livescience--2020-10-30--Elusive squid seen alive in natural habitat for first time (VIDEO)

Scientists have captured rare footage of a teeny , tiny squid swimming near the Great Barrier Reef ; the squid is the only living member of its genus and has never before been observed alive and in its natural habitat .
`` Researchers were all surprised to see this squid as it was nothing like any of us had seen before , '' Valerie Cornet , a masters student at James Cook University in Australia who is currently conducting research with the Schmidt Ocean Institute , told Live Science in an email .
The ram 's horn squid ( Spirula @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an unusual vertical position with its arms and tentacles pointed up ; at the bottom end of the squid , two ear-shaped fins ripple in the water to keep the animal afloat .
In the footage , the squid can also be seen zooming downward through the water column while remaining perfectly vertical .
Schmidt Ocean Institute researchers spotted the squid using a remotely operated vehicle ( ROV ) — an underwater machine that can be controlled from the ocean surface — while mapping the northern off the coast of Cape York in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at a depth of about 2,760 feet ( 842 meters ) , the team saw a small , cylindrical creature pop up on their video feed .
The researchers ' voices can be heard in the background of the video footage , making observations about the animal as they maneuvered the ROV closer : '' Yeah , that definitely looks like a squid . ''
`` And an interesting one at that ! ''
`` ... a little shy ! ''
one added , as the squid zipped downward through the water and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remained upright unmoving as we zoomed in closer to get a better view , but then started swimming off rapidly downwards , '' Cornet said .
`` We kept following it around for a couple minutes to study and comment on its unique shape and staring eyes . ''
The team later identified the cephalopod as a ram 's horn squid , named for a coiled shell that sits inside the rounded end of its elongated body .
The brown-red-hued squid typically measures less than 2 inches ( 35-45 millimeters ) in length @ @ @ @ @ @ @ floats vertically with its arms pointing up and the mantle — the main body of the squid that contains the shell and internal organs — pointing down .
The light shell is thought to give the squid buoyancy .
The squid also emits light from a bioluminescent organ located at the tip of the mantle ; this may help the squid avoid predators by minimizing the appearance of its silhouette from above , Cornet said .
`` It is particularly interesting as it is rare to see this squid alive , but we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up on beaches , '' Cornet said .
`` This is the first time filming the squid with its characteristic 'head down ' position , '' she added .
Related : 24 underwater drones – The boom in robotics beneath the waves S. spirula is the only living member of the genus Spirula , family Spirulidae and order Spirulida , as all other known members of these evolutionary groups have gone extinct , the Schmidt Ocean Institute wrote in a announcing the discovery .
S. spirula specimens have been found as deep as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and scientists think the squids lay their eggs at this depth and that the eggshells withstand over 1,100 pounds ( 0.5 metric tons ) of pressure from the water above , she added .
But because the squid has n't been studied alive in the wild , little is known about its distribution or behavior , Cornet said .
For instance , `` the social structure of this species is currently unknown , '' Cornet said .
`` It was previously thought that these were a type of schooling squid , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not be the case . ''
In addition to spotting the elusive squid , the researchers discovered a number of undescribed species of corals , sponges and jellies while mapping the Great Barrier Reef .
What 's more , they also found a never-before-seen coral reef that stands taller than the Empire State Building .
Samples and footage gathered during the fruitful expedition will keep the researchers busy for years to come , Cornet said .

Scientists have captured rare footage of a teeny, tiny squid swimming near the Great Barrier Reef; the squid is the only living member of its genus and has never before been observed alive and in its natural habitat.
"Researchers were all surprised to see this squid as it was nothing like any of us had seen before," Valerie Cornet, a masters student at James Cook University in Australia who is currently conducting research with the Schmidt Ocean Institute, told Live Science in an email. The ram's horn squid (Spirula spirula) swims with its body in an unusual vertical position with its arms and tentacles pointed up; at the bottom end of the squid, two ear-shaped fins ripple in the water to keep the animal afloat. In the footage, the squid can also be seen zooming downward through the water column while remaining perfectly vertical.
Schmidt Ocean Institute researchers spotted the squid using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) — an underwater machine that can be controlled from the ocean surface — while mapping the northern Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Cape York in Australia. While the ROV was cruising at a depth of about 2,760 feet (842 meters), the team saw a small, cylindrical creature pop up on their video feed.
Related: Sea science: 7 bizarre facts about the ocean
The researchers' voices can be heard in the background of the video footage, making observations about the animal as they maneuvered the ROV closer:
"Yeah, that definitely looks like a squid."
"And an interesting one at that!"
"... a little shy!" one added, as the squid zipped downward through the water and out of frame.
"The squid remained upright unmoving as we zoomed in closer to get a better view, but then started swimming off rapidly downwards," Cornet said. "We kept following it around for a couple minutes to study and comment on its unique shape and staring eyes."
The team later identified the cephalopod as a ram's horn squid, named for a coiled shell that sits inside the rounded end of its elongated body. The brown-red-hued squid typically measures less than 2 inches (35-45 millimeters) in length, and while at rest, it floats vertically with its arms pointing up and the mantle — the main body of the squid that contains the shell and internal organs — pointing down. The light shell is thought to give the squid buoyancy.
Image 1 of 2 This diagram of a ram's horn squid depicts the shell at one end and tentacles and arms at the other. In the new footage, the shell-end points down while the squid swims. (Image credit: Ewald Rübsamen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons) A screenshot from the ROV footage of a ram's horn squid. (Image credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute)
The squid also emits light from a bioluminescent organ located at the tip of the mantle; this may help the squid avoid predators by minimizing the appearance of its silhouette from above, Cornet said.
"It is particularly interesting as it is rare to see this squid alive, but we often find its open coil shell washed up on beaches," Cornet said. "This is the first time filming the squid with its characteristic 'head down' position," she added.
Related: 24 underwater drones – The boom in robotics beneath the waves
S. spirula is the only living member of the genus Spirula, family Spirulidae and order Spirulida, as all other known members of these evolutionary groups have gone extinct, the Schmidt Ocean Institute wrote in a tweet announcing the discovery.
S. spirula specimens have been found as deep as 5,577 feet (1,700 m) underwater, and scientists think the squids lay their eggs at this depth and that the eggshells withstand over 1,100 pounds (0.5 metric tons) of pressure from the water above, she added. But because the squid hasn't been studied alive in the wild, little is known about its distribution or behavior, Cornet said.
For instance, "the social structure of this species is currently unknown," Cornet said. "It was previously thought that these were a type of schooling squid, but having discovered it alone, this may not be the case."
In addition to spotting the elusive squid, the researchers discovered a number of undescribed species of corals, sponges and jellies while mapping the Great Barrier Reef. What's more, they also found a never-before-seen coral reef that stands taller than the Empire State Building. Samples and footage gathered during the fruitful expedition will keep the researchers busy for years to come, Cornet said.
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-10-30--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--2020-10-30--COVID-19 household transmission is way higher than we thought

