Science and Technology

Tuesday, 05 October 2021 05:42

Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram down worldwide

The massive global outage that plunged Facebook, its Instagram and WhatsApp platforms and many people who rely heavily on these services — including Facebook’s own workforce — into chaos Monday is gradually dissipating. Facebook said late Monday that it’s been working to restore access to its services and is “happy to report they are coming back online now.” The company apologized and thanked its users for bearing with it. But fixing it wasn’t as simple as flipping a proverbial switch. For some users, WhatsApp was working for a time, then not. For others, Instagram was working but not Facebook, and…

Tuesday, 05 October 2021 05:40

Covid-19 vaccines less effective in immunocompromised - Studies

Covid-19 vaccines are less effective on people with weakened immune systems, three small Italian studies show, which the studies’ researchers say highlight the need to deploy booster shots for this group of vulnerable people. The studies show that, on average, 30% of immunocompromised patients do not develop immunity to the virus after vaccination. The remaining 70% respond to the vaccine, especially after the second dose, but to a lesser extent than healthy people and with differences from group to group, the Bambino Gesu Hospital in Rome, which conducted the three small studies, said in a statement on Monday. The studies…

Sunday, 03 October 2021 06:00

World’s first genome-edited tomato hits the shelf

Sicilian Rouge High GABA is a special type of tomato designed to contain high levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an amino acid believed to aid relaxation and help lower blood pressure. Tokyo-based startup Sanatech Seed Co. teamed up with scientists at the University of Tsukuba to develop a new variety of tomatoes using CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology. Named Sicilian Rouge High GABA, this new type of tomato contains five to six times the normal level of a type of amino acid called gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA. According to Japanese media, the company removed an inhibitory domain within the tomato’s genome to…

Saturday, 02 October 2021 05:41

Merck says experimental pill cuts worst effects of Covid-19

Merck & Co. said Friday that its experimental Covid-19 pill reduced hospitalizations and deaths by half in people recently infected with the coronavirus and that it would soon ask health officials in the U.S. and around the world to authorize its use. If cleared, Merck’s drug would be the first pill shown to treat Covid-19, a potentially major advance in efforts to fight the pandemic. All Covid-19 therapies now authorized in the U.S. require an IV or injection. Merck and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics said early results showed patients who received the drug, called molnupiravir, within five days of Covid-19…

Saturday, 18 September 2021 05:20

CDC-led study ranks the 3 vaccines approved for use in US for effectiveness

A head-to-head study of all three authorized coronavirus vaccines in the United States finds the Moderna vaccine is slightly more effective than Pfizer's in real-life use in keeping people out of the hospital, and Johnson & Johnson's Janssen vaccine comes in third, but still providing 71% protection. Pfizer's vaccine provided 88% protection against hospitalization, and Moderna's was 93% effective. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention led a nationwide study of vaccination involving more than 3,600 adults hospitalized for Covid-19 between March and August. "Among U.S. adults without immunocompromising conditions, vaccine effectiveness against Covid-19 hospitalization during March 11--August 15,…

Thursday, 16 September 2021 05:40

Vaccine maker says those vaccinated last year twice more likely to contract Covid-19

Moderna Inc. has released a set of data which suggested its Covid-19 vaccine is effective in preventing serious health issues or death from "variants of concern" but admitting that efficacy decreases over time, such that those who received the vaccine last year were twice more likely to contract a breakthrough case of the coronavirus disease. According to the data, which Moderna released Wednesday, a "study shows lower risk of breakthrough infection in participants vaccinated more recently (median 8 months after first dose) than participants vaccinated last year (median 13 months after first dose)." A Moderna trial conducted over the summer,…

Thursday, 16 September 2021 05:32

Flip your computer monitor vertically. It will change your life

With time, monitors have grown wider and wider to give us more space and more resolution for videos and gaming. Setting up your screen horizontally may come naturally to you—that’s how it’s shown on the box anyway—but when you’re working, it might not be the most efficient option. Flipping your external monitor into a vertical position is easy to do and can make more efficient use of every single inch of your screen. When you’re using programs like Microsoft Word or Google Docs, or you’re looking at traditional scroll-down webpages, there’s only so much a wider screen can do for…

