worse than wearing no mask at all , Fischer said .
`` We tested one mask because we just had that mask lying around … there are plenty of other gaiters out there , '' some that could be more protective , he said .
Even the way people wear them can change how protective they are , he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worst epidemics and pandemics in history Some experts are n't convinced that this particular neck gaiter created more particles in the first place .
`` It 's unclear to me whether they actually measured respiratory droplets , '' said William Ristenpart , a professor of chemical engineering at the University of California , Davis who was not part of the study .
Instead , the Duke team may have measured dustlike particles of fabric that came from the masks .
`` Research from my group in peer review right now indicates that some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ confound mask efficacy measurements , '' Ristenpart told Live Science .
There 's still much we do n't know about face mask efficiency , and more tests are needed to pin that down , said study senior author Dr. Eric Westman , an associate professor of medicine at Duke University .
Though this study does n't prove anything about face masks such as gaiters , people should take a `` pause '' if they are using flimsy face coverings , such as a `` one-layer , spandex , polyester stretchy fabric that you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a candle through , '' Westman told Live Science .
Those types of masks will likely not be very protective , while a double-layered mask , for example , might be better , he noted .
Another study , published June 30 in the journal used a different method to evaluate the effectiveness of non-medical masks : a masked or unmasked mannequin connected to a fog machined .
This team found that without a mask , droplets could travel up to 12 feet ( 3.7 meters ) from the mannequin , but with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
These researchers found that a stitched cotton mask that fit snugly and had multiple layers reduced the spread the most , but a cone-style mask also worked well .
A single-layer bandana ( made from an elastic T-shirt material ) and a folded handkerchief were not as effective .
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) recently to warn against using masks with exhalation valves , which might protect the wearer of the mask , but not others , according to .
There are still more questions than answers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from this new study highlights that , `` just speaking can potentially spread this [ virus ] to other people , I do n't have to yell , I do n't have to sneeze or cough , '' Westman said .

Face masks play a critical role in helping to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus , and could save tens of thousands of lives in the U.S. if everyone wore them in public, experts have said.
Yes, some face masks are more protective than others. But that doesn’t mean wearing neck gaiters — stretchy pieces of fabric that people, especially runners, pull up to cover their nose and mouth — is worse than wearing no masks at all, as some recent news articles have suggested.
These news articles were based on a study published Aug. 7 in the journal Science Advances , in which researchers tested a novel method for evaluating the effectiveness of face masks. In other words, it was a study conducted to test a methodology. However, the researchers did explore some mask effectiveness in a "proof-of-principle" test, to evaluate whether they could use this particular method to measure mask effectiveness. To do that, they had a handful of participants try out multiple types of masks.
Related: Coronavirus live updates
"The mask tests performed here … should serve only as a demonstration," the authors wrote in the paper. "Inter-subject variations are to be expected, for example due to difference in physiology, mask fit, head position, speech pattern, and such."
In this setup, a person wears a face mask and speaks in the direction of a laser beam set up inside a box that's expanded to be a sheet of light — and the droplets that come out of their mouths and through the masks scatter light, which is detected using a cellphone camera. A simple computer algorithm counts the droplets in the recorded video. The researchers demonstrated their method with 15 different face masks and face coverings; one participant tried out all the masks and four tried a subset of the masks. During each trial, the researchers had the participants say "stay healthy, people," five times, and measured the number of droplets they emitted.
The authors found that the number of droplets that escaped through the masks varied greatly. They did not see "any appreciable droplet" emission from the N95 respirator, for example, though those should typically be reserved for health care workers, co-author Martin Fischer, a chemist and physicist at Duke University in North Carolina, said at a news briefing today (Aug. 13). The Duke team also tested a range of cotton masks and found that they blocked about 80% of the droplets coming out of the mouth, Fischer said.
However, in this proof-of-principle setup, some masks seemed to allow more droplets through than others. The gaiter mask produced 10% more droplets than when the person did not wear a mask, according to the study. The researchers hypothesize that this could be because the gaiter mask split the large droplets from the person's mouth into smaller droplets, which increased their count. That is "somewhat concerning," as little droplets can hover in the air for longer and be easily carried away by air currents, Fischer said.
"Absolutely not" evidence
That being said, the gaiter was only tested on a single person, making it likely that differences between individual speakers would overwhelm any difference between masks that they noted. What's more, the researchers tested a single neck gaiter (one that was very thin and made up of a mix of 8% spandex and 92% polyester).
The public should "absolutely not" use this as evidence that neck gaiters are worse than wearing no mask at all, Fischer said. "We tested one mask because we just had that mask lying around … there are plenty of other gaiters out there," some that could be more protective, he said. Even the way people wear them can change how protective they are, he added.
Related: 20 of the worst epidemics and pandemics in history
Some experts aren't convinced that this particular neck gaiter created more particles in the first place.
"It's unclear to me whether they actually measured respiratory droplets," said William Ristenpart, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of California, Davis who was not part of the study. Instead, the Duke team may have measured dustlike particles of fabric that came from the masks. "Research from my group in peer review right now indicates that some fabrics shed substantial numbers of particulates that confound mask efficacy measurements," Ristenpart told Live Science.
There's still much we don't know about face mask efficiency, and more tests are needed to pin that down, said study senior author Dr. Eric Westman, an associate professor of medicine at Duke University. Though this study doesn't prove anything about face masks such as gaiters, people should take a "pause" if they are using flimsy face coverings, such as a "one-layer, spandex, polyester stretchy fabric that you can easily breathe through and blow out a candle through," Westman told Live Science. Those types of masks will likely not be very protective, while a double-layered mask, for example, might be better, he noted.
Another study, published June 30 in the journal Physics of Fluids used a different method to evaluate the effectiveness of non-medical masks: a masked or unmasked mannequin connected to a fog machined. This team found that without a mask, droplets could travel up to 12 feet (3.7 meters) from the mannequin, but with a mask that distance dropped significantly, according to a previous Live Science report .
These researchers found that a stitched cotton mask that fit snugly and had multiple layers reduced the spread the most, but a cone-style mask also worked well. A single-layer bandana (made from an elastic T-shirt material) and a folded handkerchief were not as effective. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently updated their guidance to warn against using masks with exhalation valves, which might protect the wearer of the mask, but not others, according to another Live Science report .
There are still more questions than answers, but one of the major takeaways from this new study highlights that, "just speaking can potentially spread this [virus] to other people, I don't have to yell, I don't have to sneeze or cough," Westman said.
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-08-14--Depression and anxiety are skyrocketing in young adults amid pandemic

