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Enlarge / A nurse at the Miami Beach Convention Center Community Based Testing Site conducts a COVID-19 antibody test. The Florida Guard is providing support at the Miami Beach hybrid CBTS and Hard Rock Stadium CBTS to allow the state and local partners to conduct antibody testing for first responders at both facilities. (US Army photo by Sgt. Leia Tascarini) (credit: Army Sgt. Leia Tascarini)

It's been clear from quite early in the COVID-19 pandemic that a substantial number of people who get infected by SARS-CoV-2 don't experience significant symptoms. This simple fact has enormous public health consequences, as these asymptomatic individuals can still pass the infection on to others. That means that even if we were able to get everyone with symptoms to self-isolate, we may still be unable to check the spread of the pandemic. It also makes it much harder to find out the true spread of the virus, since many people won't bother to get tested if they aren't feeling unwell.

Most of the data on the spread of the pandemic within the US comes from tests that pick up the presence of the virus' genome, which indicates the presence of an active infection. But you have to catch the person while the infection is happening for this to work. The alternative is to look for an indication of a past infection: the presence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. While the immune response to the virus is complex and isn't present immediately after an infection, most people have at least some antibodies a few weeks after the virus is cleared.

This allows widespread antibody testing to provide a clearer picture of the virus' past spread through a population. On Tuesday, the CDC started releasing lots of data from past antibody testing. While it was from a period where the virus was relatively rare in the US, the data provides a sharp contrast to the RNA-based tests from the same time, showing that lots of infections have gone undetected.

white van man" come to an end once Waymo integrates its tech into the Ram ProMaster van?"/>

Enlarge / Could the stereotype of "white van man" come to an end once Waymo integrates its tech into the Ram ProMaster van? (credit: FCA)

Late on Tuesday night, Waymo and Fiat Chryler Automobiles announced that they are strengthening the partnership between the two companies that began back in 2016. Waymo will be FCA's sole autonomous driving technology partner for developing so-called L4 (geofenced or otherwise operational design domain-limited autonomous driving) technology. Additionally, Waymo and FCA are going to develop autonomous Ram ProMaster commercial vans for driverless deliveries.

"With this next step, deepening our relationship with the very best technology partner in this space, we’re turning to the needs of our commercial customers by jointly enabling self-driving for light commercial vehicles, starting with the Ram ProMaster. Adding Waymo’s commitment to partner with us to deploy its L4 fully autonomous technology across our entire product portfolio, our partnership is setting the pace for the safe and sustainable mobility solutions that will help define the automotive world in the years and decades to come,” said FCA CEO Mike Manley in a statement.

"FCA was our first OEM partner and we’ve come a long way together. Today, we’re expanding our partnership with FCA with the Waymo Driver as the exclusive L4 autonomy solution for this global automotive company. Together, we’ll introduce the Waymo Driver throughout the FCA brand portfolio, opening up new frontiers for ride-hailing, commercial delivery and personal-use vehicles around the world,” said Waymo CEO John Krafcik.

Enlarge / On July 17, 2020, a Long March 5 rocket rolls out for the launch of a Mars rover this week. (credit: STR/AFP via Getty Images)

On Sunday, an orbiter built by the United Arab Emirates launched to Mars. Next week, possibly as early as Thursday, July 30, NASA will launch is large, 1.05-ton Perseverance rover toward the red planet.

Sandwiched in between these to missions, however, is China's first interplanetary spacecraft. With its ambitious Tianwen 1 mission, China will attempt to orbit and land on Mars on its first attempt, subsequently deploying a rover. This is significant, because the typical mode of exploration is to first flyby a new world, then enter orbit, and only then send a spacecraft to land and potentially rove around.

China has the benefit of learning from NASA's exploration of the red planet, of course. Even before Perseverance, NASA has landed eight spacecraft successfully on the surface of Mars over a period of decades.