livescience--2020-08-17--Here are the most promising coronavirus vaccine candidates out there

Editor 's Note : This story was updated on Aug. 17 to to include : Using materials from weakened cold viruses to snippets of genetic code , scientists around the world are creating dozens of unique vaccine candidates to fight the novel coronavirus — and they 're doing it at unprecedented speeds .
Over seven months after the World Health Organization ( WHO ) first alerted the world to a in Wuhan , China , 167 candidate vaccines are in development to prevent the coronavirus that caused the disease ( called COVID-19 ) , according to WHO .
Most of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , meaning they are still being tested on animals or in the lab , but a handful of them have reached human trials .
Such clinical trials are broken up into three to four stages , with earlier stages ( phase 1/phase 2 ) examining the safety , dosage , and possible side effects and efficacy ( how well it works at fighting the pathogen ) of the candidate vaccine in a small group of people , according to the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) .
The key to getting a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ showing promising results in the more advanced phase 3 trial .
In phase 3 trials , researchers test the efficacy of the vaccine , while monitoring for adverse reactions in hundreds to thousands of volunteers .
The FDA then approves the vaccine if trials show it is safe and effective , and the vaccine 's benefits outweigh its risks , according to the .
Five coronavirus vaccine candidates have started recruiting for , or are undergoing , phase 3 trials , according to WHO .
Here are the most promising of those candidates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , popularly known as the Oxford vaccine , is being developed by the British university in collaboration with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca .
The vaccine is made from a weakened version of a common cold virus , called an adenovirus , that infects chimpanzees .
Researchers genetically altered the virus so that it could n't replicate in humans and added genes to code for the so-called that the coronavirus uses to infect human cells .
In theory , the vaccine will teach the body to recognize these spikes , so that when a person @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , according to a previous .
Researchers previously tested this vaccine in rhesus macaque monkeys and found that it did not prevent the monkeys from becoming infected when deliberately exposed to the coronavirus , but did prevent them from developing , suggesting that it was partially protective , according to a study published May 13 to the preprint database .
In April , researchers began testing the vaccine on people and published early results from their phase 1 and still-ongoing phase 2 trials on July 20 in the journal .
The vaccine did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ participants but did prompt some mild side effects , such as muscle ache and chills .
The vaccine spurred the immune system to produce SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cells — a group of white blood cells important in the fight against pathogens — and neutralizing , or molecules that can latch onto the virus and block it from infecting cells , according to the report .
Phase 3 trials have already begun in Brazil and will enroll up to 5,000 volunteers .
Another phase 3 trial is expected to enroll an additional 10,500 people in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ according to the and .
The team at Oxford has also expressed interest in conducting challenge studies on humans , meaning they would deliberately infect low-risk volunteers with the virus , either alongside phase 3 trials or after they are complete , according to The Guardian .
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ( HHS ) announced that it would give up to $ 1.2 billion to AstraZeneca to accelerate the vaccine development process and to help the company manufacture at least 300 million doses of the vaccine — if it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as October 2020 , .
This is part of the Trump administration 's Operation Warp Speed , an initiative that aims to deliver 300 million doses of a safe and effective vaccine by January of 2021 , .
Another candidate vaccine , called ( PiCoVacc ) and being developed by Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech , protected rhesus macaque monkeys from infection with the novel coronavirus , according to a study published July 3 in the journal .
The company , having already shown the vaccine to be safe and effective in early clinical trials @ @ @ @ @ @ @ clinical trial with 8,870 participants in Brazil , according to .
This vaccine is made up of an inactivated version of the SARS-CoV-2 virus .
Inactivated vaccines are the dead version of the pathogen that causes the disease ( as opposed to weakened viruses which are live vaccines ) , according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ( HHS ) .
Inactivated viruses such as the or the hepatitis A vaccine , are typically not as protective as live vaccines and might require booster shots over time , according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Oxford vaccine is a weakened form of a live vaccine , which can create long-lasting immune responses but tends to be riskier for people with weakened immune systems or other health problems , according to the HHS .
Sinovac began phase 1/phase 2 trials ( involving 743 healthy adults ) in April in the Jiangsu province of China .
They gave participants two doses of the vaccine , two weeks apart , and reported that the vaccine did n't cause any serious adverse events , .
Study authors also said more than 90 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the vaccine two weeks after receiving the second dose .
However , their results have only been reported in a press release and have n't yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal .
The company is now conducting a phase 2 trial on elderly adults and will later conduct one on children and adolescents , according to another statement .
Sinovac previously used the same technology to create approved vaccines for hepatitis A , hepatitis B and swine flu , avian flu and the virus that causes hand , foot and mouth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mRNA-1273 ) , developed by U.S. biotech company Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases ( NIAID ) , was the first to be tested on humans in the U.S. , according to a .
Moderna 's vaccine relies on a technology that has n't been used in any approved vaccines to date : a piece of genetic material called messenger RNA ( mRNA ) .
Traditional vaccines are made up of weakened or inactive viruses , or proteins of those viruses , to trigger an immune response ; mRNA @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are made up of genetic material that teaches cells to build these viral proteins themselves ( in this case , the coronavirus ' spike protein ) .
Both traditional and mRNA vaccines trigger an immune response in the body such that if a person is naturally exposed to the virus , the body can quickly recognize and fight it .
These mRNA vaccines have several advantages , including being quicker and easier to manufacture than traditional vaccines , which can take time to develop because scientists have to grow and inactivate entire pathogens @ @ @ @ @ @ @ might also be more durable against pathogens that tend to mutate , such as and flu viruses .
However , mRNA vaccines can cause adverse reactions in the body ; these types of vaccines also have problems with stability , breaking down quite quickly , which might limit the strength of immunity , according to National Geographic .
mRNA vaccines have shown to be `` a promising alternative '' to traditional vaccines , but `` their application has until recently been restricted by the instability and inefficient '' delivery into the body , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2018 review published in the journal .
`` Recent technological advances have now largely overcome these issues , and multiple mRNA vaccine platforms against infectious diseases and several types of cancer have demonstrated encouraging results in both animal models and humans . ''
On July 14 , Moderna published promising early results from a phase 1 trial consisting of 45 participants in The New England Journal of Medicine .
Participants were divided into three groups and given a low , medium or high dose of the vaccine .
After receiving two doses of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ antibodies at levels above the average of those found in recovered COVID-19 patients , .
The vaccine appeared safe and generally well-tolerated , but more than half of the participants had some side effects ( similar to side effects that can happen from the annual flu shot ) including fatigue , chills , headache , muscle aches and pain at the injection site .
Some participants in the middle- and high-dose groups experienced a fever after the second injection .
One person who received the highest dose experienced a `` severe '' fever @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of fainting , according to the report .
But this participant felt better after a day and a half .
Such high doses wo n't be given to participants in upcoming trials .
Moderna 's phase 2 trial is still ongoing and on July 27 , the company started its phase 3 trial in the U.S. , according to a Live Science report .
The trial is expected to enroll about 30,000 participants by the end of the summer — and the first results from the trial might be available by November , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the HHS , under Operation Warp Speed , committed to spending up to $ 483 million for the accelerated development of Moderna 's vaccine .
On July 28 , scientists published a new in The New England Journal of Medicin detailing how Moderna 's vaccine induced a strong immune response in rhesus macaque monkeys .
After being given a 10 or 100 μg dose of the vaccine and then a second dose two weeks later ( some were not given a vaccine and served as a comparison point ) , the monkeys @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the coronavirus at week 8 .
The researchers found that the monkeys developed a strong immune response to the virus , as their immune systems produced both neutralizing antibodies and T cells .
Two days after the monkeys were exposed to the coronavirus , the researchers could not detect any viral replication in the nose or lungs , suggesting that the vaccine protected against early infection .
( This is in contrast to the University of Oxford study conducted in monkeys , which seemed to prevent the monkeys from developing pneumonia , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the novel coronavirus . )
CanSino Biologics , in collaboration with the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology , developed a candidate vaccine using a weakened adenovirus .
Unlike the Oxford vaccine , which relies on an adenovirus that infects chimpanzees , CanSino Biologics is using an adenovirus that infects humans .
Along with Moderna , this group also published results from their phase 2 trial on July 20 in the journal .
The trial , which was conducted in Wuhan ( where the first coronavirus cases emerged ) , involved 508 participants who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of two different doses of the vaccine or a placebo .
This study also did n't find serious adverse events , though some reported mild or moderate reactions including fever , fatigue and injection site pain .
Around 90 % of the participants developed T-cell responses and about 85 % developed neutralizing antibodies , according to the study .
`` The results of both studies augur well for phase 3 trials , where the vaccines must be tested on much larger populations of participants to assess their efficacy and safety , '' Naor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ part of John Hopkins ' International Vaccine Access Center , wrote in an in The Lancet referring to this study and the Oxford vaccine study published in the same journal .
`` Overall , the results of both trials are broadly similar and promising . ''
They are now looking to conduct a phase 3 trial outside of China , .
The state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group ( Sinopharm ) 's candidate vaccine is an inactivated form of SARS-CoV-2 .
On Aug. 13 , the company published data from its phase 1 and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In the phase 1 trial , 96 healthy adults were randomly assigned to receive either a low , medium or high dose of the vaccine or to receive aluminum hydroxide as a placebo .
They were given second and third doses of the vaccine ( or the placebo ) after 28 days and 56 days , respectively .
The researchers found that the vaccine triggered their bodies to produce neutralizing antibodies .
In the participants who received the placebo , 12.5 % had adverse reactions .
In those who received low , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ % , 16.7 % and 25 % had mild adverse reactions , respectively , according to the study .
In the phase 2 trial , 224 adults were given a medium dose or a placebo and then a second shot either 14 days or 21 days after the first .
Again , the participants developed neutralizing antibodies and reported some mild adverse reactions .
The most common adverse reaction was pain at the injection site , and then mild fever .
`` No serious adverse reactions were noted , '' the authors wrote @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Abu Dhabi , which will recruit up to 15,000 people , .
The participants will receive one of two vaccine strains or a placebo , according to Reuters .
Pfizer and German biotechnology company BioNTech are , like Moderna , developing a vaccine that uses messenger RNA to prompt the immune system to recognize the coronavirus .
The vaccine did n't cause any serious adverse events and could spur an immune response , according to early phase 1/phase 2 data released to the preprint database on July 1 and that has n't @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 45 patients who were given one of three doses of either the candidate vaccine or a placebo .
None of the patients had serious side effects , but some developed side effects such as fevers ( 75 % in the highest dose group ) , fatigue , headaches , chills , muscle pains and joint pain .
The researchers found that the vaccine prompted the immune system to make neutralizing antibodies at levels 1.8 to 2.8 times higher than those found in recovered patients , according to the study .
Later , Pfizer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so the findings are n't peer-reviewed ) that the vaccine also prompted the production of T-cells specific to the novel coronavirus .
This week , the Trump administration announced a $ 1.95 billion contract with Pfizer and BioNTech to produce at least 100 million doses of their vaccine by the end of the year if it proves to be safe and effective ( with up to 500 million doses more as required ) .
Americans would receive the vaccine for free , according to The New York Times .
Previously , the two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for 30 million doses of the vaccine candidate if it works and is approved , .
Pfizer is planning for a large-scale phase 3 trial to start this month and regulatory review for as early as October , according to the Times .
Johnson & Johnson 's Janssen experimental COVID-19 vaccine , called Ad26 , is also being developed from a weakened adenovirus .
This type of vaccine is called a vector-based vaccine because it uses a weakened virus ( a vector ) to deliver information about the pathogen to the body to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ case , the weakened adenovirus expresses the SARS-CoV-2 `` spike '' protein .
Janssen is using the same technology it used to develop its .
Researchers reported on July 30 in the journal that a single shot of the Ad26 vaccine protected rhesus macaques from infection with SARS-CoV-2 .
In this study , the scientists tested seven slightly varying types of Ad26 vaccine prototypes and identified the one that produced the highest number of neutralizing antibodies .
After receiving the chosen variant , the monkeys were then exposed to the coronavirus .
Six @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this prototype vaccine , calledAd26.COV2.S , and then exposed to the coronavirus showed no detectable virus in the lower respiratory tract and one showed very low levels in its nose , according to the statement .
Johnson & Johnson 's of Ad26.COV2.S is currently underway in the U.S. and Belgium .
The trial is expected to enroll 1,045 healthy participants between the ages of 18 and 55 and those over 65 .
They will test the safety of the vaccine , any side effects and the immune response the participants develop , according @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Johnson .
They will also test various vaccination schedules and doses .
There are further plans for another phase 1 study of the vaccine candidate in Japan and a Phase 2 study in the Netherlands , Spain and Germany , according to Johnson & Johnson .
If the vaccine proves safe and effective in those trials , the researchers will begin trials in September with an estimated 60,000 participants across the globe .
Johnson & Johnson recently announced a $ 1 billion agreement with the U.S. government to deliver 100 million doses of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ receives approval or emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration , .

