Science

The US space agency NASA has claimed to find signs of megafloods million miles away from Earth. The agency said that it has found floods of unimaginable magnitude on Mars. The latest discovery was made using data transmitted by Curiosity. Curiosity is a Mars rover designed by NASA. It was launched in 2011. NASA said that scientists have detected signs of floods once washed through Gale crater. The floods occurred at least four billion years ago. Signs about floods on the Red Planet are significant in the search for life on the planet. It hints that the planet had once favorable conditions to habitat life.

The NASA study said that the megaflood on Mars was touched off by the heat created due to a meteoritic impact. The impact was so intense that it unleashed ice stored. It caused gigantic ripples. This is the first time when scientists have made such a discovery. Scientists said that signs of megafloods were observed using sedimentological data by Curiosity. The most likely reason behind flooding on Mars was the melting of ice. Ice was melted from the heat that was generated by the meteoritic impact. This released carbon dioxide and methane from ice, triggering floods. Notably, deposits left behind due to the megafloods were never been previously identified.

The Curiosity team had previously mentioned that the Gale crater once had persistent lakes. These long-lived water bodies were indicators that the planet was capable of supporting microbial life. Recently, the MAVEN spacecraft team said that the planet lost water equivalent to an ocean of water four billion years ago. The Red Planet even today is losing water in the form of vapor. The team said that water is evaporated after sublimating from the frozen polar caps. This occurs mostly during the summer. The primary reason is warm temperature and strong winds accompanied by dust storms. This easily breaks water constituents, causing a loss. NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft is orbiting Mars for the last six years.

The orbit of asteroid Apophis has been disrupted. The disruption is believed to be caused due to the rising heat. Astronomers have termed the phenomenon as the Yarkovsky effect. It can change the path of an asteroid through space. The asteroid absorbs heat from the Sun and this results in the change of its trajectory. According to the latest calculations, the said asteroid’s orbit change is approximately 557 feet. The orbit shifts every year. Apophis was discovered in 2004. Astronomers said that the celestial object is since then moving away from its original orbit. They said that Apophis’ warmer hemisphere pushes harder than the colder hemisphere. This causes the asteroid to change its orbit.

It was previously predicted to pass very close to Earth in 2068. Astronomers said that Apophis’ chance of an impact on Earth is very dim. They discovered a shift in the asteroid’s orbit calculating the 2068 threat. They measured the solar push. They explained that asteroid radiates heat. This heat causes a drift in the orbit. Astronomers at the University of Hawaii studied the asteroid’s orbital data. The data was collected since 2004. This helped them to arrive at the conclusion. They said that it is necessary to track Apophis carefully.

The asteroid is will make a close approach to Earth in 2029. This will open a window for scientists to get a more detailed look at its shape, size, and surface. Astronomers said that it will pose no threat to humans. The distance will be approximately 31,000 kilometers from Earth. The asteroid is predicted to be equivalent to the size of three football grounds. It will be visible from the naked eye in 2029. Astronomers said that the space rock will become as bright as Cor Caroli. It is a binary star and located at a distance of 114.2 light-years from Earth. A close scrutiny of Apophis when it makes a close-up approach in 2029 will allow astronomers to predict the future impact on Earth.

A new study has revealed that the impact of climate change on the health of humans could be more severe than expected. The study said that global warming could result in the rise of cancer rates. Researchers said that the change in temperature, deteriorating air quality, and wildfires could give rise to lung, skin, and gastrointestinal cancer cases. They said that people are exposed more to environmental toxins, ultraviolet radiation, and infectious particles. This, they said, will ultimately result in disruptions of food and water supply. This will affect the lifestyle of people. The study said that the impact will be so harsh that global warming will extract an acute toll worldwide.

The study noted the rising cases of cancer could potentially disrupt the health care systems. The ultimate challenge will come when the world will face a shortage of means for diagnosis of the disease and its subsequent treatment. The authors said that the international community’s climate change battle is not on track. They added that the current efforts won’t slow down emissions of greenhouses gases. While cancer is predicted to be the leading cause of death in the current century, climate change will also contribute to higher rates of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Besides, the change in patterns of rains will also increase the risk of vector-borne diseases.

