Video: SpaceX capsule returns to earth after 20-day mission
Astronauts from India, Poland, Hungary and the United States returned to Earth early Tuesday after the 20-day SpaceX Axiom Mission 4 to the International Space Station. They parachuted into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California.
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Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- Al Jazeera
What is the Nipah virus and is it spreading in southern India?
On July 12, a new deadly Nipah virus infection was confirmed in a 52-year-old man in the Palakkad district of Kerala, marking the tenth instance of Nipah virus spillover (transmission of the pathogen from animals to humans) in the southern Indian state since 2018. This year alone, Kerala has reported four Nipah cases, including two deaths, all within a 50km (30-mile) radius, on the border of the Malappuram and Palakkad districts. The state remains on high alert, with 675 people under surveillance across five districts. Here is what we know about the Nipah virus, its symptoms and how authorities are containing it. What is the Nipah virus? Nipah virus (NiV) is a highly pathogenic zoonotic virus (a virus that can be transmitted from animals to humans) which causes death in 40 to 75 percent of human infected cases. Alongside the Hendra virus, which is found in Australia, NiV is one of the most notable viruses from the henipavirus genus of the paramyxovirus family, responsible for a range of neurological – often respiratory – diseases in humans and animals. Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family, ubiquitous across Oceania, South and Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa, are natural reservoirs of the virus, meaning the virus naturally lives and reproduces in these mammals without causing them any harm. The spillover of the virus to humans can happen directly or via intermediate hosts such as pigs or horses, which come into contact with humans. What are the symptoms of the Nipah virus? According to the World Health Organization (WHO), human NiV infections range from asymptomatic infection to acute respiratory infection, seizures and fatal encephalitis (inflammation of the brain). The clinical presentation of NiV infection is neurological, affecting the central nervous system and resulting in acute encephalitis syndrome (AES), characterised by seizures, confusion and loss of consciousness. When the disease advances, it can cause damage to the lungs and can lead to life-threatening acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The incubation period of the virus is believed to be four to 14 days. Where have there been Nipah virus outbreaks before? The first human NiV infection was recorded in 1998, when pig farmers and butchers from Malaysia and Singapore contracted the virus from infected pigs. The outbreak affected more than 250 individuals and caused more than 100 deaths. There have been subsequent, almost annual outbreaks in Bangladesh since 2001, with human infection traced to the consumption of date palm sap contaminated with urine or saliva from infected fruit bats. In 2014, NiV infections in the Philippines were associated with the slaughter of horses and consumption of infected horse meat. India has reported two outbreaks in West Bengal in 2001 and 2007. In 2018, South India reported its first NiV outbreak in Kerala, when 19 confirmed cases led to 17 deaths. Since then, Kerala has reported NiV spillovers almost every year. What has happened in Kerala? Although Kerala has recorded 10 instances of NiV spillover since 2018, only two of them turned into outbreaks with instances of human-to-human spread. 'We are now reporting single cases of Nipah infections rather than a cluster or outbreak like in 2018,' Thekkumkara Surendran Anish, nodal officer at the Kerala One Health Centre for Nipah Research and Resilience, said. The last six NiV infections in the state have been single-case spillovers with no human-to-human transmission. The recent uptick in recorded cases is down to the strengthened surveillance system in the state, according to Anish. 'Thousands of people die in India every year due to AES or ARDS, [where] we don't know the cause. NiV, in fact, is not a common cause for respiratory and encephalitis syndromes,' he said. 'But in Kerala, because the entire health system is prioritising Nipah, we are detecting more Nipah infections.' At the same time, it is concerning that all four NiV infections in 2025 were reported in a small timeframe within a small area, Anish added. 'Four independent spillover events within a couple of months in a 50km radius suggest a very high presence of infected bats and the virus in the area. 