Measures aimed at slowing coronavirus spread are affecting other communicable diseases.Credit: Leon Neal/Getty Lockdowns and social-distancing measures aimed at slowing the spread of coronavirus seem to have shortened the influenza season in the northern hemisphere by about six weeks. Globally, an estimated 290,000–650,000 people typically die from seasonal flu, so a shorter flu season could
In a live-streamed town hall, Mark Zuckerberg gave an overview for what he expects in the near future as Facebook pursues accommodations to keep workers productive and safe during the COVID-19 crisis. The move comes as large tech companies reassess the viability of their iconic Silicon Valley campuses, now empty as the pandemic keeps most
Plastics in our oceans have something in common with dark matter in the universe. Our models tell us there should be loads of it out there, but it’s proving difficult to track it down. The big difference with marine plastic, however, it that whenever we do look for it we tend to find it –
WASHINGTON — Italian space company D-Orbit will launch its first cubesat deployer in June on an Arianespace Vega, paving the way for an upgraded deployer in December on a SpaceX Falcon 9 capable of in-space maneuvers, a company official said May 21. Bruno Carvalho, D-Orbit’s vice president of business development, said the company hopes to
Paint in this version of The Scream, held by the Munch Museum in Oslo, has degraded with time. Credit: Stian Lysberg Solum/AFP/Getty Materials science 21 May 2020 Storing Edvard Munch’s masterpiece at low humidity will help to preserve its colours, analysis shows. Bright yellow hues that once screamed from Edvard Munch’s iconic painting The Scream
A lot of wildlife species, fish, and insects have been widely documented to be capable of traveling vast distances as part of their life and reproductive cycle. They migrate to distant destinations for resources, to escape the winter cold, or to breed. Scientists have always wondered how these animals can determine which way they should
KOLKATA/DHAKA (Reuters) – The most powerful cyclone to strike eastern India and Bangladesh in over a decade killed at least 82 people, officials said, as rescue teams scoured devastated coastal villages, hampered by torn down power lines and flooding over large tracts of land. Mass evacuations organised by authorities before Cyclone Amphan made landfall undoubtedly
As we move deeper into the pandemic, it’s clear that the way we conduct business is changing, maybe forever. That means that business has to change too — and fast. But if you’ve never conducted business digitally or only nominally, how do you suddenly transform on the fly? Salesforce Commerce Cloud CEO Mike Micucci says
A customer gets ready to fill his car with gasoline at a Shell gas station in San Francisco, California. Getty Images The upcoming Memorial Day weekend could be a test for the gasoline market, depending on whether drivers in reopening states hit the road and then keep on driving. Gasoline demand is about 30% below
WASHINGTON — Virgin Orbit announced May 20 it will make the first flight of its LauncherOne air-launched vehicle as soon as May 24, but is setting modest expectations about the probability of success. The company said in a statement that it current plans to perform its inaugural LauncherOne mission May 24, with “Cosmic Girl,” the
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The following is a brief roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. Monkeys who survive coronavirus infection immune to reinfection Two studies in monkeys offer some of the first scientific evidence
The function of cardiac implantable electronic devices such as pacemakers can be affected by direct irradiation of the device during radiotherapy. (Courtesy: CC BY-SA 3.0/Lucien Monfils) When a patient with a pacemaker or other type of cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) requires radiotherapy, the treatment plan is designed to avoid direct irradiation of the device,
Galaxies are immense, gravitationally bound systems composed of stars, dust, gas and invisible ‘dark matter’. Understanding how galaxies have formed and grown over time is essential for a more general view of how matter assembles into large structures — a key piece of the puzzle in our efforts to comprehend the Universe. A crucial step
MC Hammer on Tuesday, January 28, 2020 Nathan Congleton | NBC | NBCU Photo Bank If you tuned into the Clubhouse app Monday night, you could have heard a lively discussion on how the coronavirus is affecting the prison population. Speakers included MC Hammer, political commentator Van Jones, writer and activist Shaka Senghor and venture capitalists Marc
Space Force will have a field command focused on acquisition that will bring together several existing organizations WASHINGTON — One unfinished piece of business for the leaders of the U.S. Space Force is figuring out the organization of space acquisition agencies that currently operate independently. A plan to consolidate diverse procurement organizations under a single
Two studies published last April have shed light on the nature of galaxies orbiting around our own Milky Way galaxy. These studies have shown evidence of how a larger satellite galaxy can draw smaller ones into them as they get ‘trapped’ into orbiting the Milky Way. Such an arrangement can inform astronomers and researchers a
The disc around the young AB Aurigae star, where ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has spotted signs of planet birth is seen in an image obtained with the VLT’s SPHERE instrument in polarized light and released May 20, 2020. Close to the centre of the image, in the inner region of the disc, A ‘twist’
