Fun fact 27/120: There are nuclear submarines out there carrying 40 nuclear warheads controlled by a computer running Windows XP. (via)
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Subsurface Mercury: Window to ancient, possibly habitable, volatile-rich materials (phys.org)
New research raises the possibility that some parts of Mercury's subsurface, and those of similar planets in the galaxy, once could have been capable of fostering prebiotic chemistry, and perhaps even simple life forms, according to a paper by a team led by Planetary Science Institute Research Scientist Alexis Rodriguez.
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Global condom shortage looms as coronavirus shuts down production (Guardian)
A global shortage of condoms is looming, the world’s biggest producer has said, after a coronavirus lockdown forced it to shut down production. Malaysia’s Karex Bhd makes one in every five condoms globally. It has not produced a single condom in its three Malaysian factories for more than a week because of a lockdown imposed by the government to halt the spread of the virus.
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China drives first global coal capacity increase since Paris Agreement (eco-business)
A freight train carrying coal in Shanxi province of northern China. China was behind a climate-crunching increase in coal power capacity in 2019, and the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to make Chinese policymakers determined to see these investments through. But globally the writing is on the wall for the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel as new coal development slumped.
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Acclaimed mainstream scientists (Oxford, Standford, MaxPlank, Marie Curie, etc.) speaking up against the corona crisis handling and hysteria.
- 12 Experts Questioning the Coronavirus Panic (off-guardian)
- 10 more Experts Criticising the Coronavirus Panic (off-guardian)
- Perspectives on the Pandemic (off-guardian)
- Why this Nobel laureate predicts a quicker coronavirus recovery (LATimes)
- Wolfgang Wodarg: Corona viruses are not the problem - stay calm
- Corona-Krise: Offener Brief an die Bundeskanzlerin von Prof. Sucharit Bhakdi
- Renowned German mathematician and professor of statistics slams dramatization of Covid-19
- 12 Experts Questioning the Coronavirus Panic (off-guardian)
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Recent Corona Testing Reliability Weirdness
- Health Ministry delays test results, amid reports patients given false diagnoses (Time of Israel)
- Are coronavirus tests flawed? (BBC)
- Finnish health boss questions WHO coronavirus testing advice (Reuters)
- COVID-19 testing protocol changes, raising concerns about tracking virus in NC (WRAL)
- Why a wave of at-home coronavirus tests is dividing global regulators (Bloomberg)
- 99% of Those Who Died From Virus Had Other Illness, Italy Says (Bloomberg)
- Coronavirus: pathogen could have been spreading in humans for decades, study says (SCMP)
- Coronavirus: Irreführung bei den Fallzahlen nun belegt (KenFM)
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UK has enough intensive care units for coronavirus, expert predicts (New Scientist)
The UK should now be able to cope with the spread of the covid-19 virus, according to one of the epidemiologists advising the government. Neil Ferguson at Imperial College London said that expected increases in National Health Service capacity and ongoing restrictions to people’s movements make him “reasonably confident” the health service can cope when the predicted peak of the epidemic arrives in two or three weeks. UK deaths from the disease are now unlikely to exceed 20,000, he said, and could be much lower.
Comment by @AlexBerenson: This is a remarkable turn from Neil Ferguson, who led the @imperialcollegeauthors who warned of 500,000 UK deaths - and who has now himself tested positive for COVID; He now says both that the U.K. should have enough ICU beds and that the coronavirus will probably kill under 20,000 people in the U.K. - more than 1/2 of whom would have died by the end of the year in any case bc they were so old and sick. Essentially, what has happened is that estimates of the viruses transmissibility have increased - which implies that many more people have already gotten it than we realize - which in turn implies it is less dangerous. Ferguson now predicts that the epidemic in the U.K. will peak and subside within “two to three weeks” - last week’s paper said 18+ months of quarantine would be necessary. One last point here: Ferguson gives the lockdown credit, which is *interesting* - the UK only began ita lockdown 2 days ago, and the theory is that lockdowns take 2 weeks or more to work. Not surprisingly, this testimony has received no attention in the US - I found it only in UK papers. Team Apocalypse is not interested.
More from Imperial
- Coronavirus pandemic could have caused 40 million deaths if left unchecked (Imperial)
- COVID-19: Imperial researchers model likely impact of public health measures (Imperial)
virus modeling
- Coronavirus pandemic could have caused 40 million deaths if left unchecked (Imperial)
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COVID-19 & AI - Privacy & Ethical Considerations (RE-Work)
Extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary measures - as we battle the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, governments, industry and citizens around the world have kicked efforts into high gear to find creative and effective ways to curb the spread of the disease. A variety of technological and AI-enabled solutions are being proposed and piloted with varying degrees of success. What's being discussed less is how this might alter what precedents get set and how the technology landscape will change once the pandemic has subsided.
