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A step towards biological warfare with insects?![]() Munich, Germany (SPX) Oct 10, 2018 Owing to present-day armed conflicts, the general public is well aware of the terrifying effects of chemical weapons. Meanwhile, the effects of biological weapons have largely disappeared from public awareness. A project funded by a research agency of the US Department of Defense is now giving rise to concerns about being possibly misused for the purpose of biological warfare. The programme called 'Insect Allies' intends for insects to be used for dispersing genetically modified viruses to agricul ... read more |
15 emerging technologies that could reduce global catastrophic biological risksBaltimore MD (SPX) Oct 10, 2018 Strategic investment in 15 promising technologies could help make the world better prepared and equipped to prevent future infectious disease outbreaks from becoming catastrophic events. This ... more
Vaccinating humans to protect mosquitoes from malariaBuffalo NY (SPX) Oct 10, 2018 For decades, scientists have been trying to develop a vaccine that prevents mosquitoes from spreading malaria among humans. This unique approach - in which immunized humans transfer anti-malar ... more
100 years on, Spanish Flu holds lessons for next pandemicParis (AFP) Oct 8, 2018 It was the disease to end all others, infecting a third of humanity, killing tens of millions in their beds and prompting panicked talk of the end of days across continents still reeling from war. ... more
US calls ruling a defeat for Iran, ends treatyWashington (AFP) Oct 3, 2018 The United States on Wednesday called an international court ruling against its Iran sanctions a defeat for Tehran as it terminated a 1955 treaty on which the case was based. ... more |
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| Previous Issues | Oct 10 | Oct 09 | Oct 08 | Oct 05 | Oct 04 |
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Trump unveils revised US biodefense strategyWashington (AFP) Sept 18, 2018 US President Donald Trump unveiled a new strategy Tuesday aimed at reducing the risks of man-made and naturally occurring biological threats. ... more
UBC breakthrough opens door to $100 ultrasound machineVancouver, Canada (SPX) Sep 17, 2018 Engineers at the University of British Columbia have developed a new ultrasound transducer, or probe, that could dramatically lower the cost of ultrasound scanners to as little as $100. Their patent ... more
Indonesia's quake-hit Lombok battles with malaria, 137 infectedMataram, Indonesia (AFP) Sept 16, 2018 A malaria outbreak has infected at least 137 people in Indonesia's West Lombok after the island was rocked by a series of earthquakes in recent months, an official said Sunday. ... more
Artificial synaptic device simulating the function of human brainSeoul, South Korea (SPX) Sep 13, 2018 A research team led by Director Myoung-Jae Lee from the Intelligent Devices and Systems Research Group at DGIST has succeeded in developing an artificial synaptic device that mimics the function of ... more
Deadly 'rat fever' in flood-ravaged Indian stateKochi, India (AFP) Sept 4, 2018 "Rat fever" and other diseases have killed 14 people in the southern Indian state of Kerala after the worst floods in almost a century, authorities said Tuesday. ... more |
![]() Virus' potency depends on the shape of its DNA
UN emergency talks to head off swine fever spread in AsiaBangkok (AFP) Sept 5, 2018 An emergency meeting to head off an outbreak of African swine fever across Asia opened in Bangkok on Wednesday, after a mass pig cull in China sparked fears of a potential pandemic. ... more |
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Deadly 'rat fever' in flood-ravaged Indian stateKochi, India (AFP) Sept 4, 2018 "Rat fever" has killed at least 12 people with another 54 suspected fatal cases in the southern Indian state of Kerala since August, after the worst floods in almost a century, authorities said Tuesday. ... more
China culls 38,000 pigs as swine fever spreadsBeijing (AFP) Sept 2, 2018 More than 38,000 pigs have been culled across China, state media said Sunday, as the world's largest pork producer scrambles to contain an outbreak of African swine fever. ... more
NASA investment in cholera forecasts helps save lives in YemenWashington DC (SPX) Aug 29, 2018 For the first time ever, measurements from NASA Earth-observing research satellites are being used to help combat a potential outbreak of life-threatening cholera. Humanitarian teams in Yemen are ta ... more
Temperature model predicts transmission of mosquito-borne virusWashington (UPI) Aug 28, 2018 Scientists have designed a new model to predict how temperatures will impact the transmission patterns of the mosquito-borne Ross River virus. ... more
China's swine fever outbreak may spread in Asia: FAOBeijing (AFP) Aug 28, 2018 An outbreak of African swine fever in China may spread to other parts of Asia, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization warned Tuesday, as the world's largest pork producer scrambled to contain the disease. ... more |
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Morocco navy fires on migrant boat, wounding one Rabat (AFP) Oct 10, 2018
The Moroccan navy opened fire on a boat transporting migrants from the North African country, wounding one of them, a military source said on Wednesday.
Despite warning shots, "the motorboat that was carrying 58 migrants hidden under tarpaulin made a hostile move which forced the coastguard to fire at the captain," said the source in Rabat, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
One of the ... more |
Boeing to provide technical work on JDAM GPS-guided bombs Washington (UPI) Oct 4, 2018
Boeinghas received a $45 million contract modification for technical services related to the Joint Direct Attack Munition, a kit that allows for bombs to be upgraded with precision guidance systems.
Boeing will provide JDAM studies and analysis, upgrades and other services under the modification, announced Wednesday by the Department of Defense. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Mo., ... more |
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Affable apes live longer, study shows Edinburgh UK (SPX) Oct 11, 2018
Male chimps that are less aggressive and form strong social bonds tend to live longer, research suggests.