Anxiety , depression and suicidal thoughts are skyrocketing amid the COVID-19 pandemic , a new study suggests .
The study , from the , found that young adults were particularly prone to these increases .
The study researchers analyzed information from more than 5,400 U.S. adults ages 18 and older who completed an online survey in late June .
The percentage of Americans reporting symptoms of anxiety disorder increased about threefold and the percentage reporting symptoms of increased about fourfold , compared with levels seen in a survey conducted around the same period in 2019 , the study found .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ about 41 % of participants reported symptoms of at least one mental health condition ; with 31 % experiencing symptoms of anxiety or depression , 13 % initiating or increasing use of substances ( including alcohol or ) to cope wtih stress tied to the , and nearly 11 % reporting that they had seriously considered in the past 30 days .
The toll was particularly striking among adults ages 18 to 24 .
In this group , about 63 % reported symptoms of or depressive disorder , 25 % reported starting or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ % reported seriously considering suicide in the past 30 days .
For comaprision , in a , about 14 % of young adults reported an episode of major depression and 11 % reported serious thoughts of suicide in the past year .
The new findings `` highlight the broad impact of the pandemic and the need to prevent and treat these conditions , '' the authors wrote in their study , published Thursday ( Aug. 13 ) in the journal .
The study could not determine the reason for the rise in mental @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the pandemic , such as social isolation , school and university closures , unemployment and other financial worries , as well as the threat of the disease itself , may play a role , the authors said .
Future studies will be needed to determine the specific drivers poor mental health in the pandemic .
Why young adults seem particularly affected by the pandemic is not known .
After all , studies have found that young people are less likely to experience compared with old adults .
But older adults in the study @ @ @ @ @ @ @ symptoms : Among those ages 65 and older , 8 % reported experiencing symptoms of anxiety or depression , 3 % reported starting or increasing use of substances and 2 % reported seriously considering suicide in the past 30 days .
One idea is that people 's ability to accept uncertainty may be tied to their mental health response , according to .
`` Now there are so many questions , especially for young people , about relative risk , duration of the pandemic and what their futures will look like , '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ psychology researcher at Monash University in Melbourne , Australia , told the Times .
A longer life experienced may help older adults better tolerate these uncertain times .
There is an urgent need to address the mental health consequences of the pandmeic , such as through increased access to resources for diagnosis and treatment of mental health conditions and expanded use of telehealth , the authors said .
If you or someone you know needs help , contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK ( 8255 ) .

Anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts are skyrocketing amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study suggests.
The study, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) , found that young adults were particularly prone to these increases.
The study researchers analyzed information from more than 5,400 U.S. adults ages 18 and older who completed an online survey in late June.
Related: 7 ways depression differs in men and women
The percentage of Americans reporting symptoms of anxiety disorder increased about threefold and the percentage reporting symptoms of depressive disorder increased about fourfold, compared with levels seen in a survey conducted around the same period in 2019, the study found.
Overall, in the 2020 survey, about 41% of participants reported symptoms of at least one mental health condition; with 31% experiencing symptoms of anxiety or depression, 13% initiating or increasing use of substances (including alcohol or marijuana ) to cope wtih stress tied to the pandemic , and nearly 11% reporting that they had seriously considered suicide in the past 30 days.
The toll was particularly striking among adults ages 18 to 24. In this group, about 63% reported symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder, 25% reported starting or increasing use of substances, and 25% reported seriously considering suicide in the past 30 days. For comaprision, in a national survey conducted in 2018 , about 14% of young adults reported an episode of major depression and 11% reported serious thoughts of suicide in the past year.
The new findings "highlight the broad impact of the pandemic and the need to prevent and treat these conditions," the authors wrote in their study, published Thursday (Aug. 13) in the journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report .
The study could not determine the reason for the rise in mental health conditions, but factors relating to the pandemic, such as social isolation, school and university closures, unemployment and other financial worries, as well as the threat of the disease itself, may play a role, the authors said. Future studies will be needed to determine the specific drivers poor mental health in the pandemic.
Why young adults seem particularly affected by the pandemic is not known. After all, studies have found that young people are less likely to experience serious illness from COVID-19 compared with old adults. But older adults in the study had the lowest prevalence of mental health symptoms: Among those ages 65 and older, 8% reported experiencing symptoms of anxiety or depression, 3% reported starting or increasing use of substances and 2% reported seriously considering suicide in the past 30 days.
One idea is that people's ability to accept uncertainty may be tied to their mental health response, according to The New York Times . "Now there are so many questions, especially for young people, about relative risk, duration of the pandemic and what their futures will look like," study lead author Mark Czeisler, a psychology researcher at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, told the Times. A longer life experienced may help older adults better tolerate these uncertain times.
There is an urgent need to address the mental health consequences of the pandmeic, such as through increased access to resources for diagnosis and treatment of mental health conditions and expanded use of telehealth, the authors said.
If you or someone you know needs help, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-08-14--World-renowned climate scientist dies in ice accident in Greenland

