CAPITALI$M IN SPACE
Space firm plans first all-private crew for 2022 launch



The interior of SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule is black and white, with a modern design. 

Photo courtesy of SpaceX  HOW STANLEY KUBRIC 

ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 29 (UPI) -- The first private crew, consisting of four astronauts, plans to fly to the International Space Station in January 2022 on a SpaceX mission arranged by Houston-based firm Axiom Space.

Former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría, a vice president at Axiom, would be flight commander. Ohio real estate and financial technology entrepreneur Larry Connor, who has flown fighter jets, would be the mission pilot, Axiom said.

The company has booked the ride with Elon Musk's space company in a Crew Dragon capsule launched from Florida by a Falcon 9 rocket.

Connor and two businessmen, one from Canada and one from Israel, have agreed to pay Axoim $55 million for the experience. The company declined to say whether the tickets are fully paid already, or if the voyagers have made deposits. Axiom's financial arrangement with SpaceX also was not disclosed.

RELATED Elon Musk's SpaceX crewed launches led space events in 2020

The three men are lining up research projects and educational programs to beam back to Earth during their mission, according to Axiom communications manager Beau Holder.

Connor plans to collaborate with the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic on medical research, while providing lessons to students at Dayton Early College Academy in his hometown of Dayton, Ohio.

Mark Pathy, chief executive of Mavrik, a Montreal investment firm, plans to collaborate with the Canadian Space Agency and the Montreal Children's Hospital on health-related projects.

Eytan Stibbe plans to conduct experiments for Israeli researchers and entrepreneurs coordinated by the Ramon Foundation and the Israel Space Agency, along with educational outreach to Israeli students.

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Axiom has support from NASA as the company builds a successor to the International Space Station, but there are many unknowns about the flight.

Axiom has agreements with NASA to connect privately owned segments to the space station starting in 2024. After the orbiting platform reaches obsolescence -- around 2030 -- Axiom intends to separate its units from the station and fly independently.

Former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, who stepped down on Jan. 20, was a big supporter of such commercial space missions. The agency currently is led by acting administrator Steve Jurczyk, but a new appointment is expected soon.

"We see no reason NASA's strong commitment to fostering a commercial marketplace in low-Earth orbit will change," Axion's Holder said in a statement to UPI.

Axiom Space and NASA are working together on a formal arrangement to foster private astronaut missions, including the planned January 2022 trip, known as Ax-1, Holder said.

Many details must be hammered out before such a ground-breaking space mission can occur, said John Spencer, a space architect and president of the Los Angeles-based non-profit Space Tourism Society.

RELATED SpaceX, NASA make history with launch to space station

"The mission will set many precedents, and nobody wants to set precedents you can't live with in the future," Spencer said.

An example of such details is the limited number of sleeping stations aboard the space station, Spencer noted.

"That's not a deal-breaker but they would have to work something out, even if they only sleep aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule," Spencer said.

The space station has only six sleeping stations, not enough to accommodate the seven astronauts currently on board. NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins has been sleeping aboard the Dragon capsule Resilience, in which he flew to the station in November.

The space station has hosted private citizens before, but not in recent years, as crewed flights were limited after the space shuttle program ended in 2011. Businessman Charles Simonyi last visited in 2007 and 2009.

NASA has announced that actor Tom Cruise will be shooting a movie aboard the space station after a private flight, but a date for that mission hasn't been set.

The Axiom mission as planned would last for about eight days, Axiom said in a press release announcing the flight.

López-Alegría, who flew to space four times over a 20-year career at NASA, will become the first person to command both a civil and a commercial human spaceflight mission, Axiom noted.

Previous space tourists have flown to the space station aboard Russian Soyuz capsules, but only as seatmates on official NASA missions.

"Some of the previous private astronauts had assignments and did work up there. We haven't heard yet what this crew will do," Spencer said. "It will be a learning experience for everybody."

Retired NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, also a former chief scientist at NASA, is listed as a backup commander for the Axiom mission.

Passengers must spend 15 weeks in training after a physical, according to Axiom's mission description.

Many people in space-related research hope the Axiom mission kicks off a new era of expanded spaceflight for private citizens, said Nancy Vermeulen, an astrophysicist, pilot and founder of the Belgium-based Space Training Academy.

