Old machines are transformed into new robots in an exhibition that makes viewers think twice about the machines they use. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has the details. 
Camera: Roy Kim  Producer: Elizabeth Lee 
…

COVID-19 is surging at an astounding rate in India. The South Asian nation’s health ministry said Friday it had counted a record-breaking 332,730 new infections in the previous 24-hour period. The new tally surpasses Thursday’s record daily toll of 314,835 new infections.At least six hospitals in New Delhi, the capital, have run out of, or are on the verge of running out of, oxygen for their patients.The oxygen shortage is so acute that the high court in the capital ordered the national government to divert oxygen from industrial use to hospitals.In western India on Friday, a fire at the Vijay Vallabh Hospital killed at least 13 COVID patients.Prime Minister Narendra Modi is holding meetings with the country’s chief ministers Friday to determine how best to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reports that India has nearly 16 million COVID-19 cases. Only the U.S., with almost 32 million cases, has more infections than India.Agence France-Presse is reporting that Japan is set to declare a state of emergency because of a surge in COVID infections, just three months before the opening of the Olympic Games in Tokyo.“We have a strong sense of crisis,” Yasutoshi Nishimura, Japan’s minister for virus response, said Friday, according to AFP.Japan has more than 550,000 COVID-19 cases, according to Johns Hopkins.Syria’s government and the country’s last opposition-held enclave received their first doses of COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday.UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the GAVI vaccine alliance announced in a joint statement the delivery of 200,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to the Syrian government, and 53,800 doses to the rebel-controlled region in the northwest.While fighting has mostly subsided since a cease-fire was implemented a year ago, Syria’s civil war has complicated the delivery of the vaccines, forcing most of them to be transported through Damascus for government-controlled areas while the others are shipped through the border with Turkey.Western nongovernmental organizations have said that Syria’s logistical challenges in coordinating vaccinations in combat zones are worsened by the international financial sanctions that have been imposed on the country. Johns Hopkins reports there are nearly 145 million worldwide COVID-19 infections and more than 3 million people have died.
…

Cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in half is doable but hard, experts say, and some of the biggest barriers are political, not technical.President Joe Biden on Thursday FILE – A wind turbine is pictured, Jan. 13, 2021, near Spearville, Kan.U.S. emissions are declining, but far too slowly to reach Biden’s target. They would have to fall on a scale that has happened only three times since 2005, Rossetti noted, and not for good reasons — during the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2008-09 financial crisis and during an exceptionally mild winter in 2012.The Biden administration has proposed broad areas where it sees opportunities for cuts, without giving much detail. It says there are multiple pathways to get there.But each path faces opposition, experts note. Legislation may struggle to pass in a closely divided Congress. And a conservative Supreme Court may take a dim view of expanding regulations.Several research groups have mapped out ways that the United States could cut emissions in half.”We have the policies to do it, and we have the technologies to do it,” said Robbie Orvis, director of energy policy design at Energy Innovation, a policy research group.For starters, the amount of solar and wind power installed each year needs to be three to four times as much as last year’s record-setting pace.”It is a big leap to do that, but the technology exists,” Orvis said.And the technology is cheaper than ever, and getting cheaper.The FILE – New Lexus automobiles are shown for sale after California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the state would ban the sale of new gasoline-powered passenger cars and trucks starting in 2035.The next biggest cut would come from transportation, where the largest proportion of U.S. carbon emissions come from. A combination of incentives and regulations would take old, inefficient vehicles off the road and help increase sales of zero-emissions vehicles.Smaller shares would come from cutting industrial emissions by switching to electrification, where possible, or emerging sources such as hydrogen or ammonia, though these technologies are still in development.The best path to any of these policies would be through legislation passed by Congress, experts note. Many of them are included in Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal.But Republicans are firmly opposed to it.FILE – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., turns to an aide in Washington, March 7, 2021.”Their so-called ‘infrastructure’ plan would aim at completely ‘de-carbonizing’ our electric grid, which means hurting our coal and natural gas industries and putting good-paying American jobs into the shredder,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement.Some policies could be implemented through regulations, which do not require Congress. But it is a riskier approach.”I’m honestly pretty pessimistic on that because the scope of regulatory authority Biden has is limited,” R Street’s Rossetti said. “The courts are going to challenge any sort of proposal that goes outside of those bounds.”Plus, regulations can change with administrations, and climate regulations have whiplashed through the past several presidencies. The Trump administration reversed President Barack Obama’s climate regulations, and Biden is reversing Trump’s reversals.Many of the policies that would get the United States to a 50% cut have strong backing from the private sector.FILE – An Apple logo hangs above the entrance to the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in the Manhattan borough of New York City,  July 21, 2015.More than 400 companies signed a letter to Biden ahead of this week’s climate summit asking for a 50% cut. The list includes tech giants Apple and Microsoft, mega-retailers Walmart and Target, automakers Ford and General Motors, and other household names.The electric utility industry’s main lobby group supports a clean energy standard.”A well-designed CES makes some sense for us,” Emily Fisher, senior vice president of clean energy at the Edison Electric Institute, told Reuters.But she cautioned that the industry still needs breakthroughs, in long-term storage and carbon capture, for example, to meet the target.”We need those technologies, and they don’t exist,” Fisher said.Getting to 50% “is certainly going to be challenging,” Orvis said, “but I’m cautiously optimistic.”
…

