Planet heats up as wildfires rage in the far north
The far north is both a massive carbon sink and a potent environmental time bomb. The region stores a huge amount of CO2 in boreal forests and underlying soils. Organic peat soil, for instance, covers just 3 percent of the Earth’s land area (there’s some in tropical regions, too), yet it contains a third of
Virgin Galactic Takes Flight Once More: Is the Company on a Path to Success?
SPACEPORT AMERICA, New Mexico—I'm standing on a spaceport runway at the ass end of nowhere. The sun has started to creep over the craggy San Andreas Mountains, illuminating the massive, alien spaceship-like building here in New Mexico that Virgin Galactic calls home. I have traveled all this way in early August to find a little
Shkreli-founded pharma company files for bankruptcy, blames Shkreli
The pharmaceutical company behind Martin Shkreli's infamous 4,000 percent price hike—now known as Vyera Pharmaceuticals—filed for bankruptcy this week and plans to sell its assets to pay off millions in debts. Further ReadingShkreli’s infamous 4,000% price hike gets him a lifetime pharma banIn court documents filed Wednesday, Vyera's chief restructuring officer, Lawrence Perkins, largely blamed
Private company plans to save NASA’s “Great Observatory”
A Delta II rocket launched the Spitzer Space Telescope two decades ago, boosting it to an Earth-trailing orbit, where it drifted away from our planet at a rate of about 15 million kilometers a year. It was the last of NASA's four "Great Observatories" put into space from 1990 to 2003. Over its planned five-year
RSV vaccine approved by FDA for adults 60+ in historic decision
The Food and Drug Administration issued the world's first approval of a vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), an achievement that researchers have worked toward for decades after a catastrophic clinical trial in the 1960s. Further ReadingWhy Pfizer’s RSV vaccine success is a big deal, decades in the makingThe vaccine, called Arexvy from pharmaceutical giant
Vast plans to launch space station on Falcon 9 in 2025
A private space station company, Vast, announced on Wednesday that it intends to launch a commercial space station as soon as August 2025. After deploying this "Haven-1" space station in low-Earth orbit, four commercial astronauts will launch to the facility on board SpaceX's Crew Dragon vehicle. The California-based company says this crew will then spend
Rocket Report: SpaceX achieves milestone, Vulcan testing to resume
Welcome to Edition 5.37 of the Rocket Report! I am happy to share some good news this week, with the Vulcan rocket rolling back to the launch site for a new round of tests, and India making progress on its next-generation engine. It's great to see all of the progress in this industry. As always
Ariane 6 rocket debut delayed until spring 2024
The European Space Agency posted an update Friday on the status of its flagship rocket, the Ariane 6 vehicle. While the space agency did not provide a concrete launch target for the rocket's debut flight, it shared information on key milestones to be completed, including a test firing of the rocket's first stage in French
WHO: Diet sodas not beneficial for weight loss
People trying to shed pounds often cut calories by consuming diet drinks, artificially sweetened treats, and other products containing substitute sugars. But according to a new assessment from the World Health Organization, those artificial sweeteners don't appear effective for weight control—and worse, they seem to increase long-term risks of Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and
Uncovering the Mystery: Study Excludes Common Causes of Rare Myocarditis Post COVID Vaccination
The mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines have proven remarkably safe and effective against the deadly pandemic. But, like all medical interventions, they have some risks. One is that a very small number of vaccinated people develop inflammation of and around their heart—conditions called myocarditis, pericarditis, or the combination of the two, myopericarditis. These side effects mostly strike