'What it tells us is that in certain geospatial locations in Kerala, there is a high likelihood of Nipah spillovers, primarily because the bats in those localities seem to be highly infectious for a short period during the year.' What is causing the spread of the Nipah virus in Kerala? Unlike in Bangladesh, where there was a dedicated channel for the virus to spill over to humans (contaminated date palm sap), there is no obvious source in Kerala – or, at least, the 'spillover mechanism' so far remains unclear. 'We don't know the exact spillover mechanism, but it seems to be highly sporadic in Kerala. For example, you unknowingly come in contact with an infected bat or its droppings,' Anish said. The commonly accepted cause is spillover from the human consumption of fruits contaminated by bat saliva or urine. However, virological examination of bat-bitten fruits has yielded negative results so far. A new paper by the Indian Council of Medical Research suggests the virus may be airborne. 'Disease-causing microbes have different routes of transmission to reach and infect human hosts,' Thekkekara Jacob John, one of the authors of the paper, and an emeritus professor at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, said. 'One of them is airborne transmission, like in Tuberculosis, whereby microbes float in the air for longer distances and are inhaled far away from the source.' The authors of the paper believe their hypothesis 'accommodates the rare but recurrent spillovers of NiV in Kerala', where there are no mechanical vectors for the virus, such as in Bangladesh or Malaysia. What are the authorities doing to contain the Nipah virus in Kerala? So far, Kerala has been successful in containing the spread of the virus using trace-and-test procedures. Across 10 'spillover events', the case count stands at just 37 infected individuals. The key to this is a strong surveillance system, said Anish. 'When a Nipah case is established, all primary contacts of the patient are immediately traced and monitored under house quarantine. If they test positive for the virus, we immediately start antiviral treatment,' he said. The prophylactic treatment of 'primary contacts' with broad-spectrum antiviral drugs has helped reduce mortality. 'In our experience, if we can treat Nipah early, it can definitely be cured,' Anish said. 'Syndromic surveillance is another crucial aspect, whereby, in hospitals across the state, any patient presenting with AES or ARDS is tested for Nipah,' Anish said. Kerala has been steadily improving its health system. The state now has four labs capable of conducting RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) tests for detecting active NiV infections. 'It all comes down to political commitment,' Anish said. 'The state ensures that efforts of the entire health system remain focused on Nipah outbreaks.' What is the treatment for Nipah virus? Is there a vaccine in development? The WHO has identified Nipah as a priority disease for its Research and Development Blueprint – a global strategy and preparedness plan for epidemics. The University of Oxford's NiV vaccine, which began in-human trials in January, was granted support from the Priority Medicines (PRIME) scheme of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in June. However, there are no drugs yet available that specifically target NiV infection. Since there are no approved treatment protocols for NiV, and due to the high risk of mortality, doctors have used broad-spectrum antivirals. Ribavirin is the antiviral of choice, as it has been found to be effective against NiV infections in humans on several occasions. During a 2023 outbreak in Kerala, early application of the antiviral Remdesivir resulted in an improved case fatality rate. Monoclonal antibodies (copies of antibodies, created in a laboratory) have also been used to prevent severe disease manifestations in high-risk individuals. How can we avoid zoonotic viruses like the Nipah virus? According to Anish, NiV is a model case study for a 'one health' approach to combating high-threat pathogens. The one health approach recognises the fact that human health is interlinked with the health of animals and the environment. '[One health] is a combination of three things – human health, animal health and environment health,' Anish said. 'You have to tackle all these things to reduce the chances of zoonotic spillovers such as Nipah.' Approximately 60 percent of emerging human pathogens are zoonoses, transmitted from animals to humans. Ecological disruption and the spread of human populations into wildlife habitats are primary causes for the emergence of these zoonotic viruses. Climate change is another growing concern, with rising temperatures attributed to influencing infections, viral load and human-animal interactions.
Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- Al Jazeera
How the inventor of the bouncy castle saved lives
On November 29, 1972, a fire broke out in the high-rise Rault Center, in downtown New Orleans. As firefighters struggled to reach the blaze and television cameras rolled, five women trapped in a beauty salon on the 15th floor had to make an impossible decision: remain in the burning building, or leap. One by one, they jumped, aiming for the roof of a neighbouring six-storey building. Four of the women died. At the time, a 46-year-old engineer and fellow New Orleanian had been toying with an idea that might have saved them. The tragedy spurred John T Scurlock into action. He wanted to engineer an inflatable cushion that could provide a safe landing for people plunging from great heights. But to do it, he needed the help of his sons. First, he got them to push 45kg (100-pound) rolled-up pieces of vinyl off the top of his office building and onto the cushion he had designed below. The vinyl was attached to an accelerometer, which helped John calculate the weight the cushion could absorb at different speeds. Once he was confident it was safe, it was time for the next step: having his sons jump off the roof. 'We were like 10, 12, 14 years old, and we were jumping off a building into a big airbag. It was a lot of fun,' recalls Jeff Scurlock, now 66. 'Space pillow' The following year, John patented the safety air cushion, the huge, inflatable pad still used today by fire brigades from New York to Tokyo to rescue people from fires and deaths by suicide. But it was not his first invention. In fact, his life-saving inflatable was drawn from his earlier invention: the ubiquitous fair attraction known by many different names – the bouncy castle, moon bounce, bounce house or space walk, depending on where you are bouncing. In the Scurlock home, it was known as the 'space pillow'. A year after John filed a patent for the core of what would become the space pillow, he started working at a NASA facility in New Orleans. It was 1961, and NASA had opened its doors three years earlier in response to the Soviets pulling ahead in the space race with the launch of the world's first satellite, Sputnik 1. The US space agency was abuzz with projects exploring the possibility of spaceflight, and by 1960, it had developed an interest in designing a crewed, inflatable space station, thought by many to be a necessary first step in reaching the moon. Large, rigid space stations would require multiple rocket trips to bring up the parts, but plastic inflatables were considered light, strong and easy to transport. An inflatable space station could be launched into space with a single booster and unfurl once in orbit. (A meteorite-resistant inflatable space module was sent up to the International Space Station in 2016, and NASA engineers are hoping to build a semi-permanent moon habitat out of inflatables.) John found himself in the middle of this innovation, which continued even in his spare time, when he would sketch designs for and stitch his proto-space pillow, using a commercial sewing machine he set up in a pit in the ground of his garage so he could haul the heavy vinyl material towards him as he stitched. When he assembled an early, homemade space pillow for his young sons to play with in the backyard, it soon became a massive hit with the local children. 'We were very popular kids then, because we had one permanently in our backyard,' says Jeff. 'The whole neighbourhood would come and jump on it.' Jeff says it was his mother, Francis, who recognised how much children loved the inflatable and got the idea to market it. Eventually, John left his job to concentrate full-time on the 'space pillow'. Inflatable solutions In 1968, they started selling the invention to fairs around the country. But the safety risks were serious. 'It was a nightmare, safety-wise,' says John's grandson, Mials, 35. 'It had no support, no netting, no way to keep you on it.' When a carnival worker broke his neck and died, the company was 'sued out of existence', Mials says. No longer a small backyard venture, the design needed protective features. John set to work designing improvements: the space pillow grew columns, cushioning walls, netting around the sides and a roof, making it far safer. In 1972, the last year man walked on the moon, the family launched a new company, called Space Walk Inflatables, to manufacture and rent inflatables in the Louisiana city of Kenner. Today, the global bounce house market is worth $4bn, driven by the popularity of rentals. But as his invention ballooned in popularity, John also turned his attention to solving problems with heavy-duty inflatables. Inflatable engineering is deceptively complex and requires answering mathematical questions to turn a 2D fabric into a 3D shape, says Dr Benjamin Gorissen, a professor of inflatable mechanics at KE Leuven in Belgium. John loved numbers, recalls Mials, and was 'a guy who could do the math'. He filed patents on several structures, including one intended for underwater pipe welding for offshore oil platforms, which resembles a human heart with someone working inside. 'Whatever news article would happen, he'd be in his office, sketching out a solution,' says Mials. Jeff recalls his father reading about sunken submarines in the newspaper, and then working on an invention that could help to resurface them. Up until John's death in 2008, 'he never really stopped working', says Jeff. His last creation in his 80s was a giant inflatable palm tree, a kind of air sculpture meant to provide shade over a 2.8 square metre (30sq ft) area. John did not set out to build a business empire, Jeff and Mials, who now run the business, note. Though bouncy castles remain the core of their business, the Scurlocks continue to produce safety air cushions, which have a more complex structure. Their most heavy-duty product is certified for 20 storeys, or 200 feet (60m). Since it was invented, the safety air cushion has saved thousands of lives around the world, but it all began with an early, devoted pioneer urging his children to jump off the roof. This article is part of 'Ordinary items, extraordinary stories', a series about the surprising stories behind well-known items.
