Scientists at Oxford University say their experimental coronavirus vaccine has been shown in an early trial to prompt a protective immune response in hundreds of people who got the shot.British researchers first began testing the vaccine in April in about 1,000 people, half of whom got the experimental vaccine. Such early trials are usually designed … continue reading -> “UK Coronavirus Vaccine Prompts Immune Response in Early Test”
Cameroon’s medical authorities say over 200,000 children have not received routine vaccinations on schedule since March, when the country had its first case of COVID-19. Parents are refusing to take their kids to hospitals because they fear they may be infected with the virus, which has spread to nearly 17,000 people and caused nearly 400 deaths. Doctors are warning that … continue reading -> “Fear of COVID-19 Stopping Childhood Vaccinations in Cameroon”
Astrophysicists on Monday published the largest-ever 3D map of the Universe, the result of an analysis of more than 4 million galaxies and ultra-bright, energy-packed quasars.The efforts of hundreds of scientists from about 30 institutions worldwide have yielded a “complete story of the expansion of the universe,” said Will Percival of the University of Waterloo … continue reading -> “Astrophysicists Unveil Biggest-Ever 3D Map of the Universe”
Twitter says the hack that compromised the accounts of some of its most high-profile users targeted 130 people. The hackers were able to reset the passwords of 45 of those accounts. The San Francisco-based company said in a blog post Saturday that for up to eight of these accounts the attackers also downloaded … continue reading -> “Twitter: Hack Hit 130 Accounts; Company ‘Embarrassed’”
The United Arab Emirates launched its first mission to Mars early Monday as it strives to develop its scientific and technology capabilities and move away from its reliance on oil. The Hope Probe blasted off from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center at 1:58 a.m. UAE time/6:58 a.m. Japanese time Monday (2158 GMT Sunday) for a seven-month … continue reading -> “United Arab Emirates Launches Mission to Mars”
The World Health Organization reports the COVID-19 pandemic and lack of money are hampering efforts to bring a speedy end to the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo’s Equateur Province. Since the outbreak was declared June 1, 56 cases, including 20 deaths have been recorded.Shortly after Ebola was detected in the DRC, World Health … continue reading -> “COVID-19 and Funding Shortfall Hamper Ebola Operation in DR Congo’s Equateur Province”
Hackers broke into the Twitter accounts of world leaders, celebrities and tech moguls on Wednesday in one of the most high-profile security breaches in recent years, highlighting a major flaw with the service millions of people have come to rely on as an essential communications tool. The intent of the hack appeared to be to … continue reading -> “Q&A: What’s Behind the Twitter Bitcoin Hack?”
Google, the behemoth technology company that has become a verb for online search, is offering financial aid to students who take their certificate programs in data analysis, project management and user experience.Calling it “a digital jobs program to help America’s economic recovery,” the offering comes during record-high joblessness in the U.S. because of quarantines and … continue reading -> “Google Offers Scholarships for Certificate Programs”
Actor and activist Angelina Jolie urged the U.N. Security Council on Friday to fulfill its promise to hold to account perpetrators of sexual violence against children in conflict settings.“I have met child survivors of sexual violence – and domestic violence and trauma and abuse – everywhere,” Jolie said of her 20 years working with the … continue reading -> “Angelina Jolie Says Children ‘Invisible Victims’ of Rape in War”
Researchers have discovered one of the blackest materials on Earth – material that reflects less than .5 percent of the light that hits it – on the skin of deep-sea fish that use their blackness as camouflage from predators.The fish’s skin and its possible applications in the above-water world are described in a study published … continue reading -> “Scientists Discover One of Earth’s Blackest Materials — on a Fish”
A person is in custody in connection with the killing of a 33-year-old tech entrepreneur found dismembered inside his luxury Manhattan condo. A law enforcement official said Friday the person in custody has been working as Fahim Saleh’s personal assistant. Saleh was found at around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday inside his luxury seventh floor apartment on … continue reading -> “Police Make Arrest in Killing of Tech CEO Found Dismembered”
The baseless conspiracy theory took off after an anonymous user posed a bizarre question in an internet chatroom: What if retail giant Wayfair is using pricey storage cabinets to traffic children? Self-proclaimed internet sleuths quickly responded by matching up the names of Wayfair products to those of missing children, producing social media posts that have since … continue reading -> “Baseless Wayfair Child-Trafficking Theory Spreads Online”
The number of reported Ebola cases in western Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has surpassed the African nation’s 2018 outbreak numbers in the same region, World Health Organization officials said Thursday. “There are now 56 cases, and this is of great concern, particularly as it is now surpassing the previous (2018) outbreak in this area, which … continue reading -> “Latest Ebola Outbreak in Western DRC Eclipses 2018”