Konrad Steffen , a world-renowned climate scientist , died at the age of 68 on Saturday ( Aug. 8 ) in an accident in Greenland .
Steffen , the Director of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest , Snow and Landscape Research , researched climate change for more than 40 years , focusing on its impacts on the Arctic and Antarctic , according to a statement .
His decades-long research in Greenland , specifically , confirmed that climate change is causing Greenland 's ice sheet to melt with increasing speed , according to The New York Times .
He died @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Swiss Camp '' that he had founded in Greenland 30 years ago .
Steffen had fallen into an ice crevasse and drowned in the deep water within it , according to the Times .
Researchers at the station told the Times that these crevasses were known hazards but high winds and recent snowfall made them hard to see .
Ryan R. Neely III , a climate scientist at the University of Leeds in England , who studied under Steffen , told the Times that crevasses used to be unheard of in that area @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the ice sheet and subsequent cracks .
“ In the end , ” he said , “ it looks like climate change actually claimed him as a victim.
” Steffen made a major impact on the field of climate science , and often brought his research on climate change to political leaders and the public , according to The Washington Post .
He returned to the camp , consisting of a lab hut and another hut for communal dining , each spring , according to the Post .
Sometimes the camp would collapse @ @ @ @ @ @ @ often construct most of it himself , according to the Post .
While there , he would only sleep three to four hours a night and often worked with bare hands in the frigid cold , according to the Post .
Steffen was born in 1952 and earned his doctorate from ETH Zurich in Switzerland in 1984 .
In 1990 , he became a professor of climatology at the University of Colorado in Boulder and served as the director of the university 's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences ( CIRES ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to direct the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest , Snow and Landscape Research .
As of 2012 , he was also a professor at ETH Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne , according to the statement .
`` I take some small comfort knowing he was where he wanted to be , doing what he wanted to be doing , '' the current CIRES director Waleed Abdalati , who earned his PhD under Steffen 's mentorship , said in a statement from CIRES .
Steffen `` always had a smile @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' according to the statement .
`` And it seemed , at times , like he could do anything : brief Congress , ford a meltwater river on a snowmachine , mesmerize journalists with tales of his time on the ice . ''

Konrad Steffen, a world-renowned climate scientist, died at the age of 68 on Saturday (Aug. 8) in an accident in Greenland.
Steffen, the Director of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, researched climate change for more than 40 years, focusing on its impacts on the Arctic and Antarctic, according to a statement. His decades-long research in Greenland, specifically, confirmed that climate change is causing Greenland's ice sheet to melt with increasing speed, according to The New York Times.
He died near a research station known as "Swiss Camp" that he had founded in Greenland 30 years ago. Steffen had fallen into an ice crevasse and drowned in the deep water within it, according to the Times. Researchers at the station told the Times that these crevasses were known hazards but high winds and recent snowfall made them hard to see.
Related: Photos: craters hidden beneath the Greenland ice sheet
Ryan R. Neely III, a climate scientist at the University of Leeds in England, who studied under Steffen, told the Times that crevasses used to be unheard of in that area, but warming had caused stresses on the ice sheet and subsequent cracks. “In the end,” he said, “it looks like climate change actually claimed him as a victim.”
Steffen made a major impact on the field of climate science, and often brought his research on climate change to political leaders and the public, according to The Washington Post.
He returned to the camp, consisting of a lab hut and another hut for communal dining, each spring, according to the Post. Sometimes the camp would collapse, and be rebuilt. Steffen would often construct most of it himself, according to the Post. While there, he would only sleep three to four hours a night and often worked with bare hands in the frigid cold, according to the Post.
Steffen was born in 1952 and earned his doctorate from ETH Zurich in Switzerland in 1984. In 1990, he became a professor of climatology at the University of Colorado in Boulder and served as the director of the university's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) from 2005 to 2012, before leaving to direct the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research. As of 2012, he was also a professor at ETH Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, according to the statement.
"I take some small comfort knowing he was where he wanted to be, doing what he wanted to be doing," the current CIRES director Waleed Abdalati, who earned his PhD under Steffen's mentorship, said in a statement from CIRES.
Steffen "always had a smile and a kind word to say," according to the statement. "And it seemed, at times, like he could do anything: brief Congress, ford a meltwater river on a snowmachine, mesmerize journalists with tales of his time on the ice."
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-08-15--Entire cities could fit inside the moon's monstrous lava tubes