Editor's Note: This story was updated on Nov. 25.
Using materials from weakened cold viruses to snippets of genetic code, scientists around the world are creating dozens of unique vaccine candidates to fight the novel coronavirus — and they're doing it at unprecedented speeds.
It's not known exactly when the virus hopped from animals to humans and when it started spreading across borders. But in less than a year since the World Health Organization (WHO) first alerted the world to a mysterious cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China, researchers across the globe have already developed more than 200 different candidate vaccines to fight the coronavirus.
Most are in preclinical stages, meaning they are still being tested on animals or in the lab, but 48 of them are being tested on humans. A handful of those 48 have reached late-stage clinical trials and three have already revealed promising results in late-stage trials and have applied for emergency use among high-risk populations. The first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine could be given to people in the U.S. starting in December.
Related: Coronavirus live updates
Clinical trials are broken up into three to four stages, with earlier stages (phase 1/phase 2) examining the safety, dosage, and possible side effects and efficacy (how well it works at fighting the pathogen) of the candidate vaccine in a small group of people, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) . The key to getting a candidate vaccine approved, however, is showing promising results in the more advanced phase 3 trial. In phase 3 trials, researchers test the efficacy of the vaccine, while also monitoring for adverse reactions in thousands of volunteers.
Here are the most promising of those candidates:
University of Oxford/AstraZeneca
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
The vaccine ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, popularly known as the Oxford vaccine, was developed by researchers at the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca. The vaccine candidate is 70% effective in preventing COVID-19 and can be 90% effective when given in the right dose, the University of Oxford announced on Nov. 23 . The vaccine is given in two doses, 28 days apart and is still being tested in phase 3 clinical trials across the globe, including in the U.S., U.K. and Brazil. The first analysis from these late-stage trials was based on 131 participants who developed COVID-19 after receiving either the vaccine or the placebo. In those who received two full doses, the vaccine was around 62% effective in preventing COVID-19, but in those who first received a half dose and then a full dose (this dosing wasn't deliberate, but the result of dosing mistake in early trials), the vaccine was 90% effective, Live Science reported . However, the data is not yet released or peer-reviewed and so it's not clear how many people received the placebo and how many received the vaccine.No serious safety concerns were found, and none of the participants who developed an infection after receiving the vaccine were hospitalized or had serious disease, according to the statement. The trials were paused twice before (this is common in clinical trials) after two different participants developed neurological symptoms, but they were resumed again when investigators didn't find a link between the vaccine and the symptoms, according to Vox . Another participant in the trial, a 28-year-old doctor in Brazil, died from COVID-19 complications, but the University of Oxford didn't cite any safety concerns nor was the trial stopped, so it's likely he was given a placebo and not the vaccine itself, according to the BBC .
The vaccine is made from a weakened version of a common cold virus, called an adenovirus, that infects chimpanzees. Researchers genetically altered the virus so that it couldn't replicate in humans and added genes to code for the so-called spike proteins that the coronavirus uses to infect human cells. In theory, the vaccine will teach the body to recognize these spikes, so that when a person is exposed, the immune system can destroy it, according to a previous Live Science report .
Researchers previously tested this vaccine in rhesus macaque monkeys and found that it did not prevent the monkeys from becoming infected when deliberately exposed to the coronavirus, but did prevent them from developing pneumonia , suggesting that it was partially protective, according to a study published May 13 to the preprint database BioRxiv .
In April, researchers began testing the vaccine on people and published early results from their phase 1 and still-ongoing phase 2 trials on July 20 in the journal The Lancet . The vaccine didn't cause any serious adverse effects in participants but did prompt some mild side effects, such as muscle ache and chills. The vaccine spurred the immune system to produce SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cells — a group of white blood cells important in the fight against pathogens — and neutralizing antibodies , or molecules that can latch onto the virus and block it from infecting cells, according to the report.
The Oxford vaccine showed similar immune responses in those over the age of 56 and those between the ages of 18 and 55, and it was "better tolerated" in older adults than younger adults, according to phase 2 results published on Nov. 18 in the journal The Lancet . This analysis was based on 560 participants, 240 of them 70 years of age and older.
The team at Oxford has also expressed interest in conducting challenge studies on humans, meaning they would deliberately infect low-risk volunteers with the virus, either alongside phase 3 trials or after they are complete, according to The Guardian .
The coronavirus uses spike proteins (seen on its surface here) to invade human cells. (Image credit: Shutterstock)
Sinovac Biotech
A Chinese company, Sinovac Biotech, developed and is testing a candidate vaccine called CoronaVac, which is made up of an inactivated version of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Inactivated vaccines use killed versions of a pathogen (as opposed to weakened viruses, which are called live vaccines), according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Inactivated viruses such as the flu vaccine or the hepatitis A vaccine, are typically not as protective as live vaccines and might require booster shots over time, according to the HHS. In contrast, the Oxford vaccine is a weakened form of a live virus, which can create long-lasting immune responses. Weakened virus vaccines tend to be riskier for people with weakened immune systems or other health problems, according to the HHS. Sinovac previously used the same technology to develop approved vaccines for hepatitis A, hepatitis B, swine flu, avian flu and the virus that causes hand, foot and mouth disease, according to STAT News .
Sinovac's vaccine, given in two doses 14 days apart, was well-tolerated and induced an immune response in participants, according to results from their phase 1/phase 2 trials published in November in The Lancet Infectious Diseases . But the number of antibodies produced in response to the vaccine was lower than the level found in patients who have recovered from COVID-19. The vaccine is being tested in phase 3 trials in Brazil, Indonesia and Turkey; the company has not yet announced results from these trials. But enough participants in the Brazil trial have now been infected with the virus to conduct the first analysis of it, Reuters reported . Results could come in early December, according to the trial organizers.
In September, Sinovac announced that their vaccine was well-tolerated among older adults and didn't cause serious adverse reactions. The phase 1/phase 2 trial involved 421 healthy volunteers between the ages of 60 and 89; these participants developed antibody levels comparable to the adult group ages 18 to 59, according to the statement. The vaccine protected rhesus macaque monkeys from infection with the novel coronavirus, according to a study published July 3 in the journal Science .
China has approved this vaccine for emergency use (along with two other vaccines developed by Sinopharm). About 90% of Sinovac's employees and their families have taken the experimental vaccine under China's emergency use program, Reuters reported on Sept. 6.
Moderna/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
This candidate vaccine (mRNA-1273), developed by U.S. biotech company Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), was the first to be tested on humans in the U.S., according to a previous Live Science report . It's also one of the first to release early results from its phase 3 trial.
An analysis of the early data suggested that Moderna's vaccine is 94.5% effective in protecting against COVID-19, the company announced on Nov. 16. The analysis was based on 95 participants in Moderna's phase 3 trial who developed COVID-19; 90 of them received a placebo and five received the vaccine. What's more, 15 of those who developed COVID-19 were people who were at least 65 years old and 20 were from diverse communities. Among the participants, 11 had severe cases of COVID-19, but none of these severe cases were among those given the actual vaccine, Live Science reported .
Moderna's vaccine relies on a technology that hasn't been used in any approved vaccines to date: a piece of genetic material called messenger RNA (mRNA). Traditional vaccines are made up of weakened or inactive viruses, or proteins of those viruses, to trigger an immune response; mRNA vaccines, on the other hand, are made up of genetic material that teaches cells to build these viral proteins themselves (in this case, the coronavirus' spike protein). Both traditional and mRNA vaccines trigger an immune response in the body such that if a person is naturally exposed to the virus, the body can quickly recognize and fight it.
These mRNA vaccines have several advantages, including being quicker and easier to manufacture than traditional vaccines, which can take time to develop because scientists have to grow and inactivate entire pathogens or their proteins, according to National Geographic . mRNA vaccines might also be more durable against pathogens that tend to mutate, such as coronaviruses and flu viruses. However, mRNA vaccines can cause adverse reactions in the body; these types of vaccines also have problems with stability, breaking down quite quickly, which might limit the strength of immunity, according to National Geographic.
mRNA vaccines have shown to be "a promising alternative" to traditional vaccines, but "their application has until recently been restricted by the instability and inefficient" delivery into the body, a group of researchers reported in a 2018 review published in the journal Nature Reviews Drug Discovery . "Recent technological advances have now largely overcome these issues, and multiple mRNA vaccine platforms against infectious diseases and several types of cancer have demonstrated encouraging results in both animal models and humans."
On July 14, Moderna published promising early results from a phase 1 trial consisting of 45 participants in The New England Journal of Medicine . Participants were divided into three groups and given a low, medium or high dose of the vaccine. After receiving two doses of the vaccine, all participants developed neutralizing antibodies at levels above the average of those found in recovered COVID-19 patients, Live Science reported .
The vaccine appeared safe and generally well-tolerated, but more than half of the participants had some side effects (similar to side effects that can happen from the annual flu shot) including fatigue, chills, headache, muscle aches and pain at the injection site. Some participants in the middle- and high-dose groups experienced a fever after the second injection. One person who received the highest dose experienced a "severe" fever, nausea, lightheadedness and an episode of fainting, according to the report. But this participant felt better after a day and a half. Such high doses won't be given to participants in upcoming trials.
On July 28, scientists published a new study in The New England Journal of Medicin e detailing how Moderna's vaccine induced a strong immune response in rhesus macaque monkeys. After being given a 10 or 100 μg dose of the vaccine and then a second dose two weeks later (some were not given a vaccine and served as a comparison point), the monkeys were "challenged" or exposed to the coronavirus at week 8. The researchers found that the monkeys developed a strong immune response to the virus, as their immune systems produced both neutralizing antibodies and T cells. Two days after the monkeys were exposed to the coronavirus, the researchers could not detect any viral replication in the nose or lungs, suggesting that the vaccine protected against early infection. (This is in contrast to the University of Oxford study conducted in monkeys, which seemed to prevent the monkeys from developing pneumonia, but didn't prevent them from getting infected with the novel coronavirus.)
The government's Operation Warp Speed gave Moderna $955 million for research and development of its vaccine. Moderna's phase 3 trial is still ongoing, and the company expects to produce 500 million to 1 billion doses globally in 2021. The company expects to submit for an emergency use authorization (EUA) soon.
mRNA vaccines teach cells how to make the spike protein (the mRNA is translated to amino acids, the building block of proteins inside what's called the cell's ribosome). (Image credit: Shutterstock)
Pfizer/BioNTech
Pfizer and German biotechnology company BioNTech have, like Moderna, developed a vaccine that uses messenger RNA to prompt the immune system to recognize the coronavirus. A final analysis of their phase 3 data suggested that their vaccine is 95% effective at preventing COVID-19, the companies announced on Nov. 18. The companies became the first to submit a request for emergency use authorization on Nov. 20. The first doses of this vaccine will likely be given in December.
Pfizer and BioNTech plan to produce up to 50 million doses of its vaccine globally in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses of its vaccine by the end of 2021, according to the statement. The phase 3 trial, that began in late July, will continue for another two years and safety and efficacy data will continue to be collected, Live Science reported .
Moderna's and Pfizer's vaccines are made using the same technology, are both given in two doses and have shown to be similar in efficacy and safety. The U.S. government has promised to buy millions of doses of both vaccines if they are approved. But Pfizer's vaccine has an added difficulty: it must be stored in ultra-cold temperatures of minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 70 degrees Celsius), whereas Moderna's needs to be stored at minus 4 F (minus 20 C). Pfizer didn't take any money from the government for research and development for its vaccine, whereas Moderna did. The Pfizer vaccine didn't cause any serious adverse events and led to an immune response, according to phase 1/phase 2 data published in the journal Nature in August.. The study involved 45 patients who were given one of three doses of either the candidate vaccine or a placebo. None of the patients had serious side effects, but some developed side effects such as fevers (75% in the highest dose group), fatigue, headaches, chills, muscle pains and joint pain.
The researchers found that the vaccine prompted the immune system to make neutralizing antibodies at levels 1.8 to 2.8 times higher than those found in recovered patients, according to the study. This vaccine also prompted the body to produce T cells and other molecules to help fight the virus, according to results from another phase 1/phase 2 trial that were published in the journal Nature at the end of September. In October, Pfizer and BioNTech received FDA approval to start enrolling children 12 years old and older in its trials, according to NPR .
CanSino Biologics/Beijing Institute of Biotechnology
CanSino Biologics, in collaboration with the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology, developed a candidate vaccine (Ad5-nCoV or Convidecia) using a weakened adenovirus. Unlike the Oxford vaccine, which relies on an adenovirus that infects chimpanzees, CanSino Biologics is using an adenovirus that infects humans.
Along with Moderna, this group also published results from their phase 2 trial on July 20 in the journal The Lancet . The trial, which was conducted in Wuhan (where the first coronavirus cases emerged), involved 508 participants who were randomly assigned to receive either one of two different doses of the vaccine or a placebo. This study also didn't find serious adverse events, though some reported mild or moderate reactions including fever, fatigue and injection site pain. Around 90% of the participants developed T-cell responses and about 85% developed neutralizing antibodies, according to the study.
"The results of both studies augur well for phase 3 trials, where the vaccines must be tested on much larger populations of participants to assess their efficacy and safety," Naor Bar-Zeev and William J Moss, both part of John Hopkins' International Vaccine Access Center, wrote in an accompanying commentary in The Lancet referring to this study and the Oxford vaccine study published in the same journal. "Overall, the results of both trials are broadly similar and promising."
In June, CanSino's coronavirus vaccine was given approval to be used in China's military, according to Reuters . CanSino announced on Nov. 21 that they will start phase 3 trials of its vaccine in Argentina and Chile, Reuters reported. They are already conducting phase 3 trials in Pakistan, Russia and Mexico.
Gamaleya Research Center (Sputnik V)
The Russia Ministry of Health's Gamaleya Research Institute has developed a coronavirus vaccine candidate, now known as "Sputnik V," based on two different adenoviruses, or common cold viruses that infect humans. These viruses are genetically altered to not replicate in humans and to code for the coronavirus's spike protein.
Russia announced on Nov. 24 that its vaccine was more than 91.4% effective in preventing COVID-19, according to results from a second analysis of its phase 3 trial. The analysis was based on 39 participants who either received a placebo or the Sputnik V vaccine and later went on to develop COVID-19 (Their results agreed with their first analysis of their phase 3 data based on 20 participants). But the vaccine makers also said that an early analysis of an unspecified, smaller subset of the participants suggested that their vaccine was actually 95% effective in preventing COVID-19 three weeks after participants received the second dose. The researchers said they will do another analysis once 78 of the trial participants become infected with COVID-19. But some experts were skeptical about the 95% figure because it was based on incomplete data, according to The New York Times .
In August, President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia approved the vaccine for use in tens of thousands of people, before it was thoroughly tested in late-stage clinical trials, drawing international criticism, Live Science previously reported . But the registration certificate issued by Russia's Ministry of Health showed that the vaccine was only approved for use in a small group of people, including health care workers, according to Science Magazine .
In September, the researchers published results from their phase 1/phase 2 trials in the journal The Lancet . The analysis, based on 76 participants (none of whom were given a placebo), suggested their vaccine was "safe and well tolerated." Most adverse events were mild, none of the participants had serious adverse events and the participants developed higher antibody levels against the coronavirus than people who have recovered from COVID-19.
Adenoviruses have been used to make vaccines for decades, and an adenovirus is also the base of the coronavirus vaccines developed by Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Pharmaceutical companies, China's CanSino Biologics and the University of Oxford.
"The uniqueness of the Russian vaccine lies in the use of two different human adenoviral vectors which allows for a stronger and longer-term immune response as compared to the vaccines using one and the same vector for two doses," according to the statement. After the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca announced that two full doses of the same adenovirus led to a 62% efficacy, the Sputnik V researchers tweeted : "Sputnik V is happy to share one of its two human adenoviral vectors with @AstraZeneca to increase the efficacy of AstraZeneca vaccine. Using two different vectors for two vaccine shots will result in higher efficacy than using the same vector for two shots."
Sinopharm
The state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm)'s candidate vaccine is an inactivated form of SARS-CoV-2. On Aug. 13, the company published data from its phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials in the journal JAMA . In the phase 1 trial, 96 healthy adults were randomly assigned to receive either a low, medium or high dose of the vaccine or to receive aluminum hydroxide as a placebo. They were given second and third doses of the vaccine (or the placebo) after 28 days and 56 days, respectively.
The researchers found that the vaccine triggered their bodies to produce neutralizing antibodies. In the participants who received the placebo, 12.5% had adverse reactions. In those who received low, medium and high dose vaccines, 20.8%, 16.7% and 25% had mild adverse reactions, respectively, according to the study. In the phase 2 trial, 224 adults were given a medium dose or a placebo and then a second shot either 14 days or 21 days after the first. Again, the participants developed neutralizing antibodies and reported some mild adverse reactions. The most common adverse reaction was pain at the injection site, and then mild fever. "No serious adverse reactions were noted," the authors wrote.
The company has already begun its phase 3 trial in Abu Dhabi, which will recruit up to 15,000 people, according to Reuters . The participants will receive one of two vaccine strains or a placebo, according to Reuters. The company also launched phase 3 trials in Peru and Morocco, according to Reuters . Sinopharm is testing a second vaccine developed by the Beijing Institute of Biological Products in a phase 3 trial in the United Arab Emirates and Argentina.
Almost 1 million people have already been given Sinopharm's vaccine in China under an emergency use program, according to CNN . The vaccine was given to construction workers, diplomats and students who have since traveled to 150 countries across the globe without reporting an infection, Sinopharm Chairman Liu Jingzhen said in an article on social media platform WeChat, according to CNN. No serious adverse effects have been reported, according to the article.
The United Arab Emirates granted emergency approval on Sept. 14 for Sinopharm's coronavirus vaccine for frontline health care workers, according to Reuters .
Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies
Johnson & Johnson's Janssen experimental COVID-19 vaccine, is also based on a weakened adenovirus (ad26) and is given to volunteers as a single dose (most of the other candidate vaccines are given in two doses). Again, this type of vaccine, called a vector-based vaccine, uses a weakened virus (a vector) to deliver "information" about the pathogen to the body to spur the immune response. Just as with other adenovirus-based COVID-19 vaccines, the weakened adenovirus expresses the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Janssen is using the same technology it used to develop its Ebola vaccine .
The U.S. government's Operation Warp Speed has funded $456 million for the development of this vaccine. Johnson & Johnson also announced a $1 billion agreement with the U.S. government to deliver 100 million doses of the vaccine in the U.S. if it receives approval or emergency use authorization from the FDA.
Johnson & Johnson began phase 3 trials in the U.S. on Sept. 23. The company has not yet released data from these trials. In October, the company paused its trials (this is common in clinical trials) after a participant developed an unexplained illness, but then resumed in the U.S. after a "thorough evaluation" didn't find a clear cause for the illness, according to a statement. "There are many possible factors that could have caused the event. Based on the information gathered to date and the input of independent experts, the Company has found no evidence that the vaccine candidate caused the event," the company wrote in the statement. But discussions with global regulatory agencies to resume trials in other countries are still continuing. On Nov. 15, Johnson & Johnson announced the start of a new global phase 3 trial that will study the safety and efficacy of two doses of the vaccine (rather than one).
Both phase 3 trials follow "positive interim results," regarding safety and efficacy from the phase 1/phase 2 clinical trial, which has been posted to the preprint site medRxiv and hasn't yet been peer-reviewed. Almost all of the participants developed a strong T cell response and antibodies to the virus, including neutralizing antibodies, after a single dose. The trials are ongoing and they are also testing the effect of a vaccine when given as two doses. The majority of adverse events were "mild and moderate," according to a statement . However, two adverse events were reported in the trials, the first event was found not to be related to the vaccine and the second was in a participant who developed a fever and was hospitalized with "suspicion" that they had COVID-19 but recovered in 12 hours, according to the statement.
Researchers reported on July 30 in the journal Nature that a single shot of the Ad26 vaccine protected rhesus macaques from infection with SARS-CoV-2. In this study, the scientists tested seven slightly varying types of Ad26 vaccine prototypes and identified the one that produced the highest number of neutralizing antibodies. After receiving the chosen variant, the monkeys were then exposed to the coronavirus. Six out of seven monkeys that were given this prototype vaccine, calledAd26.COV2.S, and then exposed to the coronavirus showed no detectable virus in the lower respiratory tract and one showed very low levels in the nose, according to a statement.
Novavax
U.S.-based vaccine development company Novavax has developed and is testing a candidate coronavirus vaccine called NVX-CoV2373. Called a "recombinant nanoparticle vaccine," it's made up of several SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins that are combined in a nanoparticle along with an immune-boosting compound called an adjuvant, according to The New York Times .
The company, which has not brought a vaccine to market in it's 33-year-history, has made a $1.6 billion deal with the U.S. government under Operation Warp Speed, according to the Times. On Sept. 2, early, promising results from Novavax's phase 1/phase 2 trials were published in The New England Journal of Medicine . The trials involved 131 healthy adults: eighty-three of the participants received the vaccine with the adjuvant; 25 received the vaccine without the adjuvant; and 23 received the placebo. The participants were given two doses of the vaccine 21 days apart. "No serious adverse events were noted," the researchers wrote. One participant had a mild fever that lasted for a day, according to the paper.
Thirty-five days after the initial dose, participants who received the vaccine had immune responses that exceeded those in patients who recovered from COVID-19. All of the participants developed neutralizing antibodies at levels of four to six times greater than the average developed by recovered patients, according to CNN . In 16 participants, who were randomly tested, the vaccine seemed to generate T-cell responses (T cells are a group of white blood cells important in the fight against pathogens). "The addition of adjuvant resulted in enhanced immune responses," the authors wrote.
Based on these safety results from phase 1, the company has begun the phase 2 trial of the study . The company has also begun a separate phase 2 study in South Africa, testing their candidate COVID-19 vaccine on both HIV-negative and HIV-positive volunteers. On Sept. 24, Novavax announced that it started its phase 3 testing of the vaccine in the United Kingdom and will enroll up to 10,000 volunteers.
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-08-17--Trump administration to approve Arctic wildlife refuge for oil and gas drilling