A crew returned from the northernmost islands in the Hawaiian archipelago this week with a boatload of marine plastic and abandoned fishing nets that threaten to entangle endangered Hawaiian monk seals and other animals on the uninhabited beaches stretching nearly 2,100 kilometers north of Honolulu.The cleanup effort in Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument lasted three weeks and the crew picked up more than 43 metric tons of “ghost nets” and other marine plastics such as buoys, crates, bottle caps and cigarette lighters from the shores of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.The monument, the largest protected marine reserve in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world, is in the northern Pacific Ocean and surrounded by what is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — a huge gyre of floating plastic and other debris that circulates in ocean currents. The islands act like a comb that gather debris on its otherwise pristine beaches.The ecosystem in the monument is diverse, unique and one of the most intact marine habitats on Earth. But the beaches are littered with plastic and nets that ensnare endangered Hawaiian monk seals — of which there are only about 1,400 left in the world — and green turtles, among other wildlife.FILE – In this April 11, 2021, photo provided by Matt Saunter, Joao Garriques, left, and Matthew Chauvin load fishing nets onto a ship near Kure Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.The crew removed line from a monk seal on the expedition’s first day.With virtually no predators, the islands are a haven for many species of seabirds, and Midway Atoll is home to the largest colony of albatross in the world. There, the land is littered with carcasses of birds that have ingested plastics and died.The cleanup was organized by the nonprofit Papahanaumokuakea Marine Debris Project, which partners with federal agencies including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.Kevin O’Brien, president of the new organization and a former NOAA employee, said the work is expensive but important.”Talking to some of these folks that are up there for the monk seal camps every summer, they’ll talk about specific nets that have been there for several years,” O’Brien said. “So a trip like this where we’re able to yank pretty much everything we see can have an impact.”The latest expedition focused on the shorelines of the various atolls, and a trip later this year will remove nets from the reefs that surround the islands.FILE – In this April 10, 2021, photo provided by Matthew Chauvin, workers with the Papahanaumokuakea Marine Debris Project push boats loaded with fishing nets and plastic off Kure Atoll in Hawaii.A NOAA study estimated that the shores of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands accumulate about 52 metric tons of debris each year. An analysis of the upcoming reef removal is expected to estimate the total amount of debris that gathers on both the beaches and the critical reef ecosystems that surround them, giving researchers a more complete view of the problem.The crew of 12, which included people from the marine debris project, federal agencies, the state of Hawaii and a local university, removed debris from Laysan Island, Lisianski Island, Midway Atoll, French Frigate Shoals, and Kure Atoll.Matt Saunter, president of the Kure Atoll Conservancy, was among those working on the expedition. He’s spent more than a decade doing monthslong field work on Kure Atoll. He rode out the first nine months of the coronavirus pandemic isolated there with a small crew and returned in November to a new world.He said being back on his “home away from home” in a new role was a unique experience.”I definitely always wanted to remain involved with work being done in the monument, but I thought maybe I could try it at a different capacity,” Saunter said. “We basically visited all the different islands in a short time frame, so I got to see all the different wildlife and how they nest differently and the different types of vegetation this time of the year, and the different state that the beaches are in.”FILE – In this April 13, 2021, photo provided by Kevin O’Brien, workers with the Papahanaumokuakea Marine Debris Project remove fishing nets and plastic from the shoreline of Lisianski Island in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.While on Kure, which is managed by the state of Hawaii and has a year-round team of workers, the crew dropped off new staff and picked up one to return home. They also resupplied the remote field camp.The Kure field crews had about 12 metric tons of debris collected over three years, and it was ready to be picked up when the ship arrived.The marine monument is also a valued Native Hawaiian cultural site, and Hawaiian ceremonies were conducted each day of the trip. The cultural protocols honor the islands and seek permission to work in this rarely visited part of the world.”Papahanaumokuakea is one of the most amazing landscapes on Earth, central to many Native Hawaiian narratives — a place where nature and culture are one,” said Athline Clark, NOAA’s superintendent for the marine monument. “It sustains the most vulnerable Hawaiian wildlife species, and nearly all of its habitat is used by seabirds, turtles and seals for critical nesting, burrowing, basking and pupping.”The monument is also home to the famed World War II Battle of Midway, where researchers recently found sunken Japanese warships that were lost in the fight.Most of the debris that was brought back will be incinerated and turned into electricity that powers homes and businesses on Oahu. Some of the gear will be set aside for student recycling projects, and a number of the fishing nets will be taken to Hawaii Pacific University’s Center for Marine Debris Research for a study that’s trying to identify the sources of this fishing gear.
…

