Somalia

Two substances, never before seen on Earth, have been identified by scientists from University of Alberta in a meteorite that crashed in Somalia.

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A team of scientists has discovered at least two never-before-seen minerals on Earth from a 15-tonne meteorite that crashed in Somalia. It is the ninth-largest meteorite ever found, but the presence of the exotic alien minerals makes it a special one. As revealed by a statement from the University of Alberta, the new alien minerals were found in a slice of 70 grams of the meteorite that scientists studied. While two minerals have been confirmed by experts, a third mineral is under consideration. However, as noted by U of A scientists, if more samples from the meteorite were to be obtained, there would be many more mineral discoveries. The two newly-found minerals have been named elaliite and elinkstantonite. The meteorite dubbed El Ali crashed in Somalia in 2020.

New, but made previously in a lab

The two minerals are not from Earth and have never before been found on the planet. Nevertheless, scientists did succeed in synthetically crafting them previously in a laboratory. This allowed scientists to spot the new minerals so rapidly, a statement from U of A revealed. The future of the meteorite remains in doubt. The latest news suggests that the meteorite had been moved to China, where a potential buyer could acquire it. Whether or not the new owner would allow sampling of the meteorite in the future remains to be seen. However, it is noteworthy that such meteorites should be primarily available for scientific study and not for collections.

Polio is re-emerging in areas previously considered polio free.

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Concern is mounting that the global drive to eradicate polio is being undermined by security problems and access constraints that have led to a resurgence of poliovirus in a number of countries previously declared to be free of polio.

On 30 September South Sudan’s new health minister, Riek Gai Kok, declared a “national health emergency” after confirming three cases of wild poliovirus type 1 infection. The country had been officially polio free since June 2009, but the health ministry had been on high alert for its reintroduction since an outbreak was confirmed in Somalia last May, which rapidly spread to Ethiopia and Kenya.

There have now been 174 confirmed cases in Somalia, 14 in Kenya, and three in Ethiopia. Major emergency vaccination campaigns have been started in these and neighbouring countries, but vaccinations have been unable to take place in certain no-go areas in Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.

The Sudanese Doctors’ Union warned that the disease could rapidly spread across the border because of a “large immunity gap” caused by the denial of aid access in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile areas bordering South Sudan, where the lack of vaccination had left “almost all children susceptible to polio and other vaccine preventable diseases.”1 2

On 1 October the union wrote to the UK prime minister, David Cameron, calling on him to denounce the Sudanese government’s denial of access to healthcare, after doctors were prevented from treating hundreds of people injured in recent demonstrations.

The union’s UK spokesman, Abdelmalik Hashim, told the BMJ that Sudan had just experienced the worst outbreak of yellow fever in recent years after the expulsion of aid groups from Darfur, and now “the refusal of the government of Sudan to cooperate with the international community is jeopardising all the gains achieved by the global polio eradication programme since 1988.”

Source:BMJ