Mars is pockmarked with absolutely massive lava tubes , with ceilings as high as the Empire State Building , new research shows .
And the moon hosts even more gargantuan tubes , with heights that dwarf Dubai 's Burj Khalifa , the world 's tallest building , and `` skylights '' as big as football fields .
These yawning , subterranean caverns , which are shielded from punishing solar radiation , could be used as sites for future human bases , scientists argue .
A lava tube is a tunnel under a world 's surface , formed by an intense @ @ @ @ @ @ @ On , they 're most easily spotted when they collapse , forming long furrows in the dirt .
Partial collapses sometimes form chains of `` skylights '' that reveal hidden lava tubes that are mostly intact .
Researchers have speculated that lava tubes might exist on Mars and the moon since the 1960s , but in recent years Martian and lunar orbiters have beamed home images showing how common these formations likely are , both on the Red Planet and on our moon .
Now , researchers argue in a new paper published @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's time to explore them in earnest .
Here 's why : These lava tubes are truly enormous , and might offer safer habitats than the lunar or Martian surfaces .
Related : 6 reasons astrobiologists are holding out hope for life on Mars '' The largest lava tubes on Earth are maximum [ about ] 40 meters [ 130 feet ] of width and height , '' said study co-author Riccardo Pozzobon , a geoscientist at the University of Padova , Italy .
`` So like a very large motorway tunnel .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ for some people to fit inside .
But on Mars collapsed lava tubes tend to be about 80 times larger than Earth 's , with diameters of 130 to 1,300 feet ( 40 to 400 m ) .
Lunar lava tubes seem to be still larger , the researchers found , with collapse sites 300 to 700 times the size of Earth 's .
Lunar lava tubes likely range from 1,600 to 3,000 feet ( 500 to 900 m ) .
A lava tube on the moon , Pozzobon told Live Science , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its walls .
The sheer scale of these extraterrestrial lava tubes is likely a result of low Martian and lunar gravity , as well as differences in how volcanoes operated on those bodies compared to Earth .
Related : The 10 most hazardous countries for volcanoes ( Photos ) To assess the size of lunar and Martian lava tubes , the researchers collected 3D laser scans of their counterparts — both collapsed and intact — on Earth .
Then they collected all the available satellite images of collapsed lava tubes on Mars and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the intact tubes based on the relationships between collapsed and intact tunnels on Earth .
Lava tubes make appealing human habitats for a number of reasons , including protection from meteors that do n't burn up as easily in the thin Martian and lunar atmospheres , the researchers wrote .
They also likely contain useful chemicals , like water ice and volatile chemicals that can be used to make fuel .
A thick layer of rock overhead can also , as , offer shielding against solar .
And skylights would still offer easy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like Kim Stanley Robinson have occasionally imagined pressurizing craters or lava tubes and filling them with air .
But Pozzobon said that scenario is unlikely , not least because in the moon 's lava tubes , openings can be as wide as a football field .
Related : Here 's what NASA 's Opportunity rover saw before 'lights out' '' Due to their huge size and the possibility of having leaks due to the fracturing of the rocks , I would see pressurizing them very unlikely , '' Pozzobon told Live Science .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ establish settlements within these voids , either to host humans or for storing equipment . ''
`` Although a lava tube could provide a shelter to thermal excursion , radiation and micro impacts , it is not easily accessible and the basaltic rocks of its interior can be razor-like sharp and the terrain very uneven , '' he said .
`` So the engineering challenges of placing inflatable habitats within such impressive caves is not trivial and requires very detailed studies . ''
Right now , the immediate challenge is gathering more information @ @ @ @ @ @ @ moon and Earth .
Right now , researchers can only identify them from satellite images of skylights or collapses .
But differentiating a skylight from a simple hole in the ground is tricky .
Researchers look for angled images of the holes that reveal the void underneath , he said , or other geological hints of a nearby cave .
But nothing beats direct exploration , the researchers wrote .
Models suggest that Martian lava tubes were more likely to have grown to the point of collapse when the planet was volcanically active @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intact .
A greater proportion of lunar tubes are probably structurally sound , the researchers wrote .
That makes the moon 's lava tubes better candidates for exploration .
It 's important , the researchers wrote , that scientists develop a detailed plan for exploring the tubes .
Right now , no rover is autonomous enough or built with the right equipment to go spelunking on the moon or Mars .
And before designing and launching a rover to perform that task , satellites equipped with ground-penetrating radar or other remote-sensing technology should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The process of discovering ideal sites for human sub-lunar or sub-Martian habitation will likely take a long time and involve many intermediate steps , the researchers wrote..
So while Earth may seem like a particularly inhospitable place right now , it 's a little too soon to pack up and relocate to an extraterrestrial lava tube .

