Category: Science

Researchers have opened a new avenue in the attack against influenza viruses by creating a vaccine that encourages the immune system to target a portion of the flu virus surface that is less variable.

Their approach worked well in experiments with mice and ferrets and may lead to more broadly-protective influenza vaccines and less reliance on an annual shot tailored to that year’s versions of the virus. Even with vaccines, influenza kills about a half-million people each year around the world.

This new vaccine approach, described in the journal Science Translational Medicine, is part of a five-year-old effort to develop a longer-lasting universal flu vaccine that would be able to foil all versions of the virus.

Influenza strains are referred to by a shorthand code, H5N1 for example, that describes which flavors of two particular surface proteins it carries. The H (sometimes HA), is hemagglutinin, a lollipop-shaped protein that binds to a receptor on a human cell, the first step toward getting the virus inside the cell. The N is neuraminidase, a second protein that enables a newly made virus to escape the host cell and go on to infect other cells.

“On the virus particle, there’s five to 10 times more hemagglutinin than neuraminidase,” says Nicholas Heaton, an associate professor of molecular genetics and microbiology at Duke University who led the research.

“If we took your blood to see if are you likely to be protected from a strain of flu, we’d be measuring what your antibodies do to hemagglutinin as the best metric of what’s likely to happen to you. The strongest correlates of protection have to do with hemagglutinin-directed immunity.”

Vaccines teach the immune system to react to pieces of the virus that have been specifically tailored to the versions of influenza that are expected to be the most threatening in the coming flu season. The reason we need a new flu shot every fall isn’t because the vaccine wears out; it’s because the influenza virus is constantly changing the surface proteins that vaccines target.

Flu shots—and immune systems—tend to target the bulb-like “head” of hemagglutinin rather than the stalk. But the details of that head region also change constantly, creating an arms race between vaccine design and viruses. The stalk, by comparison, changes much less.

“A number of groups have gone through and experimentally mutagenized the whole hemagglutinin and asked ‘which areas can change and still allow the hemagglutinin to function?’” Heaton says. “And the answer is, you can’t really change the stalk and expect it to continue to function.”

So the Duke team sought to design proteins that elicit an immune response more focused on the stalk rather than the head.

“The virus has evolved to have the immune system recognize these (features on the head region). But these are the shapes the virus can change. That is an insidious strategy,” Heaton says.

Using gene-editing, they created more than 80,000 variations of the hemagglutinin protein with changes in one portion right on the top of the head domain and then tested a vaccine filled with a mixture of these variations on mice and ferrets.

Because of the broad variety of head conformations being presented to the immune system and the relative consistency of the stalks, these vaccines produced more antibodies to the stalk portion of hemagglutinin in response.

“The opportunity for the immune system to see that (head portion) over and over and over, like it needs to, is compromised because there’s diversity there,” Heaton says.

In lab tests and animals, the experimental vaccine caused the immune system to respond more strongly to stalk regions because they stayed consistent. This boosted the immune response to the vaccine overall, and in some cases, even improved antibody responses to the head region of the protein as well.

“Antibodies against the stalk work differently,” Heaton says. “Their mechanism of protection is not necessarily to block the first step of infection. So then our idea was, ‘What if we can come up with a vaccine that gives us both? What if we can get good head antibodies and at the same time also get stalk antibodies in case the vaccine selection was wrong, or if there’s a pandemic?’”

“Essentially, the paper says, Yes, we can accomplish that,” Heaton says.

After a shot of the highly variant vaccine was administered in some experiments, 100% of the mice avoided illness or death from what should have been a lethal dose of flu viruses.

The next steps of the research will attempt to understand whether the same level of immunity can be achieved by presenting fewer than 80,000 hemagglutinin variants.

The NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases funded the work. The study involved the use of the Duke Regional Biocontainment Laboratory, which received partial support for construction from the NIH/NIAID.

Nicholas Heaton and coauthor Zhaochen Luo have a patent on the methods used to create large antigen libraries for this study.

Source: Duke University

Working with human breast and lung cells, scientists say they have charted a molecular pathway that can lure cells down a hazardous path of duplicating their genome too many times, a hallmark of cancer cells.

The findings, published in Science, reveal what goes wrong when a group of molecules and enzymes trigger and regulate what’s known as the “cell cycle,” the repetitive process of making new cells out of the cells’ genetic material.

