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Earth is currently experiencing one of its top three meteor showers in terms of activity. May is the month of the Eta Aquariids‚ leftover pieces from the passage of Halley’s comet. Earth gets as close to 9.7 million kilometers (6 million miles) from the comet’s orbit during this time‚ close enough to capture some stray dust left over in its wake.The Eta Aquariids can show at a rate of up to one meteor a minute‚ but this intensity is only experienced by people around the equator and southern tropics. For everyone else on the planet‚ a more modest but very respectable rate of 10 to 30 meteors per hour is to be expected. The best time in the Northern Hemisphere is before dawn with the sky at its darkest (so away from cities). In the Southern Hemisphere‚ the middle of the night is good too.It takes about 30 minutes for your eyes to adjust‚ so take that into consideration. The meteor shower is quite long‚ from April 19 until May 28 each year. The peak this year is expected on the night between May 5 and 6‚ but throughout that week there is a good chance to see many meteors.Our orbit gets close to the orbit of Halley’s comet twice a year. In May this leads to this meteor shower. Then in October‚ the debris makes up the Orionid meteor shower. Eta Aquariids have this name because they radiate from the star Eta Aquarii. Halley’s comet is quite bright‚ and it has a relatively short period‚ going around the sun in 76 years. Humans have been observing it for over 2‚250 years. The first confirmed observation dates to 240 BCE; it was featured in the Book of Han by Chinese astronomers in 12 BCE. In 1066 it was featured in both the Bayeux Tapestry – the chronicle of the Norman Conquest of England – and in petroglyphs carved by the Chaco‚ native Americans in modern-day New Mexico.Its apparition in 1301 inspired Giotto di Bondone to represent the Star of Bethlehem as a comet‚ influencing its depiction for the following seven centuries. Despite millennia of observations‚ it was only in 1705 that its periodicity was discovered by Edmond Halley. The last time that it was seen from Earth was in 1986 and it will be back in the inner Solar System again in 2061. It is‚ in fact‚ on its way back as we speak‚ having reached its farthest point from the Sun last December.

A new mRNA vaccine candidate for aggressive brain cancer has shown promise in a small clinical trial – but it was a clinical trial with a twist. As well as testing the vaccine in a handful of human cancer patients‚ the researchers are also leveraging results from 10 pet dogs.It’s very typical for drugs and treatments destined for human use to be trialed in animals first. Often‚ this stage of proceedings will come after experiments in cells in the lab‚ and before the drug gets near any human volunteers. While many efforts are underway to reduce animal testing and replace it with alternatives‚ it’s still a mainstay of pharmaceutical research.Usually‚ though‚ we’re not actually trying to treat the animals for a disease they picked up naturally. Scientists develop models in species with organ systems that resemble the human equivalent‚ using drugs‚ surgery‚ or genetic modification to mimic the human disease. In the case of this mRNA vaccine‚ that part was completed in mice. But then there was another‚ more unusual step. It so happens that dogs are the only nonhuman species prone to the development of spontaneous brain tumors‚ so they offer an opportunity to test treatments in a more “natural” setting.The owners of 10 pet dogs gave permission for their pooches to take part. This type of cancer‚ a glioma‚ is universally fatal‚ so this trial was the only treatment option available to them. Compared with the usual average survival time of 30-60 days after a diagnosis‚ the dogs lived for a median 139 days after their vaccine – time for lots more treats and belly rubs. After positive results in both the mice and the dogs‚ the team administered the vaccine to four human patients with glioblastoma. This is the most aggressive form of brain cancer‚ with a low survival rate. It’s still too early to fully understand the clinical effects of the vaccine‚ but we do know that all patients were either free of disease for longer or survived for longer than expected. The results are sufficiently promising that an expanded Phase I trial is now planned to include both children and adults.How does the vaccine work&;#63;As we’ve seen with other recent advances in this area‚ a big advantage of mRNA-based vaccines for cancer is that they can be personalized to each patient. The glioblastoma vaccine combines this with an innovative delivery system.“Instead of us injecting single particles‚ we’re injecting clusters of particles that are wrapping around each other like onions‚ like a bag full of onions‚” explained senior author Dr Elias Sayour of the University of Florida in a statement. “And the reason we’ve done that in the context of cancer is these clusters alert the immune system in a much more profound way than single particles would.”We’ve all become more familiar with the idea of mRNA vaccines thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic‚ but the ways this works is slightly different. RNA is extracted from each patient’s own tumor cells and then repackaged in a lipid nanoparticle “costume”. When this is reinjected into the bloodstream‚ the immune system interprets it as a virus‚ priming it to respond to any remaining tumor cells as well. The personalization tailors the vaccine to each patient‚ maximizing its efficacy‚ while the delivery system boosts the immune system’s response time.“In less than 48 hours‚ we could see these tumors shifting from what we refer to as ‘cold’ – immune cold‚ very few immune cells‚ very silenced immune response – to ‘hot‚’ very active immune response‚” Sayour observed. “The demonstration that making an mRNA cancer vaccine in this fashion generates similar and strong responses across mice‚ pet dogs that have developed cancer spontaneously and human patients with brain cancer is a really important finding‚ because oftentimes we don’t know how well the preclinical studies in animals are going to translate into similar responses in patients‚” said co-author Dr Duane Mitchell.Sayour added that the vaccine could slot in with other immunotherapies for a combined treatment. “I am hopeful that this could be a new paradigm for how we treat patients‚ a new platform technology for how we can modulate the immune system‚” he said.The study is published in the journal Cell. 