COVID-19 spreads in U.S. households more often than previously thought , according to a new study .
The study , published Friday ( Oct. 30 ) in the journal , involved 191 people in Tennessee and Wisconsin who lived with someone recently diagnosed with COVID-19 .
Of these , 102 people become infected within seven days of being enrolled in the study , for a `` secondary infection rate '' of 53 % .
( The secondary infection rate is the percentage of exposed people who catch COVID-19 from the first case . )
About 75 % of these secondary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first household member getting sick .
Related : 20 of the worst epidemics and pandemics in history '' We observed that , after a first household member became sick , several infections were rapidly detected in the household , '' study lead author Dr. Carlos Grijalva , an associate professor of Health Policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville , .
Other studies looking at in households — mostly conducted in Europe and Asia — have found a secondary infection rate of 30 % or lower .
But the new study , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , is one of the first to look at COVID-19 transmission in U.S. households in a systematic way , with participants undergoing daily testing for COVID-19 .
Part of the reason for the higher secondary infection rate in the new study , compared with previous reports , may be due to the study 's rigorous methods and follow-up testing of household contacts , the authors said .
In addition , studies in other countries may have had lower secondary infection rates because people in those countries were quicker to wear inside their own @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
( Mask use when sick has not traditionally been part of , whereas it is in some other countries . )
The study also found that `` substantial transmission '' occurred regardless of whether the first household case ( known as the index case ) was a child or an adult .
Indeed , in households in which the index case was under 12 years old , the secondary infection rate was 53 % ; and in households in which the index patient was ages 18 to 49 , the secondary infection @ @ @ @ @ @ @ found .
`` Infections occurred fast , whether the first sick household member was a child or an adult , '' Grijalva said .
What 's more , fewer than half of household members showed symptoms at the time they tested positive for COVID-19 , and 18 % remained over the seven-day study .
This finding underscores the need for people to quarantine if they 've had close contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19 , the authors said .
Overall , `` persons who suspect that they might have COVID-19 should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ use a separate bedroom and bathroom if feasible , '' the report said .
This isolation should begin even before a person gets tested or gets their results .
In addition , all household members should start wearing a mask in their home , particularly in shared spaces where is n't possible , the authors said .
The authors note that their study was conducted in two U.S. cities — Nashville , Tennessee , and Marshfield , Wisconsin — and the families in the study may not be representative of the general U.S. @ @

COVID-19 spreads in U.S. households more often than previously thought, according to a new study.
The study, published Friday (Oct. 30) in the journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report , involved 191 people in Tennessee and Wisconsin who lived with someone recently diagnosed with COVID-19. Of these, 102 people become infected within seven days of being enrolled in the study, for a "secondary infection rate" of 53%. (The secondary infection rate is the percentage of exposed people who catch COVID-19 from the first case.)
About 75% of these secondary infections occurred within five days of the first household member getting sick.
Related: 20 of the worst epidemics and pandemics in history
"We observed that, after a first household member became sick, several infections were rapidly detected in the household," study lead author Dr. Carlos Grijalva, an associate professor of Health Policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, said in a statement .
Other studies looking at transmission of COVID-19 in households — mostly conducted in Europe and Asia — have found a secondary infection rate of 30% or lower. But the new study, which was conducted from April through September, is one of the first to look at COVID-19 transmission in U.S. households in a systematic way, with participants undergoing daily testing for COVID-19.
Part of the reason for the higher secondary infection rate in the new study, compared with previous reports, may be due to the study's rigorous methods and follow-up testing of household contacts, the authors said. In addition, studies in other countries may have had lower secondary infection rates because people in those countries were quicker to wear face masks inside their own home when another household member was sick. (Mask use when sick has not traditionally been part of American culture , whereas it is in some other countries.)
The study also found that "substantial transmission" occurred regardless of whether the first household case (known as the index case) was a child or an adult.
Indeed, in households in which the index case was under 12 years old, the secondary infection rate was 53%; and in households in which the index patient was ages 18 to 49, the secondary infection rate was 55%, the report found.
"Infections occurred fast, whether the first sick household member was a child or an adult," Grijalva said.
What's more, fewer than half of household members showed symptoms at the time they tested positive for COVID-19, and 18% remained asymptomatic over the seven-day study. This finding underscores the need for people to quarantine if they've had close contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19, the authors said.
Overall, "persons who suspect that they might have COVID-19 should isolate, stay at home, and use a separate bedroom and bathroom if feasible," the report said. This isolation should begin even before a person gets tested or gets their results. In addition, all household members should start wearing a mask in their home, particularly in shared spaces where social distancing isn't possible, the authors said.
The authors note that their study was conducted in two U.S. cities — Nashville, Tennessee, and Marshfield, Wisconsin — and the families in the study may not be representative of the general U.S. population.
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-10-30--Coral 'tower' taller than the Empire State Building discovered off Australian coast

