Sci-Tech

WHO urges countries to gamble on shared vaccine search

  by Robin MILLARD Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The WHO on Thursday urged countries to invest billions of dollars in searching for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments — calling it a snip compared to the vast economic cost of the coronavirus crisis. The World Health Organization insisted it was a smarter bet than the trillions of dollars being thrown at handling the consequences of the global pandemic. The UN agency’s chief Tedros Adhanom […]

‘Baby’ Milky Way discovered 12 bln light years away

by Laurence COUSTAL PARIS, France (AFP) — A golden halo glinting 12 billion light years away is the farthest galaxy resembling our Milky Way yet spotted, astronomers said Wednesday, adding the “surprisingly unchaotic” infant star system challenges our understanding of the early years of the Universe. The galaxy, called SPT0418-47, is so far away that it took billions of years for its light to reach Earth and so our image of it is from deep […]

Road test: Chinese ‘robotaxis’ take riders for a spin

by Dan Martin / Beiyi SEOW Agence France-Presse SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — Chinese entrants in the race to put autonomous vehicles on the road are bringing “robotaxis” online in hopes that a hired-car format can be the key to unlocking wide acceptance of the futuristic technology. It is expected to be years before cars that operate completely without human intervention are unleashed owing to lingering technological, regulatory, and safety hurdles. But as China challenges US […]

Gov’t approves establishment of first ever virus research institute at New Clark City

  (Eagle News) – The country’s very own premier research institute in the field of virology will soon rise in New Clark City, according to COVID-19 testing czar and Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) president Vince Dizon. In a statement, Dizon said that the Philippines’ first virology research institute building will be built by nexr year after this proposal by the Department of Science and Technology was included in the administration’s list of infrastructure […]

SpaceX completes test flight of Mars rocket prototype

HOUSTON, United States (AFP) — SpaceX on Tuesday successfully completed a flight of less than a minute of the largest prototype ever tested of the future rocket Starship, which the company hopes to use one day to colonize Mars. “Mars is looking real,” SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted in response to a fan. The current Starship prototype is fairly crude: it’s a large metallic cylinder, built in a few weeks by SpaceX teams on the […]

US announces clinical trial of antibody treatment for COVID-19

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US has begun late stage clinical trials into a drug formulated to fight COVID-19, officials said Tuesday. The medicine is an antibody against the new coronavirus called LY-CoV555, which was identified in the blood sample of a recovered patient by Canada’s Abcellera Biologics. It was then developed synthetically for mass production by US-based Lilly Research Laboratories in partnership with Abcellera. The Phase 3 trial will initially enroll some […]

Interpol warns of ‘alarming’ cybercrime rate during pandemic, to spike again once vaccine becomes available

  LYON, France (AFP) — Global police body Interpol warned Monday of an “alarming” rate of cybercrime during the coronavirus pandemic, with criminals taking advantage of people working from home to target major institutions. An assessment by the Lyon-based organisation found a “significant target shift” by criminals from individuals and small businesses to major corporations, governments and critical infrastructure. “Cybercriminals are developing and boosting their attacks at an alarming pace, exploiting the fear and uncertainty […]

Glaciers could have sculpted Mars valleys: study

PARIS, France (AFP) — The question of whether ancient life could have existed on Mars centres on the water that once flowed there, but new research published Monday suggests that many of the Red Planet’s valleys were gouged by icy glaciers not rivers. The study in Nature Geoscience, which comes amid a flurry of new Mars missions trying to discover if the now-barren planet ever hosted life, casts doubt on a dominant theory that the planet […]

Israeli firm developing 30-second coronavirus breath test

by Jonah Mandel Agence France-Presse MISGAV, Israel (AFP) — An Israeli company is developing a coronavirus breathalyser test that gives results in 30 seconds, billing it as a “front line” tool that can help restore a sense of normality during the pandemic. NanoScent, the firm making the test kits, said an extensive trial in Israel for the presence of live virus delivered results with 85 percent accuracy, and the product could receive regulatory approval within […]

China launches Mars probe in space race with US

  by Ludovic EHRET Agence France Presse WENCHANG, China (AFP) — China launched a rover to Mars on Thursday, a journey coinciding with a similar US mission as the powers take their rivalry into deep space. The two countries are taking advantage of a period when Earth and Mars are favourably aligned for a short journey, with the US spacecraft due to lift off on July 30. The Chinese mission is named Tianwen-1 (“Questions to […]

First Arab space mission to Mars launches from Japan

by Miwa Suzuki with Dana Moukhallati in Dubai TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The first Arab space mission to Mars, an unmanned probe dubbed “Hope”, blasted off from Japan on Monday on a mission to reveal more about the atmosphere of the Red Planet. The Japanese rocket carrying the probe developed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Centre in southern Japan right on schedule at 6:58 am local time (2158 […]

Solar Orbiter gives scientists unprecedented look at Sun

by Patrick GALEY PARIS, France (AFP) — Scientists said Thursday they had obtained the closest ever images taken of the Sun as part of a pan-European mission to study solar winds and flares that could have far-reaching impacts back on Earth. The European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter blasted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral in February and completed its first fly by of our star last month, sending back unprecedented images of phenomena close to its […]