Day: June 9, 2022

NASA is officially joining the hunt for UFOs. 

The space agency on Thursday announced a new study that will recruit leading scientists to examine unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) — a subject that has long fascinated the public and recently gained high-level attention from Congress. 

The project will begin early this fall and last around nine months, focusing on identifying available data, how to gather more data in the future, and how NASA can analyze the findings to try to move the needle on scientific understanding. 

“Over the decades, NASA has answered the call to tackle some of the most perplexing mysteries we know of, and this is no different,” Daniel Evans, the NASA scientist responsible for coordinating the study, told reporters on a call. 

While NASA probes and rovers scour the solar system for the fossils of ancient microbes, and its astronomers look for so-called “technosignatures” on distant planets for signs of intelligent civilizations, this is the first time the agency will investigate unexplained phenomena in Earth’s skies. 

With its access to a broad range of scientific tools, NASA is well placed not just to demystify UFOs and deepen scientific understanding, but also to find ways to mitigate the phenomena, a key part of its mission to ensure the safety of aircraft, said the agency’s chief scientist, Thomas Zurbuchen. 

The announcement comes as the field of UFO study, once a poorly-regarded research backwater, is gaining more mainstream traction. 

Last month, Congress held a public hearing on UFOs, while a U.S. intelligence report last year cataloged 144 sightings that it said could not be explained. It did not rule out alien origin. 

NASA’s study will be independent of the Pentagon’s Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group, but the space agency “has coordinated widely across the government regarding how to apply the tools of science,” it said in a statement. 

A paucity in the number of UFO observations make it difficult at present for the scientific community to draw conclusions.  

Therefore, said astrophysicist David Spergel, who will lead the research, the first task of the group would be identifying the extent of data out there from sources including civilians, government, nonprofits and companies.  

Another overarching goal of NASA is to deepen credibility in this field of study. 

“There is a great deal of stigma associated with UAP among our naval aviators and aviation community,” said Evans. 

“One of the things we tangentially hope to do as part of this study, simply by talking about it in the open, is to help to remove some of the stigma associated with it, and that will yield obviously, increased access to data, more reports, more sightings.” 
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For the first time, NASA is looking to launch a research rocket from a commercial port not in the United States. Plus, we remember a legendary cosmonaut who died this week, and Blue Origin returns to the skies. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space.
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The risk of monkeypox becoming established in nonendemic nations is real, the WHO warned Wednesday, with more than 1,000 cases confirmed in such countries. 

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the U.N. health agency was not recommending mass vaccination against the virus and added that no deaths had been reported from the outbreaks. 

“The risk of monkeypox becoming established in nonendemic countries is real,” Tedros told a press conference. 

The zoonotic disease is endemic in humans in nine African countries, but outbreaks have been reported in the past month in several other states — mostly in Europe, and notably in Britain, Spain and Portugal. 

“More than 1,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox have now been reported to WHO from 29 countries that are not endemic for the disease,” Tedros said. 

“So far, no deaths have been reported in these countries. Cases have been reported mainly, but not only, among men who have sex with men. 

“Some countries are now beginning to report cases of apparent community transmission, including some cases in women.” 

Greece on Wednesday became the latest country to confirm its first case of the disease, with health authorities there saying it involved a man who had recently traveled to Portugal and who was hospitalized in stable condition. 

The initial symptoms of monkeypox include a high fever, swollen lymph nodes and a blistery chickenpox-like rash. 

Tedros said he was particularly concerned about the risk the virus poses to vulnerable groups, including pregnant women and children. 

He said the sudden and unexpected appearance of monkeypox outside endemic countries suggested that there might have been undetected transmission for some time, but it was not known for how long. 

One case of monkeypox in a nonendemic country is considered an outbreak. 

Tedros said that while this was “clearly concerning,” the virus has been circulating and killing in Africa for decades, with more than 1,400 suspected cases and 66 deaths so far this year. 

“The communities that live with the threat of this virus every day deserve the same concern, the same care and the same access to tools to protect themselves,” he said. 

Vaccines

In the few places where vaccines are available, they are being used to protect those who may be exposed, such as health care workers.

Tedros said that post-exposure vaccination, ideally within four days, could be considered for higher-risk close contacts, such as sexual partners or household members.  

He added that the WHO would issue guidance in the coming days on clinical care, infection prevention and control, vaccination and community protection.  

He said people with symptoms should isolate at home and consult a health worker, while people in the same household should avoid close contact.  

Few hospitalizations have been reported, apart from patients being isolated, the WHO said last weekend. 

Sylvie Briand, the WHO’s epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention director, said the smallpox vaccine could be used against monkeypox, a fellow orthopoxvirus, with a high degree of efficacy. 

The WHO is trying to determine how many doses are currently available and to find out from manufacturers what their production and distribution capacities are.
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