An underwater research vessel has stumbled upon a gargantuan , standing like a monolithic tower off the coast of northern Australia .
According to scientists at the Schmidt Ocean Institute , who are conducting a yearlong expedition of the ocean around Australia , this newly discovered reef stands more than 1,640 feet ( 500 meters ) high from base to tip , making it taller than the Empire State Building .
The newly discovered reef is part of the — the single longest coral reef in the world , spanning more than 1,400 miles ( 2,300 km ) along the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ branch of the massive underwater structure stands freely from the rest of the reef , making it the first detached coral reef discovered in the area in 120 years , the researchers said .
`` To find a new half-a-kilometer tall reef in … the well-recognized Great Barrier Reef shows how mysterious the world is just beyond our coastline , '' Jyotika Virmani , executive director of Schmidt Ocean Institute , .
Scientists aboard the research vessel Falkor discovered the new reef on Oct. 20 while constructing a 3D map of the ocean @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which the team described as `` blade-like , '' measures 1 mile ( 1.5 km ) wide at its base , before rising up to its peak , roughly 130 feet ( 40 m ) below the sea 's surface .
Seven other detached towers like this have been previously discovered along the reef , the researchers said .
Using a remotely operated vehicle ( ROV ) , the team explored the new reef 's surface , revealing a rainbow menagerie of corals and underwater fauna .
( If you want to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ footage from the Institute 's 3-hour ) .
Such biodiversity is typical of the Great Barrier Reef , which supports more than 1,500 species of fish and hundreds of different types of coral .
However , many of those species are at risk of losing their homes to , which has contributed to the loss of half of the Great barrier Reef 's corals since 1995 , a study published Oct. 14 in the journal found The Schmidt Institute will continue its exploration of the northern reef until Nov. 17 .
In addition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ researchers also discovered the `` `` in April ( actually a 150-foot-long — 45 m — chain of smaller creatures called zooids ) , a and a mysterious in March .

An underwater research vessel has stumbled upon a gargantuan coral reef , standing like a monolithic tower off the coast of northern Australia.
According to scientists at the Schmidt Ocean Institute, who are conducting a yearlong expedition of the ocean around Australia, this newly discovered reef stands more than 1,640 feet (500 meters) high from base to tip, making it taller than the Empire State Building.
The newly discovered reef is part of the Great Barrier Reef — the single longest coral reef in the world, spanning more than 1,400 miles (2,300 km) along the northeastern coast of Australia. This new branch of the massive underwater structure stands freely from the rest of the reef, making it the first detached coral reef discovered in the area in 120 years, the researchers said.
"To find a new half-a-kilometer tall reef in … the well-recognized Great Barrier Reef shows how mysterious the world is just beyond our coastline," Jyotika Virmani, executive director of Schmidt Ocean Institute, said in a statement .
Related: Sea science: 7 bizarre facts about the ocean
Scientists aboard the research vessel Falkor discovered the new reef on Oct. 20 while constructing a 3D map of the ocean floor. The lonely tower of coral, which the team described as "blade-like," measures 1 mile (1.5 km) wide at its base, before rising up to its peak, roughly 130 feet (40 m) below the sea's surface. Seven other detached towers like this have been previously discovered along the reef, the researchers said.
Using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), the team explored the new reef's surface, revealing a rainbow menagerie of corals and underwater fauna. (If you want to see some highlights, check out the footage from the Institute's 3-hour livestream on YouTube ).
Such biodiversity is typical of the Great Barrier Reef, which supports more than 1,500 species of fish and hundreds of different types of coral. However, many of those species are at risk of losing their homes to climate change , which has contributed to the loss of half of the Great barrier Reef's corals since 1995, a study published Oct. 14 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B found
The Schmidt Institute will continue its exploration of the northern reef until Nov. 17. In addition to finding this massive tower, institute researchers also discovered the " single longest animal ever " in April (actually a 150-foot-long — 45 m — chain of smaller creatures called zooids), a squid never filmed alive before and a mysterious graveyard of coral in March.
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-10-30--Powerful earthquake strikes off Turkey's coast, killing at least 14

A powerful earthquake struck in the Aegean Sea earlier today ( Oct. 30 ) , causing nearly 20 buildings in Turkey 's coastal city of Izmir to collapse and killing at least 14 people , including two in Greece .
The earthquake struck at 2:51 pm local time in Turkey today ( Oct. 30 ) , 16.5 kilometers ( 10.3 miles ) deep and 10.5 miles ( 17 km ) off the coast of Turkey , .
Turkey 's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency ( AFAD ) reported the quake was a magnitude 6.6 while the U.S. Geological Survey ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Footage showed flooded streets , piles of rubble where buildings once stood and buildings collapsing .
Search and rescue efforts are continuing in Izmir in the piles of rubble where buildings collapsed , according to Anadolu Agency .
At least 70 people were rescued from the damaged buildings , Izmir 's Gov .
Yavuz Selim Kosger said , according to The Washington Post .
The earthquake triggered a small tsunami that hit Izmir 's Seferhisar district , said Haluk Ozener , director of the Istanbul-based Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ least 12 people were killed in Izmir , including one who drowned , while 438 were injured , according to Turkey 's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency ( AFA ) , CNN Turk reported .
The quake also shook Greece , causing a wall to collapse on the nearby Greek island of Samos , killing two teenagers , according to AP News .
At least 19 people were injured in Samos , according to the Post .
Aftershocks were reported in both Greece and Turkey , according to CNN .
Turkey sits upon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world , according to Reuters .
In August of 1999 , a magnitude 7.6 earthquake hit the city of Izmit , southeast of Istanbul , killing more than 17,000 people and in 2011 , another quake struck Van , a city in eastern Turkey , killing over 500 , according to Reuters .
In the last century , 29 other earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or greater have struck within 155 miles ( 250 km ) of today 's earthquake , according to the USGS .

