Thursday 5 November 2020

Greece to re-enter virus lockdown from Saturday

Greece will re-enter a lockdown from Saturday for three weeks to battle a second wave of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced.

Technique to regenerate optic nerve offers hope for future glaucoma treatment

Scientists have used gene therapy to regenerate damaged nerve fibres in the eye, in a discovery that could aid the development of new treatments for glaucoma, one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide.

Price, date, games... PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X

Sony and Microsoft are in a game consoles rematch with both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X launching next week with well-studied playbooks of dates, technical specs and games aimed at luring buyers.

A video games timeline: from Pong to the console wars

Video games have come a long way since the first rudimentary arcade machines emerged in the 1970s with offerings such as "Pong", "Pacman" and "Space Invaders".

With PlayStation 5 launch, Sony needs a high score

Sony launches its PlayStation 5 console next week angling for a mega-hit, and with the Japanese firm increasingly dependent on the lucrative gaming sector there is little room for error.

Ant Group fiasco reflects battle for China's financial soul

China's last-minute abandonment of Ant Group's record-breaking IPO stems from an intensifying battle for the soul of the nation's financial system that the fintech giant and its charismatic leader Jack Ma helped to ignite.

Canada reports rare strain of swine flu found in a human

Canadian health authorities on Wednesday reported the country's first case of a human infected with the H1N2 virus, a rare strain of swine flu.

US daily COVID-19 cases hit new record, topping 99,000: Johns Hopkins

More than 99,000 novel coronavirus cases were recorded in the United States in the past 24 hours, a new daily record, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Beijing bars arrivals from UK, Belgium due to second COVID-19 waves

China has imposed fresh travel bans on non-Chinese arrivals from Britain and Belgium, as it guards against a resurgence of the coronavirus by refusing entry to people from two of Europe's worst-hit nations.

Four Italian regions, including Milan, put under lockdown

Four Italian regions are being put under "red-zone" lockdown, with severe limits imposed on the circumstances under which people can leave home, Premier Giuseppe Conte announced on Wednesday night.

Fresh curbs for England and Italy as US sets new case record

England's 56 million people joined much of western Europe in a second coronavirus lockdown Thursday, as the United States set a fresh daily record with close to 100,000 new infections.

Mothers' lifestyle predicts when offspring will have first heart attack or stroke

Offspring of mothers with heart healthy lifestyles live nearly a decade longer without cardiovascular disease than those whose mothers have unhealthy lifestyles. That's the finding of a study published today in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

Turning up the heat on molten salt valves

Sandia National Laboratories is partnering with Flowserve Corp. and Kairos Power LLC on a $2.5 million, three-year Department of Energy Advanced Valve Project grant to lower the cost and boost the efficiency of concentrating solar power in the U.S.

Machine learning shows similar performance to traditional risk prediction models

Some claim that machine learning technology has the potential to transform healthcare systems, but a study published by The BMJ finds that machine learning models have similar performance to traditional statistical models and share similar uncertainty in making risk predictions for individual patients.

Analysis reveals high burden of musculoskeletal disorders across the globe

Musculoskeletal disorders—which affect muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, and joints—can severely affect individuals' physical and mental health, and they're especially prevalent among aging adults. Although many researchers are studying these conditions and their rates in different regions of the world, no study to date has provided an overview of the burden of all musculoskeletal disorders. Investigators have now done so in Arthritis & Rheumatology, an official journal of the American College of Rheumatology.

Lufthansa braces for 'challenging' winter on 2 bn euro loss

German flag carrier Lufthansa on Thursday posted a third quarter net loss of 2.0 billion euros as it prepares for a "hard and challenging" winter amid lockdowns to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

Nintendo net profit rockets 243.6% in first half, forecasts revised up

Japanese gaming giant Nintendo said Thursday its first-half net profit soared 243.6 percent on-year, and it upgraded its full-year sales and profit forecasts, with coronavirus lockdowns driving extraordinary demand.