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  • Science Confirms Choosing Joy Boosts Mind and Body

    Science confirms choosing joy boosts mind and body, showing how gratitude and laughter support mental and physical wellness and makes life easier.

    We are in an era marked by stress, uncertainty, and constant digital noise and it is easy to swim in pool of misery. But there is hope, science confirms choosing joy boosts mind and body. Data delivers a surprisingly simple prescription for a better life: cultivate happiness on purpose. Researchers in psychology and neuroscience increasingly agree maintaining a positive outlook isn’t just a feel-good cliché — it has measurable benefits for mental health, physical well-being, productivity, and longevity.

    Studies in the field of positive psychology, pioneered by experts such as Martin Seligman, show individuals who intentionally practice optimism experience lower levels of stress hormones, improved immune response, and reduced risk of depression. A happy attitude doesn’t mean ignoring life’s challenges; rather, it involves training the brain to notice moments of joy, gratitude, and meaning even during difficult times.

    RELATED: Sip A Little Romance With The Best Valentine’s Cocktails

    When you experience something which makes you smile — whether it’s a silly joke, a favorite snack, or a song you love — your brain releases dopamine and serotonin, neurotransmitters linked to pleasure and emotional regulation. These chemicals help lower blood pressure, improve sleep, and enhance focus. Over time, repeatedly activating these neural pathways can rewire the brain to default toward positivity, a concept known as neuroplasticity.

    A 2023 review in behavioral health research found people who engage in daily gratitude or joy-spotting practices report higher life satisfaction and resilience. Even brief positive moments can interrupt cycles of rumination and anxiety, helping individuals regain perspective.

    One simple, science-backed habit is to intentionally seek out two or three small moments each day which spark joy. These don’t have to be grand gestures or expensive experiences. In fact, the most effective mood-boosters are often ordinary pleasures:

    • Listening to a favorite song during your commute
    • Sharing a lighthearted joke with a coworker
    • Enjoying a comforting sandwich or snack
    • Watching a funny video clip
    • Taking a few minutes to appreciate a sunset

    These micro-moments of happiness act like emotional anchors, reminding us life contains pockets of delight even amid busy schedules and personal challenges.

    Mental health experts warn chronic stress and negativity can contribute to inflammation, heart disease, and weakened immunity. Conversely, cultivating positive emotions has been linked to improved cardiovascular health and longer life expectancy. A landmark longitudinal study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found individuals with higher reported well-being had a significantly lower risk of premature mortality.

    Beyond physical health, a positive attitude can improve relationships and workplace performance. People who project optimism are often perceived as more approachable, collaborative, and resilient — qualities strengthening both personal and professional connections.

    RELATED: How Marijuana Can Heighten Intimacy With Your Partner

    Building a happier mindset is not about forcing cheerfulness; it’s about noticing what already brings a smile. Experts suggest keeping a simple “joy list” on your phone or jotting down one pleasant moment before bed. Over time, this practice trains your attention toward what makes life meaningful.

    In a world ften emphasizing what’s going wrong, choosing to find two or three small reasons to smile each day can be a quiet act of resilience. Science confirms what many have long suspected: happiness isn’t just a result of a good life — it’s a powerful tool for creating one.

    JJ McKay

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  • NASA to conduct second wet dress rehearsal of Artemis II

    KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — After detecting a liquid hydrogen leak during its first wet dress rehearsal of the Artemis II moon rocket, NASA will attempt a second test of the launch vehicle that will take humans back to the moon.

    What You Need To Know

    • The U.S. space agency is eyeing Thursday for a second wet dress rehearsal
    • If all goes well, March 6 might be the earliest chance for Artemis II launch
    • The first wet dress rehearsal found leaks; NASA replaced seals
    • RELATED coverage:

    The U.S. space agency is eyeing Thursday for a second wet dress rehearsal, as it will put more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic fuel into the Space Launch System rocket during a test of that and the Orion capsule. It will also simulate a launch countdown, the ability to recycle the countdown clock and drain the tanks to practice for possible scrubs.

    “Launch controllers will arrive to their consoles in the Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:40 p.m. EST on Feb. 17 to begin the nearly 50-hour countdown. The simulated launch time is 8:30 p.m., Feb. 19, with a four-hour window for the test. While the Artemis II crew is not participating in the test, a team of personnel will go to the launch pad to practice Orion closeout operations, including closing the spacecraft’s hatches,” NASA explained on Monday.

    NASA provided a bit more detail on the test.

    During the rehearsal, the team will execute a detailed countdown sequence. Operators will conduct two runs of the last ten minutes of the countdown, known as terminal count. They will pause at T-1 minute and 30 seconds for up to three minutes, then resume until T-33 seconds before launch and pause again. After that, they will recycle the clock back to T-10 minutes and conduct a second terminal countdown to just inside of T-30 seconds before ending the sequence. This process simulates real-world conditions, including scenarios where a launch might be scrubbed due to technical or weather issues.

    During the first wet dress rehearsal on Monday, Feb. 02, NASA teams found a liquid hydrogen leak in an interface that is used to route the fuel into the SLS’s core stage, as well as other issues.

    In fact, that was the same section where a liquid hydrogen leak was found during the Artemis I mission.

    While technicians replaced two seals in that area since the Artemis II first pretest, this past weekend, NASA made additional fixes to issues that were discovered during a different test.

    “Over the weekend, teams replaced a filter in ground support equipment that was suspected of reducing the flow of liquid hydrogen during a Feb. 12 partial fueling test. The test provided enough data to allow engineers to plan toward a second wet dress rehearsal this week. Engineers have reconnected the line with the new filter and are reestablishing proper environmental conditions,” NASA stated in a blog post.

    Because the leak and other issues were discovered during the first wet dress rehearsal, NASA had to push the launch of the Artemis II to early March. It was supposed to launch early February.

    Officials stated that if all goes well, NASA will be eyeing March 6 as the earliest chance to launch the historical mission.

    But officials stressed that it all depends on how the second test goes and its findings.

    Once the Artemis II stacked rocket is ready for launch, it will send NASA’s Cmdr. Gregory Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut mission specialist Jeremy Hansen to the moon in a flyby mission.

    Artemis II launch attempt dates

    [ad_2] Anthony Leone
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  • Biodegradable Mardi Gras beads help make Carnival season more sustainable

    NEW ORLEANS — It is Carnival season in New Orleans. That means gazillions of green, gold and purple Mardi Gras beads.

    Once made of glass and cherished by parade spectators who were lucky enough to catch them, today cheap plastic beaded necklaces from overseas are tossed from floats by the handful. Spectators sometimes pile dozens around their necks, but many are trashed or left on the ground. A few years ago after heavy flooding, the city found more than 46 tons of them clogging its storm drains.

    The beads are increasingly viewed as a problem, but a Mardi Gras without beads also seems unfathomable. That is why it was a radical step when the Krewe of Freret made the decision last year to ban plastic beads from their parade.

    “Our riders loved it because the spectators don’t value this anymore,” Freret co-founder Greg Rhoades said. “It’s become so prolific that they dodge out of the way when they see cheap plastic beads coming at them.”

    This year, beads are back, but not the cheap plastic ones. Freret is one of three krewes throwing biodegradable beads developed at Louisiana State University.

    The “PlantMe Beads” are 3D-printed from a starch-based, commercially available material called polylactic acid, or PLA, graduate student Alexis Strain said. The individual beads are large hollow spheres containing okra seeds. That is because the necklaces can actually be planted, and the okra attracts bacteria that help them decompose.

    Kristi Trail, executive director of the Pontchartrain Conservancy, said plastic beads are a twofold problem. First, they clog the storm drains, leading to flooding. Then those that aren’t caught in the drains are washed directly into Lake Pontchartrain, where they can harm marine life. The group is currently preparing to study microplastics in the lake.

    The trend toward a more sustainable Mardi Gras has been growing for years and includes a small but growing variety of more thoughtful throws like food, soaps and sunglasses. Trail said there is no good data right now to say if those efforts are having an impact, but the group recently got a grant that should help them answer the question in the future.

    “Beads are obviously a problem, but we generate about 2.5 million pounds of trash from Mardi Gras,” Trail said.

    Strain works in the lab of Professor Naohiro Kato, an associate professor of biology at LSU. He first got the idea to develop biodegradable beads in 2013 after talking to people concerned about the celebration’s environmental impact. As a plant biologist, Kato knew that bioplastics could be made from plants and got curious about the possibilities.

    The first iteration of the lab’s biodegradable beads came in 2018, when they produced beads made from a bioplastic derived from microalgae. However, production costs were too high for the algae-based beads to offer a practical alternative to petroleum-based beads. Then Strain started experimenting with 3D printing, and the PlantMe Bead was born.

    For the 2026 Carnival season, LSU students have produced 3,000 PlantMe Bead necklaces that they are giving to three krewes in exchange for feedback on the design and on how well they are received by spectators.

    One funny thing, Kato said, is that people have told him they love how unique the PlantMe Beads are and want to keep them.

    “So wait a minute, if you want to keep it, the petroleum-plastic Mardi Gras bead is the best, because this won’t last,” he said.

    The lab is still working on ideas for a more sustainable Mardi Gras. Strain is experimenting with a different 3D printer material that biodegrades quickly without needing to be planted. Kato is talking with local schools about turning Mardi Gras bead-making into a community project. He envisions students 3D printing necklaces while learning about bioplastics and plant biology. And he is still exploring ways to make algae-based bioplastic commercially viable.

    Ultimately, however, Kato said, the goal should not be to replace one plastic bead with a less harmful one. He hopes Mardi Gras embraces the idea of less waste.

    Rhoades said Freret is moving in the same direction.

    “In 2025, we were the first krewe — major parading organization — to say, ‘No more. No more cheap beads. Let’s throw things that people value, that people appreciate, that can be used year-round,’ ” Rhoades said.

    One of the most coveted items they throw is baseball hats with the Freret logo. He sees people wearing the hats around the city, and he says other krewes have noticed.

    “I really believe that we, and other krewes, are able to inspire your larger krewes,” he said. “They want people to like their stuff. They want people take their stuff home, and use it, and talk about it, and post it on social media, and say, ‘Look what I just caught!’ ”

    ___

    Loller reported from Nashville, Tennessee.

