Yesterday, Margaret Keenan became the first person to get the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. It was the first step in a massive project to vaccinate tens of millions of people in the United Kingdom in just a few months.
Published in “Europe”
In today's news roundup, Japan's Hayabusa2 space probe returns asteroid samples to Earth, China's Chang'e-5 moon mission is on its way back with lunar samples, and a series of metal monoliths have appeared and disappeared around the world.
A research lab called DeepMind has created an artificial intelligence program which has largely solved a complicated puzzle that has challenged scientists for 50 years. The success could lead to huge advances in health care.
In today's news roundup, police in India fight off farmers protesting over new laws, people around the world mourn soccer great Diego Maradona, and two valuable historic notebooks that belonged to Charles Darwin may have been stolen.
A group of researchers in Europe have announced a 3-year project to collect information about the important smells of Europe, from the 1500s to the 1900s. One part of the project will be recreating the smells of long ago.
Today, NFK looks at long-term protests in several countries. In Thailand, protesters are demanding big government changes, in Belarus, people are protesting the results of August’s elections, and in Hong Kong, a strict new law has nearly ended all protests.
Among the more unusual news stories recently…a racing pigeon sells for $1.9 million, a French radio station mistakenly reports that several living people have died, and a 2,300-year-old statue's head is found in the sewers of Athens.
Last Friday, Tristan da Cunha, a tiny, remote island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean announced that it was creating one of the largest protected ocean areas in the world.
Among the more unusual news stories recently…a 110-year-old carrier pigeon message is found in France, a Japanese village uses robot wolves to scare off bears, and an unusual bright yellow turtle is found in India.
Two surfers recently discovered a strange metal tube on a beach in Ireland. The tube was a time capsule that had been buried in ice near the North Pole. Because of rapidly melting Arctic ice, the time capsule was found after just two years.
The drug companies Pfizer and BioNTech say the coronavirus vaccine they're developing seems to be 90% successful at preventing people from getting Covid-19. The results aren't final, but the news is much better than many experts expected.