Biotech/medical – Lifeboat News: The Blog

Apr 12
2020

Gold may soon soar to a record $2,000 says analyst: we ‘borrowed from the future, and there is not enough economy to pay it down’

The precious metal has been torn between its potential as a haven investment and a mad scramble to sell the tangible asset in a bid for cash to cover losses in the stock market.

“The Covid-19 outbreak has had a major impact on the gold market, bringing massive price swings as investors react to new developments related to the pandemic,” says Steven Dunn, head of exchange-traded funds at Aberdeen Standard Investments.

“Because of Covid-19, refiners were knocked offline…and the ability to move gold became a challenge as normal means of transport became almost impossible,” he says.

Apr 12
2020

More Evidence Suggests Pangolins May Have Passed Coronavirus From Bats to Humans

Pangolins, not snakes, may be the missing link for transmission of the new coronavirus from bats to humans.

Since its initial outbreak at Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, COVID-19 has since infected more than a million people across the globe. To understand and control the transmission of COVID-19, scientists are racing to study the coronavirus causing the disease: SARS-CoV-2, previously named 2019-nCoV.

SARS-CoV-2 is zoonotic, which means that the virus originated in animals and jumped to humans. A critical challenge is to determine which animal transmitted the virus to humans.

Apr 12
2020

Buildings grown by bacteria — new research is finding ways to turn cells into mini-factories for materials

Researchers are turning microbes into microscopic construction crews by altering their DNA to make them produce building materials. The work could lead to more sustainable buildings.

Apr 12
2020

From disinfectant drones to robotic nurses, Covid-busting tech is here

NEW DELHI: For the last four years, it was used for crop dusting. But now, it has a new name and purpose. Chennai-based startup Garuda Aerospace’s drone is spraying disinfectant all over locked down cities in its new avatar of Corona Killer-100.

Garuda has deployed 300 drones across 26 Indian cities, including Varanasi, Raipur and many in Tamil Nadu, at the behest of state governments and municipal bodies that are looking for ways to disinfect their areas with as little human intervention as possible. “We spray in public areas, hospitals, bus stations — anywhere Covid-19 can spread,” says Agnishwar Jayaprakash, the founder and president of the startup. Commercial pilot volunteers are steering these drones.

Across the country, startups are utilising the lockdown period to innovate and add to the state’s arsenal to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Their work has resulted in disinfectant-spraying drones, drones that make public announcements or shoo away crowds during a lockdown, disinfectant trucks, new kinds of sanitisers and even robotic dispensers.

Apr 12
2020

The Virus Gives AI a Chance to Prove It Can Be a Force for Good

Governments set aside privacy concerns as they use surveillance software to fight Covid-19.

Apr 12
2020

Call for super-rich to donate more to tackle coronavirus pandemic

The world’s richest people are being urged to urgently donate big chunks of their fortunes to the global effort to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, and help millions of people across the globe whose lives have been thrown into crisis by Covid-19.

Some billionaires – including Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey – have committed huge amounts of their money to fund solutions to the unfolding crisis.

While some billionaires have pledged vast chunks of their fortunes others have been criticised for not giving enough, or even at all.

Apr 11
2020

Industry scrambles to stop fatal bird flu in South Carolina

A less severe strain of bird flu had been detected along the North Carolina and South Carolina state recently but the case in Chesterfield County, South Carolina discovered on Monday was found to be a more fatal and easily spread strain.

Apr 11
2020

Coronavirus ‘could be spreading across the globe through farts’ claim doctors

Hold the farts in?

Doctors have made the foul discovery that farting could spread the Covid-19 disease – unless infected people wear pants which can protect this from happening.

Apr 11
2020

CDC Director: ‘Very Aggressive’ Contact Tracing Needed For U.S. To Return To Normal

Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, spoke with NPR on Thursday, saying that his agency is working on a plan to safely reopen the United States. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images hide caption.

Apr 11
2020

After months in space, astronauts returning to changed world

Two NASA astronauts said Friday they expect it will be tough returning to such a drastically changed world next week, after more than half a year at the International Space Station.

Andrew Morgan said the crew has tried to keep atop the pandemic news. But it’s hard to comprehend what’s really going on and what to expect, he noted, when his nine-month mission ends next Friday.

“It is quite surreal for us to see this whole situation unfolding on the planet below,” said Jessica Meir, who took part in the first all-female spacewalk last fall. “We can tell you that the Earth still looks just as stunning as always from up here, so it’s difficult to believe all the changes that have taken place since both of us have been up here.”