A powerful earthquake strikes near Turkey's city of Izmir, collapsing buildings and killing at least 14 people. Search and rescue efforts are underway to look for survivors in the rubble.
Editor’s Note: As of Nov. 4, at least 116 people have died and 1,035 people have been injured in the earthquake, with 137 of them still hospitalized, according to The Associated Press.
A powerful earthquake struck in the Aegean Sea earlier today (Oct. 30), causing nearly 20 buildings in Turkey's coastal city of Izmir to collapse and killing at least 14 people, including two in Greece.
The earthquake struck at 2:51 pm local time in Turkey today (Oct. 30), 16.5 kilometers (10.3 miles) deep and 10.5 miles (17 km) off the coast of Turkey, according to CNN Turk .
Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) reported the quake was a magnitude 6.6 while the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported a magnitude of 7.0.
Related: Biggest earthquakes in history
Dramatic footage of the moment a building collapses in #Izmir. There are reports of a minor tsunami and flooding in Seferihisar. No casualties reported yet, but the fear is there, as the mayor said around 20 buildings reportedly collapsed#quake #turkey pic.twitter.com/rhMLkvdnx9October 30, 2020 See more
Footage showed flooded streets, piles of rubble where buildings once stood and buildings collapsing.
Search and rescue efforts are continuing in Izmir in the piles of rubble where buildings collapsed, according to Anadolu Agency. At least 70 people were rescued from the damaged buildings, Izmir's Gov. Yavuz Selim Kosger said, according to The Washington Post. The earthquake triggered a small tsunami that hit Izmir's Seferhisar district, said Haluk Ozener, director of the Istanbul-based Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute said, according to AP News.
At least 12 people were killed in Izmir, including one who drowned, while 438 were injured, according to Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFA), CNN Turk reported. The quake also shook Greece, causing a wall to collapse on the nearby Greek island of Samos, killing two teenagers, according to AP News. At least 19 people were injured in Samos, according to the Post.
Aftershocks were reported in both Greece and Turkey, according to CNN.
Turkey sits upon major fault lines, making it one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world, according to Reuters. In August of 1999, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake hit the city of Izmit, southeast of Istanbul, killing more than 17,000 people and in 2011, another quake struck Van, a city in eastern Turkey, killing over 500, according to Reuters.
In the last century, 29 other earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or greater have struck within 155 miles (250 km) of today's earthquake, according to the USGS .
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-10-30--Why black holes are the scariest things in the universe

Halloween is a time to be haunted by ghosts , goblins and ghouls , but nothing in the universe is scarier than a black hole .
Black holes – regions in space where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape – are a hot topic in the news these days .
Half of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Roger Penrose for his mathematical work showing that black holes are an inescapable consequence of Einstein ’ s theory of gravity .
Andrea Ghez and Reinhard Genzel shared the other half for showing that a massive black @ @ @ @ @ @ @ galaxy .
Black holes are scary for three reasons .
If you fell into a black hole left over when a star died , you would be shredded .
Also , the massive black holes seen at the center of all galaxies have insatiable appetites .
And black holes are places where the laws of physics are obliterated .
I ’ ve been studying black holes for over 30 years .
In particular , I 've focused on the supermassive black holes that lurk at the center of galaxies .
Most of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they are active and eat stars and gas , the region close to the black hole can outshine the entire galaxy that hosts them .
Galaxies where the black holes are active are called quasars .
With all we ’ ve learned about black holes over the past few decades , there are still many mysteries to solve .
Black holes are expected to form when a massive star dies .
After the star 's nuclear fuel is exhausted , its core collapses to the densest state of matter imaginable , a hundred @ @ @ @ @ @ @ That ’ s so dense that protons , neutrons and electrons are no longer discrete particles .
Since black holes are dark , they are found when they orbit a normal star .
The properties of the normal star allow astronomers to infer the properties of its dark companion , a black hole .
The first black hole to be confirmed was Cygnus X-1 , the brightest X-ray source in the Cygnus constellation .
Since then , about 50 black holes have been discovered in systems where a normal star orbits a black @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of about 10 million that are expected to be scattered through the Milky Way .
Black holes are tombs of matter ; nothing can escape them , not even light .
The fate of anyone falling into a black hole would be a painful `` spaghettification , '' an idea popularized by Stephen Hawking in his book `` A Brief History of Time . ''
In spaghettification , the intense gravity of the black hole would pull you apart , separating your bones , muscles , sinews and even molecules .
As the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gates of hell in his poem Divine Comedy : Abandon hope , all ye who enter here .
Over the past 30 years , observations with the Hubble Space Telescope have shown that all galaxies have black holes at their centers .
Bigger galaxies have bigger black holes .
Nature knows how to make black holes over a staggering range of masses , from star corpses a few times the mass of the Sun to monsters tens of billions of times more massive .
That ’ s like the difference between an apple @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Just last year , astronomers published the first-ever picture of a black hole and its event horizon , a 7-billion-solar-mass beast at the center of the M87 elliptical galaxy .
It ’ s over a thousand times bigger than the black hole in our galaxy , whose discoverers snagged this year 's Nobel Prize .
These black holes are dark most of the time , but when their gravity pulls in nearby stars and gas , they flare into intense activity and pump out a huge amount of radiation .
Massive black holes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you get too close , the enormous gravity will suck you in .
And if they are in their active quasar phase , you ’ ll be blasted by high-energy radiation .
How bright is a quasar ?
Imagine hovering over a large city like Los Angeles at night .
The roughly 100 million lights from cars , houses and streets in the city correspond to the stars in a galaxy .
In this analogy , the black hole in its active state is like a light source 1 inch in diameter in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a factor of hundreds or thousands .
Quasars are the brightest objects in the universe .
The biggest black hole discovered so far weighs in at 40 billion times the mass of the Sun , or 20 times the size of the solar system .
Whereas the outer planets in our solar system orbit once in 250 years , this much more massive object spins once every three months .
Its outer edge moves at half the speed of light .
Like all black holes , the huge ones are shielded from view @ @ @ @ @ @ @ centers is a singularity , a point in space where the density is infinite .
We can ’ t understand the interior of a black hole because the laws of physics break down .
Time freezes at the event horizon and gravity becomes infinite at the singularity .
The good news about massive black holes is that you could survive falling into one .
Although their gravity is stronger , the stretching force is weaker than it would be with a small black hole and it would not kill you .
The bad @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the edge of the abyss .
Nothing can escape from inside the event horizon , so you could not escape or report on your experience .
[ Deep knowledge , daily .
Sign up for The Conversation ’ s newsletter . ]
According to Stephen Hawking , black holes are slowly evaporating .
In the far future of the universe , long after all stars have died and galaxies have been wrenched from view by the accelerating cosmic expansion , black holes will be the last surviving objects .
The most massive black @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years to evaporate , estimated at 10 to the 100th power , or 10 with 100 zeroes after it .
The scariest objects in the universe are almost eternal .
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license .
Read the original article .
Follow all of the Expert Voices issues and debates — and become part of the discussion — on Facebook and Twitter .
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher .
This version of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .

Halloween is a time to be haunted by ghosts, goblins and ghouls, but nothing in the universe is scarier than a black hole.
Black holes – regions in space where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape – are a hot topic in the news these days. Half of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Roger Penrose for his mathematical work showing that black holes are an inescapable consequence of Einstein’s theory of gravity. Andrea Ghez and Reinhard Genzel shared the other half for showing that a massive black hole sits at the center of our galaxy.
Black holes are scary for three reasons. If you fell into a black hole left over when a star died, you would be shredded. Also, the massive black holes seen at the center of all galaxies have insatiable appetites. And black holes are places where the laws of physics are obliterated.
I’ve been studying black holes for over 30 years. In particular, I've focused on the supermassive black holes that lurk at the center of galaxies. Most of the time they are inactive, but when they are active and eat stars and gas, the region close to the black hole can outshine the entire galaxy that hosts them. Galaxies where the black holes are active are called quasars. With all we’ve learned about black holes over the past few decades, there are still many mysteries to solve.
Death by black hole
Black holes are expected to form when a massive star dies. After the star's nuclear fuel is exhausted, its core collapses to the densest state of matter imaginable, a hundred times denser than an atomic nucleus. That’s so dense that protons, neutrons and electrons are no longer discrete particles. Since black holes are dark, they are found when they orbit a normal star. The properties of the normal star allow astronomers to infer the properties of its dark companion, a black hole.
The first black hole to be confirmed was Cygnus X-1, the brightest X-ray source in the Cygnus constellation. Since then, about 50 black holes have been discovered in systems where a normal star orbits a black hole. They are the nearest examples of about 10 million that are expected to be scattered through the Milky Way.
Black holes are tombs of matter; nothing can escape them, not even light. The fate of anyone falling into a black hole would be a painful "spaghettification," an idea popularized by Stephen Hawking in his book "A Brief History of Time." In spaghettification, the intense gravity of the black hole would pull you apart, separating your bones, muscles, sinews and even molecules. As the poet Dante described the words over the gates of hell in his poem Divine Comedy: Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
A hungry beast in every galaxy
Over the past 30 years, observations with the Hubble Space Telescope have shown that all galaxies have black holes at their centers. Bigger galaxies have bigger black holes.
Nature knows how to make black holes over a staggering range of masses, from star corpses a few times the mass of the Sun to monsters tens of billions of times more massive. That’s like the difference between an apple and the Great Pyramid of Giza.
The fate of anyone falling into a black hole would be a painful "spaghettification," an idea popularized by Stephen Hawking in his book "A Brief History of Time."
Just last year, astronomers published the first-ever picture of a black hole and its event horizon, a 7-billion-solar-mass beast at the center of the M87 elliptical galaxy.
It’s over a thousand times bigger than the black hole in our galaxy, whose discoverers snagged this year's Nobel Prize. These black holes are dark most of the time, but when their gravity pulls in nearby stars and gas, they flare into intense activity and pump out a huge amount of radiation. Massive black holes are dangerous in two ways. If you get too close, the enormous gravity will suck you in. And if they are in their active quasar phase, you’ll be blasted by high-energy radiation.
How bright is a quasar? Imagine hovering over a large city like Los Angeles at night. The roughly 100 million lights from cars, houses and streets in the city correspond to the stars in a galaxy. In this analogy, the black hole in its active state is like a light source 1 inch in diameter in downtown LA that outshines the city by a factor of hundreds or thousands. Quasars are the brightest objects in the universe.
Supermassive black holes are strange
The biggest black hole discovered so far weighs in at 40 billion times the mass of the Sun, or 20 times the size of the solar system. Whereas the outer planets in our solar system orbit once in 250 years, this much more massive object spins once every three months. Its outer edge moves at half the speed of light. Like all black holes, the huge ones are shielded from view by an event horizon. At their centers is a singularity, a point in space where the density is infinite. We can’t understand the interior of a black hole because the laws of physics break down. Time freezes at the event horizon and gravity becomes infinite at the singularity.
The good news about massive black holes is that you could survive falling into one. Although their gravity is stronger, the stretching force is weaker than it would be with a small black hole and it would not kill you. The bad news is that the event horizon marks the edge of the abyss. Nothing can escape from inside the event horizon, so you could not escape or report on your experience.
[Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter.]
According to Stephen Hawking, black holes are slowly evaporating. In the far future of the universe, long after all stars have died and galaxies have been wrenched from view by the accelerating cosmic expansion, black holes will be the last surviving objects.
The most massive black holes will take an unimaginable number of years to evaporate, estimated at 10 to the 100th power, or 10 with 100 zeroes after it. The scariest objects in the universe are almost eternal.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.