The Trump administration announced today ( Aug. 17 ) that it plans to open up part of Alaska 's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ( ANWR ) , a 19 million acre ( 7.7 million hectares ) refuge about the size of South Carolina , to oil and gas leasing — a move that paves the way for drilling in the region , according to news reports .
ANWR has long been a battleground between environmentalists and industry .
In 1960 , the U.S. government began setting aside land for ANWR , `` the only conservation system unit that protects , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spectrum of the ecosystems in North America , '' .
However , while ANWR is home to Arctic animals such as , caribou , fish and 135 species of migratory birds , it 's also rich in oil and gas .
In particular , the so-called 1002 Area , a 1.5-million-acre ( 607,000 hectares ) zone located along the refuge 's Arctic Ocean coastline , is thought to hold about 10.4 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil , according to a 1998 report by the U.S. Geological Survey .
This makes it the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , .
Related : Why is there so much oil in the Arctic ?
U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt made the announcement today , saying that the government will likely begin leasing parts of ANWR to oil and gas companies within months , .
`` There certainly could be a lease sale by the end of the year , '' Bernhardt told reporters during a news conference , as reported by Arctic Today , adding that he would `` move forward expeditiously . ''
Bernhardt said the decision was based on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which mandated that the federal government approve at least two leases of 400,000 acres ( 162,000 hectares ) each by the end of 2024 , according to the legislation .
In December 2018 , the Interior 's Bureau of Land Management permitted that drilling could be conducted in the 1002 without harming wildlife , .
Alaskan Gov .
Mike Dunleavy ( R ) and the state 's congressional leaders lauded the decision , saying that it would create jobs and help Alaska 's economy , Arctic Today reported .
That includes potential money @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Alaska Natives who live in Kaktovik , a village of 5,000 to 7,000 people located within the refuge , who often use money from oil revenues to pay for necessities such as schools , infrastructure and health services , Alaska Rep. Don Young ( R ) .
`` This is a capstone moment in our decades-long push to allow for the responsible development of a small part of Alaska 's 1002 Area , '' U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski ( R ) .
`` I thank all Alaskans who have worked for more than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the 1002 Area of ANWR , '' U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan ( R ) said in the same statement .
`` I particularly applaud the tireless advocacy of the many Alaska Natives — who call the area home — and who know firsthand how responsible oil production can provide enormous economic and social benefits while having minimal impact on the environment . ''
However , oil and gas extraction can harm the environment , studies show .
For instance , as the Exxon Valdez oil spill demonstrated , oil spills can coat the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their ability to repel water and stay warm , which increases the creature 's risk of hypothermia .
Oil can also be poisonous if ingested , and it 's challenging to clean up , Natalie Boelman , an Earth scientist at Columbia University 's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York , who has done research in ANWR , , a blog of Columbia 's Earth Institute .
Moreover , companies searching for oil can disrupt the land , driving tractors that rip up vegetation and destroy permafrost , which releases the potent methane @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bring increased traffic , construction and , as a result , noise and dust , that can harm the area .
People who drill for oil have no way of detecting and avoiding polar bear dens , so these mammals and their young are also put at risk , .
In the past , Democrats have worked to preserve ANWR lands .
A congressional deal nearly made it through in 1989 , but the upended its momentum , according to The Atlantic .
In 1995 , then-President Bill Clinton vetoed a budget bill @ @ @ @ @ @ @ oil drilling , according to the Oil & Gas Journal .
Then , in 2005 , the Republican-led Senate tried to open ANWR to drilling , but that movement was stopped by a Democratic filibuster .
In response to today 's announcement , environmentalists were quick to say that oil and gas drilling would harm the Arctic 's wildlife and ecosystem , and that the move made no sense given today 's low oil prices .
`` Our climate is in crisis , oil prices have cratered , and major banks are pulling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , '' Adam Kolton , executive director at Alaska Wilderness League , , in reference to to become the first large U.S. bank to put explicit restrictions on financing for the oil-and-gas industries , especially when it came to protecting ANWR .
What 's more , Morgan Stanley , Wells Fargo , JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup said they would not finance oil drilling in the 1002 Area .
`` And yet the Trump administration continues its race to liquidate our nation 's last great wilderness , putting at risk the Indigenous peoples @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , '' Kolton said .
However , during the press call , Bernhardt said that potential investors were n't concerned about the region 's short-term prospects , but were focused on its long-term potential , according to Arctic Today .
It remains to be seen how the oil and gas industry will affect wildlife in the 1002 Area , which is designated as critical habitat for polar bears under the , according to the 1987 report .
That report also called the 1002 area `` the most biologically productive part of the Arctic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , musk oxen , wolverines , Arctic foxes , lemmings , gyrfalcons , ptarmigans and marine mammals .
Surveys show that the 1002 Area is home to 700 kinds of plants , 47 species of mammals and 42 species of fish , according to the Wildlife Conservation Society .