A prototype rover creeps through a lava tube in Spain’s Canary Island of Lanzarote, part of a training campaign to explore settings on Earth that could be similar to those on the moon and Mars.
Mars is pockmarked with absolutely massive lava tubes, with ceilings as high as the Empire State Building, new research shows. And the moon hosts even more gargantuan tubes, with heights that dwarf Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, and "skylights" as big as football fields.
These yawning, subterranean caverns, which are shielded from punishing solar radiation, could be used as sites for future human bases, scientists argue.
A lava tube is a tunnel under a world's surface, formed by an intense flow of molten rock during a volcanic explosion. On Earth , they're most easily spotted when they collapse, forming long furrows in the dirt. Partial collapses sometimes form chains of "skylights" that reveal hidden lava tubes that are mostly intact. Researchers have speculated that lava tubes might exist on Mars and the moon since the 1960s, but in recent years Martian and lunar orbiters have beamed home images showing how common these formations likely are, both on the Red Planet and on our moon. Now, researchers argue in a new paper published July 20 in the journal Earth-Science Reviews , it's time to explore them in earnest.
Here's why: These lava tubes are truly enormous, and might offer safer habitats than the lunar or Martian surfaces.
Related: 6 reasons astrobiologists are holding out hope for life on Mars
"The largest lava tubes on Earth are maximum [about] 40 meters [130 feet] of width and height," said study co-author Riccardo Pozzobon, a geoscientist at the University of Padova, Italy. "So like a very large motorway tunnel."
An image from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a possible lava tube on Mars near the southern flank of the Martian volcano Arsia Mons. (Image credit: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter/NASA)
That's certainly big enough space for some people to fit inside. But on Mars collapsed lava tubes tend to be about 80 times larger than Earth's, with diameters of 130 to 1,300 feet (40 to 400 m). Lunar lava tubes seem to be still larger, the researchers found, with collapse sites 300 to 700 times the size of Earth's. Lunar lava tubes likely range from 1,600 to 3,000 feet (500 to 900 m).
A lava tube on the moon, Pozzobon told Live Science, could easily contain a small city within its walls.
The sheer scale of these extraterrestrial lava tubes is likely a result of low Martian and lunar gravity, as well as differences in how volcanoes operated on those bodies compared to Earth.
Related: The 10 most hazardous countries for volcanoes (Photos)
To assess the size of lunar and Martian lava tubes, the researchers collected 3D laser scans of their counterparts — both collapsed and intact — on Earth. Then they collected all the available satellite images of collapsed lava tubes on Mars and the moon and modeled the size of the intact tubes based on the relationships between collapsed and intact tunnels on Earth.
Lava tubes make appealing human habitats for a number of reasons, including protection from meteors that don't burn up as easily in the thin Martian and lunar atmospheres, the researchers wrote. They also likely contain useful chemicals, like water ice and volatile chemicals that can be used to make fuel. A thick layer of rock overhead can also, as Live Science previously reported , offer shielding against solar radiation . And skylights would still offer easy access to the surface.
Science-fiction authors like Kim Stanley Robinson have occasionally imagined pressurizing craters or lava tubes and filling them with air. But Pozzobon said that scenario is unlikely, not least because in the moon's lava tubes, openings can be as wide as a football field.
Related: Here's what NASA's Opportunity rover saw before 'lights out'
"Due to their huge size and the possibility of having leaks due to the fracturing of the rocks, I would see pressurizing them very unlikely," Pozzobon told Live Science. "What is more likely is to establish settlements within these voids, either to host humans or for storing equipment."
Even stashing a base inside a lava tube presents challenges, however.
"Although a lava tube could provide a shelter to thermal excursion, radiation and micro impacts, it is not easily accessible and the basaltic rocks of its interior can be razor-like sharp and the terrain very uneven," he said. "So the engineering challenges of placing inflatable habitats within such impressive caves is not trivial and requires very detailed studies."
Right now, the immediate challenge is gathering more information about the intact lava tubes on the moon and Earth. Right now, researchers can only identify them from satellite images of skylights or collapses. But differentiating a skylight from a simple hole in the ground is tricky. Researchers look for angled images of the holes that reveal the void underneath, he said, or other geological hints of a nearby cave. But nothing beats direct exploration, the researchers wrote.
Models suggest that Martian lava tubes were more likely to have grown to the point of collapse when the planet was volcanically active, and might be harder to find intact. A greater proportion of lunar tubes are probably structurally sound, the researchers wrote. That makes the moon's lava tubes better candidates for exploration.
It's important, the researchers wrote, that scientists develop a detailed plan for exploring the tubes. Right now, no rover is autonomous enough or built with the right equipment to go spelunking on the moon or Mars. And before designing and launching a rover to perform that task, satellites equipped with ground-penetrating radar or other remote-sensing technology should build detailed maps of tube formations underground. The process of discovering ideal sites for human sub-lunar or sub-Martian habitation will likely take a long time and involve many intermediate steps, the researchers wrote..
So while Earth may seem like a particularly inhospitable place right now, it's a little too soon to pack up and relocate to an extraterrestrial lava tube.
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-08-15--Why doesn't the US use the metric system?

How people measure stuff might seem pretty bland as topics go , but behind America 's insistence to keep drinking coffee in ounces and pumping gas in gallons lies a story with a weighty dose of patriotism , political stability and a historical distrust of the French .
