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Merck & Co Inc, which has largely kept to the sidelines of the race for COVID-19 treatments, said it was buying Austrian vaccine maker Themis Bioscience and would collaborate with research nonprofit IAVI to develop two separate vaccines.   It also announced a partnership with privately held Ridgeback Biotherapeutics to develop an experimental oral antiviral drug against COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.   It did not disclose the terms of the acquisition of Themis, a privately held company.   Merck shares rose more than 3% in premarket trading.   Most big pharmaceutical companies have already placed their bets on COVID-19 treatments, but Merck has been waiting for opportunities with proven track records, Chief Executive Ken Frazier said.   "We wanted to be in a position where…

Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit failed Monday on its first attempt to launch a test satellite into space aboard a rocket carried aloft by a Boeing 747 and released over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California. The inaugural launch had appeared to be going well until moments after the rocket was dropped from beneath the left wing of the jumbo jet dubbed Cosmic Girl. "We've confirmed a clean release from the aircraft. However, the mission terminated shortly into the flight. Cosmic Girl and our flight crew are safe and returning to base," Virgin Orbit said in its official Twitter commentary on the launch. There was no immediate word on what went wrong. The highly modified jumbo jet took off from Mojave Air and Space Port in the desert north of Los Angeles…

Countries should levy an "orbit congestion charge" on satellite operators to tackle the growing concentration of space junk cluttering the skies, researchers said on Monday, but with some doubting the practicalities of such a fee. From dead satellites to bits of rockets, the amount of debris orbiting the planet is already so great that space agencies often have to alter the course of satellites to avoid collisions. With the world increasingly reliant on orbital infrastructure to maintain communications links and steer new generations of autonomous vehicles, scientists warn that the danger posed by debris is growing exponentially. The best way to deal with it would be to charge satellite operators an annual orbital-use fee for every satellite launched, according to an economics analysis by researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder. "Space is…

The World Health Organization said Monday that it will temporarily drop hydroxychloroquine — the malaria drug U.S. President Trump says he is taking — from its global study into experimental COVID-19 treatments, saying that its experts need to review all available evidence to date. In a press briefing, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that in light of a paper published last week in the Lancet that showed people taking hydroxychloroquine were at higher risk of death and heart problems, there would be "a temporary pause" on the hydroxychloroquine arm of its global clinical trial. "This concern relates to the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine in COVID-19," Tedros said, adding that the drugs are approved treatments for people with malaria or autoimmune diseases. Other treatments in the trial, including the…

When President Donald Trump doesn't like the message, he shoots the messenger. So it was this past week when he took very personally a scientific study that should give pause to anyone thinking of following Trump's lead and ingesting a potentially risky drug for the coronavirus. He branded the study's researchers, financed in part by his own administration, his "enemy." Boastful on the occasion of Memorial Day, Trump exaggerated some of his accomplishments for veterans' health care. Over the weekend, he also repeated a baseless allegation of rampant mail-in voting fraud and resurrected claims of unspecified conspiracies against him in 2016. A look at the rhetoric and reality as the pandemic's death toll approached 100,000 in the U.S.:Voting FraudTrump: "The United States cannot have all Mail In Ballots. It will…

Several snow leopards, including a mother and her cub, have been spotted near the Kazakh city of Almaty wandering through a usually popular hiking destination that is now mostly off limits due to the coronavirus lockdown.   There are only around 150 snow leopards left in Kazakhstan, out of a global population of less than 10,000 across Central and South Asia. Classified as vulnerable by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the big cats are rarely seen in the wild, let alone within city limits.   However, in the past few weeks at least three animals – a lone male and a female with a cub - were caught on film by a motion sensor-equipped camera trap installed near the Big Almaty Lake by an NGO set up to…

The global pandemic is causing major anxiety for many. Some are finding treatment via online therapy. Deana Mitchell reports. Camera, produced by: Deana Mitchell ...

The newest branch of the U.S. military began a mostly-classified mission in public view while Japan launched a rocket to the International Space Station. Meanwhile, astronauts scheduled to make history next week reported for duty.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi transports us through This Week in Space. ...