Private citizens flying on such a mission doesn't present a safety risk, Vermeulen said, especially since SpaceX has flown its Dragon capsules to the space station many times on autopilot.

"This is a short-duration mission, eight days versus six months that many astronauts spend in space," she said.

NASA, SpaceX launch historic mission to space station PHOTOS

https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2021/01/29/Space-firm-plans-first-all-private-crew-for-2022-launch/7191611697160/

Social media influencer charged with scheme to suppress 2016 U.S. election



Prosecutors say at least 4,900 people tried to text their vote to a number shared by Twitter accounts associated with conspirators. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Federal prosecutors have charged a far-right social media influencer of conspiring with others to spread disinformation online during the 2016 presidential election with the intention to prevent people from voting.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Justice Department said Douglass Mackey, 31, of West Palm Beach, Fla., was charged in the Eastern District of New York, accused of conspiring under the Twitter name Ricky Vaughn with others starting in September 2016 until the Nov. 8 election of that year to deprive people of their ballots through encouraging them online to vote via text message or social media, two illegal voting methods, for an unnamed presidential candidate.

"The defendant exploited a social media platform to infringe one of the most basic and sacred rights guaranteed by the Constitution: the right to vote," said Nicholas L. McQuaid, acting assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's Criminal Division.

The Justice Department said in 2016 Mackey had some 58,000 followers on Twitter and was ranked by the MIT Media lab as the 107th most important influencer of the 2016 election.

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The prosecutors accuse Mackey, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, of operating at least three Twitter accounts to spread disinformation. In one tweet on Nov. 1, 2016, Mackey is accused of publishing an image of a Black woman standing with a sign that read "African Americans for [unnamed candidate]," and it included a number for which one was encouraged to text as a form of voting for the indicated presidential candidate.

Prosecutors said at least 4,900 people attempted to text their vote to the number shared by the Twitter accounts associated with Mackey and his co-conspirators.

"What Mackey allegedly did to interfere with this process -- by soliciting voters to cast their ballots via text -- amounted to nothing short of vote theft," William F. Sweeney, Jr., assistant director in charge of the FBI's New York Field Office, said. "It is illegal behavior and contributes to the erosion of the public's trust in our election processes. He may have been a powerful social media influencer at the time, but a quick Internet search of his name today will reveal an entirely different story."

RAND: U.S. brand-name drug prices nearly 3 times higher than other countries



Drug prices in the United States are up to three times higher than those of other nation, a new study has found. Photo by Thomas Breher/Pixabay

Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Brand-name prescription drug prices in the United States are nearly three times higher than those in 32 other high-income countries, according to a report released Thursday by the RAND Corporation.

The cost differences include prices for both brand-name and generic drugs, the researchers said.

Branded prescription drugs alone are priced 3.4-times higher in the United States than in other countries, the data showed.

Prices for unbranded generic drugs -- which account for 84% of drugs sold nationally, but only 12% of spending -- are slightly lower in the United States than in most other nations.

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"Brand-name drugs are the primary driver of the higher prescription drug prices in the U.S.," report co-author Andrew Mulcahy said in a press release.

"We found consistently high U.S. brand-name prices regardless of our methodological decisions," said Mulcahy, a senior health policy researcher at RAND, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization.

The new RAND report is based on 2018 data and compares U.S. drug prices to those in other countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

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Mulcahy and his colleagues used manufacturer prices for drugs because net prices, or the charges ultimately paid for drugs after negotiated rebates and other discounts are applied, are not available.

Even after adjusting prices downward based on an approximation to account for these discounts, which are negotiated between insurance companies, pharmacies and the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, charges nationally for brand-name drugs remained substantially higher than those in other countries.

Among the G7 nations, Britain, France and Italy generally have the lowest prescription drug prices, while Canada, Germany and Japan tend to have higher prices, the data showed.

RELATED Two-thirds in U.S. say drug prices have increased under Trump

Meanwhile, some of the highest-priced drugs in the United States are brand-name drugs that can cost thousands of dollars per dose and are used to treat life-threatening illness such as hepatitis C or cancer, the researchers said.

That's why the United States accounted for 58% of the $795 billion spent on prescription drugs among the OECD nations in 2018, while making up just 24% of the drugs used, they said.

Drug spending nationally increased by 76% between 2000 and 2017, and the costs are expected to increase faster than other areas of healthcare over the next decade as new, expensive specialty drugs are approved, according to the researchers.

