America Authorizes Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 Vaccine For Emergency Use

America’s Food and Drug Administration just authorized Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, according to CBS News. “The vaccine is the third to be approved for use in the United States, and the first that requires only one shot…” Among people who got the vaccine in clinical trials, there were no COVID-related deaths. Phase 3 clinical trials also showed…

Ghana Scientist Tries Gene Editing To Create Healthier Sweet Potatoes

The Cornell Alliance for Science seeks to build “a significant international alliance of partners” to “correct misinformation and counter conspiracy theories” slowing progress on climate change, synthetic biology, agricultural innovations, and other issues. Slashdot reader wooloohoo shares their article about research on Ghana’s first gene-edited crop — a high-yielding sweet potato with increased beta carotone content. “For sweet potatoes, we want…

James Webb Space Telescope – Hubble’s successor – to launch in October

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s most complex infrared telescope, built for a wide range of research projects. NASA is now targeting October 31 for its launch on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/james-webb-telescope-hubble-successor-to-launch…

Biden To Order Review of US Reliance on Overseas Supply Chains For Semiconductors, Rare Earths

President Joe Biden will direct his administration to conduct a review of key U.S. supply chains including semiconductors, high-capacity batteries, medical supplies and rare earth metals. From a report: The assessment, which will be led by members of both Biden’s economic and national security teams, will analyze the “resiliency and capacity of the American manufacturing supply chains and defense industrial base…

Hundreds of fish species, including many we eat, are consuming plastic

As more and more plastic trash permeates the oceans, microplastics are making their way into fish and shellfish, and potentially into humans. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/hundreds-fish-species-consume-microplastics-including-human-food…

Lancet Study Finds 40% of US COVID-19 Deaths Could Have Been Avoided

phalse phace shares a report from Slate: The British medical journal the Lancet, on Wednesday, published a damning assessment of Donald Trump’s presidency and its impact on Americans’ health, concluding that 40 percent of the nearly 500,000 COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. over the past year were avoidable. The journal came to the conclusion by comparing the U.S. health outcomes on…

Russian Campaign Promotes Homegrown Vaccine and Undercuts Rivals

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: Russian news outlets connected to election disinformation campaigns in the United States have set their sights on a new target: convincing Spanish-speaking countries that the Russian coronavirus vaccine works better than its American competitors, according to researchers and State Department officials. The Russian campaign has focused on Latin American nations,…

Pakistan Forced Down Apps Made By a Persecuted Religious Minority

An anonymous reader quotes a report from BuzzFeed News: Over the last two years, the government of Pakistan has forced Google and Apple to take down apps in the country created by developers based in other nations who are part of a repressed religious minority. The move is part of a crackdown led by the country’s telecommunications regulator targeting the Ahmadiyya…

How to prevent crashes between orbiting satellites

Thousands more satellites will soon orbit Earth. We need better rules to prevent space crashes. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/satellites-prevent-space-crashes…

Biodiversity report urges nations to consider nature an economic asset

To preserve the natural world, a major report called the Dasgupta Review says biodiversity should be treated as an economic asset, students should study basic ecology, and we should all limit food waste Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2266392-biodiversity-report-urges-nations-to-consider-nature-an-economic-asset/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…