Nearly 80 million children under age 1 are at higher risk of preventable diseases such as measles, cholera and polio because of the disruption of routine vaccination programs, according to a report released Friday by the World Health Organization and other global organizations.  Immunization campaigns have been disrupted in half of the 129 countries surveyed around the world in March and April, according to data produced by the WHO, UNICEF, the Sabin Vaccine Institute, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Of the 68 countries, 27 have suspended their measles initiatives. Thirty-eight countries have suspended campaigns to vaccinate children against polio.  The COVID-19 pandemic is "walking back progress" that was made in vaccinating children around the world, putting children and their families at greater risk of diseases that routine vaccinations can prevent,…

In ordinary times, the beaches and roads along Florida's Space Coast would be packed with hundreds of thousands of spectators, eager to witness the first astronaut launch from Florida in nine years.   In the age of coronavirus, local officials and NASA are split on whether that's a good idea. NASA and SpaceX are urging spectators to stay at home next Wednesday for safety reasons. Officials in Brevard County, home to the Kennedy Space Center, are rolling out the welcome mat in an effort to jump-start a tourism industry hit hard this spring by coronavirus-related lockdowns. If people are comfortable coming and watching the launch, "by all means, come. If they aren't, I respect that too," said Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey. "I'm not going to tell Americans they can't…

With forecasters predicting another intense Atlantic hurricane season with as many as 13 to 19 named storms, disaster preparedness experts say it's critically important for people in evacuation zones to plan to stay with friends or family, rather than end up in shelters during the coronavirus pandemic. "Shelters are meant to keep you safe, not make you comfortable," said Carlos Castillo, acting deputy administrator for resilience at FEMA.   "Social distancing and other CDC guidance to keep you safe from COVID-19 may impact the disaster preparedness plan you had in place, including what is in your go-kit, evacuation routes, shelters, and more," Castillo said. "With tornado season at its peak, hurricane season around the corner, and flooding, earthquakes and wildfires a risk year-round, it is time to revise and adjust…

Healthcare workers at British hospitals will be the first participants in a global study testing the anti-malarial drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to see if they can be used to treat or prevent COVID-19. The University of Oxford-led study, kicking off Thursday, will test over 40,0000 frontline health workers in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America, testing at 25 sites in Britain alone, according to Reuters. All healthcare workers who have not contracted COVID-19 are eligible to participate in the “COPCOV” study. Workers in Britain will be administered either hydroxychloroquine or a placebo for three months, while in Asia, participants will be given chloroquine or a placebo.Interest in the drug intensified after President Donald Trump began lauding its usefulness at news conferences in April. Earlier this week Trump announced that he was taking…

A new Columbia University study released this week suggests the U.S. delay in reacting to the COVID-19 pandemic cost the nation tens of thousands of lives.The study, conducted by three Columbia University researchers, and funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, suggests that if control measures designed to control the spread of the coronavirus had begun by  March 1 — two weeks earlier than most measures began — 83% of the nation’s deaths by the virus could have been prevented.The study says even one week earlier would have saved as many as 36,000 lives.The researchers say the most basic of measures, such as social distancing and restricting individual contact in the early stages of the pandemic in the U.S., would have prevented the spread…

NASA and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida have welcomed the two astronauts who, next Wednesday, are scheduled to head to space, becoming the first humans to do so from U.S. soil in nine years.  NASA test pilots Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken arrived from their home base in Houston aboard one of the space agency's jets Wednesday. They will also make history as the first astronauts to go into space in a privately-funded spacecraft. The two are scheduled to blast off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, bound for the International Space Station. Hurley was a crew member on the final shuttle flight launched from the space center July 4, 2011. He told reporters it was “incredibly humbling” to be there for the restart of manned space launches from the United States. Behnken called it “an opportunity but also a responsibility for the American people, for the SpaceX team, for all of NASA.” Hurley and Behnken are scheduled to dock at the…

Russia continues to pose “serious” and “growing” threats to U.S. interests in space, according to the top military officer for space defense. “They’re real, they’re serious and they’re concerning,” Gen. John Raymond, chief of the newly established U.S. Space Force and head of U.S. Space Command, told reporters Wednesday. “Our advantage has been diminished, and that's why the establishment of the Space Force in the Aerospace Command is so important — to allow us to move fast with agility of effort, reducing costs to stay ahead of that growing threat,” he added. The realm of space is essential to everyday activities from navigation to banking. Space assets are also critical to military missions from launching missiles to collecting intelligence. Raymond did not elaborate when pressed for specific areas where the U.S. advantage is eroding but touted “significant strides” over recent months to remain the world…

How should I clean and store my face mask?   Cloth face masks worn during the coronavirus pandemic should be washed regularly, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.   Public health experts recommend wearing a mask made from cotton fabric, such as T-shirts, or scarves and bandannas, when you are outside and unable to maintain social distancing from others. The covering should be washed daily after use, says Penni Watts, an assistant professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham's School of Nursing.   It is best to clean your mask in a washing machine or with soap and hot water. The mask should be dried completely. Dry it in a hot dryer, if possible. Watts advises storing the clean, dry mask in a new paper…

