Month: August 2020

Water covers 70% of the Earth’s surface and is crucial to life as we know it, but how it got here has been a longstanding scientific debate.The puzzle was a step closer to being solved Thursday after a French team reported in the journal Science they had identified which space rocks were responsible, and suggested our planet has been wet ever since it formed.Cosmochemist Laurette Piani, who led the research, told AFP the findings contradicted the prevalent theory that water was brought to an initially dry Earth by far-reaching comets or asteroids.According to early models for how the Solar System came to be, the large disks of gas and dust that swirled around the Sun and eventually formed the inner planets were too hot to sustain ice.This would explain the barren conditions on Mercury, Venus and Mars — but not our blue planet, with its vast oceans, humid atmosphere and well-hydrated geology.Scientists therefore theorized that the water came along after, and the prime suspects were meteorites known as carbonaceous chondrites that are rich in hydrous minerals.But the problem was that their chemical composition doesn’t closely match our planet’s rocks.The carbonaceous chondrites also formed in the outer Solar System, making it less likely they could have pelted the early Earth.Planetary building blocksAnother group of meteorites, called enstatite chondrites, are a much closer chemical match, containing similar isotopes (types) of oxygen, titanium and calcium.This indicates they were Earth’s and the other inner planets’ building blocks.However, because these rocks formed close to the Sun, they had been assumed to be too dry to account for Earth’s rich reservoirs of water.To test whether this was really true, Piani and her colleagues at Centre de Recherches Petrographiques et Geochimiques (CRPG, CNRS/Universite de Lorraine) used a technique called mass spectrometry to measure the hydrogen content in 13 enstatite chondrites.The rocks are now quite rare, making up only about two percent of known meteorites in collections, and it is hard to find them in pristine, uncontaminated condition.The team found that the rocks contained enough hydrogen in them to provide Earth with at least three times the water mass of its oceans — and possibly much more.They also measured two isotopes of hydrogen, because the relative proportion of these is very different from one celestial object to another.”We found the hydrogen isotopic composition of enstatite chondrites to be similar to the one of the water stored in the terrestrial mantle,” said Piani, comparing it to a DNA match.The isotopic composition of the oceans was found to be consistent with a mixture containing 95% of water from the enstatite chondrites — more proof these were responsible for the bulk of Earth’s water.The authors further found that the nitrogen isotopes from the enstatite chondrites are similar to Earth’s — and proposed these rocks could also be the source of the most abundant component of our atmosphere.Piani added that research doesn’t exclude later addition of water by other sources like comets, but indicates that enstatite chondrites contributed significantly to Earth’s water budget at the time it formed.The work “brings a crucial and elegant element to this puzzle” wrote Anne Peslier, a planetary scientist for NASA, in an accompanying editorial.
…

