Outbreak with No End: Measles vaccinations in Clark County, Washington has skyrocketed 500%. The area is the site of a major measles outbreak. In one month, 50 confirmed cases of measles and 11 suspected have broken out. The cases continue to rise exponentially. The county lies just north of Portland and is a well known anti-vaccine hotspot. The two other current outbreaks in the U.S. are in New York City and New York State. http://bit.ly/2V1Q0r9
Measles in Europe Spreading: Meanwhile, measles cases across Europe have tripled as of last year. Nearly 83,000 cases were reported in the World Health Organization’s European Region. This compares with 25,500 in 2017. Public health officials indicate that the source of the epidemic was in Ukraine. Last year, the former Soviet country had 54,000 cases of measles. http://bit.ly/2UVX9ZP
Open Access Speedbumps: An article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has criticized the so-called Plan S. The proposal was put forth with the aim of achieving full Open Access across a wide swath of journal publications. Marcia McNutt, the author of the opinion piece, expressed concerns about aspects of the plan, including a prohibition of publishing in hybrid journals unless they meet certain stringent conditions; the lack of consultation with researchers, editors, and leaders of scientific societies; and the fear that the move to well funded Open Access journals will reduce the ecosystem’s diversity. http://bit.ly/2E7JDg3
Nighttime for Opportunity: After eight months of silence, it seems the Mars rover Opportunity’s days are numbered. It fell victim to a massive and intense dust storm that darkened the sky and blocked sunlight from the rover’s solar panels for months. NASA indicated that it will issue a final series of recovery commands. If no response is received, the Opportunity will be declared dead. http://bit.ly/2UXLuKe
IMAGE SOURCE: Creative Commons
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