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  • Biodegradable Mardi Gras Beads Help Make Carnival Season More Sustainable

    Once made of glass and cherished by parade spectators who were lucky enough to catch them, today cheap plastic beadnecklaces from overseas are tossed from floats by the handful. Spectators sometimes pile dozens around their necks, but many are trashed or left on the ground. A few years ago after heavy flooding, the city found more than 46 tons of them clogging its storm drains.

    The beads are increasingly viewed as a problem, but a Mardi Gras without beads also seems unfathomable. That is why it was a radical step when the Krewe of Freret made the decision last year to ban plastic beads from their parade.

    “Our riders loved it because the spectators don’t value this anymore,” Freret co-founder Greg Rhoades said. “It’s become so prolific that they dodge out of the way when they see cheap plastic beads coming at them.”

    This year, beads are back, but not the cheap plastic ones. Freret is one of three krewes throwing biodegradable beads developed at Louisiana State University.

    The “PlantMe Beads” are 3-D printed from a starch-based, commercially available material called polylactic acid, or PLA, graduate student Alexis Strain said. The individual beads are large hollow spheres containing okra seeds. That is because the necklaces can actually be planted, and the okra attracts bacteria that help them decompose.


    2.5 million pounds of trash

    Kristi Trail, executive director of the Pontchartrain Conservancy, said plastic beads are a twofold problem. First, they clog the storm drains, leading to flooding. Then those that aren’t caught in the drains are washed directly into Lake Pontchartrain, where they can harm marine life. The group is currently preparing to study microplastics in the lake.

    The trend toward a more sustainable Mardi Gras has been growing for years and includes a small but growing variety of more thoughtful throws like food, soaps and sunglasses. Trail said there is no good data right now to say if those efforts are having an impact, but the group recently got a grant that should help them answer the question in the future.

    “Beads are obviously a problem, but we generate about 2.5 million pounds of trash from Mardi Gras,” Trail said.


    First algae beads, now PlantMe beads

    Strain works in the lab of Professor Naohiro Kato, an associate professor of biology at LSU. He first got the idea to develop biodegradable beads in 2013 after talking to people concerned about the celebration’s environmental impact. As a plant biologist, Kato knew that bioplastics could be made from plants and got curious about the possibilities.

    The first iteration of the lab’s biodegradable beads came in 2018, when they produced beads made from a bioplastic derived from microalgae. However, production costs were too high for the algae-based beads to offer a practical alternative to petroleum-based beads. Then Strain started experimenting with 3-D printing, and the PlantMe Bead was born.

    For the 2026 Carnival season, LSU students have produced 3,000 PlantMe Bead necklaces that they are giving to three krewes in exchange for feedback on the design and on how well they are received by spectators.

    One funny thing, Kato said, is that people have told him they love how unique the PlantMe Beads are and want to keep them.

    “So wait a minute, if you want to keep it, the petroleum-plastic Mardi Gras bead is the best, because this won’t last,” he said.


    ‘Let’s throw things that people value’

    The lab is still working on ideas for a more sustainable Mardi Gras. Strain is experimenting with a different 3-D printer material that biodegrades quickly without needing to be planted. Kato is talking with local schools about turning Mardi Gras bead-making into a community project. He envisions students 3-D printing necklaces while learning about bioplastics and plant biology. And he is still exploring ways to make algae-based bioplastic commercially viable.

    Ultimately, however, Kato said, the goal should not be to replace one plastic bead with a less harmful one. He hopes Mardi Gras embraces the idea of less waste.

    Rhoades said Freret is moving in the same direction.

    “In 2025, we were the first krewe — major parading organization — to say, ‘No more. No more cheap beads. Let’s throw things that people value, that people appreciate, that can be used year-round,’ ” Rhoades said.

    One of the most coveted items they throw is baseball hats with the Freret logo. He sees people wearing the hats around the city, and he says other krewes have noticed.

    “I really believe that we, and other krewes, are able to inspire your larger krewes,” he said. “They want people to like their stuff. They want people take their stuff home, and use it, and talk about it, and post it on social media, and say, ‘Look what I just caught!’ ”

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – Feb. 2026

    Associated Press

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  • Four new astronauts arrive at the ISS to replace NASA’s evacuated crew

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The International Space Station returned to full strength with Saturday’s arrival of four new astronauts to replace colleagues who bailed early because of health concerns.

    SpaceX delivered the U.S., French and Russian astronauts a day after launching them from Cape Canaveral.

    Last month’s medical evacuation was NASA’s first in 65 years of human spaceflight. One of four astronauts launched by SpaceX last summer suffered what officials described as a serious health issue, prompting their hasty return. That left only three crew members to keep the place running — one American and two Russians — prompting NASA to pause spacewalks and trim research.

    Moving in for eight to nine months are NASA’s Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, France’s Sophie Adenot and Russia’s Andrei Fedyaev. Meir, a marine biologist, and Fedyaev, a former military pilot, have lived up there before. During her first station visit in 2019, Meir took part in the first all-female spacewalk.

    Adenot, a military helicopter pilot, is only the second French woman to fly in space. Hathaway is a captain in the U.S. Navy.

    NASA has refused to divulge the identity of the astronaut who fell ill in orbit on Jan. 7 or explain what happened, citing medical privacy. The ailing astronaut and three others returned to Earth more than a month sooner than planned. They spent their first night back on Earth at the hospital before returning to Houston.

    The space agency said it did not alter its preflight medical checks for their replacements.

    ___

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • US ocean regulator faces criticism over changes to right whale protection rule

    PORTLAND, Maine — The U.S.’s ocean regulator plans to make industry-friendly changes to a longstanding rule designed to protect vanishing whales, prompting criticism from environmental groups who cite the recent death of an endangered whale.

    The rules protect the North Atlantic right whale, which numbers less than 400 and lives off the East Coast. The giant animals are protected by a vessel speed rule that requires large ships to slow down at certain times to avoid collisions, which is a leading cause of death for the whales.

    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a Thursday statement to The Associated Press that it plans to soon announce proposed new rules designed to “modernize” the whale protections. The proposal will be a “deregulatory-focused action” that will seek to “reduce unnecessary regulatory and economic burdens while ensuring responsible conservation practices for endangered North Atlantic right whales,” the statement said.

    A notice of rulemaking about the right whale rules is listed on the U.S. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs website, but it does not include any details about the proposal. NOAA said in its statement that more information about the rules was forthcoming and that the agency was focused on “implementing new technologies, engineering approaches, and other advanced tools” to protect the whales.

    Several environmental groups criticized the move away from vessel speed rules. Some cited the Feb. 10 confirmation of the death of a 3-year-old female whale off Virginia. The cause of the animal’s death was not yet determined, but it died at a far younger age than typical.

    “Another female right whale — the future of this species — has lost her life. We urgently need more right whale protections, not fewer. The Trump administration’s apparent determination to weaken the vessel speed rule could not come at a worse time,” said Jane Davenport, senior attorney at conservation group Defenders of Wildlife.

    Right whales migrate every year from calving grounds off Florida and Georgia to feeding grounds off New England and Canada. Along the way, they are vulnerable to collisions with ships and entanglement in commercial fishing gear. They were once numerous off the East Coast but were decimated during the commercial whaling era and have been federally protected for decades.

    The Biden administration planned to expand slow zones off the East Coast to protect the whales. It also planned to expand the classes of boats required to slow down. However, the federal government withdrew the proposal in the final days of the administration, with officials saying it didn’t have time to finalize the regulations due to the scope and volume of public comments.

    Some shipping businesses and other marine industries have long pushed back at vessel speed rules. The National Marine Manufacturers Association has described speed restrictions as “archaic” and advocated for solutions that rely on technology.

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  • Crew-12 docks with the International Space Station on Valentine’s Day

    CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — After a 34-hour commute from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, the four members of the Crew-12 docked with the International Space Station on Valentine’s Day.

    And they will spend the next eight months conducting various experiments.

    What You Need To Know

    • Crew-12 will be spending the next eight months conducting various experiments

    Early Friday morning, NASA astronauts Cmdr. Jessica Meir and pilot Jack Hathaway, and mission specialists European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev took off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, according to both NASA and SpaceX.

    Taking off from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, they left the little round Earth at 5:15 a.m. ET.

    The quartet’s ride — SpaceX’s Dragon capsule called Freedom — docked with the International Space Station’s space-facing Harmony module at around 3:15 p.m. ET.

    The Dragon docked autonomously, but if needed to, Hathaway could have docked it manually.

    “The Crew-12 mission is the 20th human spaceflight mission that SpaceX has launched. Also, when the Dragon capsule docks with the International Space Station, it will be the 51st time a Dragon spacecraft has docked with ISS or has visited ISS, I should say,” explained Julianna Scheiman, SpaceX’s director of NASA Science and Dragon Programs, during the press conference after Friday’s launch.

    Freedom has participated in four other crewed missions:

    Crew-12 will be welcomed by NASA astronaut Christopher Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikayev.

    Williams pressurized a small section where Crew-12 docked with the space station and leak checks were being conducted. Once that area was ready, then procedures took place for the Dragon crewmembers to board the station.

    Before Crew-12 boarded the space station, Adenot requested a private medical conference call between the Dragon members and NASA. The U.S. space agency did not reveal the nature of the call.

    They were to be greeted by Crew-11, but the mission was cut short after one of the crew members suffered a medical episode. The medical issue and the name of the person have not been disclosed.

    The Crew-12 will join Expedition 74; an expedition is the current crew onboard the International Space Station.

    During their eight-month stay, the Crew-12 will be conducting a variety of health-related experiments, as well as a study to simulate moon landings.  

     

    Anthony Leone

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  • A ‘ring of fire’ solar eclipse will dazzle people and penguins in Antarctica

    NEW YORK — The first solar eclipse of the year will grace Antarctica, and only a lucky few will get to bask — or waddle — in its glow.

    Tuesday’s annular solar eclipse, known as a “ ring of fire,” will only be visible in the southernmost continent, home to research stations and diverse wildlife.

