Moderna’s latest vaccine results are promising—but it’s still too early

Here's how we could mine the moon for rocket fuel 

Sponsored by Insight The Download Your daily dose of what’s up in emerging technology 05.19.20 Good morning! Today: Moderna's vaccine results are promising (but it's too early to draw conclusions.) Also: how we could mine the moon for rocket fuel. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. Moderna’s latest vaccine results are promising—but it’s still too early   Drug maker Moderna has just announced encouraging interim results from the ongoing phase 1 trial for its experimental coronavirus vaccine. The early results suggest the vaccine has the potential to confer immunity against covid-19 in people. What is the vaccine and how does it work? Moderna specializes in vaccines designed to elicit an immune response against the coronavirus through the virus’s mRNA—genetic instructions for the virus to replicate inside the host.  The new results: Moderna just released antibody data for eight participants. Four received two shots of 25 micrograms of the drug and four received two shots of 100 micrograms. The 25-microgram participants developed neutralizing antibodies to the coronavirus at levels comparable to recovered covid-19 patients; those in the 100-microgram arm had antibody levels that “significantly exceeded” the level in recovered patients.  Next steps: The results are encouraging, but we can’t draw conclusions yet. Way more data is needed. The FDA has already given Moderna approval for a phase 2 trial (testing the drug’s biological effect on patients, as opposed to just its safety) and a phase 3 trial is expected to start in July. According to the Wall Street Journal, if all Moderna’s trials go well—and that’s a big if—the FDA could grant emergency-use authorization for the vaccine by the fall. —Neel V. Patel Here’s how we could mine the moon for rocket fuel A treasure trove: The moon is full of valuable resources, including gold, platinum, and many rare Earth metals. But one resource especially excites people working in the space sector. It’s water.  Why? Because if you split it into hydrogen and oxygen, and then liquefy those constituents, you have rocket fuel. If you were able to refuel at the moon, you’d no longer need to bring all your propellant with you as you take off, making your spacecraft significantly lighter and cheaper to launch. It could become a sort of interplanetary gas station for trips to Mars and elsewhere. Work underway: The European Space Agency, China, India, and the US all have designs on lunar water. Last week NASA announced the Artemis Accords—a proposed legal framework for mining on the moon, named after NASA’s Artemis program to return astronauts to the lunar surface in 2024. Questions remain: What none of this can tell you is how we’ll actually access the moon’s water. There are plenty of obstacles, including cold temperatures, radiation, and lunar soil itself. Not to mention having astronauts living and working on the moon. Read the full story.  —Neel V. Patel We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction in these weird times. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.)   + A weirdly mesmerizing 25 minute video of someone solving a Sudoku puzzle.   + Postcards from the launch of New York’s underground travel network in the early 20th century.   + 14 writers tell the New York Times what’s bringing them joy at the moment.   + A man has made a “cuddle curtain” so he can hug his grandma.   + The BBC has launched a new tool that lets you watch shows with friends online. Sponsor Message Detect & Prevent: Building a Strategy for a Safe Return to Work Join Insight experts for a firsthand look at how our Connected Platform is enabling organizations to building smarter, safer workspaces by providing a unified foundation for managing smart devices and systems. We’ll showcase how technologies from thermal imaging to AI come together to create a comprehensive detection and prevention strategy. Register for the webinar. The top ten must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 The FBI managed to crack another iPhone  Yet it still wants encryption backdoors. (Recode)   + A newly-disclosed iPhone cracking tool logs the passcode as the user types it in. (NBC)   + Apple is reopening its stores, with a lot of new restrictions. (WP $) 2 A court plans to hold the first Zoom jury trial 👨‍⚖️ Members of the jury, please remember to use your mute buttons. (Reuters) 3 The US lockdown protests may have spread the virus to new places Smartphone data shows how widely attendees dispersed afterwards. (The Guardian) 4 Cell tower attacks are coming to the US The sheer idiocy of the “5G causes covid” conspiracy theory hasn’t reduced its potency. (Ars Technica) 5 Inside Amazon’s biggest coronavirus outbreak The company appears to have stopped sharing infection stats at most of its facilities. (NYT $) 6 The UK’s contact tracing app has had an unpromising start Lots of people have downloaded it, but it has some glaring omissions. (BBC)   + Contact tracing apps are struggling to make an impact around the world. (FT $)   + A flood of coronavirus apps are tracking us. Now it's time to keep track of them. (TR) 7 Could coronavirus bring about the end of mass incarceration? The prison population has reached its lowest level in two decades thanks to early releases for vulnerable people. (New Yorker $)   + We have no idea how many people in prison have coronavirus. (Slate) 8 Grief and joy mingle in Wuhan post-lockdown  Here’s how people are learning to adjust. (NYT $) 9 What does the future have in store for cities? 🏙️ They’ll look different post-pandemic, but their popularity is unlikely to wane. (NPR) 10 A pizzeria owner made money buying his own pizzas on DoorDash 🍕 Nothing about the food delivery app market makes any sense. (The Verge) Are you intellectually curious? Tech obsessed?  We are too. Subscribe to MIT Technology Review today for an insightful and discerning look into the technology for the future without getting bogged down by the jargon.  Quote of the day “I cannot stress enough, this will kill you.”  —Fox News host Neil Cavuto responds to President Trump’s claim that he’s taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventative treatment for coronavirus.  Top image credit: Pixabay Please send postcards to hi@technologyreview.com. Follow me on Twitter at @charlottejee. Thanks for reading! —Charlotte Was this newsletter forwarded to you, and you'd like to see more? 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