Former directors of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the world-renowned American agency that has long taken the lead in fighting communicable diseases, are voicing unusual criticism of the U.S. handling of the novel coronavirus pandemic and the CDC’s limited role in that effort.COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, has killed more than 180,000 people in the U.S., and those are only the confirmed cases. The CDC says the actual number of COVID-19 deaths is much higher and that the virus will be a leading cause of deaths in the U.S. in 2020.Five former CDC directors, appointed by both Republican and Democratic administrations, say the agency should be doing more to lead the effort to contain the pandemic.FILE – Dr. Richard Besser, May 8, 2013, in New York.Among them is Dr. Richard Besser, who as acting director of the CDC held daily televised news conferences during the H1N1 flu pandemic of 2008-09, which infected more than 60 million people in the U.S. and killed 12,469 people. Globally, the World Health Organization estimated that a half-million people died.During the current pandemic, however, the White House Coronavirus Task Force is being led not by the CDC, but by Vice President Mike Pence, prompting questions about the extent to which the task force’s advice may be seen as politically motivated.“It really concerns me that we’re not hearing from CDC every day. We’re not hearing from them about what they consider to be the best practices in terms of isolation and quarantine, what needs to be done,” Besser said in a recent interview with STAT, a health publication run by the publishers of the Boston Globe newspaper.“We’re seeing so much that’s being presented to us by political leaders, and when that’s the case, half the country says, ‘Great, I’m on board,’ and the rest rejects things out of hand because of the messenger. …  The more you can depoliticize the response, the more successful you’re going to be.”FILE – Dr. David Satcher, May 31, 2012, in Atlanta.That concern is shared by Dr. David Satcher, who was appointed to lead the CDC by Democratic President Bill Clinton. “I think it was obvious during the time that we were having daily reports about the pandemic that CDC was being sidelined,” Satcher said in an interview, regarding the task force’s late afternoon briefings earlier this year.He contrasted that with the prestigious role the agency held when he was director. “What I remember is that whenever there was a major issue in the world, people called the CDC before they called the World Health Organization, even though there was a very good working relationship between the CDC and WHO.”The former directors acknowledge shortcomings in the performance of the agency itself, which in the early days of the pandemic rolled out a defective test and advised the public against wearing face masks – advice that was later reversed when the extent of asymptomatic transmission became understood.But medical professionals have learned a lot about the coronavirus since then, according to Dr. Julie Gerberding, who became director of the CDC under Republican President George W. Bush. She is now an executive vice president at the pharmaceutical giant Merck.FILE – Merck Executive Vice President and Chief Patient Officer Julie Gerberding is seen on a screen as she gives a statement during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing, June 23, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington.Gerberding recently told ABC News that she would love to turn back the clock because so much has been learned about the virus since it first appeared. “We know it is incredibly transmissible,” she said, “and we know that most people are still susceptible.”When Dr. Tom Frieden headed the CDC, after his appointment by President Barack Obama, a Democrat, the CDC was highly involved in the Ebola crisis in West Africa, from 2014 to 2016. Frieden now heads a global public health initiative called Resolve to Save Lives.He has been among the most outspoken of the former directors in accusing the Trump administration of dictating health policy to the CDC.FILE – Dr. Tom Frieden, Director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), speaks at the New America think tank in Washington, D.C., July 13, 2016.“I don’t think there’s ever been a time before when people from the White House or HHS are dictating what goes on technical documents on the CDC website,” he said Thursday during a webinar sponsored by Vital Strategies, a global health organization. “This is dangerous. This is a big problem. It’s a big problem for a lot of reasons, as some of you know the CDC.”Satcher and the others are critical of President Donald Trump’s push to open schools and businesses when, they say, the virus is not yet under control. They say rushing to get things back to normal will only spread the virus.A number of universities have had to close after the virus spread when students returned to campus for the fall semester. A judge in Florida ruled that public schools don’t have to abide by the state’s requirement for in-person instruction because it “arbitrarily disregards safety” and denies local school boards the ability to decide when students can safely return.Besser, now president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the largest health philanthropy in the U.S., says CDC guidance needs to be followed for the public good and that it should not be seen as “a barrier to getting children back into school instead of a road map for doing it safely.”Satcher, who founded the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine, told VOA that “the priority in any pandemic ought to be prevention.” He also said fighting a pandemic requires leadership from the president.The former directors have been critical of what they called misleading information coming from the White House. Trump has touted the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, which the health specialists say does not cure COVID-19 and may be harmful.Although Trump later said he was being sarcastic, a remark he made about injecting disinfectants as a means to treat the virus prompted companies that produce them to run televised advisories warning people that their products could be deadly if injected or ingested.FILE – Dr. Jeffrey Koplan, director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, August 29, 1999.Dr. Jeffrey Koplan spent 26 years at the CDC. He was the director from 1998 to 2002, and later established the Atlanta-based Emory Global Health Institute.”We need to feed truth back to the American public and to use those truths with our scientific evidence to control this disease,” he said.All agree that pulling together and following the science is the best course. They also recommend following standard disease prevention methods like avoiding crowds, practicing good hand hygiene, staying at least two meters from others, and wearing masks when in public.Trump has been seen wearing a mask in public only twice. An audience at the White House Rose Garden did not wear masks during first lady Melania Trump’s speech during the Republican National Convention.When VOA asked for a response from the White House, Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere told VOA, “The White House and CDC have been working together in partnership since the very beginning of this pandemic to carry out the president’s highest priority: the health and safety of the American public.”The CDC is the nation’s trusted health protection agency and its infectious disease and public health experts have helped deliver critical solutions throughout this pandemic to save lives,” Deere said. “We encourage all Americans to continue to follow the CDC’s guidelines as we responsibly continue to open up America.”The CDC has reversed its recommendations on testing for COVID-19. The agency had been recommending that those who have been exposed to the virus get tested, even if they did not have symptoms. On August 25, the CDC said people who don’t have symptoms “do not necessarily need a test,” even though it’s known that people without symptoms can pass the virus to others.Several U.S. news organizations claim the CDC was pressured to revise its testing guidelines by Trump administration officials.The American Medical Association issued a statement saying “COVID-19 is spread by asymptomatic people. Suggesting that people without symptoms, who have known exposure to COVID-positive individuals, do not need testing is a recipe for community spread and more spikes in coronavirus.”The leading U.S. doctors group also asked the CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services to provide the scientific justification for this change in testing guidelines.In an email to VOA, CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said the agency is placing emphasis “on testing individuals with symptomatic illness”; those “with a significant exposure,” such as people in nursing homes, health care workers and first responders; or people “who may be asymptomatic when prioritized by medical and public health officials.”Redfield said, “Testing may be considered for all close contacts of confirmed or probable COVID-19 patients.”Redfield’s statement said the new guidelines were “coordinated in conjunction with the White House Coronavirus Task Force.”
…