"Many of the most-expensive medications are the biologic treatments that we often see advertised on television," Mulcahy said.

"The hope is that competition from biosimilars will drive down prices and spending for biologics, but biosimilars are available for only a handful of biologics in the United States," he said.


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Experts: Slow vaccine rollout shows U.S. public health 'disinvestment'



"Slow" rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines in the United States shows the need for investment in public health infrastructure, experts say. File photo by David Silpa/UPI | License Photo


Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Rollout of the available COVID-19 vaccines in the United States continues to be slow, due in part to "20 years of disinvestment in the country's public health infrastructure," experts said Thursday.

As a result, entire segments of the population have been excluded from vaccination, particularly communities of color, as states scramble to develop their own vaccine rollout plans, public health expert Dr. Chris Beyrer said.

"Although we have two efficacious vaccines due to our very robust biomedical research infrastructure in the United States, our system to deliver these vaccines to the public is nowhere near as advanced," said Beyrer, a professor of public health and human rights at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

"There is more demand than there is vaccine, and it looks like we are going to be in that phase for many months ... even as we are still seeing high rates of community transmission," he said Thursday during a webinar hosted by the school.

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This "period of vaccine scarcity" could persist until August, although the problem is worse in some parts of the country than others, he said.

The Biden administration is attempting to implement a national vaccine distribution plan -- the Trump administration opted to leave it to the states to figure out -- with the goal of inoculating 100 million people in 100 days.

Through Thursday afternoon, nearly 26.2 million people across the country have received at least one dose of a vaccine against the new coronavirus, but 48.4 million shots have been distributed, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Both vaccines approved for use in the United States, from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, require two doses for maximum effectiveness.

That two-dose requirement, and the fact that both vaccines need to be stored at extremely cold temperatures, has made distribution particularly challenging.

Anecdotal reports have surfaced of vaccine doses being wasted, with supplies being discarded when people fail to show up for their scheduled appointment, Beyrer said.

RELATED Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine effective in blocking new strains

Once removed from cold storage and thawed, both vaccines have to be used fairly quickly or they lose effectiveness.

Guidelines regarding who to prioritize for COVID-19 vaccination were "perhaps too restrictive at the beginning," which may have led to facilities "throwing away doses instead of immunizing people," Beyrer said.

These issues could resolve as single-dose vaccines that don't have the same rigorous storage requirements become available later this year, he said.

Vaccination priorities have largely ignored communities of color, which have had disproportionately higher infection rates since the start of the pandemic, said Monica Schoch-Spana, a medical anthropologist and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

As part of efforts to ensure an "equitable" rollout of the vaccines, health agencies need to be given the funding and support to partner with community groups across the country to educate the public on vaccine safety, she said.

In particular, these efforts need to be aimed at addressing the high levels of "vaccine hesitancy" among Black Americans, who remain "skeptical toward [health] institutions" for historical reasons, Schoch-Spana said.

"We are still in an extraordinarily dangerous time for public health, and we can't be in a situation where whole segments of the population aren't vaccinated -- "not if we hope to end the pandemic," Beyrer said.


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USA

Study: Racist neighborhood 'redlining' has led to fewer green spaces today


Researchers say that the racist legacy of "redlining," which was outlawed in the 1960s, has left many urban neighborhoods with fewer green spaces -- a threat to the health of people who live in them. 

Photo by Free-Photos/Pixabay

A racist mortgage appraisal practice used in the United States decades ago has resulted in less green space in some urban neighborhoods today, researchers say.

Those so-called "redlined" neighborhoods have higher rates of air and noise pollution, racial segregation and poverty -- all of which can contribute to poorer health.

In the 1930s, the Home Owners' Loan Corporation, or HOLC, gave neighborhoods nationwide risk grades that were based on racial makeup and other factors.

"Hazardous" areas -- often those whose residents included people of color -- were outlined in red on HOLC maps.

RELATED Urban development, pandemic will further diversify suburbs

In the decades since, these neighborhoods have seen less private and public investment and have remained segregated.

"Though redlining is now outlawed, its effects on urban neighborhoods persist in many ways, including by depriving residents of green space, which is known to promote health and buffer stress," said study first author Anthony Nardone, a medical student at the University of California, San Francisco.

Senior author Joan Casey called for action to remedy the problem.

