National

A look at the scientific breakthroughs changing the world, explorations in space and in worlds beyond our own and the threats posed to us by our own planet, both out of our control and of our own making.

Science

Axios Science

Fish, seaweed and other aquatic food from the world's oceans and freshwater could help reduce malnutrition around the globe, a major new assessment reported this week.

Why it matters: The world is on two trajectories — the environment is being degraded and obesity and undernourishment continue to rise. 

Those trends are fueled by resource-intensive food production and inadequate diets, underscoring the need for food systems that can deliver nutrition while minimizing further damage to the planet, researchers say. 

Blue foods — algae, seaweed, fish and other aquatic animals rich in micronutrients — that have been largely overlooked or lumped together by food policymakers could be part of the solution, researchers with the Blue Food Assessment write.

The big picture: "People view food as agriculture and agriculture as land-based food systems," says Christopher Golden, an epidemiologist and ecologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and lead author of one of the papers published in Nature.

Land-based animal agriculture largely revolves around cows, chickens, pigs, lamb and a handful of other animals. 

"But with aquatic foods, there are thousands of potential species with different nutrient profiles and environmental impacts," Golden says.

People's willingness to eat small nutritious fish like sardines or bivalves with a low environmental impact will play a big role in whether aquatic foods are leveraged for nutritional and environmental benefits, Beatrice Crona at the Stockholm Resilience Centre in Sweden, told the New Scientist. Crona co-wrote a paper that found demand for fish is already expected to nearly double by 2050.

Key takeaways: A new database quantifies omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins A and B12, calcium, iodine, zinc, calcium and other nutrients in 3,753 species of aquatic foods — an unprecedented level of detail.

The researchers, led by Golden, found bivalves like clams, as well as salmon, carp, and small fish like sardines, herring, and anchovies, are all more rich in those seven nutrients than beef, lamb, chicken and the other land-based animals at the heart of our food systems. 

They also found high growth in aquatic food production by 2030 — spurred by innovation and investment in farming aquatic foods — could lead to an 8% increase in production each year and a 26% decrease in price.

More consumption of aquatic foods would prevent about 166 million people from not getting enough micronutrients, they write.

The researchers also found that increasing the consumption of aquatic foods is likely to benefit women and children in particular, as nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids are important for fetal and child growth and development. 

Some of the most nutritious aquatic foods also have fewer environmental impacts, according to a separate study led by Jessica Gephart, an environmental scientist at American University.

Bivalves and seaweeds, which don't have to be fed, and some fish — specifically sardines and cod — had the lowest impact on water and land use and on greenhouse gas, nitrogen and phosphorus emissions. Farming bivalves and shrimp generates lower emissions than catching them in the wild.

But while nutrient-rich farmed carp and salmon have low emissions, carp farming uses the most water whereas salmon farming uses the least land and water among farmed fish. "We start to see tradeoffs," Gephart says.

Yes, but: Improving global nutrition through blue foods depends in part on aquaculture, according to the model by Golden, and aquaculture of some species currently carries other environmental costs.

Farming salmon, for example, has been tied to water pollution, the spread of parasites to wild fish and overfishing of sardines and other small fish that go into salmon feed, the New Scientist notes.

The environmental impact study also doesn't look at how blue food production could affect ecosystems and their biodiversity, which land and water use decisions should take into account, Gephart says.

Climate change also threatens the potential benefits of blue food systems, especially for wild-capture fisheries in Africa, south and southeast Asia, and small island states in the Indo-Pacific, a separate paper finds. 

What they're saying: "These papers show the unmet potential the world’s waters have in meeting at least some of our nutritional needs," Lawrence Haddad, executive director of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), tells Axios in an email. 

"A large number of the different food sources are often neglected but deserve more attention from researchers, governments, businesses and consumers," he says.

"It is important to get ocean food systems into the global conversation about ending hunger," says John Virdin, who directs the Oceans and Coastal Policy Program at the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University and wasn't involved in the research. 

What to watch: How prominently blue foods are featured at the first United Nations Food Systems Summit next week.

How aquatic food could serve us

Blue foods have been largely overlooked in food policy, the authors of a new study say.

Illustration of a restaurant dining table with checkered tablecloth placed in the middle of a body of water

Food

Axios Space

SpaceX's all-civilian Inspiration4 mission made history Wednesday night when it launched into orbit. 