The study said that the biggest cancer threats are likely to be from poor quality of air. Air pollution is a major cause of concern for many countries today. Another factor that will contribute to cancer cases is exposure to ultraviolet radiation. This will increase the risk of lung cancer and other related diseases. Lung cancer is already the primary cause of cancer-related deaths in the world. Air pollution is responsible for at least 15 percent of new lung cancer cases. It said that climate change will claim more than half a million lives worldwide by 2050. The authors called for policy solutions to check climate change and save human lives.

A rheumatoid arthritis drug called tocilizumab, which is being used for the treatment of severe COVID19 patients, has fallen short as an effective treatment. Once it has been considered a promising cure for hospitalized patients with coronavirus by the experts. However, now three consecutive trials have proved that it is unable to increase the rate of survival among the patients. Although a fourth study has found it to be effective in increasing the chances of survival the findings of the study are less reliable as it is an observational study. The results of these reports have left the doctors confused about the usage of tocilizumab in the treatment of COVID19. Initial three studies have been published in the journal of the American Medical Association. The fourth one has been released in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Experts have said that the drug cannot be taken as a magic bullet, which should be used for all the patients with severe COVID19 infection. However, there is room for the use of this drug for a specific group of patients. Health officials have said that upcoming studies on the drug might help in identifying the patients who might benefit from it. Tocilizumab is being sold under the brand name of Acetmra. The medicine treats rheumatoid arthritis by blocking interleukin -6. It is a molecule, which causes inflammation. In the first wave of the pandemic, it has been used extensively in the US after the news has started floating from China and Europe that the drug is quite helpful in treating seriously ill people with COVID19. Nevertheless, these reports have been based on observational studies only. Scientists have examined only existing data without designing a trial to identify the efficacy of the drug.

The first one out of three studies has found that COVID19 patients in Italy, who have not been admitted to the intensive care and treated with tocilizumab, have not done any better than those who have received standard care. Another study in France has revealed that tocilizumab has shown a minor improvement by the 14th day as compared to standard care; however, there has been no difference in the rate of survival between both groups of patients by the 28th day. Although the third study has found that, the risk of in-hospital death has been 30 percent less among the patients who have received the drug as part of the treatment as compared to those who have not been given this drug. However, again it has been an observational trial. The fourth study has been done on 243 COVID19 patients from Seven Boston area hospitals. All the participants of this study have been hospitalized at the peak of the surge in the area. The lead author of the study Dr. John H Stone has said that the findings of the study do not support the use of tocilizumab in moderately ill patients. He has claimed that the rate of intubation or death has been in both groups of patients who have been treated with tocilizumab and those who have not been treated with the medicine.

Scientists have said that a standard gene testing for patients who have been diagnosed with metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) will be more cost-effective. They have said that the financial estimate will support the widespread adoption of this approach. A study of genetic tests and modified first-line cure shows that using genetic testing to match the treatment of KIT differences to the imatinib dose is a less expensive way as compared to empirical imatinib. Experts have said that genetic test helps doctors to give chemotherapy in a tumor-specific way. In this case, those patients who do not get any relief from imatinib are given the alternative cure. This study has been published in JAMA Network Open.

The author of the study, David Geffen has said that genetic test is cheap as it avoids futile treatment and low rates of disease growth. He has made a Markov model to match the efficiency of the targeted gene test and modified first-line therapy with imatinib therapy in patients with GIST. The key factor for assessing the cost efficiency of the gene test has been quality of life years (QALY). The cost-efficiency of gene testing is defined by the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio. An incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, which is less than $100000, is considered cost-effective. As per the study, a therapy directed by the gene test is linked with an increase of 0.10 QALYs, at $9513 as compared to empirical imatinib. It leads to an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $92100. However, experts have said that the findings are sensitive to the costs of targeted gene tests, drugs, and health utility model efforts.