The findings could be used to develop therapies that interrupt snags in the cell cycle, and have the potential to stop the growth of cancers, the researchers suggest.

To replicate, cells follow an orderly routine that begins with making a copy of their entire genome, followed by separating the genome copies, and finally, dividing the replicated DNA evenly into two “daughter” cells.

Human cells have 23 pairs of each chromosome—half from the mother and half from the father, including the sex chromosomes X and Y—or 46 total, but cancer cells are known to go through an intermediate state that has double that number—92 chromosomes. How this happens was a mystery.

“An enduring question among scientists in the cancer field is: How do cancer cell genomes get so bad?” says Sergi Regot, associate professor of molecular biology and genetics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

“Our study challenges the fundamental knowledge of the cell cycle and makes us reevaluate our ideas about how the cycle is regulated.”

Regot says cells that are stressed after copying the genome can enter a dormant, or senescent stage, and mistakenly run the risk of copying their genome again.

Generally and eventually, these dormant cells are swept away by the immune system after they are “recognized” as faulty. However, there are times, especially as humans age, when the immune system can’t clear the cells. Left alone to meander in the body, the abnormal cells can replicate their genome again, shuffle the chromosomes at the next division, and a growing cancer begins.

In an effort to pin down details of the molecular pathway that goes awry in the cell cycle, Regot and graduate research assistant Connor McKenney, who led the Johns Hopkins team, focused on human cells that line breast ducts and lung tissue. The reason: These cells generally divide at a more rapid pace than other cells in the body, increasing the opportunities to visualize the cell cycle.

Regot’s lab specializes in imaging individual cells, making it especially suited to spot the very small percentage of cells that don’t enter the dormant stage and continue replicating their genome.

For this new study, the team scrutinized thousands of images of single cells as they went through cell division. The researchers developed glowing biosensors to tag cellular enzymes called cyclin dependent kinases (CDKs), known for their role in regulating the cell cycle.

They saw that a variety of CDKs activated at different times during the cell cycle. After the cells were exposed to an environmental stressor, such as a drug that disrupts protein production, UV radiation or so-called osmotic stress (a sudden change in water pressure around cells), the researchers saw that CDK 4 and CDK 6 activity decreased.

Then, five to six hours later, when the cells started preparations to divide, CDK 2 was also inhibited. At that point, a protein complex called the anaphase promoting complex (APC) was activated during the phase just before the cell pulls apart and divides, a step called mitosis.

“In the stressed environment in the study, APC activation occurred before mitosis, when it’s usually been known to activate only during mitosis,” says Regot.

About 90% of breast and lung cells leave the cell cycle and enter a quiet state when exposed to any environmental stressors.

In their experimental cells, not all of the cells went quiet.

The research team watched as about 5% to 10% of the breast and lung cells returned to the cell cycle, dividing their chromosomes again.

Through another series of experiments, the team linked an increase in activity of so-called stress activated protein kinases to the small percentage of cells that skirt the quiet stage and continue to double their genome.

Regot says there are ongoing clinical trials testing DNA-damaging agents with drugs that block CDK. “It’s possible that the combination of drugs may spur some cancer cells to duplicate their genome twice and generate the heterogeneity that ultimately confers drug resistance.”

“There may be drugs that can block APC from activating before mitosis to prevent cancer cells from replicating their genome twice and prevent tumor stage progression,” he says.

Funding for the study came from the National Institutes of Health National Institute of General Medical Sciences and National Cancer Institute, the National Science Foundation, and the American Cancer Society.

Source: Johns Hopkins University

The 54^th anniversary of the Apollo 13 mission – which saw the successful return of its crew back to Earth after a disaster onboard the spacecraft – occurred in mid-April. It remains one of the great examples of the human spirit and ingenuity triumphing over seemingly insurmountable odds. It is also one of the great examples of American can-do innovation, grit, patience, determination and teamwork. Looking back, there are many important lessons we can learn from the Apollo 13 mission, as well as from the actions of the heroes both orbiting the moon and on the ground in NASA facilities. 