The Trump administration announced today (Aug. 17) that it plans to open up part of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), a 19 million acre (7.7 million hectares) refuge about the size of South Carolina, to oil and gas leasing — a move that paves the way for drilling in the region, according to news reports.
ANWR has long been a battleground between environmentalists and industry. In 1960, the U.S. government began setting aside land for ANWR, "the only conservation system unit that protects, in an undisturbed condition, a complete spectrum of the Arctic ecosystems in North America," according to a 1987 report .
However, while ANWR is home to Arctic animals such as polar bears , caribou, fish and 135 species of migratory birds, it's also rich in oil and gas. In particular, the so-called 1002 Area, a 1.5-million-acre (607,000 hectares) zone located along the refuge's Arctic Ocean coastline, is thought to hold about 10.4 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil, according to a 1998 report by the U.S. Geological Survey . This makes it the largest onshore oil reserve in North America, The New York Times reported .
Related: Why is there so much oil in the Arctic?
U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt made the announcement today, saying that the government will likely begin leasing parts of ANWR to oil and gas companies within months, according to Arctic Today . "There certainly could be a lease sale by the end of the year," Bernhardt told reporters during a news conference, as reported by Arctic Today, adding that he would "move forward expeditiously."
Bernhardt said the decision was based on the Republican-passed tax bill in 2017, which mandated that the federal government approve at least two leases of 400,000 acres (162,000 hectares) each by the end of 2024, according to the legislation. In December 2018, the Interior's Bureau of Land Management permitted that drilling could be conducted in the 1002 without harming wildlife, USA Today reported .
Alaskan Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) and the state's congressional leaders lauded the decision, saying that it would create jobs and help Alaska's economy, Arctic Today reported. That includes potential money for the Inupiat, a group of Alaska Natives who live in Kaktovik, a village of 5,000 to 7,000 people located within the refuge, who often use money from oil revenues to pay for necessities such as schools, infrastructure and health services, Alaska Rep. Don Young (R) wrote in The Hill .
"This is a capstone moment in our decades-long push to allow for the responsible development of a small part of Alaska's 1002 Area," U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) said in a statement issued today .
"I thank all Alaskans who have worked for more than 40 years for responsible resource development in the 1002 Area of ANWR," U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R) said in the same statement. "I particularly applaud the tireless advocacy of the many Alaska Natives — who call the area home — and who know firsthand how responsible oil production can provide enormous economic and social benefits while having minimal impact on the environment."
Environmental responses
However, oil and gas extraction can harm the environment, studies show. For instance, as the Exxon Valdez oil spill demonstrated, oil spills can coat the feathers and fur of animals, disrupting their ability to repel water and stay warm, which increases the creature's risk of hypothermia. Oil can also be poisonous if ingested, and it's challenging to clean up, Natalie Boelman, an Earth scientist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York, who has done research in ANWR, told State of the Planet , a blog of Columbia's Earth Institute.
Moreover, companies searching for oil can disrupt the land, driving tractors that rip up vegetation and destroy permafrost, which releases the potent greenhouse gas methane, Boelman noted. Industry can also bring increased traffic, construction and, as a result, noise and dust, that can harm the area. People who drill for oil have no way of detecting and avoiding polar bear dens, so these mammals and their young are also put at risk, The Washington Post reported .
In the past, Democrats have worked to preserve ANWR lands. A congressional deal nearly made it through in 1989, but the Exxon Valdez oil spill upended its momentum, according to The Atlantic . In 1995, then-President Bill Clinton vetoed a budget bill that would have opened the refuge to oil drilling, according to the Oil & Gas Journal . Then, in 2005, the Republican-led Senate tried to open ANWR to drilling, but that movement was stopped by a Democratic filibuster.
In response to today's announcement, environmentalists were quick to say that oil and gas drilling would harm the Arctic's wildlife and ecosystem, and that the move made no sense given today's low oil prices. "Our climate is in crisis, oil prices have cratered, and major banks are pulling out of Arctic financing right and left," Adam Kolton, executive director at Alaska Wilderness League, said in a statement , in reference to Goldman Sachs' December 2019 decision to become the first large U.S. bank to put explicit restrictions on financing for the oil-and-gas industries, especially when it came to protecting ANWR. What's more, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup said they would not finance oil drilling in the 1002 Area.
"And yet the Trump administration continues its race to liquidate our nation's last great wilderness, putting at risk the Indigenous peoples and iconic wildlife that depend on it," Kolton said.
Related: The Alaskan Arctic oil drilling controversy explained (infographic)
However, during the press call, Bernhardt said that potential investors weren't concerned about the region's short-term prospects, but were focused on its long-term potential, according to Arctic Today.
It remains to be seen how the oil and gas industry will affect wildlife in the 1002 Area, which is designated as critical habitat for polar bears under the Endangered Species Act , according to the 1987 report. That report also called the 1002 area "the most biologically productive part of the Arctic Refuge for wildlife," including caribou, musk oxen, wolverines, Arctic foxes, lemmings, gyrfalcons, ptarmigans and marine mammals. Surveys show that the 1002 Area is home to 700 kinds of plants, 47 species of mammals and 42 species of fish, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society .
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-08-17--NASA powers up Mars Ingenuity helicopter for the 1st time