Experts have said that 70 percent of times, a targeted gene test is quite cost-efficient. The results of the study show that therapy directed by targeted gene tests can be cheaper if it gets hold of more share in the market, as of now imatinib therapy has a larger market share. Experts have advised patients with newly detected GIST that they should go for genetic testing before the start of first-line chemotherapy. They have said that this way patients who do not get any relief from imatinib, can be given a better treatment for their lumps. Experts have said that there is a need for further studies to substantiate the findings.

A study has revealed that people who have recovered from a severe COVID19 infection have a long-lasting immune response against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This study has been done by experts from the Massachusetts General Hospital. New research gives some hope that people who have survived a severe COVID19 infection will have enduring protective antibodies to keep the reoccurrence of the disease at bay. Experts have said that assessing antibodies can be a precise tool to track the transmission of the virus as well. Experts have not been able to determine how long these antibodies can last until now. The senior author of the study, Dr. Richelle Charles, and her colleagues have studied the blood samples of 343 patients who have been diagnosed with severe COVID19 infection. In the study, the blood samples of the patients have been extracted up to four months after patients have started showing symptoms. This study has been published in Science Immunology.

Experts have applied these blood samples on laboratory plates layered with the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the virus’s spike protein. The virus’s spike protein binds to the surface of the cell and causes infection. The study of these blood samples shows how antibodies present in the blood plasma attach to RBD. The findings of the research have been compared with blood samples taken from more than 1500 people before the COVID19 pandemic. Scientists have revealed that calculating the antibody called immunoglobulin (IgG) has been highly precise in tracking patients with the disease who have been showing symptoms for at least 14 days. The senior author of the study has said that since the nasal swab test for COVID19 infection has lost its sensitivity with time, replacing it with an antibody test for the patients who have been showing symptoms for at least eight days will help to spot some positive cases, which have been missed.

Experts have found that there have been elevated levels of IgG in these patients for four months. The IgG levels are linked with the existence of protective neutralizing antibodies. It has shown a little decrease in activity over time as well, which means such patients will be protected for a particular time span. The study has found two other protective antibodies as well, immunoglobulin A (IgA) and immunoglobulin M (IgM). These antibodies live up to two and a half months or less in the bodies of the patients who have recovered from a severe COVID19 infection. Experts clearly state that if a person who has recovered from the disease and has IgA and IgM antibodies, he or she is likely to be diagnosed with COVID19 again within the last two months of recovery.

The James Webb Space Telescope has successfully cleared key tests. The telescope is developed by the US space agency NASA. According to the agency, it has just completed environmental testing. The scientific equipment has survived all of the conditions that it will face during the launch and operations in the space. NASA said that the telescope can easily survive the rocket launch phase. The launch is one of the most crucial parts of the operation. The JWST will be launched in October next year. It will succeed the Hubble Space Telescope. According to NASA, the completion of environmental testing is a crucial milestone in its journey.

James Webb Space Telescope engineers conducted acoustic and vibration tests. The test was conducted at California’s Northrop Grumman center. Northrop Grumman is an aerospace company based in Virginia. That company is developing Webb for the space agency. NASA said that the telescope will go through more testing. The complete system’s evaluation is awaited. Its engineers will pack it up after full evaluation and take it to its launch site. It will be launched from French Guiana on an Ariane 5 rocket. The agency had earlier planned to launch the telescope in March 2021, but pushed the date to October 2021. It added that the program is on schedule for October 2021 launch.

The James Webb Space Telescope is said to be the largest and most technically complex space telescope. NASA said that it will help scientists in solving the mysteries of the solar system. The Hubble Space Telescope was placed into the low Earth orbit in 1990. It is still operational. Scientists consider it as the most versatile research tools in the space. The new telescope will offer scientists an improved infrared resolution and sensitivity of space events. Besides, it is aimed at helping to expand astronomy and cosmology probes. The telescope’s main objective is to assist scientists to examine the most distant objects and events millions of km away from Earth.

The European Space Agency has discovered a new exoplanet. The new exoplanet is named WASP-189 b. The discovery was made by the ESA’s Cheops mission. Cheops is a space telescope. It was launched by the ESA in December 2019. Its objective is to map the known exoplanets in the solar system. According to the ESA, WASP-189 b is one of the hottest and most extreme solar planets ever discovered. It is also called ‘ultra-hot Jupiter’ because it appears like Jupiter. As the name suggests, it is a gas giant just like the solar system’s Jupiter. The new exoplanet is approximately 20 times closer to its host star than Earth is close to the Sun.