At the top, one of the key things we can take away from Apollo 13 is how we view risk and how we incorporate success or accomplishment into overall planning. This is especially useful in multi-phase tasks that evolve over a longer term — such as a military operation or a major engineering project. There will be successes and setbacks along the path to an objective, but how we accept and respond to those ups and downs is key to achieving success. While any human spaceflight mission has a high degree of risk, by the spring of 1970 the basic ability to land people on the moon had been proven twice. Apollo 13 occurred just shy of one year after Apollo 11 and only five months after Apollo 12. With two successful back-to-back landings, some of the major concerns regarding moon landings had been put to rest.

However, the complications on Apollo 13 were mechanical, occurring on the spacecraft before the mission even got to the moon. In the grand scheme of things, all systems should have worked —– after all, systems are continuously and repeatedly tested and inspected and, if shown to function properly, one has to assume they’ll work on a mission. In other words, a specific anomalous malfunction couldn’t have been known, even if the profile of potential risks would have included the chance of a hardware malfunction. But things happen. Components, gear and tools break, things get dropped and small specification changes are made — as happened on Apollo 13 with a small part and temperature regulator in an oxygen tank. Of course, how the mission crew and NASA dealt with that problem lies at the core of Apollo 13 story. 

Another takeaway from Apollo 13 — which has real application to so many aspects of life — is the value of keeping a cool head when the chips are down, and maintaining clarity on the most important end-goal during times of uncertainty. Keeping composure when things aren’t going right is vital. It contributes to maintaining a clear vision of the desired end state and establishing the best course on how to get there. Related to this is the notion that there is always another way, another solution, another path to success. The stress and pressure of the Apollo 13 mission didn’t allow for a lengthy approach to the problem. The crew was running out of life support options rapidly — something I can appreciate being in the life support business. But the crew and NASA support persevered, considered alternatives, maintained composure and fought to find a solution. While the famous line “failure is not an option” was not actually stated by NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz during the Apollo 13 ordeal, the mindset exemplified by the phrase has fundamental merit and serves as a guiding principle for those who have to accomplish an objective. 

Finally, Apollo 13 showed us two critical human-centric dynamics: the importance of teamwork and the nature of decision-making. Clearly, the eventual success  getting astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise back to Earth was due to the combined efforts of many people on the ground and in space, and it required constant triaging of challenges and ensuring that all parts of the endeavor were working in concert toward the end goal. It also necessitated some tough decision-making, even when a less-than-optimal amount of information was on hand to make the best decision. In fact, more often than not, leaders have to make decisions in this information gap environment — and in many cases, these two elements are related. Managing and leading teams of people effectively, and maintaining a balance between avoiding groupthink while listening to all members of a team, is something that leaders and decision-makers have to constantly address. Apollo 13 showed us what real and sound leadership looks like with serious, fateful consequences at the end of every decision. 

The United States is facing a wide and complex range of challenges and threats at home and around the globe. At the same time, we must still press forth on our obligations, missions and priorities, from basic governance and domestic issues to national security, foreign policy, space and defense. It is a time where inaccurate risk assessment, miscalculation, soft leadership, disunity of purpose, and vacillation can quickly lead to tragedy. It is also a time where focus, commitment, clear thinking and a steady hand at the wheel are necessary to see us through the choppy waters. It would be well worth some reflection on past examples of great American leadership through times of uncertainty and crisis – like Apollo 13 — in order to ensure we have the right approach, attitude and mindset moving ahead. 

Grant Anderson is the President and CEO of Paragon Space Development Corporation. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and an M.S. in Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering from Stanford University.

Related

WASHINGTON — Millennium Space Systems, a subsidiary of Boeing, won a $414 million contract from the Space Development Agency to produce specialized satellites aimed at detecting and tracking hypersonic missile threats, the agency announced April 30. 

Under the agreement, Millennium will build eight satellites equipped with advanced infrared and optical sensors, provide the ground system and support in-orbit operations. 

Millennium’s satellites are for a program called Fire-control On Orbit-support-to-the-war Fighter (FOO Fighter), which seeks to demonstrate technologies in support of a network of satellites being developed by SDA known as the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

The PWSA is an ambitious effort to create a resilient network of hundreds of small, mass-produced satellites operating in low-Earth orbit to support military operations, including the detection and tracking of enemy missiles.

SDA plans to launch the FOO Fighter satellites in the first quarter of fiscal year 2027.