NASA 's , named Ingenuity , successfully powered up for the first time in space this month .
Ingenuity is the first helicopter designed to fly on another planet .
It is currently travelling to the Red Planet aboard , which .
On Aug. 7 , the helicopter 's six lithium-ion batteries were powered up and charged for the first time in space .
The 4-lb .
( 1.8 kilograms ) Ingenuity , which is currently stowed beneath Perseverance 's belly , receives its charge from the rover 's power supply , according to a statement from NASA .
Related @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2020 rover mission to the Red Planet '' This was a big milestone , as it was our first opportunity to turn on Ingenuity and give its electronics a 'test drive ' since we launched on July 30 , '' Tim Canham , the operations lead for Mars Helicopter at NASA 's Jet Propulsion Laboratory ( JPL ) in Southern California , said in the statement .
`` Since everything went by the book , we 'll perform the same activity about every two weeks to maintain an acceptable state of charge .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , during which NASA tested and analyzed their performance .
The batteries were charged only to 35 % of their maximum level , in order to maintain optimal battery health , according to the statement .
Perseverance is scheduled to on Feb. 18 , 2021 .
At some point after that , Ingenuity will detach from the rover , descend to the Red Planet surface and take a few pioneering test flights .
( After deployment on Mars , the helicopter 's batteries will be charged by its own solar panel . )
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ingenuity will prove that robotic flight is possible on Mars , opening the door for extensive aerial exploration on future missions .
`` This charge activity shows we have survived launch and that so far we can handle the harsh environment of interplanetary space , '' MiMi Aung , project manager at JPL , said in the statement .
`` We have a lot more firsts to go before we can attempt the first experimental flight test on another planet , but right now we are all feeling very good about the future @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Follow us on Twitter @ Spacedotcom and on Facebook .