More than 1 million people in the United Kingdom have quit smoking since the coronavirus pandemic hit earlier this year, an anti-smoking group said. Action on Smoking and Health said more than 40% of those surveyed say they gave up cigarettes in direct response to the coronavirus. A separate poll by University College London found more … continue reading -> “COVID-19 Prompts Many Cigarette Smokers to Quit”
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating Wednesday’s major Twitter hack, in which scammers tapped into high-profile accounts to scam users out of over $100,000 in Bitcoin, the agency confirmed Thursday. “The FBI is investigating the incident involving several Twitter accounts belonging to high profile individuals that occurred on July 15, 2020. At this time, the accounts appear … continue reading -> “US FBI Investigates Massive Twitter Hack “
U.S., British and Canadian officials accused the Kremlin Thursday of being behind a massive and ongoing cyber hack aimed at stealing from Western pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions doing research into coronavirus vaccines and treatment therapies. In a joint statement, the governments of all three countries said the hacking operation started in February and … continue reading -> “Russia Accused of Stealing Western Coronavirus Research”
Officials from the European Space Agency, ESA, and its U.S. counterpart, NASA Thursday released the first ever pictures from the agencies’ joint Solar Orbiter mission, including the closest pictures ever taken of the sun.The orbiter was about 77 million kilometers from the sun – about halfway between Earth and the star – when it took … continue reading -> “ESA, NASA Release First Pictures From Solar Orbiter”
NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Robert Behnken stepped outside the International Space Station (ISS) Thursday to continue efforts to complete a three-and-a-half-year project to upgrade the station’s batteries, the space agency said.Cassidy and Behnken have been working to replace aging nickel-hydrogen batteries with new lithium-ion batteries delivered to the station on a Japanese cargo ship … continue reading -> “NASA Astronauts Attempt to Finish Repairing Aging ISS Batteries”
Britain, Canada and the United States have accused Russia of trying to steal COVID-19 information from academic and pharmaceutical institutions.Britain’s National Cyber Security Center announced Thursday in coordination with the U.S. and Canada the attempts to steal vaccine and treatment research is being conducted by the hacking group APT29, which is said to be part … continue reading -> “Russia Accused of Trying to Steal COVID-19 Vaccine Information”
Can a pregnant woman spread the coronavirus to her fetus? It’s possible, but it seems to be relatively rare and scientists think they know why that is. Many viruses can cross the placenta and infect a fetus in the womb, and evidence has been growing that the coronavirus sometimes can too. Researchers in Italy … continue reading -> “Can a Pregnant Woman Spread Coronavirus to Her Fetus?”
A breach in Twitter’s security that allowed hackers to break into the accounts of leaders and technology moguls is one of the worst attacks in recent years and may shake trust in a platform politicians and CEOs use to communicate with the public, experts said Thursday. The ruse discovered Wednesday included bogus tweets from Barack … continue reading -> “Experts Say Twitter Breach Troubling, Undermines Trust”
The European Union’s top court ruled Thursday that an agreement that allows thousands of companies — from tech giants to small financial firms — to transfer data to the United States is invalid because the American government can snoop on people’s data. The ruling to invalidate Privacy Shield will complicate business for some 5,000 companies, … continue reading -> “EU Court Cancels US Data-Sharing Pact Over Snooping Concerns”
U.S. President Donald Trump has unveiled a top-to-bottom overhaul of the review process for infrastructure projects that critics contend causes major cracks in bedrock conservations laws. “This is something that nobody thought was possible,” Trump said on the outskirts of Atlanta’s airport on Wednesday, contending that “horrible roadblocks” due to environmental regulations had cost “trillions of dollars” over the … continue reading -> “Trump Weakens Major Conservation Law “
There has been an alarming decline in the number of children getting vaccinated for such preventable diseases as diphtheria, tetanus and measles, the United Nations warned Wednesday. The U.N.’s World Health Organization and UNICEF blame the decline on the disruption of routine health care caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of World Health Organization, attends the virtual 73rd World Health Assembly in Geneva, … continue reading -> “Vaccinations Against Preventable Childhood Diseases in ‘Alarming Decline,’ UN Says “
A wave of tweets in apparent hacking swept through Twitter on Wednesday, with more than half a dozen high-profile accounts – belonging to U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden, billionaire Bill Gates, and rapper Kanye West, among others – used to solicit bitcoin donations.The cause of the breach was not immediately clear, but the scale and … continue reading -> “High-Profile Twitter Accounts Swept Up in Wave of Apparent Hacking “