    “The penguins down there are going to have a great show,” said astronomer Joe Llama with Lowell Observatory.

    Clear skies permitting, more people can catch a partial eclipse with small bites taken out of the sun from the tips of Chile and Argentina and bits of southeastern Africa including Madagascar, Lesotho and South Africa.

    Solar eclipses happen when the sun, moon and Earth align just so. The moon casts a shadow that can partially or totally block out the sun’s light from Earth.

    It’s “this beautiful coincidence between the size and the distance of the moon and the sun,” said astrophysicist Emily Rice with the City University of New York.

    During an annular, or ring-shaped, eclipse, the moon just happens to be farther away from Earth in its orbit so it doesn’t totally cover the sun. Only a thin sliver remains visible.

    “The sun essentially gets its core taken out,” Llama said.

    Solar eclipses happen a few times a year, but are only visible from places in the path of the moon’s shadow. Two partial eclipses happened last year, and the last total solar eclipse swept across North America in 2024.

    Looking directly at the sun is dangerous even when most of it is covered so make sure to grab eclipse glasses. They block out ultraviolet light from the sun and nearly all visible light. Sunglasses and binoculars aren’t protective enough.

    Eclipse glasses should say they comply with ISO 12312-2 standards, though fake suppliers can also list this on their products.

    There are also ways to enjoy solar eclipses indirectly. Make a pinhole projector using household materials or hold up a colander or cheese grater to the sky and look down to see images of the eclipse projected onto the ground.

    There is a total solar eclipse in the cards in August for skygazers in Greenland, Iceland, Spain, Russia and part of Portugal. Swaths of Europe, Africa and North America will be treated to a partial eclipse.

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    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • New astronauts launch to the International Space Station after medical evacuation

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A new crew rocketed toward the International Space Station on Friday to replace the astronauts who returned to Earth early in NASA’s first medical evacuation.

    SpaceX launched the replacements as soon as possible at NASA’s request, sending the U.S., French and Russian astronauts on an expected eight- to nine-month mission stretching until fall. The four should arrive at the orbiting lab Saturday, filling the vacancies left by their evacuated colleagues last month and bringing the space station back to full staff.

    “It turns out Friday the 13th is a very lucky day,” SpaceX Launch Control radioed once the astronauts reached orbit. “That was quite a ride,” replied the crew’s commander, Jessica Meir.

    NASA had to put spacewalks on hold and deferred other duties while awaiting the arrival of Americans Meir and Jack Hathaway, France’s Sophie Adenot and Russia’s Andrei Fedyaev. They’ll join three other astronauts — one American and two Russians — who kept the space station running the past month.

    Satisfied with medical procedures already in place, NASA ordered no extra checkups for the crew ahead of liftoff and no new diagnostic equipment was packed. An ultrasound machine already up there for research went into overdrive Jan. 7 when used on the ailing crew member. NASA has not revealed the ill astronaut’s identity or health issue. All four returning astronauts went straight to the hospital after splashing down in the Pacific near San Diego.

    It was the first time in 65 years of human spaceflight that NASA cut short a mission for medical reasons.

    With missions becoming longer, NASA is constantly looking at upgrades to the space station’s medical gear, said deputy program manager Dina Contella. “But there are a lot of things that are just not practical and so that’s when you need to bring astronauts home from space,” she said earlier this week.

    In preparation for moon and Mars trips where health care will be even more challenging, the new arrivals will test a filter designed to turn drinking water into emergency IV fluid, try out an ultrasound system that relies on artificial intelligence and augmented reality instead of experts on the ground, and perform ultrasound scans on their jugular veins in a blood clot study.

    They also will demonstrate their moon-landing skills in a simulated test drawing extra attention because of the impending launch of four astronauts to the moon on Artemis II, humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than half a century.

    Adenot is only the second French woman to launch to space. She was 14 when Claudie Haignere flew to Russia’s space station Mir in 1996, inspiring her to become an astronaut. Haignere cheered her on from the Florida launch site, wishing her “Bon vol,” French for “Have a good flight,” and “Ad astra,” Latin for “To the stars.”

    Hathaway, like Adenot, is new to space, while Meir and Fedyaev are making their second station trip. On her first mission in 2019, Meir took part in the first all-female spacewalk. The other half of that spacewalk, Christina Koch, is among the four Artemis II astronauts waiting to fly around the moon as early as March. A ship-to-ship radio linkup is planned between the two crews.

    Meir wasn’t sure astronauts would return to the moon during her career. “Now we’re right here on the precipice of the Artemis II mission,” she said ahead of liftoff. “The fact that they will be in space at the same time as us … it’s so cool to be an astronaut now, it’s so exciting.”

    SpaceX launched the latest crew from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Elon Musk’s company is preparing its neighboring Kennedy Space Center launch pad for the supersized Starships, which NASA needs to land astronauts on the moon.

    NASA’s new administrator Jared Isaacman said following Friday’s liftoff that testing continues at the Artemis pad, where the Space Launch System moon rocket awaits liftoff. A practice fueling last week unleashed hydrogen fuel leaks. Two seals have since been replaced and a mini fueling conducted.

    Isaacman stressed that no launch date will be set until additional fueling tests — potentially a series of them — are completed. The earliest that Artemis II could launch is March 3, he noted.

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    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Thailand uses a birth control vaccine to curb its elephant population

    BANGKOK — BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand has begun using a birth control vaccine on elephants in the wild to try and curb a growing problem where human and animal populations encroach on each other — an issue in areas where farms spread into forests and elephants are squeezed out of their natural habitat.

    The initiative is part of efforts to address confrontations that can turn deadly. As farmers cut down forests to make more farmland, elephants are forced to venture out of their shrinking habitats in search of food.

    Last year, wild elephants killed 30 people and injured 29 in Thailand, according to official figures, which also noted more than 2,000 incidents of elephants damaging crops.

    Sukhee Boonsang, director of the Wildlife Conservation Office, recently told The Associated Press that controlling the wild elephant population has become necessary as numbers of elephants living near residential areas rises sharply, increasing the risk of confrontations.

    The office obtained 25 doses of a U.S.-made vaccine and conducted a two-year trial on seven domesticated elephants — using up seven doses of the vaccine — which yielded promising results, he said. He explained the vaccine doesn’t stop female elephants from ovulating but prevents eggs from being fertilized.

    Then, in late January, the vaccine was administered to three wild elephants in eastern Trat province, he said, adding that authorities are now determining which areas to target next as they prepare to use up the remaining 15 doses.

    The vaccine can prevent pregnancy for seven years and the elephants will be able to reproduce again if they don’t receive a booster after that time expires. Experts will closely monitor the vaccinated elephants throughout the seven-year period.

    The vaccination drive has drawn criticism that it might undermine conservation efforts. Thailand has a centuries-old tradition of using domesticated elephants in farming and transportation. Elephants are also a big part of Thailand’s national identity — and have been officially proclaimed a symbol of the nation.

    Sukhee said the program targets only wild elephants in areas with the highest rates of violent human-elephant conflict. Official statistics show a birth rate of wild elephants in these regions at approximately 8.2% per year, more than double the national average of around 3.5%.

    About 800 out of the nation’s approximately 4,400 wild elephants live in these conflict-prone areas, Sukhee said.

    “If we don’t take action, the impact on people living in these areas will continue to grow until it becomes unmanageable,” he said.

    In addition to the contraception vaccine, authorities have implemented other measures to reduce conflict, Sukhee said, such as creating additional water and food sources within the forests where elephants live, constructing protective fencing, and deploying rangers to guide elephants that stray into residential areas back into the wild.

    A court-ordered operation earlier this month to remove wild elephants that have repeatedly clashed with locals in northeastern Khon Kaen province sparked a public outcry after one elephant died during the relocation process.

    An initial autopsy revealed that the elephant died from choking after anesthesia was administered ahead of the move, officials said.

    The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation carried out the relocation effort, and its director general, Athapol Charoenshunsa, expressed regret over the incident while insisting that protocol was followed properly. He said an investigation was underway to prevent such incidents from happening again.

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  • SpaceX’s Falcon 9 successfully launches and lands after Crew-12 liftoff

    CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — For the first time ever in Florida, SpaceX was able to land one of its Falcon 9 rockets just minutes after lifting off from an adjacent launch pad.

    It also means that NASA’s four Crew-12 members are on their long commute to the International Space Station.

    What You Need To Know

    • For the first time in Florida, a SpaceX rocket returned near the launch site
    • Learn more about the four astronauts as they will spend eight months on the ISS
    • They will be doing various experiments to learn more about the human body in space as well as moon-landing simulations


    During the early morning hours on Friday, NASA astronauts Cmdr. Jessica Meir and pilot Jack Hathaway, and mission specialists European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev climbed into the Falcon 9 to take off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, according to both NASA and SpaceX.

    The instantaneous launch took place at 5:15 a.m. ET.

    The Falcon 9 jumped off the launch pad and screamed into the early morning sky as space fans cheered and then were in awe as a jellyfish was seen.

    The jellyfish effect is when the Falcon 9 rocket’s (or any rocket’s) exhaust plume grows and creates a jellyfish-like “cloud” from the exhaust that has a glowing appearance if the launch is near dawn and dusk.

    After the launch, NASA officials held a press conference, where Spectrum News asked Admin. Jared Isaacman about his thoughts on seeing the first crewed launch as the U.S. space agency’s new administrator.

    The 45th Weather Squadron gave a 90% chance of favorable launch conditions, with the only concerns being the cumulus cloud rule and flight through precipitation.

    The forecast was higher than the original 85% the squadron gave for Friday’s launch. 

    If the launch was a scrub, the next attempt would have been Sunday, Feb. 15.

    Originally, the launch was set for Wednesday at 6:01 a.m. ET and then it was pushed to 5:38 a.m. ET, Thursday, until finally settled on Friday.

    The reason for this was due to the upper-level winds.

    The commute to the ISS and a historical landing

    This is the first crewed launch of 2026 and SpaceX’s Dragon capsule called Freedom was moving around 17,500 mph (28,164 kph) as it went into the black of space.

    Freedom has had an impressive resume, having been used for four crewed missions.

