Science and Technology

Wednesday, 12 January 2022 06:06

These electric sockets are made from a surprising material: bone

Humans have found creative uses for bones since prehistoric times. Animal bones have been shaped into spoons, needles, musical instruments, and combs. Meanwhile, bone ash—created by grinding bones to fine powder—has been used in bone china since the 1700s. Now, a designer has brought one of the planet’s oldest raw materials into the 21st century by redesigning the humble electric socket—and fashioning it out of discarded bones from the meat-processing industry. Swiss-Tunisian designer Souhaïb Ghanmi graduated from ECAL, Switzerland’s famed design school, last summer. For his diploma project, he designed Ecol, a range of electric sockets and light switches made…

Tuesday, 11 January 2022 06:10

In medical first, surgeons successfully transplanted pig heart into human patient. This is how they did it

In a medical first, doctors transplanted a pig heart into a patient in a last-ditch effort to save his life and a Maryland hospital said Monday that he’s doing well three days after the highly experimental surgery. While it’s too soon to know if the operation really will work, it marks a step in the decades-long quest to one day use animal organs for life-saving transplants. Doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center say the transplant showed that a heart from a genetically modified animal can function in the human body without immediate rejection. The patient, David Bennett, a…

Tuesday, 11 January 2022 06:04

Global spread of autoimmune disease blamed on fast foods, others

More and more people around the world are suffering because their immune systems can no longer tell the difference between healthy cells and invading micro-organisms. Disease defences that once protected them are instead attacking their tissue and organs. Major international research efforts are being made to fight this trend – including an initiative at London’s Francis Crick Institute, where two world experts, James Lee and Carola Vinuesa, have set up separate research groups to help pinpoint the precise causes of autoimmune disease, as these conditions are known. “Numbers of autoimmune cases began to increase about 40 years ago in the…

Sunday, 09 January 2022 06:27

A medical team has developed a Covid vaccine that could be a global game changer

A vaccine authorized in December for use in India may help solve one of the most vexing problems in global public health: How to supply lower-income countries with a Covid-19 vaccine that is safe, effective and affordable. The vaccine is called CORBEVAX. It uses old but proven vaccine technology and can be manufactured far more easily than most, if not all, of the Covid-19 vaccines in use today. "CORBEVAX is a game changer," says Dr. Keith Martin, executive director of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health in Washington, D.C. "It's going to enable countries around the world, particularly low-income…

Saturday, 08 January 2022 06:02

Introducing the Bus-Train, the world’s first dual-mode vehicle

Japan recently unveiled the world’s first Dual-Mode Vehicle (DMV), a contraption that runs both on roads, like a bus, and on rails, like a train. The unique bus-train hybrid was unveiled last month, in the town of Kaiyo, Japan’s Tokushima Prefecture. The mini-bus-like contraption didn’t win anyone over with its looks, but it definitely made an impression in terms of practicality. It runs with normal rubber tires on the road, but when it needs to switch to train mode, a pair of metal wheels drop down from the vehicle’s underbelly. The front tires are lifted off of the track, while…

Thursday, 06 January 2022 06:25

Do you have a cold, the flu or Covid-19? Experts explain how to tell the difference

Do you have a sore throat, a runny nose and muscle aches? It could be a common cold, a case of the flu — or Covid-19. The illnesses all share similar symptoms, sometimes making it hard to distinguish which is putting you under the weather. Case rates of Covid-19 have been on the rise as the Omicron variant has spread, but hospitalization numbers appear to be staying relatively low. For vaccinated people, evidence suggests that infection with this variant seems less likely to be severe, epidemiologist and former Detroit Health Department executive director, Abdul El-Sayed said. "The important thing to…

Wednesday, 05 January 2022 06:04

Artificial Intelligence can now craft original jokes - and that’s no laughing matter

Don’t you hate it,” says Jon the Robot, gesturing with tiny articulated arms at an expectant crowd, “when you’re trying to solve inverse kinematics equations to pick up a cup and then you get ‘Error 453, no solution found’?” The crowd laughs. “Don’t you hate that?” An experiment billed as a comedy act, Jon is the brainchild of Naomi Fitter, an assistant professor in the School of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Oregon State University. The tiny android performs when a handler (who must also hold the mic) presses a button, then tells the same jokes in the same…

