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COVID-19 coronavirus update
Moderna’s phase III vaccine trial has enrolled about 30,000 participants.Credit: Hans Pennink/AP/Shutterstock
More good news: Moderna vaccine works too
For the third time in a week, a coronavirus vaccine developer has reported preliminary results suggesting that its vaccine is highly effective. US biotech company Moderna has announced that its RNA-based vaccine was more than 94% effective at preventing COVID-19, on the basis of an analysis of 95 cases in its ongoing phase III efficacy trial. Like the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine and the controversial Russian vaccine Sputnik V, early data that are not yet peer reviewed leave many questions unanswered. But it does seem that Moderna’s vaccine is likely to prevent severe COVID-19 infections, something that was not clear from the other developers’ announcements. Researchers were also buoyed by Moderna’s announcement that its vaccine remains stable in conventional refrigerators for a month and ordinary freezers for six months. (The Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine must be stored at an icy –70 ℃.)
Forecasters can learn from climate models
Epidemiologists predicting the spread of COVID-19 should adopt climate-modelling methods to make forecasts more reliable, say computer scientists. The researchers have spent months using a powerful supercomputer and techniques that are used to stress-test climate models to audit CovidSim, one of the most influential models of the pandemic, which helped convince British and US politicians to introduce lockdowns to prevent projected deaths. The analysis shows that, because researchers didn’t appreciate how sensitive CovidSim was to small changes in its inputs, their results overestimated the extent to which a lockdown was likely to reduce deaths. But the model correctly showed that “doing nothing at all would have disastrous consequences”, says chemist and computer scientist Peter Coveney.
Reference: Research Square preprint
Within weeks of Russia’s first confirmed case, the coronavirus penetrated Star City, the secretive home of the country’s space programme. It spread through the town during a period of international attention and national pride, and a few inches of glass might have been all that prevented it from traveling to space in a cosmonaut. Reuters investigates how Natalya Lebedeva, a doctor who headed the town’s ambulance service, took her own life in the midst of suspicion, fear and blame.
Raoult faces disciplinary panel
Microbiologist Didier Raoult, a larger-than-life figure in French science who gained global prominence for his controversial research touting the effects of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID, is to appear before a disciplinary panel. Raoult is accused of breaching medical ethics by physicians from France’s Infectious Diseases Society.
Furore over phosphine on Venus
In September, astronomers cautiously announced evidence that phosphine had been detected in Venus’s atmosphere. But some scientists say they were not careful enough about a finding that raised the thrilling prospect of life on the planet. Other researchers have questioned the data-analysis methods used in the original work. An International Astronomical Union (IAU) committee released a statement, later disavowed by the IAU executive, chastising the press for overhyping the potential implications. And another group apologized after submitting a paper that suggested the original publication should be retracted.
Reference: Nature Astronomy paper
Features & opinion
What NASA missions teach about teamwork
In her new book, sociologist Janet Vertesi lifts the curtain on the Cassini mission to Saturn and the Mars Exploration Rovers and shows that what gets discovered depends on how scientists collaborate. Battles over data sharing, the challenges of remote working and the malign effects of sexism are among the lessons these missions offer for teams more generally.
Largest dam removal project in US history
Four dams built to produce hydroelectricity along the Klamath River in Northern California will soon be taken down. The removal could restore crucial habitat for salmon and other migratory fish, and support the livelihood of the Yurok people, who have sustainably fished along the river for millenia. “These dam removal efforts are as much to remove the dams for the ecology and benefits of salmon restoration as they are to the wrongs that took place in this country for the last 150, 200 years against Native Americans,” says Frankie Myers, vice-chairperson of the Yurok tribe.
The ‘force of will’ behind neutrino astronomy
Physicist Masatoshi Koshiba was one of the driving forces behind the Kamiokande family of neutrino detectors, which led to two Nobels — for him in 2002 and for his former student Takaaki Kajita in 2015. Koshiba, who has died aged 94, was also “a great guy to be around, filled with insight and energy and humour”, says colleague Dave Wark.
“There are things in the world you can achieve despite poor academic records,” said Koshiba, who graduated near the bottom of his University of Tokyo class in 1951. “I’m not saying those who have good grades should slack off. What counts most is adopting an active attitude toward studying.”
Physics World | 5 min read & The Washington Post (paywall) | 3 min read