NASA's Mars helicopter , named Ingenuity, successfully powered up for the first time in space this month.
Ingenuity is the first helicopter designed to fly on another planet. It is currently travelling to the Red Planet aboard NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover , which launched on July 30 .
On Aug. 7, the helicopter's six lithium-ion batteries were powered up and charged for the first time in space. The 4-lb. (1.8 kilograms) Ingenuity, which is currently stowed beneath Perseverance's belly, receives its charge from the rover's power supply, according to a statement from NASA.
Related: In photos: NASA's Mars 2020 rover mission to the Red Planet
"This was a big milestone, as it was our first opportunity to turn on Ingenuity and give its electronics a 'test drive' since we launched on July 30," Tim Canham, the operations lead for Mars Helicopter at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, said in the statement . "Since everything went by the book, we'll perform the same activity about every two weeks to maintain an acceptable state of charge."
Charging the batteries took eight hours, during which NASA tested and analyzed their performance. The batteries were charged only to 35% of their maximum level, in order to maintain optimal battery health, according to the statement.
Perseverance is scheduled to land on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021. At some point after that, Ingenuity will detach from the rover, descend to the Red Planet surface and take a few pioneering test flights. (After deployment on Mars, the helicopter's batteries will be charged by its own solar panel.)
If the experimental test flights go according to plan, Ingenuity will prove that robotic flight is possible on Mars, opening the door for extensive aerial exploration on future missions.
"This charge activity shows we have survived launch and that so far we can handle the harsh environment of interplanetary space," MiMi Aung, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter project manager at JPL, said in the statement. "We have a lot more firsts to go before we can attempt the first experimental flight test on another planet, but right now we are all feeling very good about the future."
Follow Samantha Mathewson @Sam_Ashley13. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.


livescience--2020-08-17--Novavax COVID-19 vaccine enters second round of human trials

The biotechnology company Novavax will soon begin the second phase of human testing for its COVID-19 vaccine .
The so-called phase 2b clinical trial will include a group of 2,665 healthy adults in South Africa , as well as a group of 240 adults with HIV who are considered medically stable but whose immune responses may differ from individuals without HIV , according to a released by Novavax on Aug. 17 .
HIV advocacy groups have pushed for people with HIV to be included in clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines , as companies like Moderna and Pfizer initially said they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In a previous phase 1 safety trial of the Novavax vaccine , healthy volunteers given two doses of the vaccine showed only mild side effects , such as headache , fatigue , and tenderness or pain at the injection site , according to a report posted Aug. 6 to the preprint server .
According to this preliminary data , which has not been peer-reviewed , all of the phase 1 participants also generated , which can prevent the from entering cells , after receiving a second dose of the vaccine .
Novavax @ @ @ @ @ @ @ phase 2b trial in South Africa , as well as a phase 2 trial to be organized in the U.S. and Australia `` in the near future , '' according to the statement .
Related : Here are the most promising coronavirus vaccine candidates out there '' Because South Africa is experiencing a winter surge of COVID-19 disease , this important Phase 2b clinical trial has the potential to provide an early indication of efficacy , along with additional safety and immunogenicity data for [ the vaccine ] , '' Dr. Gregory Glenn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Novavax , said in the statement .
South Africa is the world 's fifth worst affected country in terms of COVID-19 cases and related deaths , with 583,653 reported cases and 11,677 deaths as of Aug. 17 , .
The Novavax trial in South Africa will be funded by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation , which is providing a $ 15 million grant , and The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations ( CEPI ) , which is providing funds to manufacture doses of the vaccine needed for the trial , according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the worst epidemics and pandemics in history The vaccine , called NVX-CoV2373 , contains proteins derived from the coronavirus spike protein , a structure that juts off the virus 's surface and plugs into cells to cause infection , according to the statement .
In general , Novavax designs vaccines by attaching such proteins to microscopic particles that can be delivered into the body to trigger an immune response , according to The New York Times Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker .
Novavax also added an adjuvant to the vaccine — an extra ingredient that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Specifically , the adjuvant in NVX-CoV2373 contains a saponin , or a chemical compound derived from plants , according to the statement .
Saponins can help summon immune cells to the injection site , where they spot foreign proteins , like the spike protein , and `` present '' those proteins to T cells ; these T cells then remember what the proteins look like should a vaccinated person ever be exposed to the virus , according to a 2016 report in the journal Nature Communications .

The biotechnology company Novavax will soon begin the second phase of human testing for its COVID-19 vaccine.
The so-called phase 2b clinical trial will include a group of 2,665 healthy adults in South Africa, as well as a group of 240 adults with HIV who are considered medically stable but whose immune responses may differ from individuals without HIV, according to a statement released by Novavax on Aug. 17. HIV advocacy groups have pushed for people with HIV to be included in clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines, as companies like Moderna and Pfizer initially said they would exclude volunteers with the infection, Science Magazine reported .
In a previous phase 1 safety trial of the Novavax vaccine, healthy volunteers given two doses of the vaccine showed only mild side effects, such as headache, fatigue, and tenderness or pain at the injection site, according to a report posted Aug. 6 to the preprint server medRxiv . According to this preliminary data, which has not been peer-reviewed, all of the phase 1 participants also generated neutralizing antibodies , which can prevent the virus from entering cells, after receiving a second dose of the vaccine. Novavax will continue to evaluate this immune response in the phase 2b trial in South Africa, as well as a phase 2 trial to be organized in the U.S. and Australia "in the near future," according to the statement.
Related: Here are the most promising coronavirus vaccine candidates out there
"Because South Africa is experiencing a winter surge of COVID-19 disease, this important Phase 2b clinical trial has the potential to provide an early indication of efficacy, along with additional safety and immunogenicity data for [the vaccine]," Dr. Gregory Glenn, president of research and development at Novavax, said in the statement. South Africa is the world's fifth worst affected country in terms of COVID-19 cases and related deaths, with 583,653 reported cases and 11,677 deaths as of Aug. 17, Reuters reported .
The Novavax trial in South Africa will be funded by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is providing a $15 million grant, and The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which is providing funds to manufacture doses of the vaccine needed for the trial, according to the statement.
Related: 20 of the worst epidemics and pandemics in history
The vaccine, called NVX-CoV2373, contains proteins derived from the coronavirus spike protein, a structure that juts off the virus's surface and plugs into cells to cause infection, according to the statement. In general, Novavax designs vaccines by attaching such proteins to microscopic particles that can be delivered into the body to trigger an immune response, according to The New York Times Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker.
Novavax also added an adjuvant to the vaccine — an extra ingredient that helps rally immune cells into action. Specifically, the adjuvant in NVX-CoV2373 contains a saponin, or a chemical compound derived from plants, according to the statement. Saponins can help summon immune cells to the injection site, where they spot foreign proteins, like the spike protein, and "present" those proteins to T cells; these T cells then remember what the proteins look like should a vaccinated person ever be exposed to the virus, according to a 2016 report in the journal Nature Communications.
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-08-17--Weird 'boomerang' earthquake recorded for the first time