Wednesday, 15 September 2021 05:50

Having Covid-19 once confers much greater immunity than a vaccine - but vaccination remains vital

The natural immune protection that develops after a SARS-CoV-2 infection offers considerably more of a shield against the Delta variant of the pandemic coronavirus than two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, according to a large Israeli study that some scientists wish came with a “Don’t try this at home” label. The newly released data show people who once had a SARS-CoV-2 infection were much less likely than never-infected, vaccinated people to get Delta, develop symptoms from it, or become hospitalized with serious Covid-19. The study demonstrates the power of the human immune system, but infectious disease experts emphasized that this…

Friday, 10 September 2021 05:43

Gmail will soon allow you to place calls

In the fires of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Age of Always Online was forged. Everybody works from home now, and so work life and home life have completely blurred together into an indiscernible slop of constant optimization, with no clear delineation between being “at work” and “cooking dinner at home with loved ones.” It’s the reason more and more companies are rolling out Zoom-like “social audio experience” features, and also ostensibly the reason that Google has been fine-tuning the branding on G Suite by giving it a new name—Google Workspace—and a new set of communication capabilities. As part of a…

Thursday, 09 September 2021 05:55

FG approves deployment of 5G network in Nigeria

Federal executive council (FEC) has authorised the National Policy on fifth-generation (5G) networks for the country’s digital economy. The approval will enable deployment of the network in Nigeria. The 5G policy was approved at the weekly council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday. Femi Adeluyi, technical assistant (on Information Technology) to Isa Pantami, minister of communications and digital economy, said this in a statement. The statement added that the implementation of the National Policy is with immediate effect. “The National Policy has been developed over a period of 2 years, due to the need for extensive stakeholder…

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Wednesday, 01 September 2021 05:46

Moderna Covid-19 vaccine creates twice as many antibodies as Pfizer, study shows

Moderna Inc.’s Covid vaccine generated more than double the antibodies of a similar shot made by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE in research directly comparing immune responses to the inoculations. A study of almost 2,500 workers at a major Belgium hospital system found antibody levels among individuals who hadn’t been infected with the coronavirus before getting two doses of the Moderna vaccine averaged 2,881 units per milliliter, compared with 1,108 units/mL in an equivalent group who got two jabs of the Pfizer shot. The results, published Monday in a letter to the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggested the…

Monday, 30 August 2021 05:45

This new virus attacks WhatsApp users

A new virus is affecting WhatsApp users who downloaded the unofficial version “FM WhatsApp.” Since WhatsApp is one of the most used applications to communicate worldwide, it is of high interest to cybercriminals since it is easy to steal information through it. Kaspersky, a cybersecurity company, reported that it is a virus known as “Triada” that is part of the group of Trojan malware. It’s so called because like the Trojan horse, the malware appears to be something legitimate, but is actually causing viruses to infiltrate your software. Also, once you install the virus on your device, it is very…

Wednesday, 25 August 2021 05:48

Are you using an Android phone? A virus working through these apps on Google Play Store will empty your bank accounts

The Belgian Police warned about the return of the 'Joker' virus , which attacks Android devices and hides itself in various applications on the Google Play Store . This malware is capable of subscribing the user to payment services without their authorization and emptying their bank accounts without them noticing. "This malicious program has been detected in eight Play Store applications that Google has suppressed," say the Belgian authorities in a statement published this Friday on their website. The 'Joker' malware became famous in 2017 for infecting and robbing its victims by hiding in different applications. Since then, the Google…

Monday, 23 August 2021 05:55

Retired military officer, now deputy gov, remodels SUVs into armoured personnel carriers to fight bandits

Kebbi State Government on Friday said it has remodelled some SUVs into armoured personnel carriers to help the Nigerian military check insecurity in the state. “Toyota Land Cruiser (Buffalo) vehicles were remodelled into armoured personnel carriers with gun turrets through the engineering ingenuity of state’s deputy governor,” a government statement noted. Yahaya Sarki, media aide to Kebbi Governor Atiku Bagudu, said the effort was meant to support the security services in the fight against banditry in the state. Sarki said the effort was aimed at providing appropriate transport to security services for combat operations. “The vehicles painted in army colour,…

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