The Technology Development Board (TDB) of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) has approved six healthcare-focussed tech projects for commercialisation in an effort to combat the coronavirus outbreak in India. The government body has approved a project to detect and track multiple people using facial recognition even if they’re wearing masks, apart from projects
Pakinam Amer gets some expert advice on what science communication is, what it isn’t, and how to do it well. Download MP3 In a world currently facing an unparalleled health crisis, the need for clear science communication has never been greater. Explaining complex ideas in a concise manner does not come naturally to everyone, but
(Reuters) – Rising flood waters, already as high as five feet, submerged parts of the central Michigan of Michigan on Wednesday after days of heavy rain led to the failure of two dams and the evacuation of thousands of people. Rising flood waters of the Tittabawassee River advance upon the city after the breach of
Today GoPro entered the cutthroat business of personal lighting. This is the GoPro Zeus Mini; it looks like a rad little light, though it’s a curious product from an action camera company. The waterproof Zeus Mini costs $69.99 and ships with a magnetic spring clip. GoPro says the light is also compatible with all of
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announces the co-founding of The Climate Pledge at the National Press Club on September 19, 2019, in Washington. Paul Morigi | Getty Images | Amazon As Google’s cloud unit steps back from the oil and gas industry, a sales rep at Amazon Web Services is courting customers by pointing out how
Cool colours: the hotter square on the left is coated in a single layer of black paint while the cooler square in the right is a black bilayer. (Courtesy: Jyotirmoy Mandal) A bilayer paint that can dramatically cool sunlit surfaces yet comes in a range of colours has been developed by scientists in the US
Modern rocket. Retro logo. Same mission. The Worm is back. And just in time to mark the return of human spaceflight on American rockets from American soil. The retro, modern and iconic emblem will fly once again, this time on the side of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will ferry astronauts Robert Behnken and
WASHINGTON — NASA announced May 20 it is renaming a major space telescope under development after an astronomer who led the agency’s early work in space-based astronomy, even as the mission remains under threat of cancellation. The agency announced that the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) will now be known as the Nancy Grace
Evidence shows that women perform more household work than men do.Credit: Getty Quarantined with a six-year-old child underfoot, Megan Frederickson wondered how academics were managing to write papers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns implemented to stem coronavirus spread meant that, overnight, many households worldwide had become an intersection of work, school and home life. Conversations
The study conducted at the Australian National University has revealed the full extent of the Victorian bush fires raging for the past two decades. These wildfires have been significantly increasing both in size and frequency across Victoria. The research of Professor David Lindenmayer and Chris Taylor entitled: “New spatial analyses of Australian wildfire highlight the need
Khatabook, a startup that is helping small businesses in India record financial transactions digitally and accept payments online with an app, has raised $60 million in a new financing round as it looks to gain more ground in the world’s second most populous nation. The new financing round, Series B, was led by Facebook co-founder
Like most big companies with a complex multinational footprint, Anheuser-Busch InBev’s sales slipped in the first quarter and the beer maker is embracing new financial discipline amid the coronavirus pandemic. But the company also has acted quickly to prop up key members of its value chain — from small liquor stores to farmers to restaurants — and the situation has galvanized its
SMC awarded a six-month extension while it reviews bids for launch systems engineering and integration services. WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force’s launch enterprise awarded ManTech a $20.9 million six-month contract extension to provide systems engineering and integration services until September 2020. The Space and Missile Systems Center said last month it would extend ManTech’s
Hot stuff: upward propagating hydrogen flames. The image on the left shows continuous flame front propagation while the image on the right shows fractal-like propagation. (Courtesy: Fernando Veiga-López et al/Phys. Rev. Lett.) Hydrogen flame fronts can spread efficiently in adverse combustion conditions, researchers in Spain and Germany have shown. The team, led by Mario Sánchez-Sanz
Researchers use data from tree rings, sediment layers and other samples to calibrate the process of carbon dating.Credit: Philippe Clement/Arterra/Universal Images Group/Getty Radiocarbon dating — a key tool used for determining the age of prehistoric samples — is about to get a major update. For the first time in seven years, the technique is due
