Science & Technology News

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) – A new hepatitis C vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline based on the same technology as an experimental Ebola shot being fast-tracked through human trials has shown promise in early clinical tests, prompting strong and broad immune responses. Researchers testing the vaccine — the first hepatitis C vaccine to reach second stage clinical trials — said their results in a group of 15 healthy human volunteers showed it was very safe and well tolerated, and generated immune responses of a strength never seen before in a vaccine against this disease. …

By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) – Scientists across the United States say they cannot obtain samples of Ebola, complicating efforts to understand how the virus is mutating and develop new drugs, vaccines and diagnostics. The problems reflect growing caution by regulators and transport companies about handling Ebola as well as the limited resources of West African countries which are struggling to help thousands of infected citizens. Ten scientists from eight major research institutions contacted by Reuters reported they were unable to get Ebola samples in recent months. …

By Jan Lopatka PRAGUE (Reuters) – In just three years, Czech Finance Minister Andrej Babis has managed to expand smoothly beyond business into politics and now appears poised to be a contender for prime minister. His decades of experience running successful businesses was always part of his appeal to Czech voters sick of a stale political culture riddled with corruption and graft. But while many believe he can make a difference in the fight against what he calls “godfathers” and “Palermo”, others see the potential for clashes of interests and even a dangerous concentration of power. …

By Ellen Wulfhorst NEW YORK (Reuters) – A Democratic challenger toppled the Republican governor of Pennsylvania on Tuesday, one of the first blows to incumbents among the three dozen races for governors. Businessman Tom Wolf was declared the winner by NBC over Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett, one of several incumbents who struggled in their campaigns to defend their fiscal policies and keep their jobs. Corbett becomes the first incumbent governor in Pennsylvania history to fail to win a second term. …

By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The newest Marvel superhero to reach the big screen does not have the rugged good looks of Iron Man, the muscular physique of Captain America or a cape and hammer like Thor. The Disney Animation studio is coming off the smash Oscar-winning hit “Frozen,” a tale of two princesses that became the highest-grossing animated movie of all time with $1.3 billion in global ticket sales. “Iron Man” helped “turn the ship as far as people taking a chance into science fiction and fantasy,” said Don Hall, who co-directed “Big Hero 6” with Chris Williams.

An uneven recovery could prove the undoing of several incumbents, including the governors of Kansas and Pennsylvania, who are being held accountable for their states’ fiscal woes. “We’ve had a very difficult economy for years, and anyone in office is going to be held partly accountable, especially governors,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. “They’re not called ‘little presidents’ for nothing.” Fiscal issues in Kansas, for example, have pushed Republican Governor Sam Brownback into a tough struggle against Democrat Paul Davis. At least 10 incumbent governors are battling to save their jobs, experts project.

Even as government officials express confidence that researchers know the key facts about Ebola, many questions crucial to preventing an outbreak in the United States remain unanswered, scientists told a workshop at the National Academy’s Institute of Medicine in Washington on Monday. “It’s a question that has to be asked.” Another crucial question is whether the virus can be spread by people who do not show symptoms.

By Dave Sherwood and Colleen Jenkins BRUNSWICK Maine/WINSTON-SALEM N.C. (Reuters) – Maine has reached a settlement with a nurse who was briefly quarantined in her home after treating victims of Ebola in West Africa, allowing her to travel freely in public but requiring her to monitor her health closely and report any symptoms. The settlement, filed in nurse Kaci Hickox’s home town of Fort Kent, in Maine’s far north, keeps in effect through Nov. 10 the terms of an order issued by a Maine judge on Friday. Hickox returned to the United States last month after treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone and was quarantined in a tent outside a hospital in New Jersey for four days despite showing no symptoms before being driven to her home in Maine.

By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – For his first journey into a galaxy far, far away, director Christopher Nolan wanted to tether himself to something close to home. In his daughter, he found inspiration for a lead character in “Interstellar,” Nolan’s big-budget epic space adventure rooted in intimate family drama. “I took the decision to change Murphy into a girl, and I think I may well have done that because my oldest child is a daughter,” Nolan said of the teen who suffers when her father, played by Matthew McConaughey, leaves for a long, potentially fatal space journey. “I wanted to have as close a relationship as possible to the emotional journey of the character.” “Interstellar,” out in U.S.