RELATED 'Redlined' neighborhoods have higher rates of asthma than others

"Future policies should, with the input of local leaders, strive to expand availability of green space, a health-promoting amenity, in communities of color," she said. Casey is an assistant professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health in New York City.

For the study, the researchers examined the relationship between HOLC risk grades and 2010 satellite images of green space in 72 urban areas.

The analysis doesn't provide an indication of green space quality. For example, green space in hot, dry regions may not be reasonable substitutes for closeness to natural environments and their health-related benefits.
RELATED Louisville, Ky., mayor declares racism a public health crisis



Nor did the researchers distinguish between public and private green space or untended forest and manicured parks.

In some areas, the presence of green space in the 1930s may have reduced a neighborhood's chances of being redlined, the study authors noted in a Columbia University news release.

The practice was banned in 1968, but racist banking and real estate practices have persisted, according to the study authors.

They said these are reflected in the fallout of the subprime mortgage crisis, in which those communities were disproportionately targeted with foreclosures and predatory loans by banks.

The findings were published this week in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.More information

The National Recreation and Park Association has more on the health benefits of green space.




Copyright 2020 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Outlook projects 10,000 U.S. 

retail stores will close in 2021



A furniture store is seen closed and boarded up on Beverly Blvd. in Los Angeles, Calif., on April 12, 2020, as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo


Jan. 28 (UPI) -- There could be more than 10,000 retail stores that close in the United States this year, directly attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, an industry analytics group said in an outlook on Thursday.In its report, Coresight Research estimates 10,000 closures over the course of 2021.

Coresight predicted last summer that closures in the United States could reach 25,000 by the end of 2020, but noted fewer than 9,000 by year's end. It reported about 9,800 closures in 2019.

Coresight noted Thursday that the COVID-19 vaccine should help a bit.

"In 2021, the rollout of [coronavirus] vaccination programs should result in a partial recovery in store-based sales," CEO Deborah Weinswig said. "However, these programs may take many months to reach a wide base of consumers."

The firm said apparel stores were most affected by closures in 2020, accounting for 36% of the total. It said the trend will likely continue in 2021.

"Although retail was significantly impacted in 2008 and 2009 [during the financial crisis], the repercussions in terms of retail bankruptcies peaked in 2010," Weinswig added. "We could see history repeat itself in 2021, resulting in greater numbers of store closures this year than we saw in 2020."

The analysis says discount stores, meanwhile, are expected to open about 4,000 stores in 2021

U.S. economy grew 4% in Q4, but 2020 saw biggest decline since WWII

"Something like 9 million people remain unemployed as a consequence of the pandemic. 

That's as many people lost their jobs at the peak of the global financial crisis."

The New York Stock Exchange is seen Wednesday on Wall Street in New York City. 

Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo


Jan. 28 (UPI) -- The U.S. economy declined by nearly 4% for all of 2020, according to government figures on Thursday -- the worst single-year performance since the end of World War II.

The Commerce Department noted the figures in its fourth-quarter report, which also summarized economic performance for the year.

According to the data, gross domestic product declined by 3.5% over 2020, the worst yearly decline since at least 1945 when the government began keeping records.

By comparison, the U.S. economy grew by 2.2% in 2019.

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The figures for the final quarter show how the domestic economy performed throughout all of 2020 -- a 5% decline in the first quarter, a record 31.4% dive in the second and a 33.4% rebound in the third. 

FOR A 3% DECLINE IN REAL USD

"The increase in fourth quarter GDP reflected both the continued economic recovery from the sharp declines earlier in the year and the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including new restrictions and closures that took effect in some areas of the United States," the department said in the report.

Consumer prices increased by 1.7% in the fourth quarter and disposable personal income improved somewhat with a decrease of 9.5%. In the third quarter, that decline was over 16%.

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The report noted other areas of growth, including housing prices.

The Federal Reserve said at the end of its policy meeting Wednesday that economic recovery is tied to the success of coronavirus vaccinations.

"The economic dislocation has abandoned many lives and created great uncertainty about the future," Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said.

RELATED Democrats introduce $15 minimum wage bill

"Something like 9 million people remain unemployed as a consequence of the pandemic. That's as many people lost their jobs at the peak of the global financial crisis."