Aerial view of water from a broken Edenville Dam seen flooding the area as it flows towards Wixom Lake in Michigan, U.S. in this still frame obtained from social media video dated May 19, 2020. RYAN KALETO/via REUTERS (Reuters) – Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Tuesday declared an emergency for Midland county after two dams
Starting today, you’ll be able to browse and buy products directly from a business’ Facebook Page or Instagram profile. Both Facebook and Instagram already supported a degree of ecommerce — for example, Facebook has its Marketplace and will likely make a bigger push through its Libra cryptocurrency initiative, while Instagram allows users to buy products
An offshore oil platform is seen with a tanker in the distance on April 20, 2020 in Huntington Beach, California. Michael Heiman | Getty Images Oil prices dipped on Wednesday as concerns over the lasting economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic outweighed signs of improving demand and production cuts by major oil producers. Brent crude
Air Force Secretary Barrett argues that DoD space programs and investments should be integrated under the Space Force as soon as possible. WASHINGTON — Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett is pushing back on a Defense Department proposal that would delay transferring the Space Development Agency to the Space Force until October 2022. In a May
All over the world, tropical cyclones are becoming stronger and stronger. The trend has been observed to begin 40 years ago. An example is Hurricane Dorian, which is the strongest storm from the Atlantic ever recorded. Scientists have also made predictions using models and theories that are congruent with what is happening now. US NOAA’s
FILE PHOTO: Workers pressure wash the logo of NASA on the Vehicle Assembly Building before SpaceX will send two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station aboard its Falcon 9 rocket, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., May 19, 2020. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo (Reuters) – NASA’s human spaceflight chief Doug Loverro
Hydroxychloroquine, double-blind studies, convalescent plasma, herd immunity — the coronavirus pandemic has thrust the language of science into public view as never before. Having escaped the confines of the laboratory, these and other once-obscure terms are fast becoming part of household parlance. But familiarity with the terminology does not necessarily lead to a better understanding,
Migrant workers living in dormitories in Singapore were initially overlooked for coronavirus testing.Credit: Edgar Su/Reuters Respiratory pathogens spread like wildfire when people are in close contact. So it’s little wonder that almost all of the 150 biggest coronavirus outbreaks in the United States have been in prisons, nursing homes, veterans’ homes, psychiatric hospitals, meat-packing plants
Microsoft today announced the launch of the Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare, an industry-specific cloud solution for healthcare providers. This is the first in what is likely going to be a set of cloud offerings that target specific verticals and extends a trend we’ve seen among large cloud providers (especially Google), who tailor specific offerings to
Taken from the May 2020 issue of Physics World, where it appeared under the headline “Serendipity in action”. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. Accidental discoveries lie at the heart of many technological innovations. James McKenzie runs through his favourites Serendipitious success Microwave ovens are
Mackenzie Davis and Sebastian Stan, stars of 20th Century Fox’s Film “The Martian”, got a tour from Johnson Space Center Director Ellen Ochoa. News media followed the tour taking a peek at what NASA’s “Real Martians” are working on. For more videos of the visit: Space Station Crew Members Talk to Cast of The Martian
WASHINGTON — OneWeb is asking its bankruptcy court for permission to issue up to $8.8 million in worker retention and incentive payments to discourage its remaining employees from quitting before the company can sell its spectrum. OneWeb cut its headcount from 531 employees to 74 in March shortly before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection,
As data accumulate that, in some places, people of colour are much more likely than white people to become ill and die of COVID-19, more discussions are grasping at factors beyond race to explain why. I’m used to this. When my book on environmental racism came out last year, one of the most common questions
New research has found that in the Grand Canyon, two species influence mercury’s flow in the marine ecosystem. The study was published in the journal Science Advances, and it weds ecotoxicology to ecosystem ecology in tracing mercury flow through food webs up to its contamination into the land. Co-author and Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
KOLKATA/DHAKA (Reuters) – Authorities in eastern India and Bangladesh were relocating tens of thousands of villagers away from the coastline on Tuesday ahead of a super cyclone that is expected to inflict large-scale damage as both countries struggle to contain the coronavirus. Coronavirus quarantine shelters in India were being converted to cyclone shelters, leaving authorities
Disney‘s Head of Streaming, Kevin Mayer, is set to become TikTok’s chief executive, TikTok announced Monday. Mayer will also serve as chief operating officer of ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, effective June 1. Disney’s stock fell nearly 1% in after-hours trading Monday following the announcement after closing the trading day up 7.15%. It’s
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