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It’s been only a few days since the end of the COP26 global climate conference which, with commitments that fell short of the emissions cuts scientists have urged for years, was a reminder of how hard it is for the world’s nations to agree on ways to clean up the planet. Reading our story of Russia blowing up a satellite in a weapon test helped me appreciate how these challenges extend to space as well.
As space expert Wendy Whitman Cobb writes, there is little incentive for countries to actively clean up the thousands of pieces of space junk hurtling through space at high speeds, endangering satellites and crewed space missions, including the International Space Station. “Technology to remove debris has not yet been fully developed, but even still, its deployment is a sensitive subject,” she writes. “The same technology that might be used to remove a piece of space junk could also be used for attacking a satellite.”
MRNA vaccines for COVID-19 have had a profound effect during this pandemic, and the basic mRNA vaccine technology is being explored for a number of infectious diseases. Scientist Andaleeb Sajid writes about an experiment she worked on that showed promising results in providing immunity against tick-borne diseases. In this case, the mRNA vaccine is designed to teach the immune system to recognize the saliva of ticks rather than the pathogen itself.
Finally, Rachel Kyte, the dean of Tufts’ Fletcher School and a former U.N. official, provides a smart analysis of the outcomes from COP26 and provides us with a map of what to watch for in the year ahead. “How much the world achieved at the Glasgow climate talks – and what happens now – depends in large part on where you live,” she writes.
Also in this week’s science and research news:
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