Saturday, 01 January 2022 06:12

Obituary in advance: Blackberry will die on January 4th

Dear friends, we’re gathered here today to mourn the death of that once-beloved monarch of the mobile world: BlackBerry. And, yes, I realize that this is not the first time we’ve announced the death of the company or its devices (and, for reasons I’ll explain below, it likely won’t be the last) but this is a very definite ending for legacy BlackBerry hardware. As of January 4th, any phones or tablets running BlackBerry’s own software — that’s BlackBerry 7.1 or earlier, BlackBerry 10, or its tablet operating system BlackBerry PlayBook — will “no longer reliably function,” says the company. Whether…

Monday, 27 December 2021 05:50

What is Web3? And is it the next phase of the internet?

In theory, Web3 will allow you to go online without the need for search engines such as Google or social media like Facebook. But some say Web3 is under the control of the venture capital industry. Web3 has become the latest buzzword to get tech and cryptocurrency enthusiasts talking. While some are excited at what is being dubbed as the next phase of the Internet, others, including Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey, have voiced their concerns over it. But what is Web3 and can this decentralised vision of the Internet work? What is Web3? Put simply, Web3 is an umbrella…

Thursday, 23 December 2021 06:13

FG introduces digital tokens to secure NIN, personal info

Federal Government has introduced a suite of digital Tokens to replace the aging NIN slip and polycarbonate card. Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami said this at stakeholders workshop on the National Identification Number (NIN) Tokenization Solution organised by National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) in Abuja. He said government adopted the solution to ensure privacy of personal identifiable information of individuals during verification transactions and to reduce incidences of illegal retrieval, usage, transfer, and storage of NIN. The Minister, represented by Director-General of NIMC, Aliyu Abubakar said the full implementation begins on Jan. 1. He said the tokenisation…

More...

Thursday, 23 December 2021 06:01

UK company develops solar power unit for use in Africa

A company has developed an affordable solar storage device to bring power to those in energy poverty. It was designed by AceOn Group, based in Telford, Shropshire, United Kingdom, for use in sub-Saharan Africa, where only half the population has access to electricity. The project also received funding after being developed to use a more eco-friendly form of battery. Experts said investing in the region will be a "win-win". Only 60% of Nigeria's population has access to electricity and often have to use noisy, polluting petrol generators during power cuts. Mark Thompson, managing director for AceOn Group, said the unit…

Tuesday, 21 December 2021 05:50

20+ smartphone apps you should delete before 2022

Ho-ho-holy cow, we made it through another crazy year! It was a time of insurrections, the continuation of the pandemic, and the introduction of an entirely new Covid-19 variant as a parting gift. And the bad news? Another new year is right around the corner. While we can’t predict what 2022 will have in store, you can get your year off to a slightly better start by performing a digital detox on your smartphone by deleting apps that are no longer working for you. Everybody’s wants and needs are different, so it’s possible that you’ll decide to keep some of…

Friday, 17 December 2021 06:12

Omicron symptoms could seem like a cold - but don't underestimate this variant, experts warn

Symptoms associated with the omicron Covid variant could be similar to those that normally accompany a cold. Experts are warning that the variant could be easily mistaken for a mild, everyday illness. The ZOE Covid Study analyses thousands of Covid symptoms uploaded to an app by the British public. Health officials are warning people to not underestimate the omicron variant. Symptoms associated with the omicron Covid-19 variant could be similar to those that normally accompany a cold, but experts are warning people that they should not underestimate the risks posed by the more transmissible variant. One British study has now…

Tuesday, 14 December 2021 05:31

Omicron can hit fully vaccinated, Oxford study says

Two doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines are substantially less effective at warding off omicron compared to previous variants of the coronavirus, scientists have found. However, the researchers were optimistic that a booster shot would improve immunity against the new, highly transmissible variant. In a new study announced on Monday, researchers from the University of Oxford tested blood samples of people 28 days after their second dose of either vaccine. When omicron was introduced to those samples, scientists reported "a substantial fall" in the neutralizing antibodies that fight off Covid compared to the immune responses seen against earlier…

Page 15 of 39

Science and Technology

More...

Search

Most Read

Editorial

News

Business

Politics

Opinion

Features

Strangely

Crime

Wars

SCIENCE & TECH

SPECIAL REPORTS

Sports

VIDEOS