“FOO Fighter, or F2, will demonstrate advanced missile defense capability by incorporating fire control-quality sensors into a prototype constellation,” Derek Tournear, SDA director, said in a statement. 

Tracking hypersonic missiles

Having sensors in space that can reliably detect and track hypersonic missiles is a crucial capability that SDA is pursuing. These weapons can travel at more than five times the speed of sound and are highly maneuverable, making them extremely difficult to shoot down. 

“The FOO Fighter program will provide an operational demonstration of fire control efforts separate from, but complementary to, our missile warning/missile tracking and missile defense efforts already underway,” Tournear said. 

The F2 satellites, for example, will demonstrate technologies to collect precise tracking data, and help guide interceptor missiles to destroy the threats in-flight. This so-called “fire control” capability allows the tracking and targeting data to flow between satellites, ground systems, and interceptor missiles.

The F2 constellation is a classified program. SDA issued a request for bids Dec. 1, 2023, and proposals were due Jan. 19.

This is Millenium Space’s first award as a prime contract for SDA’s proliferated constellation. The agency buys satellites from multiple prime contractors. 

Jason Kim, CEO of Millennium Space, said in a statement that FOO Fighter is a “no kidding, critical mission that will help protect our country and allies against advanced threats.”

“The mission engineering we’ve done is grounded in modeling and simulation exercises, allowing us to understand the payload and its applicability to mission execution,” Kim said.

Kay Sears, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space, Intelligence & Weapon Systems, said the F2 award is a major win for Millennium Space. “The FOO Fighter program is a pathfinder in pushing the right mix of innovation, capability and pace for our most critical customer mission demands,” Sears said in a statement.

“When it comes to advanced threats, like hypersonic missile systems, it’s critical the U.S. military has fire-control quality tracks to protect our country and allies, and that’s what our subsidiary Millennium Space Systems brings with FOO Fighter,” said Michelle Parker, vice president of Boeing Space Mission Systems.

Related

WASHINGTON — L3Harris announced May 2 it secured a contract to supply critical sensor technology to Millennium Space Systems for a constellation of eight satellites to be produced for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Development Agency. 

SDA announced April 30 it awarded Boeing’s subsidiary Millennium Space a $414 million contract  to build eight satellites equipped with advanced infrared and optical sensors.

The satellites are for a program called Fire-control On Orbit-support-to-the-war Fighter (Foo Fighter), which seeks to demonstrate technologies in support of a network of low-orbit satellites being developed by SDA known as the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. 

The Foo Fighter satellites will prove out advanced sensor technology to detect and track hypersonic missile threats as part of the Pentagon’s larger missile defense architecture.

“The satellites represent a new, stand-alone program that will track specific threats not addressed by the existing tracking constellation,” L3Harris said in a statement. 

The selection of L3Harris as Millennium’s payload supplier isn’t a major surprise given the company’s expertise providing advanced electro-optical infrared sensors and payloads for numerous U.S. military and intelligence satellites, including SDA’s Tracking Layer program, which is part of the larger Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

Jason Kim, CEO of Millennium Space, said the company has a “strong, long-standing relationship hosting L3Harris payloads, most recently Wide Field of View. We will continue that track record on the F2 program.”

“As global threats continue to rise, these experimental Foo Fighter satellites will test new technologies to fill potential missile defense capability gaps within the Department of Defense portfolio,” said Ed Zoiss, president of L3Harris Space & Airborne Systems.

The company will manufacture the infrared payloads in Wilmington, Massachusetts.

Related

“Forever chemicals” have made the news recently, with new EPA rules limiting the amount of some types that can be in drinking water.

Here, Carla Ng, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, explains what these chemicals are, where they’re found, and what’s being done to limit their impact.

What exactly are forever chemicals?

When scientists created a chemical compound capable of repelling both water and oil in the 1940s, they believed it was a revolution in materials sciences. They weren’t wrong.

That class of chemical compounds, called per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS), were quickly used to create useful domestic products like Teflon and dental floss, along with industrial agents like firefighting foam. They even found use in parts of the Manhattan Project.

Decades later, PFAS are still around. Because of their impressive surface density, these “forever chemicals” don’t naturally break down in either the human body or nature, causing health concerns like cancer, thyroid disease, and reproductive impairment.

Ng has devoted much of her career to studying common sources of PFAS contamination, and collaborating to create road maps that reduce nonessential uses of PFAS, stop human and environmental exposure from getting worse, and more equitably distribute the associated costs.

