(AFP) Uganda's president extended a six-week lockdown Saturday on two districts at the epicenter of an an Ebola outbreak that has claimed 55 lives but said its spread was being curbed.
Since the outbreak was declared on Sept. 20, Ebola has spread across Uganda and reached the capital Kampala, though health authorities this week said case numbers were falling.
The two central districts at the heart of the outbreak, Mubende and Kassanda, were placed under a 21-day lockdown by...
(Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine) Cephalopods such as octopuses, squids, and cuttlefish are highly intelligent animals with complex nervous systems. In Science Advances, a team led by Nikolaus Rajewsky of the Max Delbrück Center has shown that their evolution is linked to a dramatic expansion of their microRNA repertoire.
If we go far enough back in evolutionary history, we encounter the last known common ancestor of humans and cephalopods: a primitive wormlike animal with minimal intelligence and...
(BBC News) Videos shared on social media in China have appeared to show fresh protests against COVID restrictions, after an apartment block fire killed 10 people.
People in Urumqi are seen confronting officials, breaking down a barrier, and shouting "end the COVID lockdown.”
Infections have hit new highs in China despite a rigid zero-COVID policy.
Authorities in Urumqi have now promised to phase out restrictions — though they deny that these stopped people escaping Thursday's fire.
Restrictions have...
(BBC News) An Algerian court has sentenced 49 people to death after they were found guilty of lynching a man wrongly suspected of starting forest fires last year, the state news agency says.
The sentences are likely to be reduced to life in prison as there is a moratorium on executions.
In 2021, Algeria experienced the worst fires in the country's history, with multiple blazes killing 90 people.
The lynching victim, Djamel Ben Ismail, had gone to...
(University of Chicago) Until recently, no one knew if we were alone in the universe – or if there were even other planets like ours.
But thanks to new telescopes and methods in the past decades, we now know there are at least many thousands of planets circling faraway stars, and they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes – large and small, rocky and gaseous, cloudy, icy, or wet.
A study by scientists with the University...
(BBC News) Many of those killed and injured in an earthquake on the Indonesian island of Java were children, rescuers say, as the death toll rises to 268.
Aprizal Mulyadi, 14, was at school when the quake hit, saying he was trapped after "the room collapsed and my legs were buried under the rubble."
He said he was pulled to safety by his friend Zulfikar, who later died after himself becoming trapped.
More than 1,000 people were...
(Norwegian University of Science and Technology) Scientists have found out how to optimize the functional and esthetic character of the world's first fully electric high-speed ferry. The aim is to persuade passengers to opt for fossil-free transport.
The world's first fully electric high-speed ferry has arrived. It was launched recently in Stavanger in southwestern Norway, where it will be transporting inhabitants to and from the islands that lie north of the city. The ferry can...
(BBC News) Twitter has told employees that the company's office buildings will be temporarily closed, with immediate effect.
In a message seen by the BBC, workers were told that the offices would reopen on Monday, Nov. 21.
It did not give a reason for the move.
The announcement comes amid reports that large numbers of staff were quitting after new owner Elon Musk called on them to sign up for "long hours at high intensity" or leave.
The...
(University of Michigan) Six years ago, U.S. hospitals officially received the ability to document patients' housing status, including housing instability and homelessness. The new "Z codes" reflect an increasing recognition of the role of housing as one of the key social determinants of health.
A new study that harnesses those data reveals vast differences in diagnoses between patients with and without housing issues who are admitted to hospitals. This includes a sharp divide in care for mental,...
(Jet Propulsion Laboratory) NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has begun exploring an area the science team calls "Yori Pass" near the base of Jezero Crater's ancient river delta. They have been eager to explore the region for several months after spotting a rock similar to one Perseverance collected samples from in July.
The feature is so tantalizing to the scientists because it is sandstone, which is composed of fine grains that have been carried from elsewhere by...