WASP-189 b takes 2.7 days to complete one full orbit of its host star. According to the researchers, the ‘hot Jupiters’ orbit much closer to their host star. This is the reason why they are extremely hot. Researchers said that the new exoplanet is extremely hot. It has a temperature of about 3,200 degrees Celsius. This makes it clear that the just discovered exoplanet is inhabitable. Researchers noted that there are very few planets that are known to exist around stars with extremely hot temperatures. The WASP-189 b is the brightest hot Jupiter. Researchers observed the celestial body as it passed behind and in front of its star.

The latest finding shows Cheops’ ability to discover the secrets of the solar system. Researchers used the telescope to observe WASP-189 b as it passed behind its host star. They measured its brightness and temperature as well. They concluded that WASP-189 b is one of the hottest planets. It is not like any of the eight known planets of the solar system. WASP-189b was first detected by scientists in 2018. The ESA’s telescope provided the first picture of the planet. The ESA said that the first result from the Cheops is exciting. It added that the Cheops mission is living up to expectations.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has revealed a concept design that can carry a rover onto the Moon’s surface. This robotic ‘pallet lander’ concept can carry gears and rover of weight up to 300 kg.  The concept of the lander, which is a sort of space pallet, is dead simple. As it is still a concept, no name has been assigned to it. So, as of now, space pallet will do. It is basically a space-faring delivery truck that will help NASA to uncover new scientific discoveries. The concept design emerged during studies around the VIPER mission. The concept pallet would liftoff atop a commercial launch vehicle like Falcon 9 rocket. The vehicle would take it into a trans-lunar injection trajectory. A few days later, the concept space pallet would perform the required maneuvers. It will involve landing site selection, attitude control, braking and a soft touchdown with its solar panels facing the sun.

After landing on the surface, the lander will decide its own course of action for the next couple of hours. It would take images of the lunar surface and characterize its surroundings for researchers on Earth. After spending around 8 hours, it would shut down permanently. Yes, it has not been designed to survive the lunar night. Weeks-long nights on Moon are generally freezing and airless cold. It is very expensive to provide the required power and heating infrastructure that helps lander survive in such an atmosphere. However, any kind of presence on the surface is a powerful resource.

There are not many details about the kind of equipment that will be onboard. The US space agency is working closely with commercial partners to eventually transport science and technology payloads to the lunar surface. Though the concept space pallet is only for rover payloads, researchers could work upon this idea for the future human lander. NASA is aiming to explore the moon as much as possible and this why it is planning to send humans by 2028.

For the first time in 19 years, a team of scientists has discovered a new density of the HIV Virus, which can cause AIDS. The new subtype of deadly virus belongs to Group M of HIV-1 subtype L. The new strains of HIV can mutate over time like other subtypes of HIV. This is the first subtype of Group M HIV to be identified after guidelines for identifying HIV subtypes were established in 2000. As per Abbott Laboratories, it is essential to know what kind of HIV strain is in circulation to ensure the tests used for the diagnosis of the disease are effective. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious, said that the discovery of new HIV strain has provided a complete overview of HIV evolution.

Doctors said that the new strain of HIV is just an outlier and people should not panic about it. Scientists asserted that at least three cases of new HIV subtype must be detected to identify it. The first two cases of new subtype were detected in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1983 and 1990.  Both two strains were quite unusual and were different from other HIV subtypes. The third case of the new Group M subtype was found in 2011 in Congo during the study conducted to prevent mother-child transmission of the virus. Researchers found all three cases to be affected by the same strain of the virus but at that time, there was no technology to determine it as the new subtype.

