Center Pierre-Louis: For scientific American‘S science quicklyI’m Kendra Pierre-Louis on behalf of Rachel Feltman. You’re listening to our weekly science news roundup.
Let’s start with a vaccine 180. In a surprise development last Wednesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration agreed to review Moderna’s new mRNA flu vaccine, according to the company. The announcement came about a week after Moderna said the FDA had rejected its application.
The company said the agency originally called plans for Phase 3 trials of the vaccine “acceptable” but changed its position after top FDA official Vinay Prasad dismissed the agency’s critics. state. Moderna’s Press release The rejection stated that the FDA had declared the company’s study not “adequate and well-controlled.” Virologist Angela Rasmussen of the University of Saskatchewan told CIDRAP News He, quote, “The trial design they used is essentially the trial design that every flu vaccine has used.”
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After the original denial bloomberg Moderna’s chief executive, Stéphane Bancel, was reported to have considered the agency unexpected. He said that if the FDA continues to behave this way, it “jeopardizes U.S. leadership in innovative medicines.”
If we talk about innovative medicines, a new study published last Thursday describes a single vaccine that can provide protection against multiple respiratory diseases at the same time. a perk? The vaccine will be given by inhalation—no needles required.
The work, led by a researcher at Stanford University, was published in the journal ScienceTakes a new approach to vaccines, which since their early days has relied on something called antigen specificity. This means they mimic a specific aspect of a pathogen known as the adaptive immune system to recognize and fight infection – for example, COVID vaccines target the spike protein on the virus.
The adaptive immune system is our slow-acting, targeted defense mechanism. It also has a memory so the next time we come in contact with that pathogen we know how to fight it – one of the many benefits of this vaccine-development technology. But there are shortcomings also.
The pathogen may mutate rapidly or a new pathogen may emerge, making the vaccine less effective – which is why annual COVID and flu shots are required. And the specificity of this method means that the vaccine only works against the targeted pathogen, creating the need for multiple vaccines.
But in this study, instead of focusing on the mimicking aspects of viruses and bacteria, the researchers looked at the way immune cells communicate during infection and mimic those signals. The goal, in part, was to trigger the innate immune system. Under normal circumstances the adaptive immune system may take days or even weeks to activate, but the innate immune system consists of rapid-response generalists that respond to infection within minutes. They are the body’s first line of defense against infection, but typically, this protection doesn’t last very long.
In this case researchers have developed an inhaled vaccine that is designed to stimulate the innate immune system cells in the lungs along with the adaptive immune system targeted by most vaccines.
The vaccine was tested on mice, which were given different doses and then exposed to COVID-19 along with other coronaviruses that cause illnesses like the common cold. Mice that received three doses, spaced a week apart, fared much better than their unvaccinated peers. Researchers found that the vaccine effectively triggered the innate immune system and kept it going for longer than usual. This significantly reduced the viral load of the mice, and any virus that passed through them was immediately welcomed by a primed adaptive immune system. All of the vaccinated mice survived, while many of the unvaccinated mice did not survive.
The researchers also tested mice with bacterial respiratory infections and again found that the vaccine provided protection. And there was another pleasant benefit: The mice appeared to be less sensitive to respiratory allergens after vaccination.
There are some caveats to this study, namely, the research was conducted on rats, not humans, and the protection lasted for about three months. But this is a hopeful first step.
Additionally, a study on breathing was published last Tuesday in the journal PLOS Medicine There are suggestions that exposure to air pollution may directly increase the chance of developing Alzheimer’s.
The study focused on a specific type of fine particle pollution called PM2.5, which at its maximum size is 2.5 micrometres, or about 30 times smaller than a strand of human hair. The tiny particles, which are often produced when we burn fossil fuels, are linked to heart attacks and strokes. They are also considered responsible for thousands of premature deaths every year America
A team from Emory University looked at nationwide health data from nearly 28 million Medicare beneficiaries who were 65 years of age or older between 2000 and 2018. The researchers then compared that data to individuals’ levels of PM2.5 pollution exposure. And while some conditions linked to PM2.5 are also risk factors for Alzheimer’s, researchers found that exposure to this pollution increased the risk of Alzheimer’s independently of those with other comorbidities.