A massive earthquake in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean in 2016 ricocheted east then west like a geologic boomerang .
Boomerang quakes have only been rarely anecdotally reported , and never before recorded scientifically .
This strangely complex earthquake happened on a relatively simple , straight-line fault called an ocean transform fault .
That suggests such weird , ricocheting quakes could happen on other straight-line , such as the that snakes along California 's coast .
Complicated are n't unusual , said study co-author Stephen Hicks , an earthquake seismologist and research associate at Imperial College London .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are complicated : They might be very close to other faults , which all rupture in weird ways when one snaps under pressure .
Ocean transform faults , by contrast , should be simple , Hicks said .
`` We 're seeing this level of complexity on just a single structure , '' Hicks told Live Science .
Normally , ocean transform faults pose little danger to humans .
They 're far out in the ocean , for one thing , and their motion is all horizontal , so when they rupture , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these faults is important because transform faults like the San Andreas ( SA ) also exist on land , Hicks said.. '' Understanding how these ocean transform faults work might give us some information on how more complex faults such as the SA fault might work , '' Hicks said .
Ocean transform faults sit along oceanic ridges that are pulling apart .
The faults form because some segments of the oceanic ridge pull apart faster than other segments , leading to straight-line cracks perpendicular to the line of new crust that forms @ @ @ @ @ @ @ topography of the seafloor , they stand out , looking a bit like the teeth on the zipper of the spreading zone .
Big earthquakes happen relatively frequently on these faults , perhaps every 20 to 50 years , Hicks said .
He and his team were lucky enough to observe one with ocean-bottom seismometers that had been deployed for a different research project .
The magnitude-7.1 quake rumbled along the Romanche Spreading Zone in the Atlantic Ocean , near the equator in August 2016 .
The zone is 571 miles ( 920 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ earthquakes of magnitude 6.5 or more since 1970 .
The seismic waves during the 2016 quake told a strange story .
About 10 seconds after the first rupture at the epicenter , a section of the fault cracked nearly 25 miles ( 40 km ) to the east of the epicenter .
Then , after another 10 seconds , a patch of fault started rupturing again back at the epicenter .
`` That was kind of weird , '' Hicks said .
`` If you think about this as a continuously propagating crack @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after initiation and then it seems to have gone back west . ''
There are a few different reasons that a boomerang quake could have happened , Hicks and his colleagues reported on Aug. 10 in the journal .
It 's possible that the first rupture toward the east happened deep within the crust , which then built up energy and forced the re-rupture back toward the west at a shallower depth .
Alternatively , the energy of the quake may have bounced off the end of the , so to speak .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ end of the fault , so perhaps some of the energy from the rupture zinged back through the fault .
`` Maybe it still had this pent-up energy but could n't get any farther east , '' Hicks said .
Another possibility is that ocean transform faults are messier than they appear .
Faults , especially old faults that have moved a lot , are almost never single cracks in the crust , Hicks said .
They 're more like a wide , mushy zone .
The transform fault that ruptured during the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ocean surface , Hicks said .
If it 's similarly broad all the way into the crust , computer models of earthquakes suggest that a boomerang quake is possible .
That 's because a wide fault zone has many parallel zones of weakness that can trigger movement in one another , Hicks said .
No one has ever described a boomerang-type earthquake in the scientific literature before , Hicks said , though there is one anecdotal report of someone witnessing a surface crack going in the opposite direction from the recorded seismic waves @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2010 .
The second-by-second movement in any earthquake is often complicated , he said , but understanding that movement could gradually lead to an understanding of how and why earthquakes begin .
`` We ca n't predict earthquakes because we do n't know exactly what goes on along a fault during earthquakes , '' Hicks said .
`` Every earthquake we analyze surprises us in some ways . ''

A massive earthquake in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean in 2016 ricocheted east then west like a geologic boomerang.
Boomerang quakes have only been rarely anecdotally reported, and never before recorded scientifically. This strangely complex earthquake happened on a relatively simple, straight-line fault called an ocean transform fault. That suggests such weird, ricocheting quakes could happen on other straight-line faults , such as the San Andreas Fault that snakes along California's coast.
Complicated earthquakes aren't unusual, said study co-author Stephen Hicks, an earthquake seismologist and research associate at Imperial College London. But that's not surprising because most faults are complicated: They might be very close to other faults, which all rupture in weird ways when one snaps under pressure. Ocean transform faults, by contrast, should be simple, Hicks said.
"We're seeing this level of complexity on just a single structure," Hicks told Live Science.
Related: 10 ways Earth revealed its weirdness in 2019
Normally, ocean transform faults pose little danger to humans. They're far out in the ocean, for one thing, and their motion is all horizontal, so when they rupture, they don't cause tsunamis . But understanding these faults is important because transform faults like the San Andreas (SA) also exist on land, Hicks said..
"Understanding how these ocean transform faults work might give us some information on how more complex faults such as the SA fault might work," Hicks said.
Transform faults
Ocean transform faults sit along oceanic ridges that are pulling apart. The faults form because some segments of the oceanic ridge pull apart faster than other segments, leading to straight-line cracks perpendicular to the line of new crust that forms in these spreading zones. On the topography of the seafloor, they stand out, looking a bit like the teeth on the zipper of the spreading zone.
Big earthquakes happen relatively frequently on these faults, perhaps every 20 to 50 years, Hicks said. He and his team were lucky enough to observe one with ocean-bottom seismometers that had been deployed for a different research project. The magnitude-7.1 quake rumbled along the Romanche Spreading Zone in the Atlantic Ocean, near the equator in August 2016. The zone is 571 miles (920 kilometers) long and has seen 13 earthquakes of magnitude 6.5 or more since 1970.
Related: Photo journal: The gorgeous San Andreas Fault
The seismic waves during the 2016 quake told a strange story. About 10 seconds after the first rupture at the epicenter, a section of the fault cracked nearly 25 miles (40 km) to the east of the epicenter. Then, after another 10 seconds, a patch of fault started rupturing again back at the epicenter.
"That was kind of weird," Hicks said. "If you think about this as a continuously propagating crack, it seems to have gone east after initiation and then it seems to have gone back west."
The 2016 quake on the Romanche Spreading Zone showed a unique pattern: It richocheted east, then west like a huge boomerang. The quake was surprisingly complicated, given how simple the fault was thought to be. (Image credit: Hicks et al, 2020)
Boomerang quake
There are a few different reasons that a boomerang quake could have happened, Hicks and his colleagues reported on Aug. 10 in the journal Nature Geoscience . It's possible that the first rupture toward the east happened deep within the crust, which then built up energy and forced the re-rupture back toward the west at a shallower depth.
Alternatively, the energy of the quake may have bounced off the end of the fault , so to speak. The eastern rupture occurred at the far end of the fault, so perhaps some of the energy from the rupture zinged back through the fault.
"Maybe it still had this pent-up energy but couldn't get any farther east," Hicks said.
Another possibility is that ocean transform faults are messier than they appear. Faults, especially old faults that have moved a lot, are almost never single cracks in the crust, Hicks said. They're more like a wide, mushy zone. The transform fault that ruptured during the 2016 quake looks quite wide on the ocean surface, Hicks said. If it's similarly broad all the way into the crust, computer models of earthquakes suggest that a boomerang quake is possible. That's because a wide fault zone has many parallel zones of weakness that can trigger movement in one another, Hicks said.
No one has ever described a boomerang-type earthquake in the scientific literature before, Hicks said, though there is one anecdotal report of someone witnessing a surface crack going in the opposite direction from the recorded seismic waves in Baja California, Mexico, in 2010. The second-by-second movement in any earthquake is often complicated, he said, but understanding that movement could gradually lead to an understanding of how and why earthquakes begin.
"We can't predict earthquakes because we don't know exactly what goes on along a fault during earthquakes," Hicks said. "Every earthquake we analyze surprises us in some ways."
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-08-17--Nothing will stop Greenland's ice sheet from shrinking now