`` The paradox is that the way we choose to measure things is banal and boring , but it 's also super important because it structures the way we live and interact with each other , '' said Ken Alder , a professor of history at Northwestern University in Illinois , who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error That Transformed the World ( Free Press , 2003 ) .
`` You ca n't make comparisons or have an economy without setting standards , and people have bitterly fought for standards because it 's really a fight about how the economy works . ''
In the 1790s , the French Academy of Sciences was asked by the government in Paris to come up with a new and logical system of measurement .
The academy decided that the new system should be based on something they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it could stand the test of time .
Thus , they decided a meter should be one 10 millionth of a quadrant of the Earth 's circumference — that is , the line running from the to the equator — a ruling that led to the beginnings of the metric system .
Related : Would I weigh less at the equator ?
The metric system is arguably an easier way to go about standardizing measurements than the system the United States uses .
Everything in the metric system divides into decimals ( there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1,000 grams in a kilogram , and so on ) ; most of the rest of the world uses it ; and it also just makes sense — for example , water freezes at zero degrees ( as opposed to the random 32 degrees ) and it boils at 100 C ( instead of 212 F ) .
So why has n't the U.S. budged an inch ?
Why do Americans continue to use units of yards , miles and pints ?
The U.S. customary system has morphed and evolved from a hodgepodge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ England .
In 1790 , George Washington noted the need for some uniformity in currency and measurements .
Money was successfully decimalized , but that 's as far as it got .
In truth , the U.S. did try to make the switch a couple times , but it never quite managed to follow through ; the British system was too ingrained in American industry as well as the national psyche .
It even took several efforts by various groups in France before the metric system came to be .
It was n't @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Revolution that it became possible .
`` Before then , measures did n't just differ from country to country , but from town to town , '' Alder told Live Science .
In fact , it 's thought that prior to the metric system , there were over 250,000 different units of measure in France .
Standardizing measures was important to people who traveled .
`` Local systems screw [ ed ] over the traders and merchants , whereas the metric system allowed them to know what they were getting .
But the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ knew , '' Alder said .
It 's worth pointing out that the old measurements worked well for the French locals because these metrics were tied to physical counting systems .
For example , a field 's size might be measured by the 'journée ' ( meaning 'day ' in French ) , which denoted the number of days it took to harvest its crop .
Other times , land was measured in 'boisseaux ' ( or 'bushels ' ) , to quantify how much grain-seed was needed to sow the land .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , they were n't just totally crazy , '' Alder said .
But when the revolution came and Louis XVI succumbed to the guillotine , those who replaced him were part of the movement , during a period known as the Age of Reason , and these new leaders reasoned that Louis ' head should be weighed in kilos .
`` It was the time for rationalization , '' Alder said .
`` The United States was supposed to be the second country to adopt the new way of measuring things , as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the U.S. Secretary of State , Thomas Jefferson , even sent for a French scientist named Joseph Dombey , who set sail for the New World with a small copper cylinder , which was destined to be America 's new standard weight — a kilogram .
But Dombey 's ship was beset by bad weather ; an Atlantic wind pushed Dombey 's vessel off course and into the custody of ransom-desiring British pirates .
Sadly , he died a prisoner and the kilogram never made it to Jefferson .
But pesky tempests @ @ @ @ @ @ @ system never caught on stateside ; it 's also a question of identity , and not all Americans were as Francophillic as Jefferson , Alder said .
`` I understand when people resent it as a remote force of globalization that produces uniformity , and it 's perfectly rational to want local control , '' he said .
`` It can also be about taking a position against something that 's hyperrational and French . ''
Even in France it was n't particularly welcomed .
`` It literally took 100 years to implement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has n't ended there .
Nowadays , scientists quibble about the fluctuations of the original kilogram and meter , .
Another factor working against the metric system in the United States is the country 's relative political stability ; ever since it gained its independence , elections happened instead of coups and revolutions .
That did n't do the metric system any favors , Alder said , because to completely overhaul a country 's system of measurement requires quite a bit of turmoil for disrupters to take advantage of .
`` We came @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
`` But the conflict was n't sufficiently subversive to make that change . ''
The United Kingdom for example , only started its journey toward the metric system in the 1970s , after the reality of its geopolitics changed radically ; the U.K. not only lost its empire but also began preferentially trading with its continental neighbors over its former colonies , Alder explained .
That said , the British have only half-heartedly adopted the new system — road signs are still in miles and pubs still serve beer in pints .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ measurements for pints in the U.K. are not the same as they are in the U.S. , . )
Nevertheless , to follow the Brits around the same time .
`` [ The government ] actually tried to put road signs up in kilometers , but people went crazy and it was abandoned , '' Alder said .
The U.S. Congress even passed a law in 1975 to make the switch , but unlike the United Kingdom , the transition was deemed to be voluntary instead of mandatory and there was no deadline @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the U.S. to see sense and ditch ounces for grams — be careful what you wish for , Alder said , because more often than not , the transition is accompanied by more drastic political change .

