April 2020 – Page 5

Analysis, Coronavirus, DaVinci Institute, Science & Technology News, Tom Frey

Post-Coronavirus era to require leaders Capable of anticipating unknown risks

April 15, 2020

GENOA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik – 02nd April, 2020) The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic will last for a relatively brief period, but will however change the course of history and the nature of leadership, global trend researchers and forecasters have told Sputnik.

On Wednesday, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that he expected the global number of COVID-19 cases to reach 1 million in the next few days, and the death toll to rise to 50,000.

“Visionary thinking has always been a characteristic of great leaders. Now we will have to add a new dimension of incalculable probabilities. Thinking about the future and anticipating eventualities will be more in demand than ever. COVID-19 has demonstrated that we cannot ignore what is unknown,” John Naisbitt, an author and trends analyst said, adding that change is now “exploding exponentially in ways that we have never seen before in our lifetimes.”

According to Naisbitt’s spouse and internationally recognized speaker Doris Naisbitt, an old saying “he who hesitates is lost” is becoming increasingly relevant in the world of today and tomorrow.

Continue reading… “Post-Coronavirus era to require leaders Capable of anticipating unknown risks”

App, Coronavirus, Healthcare, mobile apps, Science & Technology News

Carnegie Mellon researchers develop app that could detect Coronavirus infection using your voice

April 15, 2020

The COVID Voice Detector app uses your smartphone or computer’s microphone to analyse your voice and determine for signs of COVID-19 infection

At a time when every other tech giant or healthcare company is coming up with apps that could diagnose or help you detect whether or not you have coronavirus infection by asking you a bunch of questions on your smartphone, researchers at the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University claim to have created a smartphone app that could determine whether you might have COVID-19 using just your voice.

The team of researchers at CMU Pittsburgh claim that the ‘COVID Voice Detector’ app that they have developed can analyze your voice for any signs of COVID-19 infection, which is a easier and less intrusive way of detection than what the other apps do, asking you to reveal information such as your travel history and stuff.

Continue reading… “Carnegie Mellon researchers develop app that could detect Coronavirus infection using your voice”

Bitcoin, Coronavirus, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

Bitcoin exchanges see massive surge in new users this month

April 14, 2020

Stuck in the coronavirus lockdown, people have flocked to exchanges to start trading Bitcoin. But trading volumes tell a different story.

In brief:

Five exchanges reported an uptick in new users.
Kraken saw an 83% increase in users, while Paxful doubled its signup rate.
On the other hand, Bitcoin is moving away from exchanges.
Many top Bitcoin exchanges have seen an influx of new users since the coronavirus lockdown started.

Five exchanges saw a notable increase in both signups, and trading volume—with some citing a doubling, or in some cases, a tripling of their usual rate of new signups. These exchanges are: Kraken, OKex, Bitfinex, Paxful, and Luno.

Continue reading… “Bitcoin exchanges see massive surge in new users this month”

Automation, Coronavirus, Economy, Employment, Science & Technology News

A coronavirus recession will mean more robots and fewer jobs

April 14, 2020

Automated delivery bots are already working in the small town of Milton Keynes, England.

All economic downturns increase automation. This one will be worse.

The novel coronavirus pandemic is certainly not good for the labor market. Recent weeks have seen unemployment claims surge to record levels as businesses and entire industries shutter in order to stop the spread of the Covid-19. As a result, the economy has plummeted, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 down more than 20 percent from their February highs.

While social distancing measures may be temporary, this economic downturn’s effect on the labor market will have long-lasting effects. In a joint post with his colleagues, Mark Muro, a senior fellow and policy director at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, recently wrote, “any coronavirus-related recession is likely to bring about a spike in labor-replacing automation.”

Economic downturns, he argues, bring about increased levels of automation, which is already an existential threat to many jobs. And a coronavirus recession, due to its breadth and scale, could cause even more automation.