NASA makes history with its flying robot on Mars, a new commander takes the helm of the International Space Station, and the European Space Agency looks for solutions to the problem of space junk.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space.
…

As the world observes Earth Day later this week, Israeli environmentalists worry that the Dead Sea, the lowest place on Earth, is disappearing. That is posing environmental dangers and also could affect the Dead Sea’s unique salutary effects.  For VOA, Linda Gradstein reports from the Dead Sea.   Camera:   Ricki Rosen     Produced by:  Bronwyn Benito      
…

The Syrian government and the country’s last rebel-controlled enclave received their first doses of COVID-19 vaccines Thursday.In a joint statement, UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the GAVI vaccine alliance announced the delivery of 200,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Syria’s government and another 53,800 to the opposition-held area in the northwest.“The delivery is a ray of light for the people of Syria,” the statement said. “It will help health workers to continue delivering life-saving services in an already exhausted health system as a result of the decade-long war.”Although fighting has largely subsided since the March 2020 cease-fire, Syria’s civil war has complicated the delivery of the vaccines, forcing most of them to be shipped through Damascus for government-controlled areas while the rest are routed through the border with Turkey.Western non-governmental organizations have said that Syria’s logistical challenges of coordinating vaccinations in combat zones are worsened by the international financial sanctions that have been imposed on the country.The Middle Eastern country experienced a surge in coronavirus infections in February after being hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic last year.The Syrian government reported 51,580 cases of COVID-19 Thursday, but U.N. officials say the number is probably higher due to the limited number of testing kits. 
…

The U.S space agency NASA says its Perseverance rover has converted carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Martian atmosphere to oxygen, a critical step toward future human exploration of Mars.
 
NASA on Monday said a toaster-size, experimental instrument on the rover called the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE), produced about 5.4 grams of oxygen in an hour — enough to keep an astronaut healthy for about 10 minutes.
 
NASA says in regular operation, MOXIE is designed to produce up to 10 grams of oxygen in an hour.
 
The space agency says MOXIE is an “exploration technology investigation,” like the Ingenuity helicopter and other instruments taken to Mars along with the Perseverance rover. In other words, it is designed to test a certain technology that, if successful, will be applied on a larger scale in future missions on the Red Planet.
 
NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) administrator Jim Reuter says there are still more tests for MOXIE to pass, but the results of the initial demonstration show a lot of promise toward the goal of one day seeing humans on Mars,
 
Reuter said oxygen is also a key ingredient in rocket propellant and future Mars missions will have to produce it there to make the trip home.
 
NASA says MOXIE works by separating oxygen atoms from carbon dioxide molecules, which are made up of one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms through a process that involves heating them to 800 degrees Celsius. The Martian atmosphere is 96% carbon dioxide.
 