How people measure stuff might seem pretty bland as topics go, but behind America's insistence to keep drinking coffee in ounces and pumping gas in gallons lies a story with a weighty dose of patriotism, political stability and a historical distrust of the French.
"The paradox is that the way we choose to measure things is banal and boring, but it's also super important because it structures the way we live and interact with each other," said Ken Alder, a professor of history at Northwestern University in Illinois, who wrote "The Measure of All Things: The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error That Transformed the World (Free Press, 2003). "You can't make comparisons or have an economy without setting standards, and people have bitterly fought for standards because it's really a fight about how the economy works."
In the 1790s, the French Academy of Sciences was asked by the government in Paris to come up with a new and logical system of measurement. The academy decided that the new system should be based on something they could physically quantify in nature, so it could stand the test of time. Thus, they decided a meter should be one 10 millionth of a quadrant of the Earth's circumference — that is, the line running from the North Pole to the equator — a ruling that led to the beginnings of the metric system.
Related: Would I weigh less at the equator?
The metric system is arguably an easier way to go about standardizing measurements than the system the United States uses. Everything in the metric system divides into decimals (there are 10 millimeters in a centimeter, 1,000 grams in a kilogram, and so on); most of the rest of the world uses it; and it also just makes sense — for example, water freezes at zero degrees Celsius (as opposed to the random 32 degrees Fahrenheit ) and it boils at 100 C (instead of 212 F).
So why hasn't the U.S. budged an inch? Why do Americans continue to use units of yards, miles and pints? The U.S. customary system has morphed and evolved from a hodgepodge of several systems dating back to medieval England. In 1790, George Washington noted the need for some uniformity in currency and measurements. Money was successfully decimalized, but that's as far as it got. In truth, the U.S. did try to make the switch a couple times, but it never quite managed to follow through; the British system was too ingrained in American industry as well as the national psyche.
It even took several efforts by various groups in France before the metric system came to be. It wasn't until the chaos following the 1789 French Revolution that it became possible. "Before then, measures didn't just differ from country to country, but from town to town," Alder told Live Science. In fact, it's thought that prior to the metric system, there were over 250,000 different units of measure in France . Standardizing measures was important to people who traveled. "Local systems screw[ed] over the traders and merchants, whereas the metric system allowed them to know what they were getting. But the locals resisted because they liked what they knew," Alder said.
It's worth pointing out that the old measurements worked well for the French locals because these metrics were tied to physical counting systems. For example, a field's size might be measured by the 'journée' (meaning 'day' in French), which denoted the number of days it took to harvest its crop. Other times, land was measured in 'boisseaux' (or 'bushels'), to quantify how much grain-seed was needed to sow the land. "The old systems did make sense, they weren't just totally crazy," Alder said.
But when the revolution came and Louis XVI succumbed to the guillotine, those who replaced him were part of the Enlightenment movement, during a period known as the Age of Reason, and these new leaders reasoned that Louis' head should be weighed in kilos. "It was the time for rationalization," Alder said. "The United States was supposed to be the second country to adopt the new way of measuring things, as the sister republic."
In 1793, the U.S. Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, even sent for a French scientist named Joseph Dombey, who set sail for the New World with a small copper cylinder, which was destined to be America's new standard weight — a kilogram. But Dombey's ship was beset by bad weather; an Atlantic wind pushed Dombey's vessel off course and into the custody of ransom-desiring British pirates. Sadly, he died a prisoner and the kilogram never made it to Jefferson.
Related: Why did pirates wear earrings?
But pesky tempests are not the only reason the metric system never caught on stateside; it's also a question of identity, and not all Americans were as Francophillic as Jefferson, Alder said. "I understand when people resent it as a remote force of globalization that produces uniformity, and it's perfectly rational to want local control," he said. "It can also be about taking a position against something that's hyperrational and French."
Even in France it wasn't particularly welcomed. "It literally took 100 years to implement," Alder noted. The controversy hasn't ended there. Nowadays, scientists quibble about the fluctuations of the original kilogram and meter, Live Science previously reported .
Another factor working against the metric system in the United States is the country's relative political stability; ever since it gained its independence, elections happened instead of coups and revolutions. That didn't do the metric system any favors, Alder said, because to completely overhaul a country's system of measurement requires quite a bit of turmoil for disrupters to take advantage of. "We came close with the Civil War ," he said. "But the conflict wasn't sufficiently subversive to make that change."
The United Kingdom for example, only started its journey toward the metric system in the 1970s, after the reality of its geopolitics changed radically; the U.K. not only lost its empire but also began preferentially trading with its continental neighbors over its former colonies, Alder explained. That said, the British have only half-heartedly adopted the new system — road signs are still in miles and pubs still serve beer in pints. (Of note, dry and liquid measurements for pints in the U.K. are not the same as they are in the U.S., according to Encyclopedia Britannica .) Nevertheless, the Jimmy Carter administration tried to follow the Brits around the same time. "[The government] actually tried to put road signs up in kilometers, but people went crazy and it was abandoned," Alder said.
The U.S. Congress even passed a law in 1975 to make the switch, but unlike the United Kingdom, the transition was deemed to be voluntary instead of mandatory and there was no deadline.
So, for those who long for the U.S. to see sense and ditch ounces for grams — be careful what you wish for, Alder said, because more often than not, the transition is accompanied by more drastic political change.
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-08-15--Coronavirus outbreak: Live updates