Continue reading… “A coronavirus recession will mean more robots and fewer jobs”

Big Problems, Coronavirus, Corporate Manipulation, government, Science & Technology News

Frustrated, self-employed, and left behind by SBA loan programs

April 13, 2020

‘Our government has failed us’: Frustrated, self-employed, and left behind by SBA loan programs

Like many businesses across Ohio, Nathan’s Barber Shop in Marion County was ordered to close its doors amid the coronavirus pandemic. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has since extended the state’s stay-home order until at least May, and Nathan Riddle, the shop’s owner and operator, is running out of options. It’s been more than a week since he filled out the application for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan from the Small Business Administration—but he has yet to hear back from the agency.

“I think the worst part in all of this would be our local government telling us that we are mandated to shut down, and then give absolutely zero clarity on how or when we will receive any assistance,” Riddle says.

His frustration is echoed by countless sole proprietors, self-employed workers, and independent contractors across the United States who say they are being left behind by loan programs meant to provide them with relief from the effects of COVID-19. In addition to the SBA’s disaster loan assistance, these workers—some running businesses in which they are the sole employee, and others working on a contractor basis as 1099 employees—were supposed to qualify for loans under the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program, which allocated $349 billion for small business relief and was expanded to self-employed workers on Friday.

Continue reading… “Frustrated, self-employed, and left behind by SBA loan programs”

Business, Coronavirus, Current Events, government, Science & Technology News

Peter Diamandis: When will our stay-at-home lockdown end?

April 13, 2020

I live in Los Angeles, CA, where we have now been on lockdown for about a month.

A few days ago, California Governor Newsom announced a 30-day extension of the shelter-at-home order, through at least May 15th. Ouch. The same is happening in states and countries worldwide.

While I’ve never sat still for so long, I also have never worked harder and been more productive.

Yet the question remains: how long will we be on lockdown? When will life return to some semblance of normalcy?

Continue reading… “Peter Diamandis: When will our stay-at-home lockdown end?”

Analysis, Coronavirus, Healthcare, Medicine, Science & Technology News

CDC data shows 9% vaccine effectiveness for influenza A, virus H3N2 flu shot last year

April 13, 2020

While governments, international bodies and the public health community scramble to arrest the COVID-19 virus, now a pandemic, and with states of emergency declared nationwide and in Massachusetts, medical experts are still trying to come up with vaccines that can do a better job against various strains of influenza that have sickened and killed people for many decades.

The experts say the effectiveness rate of flu shots should be at least 90% successful.

But data collected for nearly two decades by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention show effectiveness rates often hovers between 40 and 50%.

Data from the 2018-2019 flu season, the most recent set of complete information, first published in June, indicated that a flu shot to prevent influenza A, the H3N2 strain, was only 9% effective in preventing onset of the flu, among all age groups.

Continue reading… “CDC data shows 9% vaccine effectiveness for influenza A, virus H3N2 flu shot last year”

NASA, new technology, Science & Technology News, Space

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope full mirror deployment a success

April 13, 2020

The primary mirror of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is planned to be deployed only once more on Earth, before being packaged for delivery to South America.

In a recent test, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope fully deployed its primary mirror into the same configuration it will have when in space.

As Webb progresses towards liftoff in 2021, technicians and engineers have been diligently checking off a long list of final tests the observatory will undergo before being packaged for delivery to French Guiana for launch. Performed in early March, this procedure involved commanding the spacecraft’s internal systems to fully extend and latch Webb’s iconic 21 feet 4-inch (6.5 meter) primary mirror, appearing just like it would after it has been launched to orbit. The observatory is currently in a cleanroom at Northrop Grumman Space Systems in Redondo Beach, California.

The difficulty and complexity of performing tests for Webb has increased significantly, now that the observatory has been fully assembled. Special gravity offsetting equipment was attached to Webb’s mirror to simulate the zero-gravity environment its mechanisms will have to operate in. Tests like these help safeguard mission success by physically demonstrating that the spacecraft is able to move and unfold as intended. The Webb team will deploy the observatory’s primary mirror only once more on the ground, just before preparing it for delivery to the launch site.

Continue reading… “NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope full mirror deployment a success”

Analysis, Big Problems, Coronavirus, Healthcare, Science & Technology News

Sewage analysis suggests a New England metro area with fewer than 500 COVID-19 cases may have exponentially more

April 12, 2020

Epidemiologists are studying wastewater to gauge rates of COVID-19 infection.