The agency says a hypothetical future mission would require creating about one ton of oxygen for four astronauts to live and work on Mars for a year. About 25 tons would be needed to create the propellant needed to get them home.
 
The agency says a larger, more powerful descendant of MOXIE, weighing about a ton, would be required to meet those needs.
…

India reported 314,835 new COVID-19 infections Thursday, the highest one-day total posted by any nation during the yearlong global pandemic.By contrast, the United States posted 300,310 single day new cases on Jan. 2, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.India, the world’s second-most populous country, is dealing with a second wave of infections that has pushed the country’s health care system to the brink of collapse, with hospitals near capacity and facing an acute shortage of oxygen canisters. The oxygen shortage is so acute that the high court in the capital, New Delhi, ordered the national government to divert oxygen from industrial use to hospitals.“Beg, borrow or steal,” the judges said in response to a petition by a New Delhi hospital.Thursday is the eighth consecutive day India has posted more than 200,000 new coronavirus cases, pushing the country’s total number of infections to well over 15.9 million, second only behind the 31.8 million in the United States. India’s health ministry also revealed that 2,104 people died Thursday, raising the overall death toll to 184,657, as the current surge has overwhelmed cemeteries and crematories.Experts have blamed the surge on the spread of more contagious variants of the virus, as well as lifting restrictions on large crowds when the outbreak appeared to be under control earlier this year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come under fire for holding packed political rallies and allowing an annual Hindu religious festival that attracted millions of pilgrims.The latest figures from Johns Hopkins puts the total number of COVID-19 infections at 143,863,870, including more than 3 million deaths. In addition to the total number of confirmed cases, the U.S. leads in the number of total fatalities with 569,402.A preliminary study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine shows the two-shot vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna do not pose any serious risk during pregnancy.The study used data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s smartphone-based vaccine surveillance system, where participants complete regular surveys about their health and any side effects they may be experiencing after being inoculated. More than 35,000 pregnant women who received either vaccine between December 14, 2020 and February 28, 2021 reported the same general side effects experienced by non-pregnant women, including pain at the injection site, fatigue, headaches and muscle pain.
…

As teenage pregnancies soared during coronavirus lockdowns in Africa’s largest urban slum, Kibera, teachers and parents looked for a way to reduce the problem.  Their idea was to form a women’s football (soccer) club, to direct their energy in a healthy way, and they became so good they are about to join Kenya’s professional women’s soccer league.  Brenda Mulinya reports from Nairobi.
Camera: Robert Lutta
…

New feat to the credit of Perseverance: the NASA rover transformed carbon dioxide from Mars’ atmosphere into oxygen, a first on another planet, the US space agency announced on Wednesday.”This is a crucial first attempt to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen on Mars,” said Jim Reuter, an associate administrator at NASA.The demonstration took place on April 20 and NASA is hoping that future versions of the experimental tool used can pave the way for exploration by humans.Not only could the process produce oxygen for future astronauts to breathe, it could also prevent the large amounts of oxygen needed to propel the rocket on the return trip from Earth.The Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (Moxie) is a golden box the size of a car battery, located at the front right of the rover.It uses electricity and chemistry to split CO2 molecules, producing oxygen on one side and carbon monoxide on the other.For his first experiment, Moxie produced 5 grams of oxygen, enough to breathe for 10 minutes for an astronaut with normal activity.The engineers in charge of Moxie will now conduct more tests and try to increase this result. The tool has been developed to be able to generate up to 10 grams of oxygen per hour.Designed at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Moxie was manufactured with heat-resistant materials to tolerate the scorching temperatures of 800 degrees Celsius required for its operation.A thin layer of gold prevents it from radiating this heat and damaging the rover.According to MIT engineer Michael Hecht, a one-ton Moxie – this weighs 17 kilograms – could produce the roughly 25 tons of oxygen needed for a rocket to take off from Mars. may be easier than extracting ice from beneath its surface to make oxygen by electrolysis.
Perseverance landed on the Red Planet on February 18. Its mission: to look for traces of ancient life.
…

Touting the 200 million COVID-19 shots administered since he took office, President Joe Biden said he is looking into sending excess doses abroad. His administration is under pressure to do more to improve global vaccine equity, including supporting a campaign to waive vaccine patents. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the story.
…