Finally, we must pay attention to the creeping deployment of surveillance infrastructure under the guise of fighting the pandemic. Particular attention needs to be focused on powers being granted to the government, the technological solutions being deployed and the legal and social precedents being set. We don't want to emerge from the pandemic crisis with a privacy and ethical crisis on our hands. The solutions being deployed to combat COVID-19 need to be purpose- and time-limited to hold our rights and freedoms in place.
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COVID-19 drives new threat to bats in China (sciencemag)
In China, bats are traditionally symbols of good luck and happiness. There are more than 1400 species of bats worldwide, but more than half of them have unknown or decreasing population trends. Unfortunately, the suggestion that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may have originated in bats is putting them at increased risk.
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Open-source Python software for exploring, visualizing, and analyzing human neurophysiological data: MEG, EEG, sEEG, ECoG, and more. (Code)
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Cuban Embassy Attacks And The Microwave Auditory Effect - by Adam Fabio (hackaday, 2017)
You may have seen a series of articles coming out about US staffers in Cuba. 21 staffers have suffered a bizarre array of injuries ranging from hearing loss to dizziness to concussion-like traumatic brain injuries. Some reported hearing incapacitating sounds in the embassy and in their hotel rooms. The reports range from clicking to grinding, humming, or even blaring sounds. One staffer described being awoken to a horrifically loud sound, only to have it disappear as soon as he moved away from his bed. When he got back into bed, the mysterious sound came back. So what’s going on? Bizarre accidents? Cloak and dagger gone awry? Mass hysteria among the US state department, or something else entirely?
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Air pollution plunges in European cities amid coronavirus lockdown (jpost)
While early reports of dolphins swimming in Venice were proven false, the European Space Agency reports that air pollution dropped in three cities. "This is a first level estimate; some of these values have gone down by about 40% of the normal value... so a very drastic decrease," Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director of Earth Observation Programmes. "What you really see are the centers of this pollution… It is quite a good first level indicator of anthropogenic pollution coming from traffic and industry," added Aschbacher.
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Jeff Bezos sold $3.4bn of Amazon stock just before Covid-19 collapse (Guardian)
Millions of people across the world have lost their jobs, and trillions of dollars have been wiped off the value of stock markets. But not everyone has lost out. Jeff Bezos, the world’s wealthiest person, is $5.5bn (£4.3bn) richer today than he was at the start of the year. His paper fortune, held mostly in Amazon shares, rose by $3.9bn on Thursday alone to $120bn – enough to buy 188,000 standard gold bars. Bezos, 56, benefited this week from the best three-day stock market rally since 1933 helping Amazon’s share price to recover almost all of its losses this month to trade at about $1,920, though that was slightly down on their peak of $2,170 in February. Bezos owns about 12% of Amazon’s shares.
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Facebook is losing another board member, and is appointing a former Treasury official as its lead independent director (Business Insider)
Facebook named Robert Kimmitt, a former deputy Treasury secretary and US ambassador to Germany, as its lead independent board director on Thursday. "We've been looking for a leader who can bring significant oversight and governance experience," Mark Zuckerberg said of Kimmitt's appointment. Another board member, Jeffrey Zients, will be stepping down at the company's next shareholder meeting. The moves are the latest in a series of significant shakeups on Facebook's board in recent months.
Robert M. Kimmitt (born December 19, 1947) was United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury under President George W. Bush. He served from 1991 to 1993 as United States Ambassador to Germany and was awarded the U.S. Defense Department Distinguished Public Service Award as well as Germany's Order of Merit. r. Kimmitt was a managing director of Lehman Brothers from 1993 to 1997.
Kimmitt was on the CIA National Security Advisory Panel (1997).
Jeffrey Zients (born November 12, 1966) is an American chief executive officer, management consultant, and entrepreneur. Zients is currently the President of The Cranemere Group. From February 2014 to January 2017, he served as Director of the United States National Economic Council and President Obama's Economic Advisor. While working at Bain, Zients reported to South African Mary Menell; they later were married in South Africa with Menell's parents' family friend Nelson Mandela in attendance.
Facebook Is ‘Just Trying to Keep the Lights On’ as Traffic Soars in Pandemic (NYTimes)
The social network is straining to deal with skyrocketing usage as its 45,000 employees work from home for the first time.
Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan and Bill Gates to fund $25M coronavirus research group (cbs)
That’s 0.04% of their net worth. In other words, it is the cost of a PR campaign.
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Inside China’s controversial mission to reinvent the internet (FT) (unpaywalled)
Huawei is developing the technology for a new network: "The New IP proposal could embed a system of centralised rule enforcement into the technical fabric of the internet. Saudi Arabia, Iran and Russia have previously shown support for Chinese proposals for alternative network technologies".
US officials reportedly agree to cut off Huawei from global chip suppliers (CNet)
Proposed rules may require foreign companies that use American chipmaking equipment to secure a license before supplying some chips to Huawei.