Preliminary findings released this week from a new effort to track the spread of the coronavirus through sewage data suggests that one metro region in Massachusetts that’s reported fewer than 500 positive tests actually may actually have exponentially more.

Last month, Massachusetts lab Biobot Analytics launched a partnership with Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brigham and Women’s Hospital to use its technology pro bono to map and analyze the spread of the virus through wastewater.

Continue reading… “Sewage analysis suggests a New England metro area with fewer than 500 COVID-19 cases may have exponentially more”

cutting edge, Energy, new technology, Science & Technology News, Wi-Fi

Energy-harvesting design aims to turn Wi-Fi signals into usable power

April 12, 2020

Terahertz waves are pervasive in our daily lives, and if harnessed, their concentrated power could potentially serve as an alternate energy source. Imagine, for instance, a cellphone add-on that passively soaks up ambient T-rays and uses their energy to charge your phone.

Any device that sends out a Wi-Fi signal also emits terahertz waves —electromagnetic waves with a frequency somewhere between microwaves and infrared light. These high-frequency radiation waves, known as “T-rays,” are also produced by almost anything that registers a temperature, including our own bodies and the inanimate objects around us.

Terahertz waves are pervasive in our daily lives, and if harnessed, their concentrated power could potentially serve as an alternate energy source. Imagine, for instance, a cellphone add-on that passively soaks up ambient T-rays and uses their energy to charge your phone. However, to date, terahertz waves are wasted energy, as there has been no practical way to capture and convert them into any usable form.

Continue reading… “Energy-harvesting design aims to turn Wi-Fi signals into usable power”

brain hacking, communication, cutting edge, Science & Technology News

Scientists develop AI that can turn brain activity into text

April 12, 2020

Researchers in US tracked the neural data from people while they were speaking

Reading minds has just come a step closer to reality: scientists have developed artificial intelligence that can turn brain activity into text.

While the system currently works on neural patterns detected while someone is speaking aloud, experts say it could eventually aid communication for patients who are unable to speak or type, such as those with locked in syndrome.

“We are not there yet but we think this could be the basis of a speech prosthesis,” said Dr Joseph Makin, co-author of the research from the University of California, San Francisco.

Continue reading… “Scientists develop AI that can turn brain activity into text”

Coronavirus, Health & Fitness, Historical Perspectives, Human Behavior, Science & Technology News

How Epidemics of the past changed the way Americans lived

April 11, 2020

Past public health crises inspired innovations in infrastructure, education, fundraising and civic debate

At the end of the 19th century, one in seven people around the world had died of tuberculosis, and the disease ranked as the third leading cause of death in the United States. While physicians had begun to accept German physician Robert Koch’s scientific confirmation that TB was caused by bacteria, this understanding was slow to catch on among the general public, and most people gave little attention to the behaviors that contributed to disease transmission. They didn’t understand that things they did could make them sick. In his book, Pulmonary Tuberculosis: Its Modern Prophylaxis and the Treatment in Special Institutions and at Home, S. Adolphus Knopf, an early TB specialist who practiced medicine in New York, wrote that he had once observed several of his patients sipping from the same glass as other passengers on a train, even as “they coughed and expectorated a good deal.” It was common for family members, or even strangers, to share a drinking cup.

With Knopf’s guidance, in the 1890s the New York City Health Department launched a massive campaign to educate the public and reduce transmission. The “War on Tuberculosis” public health campaign discouraged cup-sharing and prompted states to ban spitting inside public buildings and transit and on sidewalks and other outdoor spaces—instead encouraging the use of special spittoons, to be carefully cleaned on a regular basis. Before long, spitting in public spaces came to be considered uncouth, and swigging from shared bottles was frowned upon as well. These changes in public behavior helped successfully reduce the prevalence of tuberculosis.

As we are seeing with the coronavirus today, disease can profoundly impact a community—upending routines and rattling nerves as it spreads from person to person. But the effects of epidemics extend beyond the moments in which they occur. Disease can permanently alter society, and often for the best by creating better practices and habits. Crisis sparks action and response. Many infrastructure improvements and healthy behaviors we consider normal today are the result of past health campaigns that responded to devastating outbreaks.

Continue reading… “How Epidemics of the past changed the way Americans lived”