The president of the United States, Donald Trump, tested positive for covid-19 and within 24 hours had received an experimental, cutting-edge antibody treatment not available to other Americans. In a statement released Friday, the White House said Trump had received “a single 8-gram dose” of the biotech treatment, which belongs to a promising new class of antiviral drugs. The president...
In November of 2018, a new deep-learning tool went online in the emergency department of the Duke University Health System. Called Sepsis Watch, it was designed to help doctors spot early signs of one of the leading causes of hospital deaths globally. Sepsis occurs when an infection triggers full-body inflammation and ultimately causes organs to shut down. It can be treated if diagnosed early...
The square-faced, three-legged alien shoves and jostles to get at the enormous plant taking over its tiny planet. But each bite just makes the forbidden fruit grow bigger. Suddenly the plant’s weight flips the whole sphere upside down and all the little creatures drop into space. Quick! Reach in and catch one! Agence, a short interactive VR film from Toronto-based movie studio Transitional...
The evidence that the coronavirus spreads through the air has been mounting for months. However, the official guidance from the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control is still that droplets are the main route of transmission. In fact, the CDC changed its website last month to acknowledge airborne transmission as a route for covid-19 infections, then removed the new guidance just...
Elections are a technology. I don’t mean just that they rely on technology, although cybersecurity, voter data, misinformation, and online advertising are all central to how today’s elections are fought. I mean elections are themselves are a technology—an essential mechanism in the running of a healthy society. Elections enable power to alternate between different factions without civil war;...