Science, Space, Health & Robotics News - Page 1

Remember that tall, metallic monolith that came out of nowhere a few days ago and was discovered by during a sheep-counting expedition over the desert in southeastern Utah? Well, it's gone.

The monolith went viral over the last few days, with people drawn to it for obvious reasons -- but the exact location was still secret. Well, people must have found it -- and it seems someone has taken it, or maybe aliens came down and grabbed it back and it was a giant UFO phone that uses the ground to charge?

Utah Bureau of Land Management said on Saturday "We have received credible reports that the illegally installed structure, referred to as the 'monolith,' has been removed. The BLM did not remove the structure, which is considered private property".

Coronavirus cases across the country are skyrocketing, and now one of the most populated states has recently broken a new daily record.

California has reported a new record number of daily coronavirus cases this past Wednesday, as the state recorded 18,350 new cases on Tuesday. This new record has broken a previous record of 15,000 set back on Saturday. Additionally, the seven-day average of positive test results has risen from 5.3% to 6.5% over the past week.

On a 14-day average, the positive test results have increased from 4.8% to 5.9%. Dr. Marty Fenstersheib, COVID-19 Testing Officer for Santa Clara County, said, "We are really, really concerned. All of the metrics that we have been following, that have done well in previous months, are now going up very steeply. Our positivity rate in our county is rising and especially in our most affected communities." If you need more information on this story, check out this link here.

Coronavirus cases around the country aren't slowing down, and now one of the most renowned coronavirus trackers has indicated that global coronavirus cases have passed a new milestone.

According to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracker, global coronavirus cases have passed the 60 million mark. Judging from the data on the website, there have been nearly 1.5 million deaths related to COVID-19. The tracker specifically states, at the time of writing this, there have been 60,860,169 confirmed cases of COVID-19. As for deaths, the tracker says that there have been 1,429,733 global COVID-19 related deaths.

The United States still leads the world for the most COVID-19 cases with 12,879,864 confirmed cases. The second country with the most COVID-19 cases is India, with 9,266,705 confirmed cases. Coming in at third is Brazil with 6,166,606 COVID-19 cases, and then France with 2,235,537 confirmed cases, and finally Russia with 2,169,424 COVID-19 cases on record. For more information on this story, or to check out a coronavirus tracker for yourself, visit this link here.

If you have looked at any coronavirus tracker, you can see that coronavirus cases are rising across the country, but luckily, coronavirus vaccines are on the way.

It will still be some weeks before a coronavirus becomes available to the public, and ahead of the vaccines being rolled out to the public, experts are asking Americans to go out and get the influenza vaccine if they haven't yet as many of the same symptoms are shared between the flu and COVID-19. Dr. Robert Jacobson, a pediatrician and vaccine researcher at Mayo Clinic Children's Center, said, "This season is more important to get the flu vaccine because the flu also has symptoms that mimic COVID-19 infection."

Dr. Jacobson says that while the flu vaccine won't prevent a COVID-19 infection, it can reduce the chances of getting the flu, which would potentially add to the already buckling healthcare system. Dr. Jacobson said, "Every one of us should be getting the flu vaccine every year, and this year, it's more important than ever". For more information on this story, check out this link here.

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has said that coronavirus vaccine deliveries will be beginning very soon.

According to Trump, who gave a special Thanksgiving holiday message to US troops overseas on Thursday evening, coronavirus vaccine deliveries will begin as early as next week, which is November 30. Trump explained that the first people to receive these vaccine doses would be front-line workers, medical personnel, and senior citizens.

Earlier this month, preliminary trial data indicated that both Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine candidate and Moderna's coronavirus vaccine candidate are above 90% effective at preventing COVID-19. However, these comments from Trump come ahead of the December 10 meeting scheduled with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). On December 10, FDA regulators will be reviewing Pfizer's data, and if approved, the vaccine will receive Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). If it's granted a EUA the vaccine will be rolled out in the next 48 hours.

Europe will soon have its first coronavirus-free corridor with the United States, as a deal has been struck between two airlines.

According to an announcement by Rome's Fiumicino airport on Thursday, a deal has been sealed with Italian airline Alitalia and Delta Air Lines of the United States. This deal includes special flights between specific cities in the US and the Italian capital beginning next month. Additionally, the company also said there are similar corridors being trialed between Rome and some German cities.

Fiumicino said in a statement, "The new travel protocols, planned on an experimental basis on flights from the United States to Fiumicino... will be progressively offered to passengers as early as December." The statement continues, and the company says, "The experimental phase will aim to evaluate the effectiveness and functionality of the new travel mode, with the aim of making it more widely available in view of the summer 2021 season." If you are interested in reading more about this story, visit this link here for more information.

COVID-19 vaccines aren't that far away, and now the first person to receive a coronavirus vaccine in the U.S. has talked about side-effects.

Jennifer Haller, who is part of the Moderna trial, has said, "I'm Jennifer Haller, and I'm the first person in the U.S. to trial COVID-19 vaccine". Jennifer Haller was infected with Moderna's coronavirus vaccine candidate on March 16th, and two weeks later, she received her second dose. Haller said that the next day her arm was sore, and said, "I personally didn't experience any other side effects".

Daniel Horowitz, who is a California resident, was injected with Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine candidate in September. Horowitz is apart of the double-blind trial, which is designed to rule out any potential bias as the vaccine trial participant isn't sure if he/she received a vaccine or a placebo dose. Horowitz has said that his side effects were very similar to those of a flu shot.

Coronavirus cases in the United States are continuously surging, and there is one state that has the most contagious outbreak of them all.

In the past two weeks, the United States has recorded more than 2 million new COVID-19 cases. On top of that, coronavirus-related deaths are also on the rise, and the nation's leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has warned there will be a "stunning amount of deaths".

Out of all the states in the US, there is one state that has it worst of all, "North Dakota continues to have the country's worst outbreak when adjusted for population, a position it has maintained since early September. Almost one in 10 North Dakotans have tested positive for the virus since the outbreak began, a vast majority in the last two months", reports the New York Times.

Coronavirus vaccines aren't that far away, and now many people are wondering if there are any side effects you will get after you take the vaccine.

Pfizer and Moderna are soon going to apply for Food and Drug Administration Emergency Use Authorization, and if approved, the vaccines could be rolled out to Americans in the following days. With these vaccines are an estimated 90%+ efficacy rate for preventing COVID-19, but with this much-wanted prevention, are there side effects?

Public health experts have said that after you receive the vaccine, you "are not going to feel wonderful". Dr. Sandra Fryhofer of Emory University's School of Medicine, when the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, said, "As a practicing physician, I have got to be sure my patients will come back for the second dose. We really have got to make patients aware that this is not going to be a walk in the park. They are going to know they got a vaccine. They are not going to feel wonderful."

Public health experts have been warning for months that the coming holidays like Thanksgiving will cause a surge in coronavirus cases.

One of those public health experts is the nation's leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci. Dr. Fauci has previously stated that people traveling to different states in the US will cause a surge in coronavirus cases throughout communities, and now the infectious disease expert has said when we should know the full public health impact of the celebrations.

In a live interview with The Washington Post, Dr. Fauci said that "The chances are that you will see a surge superimposed on a surge. Things lag by a couple of weeks, so what we're seeing now is what happened two-plus weeks ago. What we're doing now is going to be reflected two, three weeks from now." Additionally, Dr. Fauci warned that the US could hit 300,000 deaths if people don't respect the public health recommendations over the holiday season. If you are interested in more information on this story, check out this link here.