    For the first-stage Falcon 9 rocket booster B1101, this will be its second mission. Its first mission was last month and it was the first launch of 2026: Starlink 6-88 mission.

    And it will be a long commute to work for them. The astronauts are expected to arrive at the International Space Station at around 3:15 p.m. ET on Valentine’s Day.

    And this was a historical landing for the Sunshine State. Because the Crew-12 mission has four people onboard, the first-stage booster must land at the brand new Landing Zone 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, which is adjacent to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 40, as seen in this embedded Facebook post.

    A sonic boom cracked across the early morning sky as the Falcon 9 rocket came down for a landing.

    Landing Zone 40 is at the top right of the photo.  

    SpaceX’s lease on Landing Zone 1 and 2, located at Space Launch Complex (SLC) 13 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) ended in July 2025, after the Space Launch Delta (SLD) 45 decided to allow new, incoming Commercial Launch Service Providers (CLPS), to perform launch operations out at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station under their new Launch Pad Allocation Strategy (LPAS).

    Back in May 2023, Space Launch Delta 45 issued a press release, stating that Space Launch Complex (SLC) 15 would go to ABL Space Systems, SLC 14 to Stoke Space, and SLC 13 to Phantom Space and Vaya Space.

    The relocation of landing zone 1 & 2 from SLC 13 to Landing Zone 40 at SLC 40 allows SpaceX the opportunity to process and refurbish the returned flight proven Falcon 9 booster quicker to keep pace with their launch manifest. The move also maximizes the launch capacity along the Eastern Range, but also minimizing the impacts that CLSPs create for other CLSPs or government programs across CCSFS, because instead of the Falcon booster landing 7 miles to the south, it now returns only 1,000 feet away from where it launched from.

    “Commercial Launch Service Providers with landing operations can submit a request to SLD 45 for consideration of landing capability at their complex, which will then go through an extensive evaluation process” said Erin White, Delta planning specialist, stated in a press release in 2023.  “Requests for landing operations will be evaluated for safety implications and their impacts to other programs on CCSFS.”

    So, going forward, crewed SpaceX launches in Florida will see the first-stage rocket returning on a landing pad near the launch site, which does not pose a higher safety risk. 

    However, Landing Zone 2 will still be available for Falcon Heavy launches. Since a Falcon Heavy has three boosters, one would go on a droneship (or be expended), the next one would land on Landing Zone 40 and the third would land on Landing Zone 2, since each landing zone can only handle one booster at a time.

    Understanding the Crew-12 mission

    The quartet is not going to the International Space Station empty-handed and checking out the views of Earth from space.

    They will be busy little beavers as they conduct medical experiments during their eight-month stay.

    “The experiments, led by NASA’s Human Research Program, include astronauts performing ultrasounds of their blood vessels to study altered circulation and completing simulated lunar landings to assess disorientation during gravitational transitions, among other tasks,” NASA stated.

    NASA Public Affairs specialist Steven Siceloff shared about some of the experiments that the Crew-12 will be doing. 

    Another experiment is called Venous Flow, which will look at how time on the floating laboratory may increase the chance of astronauts developing blood clots.

    “In weightlessness, blood and other bodily fluids can move toward the head, potentially altering circulation. Any resulting blood clots could pose serious health risks, including strokes,” the U.S. space agency explained.

    For the experiment, the astronauts will undergo preflight and postflight MRIs, ultrasound scans, blood draws and blood pressure readings so scientists can compare the findings.

    But it is not all medical experiments. During the Manual Piloting study, certain crew members will conduct simulated moon landings before, during and after this mission.

    “Designed to assess their piloting and decision-making skills, participants attempt to fly a virtual spacecraft toward the lunar South Pole region — the same area future Artemis crews plan to explore,” NASA explained.

    Other experiments will be conducted.

    Meet Crew-12

    Crew-12 will not have a traditional welcome

    Usually, a crewed mission will have a welcome party, where the previous mission (in this case, Crew-11), welcomes the new arrivals.

    Pleasantries and workload are exchanged during this transition. 

    However, Crew-11 was cut short after one of its members suffered a medical episode.

    The crewmember has not been named and his or her medical issue was not disclosed.

    The event happened days before a planned spacewalk for NASA astronauts Cmdr. Zena Cardman and pilot Michael Fincke.

    NASA officials decided to cut the mission short and return Cardman, Fincke and mission specialists Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov to Earth.

    It was the first medical evacuation in the space station’s 25 years of full service. Originally, the mission was going to end in February.

    NASA officials stressed that the person was in stable condition and the four Crew-11 members appeared together in a press conference nearly a week after returning to Earth in a splashdown.

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  • A California photographer is on a quest to photograph hundreds of native bees

    LOS ANGELES — In the arid, cracked desert ground in Southern California, a tiny bee pokes its head out of a hole no larger than the tip of a crayon.

    Krystle Hickman crouches over with her specialized camera fitted to capture the minute details of the bee’s antennae and fuzzy behind.

    “Oh my gosh, you are so cute,” Hickman murmurs before the female sweat bee flies away.

    Hickman is on a quest to document hundreds of species of native bees, which are under threat by climate change and habitat loss, some of it caused by the more recognizable and agriculturally valued honey bee — an invasive species. Of the roughly 4,000 types of bees native to North America, Hickman has photographed over 300. For about 20 of them, she’s the first to ever photograph them alive.

    Through photography, she wants to raise awareness about the importance of native bees to the survival of the flora and fauna around them.

    “Saving the bees means saving their entire ecosystems,” Hickman said.

    On a Saturday in January, Hickman walked among the early wildflower bloom at Anza Borrego Desert State Park a few hundred miles east of Los Angeles, where clumps of purple verbena and patches of white primrose were blooming unusually early due to a wet winter.

    Where there are flowers, there are bees.

    Hickman has no formal science education and dropped out of a business program that she hated. But her passion for bees and keen observation skills made her a good community scientist, she said. In October, she published a book documenting California’s native bees, partly supported by National Geographic. She’s conducted research supported by the University of California, Irvine, and hopes to publish research notes this year on some of her discoveries.

    “We’re filling in a lot of gaps,” she said of the role community scientists play in contributing knowledge alongside academics.

    On a given day, she might spend 16 hours waiting beside a plant, watching as bees wake up and go about their business. They pay her no attention.

    Originally from Nebraska, Hickman moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting. She began photographing honey bees in 2018, but soon realized native bees were in greater danger.

    Now, she’s a bee scientist full time.

    “I really think anyone could do this,” Hickman said.

    Melittologists, or people who study bees, have traditionally used pan trapping to collect and examine dead bee specimens. To officially log a new species, scientists usually must submit several bees to labs, Hickman said.

    There can be small anatomical differences between species that can’t be photographed, such as the underside of a bee, Hickman said.

    But Hickman is vehemently against capturing bees. She worries about harming already threatened species. Unofficially, she thinks she’s photographed at least four previously undescribed species.

    Hickman said she’s angered “a few melittologists before because I won’t tell them where things are.”

    Her approach has helped her forge a path as a bee behavior expert.

    During her trip to Anza Borrego, Hickman noted that the bees won’t emerge from their hideouts until around 10 a.m., when the desert begins to heat up. They generally spend 20 minutes foraging and 10 minutes back in their burrows to offload pollen, she said.

    “It’s really shockingly easy to make new behavioral discoveries just because no one’s looking at insects alive,” she said.

    Hickman still works closely with other melittologists, often sending them photos for identification and discussing research ideas.

    Christine Wilkinson, assistant curator of community science at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, said Hickman was a perfect example of why it’s important to incorporate different perspectives in the pursuit of scientific knowledge.

    “There are so many different ways of knowing and relating to the world,” Wilkinson said. “Getting engaged as a community scientist can also get people interested in and passionate about really making change.”

    There’s a critically endangered bee that Hickman is particularly determined to find – Bombus franklini, or Franklin’s bumblebee, last seen in 2006.

    Since 2021, she’s traveled annually to the Oregon-California border to look for it.

    “There’s quite a few people who think it’s extinct, but I’m being really optimistic about it,” she said.

    Habitat loss, as well as competition from honey bees, have made it harder for native bees to survive. Many native bees will only drink the nectar or eat the pollen of a specific plant.

    Because of her success in tracking down bees, she’s now working with various universities and community groups to help find lost species, which are bees that haven’t been documented in the wild for at least a decade.

    Hickman often finds herself explaining to audiences why native bees are important. They don’t make honey, and the disappearance of a few bees might not have an apparent impact on humans.

    “But things that live here, they deserve to live here. And that should be a good enough reason to protect them,” she said.

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  • Scientific studies calculate climate change as health danger

    The Trump administration on Thursday revoked a scientific finding that climate change is a danger to public health, an idea that President Donald Trump called “a scam.” But repeated scientific studies say it’s a documented and quantifiable harm.

    Again and again, research has found increasing disease and deaths — thousands every year — in a warming world.

    The Environmental Protection Agency finding in 2009, under the Obama administration, has been the legal underpinning of nearly all regulations fighting global warming.

    “It boggles the mind that the administration is rescinding the endangerment finding; it’s akin to insisting that the world is flat or denying that gravity is a thing,” said Dr. Howard Frumkin, a physician and professor emeritus of public health at the University of Washington.

    Thousands of scientific studies have looked at climate change and its effects on human health in the past five years and they predominantly show climate change is increasingly dangerous to people.

    Many conclude that in the United States, thousands of people have died and even more were sickened because of climate change in the past few decades.

    For example, a study on “Trends in heat-related deaths in the U.S., 1999-2023 ” in the prestigious JAMA journal shows the yearly heat-related death count and rate have more than doubled in the past quarter century from 1,069 in 1999 to a record high 2,325 in 2023.

    A 2021 study in Nature Climate Change looked at 732 locations in 43 countries — including 210 in the United States — and determined that more than a third of heat deaths are due to human-caused climate change. That means more than 9,700 global deaths a year attributed to warming from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas.

    A new study published this week found that 2.2% of summer deaths in Texas from 2010 to 2023 were heat related “as climate change brings more frequent and intense heat to Texas.”