livescience--2020-10-30--NASA asteroid probe stows space-rock sample for return to Earth

NASA 's pioneering OSIRIS-REx probe has bagged up its precious asteroid sample for return to Earth .
OSIRIS-REx has finished stowing the bits of the carbon-rich asteroid Bennu that it snagged last Tuesday ( Oct. 20 ) , successfully locking the material into the spacecraft 's return capsule , mission team members announced Thursday ( Oct. 29 ) .
And the sample appears to be substantial — far heftier than the 2.1 ounces ( 60 grams ) the mission had set as a target , team members said .
Indeed , OSIRIS-REx collected so much material on Oct. 20 that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; the head 's sealing mylar flap was wedged open in places by protruding Bennu pebbles .
The OSIRIS-REx team noticed that issue last week when examining photos of the head and its collected sample ; flakes of escaped asteroid material drifted through the frames .
To minimize the amount lost , the team decided to expedite the precise and complex stowing procedure , which was supposed to happen next week .
So , over the course of 36 hours on Tuesday and Wednesday ( Oct. 27 and Oct. 28 ) , engineers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which sat at the end of the probe 's robotic arm , into the return capsule ; tug on the head to make sure it was secured properly ; sever connections with the robotic arm ; and lock up the return capsule via the locking of two latches .
This was all done while OSIRIS-REx was about 205 million miles ( 330 million kilometers ) from Earth , meaning it took 18.5 minutes for each command to reach OSIRIS-REx , and another 18.5 minutes for each update from the probe to come @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wanted to only attempt stow one time , and we wanted to make sure we were successful , '' OSIRIS-REx mission operations manager Sandra Freund , of Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton , Colorado , said during a NASA news conference Thursday .
`` And we definitely were . ''
The change of plans required a last-minute reallocation of time on NASA 's Deep Space Network ( DSN ) , the system of radio telescopes that the agency uses to communicate with its far-flung probes .
Because the stow operation was so important @ @ @ @ @ @ @ large block of continuous DSN time , which other NASA missions sacrificed for the greater good .
It 's unclear exactly how much asteroid material now sits in OSIRIS-REx 's return capsule , which will come down to Earth in September 2023 .
The team canceled a planned post-sampling weighing procedure that would have involved spinning the probe , because this maneuver would have resulted in more sample loss .
( Moving the arm — to photograph the sample and conduct the stow operation , for example — imparted grain-liberating acceleration , mission @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to minimize such motions . )
But there 's definitely a lot of asteroid material on board , said mission principal investigator Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona .
The sampling operation on Oct. 20 went extremely well , Lauretta said , and the head penetrated deep into Bennu 's surface — perhaps 19 inches ( 48 centimeters ) or more .
The team is confident that OSIRIS-REx pretty much filled its sampling head that day , meaning it likely backed away from Bennu with about 4.4 lbs .
( 2 kilograms @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over the ensuing days appear minimal by comparison — probably `` tens of grams '' in total , Lauretta said .
And recent photos of the sampling head showed that it was still packed .
Mission team members could only see 17 % of the head 's volume in those photos , but they estimate that about 14.1 ounces ( 400 g ) of Bennu material is jammed into that space , Lauretta said .
Related : The greatest asteroid encounters of all time !
If that estimate is accurate , and if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the entire sampling head , then OSIRIS-REx may have held onto more than 4.4 lbs .
( 2 kg ) of sample .
Lauretta 's overall prediction is more measured than that , but it 's still decidedly bullish .
`` I believe we still have hundreds of grams of material in the sample collector head — probably over a kilogram , easily , '' Lauretta said during today 's news conference .
That would be great news .
Such a large amount would allow lots of research groups to study the Bennu @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a wide variety of experiments with the pristine cosmic sample .
As an example , Lauretta pointed to organic chemistry — specifically , analyses involving sugars .
Sugars are `` expected to be present in very low abundances [ on asteroids like Bennu ] , requiring several grams of sample to extract them from , '' Lauretta said .
`` And we thought that would not be feasible with the 15-gram allocation but something that does open up with the larger mass available for analysis . ''
If all goes according to plan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deal about the solar system 's early days and the role that asteroids like Bennu may have played in helping life get going on Earth , by delivering lots of water and carbon-containing organic chemicals .
Shedding light on such big questions is the chief goal of the $ 800 million OSIRIS-REx mission , which launched in September 2016 and arrived at Bennu in December 2018 .
The mission 's next big steps involve gearing up for the return trip ( though engineers are also trying to figure out if they can somehow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now-stowed sample ) .
Orbital dynamics dictate that OSIRIS-REx must start heading for home between early March and May , and the current plan is to target the earliest part of that window , team members said today .
OSIRIS-REx is NASA 's first asteroid-sampling mission , but it 's not the first one in history .
Japan 's Hayabusa mission delivered small bits of the stony asteroid Itokawa to Earth in 2010 , and that probe 's successor , Hayabusa2 , is scheduled to return a sample of the carbon-rich asteroid Ryugu @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the author of `` Out There '' ( Grand Central Publishing , 2018 ; illustrated by Karl Tate ) , a book about the search for alien life .
Follow him on Twitter @ michaeldwall .
Follow us on Twitter @ Spacedotcom or Facebook .