A study of hundreds of captive chimpanzees showed that males that get along well with others - by being sensitive, protective and cooperative - outlived their less amiable peers.
The team, led by researchers at the University of Edinburgh, found that, contrary to studies of human ... more |
India watches for deadly virus as lion deaths spike Ahmedabad, India (AFP) Oct 2, 2018
Ten endangered Asiatic lions have died in the last two weeks in India, authorities confirmed Tuesday, four of them from a virus that killed around 1,000 lions in Tanzania in the 1990s.
The new deaths take the toll at the Gir sanctuary in the western Gujarat state, home to India's entire population of around 500 wild Asiatic lions, to 21 since September.
India's National Institute of Viro ... more |
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15 emerging technologies that could reduce global catastrophic biological risks Baltimore MD (SPX) Oct 10, 2018
Strategic investment in 15 promising technologies could help make the world better prepared and equipped to prevent future infectious disease outbreaks from becoming catastrophic events.
This subset of emerging technologies and their potential application are the focus of a new report, Technologies to Address Global Catastrophic Biological Risks, by a team of researchers at the Johns Hopki ... more |
China's ultra wealthy buffeted as trade war bites Beijing (AFP) Oct 10, 2018
China's ultra wealthy saw their ranks thinned this year as the trade war with the US pummelled stocks and shredded billions of dollars of paper wealth, a survey showed Wednesday.
The number of Chinese, or China-based magnates, with a net worth over 2 billion yuan ($290 million) fell by 237 to 1,893 individuals this year, according to the annual ranking compiled by Shanghai-based luxury magaz ... more |
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New president to inherit a Mexico plagued with grisly violence Mexico City (AFP) Aug 7, 2018
In the middle of the street, corpses riddled with bullets. Underground, thousands of bodies heaped in clandestine graves. And in the mountains, drug gangs locked in armed conflict with the military.
These grim scenes have increasingly become the norm in Mexico, a country gripped by violence stemming from its war on drugs which since 2006 has seen more than 200,000 murders and 30,000 people g ... more |
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British NATO troops to show post-Brexit 'commitment' Hook Of Holland, Netherlands (AFP) Oct 10, 2018 A convoy of British troops landed in The Netherlands on Wednesday en route to NATO's largest exercise since the Cold War, pledging London's commitment to defend the continent despite Brexit.
The contingent of some 150 soldiers on board 71 military vehicles rolled off a civilian passenger ferry in the Hook of Holland port after travelling overnight from Harwich.
They are embarking on the ... more |
GRACE-FO Satellite Switching to Backup Instrument Processing Unit Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 17, 2018
The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission team plans to switch to a backup system in the Microwave Instrument (MWI) on one of the twin spacecraft this month. Following the switch-over, GRACE-FO is expected to quickly resume science data collection.
A month after launching this past May, GRACE-FO produced its first preliminary gravity field map. The mission ha ... more |
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US arrests alleged Chinese spy after extradition from Belgium Washington (AFP) Oct 10, 2018
US authorities said Wednesday they have arrested a Chinese intelligence agent after he was extradited from Belgium, accusing him of a state-sponsored effort to steal American trade secrets.
The Justice Department said Xu Yanjun, an official of the Ministry of State Security, had plotted since 2013 to obtain trade secrets of GE Aviation and other companies.
An indictment suggested he was ... more |
In Iraq's city of bookshops, theology and poetry rub spines Najaf, Iraq (AFP) Oct 10, 2018
In the covered alleyways of old Najaf in Iraq, poetry and philosophy books compete on laden shelves with economic treatises, the Koran and other theological tomes for students' attention.
Since leaving his native Bangladesh for the Shiite holy city three years ago, religious student Mohammed Ali Reda has regularly frequented secondhand bookstores.
There are many like him in Najaf.
S ... more |
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China revises controversial anti-terror regulations Beijing (AFP) Oct 10, 2018
Anti-terror efforts in controversial "reeducation centres" in China's Xinjiang region will be governed by new standardised rules, as international criticism mounts over the detention of as many one million in the restive far west.
The revised rules, passed Tuesday, call on local governments to tackle terrorism by establishing "vocational education centres" that will carry out the "educationa ... more |
Thousands join German forest demo after court reprieve Buir, Germany (AFP) Oct 6, 2018
Thousands of anti-coal demonstrators descended on Germany's Hambach forest Saturday, celebrating an unexpected court victory that suspended an energy company's planned razing of the woodland for a growing open-cast mine.
The ancient forest near Cologne has been occupied by activists for the past six years, becoming a symbol of resistance against coal mining in Germany, a country that despite ... more |
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Judge mulls slashing $290 mn award in Roundup cancer case San Francisco (AFP) Oct 11, 2018
A judge on Wednesday was mulling whether to gut a jury order that Monsanto pay $290 million in damages for not warning a groundskeeper that its weed killer product Roundup might cause cancer.
In motions filed after the historic August verdict, Monsanto urged the judge to strip away the $250 million punitive portion of the damages, arguing that a new trial was justified.
Rival attorneys a ... more |
Polar Wandering on Dwarf Planet Ceres Revealed Tucson AZ (SPX) Oct 09, 2018
Dwarf planet Ceres experienced an indirect polar reorientation of approximately 36 degrees, a new paper by Planetary Science Institute Senior Scientist Pasquale Tricarico says.
Tricarico's paper "True Polar Wander of Ceres Due to Heterogeneous Crustal Density" appears in Nature Geoscience.
Using data from NASA's Dawn mission, Tricarico determined the magnitude of the reorientation wi ... more |
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