117 articles from MONDAY 27.6.2022

Facebook is bombarding cancer patients with ads for unproven treatments

The ad reads like an offer of salvation: Cancer kills many people. But there is hope in Apatone, a proprietary vitamin C–based mixture, that is “KILLING cancer.” The substance, an unproven treatment that is not approved by the FDA, is not available in the United States. If you want Apatone, the ad suggests, you need to travel to a clinic in Mexico. If you’re on Facebook or Instagram and...

Metaverse: Open for business?

Ever since Facebook’s rebrand to Meta, the metaverse—loosely defined as an extensive online world where interactions happen via digital avatars—has gone mainstream as part of “web3,” the internet’s third act in which users move from consumers to creators to residents in online worlds. The entertainment and gaming industries are at the forefront of today’s metaverse buzz, but all...

We need smarter cities, not “smart cities”

The term “smart cities” originated as a marketing strategy for large IT vendors. It has now become synonymous with urban uses of technology, particularly advanced and emerging technologies. But cities are more than 5G, big data, driverless vehicles, and AI. They are crucial drivers of opportunity, prosperity, and progress. They support those displaced by war and crisis and generate 80% of...

The hacking industry faces the end of an era

NSO Group, the world’s most notorious hacking company, could soon cease to exist. The Israeli firm, still reeling from US sanctions, has been in talks about a possible acquisition by the American military contractor L3 Harris.  The deal is far from certain—there is considerable opposition from both the White House and US intelligence—but if it goes through, it’s likely to involve...

USDA-ARS releases genome of the voracious desert locust

The first high-quality genome of the desert locust—those voracious feeders of plague and devastation infamy and the most destructive migratory insect in the world—has been produced by U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service scientists.

‘You get goosebumps from the data’: hopes rise for new malaria vaccine

The disease is a leading killer of under fives across Africa. But trials for a new vaccine suggest an end to the death toll could be in sightWhen Annah Kadhenghi had her first child last year, she named him Brighton Ushindi Baraka: baraka meaning “blessing” in Swahili, ushindi meaning victory. Last month, at the age of seven months, Brighton fought his first battle against an enemy that...

Can you solve it? Are you smart enough to work for Elon Musk?

The favourite interview question of the world’s richest manIn the early years of rocket company SpaceX, CEO Elon Musk liked to set job applicants the following problem:You’re standing on the surface of the Earth. You walk one mile south, one mile west and one mile north. You end up exactly where you started. Where are you? Continue...

Viruses survive in fresh water by ‘hitchhiking’ on plastic, study finds

Intestinal viruses such as rotavirus were found to be infectious for up to three days by attaching to microplastics, research showsDangerous viruses can remain infectious for up to three days in fresh water by hitchhiking on plastic, researchers have found.Enteric viruses that cause diarrhoea and stomach upsets, such as rotavirus, were found to survive in water by attaching to microplastics, tiny...

Starwatch: Libra is visible all evening but wait until midnight to do it justice

Often depicted as a set of scales, the zodiacal constellation is worth seeing in context between Virgo and ScorpiusThis week you can track down one of the fainter zodiacal constellations. Libra, the scales, is located in the southern celestial hemisphere, and so never rises that high in northern skies, but it is most visible from the northern hemisphere at this time of year.The chart shows the...

‘Incredible milestone’: Nasa launches rocket from Australian space centre

Successful launch from Arnhem Space Centre in Northern Territory marks agency’s first from a commercial spaceport outside US Follow our Australia news live blog for the latest updatesGet our free news app; get our morning email briefingNasa has successfully launched a rocket from the Northern Territory – the first commercial space launch in Australia’s history.Troublesome winds caused the...