Where are they found?

Pretty much everywhere.

Ng explains that while society is more aware of the risks PFAS pose than we were in the 1940s, the chemicals are still being widely used today for specialized firefighting foams, personal care products, and food packaging, just to name a few applications.

“It’s hard to escape them,” Ng says.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that most people in the United States have been exposed to PFAS in some capacity. Exposure happens when touching, eating, drinking, or breathing in materials containing PFAS, commonly from drinking water, waste sites, consumer products like nonstick repellants, or fire extinguishing foam.

Ng recommends using the Environmental Working Group’s interactive map, which tracks PFAS contamination throughout the United States. She notes that states with higher levels typically have the most research completed behind them.

“Scientists still do not know how much PFAS have been produced globally, which means major ‘hotspots’ of PFAS contamination are probably being missed,” Ng says.

How do scientists test for contamination in drinking water?

Until this month, there was no national standard for PFAS maximum contaminant level, so individual states set their own. Pennsylvania, for example, set its maximum level for PFOA and PFOS—both fall under the PFAS umbrella—at 14 parts per trillion for PFOA and 18 parts per trillion for PFOS on January 14, 2023.

The EPA has its own approved method for testing drinking water and utilizes a certified lab. Ng’s lab used a method called 1633—which is still in development by the EPA—when trying to understand how much contamination occurred when a small Pittsburgh community faced its own ecological disaster. While it requires double the volume of water compared to the EPA method, it’s capable of detecting a wide range of PFAS compounds.

Can they be eradicated?

There was a time before PFAS was used for everything and found everywhere. We won’t be going back to that anytime soon.

“Even if we are able to immediately stop the use of these PFAS chemicals, the problem lies with the forever chemical properties that they have,” Ng says. “It’s going to be a really long time before the environment is clean again.”

One question that sits between us and a future with fewer forever chemicals is whether PFAS is necessary. Ng and other researchers have been trying to determine if there are ethical, non-harmful alternatives that will allow us to stop using PFAS in some applications. It’s possible to find a suitable replacement for nonstick pans and dental floss, but what about green technology, safety suits or medical devices?

“The importance is that this shouldn’t be permanent, and we need to have innovation to drive the creation of replacements of these compounds,” Ng says.

There’s still a gray area when it comes to disposing household items that contain these chemicals as they just typically end up in landfills, creating a cyclical problem as regulations of PFAS are still coming to light.

At home, at least, there are ways to limit one’s risk of contamination. Both granular activated carbon and reverse osmosis filters can reduce PFAS levels in drinking water.

Health care costs, including medical and dental care, medications, insurance, and nursing homes, weigh heavily on the minds of older Americans of all backgrounds, a new poll suggests.

Asked to rate their level of concern about 26 different health-related topics for people over 50 in their community, five of the six issues that the most people cited as very concerning involved health costs. The sixth—financial scams and fraud—also had to do with money.

Those same six topics rose to the top no matter what age group, gender, race, ethnic group, region of the country, size of community, political ideology, or income group older adults came from, according to new findings from the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging.

Overall, 56% of people over 50 said they’re very concerned about the cost of medical care for older adults in their community.

An equal percentage said they’re very concerned about the cost of home care, assisted living, or long-term care, which the poll grouped together as one topic.

Nearly as many said they’re very concerned about the cost of prescription medications (54%), about scams and fraud (53%), and about the cost of health insurance or Medicare (52%). Nearly half (45%) called the cost of dental care very concerning.

“In this election year, these findings offer a striking reminder of how much health care costs matter to older adults,” says John Z. Ayanian, a health care researcher, University of Michigan physician and director of Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, where the poll is based. “We also saw that health care costs are top concerns for older adults living in Michigan,” he adds.

Other topics rounding out the top 10 health issues that were rated very concerning by the highest proportion of older adults nationally included access to quality home care, assisted living or nursing home care (38%); overall health care quality (35%); inaccurate or misleading health information (34%); and access to affordable healthy foods (33%).

When it came to these issues, and others, differences emerged between people from different demographic groups.

For instance, women were more likely than men to say they’re very concerned about access to quality home care and assisted living or nursing home care (44% vs. 32%), and more likely to say they’re very concerned about social isolation and loneliness (34% vs. 22%), as well as aging in place (33% vs. 22%).

