November 2014 Current Events: Disasters & Science News

Updated August 5, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

World News | Business News | U.S. News

Here are the key events in Science and Disasters news for the month of November 2014.

• Fight Against Ebola Outbreak Continues (Nov. 6): President Obama asks Congress for more than $6 billion to fight Ebola in West Africa as well as protect U.S. citizens from the virus. (Nov. 8): The World Health Organization issues new protocol for burying Ebola victims since that is when they are at their most infectious. Contact with the deceased has caused 20% or more new infections in countries most affected by the outbreak. Meanwhile, in Dallas, Texas, the last person being monitored for symptoms is cleared. (Nov. 12): The first person to test positive for Ebola in New York City, Dr. Craig Spencer, is declared virus free and released from Bellevue Hospital Center. Meanwhile, according to the World Health Organization, 5,160 people have now died from the Ebola outbreak. The total number of cases has increased to 14,098, including the 5,160 deaths. (Nov. 17): Dr. Martin Salia, who contracted Ebola while working in Sierra Leone, dies at a Nebraska hospital where he was being treated for the virus. A native of Sierra Leone, Salia had been in critical condition when he arrived in the U.S., according to a news release by the Nebraska Medical Center.

• Spacecraft Lands on Comet and Makes History (Nov. 12): For the first time ever, a spacecraft lands on a comet. After leaving the mother ship Rosetta, a probe named Philae lands on Comet 67P, located 310 million miles from Earth. Spacecraft have crashed into comets in the past, but this is the first controlled landing in history. Later, scientists from the European Space Agency (ESA) report that Philae isn't secure because the probe's anchoring harpoons failed to launch and hook into the comet's surface. Still ESA celebrates the milestone. "Our ambitious Rosetta mission has secured a place in the history books: not only is it the first to rendezvous with and orbit a comet, but it is now also the first to deliver a lander to a comet's surface," Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA's director general, says in a post on the agency's website.