Lifeboat Foundation

Vulnerable people told to ‘keep a torch, hat, gloves and blanket handy’.

Essential medical supplies, from exam gloves to ventilators, are in short supply. Around the world, makers and engineers are creating open-source versions of much-needed gear and tools.

From Ireland to Seattle, makers and engineers are creating open-source versions of much-needed medical equipment.

Engineers at Caltech have shown that atoms in optical cavities—tiny boxes for light—could be foundational to the creation of a quantum internet. Their work was published on March 30 by the journal Nature.

Quantum networks would connect quantum computers through a system that also operates at a quantum, rather than classical, level. In theory, quantum computers will one day be able to perform certain functions faster than classical computers by taking advantage of the special properties of quantum mechanics, including superposition, which allows quantum bits to store information as a 1 and a 0 simultaneously.

As they can with classical computers, engineers would like to be able to connect multiple quantum computers to share data and work together—creating a “quantum internet.” This would open the door to several applications, including solving computations that are too large to be handled by a single quantum computer and establishing unbreakably secure communications using quantum cryptography.

Submarine neutrino detectors will hunt for dark matter, distant star explosions, and more.

(Reuters) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized the emergency use of Bodysphere Inc’s test that can detect the coronavirus in nearly two minutes, the privately held company said on Tuesday.

The FDA has been rushing to approve tests on an emergency basis and last week approved Abbott Laboratories’ (ABT.N) test that can deliver results within minutes.

Bodysphere said it was working with the federal and state governments to deliver the test to the frontlines.

A Srinagar-based businessman who attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Nizamuddin travelled by air, train and road to Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and back to Jammu and Kashmir before he died of Covid-19, raising fears he may have infected many others along the way, officials said on Tuesday. Among his possible victims is a doctor battling for life in a Jammu hospital.

The businessman died on March 26 in a Srinagar hospital, 19 days after he set off for the national capital.

He could have infected scores of people during his travels and about 300 people have been put under quarantine because of him, officials said.

Dr Anim drove his uncle to SMHS Hospital where the physicians suspected him to be a strong case of COVID-19 and referred the patient to Chest Disease Hospital where he tested positive. Two days later, he breathed his last.

“At SKIMS Soura and SKIMS Medical College, I begged for the screening of my uncle. At all the four hospitals, I revealed every detail of my uncle’s travel history. It was duly recorded,” Dr Anim said, refuting allegations that the family had concealed travel history of the deceased.

From Malaysia to Thailand, Pakistan and now India, the Tablighi Jamaat has spread the coronavirus further with large congregations taking place.

Hospitals are threatening to fire health-care workers who publicize their working conditions during the coronavirus pandemic — and have in some cases followed through.

Ming Lin, an emergency room physician in Washington state, said he was told Friday he was out of a job because he’d given an interview to a newspaper about a Facebook post detailing what he believed to be inadequate protective equipment and testing. In Chicago, a nurse was fired after emailing colleagues that she wanted to wear a more protective mask while on duty. In New York, the NYU Langone Health system has warned employees they could be terminated if they talk to the media without authorization.