“We found that long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution was associated with a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease, primarily due to direct effects on the brain rather than through common chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, stroke or depression,” they said in a press statement.
gear change, Artemis II Last Thursday, another wet dress rehearsal of the Moon mission took place. SciAm’s Senior Space & Physics Editor, Lee Billings, is here with an update.
Lee Billings: So we need to know when a “wet dress rehearsal” happens Artemis II The hardware, the Space Launch System megarocket and Orion capsule, are placed on the launchpad, and much of the fuel is fed into the Space Launch System rocket, the SLS rocket. The last time this happened, a large amount of hydrogen was leaked. The SLS uses hydrogen as part of its rocket fuel, and hydrogen is, of course, very small. This is the smallest atom in the universe. When you have two hydrogen atoms come together it’s one of the simplest molecules. And hence it leaks very easily through the smallest holes and gaps. And they had a lot of hydrogen leaks, which delayed the final wet dress rehearsal, which also delayed the launch, which was scheduled for early February.
Now, the good news is that there has been no hydrogen leak this time, which is shocking. It’s remarkable that they actually found this huge rocket completely filled with fuel and not spewing out hydrogen everywhere.
So what’s next after the wet dress rehearsal is, actually, going to the moon. (Laughs.) There are certainly a lot of things that can come up between now and the launch window opening. Due to celestial mechanics, the way the Moon revolves around the Earth, they cannot launch at any time. In fact, we only have one week at the beginning of each month where this would be possible and ideal. We will see what the outcome is.
You need to remember that this is the first human return to the Moon since 1972. This team of four will not land on the Moon, but will instead orbit around it in a free-return trajectory. And it will take them, potentially, more than 4,500 miles to the far side of the Moon, making them the farthest astronauts have ever traveled; This is slightly further than any previous Apollo astronaut.
And there are other firsts associated with this as well. This will be the first black person to go to the moon. This would be the first woman to go to the Moon, the first Canadian woman to go to the Moon. They’ll also be taking with them the first space toilet on the Moon in the Orion capsule, which is pretty cool. Obviously, the Apollo astronauts only had bags and such to deal with. A lot of excitement, an adventure coming up, even though we won’t actually land on the moon. Those future landing missions are expected to begin by mid-2027, but most think they will be delayed longer than that. he will be Artemis III Objective.
Pierre-Louis: Thanks for this, Lee.
And finally, we’ll wrap things up with some dinosaur-related news. A paper was published last Thursday in the journal Science Description of the discovery of a new spinosaurid species, Spinosaurus mirabilis. Spinosaurids were large two-legged carnivores. Their name comes from the fact that many species in the family had large bony spines on their backs, forming sail-like structures. is probably the most famous spinosaurid Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, who came in jurassic park iii in an epic battle with T. rex.
When researchers first found fossils Spinosaurus mirabilis In 2019 in the Niger desert they did not initially recognize it as a new species. They had to go back with a larger team in 2022 to confirm that they had discovered a new species. One gift was the uniqueness of the creature’s bony crest, which researchers describe as scissor-shaped.
The most interesting thing about the new discovery is where the bones were found: in the inland region of Niger, about 300 to 600 miles from the coast. Spinosaurid fossils have historically been found near the coast, so much so that some researchers theorized that the fish-eating dinosaurs may have been entirely aquatic. However, the fossil record shows spinosaurus mirabilis Lived in a wooded landscape surrounded by rivers.
That’s it! That’s our show. Tune in Wednesday when we explore the psychology behind polyamorous relationships.
science quickly It is produced by me, Kendra Pierre-Louis, with Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak, and Jeff DelVisio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura. Scheana Poses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. agree scientific American For more latest and in-depth science news.
For scientific American, This is Center Pierre-Louis. have a great week!
