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Nov 9, 2020

Pfizer says early data signals COVID-19 vaccine is effective

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

#BREAKING: Pfizer says an early peek at its vaccine data suggests the shots may be 90% effective at preventing COVID-19. bit.ly/3leFbzp


Pfizer says an early peek at its vaccine data suggests the shots may be 90% effective at preventing COVID-19, indicating the company is on track later this month to file an emergency use application with U.S. regulators.

Monday’s announcement doesn’t mean a vaccine is imminent: This interim analysis, from an independent data monitoring board, looked at 94 infections recorded so far in a study that has enrolled nearly 44,000 people in the U.S. and five other countries.

Continue reading “Pfizer says early data signals COVID-19 vaccine is effective” »

Nov 9, 2020

FBI: Hackers stole source code from US government agencies and private companies

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, government

FBI blames intrusions on improperly configured SonarQube source code management tools.

Nov 9, 2020

Electric Volkswagen camper van road trips 7,500 km to top of Europe

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability, transportation

All-electric camper vans are still quite rare. Those that are available tend to be designed for camping and commuting locally, not road-tripping indefinitely. But VW fanatic Frank Eusterholz had different ideas. He threw a PlugVan camper module into the e-Crafter cargo van and hit the road … the long road. Eusterholz’s 7,500-km (4,660-mile) journey sent him highway-cruising, switchback-climbing and island-hopping across Europe, from VW van HQ Hannover, Germany to the northernmost tip of Continental Europe. His journey serves as an inspiring early look at the electric RVing possibilities that will only grow with time.

Electric camper vans have been available for years, but a practical version with enough range always seems just a few years off. Next-generation EV campers from the Rivian R1T overland truck to VW’s own ID. Buzz promise more practical ranges and capabilities, but for now e-campers remain limited to small, modest-range minis like the Sussex e-NV200 Camper Car.

In an announcement released last month, Volkswagen painted a different picture of electric camper van touring. It described the story of 54-year-old Frank Eusterholz, a longtime EV driver determined not to let the modest ranges of contemporary electric vans deter him from EV van life. A resident of Samsø, a Danish island that’s been committed to sustainable energy for decades, Eusterholz considered the e-Crafter a natural vehicle choice, and the perfect camper base.

Nov 9, 2020

The ‘Sun machine’ that could provide the world with clean energy

Posted by in category: nuclear energy

Leo Cendrowicz reports from Provence on a technological marvel 35 years and counting in the making that could provide the world with clean power… for ever.

Nov 9, 2020

Tesla electric aircraft: Elon Musk responds to ‘Model V’ concept VTOL

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, sustainability, transportation

The Tesla CEO has responded to new concept art that imagines a Tesla-designed vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.

Nov 9, 2020

X-43A (Hyper-X)

Posted by in categories: military, space

Four decades of supersonic-combustion ramjet propulsion research culminated in a successful flight of the X-43A hypersonic technology demonstrator in March 2004, the first time a scramjet-powered aircraft had flown freely. After being launched by Dryden’s venerable B-52B mothership off the coast of Southern California, a modified first-stage Pegasus booster rocketed the X-43A to 95,000 feet before the X-43A separated and flew under its own scramjet power at an airspeed of Mach 6.8, or about 5,000 mph, for about 11 seconds. On Nov. 16, another identical scramjet-powered X-43A did it again, this time reaching hypersonic speeds above Mach 9.6, or about 6,800 mph, in the final flight of the X-43A project. Both flights set world airspeed records for an aircraft powered by an air-breathing engine, and proved that scramjet propulsion is a viable technology for powering future space-access vehicles and hypersonic aircraft.

Nov 9, 2020

CERN is offering a free quantum computing course online

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

Developers who want to understand the complicated new field of computing can tune in for free weekly lectures.

Nov 9, 2020

SpaceX gets regulatory approval to offer Starlink Internet in Canada

Posted by in categories: internet, satellites

SpaceX has finally received approval from Canadian authorities to offer its Starlink satellite Internet service in the country, a decision that comes amid a recent expansion of the beta program in the US. With this approval in place, SpaceX will be able to offer rural Canadians access to high-speed broadband, something that will slowly expand into other countries, as well.

Nov 9, 2020

Scientists used a human gene to grow bigger monkey brains

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Video. Hopefully they are satisfied with this. Otherwise, I think we would end up with planet of the apes…

At least they know which gene helps make brains bigger.


Scientists used a human gene to grow bigger monkey brains.

Nov 9, 2020

‘Electronic skin’ promises cheap and recyclable alternative to wearable devices

Posted by in categories: electronics, wearables

Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder are developing a wearable electronic device that’s “really wearable”—a stretchy and fully-recyclable circuit board that’s inspired by, and sticks onto, human skin.

The team, led by Jianliang Xiao and Wei Zhang, describes its new “” in a paper published today in the journal Science Advances. The can heal itself, much like real skin. It also reliably performs a range of sensory tasks, from measuring the body temperature of users to tracking their daily step counts.

And it’s reconfigurable, meaning that the device can be shaped to fit anywhere on your body.