    In the more than 15 years, since the government first determined climate change to be a public health danger, there have been more than 29,000 peer-reviewed studies that looked at the intersection of climate and health, with more than 5,000 looking specifically at the United States, according to the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed research database.

    More than 60% of those studies have been published in the past five years.

    “Study after study documents that climate change endangers health, for one simple reason: It’s true,” said Frumkin, a former director of the National Center for Environmental Health appointed by President George W. Bush.

    In a Thursday event at the White House, Trump disagreed, saying: “It has nothing to do with public health. This is all a scam, a giant scam.”

    Experts strongly disagree.

    “Health risks are increasing because human-cause climate change is already upon us. Take the 2021 heat dome for example, that killed (more than) 600 people in the Northwest,” said Dr. Jonathan Patz, a physician who directs the Center for Health, Energy and Environmental Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “The new climate attribution studies show that event was made 150-fold more likely due to climate change.”

    Patz and Frumkin both said the “vast majority” of peer-reviewed studies show health harms from climate change. Peer-reviewed studies are considered the gold standard of science because other experts pore over the data, evidence and methods, requiring changes, questioning techniques and conclusions.

    The various studies look at different parts of health. Some looked at deaths that wouldn’t have happened without climate change. Others looked at illnesses and injuries that didn’t kill people. Because researchers used different time periods, calculation methods and specific aspects of health, the final numbers of their conclusions don’t completely match.

    Studies also examined disparities among different peoples and locations. A growing field in the research are attribution studies that calculate what proportion of deaths or illness can be blamed on human-caused climate change by comparing real-world mortality and illness to what computer simulations show would happen in a world without a spike in greenhouse gases.

    Last year an international team of researchers looked at past studies to try to come up with a yearly health cost of climate change.

    While many studies just look at heat deaths, this team tried to bring in a variety of types of climate change deaths — heat waves, extreme weather disasters such as 2017’s Hurricane Harvey, wildfires, air pollution, diseases spread by mosquitos such as malaria — and found hundreds of thousands of climate change deaths globally.

    They then used the EPA’s own statistic that puts a dollar value on human life — $11.5 million in 2014 dollars — and calculated a global annual cost “on the order of at least $10 billion.”

    Studies also connect climate change to waterborne infections that cause diarrhea, mental health issues and even nutrition problems, Frumkin said.

    “Public health is not only about prevention of diseases, death and disability but also well-being. We are increasingly seeing people displaced by rising seas, intensifying storms and fires,” said Dr. Lynn Goldman, a physician and dean emeritus at the George Washington University School of Public Health.

    “We have only begun to understand the full consequences of a changing climate in terms of health.”

    The issue gets complicated when cold-related deaths are factored in. Those deaths are decreasing, yet in the United States there are still 13 times more deaths from cold exposure than heat exposure, studies show.

    Another study concludes that until the world warms another 2.7 degrees (1.5 degrees Celsius) from now, the number of temperature-related deaths won’t change much “due to offsetting decreases in cold-related mortality and increases in heat-related deaths.”

    But that study said that after temperatures rise beyond that threshold, and if society doesn’t adapt to the increased heat, “total mortality rises rapidly.”

    ___

    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Genetic analysis could speed up restoration of iconic American chestnut: Scientists

    WASHINGTON — Billions of American chestnut trees once covered the eastern United States. They soared in height, producing so many nuts that sellers moved them by train car. Every Christmas, they’re called to mind by the holiday lyric “chestnuts roasting on an open fire.”

    But by the 1950s, this venerable tree went functionally extinct, culled by a deadly airborne fungal blight and lethal root rot. A new study out Thursday in the journal Science provides hope for its revitalization, finding that the genetic testing of individual trees can reveal which are most likely to resist disease and grow tall, thus shortening how long it takes to plant the next, more robust, generation.

    A smaller gap between generations means a faster path to lots of disease-resistant trees that will once again be able to compete for space in Eastern forests. The authors hope that can occur in the coming decades.

    “What’s new here is the engine that we’re creating for restoration,” said Jared Westbrook, lead author and director of science at The American Chestnut Foundation, which wants to return the tree to its native range that once stretched from Maine to Mississippi.

    The American chestnut, sometimes called the “redwood of the East,” can grow quickly and reach more than 100 feet (30 meters), produce prodigious amounts of nutritious chestnuts and supply lumber favored for its straight grain and durability.

    But it had little defense against foreign-introduced blight and root rot. Another type of chestnut, however, had evolved alongside those diseases. The Chinese chestnut had been introduced for its valuable nuts and it could resist diseases. But it isn’t as tall or competitive in U.S. forests, nor has it served the same critical role supporting other species.

    So, the authors want a tree with the characteristics of the American chestnut and the disease resistance of the Chinese chestnut.

    That goal is not new — scientists have been reaching for it for decades and made some progress.

    But it has been difficult because the American chestnut’s desirable traits are scattered across multiple spots along its genome, the DNA string that tells the tree how to develop and function.

    “It’s a very complex trait, and in that case, you can’t just select on one thing because you’ll select on linked things that are negative,” said John Lovell, senior author and researcher at the HudsonAlpha Genome Sequencing Center.

    Breed for disease resistance alone and the trees get shorter, less competitive.

    To deal with this, the authors sequenced the genome of multiple types of chestnuts and found the many places that correlated with the desired traits. They can then use that information to breed trees that are more likely to have desirable traits while maintaining high amounts of American chestnut DNA — roughly 70% to 85%.

    And genetic testing allows the process to move faster, revealing the best offspring years before their traits would be demonstrated by natural growth and encountering disease. The closer the gap between generations, the faster gains accumulate.

    Steven Strauss, a professor of forest biotechnology at Oregon State University who wasn’t involved in the study, said the paper identified some promising genes. He wants scientists to be able to edit the genes themselves, a possibly faster, more precise path to a better tree. In an accompanying commentary piece in Science, he says regulations can bog down these ideas for years.

    “People just won’t consider biotech because it is on the other side of this social, legal barrier” and that’s shortsighted, he said.

    For people who have closely studied the American chestnut, the work begs an almost existential question: How much can the American chestnut be changed and still be an American chestnut?

    “The American chestnut has a unique evolutionary history, it has a specific place in the North American ecosystem,” said Donald Edward Davis, author of the American chestnut, an environmental history. “Having that tree and no other trees would be sort of the gold standard.”

    He said the tree was a keystone species, useful to humans and vital to bigger populations of squirrels, chipmunks and black bears — hybrids might not be as majestic or effective. He was pleased that the authors included some surviving American chestnuts in their proposal, but favored an approach that relied on them more heavily.

    “Not that the hybrid approach is itself bad, it is just that why not try to get the wild American trees back in the forest, back in the ecosystem, and exhaust all possibilities from doing that before we move on to some of these other methods?” he said.

    Lovells said resurrecting the species requires introducing genetic diversity from outside the traditional pool of American chestnut trees. The study authors’ goal is tall, resilient trees and they are optimistic.

    “I think if we only select American chestnut (tree genes), period, there’s going to be too small of a pool and we’re going to end up with a genetic bottleneck that will lead to extinction in the future,” said Lovell.

    ___

    The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

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  • Crew-12 will see first landing of Falcon 9 at Space Coast launch site

    CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — As NASA and SpaceX prepare for the Crew-12 mission, it will mark the first time a SpaceX rocket will land near its launch site in Florida.

    What You Need To Know

    • For the first time in Florida, a SpaceX rocket will return near the launch site
    • Learn more about the four astronauts as they will spend eight months on the ISS
    • They will be doing various experiments to learn more about the human body in space as well as moon-landing simulations

    During the early morning hours on Friday, NASA astronauts Cmdr. Jessica Meir and pilot Jack Hathaway, and mission specialists European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev will climb into the Falcon 9 to take off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, stated both NASA and SpaceX.

    The instantaneous launch is set to take place at 5:15 a.m. ET.

    The 45th Weather Squadron is giving a 90% chance of favorable launch conditions, with the only concerns being the cumulus cloud rule and flight through precipitation.

    The forecast is an increase compared to the original 85% the squadron gave for Friday’s launch. 

    If the launch is a scrub, the next attempt will be Sunday, Feb. 15.

    Originally, the launch was set for Wednesday at 6:01 a.m. ET and then it was pushed to 5:38 a.m. ET, Thursday, until finally settling on Friday.

    The reason for this was due to the upper-level winds.

    The commute to the ISS and a historical landing

    This is the first crewed launch of 2026 and SpaceX’s Dragon capsule called Freedom is expected to be screaming at about 17,500 mph (28,164 kph) as it goes into the black of space.

    Freedom has had an impressive resume, having been used for four crewed missions.

    For the first-stage Falcon 9 rocket booster B1101, this will be its second mission. Its first mission was last month and it was the first launch of 2026: Starlink 6-88 mission.

    And it will be a long commute to work for them. The astronauts are expected to arrive at the International Space Station at around 3:15 p.m. ET on Valentine’s Day.

    And this is going to be a historical landing for the Sunshine State. Because the Crew-12 mission will have four people onboard, the first-stage booster must land at Landing Zone 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, which is adjacent to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 40, as seen in this embedded Facebook post. Landing Zone 40 is at the top right of the photo. 

    This will be the first time a Falcon 9 rocket will land near its launch site in Florida. The first-stage boosters usually land on a droneship out in the Atlantic Ocean or at a landing zone on land but away from the launch site.

    However, SpaceX’s lease on Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ended in July 2025.

    Back in May 2023, Space Launch Delta 45 issued a press release, stating, “SLC 13, currently Landing Zone 1 and 2, is also moving forward with Phantom Space and Vaya Space.”

    It means that the existing launch complex property agreements for landing operations were discontinued after the agreements expired.

    So, going forward, crewed SpaceX launches in Florida will see the first-stage rocket returning on a landing pad near the launch site.

    Understanding the Crew-12 mission

    The quartet is not going to the International Space Station empty-handed and checking out the views of Earth from space.

    They will be busy little beavers as they will be conducting medical experiments during their eight-month stay.