Why it matters: It's the first time a crew of amateurs has launched to orbit without a professional astronaut onboard. The mission also signals the start of a new era in space — one defined by an industry pushing to launch many more private people to orbit in the coming years. 

State of play: The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Inspiration4 crew members launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at  8:02 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

Jared Isaacman, Sian Proctor, Hayley Arceneaux and Chris Sembroski will now live in their Dragon capsule in orbit for the next three days, before coming in for a splashdown somewhere off the Florida coast. 

"We're very aware of how lucky we are, to be part of this history that SpaceX is creating right now," Isaacman told said at a news conference Tuesday ahead of the launch.

Catch up quick: Isaacman is the commander of the Dragon and the brainchild of Inspiration4, chartering this flight from SpaceX.

Arceneaux was chosen for this flight by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, her employer and the place she was treated for childhood cancer. St. Jude is also the beneficiary of a $200 million fundraiser associated with Inspiration4. 

Proctor was picked through a reality TV-style competition for entrepreneurs, and Sembroski was selected as part of a raffle anyone could enter. 

All four crew members spent a little more than five months training together with SpaceX, far less than the usual time a professional astronaut trains before flying to orbit.

What's next: The crew will now spend three days living in orbit — experiencing weightlessness, staring at Earth and the stars and performing experiments. 

They've also taken some of the comforts of home up to space with them.

Sembroski, Arceneaux, Isaacman and Proctor will be able to eat cold pizza and other relatively fresh foods their first day in orbit, and they have movies and TV shows to watch while in space as well. 

The big picture: SpaceX hopes to one day make space travel like air travel, with very little training necessary for folks flying to orbit and even beyond. 

The company also hopes to bring about a future in which there are a significant number of people living on Mars, which would require opening up space travel to many more people.

The bottom line: If the space industry wants to bring about a future where there's a city on Mars and people living in space, more and more missions like Inspiration4 will need to start flying.

🎧  Go deeper: Listen to the new season of Axios' How it Happened: The Next Astronauts here.

Private companies are changing who gets to go to space

Wrestling with the risks of private missions to space

 Editor's note: This article has been updated with details of the launch time and comment from Isaacman.

All-civilian Inspiration4 launches on 3-day mission in orbit

It's the first time a crew of amateurs has launched to orbit without a professional astronaut onboard.

A screenshot of the rocket launching. Photo: SpaceX

Space

Inspiration4 launch: SpaceX to send 1st all-civilian crew into orbit

The Inspiration4 mission is set to launch on Wednesday from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Moderna vaccine's efficacy declines a year after it's administered, compared to protection seen in recently inoculated individuals, the vaccine maker announced Wednesday. 

Driving the news: Moderna made its case for supporting booster shots, citing clinical trial data that demonstrate breakthrough infections are less common among participants approximately eight months after receiving the first dose compared to approximately 13 months.

Moderna's phase 3 clinical trial looked at breakthrough cases from July to August 2021. 

The study documented 162 breakthrough cases in the participant group vaccinated over a year ago, while only 88 occurred in the group vaccinated during the early part of this year. 

The big picture: The Biden administration is hoping to offer booster shots eight months after a second dose beginning this month. 

Why it matters: Booster shots have become a source of controversy. Vaccine makers such as Pfizer are in support of making them widely available while some medical ethicists and scientists are skeptical, per Axios' Bob Herman. 

“The increased risk of breakthrough infections in [phase 3] study participants who were vaccinated last year compared to more recently illustrates the impact of waning immunity and supports the need for a booster to maintain high levels of protection," said Moderna's CEO Stéphane Bancel.

In a paper written in The Lancet, scientists — including two FDA vaccine leaders — wrote that "current vaccine supplies could save more lives if used in previously unvaccinated populations than if used as boosters in vaccinated populations."

Moderna suggests booster shots, citing clinical data

Moderna cited phase 3 clinical trial data looking at breakthrough infections from July to August 2021.

A box of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in Indonesia. Photo: Algi Febri Sugita/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

COVID-19 vaccines

Coronavirus

The U.S. faces a range of health care flashpoints — unaffordable drugs, opioids, vaping — as we debate whether to adopt universal care. For now, the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land, but Republicans want to issue it a final death blow.

