Science News - Page 30

China considering mixing different COVID-19 vaccines to improve efficacy of jabs, says top health official

Authorities have to "consider ways to solve the issue that efficacy rates of existing vaccines are not high", Chinese media outlet The Paper reported, citing Gao Fu, the head of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention

In Beloved Beasts, Michelle Nijhuis shows that history can help contextualise and guide modern conservation

Through the eyes and actions of individuals, Beloved Beasts portrays the evolution of the surprisingly young field from a pursuit almost solely of the privileged Western elite to “a movement that is shaped by many people, many places, and many species.”

IMF, World Bank roll out debt relief plans for low-income nations in green investments push

Low-income countries face a twin crisis, under pressure to pay down their debt while also confronting emerging environmental issues.

Hundreds of space tourists in training to experience minutes of weightlessness in space

National Aerospace Training and Research Center conducts training program that lasts two days and includes classroom instruction and tests in a centrifuge.

Breakthrough discovery of misbehaving muon challenges known laws of the physical universe

Physicists say the anomaly has given hundreds of scientists new ideas for how to look for new particles in the universe.

South African COVID-19 variant can better bypass Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine: Israeli study

The South African variant accounted for less than one percent of coronavirus cases in Israel.

Inspiration4: All-civilian crew on SpaceX's first privately-funded flight to orbit, revealed

The two new passengers are Sian Proctor, a community college educator and Chris Sembroski, a former Air Force missile man.

Govt says five states account for over 70 percent of India’s active COVID-19 cases

Maharashtra alone accounts for 48.57 percent of the total active caseload of the country, the ministry said.

Third of Antarctic ice shelf at risk of collapsing due to global warming

Larsen C, Shackleton, Pine Island and Wilkins ice shelves are at risk under four degrees Celsius of warming.

ISRO, NASA join hands for NISAR satellite to track disasters, impact of climate change

It is being assembled in a NASA clean room, after which it will be sent to India to prep it for launch at UR Rao Space Centre.

A 400-year-old botched nose job shows how little feelings, perceptions about transplants have changed

21st-century transplant doctors and patients continue to grapple with the ethics and practicalities of altering the body.

WHO COVID-19 origins report: Bats or pangolins may have been source of virus in Wuhan

The main takeaway from this report is that more analysis should be conducted in order to get to the bottom of this.

WHO COVID-19 origins report: What are WHO's four theories on the emergence of SARS-CoV-2?

A joint statement by 14 countries states that they don't believe the conditions under which the report was written was "independent and objective".

COVID-19 origins still obscure, what are the next steps for WHO's experts?

The group of scientists wants a new inquiry to include biosecurity and biosafety experts to investigate the origins of COVID-19.

Amid blood clot scares, COVAX says it backs AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine

Covax's first wave intended to distribute some 238.2 mn doses to 142 countries, out of which 237 mn were AstraZeneca doses.

Nearly 300 biodiversity 'hot spots' at risk of extinction due to global warming: Study

So-called endemic species — plants and animals found exclusively in a specific area — will be hit hardest in a warming world.

Lull in shipping activity gives scientists chance to listen to sounds of the ocean

They will capture signals from marine life that use sound and natural sonar to navigate and communicate across the oceans.

Gorillas' chest thumping allows females, rivals know their size without seeing them

Earlier research showed that bigger males are more dominant, have higher reproductive success than smaller ones.

Raindrop size can help identify habitable planets beyond the solar system: Study

The shape of raindrops helps in determining the falling speed which varies depending on the thickness of surrounding air and gravity.

Dry winters, climate change causes Nepal to experience worst wildfires in a decade

More than 2,700 wildfires have been reported in Nepal since November, 14 times higher than in the same period last year.

LOFAR telescope detects stars being born in far off galaxies in the ancient Universe

Researchers said that we are seeing galaxies as they were billions of years ago, back when they were forming most of their stars

Wildlife biologist and conservationist Sanjay Gubbi on why there's little understanding about leopards in India

In an interview with Firstpost, Gubbi discusses learnings from his research work, his new book Leopard Diaries, threats to leopards like poaching and habitat loss, and what readers interested in leopards — or even wildlife in general — can do to further conservation goals.

Genetic sequencing reveals previously unknown human migration into Europe

The study also found that intermixing with Neanderthals in that period was more common than previously thought.

World Health Day 2021: What public health lessons can India learn from COVID-19 pandemic?

India needs to play a stronger role in its neighbourhood region, since infectious diseases can easily cross national borders.

Double mutation SARS-CoV-2 variant emerges in India: How should our COVID response change?

Some variants can escape naturally induced immunity, vaccine manufacturers will need to develop better vaccines to cover these new variants.

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter spends its first night in frigid Martian temperatures

The first flight will see it climbing to a height of three meters, hover there for 30 seconds and then descend.

AstraZeneca's Britain COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials for children paused due to blood clot concerns

Britain and the vaccine's developers had until now resisted any restrictions in its use, saying that there was no proof of any link.

Scientist develop tech that communicates with crops, finds out when they get sick

The tech is still new, but it could be used to build "plant-based robots" that handle fragile objects when rigid, robotic arms can't.

Asteroid that killed dinosaurs changed tropics into Amazon forests: Study

Before the asteroid strike, the plants were spaced out, light could reach the floor and there were no legume trees,

Nicole Yamase first Pacific Islander, only third woman to reach Challenger Deep

She is the third woman, the first Pacific Islander, and the youngest person to visit Challenger Deep.