The Ice Sheet has reached a point of rapid retreat that it could n't recover from even if global temperatures stopped rising instantly .
This Arctic ice sheet is the second-largest ice sheet in the world , after the one that blankets .
It covers the majority of Greenland and melts into the seas via outlet glaciers , which have been rapidly losing ice for decades .
Now , new research finds that today 's glacial ice loss is 14 % greater than it was between 1985 and 1999 .
The ice sheet is losing approximately 500 gigatons of ice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by annual snowfall .
Projecting that trend forward , the ice sheet is set to lose mass 99 out of every 100 years , researchers reported Aug. 13 in the journal '' Glacier retreat has knocked the dynamics of the whole ice sheet into a constant state of loss , '' study co-author Ian Howat , an Earth scientist at The Ohio State University , .
`` Even if the climate were to stay the same or even get a little colder , the ice sheet would still be losing mass . ''
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ is off the rails Greenland 's ice sheet has long been in peril .
In January 2019 , researchers reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that the ice sheet was losing ice at four times the rate it was in 2003 .
Other researchers have found that the ice sheet is faster than expected .
This sliding can move ice from the cold interior of Greenland to the warmer edges , where it melts faster .
The new study combined three decades of satellite imagery with data from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a detailed timeline of ice thickness , ice flow , ice elevation and the location of the calving front of the ice sheet — the line where the glaciers hit the sea and lose ice through the calving of icebergs .
This method allowed the researchers to look at both seasonal changes in ice discharge as well as longer trends .
What they found was an increase of about 60 gigatons of ice loss a year between 2007 and 2018 compared with the period between 1985 and 1999 .
All told , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ice since 1985 .
There are regional differences , with some of the accelerating ice retreat between 2001 and 2005 driven by glaciers in the southeastern part of Greenland moving from relatively shallow parts of the seafloor into deeper sections , where warm water can more easily circulate beneath them and melt them .
But regardless of the region of Greenland , the retreat of a glacier by 0.6 miles ( 1 kilometer ) is consistently associated with a 4 % to 5 % increase in the rate of ice discharge from that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ retreating , further ice loss is baked in , even in a hypothetical situation in which temperatures stop rising .
`` Glaciers have been sensitive to seasonal melt for as long as we 've been able to observe it , with spikes in ice discharge in the summer , '' study lead author Michalea King , a researcher at The Ohio State University 's Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center , said in the statement .
`` But starting in 2000 , you start superimposing that seasonal melt on a higher baseline — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more losses . ''
With the ice sheet set to lose more ice than it gains each year , it might seem like the end of the Greenland Ice Sheet .
But that future has yet to be written , Potsdam University physicist and climate scientist Stegan Rahmstorf .
Eventually , he said , the ice retreat will pull the ice sheet away from the ocean .
At that point , warm ocean waters will stop melting the ice , and the glaciers will stop calving .
The Greenland Ice Sheet will become @ @ @ @ @ @ @ occurs , a new dynamic will set in : It will be a race between the rate of the surface melt of the ice and the annual snowfall that decides when and whether the ice sheet disappears .
`` Thus , Greenland ice loss is a real concern — already today it contributes a lot to sea-level rise , '' Rahmstorf wrote .
`` And Greenland does have a tipping point where the ice sheet becomes doomed to total loss .
But the new paper by King et al .
does not say @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . ''

The Greenland Ice Sheet has reached a point of rapid retreat that it couldn't recover from even if global temperatures stopped rising instantly.
This Arctic ice sheet is the second-largest ice sheet in the world, after the one that blankets Antarctica . It covers the majority of Greenland and melts into the seas via outlet glaciers, which have been rapidly losing ice for decades. Now, new research finds that today's glacial ice loss is 14% greater than it was between 1985 and 1999. The ice sheet is losing approximately 500 gigatons of ice each year, more than is replenished by annual snowfall.
Projecting that trend forward, the ice sheet is set to lose mass 99 out of every 100 years, researchers reported Aug. 13 in the journal Nature Communications Earth & Environment.
"Glacier retreat has knocked the dynamics of the whole ice sheet into a constant state of loss," study co-author Ian Howat, an Earth scientist at The Ohio State University, said in a statement . "Even if the climate were to stay the same or even get a little colder, the ice sheet would still be losing mass."
Related: 10 signs Earth's climate is off the rails
Increasing melt
Greenland's ice sheet has long been in peril. In January 2019, researchers reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that the ice sheet was losing ice at four times the rate it was in 2003 . Other researchers have found that the ice sheet is sliding on its underlying bedrock faster than expected. This sliding can move ice from the cold interior of Greenland to the warmer edges, where it melts faster.
The new study combined three decades of satellite imagery with data from airplane surveys from Operation IceBridge,providing a detailed timeline of ice thickness, ice flow, ice elevation and the location of the calving front of the ice sheet — the line where the glaciers hit the sea and lose ice through the calving of icebergs. This method allowed the researchers to look at both seasonal changes in ice discharge as well as longer trends.
What they found was an increase of about 60 gigatons of ice loss a year between 2007 and 2018 compared with the period between 1985 and 1999. All told, the ice sheet has lost 4,200 gigatons of ice since 1985.
There are regional differences, with some of the accelerating ice retreat between 2001 and 2005 driven by glaciers in the southeastern part of Greenland moving from relatively shallow parts of the seafloor into deeper sections, where warm water can more easily circulate beneath them and melt them.
Ice-free future?
But regardless of the region of Greenland, the retreat of a glacier by 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) is consistently associated with a 4% to 5% increase in the rate of ice discharge from that glacier. Because these sheets are already retreating, further ice loss is baked in, even in a hypothetical situation in which temperatures stop rising.
"Glaciers have been sensitive to seasonal melt for as long as we've been able to observe it, with spikes in ice discharge in the summer," study lead author Michalea King, a researcher at The Ohio State University's Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, said in the statement. "But starting in 2000, you start superimposing that seasonal melt on a higher baseline — so you're going to get even more losses."
With the ice sheet set to lose more ice than it gains each year, it might seem like the end of the Greenland Ice Sheet. But that future has yet to be written, Potsdam University physicist and climate scientist Stegan Rahmstorf noted on Twitter . Eventually, he said, the ice retreat will pull the ice sheet away from the ocean. At that point, warm ocean waters will stop melting the ice, and the glaciers will stop calving. The Greenland Ice Sheet will become an entirely land-based entity. When that occurs, a new dynamic will set in: It will be a race between the rate of the surface melt of the ice and the annual snowfall that decides when and whether the ice sheet disappears.
"Thus, Greenland ice loss is a real concern — already today it contributes a lot to sea-level rise," Rahmstorf wrote. "And Greenland does have a tipping point where the ice sheet becomes doomed to total loss. But the new paper by King et al. does not say anything about whether this has been crossed."
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-08-17--Death Valley tops 130 F, setting possible global heat record

California 's Death Valley recorded what may be its hottest ever temperature on Sunday ( Aug. 16 ) —— a blazing 130 degrees Fahrenheit ( 54.4 degrees Celsius ) .
If that National Weather Service ( NWS ) measurement holds up , it will have been the hottest August temperature recorded there by 3 F ( 1.7 C ) , the hottest temperature recorded in Death Valley National Park in at least a century , and one of the hottest temperatures ever recorded anywhere in the world .
The mercury hit 130 F at 3:41 p.m. PDT , in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ power outages and wildfires across the American Southwest , as The Los Angeles Times .
Related : Hell on Earth : Take a photo tour of Death Valley Does the 130 F reading represent the world temperature record ?
Depends on who you ask .
The World Meteorological Organization that the highest temperature ever recorded was 134 F ( 56.7 C ) on July 10 , 1913 , at the same site : Death Valley 's aptly named Furnace Creek Ranch .
But Christopher Burt , investigating the claim for The Weather Underground @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 134 F recording was accurate .
Another measurement , taken in 1931 in Kebili , Tunisia , was also higher than this year 's , at 131 F ( 55.0 C ) .
But there are also , as The Washington Post .
The next universally agreed-upon record temperature was 129.0 F ( 53.9 C ) in Death Valley on July 1 , 2013 .
This new measurement , if confirmed , tops that .
Other local records were set across the southwest Sunday , including in two of America 's largest cities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ particularly brutal summer in Phoenix , where the average temperature in July was 99 F ( 37.2 C ) , another record , according to .
All these records arrive as global climate conditions rapidly deteriorate .
For instance , is ablaze with wildfires for the second year in a row , which scientists worry means we have that even pessimistic models did n't anticipate arriving until around the 2050s , according to The Post .

California's Death Valley recorded what may be its hottest ever temperature on Sunday (Aug. 16) —— a blazing 130 degrees Fahrenheit (54.4 degrees Celsius).
If that National Weather Service (NWS) measurement holds up, it will have been the hottest August temperature recorded there by 3 F (1.7 C), the hottest temperature recorded in Death Valley National Park in at least a century, and one of the hottest temperatures ever recorded anywhere in the world.
Per the climate data in xmACIS2, this is the first time since 1913 that Death Valley has reached 130F. In July 2013, it last reached 129F. If valid, it would be the hottest August temperature at the site by 3F. @NWSVegas pic.twitter.com/gZNBW4NXI4August 16, 2020 See more
The mercury hit 130 F at 3:41 p.m. PDT, in the midst of a heatwave that has triggered power outages and wildfires across the American Southwest, as The Los Angeles Times reported .
Related: Hell on Earth: Take a photo tour of Death Valley
Does the 130 F reading represent the world temperature record? Depends on who you ask. The World Meteorological Organization reports that the highest temperature ever recorded was 134 F (56.7 C) on July 10, 1913, at the same site: Death Valley's aptly named Furnace Creek Ranch. But Christopher Burt, investigating the claim for The Weather Underground in 2016, cast doubt that the 134 F recording was accurate.
Another measurement, taken in 1931 in Kebili, Tunisia, was also higher than this year's, at 131 F (55.0 C). But there are also doubts about that claim , as The Washington Post noted .
The next universally agreed-upon record temperature was 129.0 F (53.9 C) in Death Valley on July 1, 2013. This new measurement, if confirmed, tops that.
Other local records were set across the southwest Sunday, including in two of America's largest cities: Los Angeles and Phoenix . This has been a particularly brutal summer in Phoenix, where the average temperature in July was 99 F (37.2 C), another record, according to KTAR News .
All these records arrive as global climate conditions rapidly deteriorate. For instance, the Arctic is ablaze with wildfires for the second year in a row, which scientists worry means we have entered a global "fire regime" that even pessimistic climate change models didn't anticipate arriving until around the 2050s, according to The Post.
Originally published on Live Science.