    “The experiments, led by NASA’s Human Research Program, include astronauts performing ultrasounds of their blood vessels to study altered circulation and completing simulated lunar landings to assess disorientation during gravitational transitions, among other tasks,” NASA stated.

    Another experiment is called Venous Flow, which will look at how time on the floating laboratory may increase the chance of astronauts developing blood clots.

    “In weightlessness, blood and other bodily fluids can move toward the head, potentially altering circulation. Any resulting blood clots could pose serious health risks, including strokes,” the U.S. space agency explained.

    For the experiment, the astronauts will undergo preflight and postflight MRIs, ultrasound scans, blood draws and blood pressure readings so scientists can compare the findings.

    But it is not all medical experiments. During the Manual Piloting study, certain crew members will be conducting simulated moon landings before, during and after this mission.

    “Designed to assess their piloting and decision-making skills, participants attempt to fly a virtual spacecraft toward the lunar South Pole region — the same area future Artemis crews plan to explore,” NASA explained.

    Other experiments will be conducted.

    Meet Crew-12

    Crew-12 will not have a traditional welcome

    Usually, a crewed mission will have a welcome party, where the previous mission (in this case, Crew-11), welcomes the new arrivals.

    Pleasantries and workload are exchanged during this transition.

    However, Crew-11 was cut short after one of its members suffered a medical episode.

    The crewmember has not been named and his or her medical issue was not disclosed.

    The event happened days before a planned spacewalk for NASA astronauts Cmdr. Zena Cardman and pilot Michael Fincke.

    NASA officials decided to cut the mission short and return Cardman, Fincke and mission specialists Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov to Earth.

    It was the first medical evacuation in the space station’s 25 years of full service. Originally, the mission was going to end in February.

    NASA officials stressed that the person was in stable condition and the four Crew-11 members appeared together in a press conference nearly a week after returning to Earth in a splashdown.

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  • A quicker climb up the literacy mountain: Why rigor and efficiency matter in early reading

    Key points:

    In early literacy, the goal is simple but urgent: Help students become independent readers and writers. Every instructional decision we make either moves them closer to that goal or keeps them circling the mountain instead of climbing it. As literacy researcher Timothy Shanahan reminds us, “If a mountain is high, we should help children to climb that mountain. With appropriate supports and scaffolds it can be done.”

    As an early literacy coach specializing in pre-K to grade five, I work with teachers and districts to accelerate access so all students can become independent, empowered readers. I focus on the most efficient, research-supported strategies to help children learn to read with confidence.

    Unfortunately, many traditional literacy approaches treat third grade as the finish line for learning to read, leaving too many students stranded on the mountainside.

    The phonics code introduced in K-2 doesn’t disappear as texts become more complex. In fact, upper grade reading places even greater demands on decoding as vocabulary grows longer and more morphologically complex. While many teachers want to support students through this shift, they often lack the training, tools, and time needed to continue explicit instruction in word recognition.

    The danger of a slow rollout

    Time is of the essence. One longitudinal study found that first graders who are behind in reading have an 88 percent chance of still being behind in fourth grade. This pattern reflects what researchers call the Matthew Effect: Students who fall behind early tend to fall further behind over time unless instruction accelerates their progress.

    This is why students who are catching up still need regular opportunities to engage with grade-level text. Students need rigor paired with intentional scaffolding–not simplified reading assignments that limit access to the language, ideas, and vocabulary found in complex texts.

    There is a common belief that, after enough reading lessons, a switch will flip and reading will simply click. But learning to read is far more nuanced. While phonics instruction is typically organized across a K-2 scope and sequence, students who miss or only partially master early skills often carry those gaps forward. By third or fourth grade, these unresolved gaps can block access to grade-level text.

    A brain-based, research-aligned approach

    At any age, when students understand the logic behind the code, reading stops feeling random. They begin noticing patterns, decoding unfamiliar words, and approaching text with genuine confidence.

    English is a morphophonemic language, which means our spelling system represents both morphology (meaning) and phonology (sound). When instruction reflects this, everything changes for students. That’s why I advocate for teaching how sounds, spelling patterns, and meaning work together, rather than relying on rote memorization or delaying access to key phonics patterns. It’s also important to introduce morphology and etymology early, giving students access to the meaningful building blocks of complex words.

    Here’s what this brain-based approach looks like in practice. While working in a district implementing a systematic, research-aligned literacy framework, I began tutoring a student at the very end of second grade. He had little confidence in his reading ability and regularly said things like, “I’m a terrible reader.”

    To accelerate his literacy development, I focused on three priorities: identifying his precise gaps, closing them efficiently, and ensuring he could access grade-level text with support.

    To understand where he was struggling, the first step was administering a universal literacy screener, Acadience Reading. His results showed he was well below benchmark in oral reading fluency for his grade. 

    From there, I administered a phonics diagnostic to pinpoint his specific needs. I used the Intervention Placement Test from UFLI Foundations, which placed him at a lesson within the program’s scope and sequence and clarified exactly which skills still required explicit instruction. I then began targeted, systematic phonics instruction using UFLI Foundations.

    But assessment and phonics instruction alone weren’t enough. Decodable texts are essential, but they must be paired with supported access to grade-level text. Because this student was moving into third grade, I selected grade-level texts from ReadWorks around a topic he was interested in.

    To accelerate his progress beyond the limits of a traditional scope and sequence, I integrated Secret Stories–an ESSA Tier 1 supplemental phonics resource with an average effect size of 1.62 that helps students quickly learn and apply complex phonics patterns through brief, brain-based stories.

    I used Secret Stories within UFLI phonics lessons to teach tricky patterns, and outside of phonics instruction to unlock words in grade-level texts he was not “supposed” to be able to read yet. Because most Secret Stories take under 30 seconds to teach, they can be embedded anywhere in the day. For example, when the calendar shows the month of August, teachers might pause to review why AU makes the “aww” sound. Once learned, those explanations become tools kids can immediately apply during reading, writing, and content instruction. 

    To further prepare him for these grade-level texts, I pre-taught key vocabulary and explicitly introduced relevant morphemes–prefixes, suffixes and root words. I also used The Writing Revolution, a book with resources for teaching writing and sentence syntax, and Brainspring, a morphology resource my district had just started using for third grade and up to teach new prefixes, suffixes, and roots.

    Putting this set of literacy “mountain-climbing gear” in place took intentional effort, and I worried it might be too much. Instead, he leaned in. With the right supports and someone beside him, he embraced the challenge and began to see himself as a capable reader. The rigor didn’t overwhelm him. It gave him confidence.

    Achieving the peak of independence

    Many older students face the same struggles as the second-grader I supported. They never fully mastered the early phonics sequence, and those gaps accumulate over time. By the time they encounter texts filled with multisyllabic words, unfamiliar morphemes, dense syntax, and academic vocabulary, reading can feel overwhelming.

    But when those patterns are reintroduced through clear, brain-based explanations, older learners often catch on quickly. Words that once felt confusing begin to make sense. They experience the same “aha” moments as younger learners with an even deeper sense of relief and empowerment–and without feeling remediated. For students who felt stuck below grade level for years, this shift is transformative.

    Today, that same student, now halfway through third grade, is confidently reading grade-level text, with a renewed sense of competence and joy. In just eight months, his oral reading fluency moved from ‘well below benchmark’ to ‘at benchmark.’

    Each successful mountain climber is a reminder that the end goal of literacy instruction isn’t mastery of isolated skills like phonemic awareness or sight words. In isolation, these skills move students sideways or, as Shanahan describes, “walk students around the mountain rather than up it.” Instead, the goal is upward progress, toward independent reading and writing. Every instructional decision, assessment, program and resource we choose should point students efficiently up the mountain, helping them reach the peak with confidence and purpose.

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    Leah Ruesink, Early Literacy Coach

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  • ULA prepares to launch U.S. Space Force tracking satellites

    CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — Early Thursday morning, United Launch Alliance (ULA) will be sending up satellites for the U.S. Space Force.

    What You Need To Know

    • ULA’s Vulcan rocket will be sending up USSF-87 mission from Space Launch Complex-41 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station

    ULA’s Vulcan rocket will be sending up USSF-87 mission from Space Launch Complex-41 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, stated the company, which is a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

    The two-hour launch window opens at 3:30 a.m. ET to 5:30 a.m. ET, which means that ULA has during that time period to launch the mission.

    Unlike SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, the Vulcan rocket is not reusable, and it will not land on a droneship or landing pad.

    The Vulcan is the booster, while the Centaur is the second stage.

    The 45th Weather Squadron has given a 95% chance of good liftoff conditions, with the only worries being the cumulus cloud rule.

    About the mission

    Not much is known about the mission, except that the USSF-87 mission will see numerous Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program satellites go to a geosynchronous orbit, so about more than 22,000 miles (35,406 kilometers) above the little round Earth.

    “The USSF-87 mission will carry a variety of payloads that will promote the advancement of space technology to benefit future programs of record. The primary payload is the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) space system, built by Northrop Grumman; a capability supporting the U.S. Space Command space surveillance operations as a high-performance, dedicated Space Surveillance Network sensor. They provide ‘neighborhood watch’ services in the geostationary Earth arena, improving flight safety for all spacefaring nations operating in that orbit,” the U.S. Space Force’s Space System Command explained in a press release.

    Watch the launch

    [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFw6xy2zGCo[/embed]

    [ad_2] Anthony Leone
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  • Newly obtained emails undermine RFK Jr.’s testimony about 2019 Samoa trip before measles outbreak

    Over two days of questioning during his Senate confirmation hearings last year, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. repeated the same answer.

    He said the closely scrutinized 2019 trip he took to Samoa, which came before a devastating measles outbreak, had “nothing to do with vaccines.”

    Documents obtained by The Guardian and The Associated Press undermine that testimony. Emails sent by staffers at the U.S. Embassy and the United Nations provide, for the first time, an inside look at how Kennedy’s trip came about and include contemporaneous accounts suggesting his concerns about vaccine safety motivated the visit.

    The documents have prompted concerns from at least one U.S. senator that the lawyer and activist now leading America’s health policy lied to Congress over the visit. Samoan officials later said Kennedy’s trip bolstered the credibility of anti-vaccine activists ahead of the measles outbreak, which sickened thousands of people and killed 83, mostly children under age 5.