Health

President Biden has made the COVID-19 crisis and a post-Trump return to national unity and traditional democratic ideals his top priorities. From vaccinations to stimulus to schools, Biden is seeking bipartisan compromise while showing a willingness to use executive authority and bare Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate to implement his policies. Republican leaders are navigating deep party divisions over if and how to move beyond former President Trump.

Politics & Policy

One U.S. COVID-19 death in...

Data: CDC and U.S. Census Bureau; Table: Danielle Alberti/Axios

The U.S. has reached a grim pandemic milestone: More than 1 in 500 Americans has died of COVID-19, according to the latest available data.

Why it matters: The rising death toll highlights the continued effects of the Delta variant and the ongoing struggle to get Americans vaccinated. 

By the numbers: The total number of  COVID-19 deaths recorded in the United States is 665,496 as of 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday, according to reporting by Johns Hopkins University.

30.1% of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. involved individuals ages 85 and older as of Wednesday, despite only making up 2% of cases and an equal portion of the population.  

1 in 500 Americans has died of COVID-19

The grim milestone highlights the continued affects of the Delta variant and the ongoing struggle to get Americans vaccinated.

COVID-19

Axios Generate

Southwest Louisiana faces a "high risk" of flash flooding from Tropical Depression Nicholas on Wednesday morning, the National Weather Service warned.

Why it matters: Such "high risk" outlooks are rarely issued anywhere in the U.S. There's also a medium risk of flash-flooding in New Orleans, which is still reeling from Hurricane Ida striking the state last month.  

The flood warning zone covers more than half of Louisiana. Photo: National Weather Service/NOAA

"Life-threatening" flash floods are also expected for other parts of the Deep South, per the National Hurricane Center.

Our thought bubble: The alert is due to the former hurricane slowing down its forward movement. As the bands of rain work east, they're moving into ground more saturated in the wake of Ida — which raises the risk of flash flooding in the rest of Louisiana as well as parts of Mississippi.

Threat level: Rain from the slow-moving storm was expected to produce 5 to 10 inches of rainfall across parts of southern and central Louisiana, southern Mississippi, far southern Alabama, and the western Florida Panhandle through early Friday, the NHC said late Tuesday.

Isolated storm totals of 20 inches were possible from southern Louisiana to the far western Florida Panhandle. 

"Life-threatening flash flooding impacts, especially in urban areas, are possible across these regions," the NHC warned.

By the numbers: More than 125,000 customers were without power in Texas and over 75,000 others in Louisiana had no electricity on Wednesday morning, according to the utility tracking site poweroutage.us.

The big picture: Nicholas made landfall near Sargent Beach, Texas, as a Category 1 hurricane early on Tuesday.

It later weakened to a tropical depression, but continued to dump heavy rains on the Houston metro area as it slowly moved its way over southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana. 

Rare "high-risk" flash flood alert issued as Nicholas nears Louisiana

Up to 20 inches of rain are possible in the state that's still reeling from Hurricane Ida.

 A flooded street is shown after Tropical Storm Nicholas moved through the area on September 14

A street flooded  after Tropical Storm Nicholas moved through  Galveston, Texas, on Tuesday. Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Flooding

Climate change

Extreme weather

Ominous forecasts about the impact of climate change serve as the backdrop for the world — led by U.S. lawmakers and companies — to debate big action on the problem, which could upend energy systems and our way of life.

Energy & Environment

The U.S. Army announced on Tuesday that troops could face discipline if they are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The big picture: The deadline for U.S. Army troops to be vaccinated is Dec. 15. 40% of Army troops had been fully vaccinated as of late August. National Guard units have until June 30 next year to meet the vaccination deadline.

What to expect: "While soldiers who refuse the vaccine will first be counseled by their chain of command and medical providers, continued failure to comply could result in administrative or non-judicial punishment — to include relief of duties or discharge," per an Army statement.

What they're saying: Lt. Gen. R. Scott Dingle, the U.S. Army surgeon general, said in a statement that the Army introduced the measure as coronavirus case "counts and deaths continue to be concerning as the Delta variant spreads."

U.S. Army warns troops may be disciplined if they don't get vaccinated

"Continued failure to comply could result in administrative or non-judicial punishment — to include relief of duties or discharge," the Army said.

A soldier receives a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Photo: Jon Cherry/Getty Images

Sections

Axios Local

Axios gets you smarter, faster with news & information that matters.

About

Subscribe

Thursday's science stories