The left image shows OSIRIS-REx’s collector head hovering over the Sample Return Capsule (SRC) after the probe’s robotic arm moved it into the proper position for capture. The right image shows the collector head secured onto the capture ring in the SRC. Both images were captured by OSIRIS-REx’s StowCam camera. (Image credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin)
NASA's pioneering OSIRIS-REx probe has bagged up its precious asteroid sample for return to Earth.
OSIRIS-REx has finished stowing the bits of the carbon-rich asteroid Bennu that it snagged last Tuesday (Oct. 20), successfully locking the material into the spacecraft's return capsule, mission team members announced Thursday (Oct. 29).
And the sample appears to be substantial — far heftier than the 2.1 ounces (60 grams) the mission had set as a target, team members said. Indeed, OSIRIS-REx collected so much material on Oct. 20 that its sampling head couldn't close properly; the head's sealing mylar flap was wedged open in places by protruding Bennu pebbles.
Related: NASA's OSIRIS-REx asteroid-sampling mission in pictures
The OSIRIS-REx team noticed that issue last week when examining photos of the head and its collected sample; flakes of escaped asteroid material drifted through the frames. To minimize the amount lost, the team decided to expedite the precise and complex stowing procedure, which was supposed to happen next week.
So, over the course of 36 hours on Tuesday and Wednesday (Oct. 27 and Oct. 28), engineers directed OSIRIS-REx to deposit the sampling head, which sat at the end of the probe's robotic arm, into the return capsule; tug on the head to make sure it was secured properly; sever connections with the robotic arm; and lock up the return capsule via the locking of two latches.
This was all done while OSIRIS-REx was about 205 million miles (330 million kilometers) from Earth, meaning it took 18.5 minutes for each command to reach OSIRIS-REx, and another 18.5 minutes for each update from the probe to come back down to Earth.
"We wanted to only attempt stow one time, and we wanted to make sure we were successful," OSIRIS-REx mission operations manager Sandra Freund, of Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, said during a NASA news conference Thursday. "And we definitely were."
The change of plans required a last-minute reallocation of time on NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN), the system of radio telescopes that the agency uses to communicate with its far-flung probes. Because the stow operation was so important and so involved, OSIRIS-REx needed a large block of continuous DSN time, which other NASA missions sacrificed for the greater good.
It's unclear exactly how much asteroid material now sits in OSIRIS-REx's return capsule, which will come down to Earth in September 2023. The team canceled a planned post-sampling weighing procedure that would have involved spinning the probe, because this maneuver would have resulted in more sample loss. (Moving the arm — to photograph the sample and conduct the stow operation, for example — imparted grain-liberating acceleration, mission team members explained. So they wanted to minimize such motions.)
But there's definitely a lot of asteroid material on board, said mission principal investigator Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona.
The sampling operation on Oct. 20 went extremely well, Lauretta said, and the head penetrated deep into Bennu's surface — perhaps 19 inches (48 centimeters) or more. The team is confident that OSIRIS-REx pretty much filled its sampling head that day, meaning it likely backed away from Bennu with about 4.4 lbs. (2 kilograms) of collected material.
The losses over the ensuing days appear minimal by comparison — probably "tens of grams" in total, Lauretta said. And recent photos of the sampling head showed that it was still packed. Mission team members could only see 17% of the head's volume in those photos, but they estimate that about 14.1 ounces (400 g) of Bennu material is jammed into that space, Lauretta said.
Related: The greatest asteroid encounters of all time!
If that estimate is accurate, and if the 17% slice is representative of the entire sampling head, then OSIRIS-REx may have held onto more than 4.4 lbs. (2 kg) of sample. Lauretta's overall prediction is more measured than that, but it's still decidedly bullish.
"I believe we still have hundreds of grams of material in the sample collector head — probably over a kilogram, easily," Lauretta said during today's news conference.
That would be great news. Such a large amount would allow lots of research groups to study the Bennu dirt and rock, and to perform a wide variety of experiments with the pristine cosmic sample. As an example, Lauretta pointed to organic chemistry — specifically, analyses involving sugars.
Sugars are "expected to be present in very low abundances [on asteroids like Bennu], requiring several grams of sample to extract them from," Lauretta said. "And we thought that would not be feasible with the 15-gram allocation but something that does open up with the larger mass available for analysis."
(The OSIRIS-REx science team gets to analyze up to 25% of the returned sample. If the total sample ended up being the targeted 60 grams, the team would get to study up to 15 grams of it.)
If all goes according to plan, such experiments will reveal a great deal about the solar system's early days and the role that asteroids like Bennu may have played in helping life get going on Earth, by delivering lots of water and carbon-containing organic chemicals. Shedding light on such big questions is the chief goal of the $800 million OSIRIS-REx mission, which launched in September 2016 and arrived at Bennu in December 2018.
The mission's next big steps involve gearing up for the return trip (though engineers are also trying to figure out if they can somehow get a rough mass estimate of the now-stowed sample). Orbital dynamics dictate that OSIRIS-REx must start heading for home between early March and May, and the current plan is to target the earliest part of that window, team members said today.
OSIRIS-REx is NASA's first asteroid-sampling mission, but it's not the first one in history. Japan's Hayabusa mission delivered small bits of the stony asteroid Itokawa to Earth in 2010, and that probe's successor, Hayabusa2, is scheduled to return a sample of the carbon-rich asteroid Ryugu this coming December.
Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.