Al Jazeera
6 days ago
- Al Jazeera
Photos: Bees at risk as temperatures rise, Trump to cut research funds
Sweat covers Isaac Barnes's face under his beekeeper's veil as he hauls boxes of honeycomb from his hives to his truck. It is a workout in what feels like a sauna as the late-morning temperatures rise. Though Barnes was hot, his bees were even hotter. Their body temperatures can be up to 15 degrees Celsius (27 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the air around them. As global temperatures rise, scientists are trying to better understand the effects on managed and wild bees as they pollinate crops, gather nectar, make honey, and reproduce. They noticed flying bees gathering nectar avoided overheating on the hottest days by using fewer but harder wingbeats to keep their body temperature below dangerous levels, according to a study published last year. Scientists also say that bees, like people, may cope by retreating to a cooler environment such as the shade or their nest. 'Just like we go into the shade, sweat, or we might work less hard, bees actually do the exact same thing so they can avoid the heat,' said Jon Harrison, an environmental physiologist at Arizona State University and one of the study's authors. Generally, most bees are heat-tolerant, but as the climate warms, some experts think their ability to fend off disease and gather food might become more difficult. Habitat loss, increased use of pesticides, diseases, and lack of forage for both managed and wild bees are all listed as potential contributors to the global decline of bees and other pollinators. Isaac Barnes places a full honeycomb onto the back of his truck. [Joshua A Bickel/AP Photo] Earlier this year, preliminary results from the annual US Beekeeping Survey found that beekeepers lost almost 56 percent of their managed colonies, the highest loss since the survey started in 2010. Almost all of the managed honeybee colonies in the United States are used to pollinate crops such as almonds, apples, cherries, and blueberries. Fewer pollinators can lead to less pollination and potentially lower yields. Back at Isaac Barnes's hives in Ohio, thousands of honeybees fly around as he gathers boxes to take back to his farm for honey production. Nearby, a couple of his bees land on milkweed flowers, a rare bit of plant diversity in an area dominated by maize and soya bean fields. For Barnes, who operates Honeyrun Farm with his wife, Jayne, one of the challenges heat can pose to his 500 honeybee hives is fending off parasitic mites that threaten the bees. If temperatures get too hot, he cannot apply formic acid, an organic chemical that kills the mites. If it is applied when it is too hot, the bees could die. Last year, they lost nearly a third of the 400 hives they sent to California to help pollinate commercial almond groves. Barnes thinks those hives may have been in poor health before pollination because they were unable to ward off mites when it was hot months earlier. It is only in the last decade that people have become aware of the magnitude of the pollinator decline globally, said Harrison, of Arizona State University. Data is limited on how much climate change and heat stress are contributing to pollinator decline. Bees are not able to do what they normally do, said Kevin McCluney, a biology professor at Bowling Green State University. [Joshua A Bickel/AP Photo] The Trump administration's proposed budget would eliminate the research programme that funds the US Geological Survey Bee Lab, which supports the inventory, monitoring and natural history of the nation's wild bees. Other grants for bee research are also in jeopardy. US Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon said his country's pollinators are in 'grave danger', and he will fight for the federal funding. Pollinators contribute to the health of the planet, the crops we grow and the food we eat, he said. 'Rather than taking bold action to protect them, the Trump administration has proposed a reckless budget that would zero out funding for critical research aimed at saving important pollinators,' he said in a statement to The Associated Press news agency. Harrison said his research on this topic would come to a halt if cuts are made to his federal funding, and it would generally be more difficult for scientists to study the disappearance of bees and other pollinators and improve how they prevent these losses. Not being able to manage these pollinator deaths could cause the price of fruits, vegetables, nuts, coffee and chocolate to rise or become scarce. 'Hopefully, even if such research is defunded in the US, such research will continue in Europe and China, preventing these extreme scenarios,' said Harrison.