The Japanese government may declare a new state of emergency for the cities of Tokyo and Osaka in response to another surge of COVID-19 infections. The Mainichi newspaper reported Wednesday that Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is requesting to impose an emergency decree from April 29 to May 9, which coincides with Japan’s annual “Golden Week” public holiday period.   Tokyo and Osaka, along with several other prefectures, are already under a quasi-state of emergency, with restaurants and bars operating under shortened business hours.  Japan as a whole has been under two separate emergency decrees since the start of the pandemic, the last one having just expired on March 21.  The previous decrees stopped short of imposing a legally binding nationwide lockdown, due to Japan’s post-World War II constitution, which weighs heavily in favor of civil liberties.  The new state of emergency, if granted, would leave in place current restrictions on opening hours, and also lead to the closure of theme parks, shopping malls and other facilities. Osaka’s neighboring prefecture of Hyogo is also expected to be covered under the new emergency decree.   Japan has 542,467 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 9,682 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.  The numbers are moderate compared to other nations, but enough to overburden Japan’s healthcare sector and complicate plans for the Tokyo Olympic Games, which are scheduled to begin in July after a one-year delay due to the pandemic.  The Japanese capital posted a record-high 843 confirmed new coronavirus cases on Wednesday.   Also complicating matters is the country’s sluggish vaccination drive, which got off to a slow start due to an acute shortage of vaccines.  More infections in IndiaThe situation remains dire in India, which reported a single-day record 295,041 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, the seventh consecutive day the world’s second-most populous country has recorded more than 200,000 new cases. Health workers and relatives wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) carry the body of a man, who died from COVID-19, at a crematorium in New Delhi, India, Apr. 21, 2021.The latest surge has led to a severe shortage of oxygen canisters, hospital beds and drugs across the nation, and prompted officials in the capital, New Delhi, to impose a week-long lockdown on Monday.  Several large cities have reported COVID-19-linked burials and cremations that far exceed the official tally.  Johnson & Johnson resumes European rollout
On the vaccine front, Johnson & Johnson announced Tuesday it is resuming its European rollout of its one-dose vaccine after the European Medicines Agency, the drug regulator for the European Union, determined the drug’s benefits outweighs the risks of possible blood clots. FILE – The exterior of the European Medicines Agency is seen in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Dec. 18, 2020.The EMA reviewed the Johnson & Johnson vaccine following a small number of reports from the United States of six women between the ages of 18 and 48 developed a rare but serious blood-clotting disorder associated with low levels of blood platelets following vaccination. One woman died and one was hospitalized in critical condition. The agency concluded the drug’s product information should include a warning about the possible side effects, which should be listed as very rare.   In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration jointly called for a pause in the administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine last week in response to the six blood clotting cases.     The six women were among the 7 million Americans who have received the vaccine since its approval.     Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has said he expects an independent CDC advisory panel to lift the suspension when it meets again later this week. 
…

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said that final rules announced in December took effect on Wednesday allowing for small drones to fly over people and at night, a significant step toward their eventual use for widespread commercial deliveries.The effective date was delayed about a month during the change in administration. The FAA said its long-awaited rules for the drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles, will address security concerns by requiring remote identification technology in most cases to enable their identification from the ground.Previously, small drone operations over people were limited to operations over people who were directly participating in the operation, located under a covered structure, or inside a stationary vehicle – unless operators had obtained a waiver from the FAA.U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Wednesday the rules “are an important first step in safely and securely managing the growing use of drones in our airspace, though more work remains on the journey to full integration” of drones.Drone manufacturers have 18 months to begin producing drones with Remote ID, and operators will have an additional year to provide Remote ID.Companies have been racing to create drone fleets to speed deliveries. As of December, the United States had over 1.7 million drone registrations and 203,000 FAA-certificated remote pilots.For at-night operations, the FAA said drones must be equipped with anti-collision lights. The final rules allow operations over moving vehicles in some circumstances.The new rules eliminate requirements that drones be connected to the internet to transmit location data but do require that they broadcast remote ID messages via radio frequency broadcast.One change, since the rules were first proposed in 2019, requires that small drones not have any exposed rotating parts that would lacerate human skin.
 
…