Meanwhile, 50% of Black older adults said they were very concerned about racial or ethnic discrimination faced by older adults in their community, compared with 26% of Hispanic and 15% of white older adults.

Black older adults were also more likely than the other two groups to say they are very concerned about age-based discrimination affecting adults in their community, as well as unequal access to care in general and unequal access to mental health care specifically.

The poll team also analyzed the results by income, comparing those with annual household incomes below $60,000 with those who had incomes above this level. The cost of dental care was the only issue on which people in the lower-income group were more likely than their higher-income peers to say they are very concerned (49% vs. 40%).

“As our society strives to improve the health and well-being of people as they age, it’s important to understand to what extent different health-related topics are of concern for older adults and how perspectives vary,” says poll director Jeffrey Kullgren, “The high level of concern about cost-related issues across demographic groups points to a particularly important opportunity for action.”

Ayanian and Kullgren are both on the faculty in the division of general medicine of the Medical School’s internal medicine department.

“This survey validates AARP research that shows affording health care is a kitchen table issue among older adults, their families, and their caregivers,” says Indira Venkateswaran, AARP senior vice president of research. “It is critical that we continue improving health care access and affordability for the millions of Americans struggling to pay for insurance premiums and copays, prescription drugs, and long-term care while putting food on the table and paying bills.”

For each of the 26 issues that older adults were asked to reflect on in the new poll report, they were given the choice of saying that an issue was very concerning, somewhat concerning, or not concerning to them.

The poll report is based on findings from a nationally representative survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago for IHPI and administered online and via phone in February and March 2024 among 3,379 adults over age 50. The sample was subsequently weighted to reflect the US population.

Source: University of Michigan

WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence reports on Russia’s development of a space-based nuclear weapon were a key point of discussion at a congressional hearing May 1. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy John Plumb faced questioning from lawmakers about the weapon’s capabilities and potential impact.

At a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee’s strategic forces subcommittee, Plumb said the administration remains highly concerned about reports that Russia is developing an anti-satellite capability that could be a nuclear device. And he stressed the need for further modeling and studies to understand the weapon’s potential impact in orbit.

Many of the questions were raised by Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) who chairs the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The news that Russia might be developing a space-based nuclear weapon came to light in February after Turner warned about a potential threat and urged the Biden administration to disclose details about the alleged weapon. 

The White House said that, while concerning, this capability is reportedly still under development and not ready for immediate deployment. The administration noted that deployment would violate the 1967 Outer Space Treaty’s ban on nuclear weapons in Earth’s orbit.

Turner pressed Plumb to provide details on what type of weapon Russia is developing and where in space it might be deployed.

Plumb declined to elaborate on the weapon’s launch readiness, suggesting these details be addressed in a classified session.

‘Threat to all satellites’

According to Plumb’s statement to the committee read by Turner, “This capability could pose a threat to all satellites operated by countries and companies around the globe, as well as to the vital communications, scientific, meteorological, agricultural, commercial, and national security services we all depend upon.”

Upon further questioning by Turner, Plumb suggested that if detonated, a nuclear, anti-satellite weapon could render low Earth orbit unusable for a long time, perhaps a year.

“It is not an imminent threat in a way that we should have to worry about right now,” Plumb said. “But we are concerned about it, the department and the entire administration and I know this Congress is taking this deadly seriously.”

Plumb criticized Russia’s recent veto of a United Nations Security Council resolution that reaffirmed provisions in the Outer Space Treaty prohibiting the placement of nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in space. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied Russia plans to deploy nuclear weapons in space but Plumb said the UN veto suggests otherwise. “We just had a United Nations Security Council resolution that Russia vetoed, which may in fact tip their hand on this,” he said.

Plumb said modeling and simulations are needed “to know the specifics of how this thing would be used, what type of detonation it might be, where it might be detonated  and how that changes the outcome.”

The devastation would be felt in low Earth orbit where most satellites aren’t hardened against nuclear radiation and would be rendered unusable “for some period of time … It could be a year,” said Plumb. 

Estimates of the impact of a nuclear detonation are based on what unfolded after the U.S. in 1962 conducted a high-altitude nuclear test called Starfish Prime which increased the charged-particle radiation in near-Earth space to values easily 10 million times the natural radiation level. 