The World Health Organization (WHO) says Europe has seen a significant “uptick” in COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks, with 32 out of 55 state parties and territories in the regions experiencing an increase rate of more than 10 percent.Speaking to reporters at a virtual news conference from Copenhagen, WHO Europe Chief, Dr. Hans Kluge, said that much of that surge in cases has been among young people in the region.Kluge said that while the young tend to be healthier and the virus may not be as severe or life threatening for them, as the weather cools in Europe, they are likely to spend more time indoors where they are likely to come in contact with the elderly and other more vulnerable people. He said that could prompt an uptick in hospitalizations and deaths.  But he also suggested health authorities and other officials are better positioned and more prepared than in February when the continent was on the cusp of a huge surge in cases.“We know what has to be done,” Kluge said. He called on regional governments to implement risk communication, increased testing and contact tracing, and for people to follow basic public health measures.
…

The head of TikTok resigned Wednesday as tensions mount between the Chinese-owned video platform and the White House, which contends TikTok is a security risk in the U.S.
 
Chief Executive Officer Kevin Mayer announced his resignation days after the company filed a lawsuit challenging a U.S. government crackdown on the company over claims the social media app can be a tool to spy on U.S. citizens.
 
Mayer, a former Disney executive who joined the company in May, said in letter to employees his decision to quit came after the “political environment has sharply changed” in recent weeks.
 
“I understand that the role that I signed up for, including running TikTok globally, will look very different as a result of the U.S. administration’s action to push for a sell-off of the U.S. business.”
 
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on August 6 banning TikTok unless its parent company, ByteDance, sells its U.S. operations to an American company within 90 days.FILE – The logo of the TikTok application is seen on a screen in this picture illustration taken Feb. 21, 2019. Computer software firm Microsoft, headquartered in the northwestern U.S. city of Redmond, Washington, has confirmed it is negotiating to purchase TikTok’s operations in the U.S., Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Bloomberg News has reported that technology business Oracle Corp., based in the western U.S. city of Redwood City, California, is also entertaining a bid for the company.
 
TikTok argues in its lawsuit that Trump’s executive order was an abuse of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act because it is not “an unusual and extraordinary threat.”
 
The company provides a platform on which short videos are shared. Since its launch in 2017, TikTok has become very popular, with hundreds of millions of users worldwide, many of them teens.
 
U.S. officials are concerned that TikTok may pose a security threat, fearing that the company might share its user data with China’s government. However, TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has said it does not share user data with the Chinese government and maintains that it only stores U.S. user data in the U.S. and Singapore.
 
…

he divide between India’s urban and rural healthcare is stark — big cities boast of highly qualified doctors while most rural areas lack adequate health infrastructure. To bridge the gulf with the help of modern technology, the northern state of Himachal Pradesh has launched a telemedicine program in two remote areas. Anjana Pasricha reports on how residents in one of them, Bharmour, are benefitting. Camera: Rakesh Kumar 
…

With the total number of worldwide COVID-19 cases surpassing 24 million, including  more than 824,000 deaths, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says nearly one-third of the world’s schoolchildren are unable to participate in remote learning.  A report issued Wednesday by the agency says that of the 1.5 billion children who have been forced to miss in-person learning because of the pandemic, about 463 million did not have the equipment or electronic access to continue their studies through television, radio or the Internet.UNICEF says 49% of all children in sub-Saharan Africa are unable to access any type of remote learning, followed by West and Central Africa with 48%, and North Africa and the Middle East with 40%.  More than 200 million children combined in South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific regions are unable to continue their education outside the classroom.   “The sheer number of children whose education was completely disrupted for months on end is a global education emergency,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. “The repercussions could be felt in economies and societies for decades to come.” WATCH: Stacey Knott’s report from Ghana Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 9 MB480p | 13 MB540p | 18 MB720p | 36 MB1080p | 73 MBOriginal | 79 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioIn Myanmar, all three million people living in the troubled northwestern Rakhine state are under a near-total lockdown with the number of new COVID-19 cases on the rise.Of the more than 100 new infections reported in Myanmar in recent days, most of them are in Rakhine, where health care facilities are substandard and extremely limited.   Only one member of each household is allowed to leave their homes for essential shopping under the new quarantine measures imposed for Rakhine state.Rakhine is home to hundreds of thousands of ethnic Rohingya living in refugee camps after being displaced due to fighting between the army and ethnic minority Rohingya insurgents.  Health experts have warned the novel coronavirus could spread in crowded camps.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 7 MB480p | 10 MB540p | 14 MB720p | 29 MB1080p | 57 MBOriginal | 153 MB Embed” />Copy Download Audio
…