    The revelations, which come as measles outbreaks erupt across the U.S., build on previous criticism that Kennedy’s anti-vaccine record makes him unfit to serve as health secretary, a role in which he has worked to radically reshape immunization policy and public perceptions of vaccines.

    The newly disclosed documents also reveal previously unknown details of the trip, including that a U.S. Embassy employee helped Kennedy’s team connect with Samoan officials. Kennedy, then running his anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense, did not publicly discuss the trip at the time, but he has since said his “purpose” for going there was not related to vaccines and “I ended up having conversations with people, some of whom I never intended to meet.” Besides meeting with anti-vaccine activists, Kennedy met with Samoan officials, including the health minister at the time, who told NBC News that Kennedy shared his view that vaccines were not safe. Kennedy has said he went there to introduce a medical data system.

    The U.S. State Department turned over the emails — many of which are heavily redacted — as a result of an open records lawsuit brought with the assistance of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

    These disclosures come at a time when Kennedy, as President Donald Trump’s health secretary, has used his power and enormous public influence to overhaul federal immunization guidance and raise suspicion about the safety and importance of vaccines, including the measles vaccine. Meanwhile, measles outbreaks in multiple U.S. states have rolled back decades of success in eliminating the highly contagious disease, putting the country on the verge of losing its elimination status. The latest figures show more than 875 people in South Carolina have been infected.

    Kennedy addressed questions about his trip to Samoa during two Senate confirmation hearings for his appointment as health secretary.

    “My purpose in going down there had nothing to do with vaccines,” he said under questioning by Democratic Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts in his Jan. 30, 2025, hearing.

    “Did the trip have nothing to do with vaccines as you told my colleagues in Senate Finance yesterday?” Markey asked later.

    “Nothing to do with vaccines,” Kennedy replied.

    One of the senators who questioned Kennedy about Samoa during his confirmation hearings, Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, responded to the records by saying, “Kennedy’s anti-vaccine agenda is directly responsible for the deaths of innocent children.”

    “Lying to Congress about his role in the deadly measles outbreak in Samoa only underscores the danger he now poses to families across America,” Wyden said in an email. “He and his allies will be held responsible.”

    Taylor Harvey, a spokesman for Wyden and other Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee, said it is a crime to make a false statement to Congress and “casual, false denials to Congress will not be swept under the rug.”

    A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to questions sent by email and text message.

    Kennedy has said his visit did not influence people’s decisions on whether to get themselves or their children immunized.

    “I had nothing to do with people not vaccinating in Samoa. I never told anybody not to vaccinate,” he told the 2023 documentary “Shot in the Arm.” “I didn’t, you know, go there for any reason to do with that.”

    Anti-vaccine activists in the United States became interested in Samoa in July 2018, when two babies died after being injected with a tainted measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine that had been improperly prepared. The government halted the vaccine program for 10 months, until the following April. Vaccination rates plummeted.

    The records show that during the time when no vaccines were being administered, Kennedy’s group, Children’s Health Defense, was trying to connect Kennedy with Samoa’s prime minister. A January 2019 email from the group’s then-president, Lyn Redwood, to Samoan activist Edwin Tamasese asked him to “please share this letter with the Honorable Prime Minister Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi for Robert Kennedy, Jr.”

    About two months later, Tamasese wrote back to Redwood, with a cc: to Kennedy and others.

    “Hope all is well, organizing logistics with the PMs office and wanted to confirm how many people are coming? Also just wanted to confirm costs etc for the visit and how this will be handled,” he wrote.

    Tamasese immediately forwarded the chain of messages to the personal and government email accounts of Benjamin Harding, at the time an employee of the U.S. Embassy in Apia, Samoa.

    “just sent this. expecting an answer tomorrow as I think it is Sunday there. your letter looks good,” Tamasese told Harding.

    While the U.S. Embassy in the past has acknowledged that an unnamed staffer attended an event with Kennedy and anti-vaccine activists while he was in Samoa, the records show that Harding wasn’t a passive attendee: He helped arrange Kennedy’s visit and connected Kennedy’s delegation with Samoan government officials.

    In a May 23, 2019, email to Harding’s personal email address, a staffer for the Samoan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade wrote: “Hi Benj, Currently awaiting the official bio-notes for Mr Kennedy and Dr Graven to convey to the Hon. Prime Minister and Hon. Minister of Health for their reference. Please note, that this needs to be sent with our official letter when requesting an appointment.”

    Harding forwarded the ministry’s request to Dr. Michael Graven, then the chief information officer at Children’s Health Defense.

    Harding did not respond to messages seeking comment sent to several listed email addresses, social media accounts, a phone number listed to his parents and a general mailbox at a company he lists as a current workplace on his LinkedIn profile.

    Embassy staffers got a tip about Harding’s involvement in the trip from Sheldon Yett, then the representative for Pacific island countries at UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund.

    “We now understand that the Prime Minister has invited Robert Kennedy and his team to come to Samoa to investigate the safety of the vaccine,” Yett wrote in a May 22, 2019, email to an embassy staffer based in New Zealand. “The staff member in question seems to have had a role in facilitating this.”

    Two days later, a top embassy staff member in Apia wrote to Scott Brown, then the Republican U.S. president’s ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, alerting him to Kennedy’s trip and Harding’s involvement.

    “The real reason Kennedy is coming is to raise awareness about vaccinations, more specifically some of the health concerns associated with vaccinating (from his point of view),” the embassy official, Antone Greubel, wrote. “It turns out our very own Benjamin Harding played some role in a personal capacity to bring him here.” Greubel wrote that he told Harding to “cease and desist from any further involvement with this travel,” though the rest of the sentence is redacted.

    Yett did not respond to questions, though he said in an email, “that was a very grim time in Samoa.”

    Brown, who is running for the U.S. Senate in New Hampshire, declined to comment. Greubel referred questions to a press office at the State Department. A State Department spokesperson would not answer questions about the records, saying that as a general practice they do not comment on personnel matters.

    Harding left the embassy in July 2020, though he remains in Samoa, according to his LinkedIn account.

    Kennedy ultimately visited in June 2019. While there, he and his wife, actor Cheryl Hines, were photographed greeting the prime minister during an Independence Day celebration. He also met with government health officials as well as a group of figures who have cast doubt on vaccines, including Tamasese.

    The Guardian and the AP could find no record of Kennedy publicly discussing the purpose of his trip until after measles struck. In 2021, he wrote that he went there to discuss “the introduction of a medical informatics system” to track drug safety. He said Samoan officials “were curious to measure health outcomes following the ‘natural experiment’ created by the national respite from vaccines.”

    Since then, he has said his reason for going to Samoa was not related to vaccines.

    Redwood, the former Children’s Health Defense president who made early outreach to Samoa, is now an employee at HHS, reportedly working on vaccine safety.

    During the measles outbreak, Kennedy wrote a four-page letter to Samoa’s prime minister suggesting without evidence that the measles infections were due to a defective vaccine and floating other unfounded theories.

    ___

    This story was jointly reported and published by The Guardian and The Associated Press.

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  • Fear among Minnesota’s Somali community compounds a public health woe: Low measles vaccination rates

    MINNEAPOLIS — Public health officials and community leaders say that even before federal immigration authorities launched a crackdown in Minneapolis, a crisis was brewing.

    Measles vaccination rates among the state’s large Somali community had plummeted, with the myth that the shot causes autism spreading. Not even four measles outbreaks since 2011 made a dent in the trend. But recently, immunization advocates noted small victories, including mobile clinics and a vaccine confidence task force.

    Now, with the U.S. on the verge of losing its measles elimination status, those on the front lines of the battle against vaccine misinformation say much progress has been lost. Many residents fear leaving home at all, let alone seeking medical advice or visiting a doctor’s office.

    “People are worried about survival,” said nurse practitioner Munira Maalimisaq, CEO of the Inspire Change Clinic, near a Minneapolis neighborhood where many Somalis live. “Vaccines are the last thing on people’s minds. But it is a big issue.”

    A discussion group for Somali mothers at Inspire Change has shifted online indefinitely. In community WhatsApp groups and other channels, parents have more pressing priorities: Who will care for kids when they can’t go to school? How can we safely get groceries and prescriptions?

    In 2006, 92% of Somali 2-year-olds were up-to-date on the measles vaccine, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. Today’s rate is closer to 24%, according to state data. A 95% rate is needed to prevent outbreaks of measles, an extremely contagious disease.

    Community vaccination efforts go through cycles, Maalimisaq said, with initiatives starting and stopping.

    Imam Yusuf Abdulle said immigration enforcement has put everything on hold.

    “People are stuck in their homes, cannot go to work,” he said. “It is madness. And the last thing to think about is talking about autism, talking about childhood vaccination. Adults cannot get out of the house, forget about kids.”

    Estimated autism rates in Somali 4-year-olds are 3.5 times higher than those of white 4-year-olds in Minnesota, according to University of Minnesota data. Researchers say they don’t know why. And in this vacuum of scientific certainty, inaccurate beliefs thrive.

    Many blame the measles, mumps and rubella shot — a single injection proven to safely protect against the three viruses, with the first dose recommended when children are 12 to 15 months old.

    In November, at one of Maalimisaq’s last Motherhood Circle gatherings, Somali mothers and grandmothers volleyed questions at facilitators. Won’t a shot for three viruses overwhelm a baby? Why does autism seem more prevalent here than back home?

    Vaccines are tested for safety, Maalimisaq and her panel explained. Delaying a shot is risky, they warned, because of what measles — which is seeing its highest spread in the country in more than three decades — can do.

    Local health officials have long followed best practices: enlisting community members to champion vaccines, hosting mobile clinics and uplifting the work of Somali health providers like Maalimisaq.

    But initiatives have been start-and-stop. Federal funding cuts affected efforts, and public health officials admit their outreach could be more consistent and comprehensive.

    Most parents here vaccinate their children eventually. Many Somali families prefer to wait until a child is 5, despite a lack of evidence that doing so cuts autism rates. Measles is endemic in Somalia, where war and international aid cuts have crippled the medical system, and elsewhere in East Africa where residents here often travel.