When it comes to the question of which species of bear is the largest on the planet‚ the answer may seem obvious to some. The polar bear is clearly the winner of this competition if we are going by a species-to-species comparison‚ but the situation becomes less clear if we expand the category to include sub-species‚ such as the Kodiak bear.There is also the issue with terminology. How do we define the “largest” in this context&;#63; Do we go with the average weight or height across the species‚ or do we consider the largest individual specimens ever recorded&;#63; These points are all contestable‚ but here are the profiles for each of these two heavyweight contenders.Polar bears (Ursus maritimus)In one corner‚ we have the polar bear. It is not only recognized as the largest overall species of bear but is also the largest terrestrial carnivore in the world. They have no natural predators and have adapted to survive in the frozen arctic climate where they live off seals‚ small walruses‚ and even whales.Adult male polar bears are massive‚ they can grow between 2.1-2.7 meters (7-9 feet) in length and reach a height of 1.5 meters (5 feet) at their shoulders. Males can also reach weights that range between 362-590 kilograms (800-1‚300 pounds). This is weighty indeed‚ but the heaviest specimen on record was estimated to be between 900-1‚000 kilograms (1‚984 and 2‚210 pounds)‚ depending on the source. This monstrous bear was unfortunately shot in the Chukchi Sea‚ west of Kotzebue‚ Alaska‚ in 1960.Females are much smaller than males‚ sometimes half their size‚ and weigh between 150-295 kilograms (330-650 pounds).Kodiak bears (Ursus arctos middendorffi)In the other corner‚ we have Kodiak bears‚ a sub-species of the brown bear. These large bears only exist on the Kodiak Archipelago in Alaska. There are around 3‚500 Kodiak bears on the archipelago‚ and they have similar diets to grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) – a mix of salmon‚ berries‚ rodents‚ carrion‚ roots‚ and grasses.It is believed that these bears diverged from their brown bear relatives around 12‚000 years ago and they have now developed some distinct morphological traits. This includes being larger and stockier than their counterparts.As with polar bears‚ they are sexually dimorphic‚ meaning males tend to be larger than females. They can reach sizes between 0.9 and 1.5 meters (3 to 5 feet) at the shoulder and reach up to 3 meters (10 feet) in length.   Kodiak bears‚ like other coastal brown bears‚ can weigh twice as much as their grizzly cousins. Adult males can weigh between 272-635 kilograms (600-1‚400 pounds)‚ while females can reach 136-318 kilograms (300-700 pounds).The largest ever recorded Kodiak bear‚ aptly named Goliath‚ was apparently just as heavy‚ if not heavier than‚ the largest polar bear on record. This specimen‚ which lived at the Space Farms Zoo in Sussex‚ New Jersey‚ in the early 1980s‚ was said to have been over 900 kilograms (1‚984 pounds) in his prime. Though again‚ the exact weight varies between sources.Who wins&;#63; Both&;#63; As you can see‚ the title for which bear is the largest in the world is difficult to decide based on these comparisons. This is also made more complex when you factor in seasonal changes‚ whereby a bear’s weight will be significantly lower in the spring than in the fall‚ when they are preparing to hibernate again. Anyone who has ever taken notice of Fat Bear Week will know how dramatic the differences here can be.We may also see less weighty polar bears going forward as their species continues to struggle with habitat loss as a result of climate change. The progressive loss of ice has seriously impacted their ability to hunt.As such‚ it seems the title of which bear is the largest remains an open question. It is probably best to say they draw as both polar bears and Kodiak bears are enormous creatures‚ and both are worthy of the title. I mean‚ would you want to fight with either of them over it&;#63;[H/T: Library of Congress]