Scientists of Abbott Laboratory and the University of Missouri have studied through for years to recognize the new strain of HIV as subtype L of Group M. However, it is quite uncertain that how this variant of the virus will impact the body. Around 36.7 million people are suffering from life-threatening disease of AIDS across the world as per the statistics of WHO. Almost 1.8 million people have been newly diagnosed with HIV in 2016, reported UNAIDS. The discovery of new subtype L of HIV reminds us that we need to research further into the mutating virus to end the pandemic of HIV.

NASA’s astronauts aboard the International Space Station have very little to do for fun but they never leave any opportunity to celebrate, even when they are high above the earth. The astronauts Jessica Meir, Andrew Morgan, and Christina Koch recently celebrated the current season of the MLB World Series by playing baseball inside the ISS. A video has been released which shows Meir tossing a pitch to Andrew Morgan. The ball can be seen floating inside the ISS due to the lack of gravity. Morgan used a short pipe-like object as a baseball bat to smack the ball back to Meir.

Christina Koch than picks a microphone to announce that they are proud to be from Houston, home of the nation’s astronaut corps. Koch also talked about the moon mission under which NASA is planning to land a man and woman astronauts near the lunar south pole by 2024. The corps is based at Lyndon B Johnson Space Center in Houston. It is the US space agency’s center for human spaceflight, where human spaceflight research, training, and flight control are conducted. However, the agency’s headquarter is based in Washington. The baseball match played by the three astronauts was to celebrate the World Series between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals.

Meir has also posted a photo of a baseball floating in the ISS’s seven-window Cupola module with the beautiful blue planet in the background. “This 28,160 km per hour fastball found its way to the ISS’ cupola,” Meir tweeted. We must tell you that the International Space Station circles Earth at about 28,160 km/h or 17,500 mph. This is not the first sports-related activity carried out inside the ISS. Earlier in March this year, astronauts shared images of ballparks that they clicked from space to celebrate the opening of the MLB’s 2019 regular season. The ISS astronauts had shared a video on Twitter that showed what 30 MLB ballparks would look like from space. The first pitch from space was thrown in 1995 to coincide with the opening pitch for the 5th game of the 1995 World Series.

A Japanese HTV cargo wagon is ready for its launch. The liftoff is on Tuesday according to U.S. time. It aboard a Sony-developed laser communications terminal, a powerful H-2B rocket, transporting six new lithium-ion batteries, some other equipment, and freshwater to the International Space Station. This freighter is unpiloted, set for its launch from the Tanegashima Space Center, at 2133:29 GMT. The spaceport is largest rocket-launch complex in Japan. Carved from rocky outcrops, located on the southeast coast of Tanegashima, it is overlooking the Pacific Ocean. HTV supply ship also called Kounotori 8. A Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, powerful H-2B rocket will drag Kounotori 8 into the orbit, heading southeast of the pacific on a 15-minute flight. Launch time is set for 6:33 a.m., according to Japan Standard Time on Wednesday. It is approximately the time when the earth’s rotation will bring Tanegashima launch complex under the international space station’s orbital plane.

H-2B rocket is around 186-foot-tall i.e., 56.6-meter. It is set to roll out Tuesday from Launch Pad No. 2 situated at Tanegashima. The launch crew will connect the freighter’s mobile transporter to ground electrical and fluid supplies. Liquid Oxygen and Super-Cold Liquid Hydrogen will be powering both the stages of the launcher and will be flowing into the rocket around an hour before the launch. The rockets main engine, stage LE-7A, will ignite during the final seconds of the countdown. After this four strap-on rocket boosters will ignite and generates around 2.5 million pounds of propulsion, to push the launcher off the pad. Then the rocket’s guidance computer will direct the rocket to the southeast so that it aligns with the orbital plane of ISS. After this stage, four strap-on boosters will burn out completely and unload around two minutes after launch. At this stage, the rocket’s payload fairing, which will be shielding the HTV supply ship, will be separated at approximately T plus 3 minutes and 40 seconds.

The crew of six-persons present inside the space station will be unpacking 5,313 pounds of cargo present inside the ships’ pressurized logistics carrier. In the meantime, robots present out of the station will extract a pallet from the Kounotori’s unpressurized cargo bay. Unpressurized cargo bay consists of 6 li-ion batteries to enhance the ISS’s power system.