“The fact that Russia vetoed the resolution reaffirming a commitment they’ve already made is concerning,” Plumb said.

Related

The popular app Twitch, created to livestream video game action, is redefining journalism as it becomes a source for news, research finds.

Established news groups and digital-age influencers are competing on Twitch in creative ways to draw users who expect to participate in coverage, says Maxwell Foxman, a media and game studies professor at the University of Oregon whose research on Twitch was recently published in the journal Digital Journalism.

“Twitch could be a boon to traditional news organizations for additional income and audience engagement,” Foxman says. “Our research shows journalists could embrace new practices that are increasingly important to build public trust.”

In their new paper, Foxman and coauthors Brandon C. Harris, who earned a doctorate in media studies at the University of Oregon in 2022, and William Clyde Partin says the app evidences “novel relationships between live streaming, entertainment, and reporting,” providing robust public engagement but requiring unusual journalistic methods to earn popularity and revenue.

Observations from Foxman and coauthors include:

• Platforms Twitch, YouTube, and TikTok are redefining what “live” news is, in ways that are “incredibly important” to the future of journalism, Foxman says.
• Digital-age streamers are “defying journalistic conventions to engage deeply with audiences, ‘co-constructing’ truth and trust away from traditional news organizations,” Harris says.
• Given the prospect of a close presidential election in November, news organizations should recognize that younger audiences on Twitch and other platforms will be courted by candidates, consuming news from streamers with a particular slant—and could swing the vote.

Twitch is a major player among live video platforms with 1.6 billion hours of content produced monthly, much of it by users age 25-34. That content is mostly livestreamed gameplay, but the app is an increasingly common distributor of news and information, says Foxman, an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Communication and expert in game studies, esports, and virtual reality.

Working with Harris and Partin, who received his doctorate from the University of North Carolina, Foxman explored how Twitch affects journalism practices by examining three channels on the platform: The Washington Post, which represents traditional journalists’ work with Twitch; Hasan Piker, a left-leaning political influencer; and Patriots’ Soapbox, a pro-QAnon site that operates around the clock.

The trio reviewed roughly 1,000 hours of content from June 2020 through June 2021, during which Twitch news coverage included President Donald Trump’s first impeachment and the Capitol riots.

One differentiator, Foxman says, was how the three channels managed audience interaction. Twitch users relish communicating live with each other and the streamer through a text-based chat room. That “liveness” redefines the concept of “live news” in that the content producer and audiences parse news together in real time, each contributing content or sources and together analyzing information. This relationship forced the three channels to make operational decisions toward balancing engagement with editorial independence.

Piker welcomed the dynamic, addressing in his on-air commentary, in real time, questions posed by viewers in chat. This interplay is popular with viewers and a financial incentive for streamers like Piker; advertisements, subscriptions, and “Bits,” which are similar to donations, are based on the interplay and increase revenue for the platform and streamers. Piker grosses around $65,000 a month, Foxman says.

Patriots’ Soapbox took Piker’s approach a step further, occasionally recruiting fans to host the channel. Viewers were thus positioned as both media consumers and producers while affirming their shared values with Patriots’ Soapbox, Foxman says.

Only The Washington Post separated their hosts’ video presentation from audience dialogue in the chat room. A reporter monitored and responded in chat, but hosts did not respond on air.

Foxman says that’s an opportunity for better engagement. In social media, host-audience interplay is increasingly important to building public trust, and that can reach users put off by the traditional model in which journalists deliver news and audiences can decide only whether they choose to consume it.

The Washington Post also produced content on Twitch seemingly at odds with its place as a traditional news organization. In a segment called “Playing Games with Politicians,” US congressional representatives such as Matt Gaetz played video games like Madden NFL with newspaper hosts while fielding their questions about politics. That was the newspaper’s most popular stream, far outpacing content modeled on traditional journalism, such as political commentary and talk shows.

The Post has long explored novel storytelling, Foxman says. With “Playing Games,” the paper recognized that games have always been a fixture in media, from daily newspaper crossword puzzles dating back 100 years to the overwhelming popularity of The New York Times game apps today.

Says Foxman: “Games and the news may seem like they are disconnected, but often economically, socially, or culturally, they interact.”

Source: University of Oregon