Coronavirus outbreak: Live updates

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


livescience--2020-08-16--Coronavirus outbreak: Live updates

Coronavirus outbreak: Live updates


livescience--2020-08-16--Amazing images: The best science photos of the week

Each week at Live Science we find the most interesting and informative articles we can .
Along the way , we uncover some amazing and cool images .
Here you 'll discover the most incredible photos we found this week , and the remarkable stories behind them .
After a 30-hour journey by land , air and sea , two young that were on show in an aquarium in Shanghai for years have now arrived at a new home — a cool seawater sanctuary off the coast of Iceland .
This is the first time the cuties have dipped their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than a decade .
The belugas , named Little White and Little Grey , have spent the last three days and nights in a netted-off `` care pool '' within the sanctuary at Klettsvik Bay on the island of Heimaey , in Iceland 's southern Vestmannaeyjar archipelago .
Because these captive whales could n't survive in the open ocean , the sanctuary is the next best thing .
So far , the two belugas seem content with their new surroundings , especially Little Grey , who spent some of Monday morning ( Aug. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a razorbill — that had flown into the area .
The quieter of the two whales , Little White , was `` taking her time , taking everything in , '' Audrey Padgett , the general manager of the Sea Life Trust 's Beluga Whale Sanctuary , told Live Science .
`` They are both eating and interacting with the care staff , so that 's a really positive sign . ''
When scientists recently X-rayed a fish 's head , they found a gruesome stowaway : A `` vampire '' crustacean had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's tongue .
The buglike isopod , also called a tongue biter or tongue-eating louse , keeps sucking its blood meals from a fish 's tongue until the entire structure withers away .
Then the true horror begins , as the parasite assumes the organ 's place in the still-living fish 's mouth .
There are about 380 species of tongue-eating isopods , and most target a specific fish species as their host , according to the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town , South Africa .
This type of isopod enters a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ latches onto the tongue and begins to feed , releasing an anti-coagulant to keep the blood flowing .
Eventually , the organ atrophies and falls off ; from that point on , the isopod 's body serves as a functional tongue for the fish , while the tongue biter continues feeding on the fish 's mucus .
This relationship can last for years .
Goals !
Read more : Meet the 'vampire ' parasite that masquerades as a living tongue , like all things hairy , sometimes go bald .
And for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , baldness starts with the butt .
On Thursday ( Aug. 6 ) , entomologist Gwen Pearson of what that looks like .
Pearson and her colleagues at the Purdue Insect Zoo at Purdue University in Indiana recently adopted the butt-nekkid arachnid from the U.S .
Fish and Wildlife Service , which seized the spider and from a black market pet importer .
The pink-rumped spider ( which zoo officials named `` Lil ' Kim '' after the rapper who has sported pink hair ) does not owe its bare badonkadonk to age @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is less than 2 years old and may not reach adulthood until she 's 5 .
Rather , Kim 's bald butt is the result of a natural tarantula defense mechanism — and proof of the physical stress that illegal animal trafficking incurs .
`` Itchy butt hair is the primary defense for South American tarantulas , not biting , '' Pearson told Live Science in an email .
`` And it 's SUPER itchy — — worse than fiberglass .
An annoyance to humans , but very serious for small mice or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . ''
Read more : If you 've never gazed upon the bald butt of a baby tarantula , now 's your chance A man following a reindeer herd in northwestern Siberia made the discovery of a lifetime when he passed by a lake on July 20 ; poking out of the water was the enormous skull of a woolly mammoth dating back at least 10,000 years .
When scientists came to investigate the skull , they made an even larger discovery — recovery efforts unearthed most of the woolly mammoth 's ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of its soft tissues and wool , and even a piece of fossilized poop ( called a coprolite ) that the mammoth may have passed before its death at the end of the last ice age .
The skeletal remains indicate that the mammoth was male , stood about 6.5 to 8.2 feet ( 2 to 2.5 meters ) tall and was about 15 years old when it died , researchers said .
The coprolite , however , was small , just 2 inches ( 5 centimeters ) in diameter .
That nugget @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about 10 known wooly mammoth coprolites , researchers said , making it some truly special s*** .
Read more : Woolly mammoth with preserved poop , wool and ligaments dredged from Siberian lake Our solar system 's protective bubble may not be comet-shaped after all .
Scientists have traditionally posited that , the huge bubble of charged particles that the sun blows around itself , has a rounded leading edge , where barrels through space , with a long tail streaming behind it .
But the heliosphere 's true shape is weirder and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — something akin to a deflated croissant .
Researchers reached this conclusion after modeling the 3D shape of the solar system based on the interactions between two different components of solar wind — the gusts of charged particles that fly out of the sun and define the heliosphere .
The resulting shape , they determined , is croissant-like : a curving central bulge with two jets curling away from it .
Read more : Is our solar system shaped like a deflated croissant ?
The crack that broke the ice sheet 's back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intact ice shelf — and it just collapsed .
On July 30 and July 31 , the northern part of the ice shelf began to break off .
A mass of ice measuring about 31 square miles ( 81 square kilometers ) — bigger than Manhattan — then detached from the ice shelf and began drifting north , representatives of the Water and Ice Research Laboratory ( WIRL ) at Carleton University in Ontario , Canada , .
By Aug. 3 , the escaping ice island had split : one piece measured about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) , while another measured about 9 square miles ( 24 square km ) , and both were about 230 to 260 feet ( 70 to 80 meters ) thick , according to WIRL .
With the region warming at approximately two to three times the global rate — not to mention several summers of record-breaking warmth — `` the Milne and other ice shelves in Canada are simply not viable any longer and will disappear in the coming decades , '' researchers said in the statement .
In a year where rivers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Antarctic Peninsula , you may not be surprised to learn that several waterfalls in southeast Australia have been flowing backwards .
Local news agency 7NEWS Sydney of the phenomenon on Twitter last weekend .
Sure enough , as water pours over the clifftops of the New South Wales coast , the stream curves back up and sprays backwards onto land .
Partway through the footage , the gravity-defying mist also creates a rainbow that seems to say , `` Aw , the apocalypse is so much prettier than I imagined ! ''
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ explanation for this reverse-waterfall action : It 's just a trick of the wind .
Over the past several days , Sydney and the surrounding coast have been battered by heavy rain , strong winds and towering ocean surf .
According to 7NEWS Sydney , weather experts recorded winds raging at 45 mph ( 70 km/h ) at the Royal National Park south of Sydney , where the video was recorded .
The strong coastal winds were more than enough to temporarily divert the course of the falls — and , unfortunately , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , forcing hundreds of sudden evacuations .
The — a gargantuan telescope in Puerto Rico famous for scouring the cosmos for and alien life — went quiet this week , following a devastating accident that left the telescope 's reflector dish in pieces .
On Monday ( Aug. 10 ) at approximately 2:45 a.m. local time , a metal cable at the facility snapped , slashing through the radar dish and tearing open a 100-foot-long ( 30 meters ) hole , according to a from the University of Central Florida , which operates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ smashed through several other cables and platforms that support the dish , causing debris to rain down on the ground below and making it harder for technicians to access the site .
Arecibo began operating in 1963 from the bottom of a natural sinkhole in Puerto Rico .
At the time of its completion , Arecibo was the world 's largest single-dish telescope , stretching 1,000 feet ( 305 m ) in diameter .
While you may not know the telescope by name , you might know it by sight , thanks to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ That film 's protagonist is an astronomer working at Arecibo , who hopes to make first contact with extraterrestrial intelligence .
Though we 're still waiting for that epic first DM from aliens , Arecibo has played a central role in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence ( ) since the 1970s .
In 1974 , astronomers used the radio telescope to transmit a binary code toward a dense cluster of stars 25,000 away , hoping the message might get picked up by another technologically-advanced civilization .
( So far , it has n't @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ripping them apart using powerful jaws lined with teeth `` the size of bananas , '' researchers say .
Known as Deinosuchus , which means `` terrible crocodile '' in Greek , this lineage of semiaquatic reptiles certainly lived up to its name .
They were among the biggest predators in their watery North American habitats , where they lived between 75 million and 82 million years ago .
And with bodies at least 33 feet ( 10 meters ) long , they could subdue just about any animal that wandered within @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to having banana-size teeth , the newly described D. schwimmeri was `` a bizarre , monstrous predator , '' said lead study author Adam Cossette , an assistant professor in the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University .
The Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius is on the brink of an environmental catastrophe after a bulk carrier struck a off its coast in late July , an accident that has led to a large oil spill visible from space .
The accident could lead to an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — whose cargo includes fuel oil , diesel and lubricant oil — breaks apart further , according to news sources .
The ship , the Japanese-owned MV Wakashio , hit a coral reef off Mauritius ' southeast coast , near Pointe d'Esny , on July 25 .
In the weeks since , a crack has appeared on its hull , meaning that the ship 's cargo is in jeopardy , a shipment that includes 4,290 tons ( 3,894 metric tons ) of low- fuel oil , 228 tons ( 207 metric tons ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ metric tons ) of lubricant oil , which the ship was carrying from China to Brazil , according to The Swaddle , an Indian news site .
`` This is the first time that we are faced with a catastrophe of this kind , and we are insufficiently equipped to handle this problem , '' Sudheer Maudhoo , the fishing minister of Mauritius .
Read more : Oil spill off Mauritius is visible from space • Earth from Above : 101 Stunning Images from Orbit • From Big Bang to Present : Snapshots @ @ @ @ @

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