Science

Can I get ‘long COVID’ if I’m infected after vaccination?

It's unclear, but researchers are studying the chances of long-term symptoms developing in anyone who might get infected after vaccination.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Karen Colby thought she could make it through an unprecedented Pacific Northwest heat wave with a little help from her neighbor, who dribbled cold water on her head and visited every hour to wrap frozen towels around her neck.

GREENVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A 3-week-old wildfire engulfed a tiny Northern California mountain town, leveling most of its historic downtown and leaving blocks of homes in ashes, while a new wind-whipped blaze destroyed homes as crews braced for another explosive run of flames Thursday amid dangerous weather.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Three remote Alaska volcanoes are in various states of eruption, one producing lava and the other two blowing steam and ash.

So far, none of the small communities near the volcanoes have been affected, Chris Waythomas, a geologist with the Alaska Volcano Observatory, said Thursday.

MOSCOW (AP) — Space engineers will analyze whether a glitch that caused the International Space Station to spin out of its normal orientation could have impacted any of its systems, a Russian space official said Wednesday.

After a record start, followed by a near-silent July, the Atlantic hurricane season looks like it will be busier than meteorologists predicted a few months ago.

WASHINGTON (AP) — With climate change threatening the sea ice habitat of Emperor penguins, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday announced a proposal to list the species as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Over 17,000 looted ancient artifacts recovered from the United States and other countries were handed over to Iraq's Culture Ministry on Tuesday, a restitution described by the government as the largest in the country's history.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The season of Brazilian forest fires has begun, and early data plus severe drought is sparking concern that nationwide destruction in 2021 will stay at the high levels recorded in the past two years, despite efforts to tamp down the blazes.

Vaccine maker Novavax announced Thursday it has asked regulators in India, Indonesia and the Philippines to allow emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine -- offering its shot to some low-income countries before rich ones with ample supplies.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi's top health official said the delta coronavirus variant is “sweeping across Mississippi like a tsunami” as the state reported more than 3,000 new cases of the highly transmittable virus in a single day Thursday.

LIMNI, Greece (AP) — Wildfires rekindled outside Athens and forced more evacuations around southern Greece Thursday as weather conditions worsened and firefighters in a round-the-clock battle stopped the flames just outside the birthplace of the ancient Olympics.

As the world staggers through another summer of extreme weather, experts are noticing something different: 2021′s onslaught is hitting harder and in places that have been spared global warming’s wrath in the past.

Like gardening in general, school gardening has become hugely popular during the pandemic, with families and teachers saying its hands-on lessons can be applied to many subjects.

Finding the expertise, labor and funding to keep a school garden going can be tough.

TOKYO (AP) — The complex testosterone regulations in track and field have become an issue again at the Olympics after Namibian teenager Christine Mboma won a silver medal in the 200 meters after being banned from some other events because of her natural hormone levels.

PARIS (AP) — A giant panda on loan to France from China gave birth to female twin cubs early Monday, a French zoo announced, declaring “they are very lively, pink and plump.”

The Beauval Zoo, south of Paris, said the twins were born shortly after 1 a.m.

RENO, Nev. (AP) — The slender, bushy-tailed Sierra Nevada red fox will be listed as an endangered species, federal wildlife officials announced Monday, saying its population has dipped to just 40 animals in area of California stretching from Lake Tahoe to south of Yosemite National Park.

HONOLULU (AP) — William Edward Mann enlisted in the Navy after graduating from high school in rural Washington state. A guitar player, he picked up the ukulele while stationed in Hawaii.

Scientists have a new idea for how Earth got its oxygen: It’s because the planet slowed down and days got longer.

A study published Monday proposes and puts to the test the theory that longer, continuous daylight kick-started weird bacteria into producing lots of oxygen, making most of life as we know it possible.

NEW DELHI (AP) — Salimullah, a Rohingya refugee, has been living in the Indian capital of New Delhi since 2013 when he fled violence in Myanmar. Stateless, and now homeless after a fire razed his camp, the 35-year-old lives in a tent with as many as 10 other people at a time.

PHOENIX — Health officials in Arizona on Sunday reported more than 2,000 new COVID-19 cases for the second consecutive day.

They say the 2,306 new cases and five additional deaths pushed the state’s totals to 929,541 cases and 18,251 known deaths since the pandemic began more than a year ago.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Two rare Sumatran tigers at the zoo in the Indonesian capital are recovering after being infected with COVID-19.

Nine-year-old Tino became ill with shortness of breath, sneezing, and a runny nose on July 9.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — States across the U.S. are looking to adopt new recycling regimes that require producers of packaging to pay for its inevitable disposal — but industry is digging in to try to halt the movement.

SNOWVILLE, Utah (AP) — Dustin Maloney is in sagebrush country in remote northern Utah west of Snowville on a grueling hiking trip full of dust and heat and sweat. He’s got one eye looking for snakes and the other on the ground so he doesn’t lose his step and take a perilous fall.

PARADISE, Calif. (AP) — California’s largest wildfire so far this year was flaring up Friday but it was because the flames were chewing through unburned islands of vegetation within a perimeter that firefighters have built, authorities said.

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Native artist Rico Worl said he jumped at the chance to create for the U.S. Postal Service a stamp he hopes will be a gateway for people to learn about his Tlingit culture.

Two leading obstetricians’ groups on Friday recommended COVID-19 shots for all pregnant women, citing concerns over rising cases and low vaccination rates.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine said vaccinations in tens of thousands of pregnant women over the past several months have shown the shots are safe and effective during pregnancy.

In another dispiriting setback for the nation’s efforts to stamp out the coronavirus, scientists who studied a big COVID-19 outbreak in Massachusetts concluded that vaccinated people who got so-called breakthrough infections carried about the same amount of the coronavirus as those who did not get the shots.