livescience--2020-10-31--A rare Halloween 'blue moon' will shine on trick-or-treaters tonight

If anyone is trying to wake some dark spirits , tonight 's the night .
is here ( Oct. 31 ) , along with a full `` blue moon '' — meaning the second full moon in a single month .
All Hallow 's Eve full moons are rare enough , occurring about once every 19 years .
But this is the first time since 1944 that trick-or-treating has lined up with a blue moon , according to the .
The spooky lightshow in the sky should begin soon enough for even the earliest candy-hunters .
Moonrise should happen between @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most of the United States , with some variance between different latitudes and positions within time zones .
Right after moonrise , the moon should be visible at the horizon .
As the night wears on , it will rise higher and shine brighter — illuminating any tricksters out egging houses ( no , do n't do that ! )
.
Much of the U.S. should have clear enough night skies to spot the blue moon while out trick-or-treating , though clouds are in the forecast for New Jersey , New York and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as the Pacific Northwest and central Minnesota , according to the .
The first full moon this October , which rose on the first of the month , also had a special name : the `` Harvest Moon , '' referring to the first full after the September equinox .
( The second full moon of autumn , this blue moon , sometimes takes the name `` Beaver Moon , '' according to . )
The blue moon ( or Beaver Moon ) occurs thanks to a routine coincidence of the Gregorian calendar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It 's a term that seems to have originated in the 1940s , according to Sky and Telescope .
There are some special things going on with the moon right now though .
For one thing , it 's at the farthest point in its orbit from Earth , about 31,000 miles ( 50,000 kilometers ) more distant than its 239,000 mile ( 385,000 km ) average .
That makes this full blue moon also a `` Micro Moon , '' though it should look just barely smaller than a `` Super Moon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ closest to Earth in its orbit ) .
More spectacularly , NASA researchers confirmed this month the presence of expansive deposits of frozen water on the moon .
Some of it is sandwiched between grains of moon dust .
But more of it may exist as vast frozen lakes , hidden in the darkest parts of deep craters , .
And just a few months ago , researchers showed that tunnels likely exist under the lunar surface , big enough to house whole cities .
One final thing to look for in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Red Planet is at its closest to right now , even as humans reach out ever more intently with and plans for human missions toward its surface .
Right now , no human being has ever been up there .
But some Halloween sooner or later , there might be visitors playing dress-up on ( or under ) the Martian crust .

More of the rust was found on the near-side of the moon. The near-side of the moon is captured here by NASA's robotic Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.
If anyone is trying to wake some dark spirits, tonight's the night.
Halloween is here (Oct. 31), along with a full "blue moon" — meaning the second full moon in a single month. All Hallow's Eve full moons are rare enough, occurring about once every 19 years. But this is the first time since 1944 that trick-or-treating has lined up with a blue moon, according to the Farmer's Almanac .
The spooky lightshow in the sky should begin soon enough for even the earliest candy-hunters. Moonrise should happen between 5:50 and 6:40 p.m. local time across most of the United States, with some variance between different latitudes and positions within time zones. Right after moonrise, the moon should be visible at the horizon. As the night wears on, it will rise higher and shine brighter — illuminating any tricksters out egging houses (no, don't do that!).
Related: Gallery: The fantastic full moon
Much of the U.S. should have clear enough night skies to spot the blue moon while out trick-or-treating, though clouds are in the forecast for New Jersey, New York and part of New England, as well as the Pacific Northwest and central Minnesota, according to the National Weather Service .
The first full moon this October, which rose on the first of the month, also had a special name: the "Harvest Moon," referring to the first full moon after the September equinox. (The second full moon of autumn, this blue moon, sometimes takes the name "Beaver Moon," according to NASA .)
The blue moon (or Beaver Moon) occurs thanks to a routine coincidence of the Gregorian calendar months and the regular moon phases. It's a term that seems to have originated in the 1940s, according to Sky and Telescope .
The full moon on Oct. 31 is the second full moon during October 2020. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
There are some special things going on with the moon right now though.
For one thing, it's at the farthest point in its orbit from Earth, about 31,000 miles (50,000 kilometers) more distant than its 239,000 mile (385,000 km) average. That makes this full blue moon also a "Micro Moon," though it should look just barely smaller than a "Super Moon" (that's Luna at its closest to Earth in its orbit).
More spectacularly, NASA researchers confirmed this month the presence of expansive deposits of frozen water on the moon. Some of it is sandwiched between grains of moon dust. But more of it may exist as vast frozen lakes, hidden in the darkest parts of deep craters, as Chelsea Gohd reported for Live Science sister site Space.com . And just a few months ago, researchers showed that tunnels likely exist under the lunar surface , big enough to house whole cities.
One final thing to look for in the sky Halloween night sky: Mars. The Red Planet is at its closest to Earth right now, even as humans reach out ever more intently with probes and plans for human missions toward its surface. Right now, no human being has ever been up there. But some Halloween sooner or later, there might be visitors playing dress-up on (or under) the Martian crust.
Originally published on Live Science.