Health investigator Mackenzie Bray smiles and chuckles as she chats by phone with a retired Utah man who just tested positive for the coronavirus.  She's trying to keep the mood light because she needs to find out where he's been and who he's been around for the past seven days. She gently peppers him with questions, including where he and his wife stopped to buy flowers on a visit to a cemetery. She encourages him to go through his bank statement to see if it reminds him of any store visits he made.  Midway through the conversation, a possible break: His wife lets slip that they had family over for Mother's Day, including a grandchild who couldn't stop slobbering. "Was there like a shared food platter or something like that?" Bray…

Russia continues to pose “serious” and “growing” threats to U.S. interests in space, according to the top military officer for space defense. “They’re real, they’re serious and they’re concerning,” Gen. John Raymond, chief of the newly established U.S. Space Force and head of U.S. Space Command, told reporters Wednesday. “Our advantage has been diminished, and that's why the establishment of the Space Force in the Aerospace Command is so important — to allow us to move fast with agility of effort, reducing costs to stay ahead of that growing threat,” he added. The realm of space is essential to everyday activities from navigation to banking. Space assets are also critical to military missions from launching missiles to collecting intelligence. Raymond did not elaborate when pressed for specific areas where the U.S. advantage is eroding but touted “significant strides” over recent months to remain the world…

NASA announced Wednesday it will name its next-generation space telescope in honor of Nancy Grace Roman, the space agency’s first chief astronomer. In a release posted on its website, the space agency calls Roman the “mother” of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, which was launched 30 years ago, this year. NASA says Roman tirelessly advocated for new tools that would allow scientists to study the broader universe from space.  Roman, who held a doctorate in astronomy from the University of Chicago, came to the space agency in 1959, six months after it was formed. She served as the chief of astronomy and relativity in the Office of Space Science. According to NASA, Roman spent much of her career working to establish new ways to probe the universe. President John F. Kennedy poses with government career women given the Federal Woman’s Award, Feb. 27, 1962. From left: Dr. Allene Jeanes, Dr. Nancy Grace Roman, Evelyn Harrison,…

Evidence of the formation of a new planet has been collected by scientists working at the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile.     The discovery is the first of its kind, says lead scientist Anthony Boccaletti, from Observatoire de Paris.     “Thousands of exoplanets have been identified so far, but little is known about how they form,” he said.     An exoplanet is a planet that orbits a star, rather than a moon or the sun.     Scientists say they believe the formation occurred 520 light-years away in the Auriga constellation, also known as the charioteer. Its main star, Capella, is the sixth brightest in the night sky.     The planet itself was formed about 2.7817 billion miles away, however, from the…

 Thousands of Nigerians are receiving free mental health care through a program to help people cope with stress and isolation from COVID-19.  The program, Mentally Aware Nigeria, or MANI, was formed by psychologists and medical experts to create an environment where people can seek mental health care without fear of stigma or discrimination.  Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja. Videographer: Simpa Samson  Producer: JG  ...

Johnson & Johnson announced Tuesday it will stop selling one of its flagship products — talc-based baby powder — in the United States and Canada.The pharmaceutical company said its decision is part of a "portfolio reassessment related to COVID-19."But J&J is facing more than 16,000 lawsuits from consumers who claim the powder is contaminated with asbestos and caused their cancer."Demand for talc-based Johnson's Baby Powder in North America has been declining due in large part to changes in consumer habits and fueled by misinformation around the safety of the product and a constant barrage of litigation advertising," J&J said in a statement.A New Jersey judge ruled last month that the claims against J&J can proceed, but the judge put limits on how far expert testimony can go.J&J insists its baby…

In early May, U.S. President Donald Trump was asked during a Fox News virtual town hall when the country would no longer be dependent on foreign pharmaceutical manufacturers for 94% of antibiotics used in this country.   “I think we will have it done within two years,” Trump answered. “Everybody makes our drugs, except us.” U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs for the Camp David, Maryland presidential retreat from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, May 15, 2020.Trump may have been overly optimistic, but he was reflecting a mounting concern among Americans that they are overly dependent on overseas or offshore companies for most of their pharmaceutical drug needs.   The spread of COVID-19 and the unprecedented pressure it has placed on the U.S. health care system highlights America’s strategic dependence on foreign-based pharmaceutical supply manufacturers, particularly in China.  China…