RELATED IMF outlook projects better recovery for 2021, positive growth for 2022

CALIFORNIA DISASTER PORN
California highway closed after section falls into Pacific

BIG SUR GASH 

A section of California's Highway 1 crumbled and fell into the ocean Thursday due to heavy rain and snow that hammered the region this week. Image via Caltrans Region 5/Twitter

Jan. 30 (UPI) -- A section of Highway 1 in California is closed after part of the road crumbled and fell into the Pacific Ocean this week, according to the state's transportation agency.

Caltrans District 5 announced the washout and road closure on Twitter Thursday and released drone footage of the damage Friday when crews began assessing the damage.

The damage was reported near mile marker 30 near Big Sur, a mountainous region on California's central coast.

Check out this amazing drone video of #Hwy1 washout at Rat Creek about 15 miles south of #BigSur. Our crews are on site securing it, assessing damage & starting clean-up/ repairs. Reminder: the road is OPEN from #Carmel thru town of Big Sur. @bigsurkate @BigSurCC @CHP_Coastal pic.twitter.com/rB193DzXhL- Caltrans District 5 (@CaltransD5) January 29, 2021

California Highway Patrol Officer John Yerace said he was in the area on Thursday afternoon when he saw "this section of roadway, specifically the southbound lane, had fallen off into the ocean."

It is not clear how long it will take to repair the damage and reopen the road.

Northern California was hammered by heavy rain and snow caused by an atmospheric river Thursday.

On Saturday morning the National Weather Service predicted another heavy storm affecting the Coast Range in northern California and southern Oregon that could cause "localized flooding" due to wet soil and damage from recent wildfires.

Scientists keep 'Doomsday Clock' at 100 seconds to midnight

"The hands of the Doomsday Clock remain at 100 seconds to midnight, 

as close to midnight as ever"



The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists kept its "Doomsday Clock" at 100 seconds to midnight, describing the COVID-19 pandemic as a "wakeup call" that governments are unprepared to handle grave threats facing the world. File Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 27 (UPI) -- The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists on Wednesday chose to keep its "Doomsday Clock" at 100 seconds before midnight, citing the COVID-19 pandemic, the threat of nuclear war and climate change.

The Chicago-based group chose to keep the clock -- which symbolically reflects how close the world is to destruction -- at 11:58 p.m., and 20 seconds, saying the mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic indicates a lack of the structures necessary to combat other grave threats.

"The hands of the Doomsday Clock remain at 100 seconds to midnight, as close to midnight as ever," said Rachel Bronson, president and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, in a statement. "The lethal and fear-inspiring COVID-19 pandemic serves as a historic 'wake-up call,' a vivid illustration that national governments and international organizations are unprepared to manage the truly civilization-ending threats of nuclear weapons and climate change."

Since the start of the pandemic, 100.7 million people have been infected and 2.17 million have died worldwide, including 25.57 million cases and 428,015 deaths in the United States, according to data gathered by Johns Hopkins University.

"Though lethal on a massive scale, this particular pandemic is not an existential threat. Its consequences are grave and will be lasting. But COVID-19 will not obliterate civilization, and we expect the disease will recede eventually," the group said.

The group also warned of the threat of nuclear conflict, particularly between the United States and Russia, calling on the two countries to extend the New START treaty for as long as possible.

"The U.S., Russia and the world's nuclear powers must stop shouting at each other," said former California Gov. Jerry Brown, the group's executive chair. "It's time to eliminate nuclear weapons, not build more of them."

The scientists also expressed the need for the United States to to address the issue of climate change by rejoining the Paris Agreement and reducing the use of fossil fuels. U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order last week to re-enter the pact.

"Over the coming decade, fossil fuel use needs to decline precipitously if the worst effects of climate change are to be avoided," said Susan Solomon, member of the group's science and security board.

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists first began the tradition in 1947 as a way to gauge the world's proximity to nuclear holocaust. In 2007 the group added climate change as a factor in the clock's setting.

The furthest the clock has ever been from midnight was set in 1991, at 11:43, or 17 minutes from "doomsday," after the United States signed the first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and the Soviet Union dissolved.

Prior to 2020, 2 minutes to midnight had been the closest the clock had ever been set, reaching that point both during the Cold War and following the first U.S. test of a thermonuclear weapon.

 

Dismantling gorilla traps in DRC

The NGO Primate Expertise works to protect gorillas in DRC's Kahuzi-Biega National Park by removing gorilla traps.