How did supermassive black holes form? What is dark matter? In an alternative model for how the universe came to be, in opposition to the "textbook" history of the universe, a team of astronomers propose that both of these cosmic mysteries could be explained by so-called "primordial black holes." Nico Cappelluti (University of Miami), Günther Hasinger (European Space Agency science director), and Priyamvada Natarajan (Yale University), suggest that black holes existed since the beginning...
Hundreds of people tricked into making explicit videos for porn websites have been awarded the rights to the videos and millions of dollars in damages, reports the BBC. The sites, GirlsDoPorn and GirlsDoToys, had been the subject of a long-running legal battle. The U.S. Department of Justice has ruled that rights to videos and images produced by the now-defunct sites belong to the women. More than 400 victims can now ask for the online footage to be...
An investigational COVID-19 vaccine made by Novavax was found to be 90% effective at preventing COVID-19 illness, according to results from a Phase 3 clinical trial published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. In the study, researchers recruited nearly 30,000 adult volunteers at 113 clinical sites in the United States and six sites in Mexico. Approximately 20,000 participants received two doses of the vaccine spaced three weeks apart, and 10,000 received placebo. In addition to being...
Researchers have developed a computer program that can control a robot using electrical signals emitted by a patient's brain. No voice control or touch function is needed; patients can move the robot simply with their thoughts. The study has been published in Communications Biology. To develop their system, the researchers started with a robotic arm that had been developed several years ago. This arm can move back and forth from right to left, reposition objects in front of it and get around objects in...
U.S. cybersecurity officials have ordered federal agencies to protect their systems against a major computer vulnerability by Christmas Eve, reports the BBC. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) set the deadline for security patches to tackle Log4shell, one of the most serious security flaws in the past decade. CISA head Jen Easterly has called it "a severe risk." Separately, Microsoft has warned some nation-state hacking groups are using Log4shell. "Multiple tracked nation-state activity groups originating from China, Iran, North Korea,...
A team of University of Arizona Health Sciences researchers at the UArizona College of Medicine—Tucson found that a combination of bacterial extracts used in Europe to treat respiratory infections may offer a new way to prevent or reduce infection by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The study, published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, showed that a specific combination of bacterial extracts known as OM-85 inhibited SARS-CoV-2 infection by reducing the virus's...
The omicron variant is offering more hints about what it may have in store as it spreads around the globe: a highly transmissible virus that may cause less severe disease, and one that can be slowed – but not stopped – by today's vaccines, reports Medical Xpress. An analysis Tuesday of data from South Africa, where the new variant is driving a surge in infections, suggests the Pfizer vaccine offers less defense against infection...
A Canadian study of 1.3 million people indicated that women who underwent common elective or emergency surgeries with male surgeons had a 15% higher chance of dying, experiencing a major complication, and/or being readmitted to the hospital within 30 days than they did if a woman performed their surgery, reports Medical Xpress. In contrast, men experience similarly good outcomes regardless of their surgeon's sex, the study showed. Why such "sex discordance" exists is not...
Decreasing vehicle emissions since 2008 have reduced by thousands the number of deaths attributable to air pollution, yielding billions of dollars in benefits to society, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study also found that although the public health burden of large trucks has been greatly reduced, passenger light-duty vehicles, such as SUVs and pickup trucks, continue to contribute a significant amount of air pollution in major...
A new study shows that the infant immune system is stronger than most people think, and beats the adult immune system at fighting off new pathogens. The infant immune system has a reputation for being weak and underdeveloped when compared to an adult, but the comparison isn't quite fair, says Donna Farber, PhD, professor of microbiology & immunology and the George H. Humphreys II professor of surgical sciences at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and...
