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Aug 24, 2021
Ispace Unveils New Larger Lunar Lander
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: space travel
Updated 11:45 p.m. to correct lunar orbit payload.
COLORADO SPRINGS — Japanese lunar space transportation company ispace is developing its design for a larger lunar lander that will be built in the United States.
The Tokyo-based company unveiled the design of the lander at the 36th Space Symposium Aug. 23. The lander, being developed by the company’s U.S. office in Denver, will fly as soon as2024on the company’s third mission to the moon.
Aug 24, 2021
Microsoft data breach exposes 38M records including Social Security numbers
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: biotech/medical, cybercrime/malcode, internet
THE personal records of 38million people were accidentally leaked on the open internet due to a flaw in more than a thousand Microsoft web apps, according to reports.
American Airlines, Ford, J.B. Hunt, the Maryland Department of Health, the New York City Municipal Transportation Authority, and New York City public schools were among the companies and organizations affected by the mistake.
The data mistakenly shared online included information from a number of Covid-19 contact tracing platforms, vaccination sign-ups, job application portals, and employee databases, according to Wired.
Aug 23, 2021
IBM Launches Telum, Its New AI Chip
Posted by Kelvin Dafiaghor in categories: finance, robotics/AI
IBM has announced its new chip, Telum – a new CPU chip that will allow IBM clients to leverage deep learning inference at scale. The new chip features a centralised design, which allows clients to leverage the full power of the AI processor for AI-specific workloads, making it ideal for financial services workloads like fraud detection, loan processing, clearing and settlement of trades, anti-money laundering, and risk analysis.
A Telum-based system is planned for the first half of 2022. “Our goal is to continue improving AI hardware compute efficiency by 2.5 times every year for a decade, achieving 1,000 times better performance by 2029,” said IBM in a press release.
The chip contains eight processor cores, running with more than 5GHz clock frequency, optimised for the demands of enterprise-class workloads. The completely redesigned cache and chip-interconnection infrastructure provide 32MB cache per core. The chip also contains 22 billion transistors and 19 miles of wire on 17 metal layers.
Aug 23, 2021
The Hyperlipidaemic Drug Fenofibrate Significantly Reduces Infection by SARS-CoV-2 in Cell Culture Models
Posted by Omuterema Akhahenda in category: biotech/medical
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has caused a significant number of fatalities and worldwide disruption. To identify drugs to repurpose to treat SARS-CoV-2 infections, we established a screen to measure the dimerization of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), the primary receptor for the virus. This screen identified fenofibric acid, the active metabolite of fenofibrate. Fenofibric acid also destabilized the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the viral spike protein and inhibited RBD binding to ACE2 in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and whole cell-binding assays. Fenofibrate and fenofibric acid were tested by two independent laboratories measuring infection of cultured Vero cells using two different SARS-CoV-2 isolates. In both settings at drug concentrations, which are clinically achievable, fenofibrate and fenofibric acid reduced viral infection by up to 70%. Together with its extensive history of clinical use and its relatively good safety profile, this study identifies fenofibrate as a potential therapeutic agent requiring an urgent clinical evaluation to treat SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for a pandemic, which has cost over 1.9 million lives worldwide so far (Dhama et al., 2020; World Health Organization, 2020; Wu et al., 2020). The emergence of new virus variants with higher transmissibility rates is seeing rapid increases in infection rates and deaths across the world. Several vaccines have undergone accelerated approval and are being rolled out worldwide (Baden et al., 2021; Voysey et al., 2021). While the clinical data are very promising, the vaccines are not recommended or suitable in all patient groups, e.g., children, those with hyperimmune disorders, and those using immunosuppressants (Meo et al., 2021), and with the global spread of viral variants of concern, e.g., Alpha-B.1.1.7, Beta-B.1.351, Gamma-P.1, and Delta-B.1.617.2, it is presently unclear whether the current vaccines will offer sufficient protection to emerging strains (Meo et al., 2021).
Aug 23, 2021
The evolution of commercial drug delivery technologies
Posted by Omuterema Akhahenda in categories: biotech/medical, evolution, health
Drug delivery technologies have enabled the development of many pharmaceutical products that improve patient health by enhancing the delivery of a therapeutic to its target site, minimizing off-target accumulation and facilitating patient compliance. As therapeutic modalities expanded beyond small molecules to include nucleic acids, peptides, proteins and antibodies, drug delivery technologies were adapted to address the challenges that emerged. In this Review Article, we discuss seminal approaches that led to the development of successful therapeutic products involving small molecules and macromolecules, identify three drug delivery paradigms that form the basis of contemporary drug delivery and discuss how they have aided the initial clinical successes of each class of therapeutic. We also outline how the paradigms will contribute to the delivery of live-cell therapies.
This Review Article discusses how delivery challenges associated with small molecules, nucleic acids, peptides, proteins and cells led to the development of commercial products and are now informing the delivery of live-cell therapeutics.
Aug 23, 2021
Mahabbah: I am pleased to announce that my science fiction story “Mahabbah” has been published by After Dinner Conversation
Posted by Logan Thrasher Collins in categories: biotech/medical, ethics, genetics, neuroscience
My story centers on the concept of a genetically modified virus (named) which infects the brain and gives people enhanced empathy. The narrative takes place in a fictional middle eastern city called Fakhoury and explores bioethical themes. Love acts as a central motif which ties the story together. Note that this piece will be available online for a limited time, after which you will need to pay for the magazine. I encourage you to check out my story!
Read Philosophy Ethics Short Stories with your friends, family, book club, and students. Each story comes with suggested discussion questions.
Aug 23, 2021
Ship 20 primed for pre-flight testing amid future refinements
Posted by Alberto Lao in category: space travel
Following the iconic first view of a fully integrated Starship stack during fit checks on the Orbital Launch Site (OLS) mount, both Ship 20 and Booster 4 are being prepared for testing ahead of the milestone orbital launch attempt. Ship 20 has returned to the launch site, taking up suborbital Pad B ahead of proof testing objectives, while Booster 4 is undergoing final closeout work inside the High Bay.
The pre-launch campaign is ongoing while SpaceX makes preemptive moves on the future, with modifications to future Starships designs and the preparations to increase production cadence with a second, much larger, High Bay.
Aug 23, 2021
More Than 4.95 Billion Shots Given: Covid-19 Tracker
Posted by Quinn Sena in category: biotech/medical
Bloomberg counted up the shots administered in 183 countries and 59 U.S. states and territories.
Aug 23, 2021
Long COVID in young adults: ‘Fight or flight’ response affected
Posted by Jason Blain in category: biotech/medical
A new study indicates that some young people may experience changes to their “fight or flight” response after having recovered from COVID-19.