    “Measles is just a plane ride away, and measles is going to find the unvaccinated,” said Carly Edson, the state health department’s immunization outreach coordinator. “We are always at risk.”

    About 84,000 Somalis live in the Twin Cities area, of 260,000 nationwide. The community is the country’s largest, and most are U.S. citizens. Before the immigration crackdown, mosques and malls buzzed, with people gathering during evenings to sip chai or have henna drawn on their hands.

    Now, many in the community want to lie low. People are afraid to seek routine medical care. Without those touchpoints, trust quickly erodes, Maalimisaq said.

    Among the last cohort of Somali moms at the clinic, 83% had vaccinated their kids by the end of the 12-month program, she said. Some were making 10-second videos explaining why they vaccinated. But efforts have paused.

    Parents here have long dealt with racism and isolation, though they’ve built a strong community. They want answers for the autism rates, but science has no simple answers for what causes the lifelong neurological condition, said Mahdi Warsama, the Somali Parents Autism Network’s CEO.

    Warsama said Trump’s unproven claims last fall that taking Tylenol during pregnancy could cause autism sparked fears and questions here. The idea that the MMR shot should be split into three vaccines — one backed, with no scientific basis, by acting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Jim O’Neill, though no standalone shots are available in the U.S. — has spread, too.

    Warsama traces the issue back more than a decade, when discredited researcher Andrew Wakefield published his study — since retracted — claiming a link between autism and the MMR vaccine. Wakefield visited with Twin Cities Somalis in 2011.

    “The misinformers will always fill the void,” Warsama said.

    Parents want to be heard, not debated — that’s why short doctor appointments don’t work, said Fatuma Sharif-Mohamed, a Somali community health educator.

    “That 15 minutes will not change the mind of a parent,” she said.

    Some doctors are pushing beyond the exam room — work they describe as slow and taxing. Changing one family’s mind can take multiple visits, even years.

    Dr. Bryan Fate, leader of a Children’s Minnesota vaccine confidence committee, said new strategies are underway, including social media videos from doctors and possibly a prenatal classes for expectant parents.

    “I’m going to call you in five days,” Fate said he tells hesitant parents, “and there’ll be no changes to this speech.”

    Overall, Minnesota’s kindergarten MMR vaccination rate has dropped more than 6 percentage points in the past five years, compared with a 2-point drop nationwide.

    State data suggests the effort to catch kids up may be effective: While less than 1 in 4 Somali kids in Minnesota is vaccinated against measles by age 2, 86% get at least one dose by age 6 — just short of the statewide rate, 89%.

    Doctors worry in particular about unprotected young children, for whom severe complications — pneumonia, brain swelling and blindness — are more common.

    Imam Abdulle said when parents ask him about the vaccine, he tells his own story. He wasn’t opposed to it but decided to err on the side of waiting. His son was diagnosed with autism at age 3, Abdulle said, and later was vaccinated.

    Correlation, he reminds parents, is not causation.

    The community doesn’t want to be painted as a source of disease, Abdulle said. But after outbreaks in 2011, 2017, 2022 and 2024, there’s also open acknowledgment that measles isn’t going away.

    “Our kids are the ones who are getting sick,” Abdulle said. “Our community is suffering.”

    Last year, Minnesota logged 26 measles cases. The state health department said the cases were across several different communities with pockets of unvaccinated people.

    In Maalimisaq’s Motherhood Circles, the most effective words often come not from doctors but fellow parents, such as Mirad Farah. Farah’s daughter was born premature. She worried the MMR shot would be too much and delayed vaccination. Her daughter still developed autism.

    “So what did that tell me?” she asked the room. “It confirmed that autism is not from the MMR.”

    ___

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Fear Among Minnesota’s Somali Community Compounds a Public Health Woe: Low Measles Vaccination Rates

    MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Public health officials and community leaders say that even before federal immigration authorities launched a crackdown in Minneapolis, a crisis was brewing.

    Measles vaccination rates among the state’s large Somali community had plummeted, with the myth that the shot causes autism spreading. Not even four measles outbreaks since 2011 made a dent in the trend. But recently, immunization advocates noted small victories, including mobile clinics and a vaccine confidence task force.

    “People are worried about survival,” said nurse practitioner Munira Maalimisaq, CEO of the Inspire Change Clinic, near a Minneapolis neighborhood where many Somalis live. “Vaccines are the last thing on people’s minds. But it is a big issue.”

    A discussion group for Somali mothers at Inspire Change has shifted online indefinitely. In community WhatsApp groups and other channels, parents have more pressing priorities: Who will care for kids when they can’t go to school? How can we safely get groceries and prescriptions?

    In 2006, 92% of Somali 2-year-olds were up-to-date on the measles vaccine, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. Today’s rate is closer to 24%, according to state data. A 95% rate is needed to prevent outbreaks of measles, an extremely contagious disease.

    Community vaccination efforts go through cycles, Maalimisaq said, with initiatives starting and stopping.

    Imam Yusuf Abdulle said immigration enforcement has put everything on hold.

    “People are stuck in their homes, cannot go to work,” he said. “It is madness. And the last thing to think about is talking about autism, talking about childhood vaccination. Adults cannot get out of the house, forget about kids.”


    Vaccine misinformation has long thrived in Minnesota’s Somali community

    Estimated autism rates in Somali 4-year-olds are 3.5 times higher than those of white 4-year-olds in Minnesota, according to University of Minnesota data. Researchers say they don’t know why. And in this vacuum of scientific certainty, inaccurate beliefs thrive.

    Many blame the measles, mumps and rubella shot — a single injection proven to safely protect against the three viruses, with the first dose recommended when children are 12 to 15 months old.

    In November, at one of Maalimisaq’s last Motherhood Circle gatherings, Somali mothers and grandmothers volleyed questions at facilitators. Won’t a shot for three viruses overwhelm a baby? Why does autism seem more prevalent here than back home?

    Vaccines are tested for safety, Maalimisaq and her panel explained. Delaying a shot is risky, they warned, because of what measles — which is seeing its highest spread in the country in more than three decades — can do.

    Local health officials have long followed best practices: enlisting community members to champion vaccines, hosting mobile clinics and uplifting the work of Somali health providers like Maalimisaq.

    But initiatives have been start-and-stop. Federal funding cuts affected efforts, and public health officials admit their outreach could be more consistent and comprehensive.

    Most parents here vaccinate their children eventually. Many Somali families prefer to wait until a child is 5, despite a lack of evidence that doing so cuts autism rates. Measles is endemic in Somalia, where war and international aid cuts have crippled the medical system, and elsewhere in East Africa where residents here often travel.

    “Measles is just a plane ride away, and measles is going to find the unvaccinated,” said Carly Edson, the state health department’s immunization outreach coordinator. “We are always at risk.”


    Trust with patients and parents has eroded

    About 84,000 Somalis live in the Twin Cities area, of 260,000 nationwide. The community is the country’s largest, and most are U.S. citizens. Before the immigration crackdown, mosques and malls buzzed, with people gathering during evenings to sip chai or have henna drawn on their hands.

    Now, many in the community want to lie low. People are afraid to seek routine medical care. Without those touchpoints, trust quickly erodes, Maalimisaq said.

    Among the last cohort of Somali moms at the clinic, 83% had vaccinated their kids by the end of the 12-month program, she said. Some were making 10-second videos explaining why they vaccinated. But efforts have paused.

    Parents here have long dealt with racism and isolation, though they’ve built a strong community. They want answers for the autism rates, but science has no simple answers for what causes the lifelong neurological condition, said Mahdi Warsama, the Somali Parents Autism Network’s CEO.

    Warsama said Trump’s unproven claims last fall that taking Tylenol during pregnancy could cause autism sparked fears and questions here. The idea that the MMR shot should be split into three vaccines — one backed, with no scientific basis, by acting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Jim O’Neill, though no standalone shots are available in the U.S. — has spread, too.

    “The misinformers will always fill the void,” Warsama said.


    Doctors try new strategies to reach parents

    Parents want to be heard, not debated — that’s why short doctor appointments don’t work, said Fatuma Sharif-Mohamed, a Somali community health educator.

    “That 15 minutes will not change the mind of a parent,” she said.

    Some doctors are pushing beyond the exam room — work they describe as slow and taxing. Changing one family’s mind can take multiple visits, even years.

    Dr. Bryan Fate, leader of a Children’s Minnesota vaccine confidence committee, said new strategies are underway, including social media videos from doctors and possibly a prenatal classes for expectant parents.

    “I’m going to call you in five days,” Fate said he tells hesitant parents, “and there’ll be no changes to this speech.”

    Overall, Minnesota’s kindergarten MMR vaccination rate has dropped more than 6 percentage points in the past five years, compared with a 2-point drop nationwide.

    State data suggests the effort to catch kids up may be effective: While less than 1 in 4 Somali kids in Minnesota is vaccinated against measles by age 2, 86% get at least one dose by age 6 — just short of the statewide rate, 89%.

    Doctors worry in particular about unprotected young children, for whom severe complications — pneumonia, brain swelling and blindness — are more common.


    ‘Our community is suffering’

    Imam Abdulle said when parents ask him about the vaccine, he tells his own story. He wasn’t opposed to it but decided to err on the side of waiting. His son was diagnosed with autism at age 3, Abdulle said, and later was vaccinated.

    Correlation, he reminds parents, is not causation.

    The community doesn’t want to be painted as a source of disease, Abdulle said. But after outbreaks in 2011, 2017, 2022 and 2024, there’s also open acknowledgment that measles isn’t going away.

    “Our kids are the ones who are getting sick,” Abdulle said. “Our community is suffering.”

    Last year, Minnesota logged 26 measles cases. The state health department said the cases were across several different communities with pockets of unvaccinated people.

    In Maalimisaq’s Motherhood Circles, the most effective words often come not from doctors but fellow parents, such as Mirad Farah. Farah’s daughter was born premature. She worried the MMR shot would be too much and delayed vaccination. Her daughter still developed autism.

    “So what did that tell me?” she asked the room. “It confirmed that autism is not from the MMR.”

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – January 2026

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