sciencetech

Facebook data could predict spread of disease outbreaks says new research on ‘social-connectedness’

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Facebook data could help predict the spread of future diseases say researchers who found link between social connections and coronavirus hotspots A new study suggests Facebook data could predict pandemics in early stages The research uses a ‘Social-Connectedness Index’ to link disparate geographies Researchers found a link between COVID-19 hotspots on far-off regions The study suggests … Read more

‘Sunday driver’ effect causes more fatal accidents per head in rural areas

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‘Sunday driver’ effect is part of the reason MORE fatal car crashes occur in rural areas than in urban cities Peak for fatal car crashes is in rural areas and on a Sunday, UCL study shows  Weekdays have two spikes in collisions for morning and evening rush hour  More total collisions are seen in urban areas … Read more

Scientists discover SIX new coronaviruses in bats that are in the same family that causes COVID-19

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November 17, 2019: Date China now says it has traced the first coronavirus infection to, in Hubei province. Data now suggests that there were up to five new cases each day for the next few days. If U.S. intelligence was aware of such an outbreak, it suggests an excellent source or deep infiltration of Chinese … Read more

Stray dogs may be the ‘intermediary animal’ that spread coronavirus from bats to humans

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Stray dogs may have been the ‘intermediary animal’ that spread coronavirus from bats to humans — rather than pangolins, as previously thought — a study claimed.  Understanding how coronavirus came to infect humans is vital for discerning how the virus works — and for concocting vaccines and treatments to stop its spread. Canadian researchers who analysed … Read more

MIT is using LASERS to make thousands of face shields a day for staff treating coronavirus

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MIT is using LASERS to make foldable face shields that can be stacked in mass quantities and shipped by the thousands to medical staff treating coronavirus patients MIT has developed a new way to manufacture thousands of face shields a day  Lasers cut thousands  of sheets of plastic at once into shapes for the masks The … Read more

Norwegian government uses GPS data from cell phone provider to model coronavirus spread

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Norwegian government uses cellular data tracking users’ movements to model the potential spread of coronavirus and anticipate what parts of the country will need medical supplies Norway is using cellular data to track the movements of people in groups of 20  The movement data is used to predict where COVID-19 flare-ups might occur Cell provider … Read more

Apple releases mobility data generated by Apple Maps for governments and health authorities

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Data generated from searches on Apple Maps is released to help authorities monitor whether people are adhering to lockdown rules or still traveling The data is now publicly accessible via Apple’s database Information uses navigation requests entered into Apple Maps Apple says the data is anonymized and not associated with an Apple ID The company … Read more

Apollo 13 images show a ‘miraculous recovery’ 50 years on

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Newly-revealed enhanced images show life aboard the stricken Apollo 13 spacecraft, exactly 50 years after the mission failed to land on the Moon, but performed a miraculous return to Earth.  Image enhancement techniques, including stacking multiple frames on top of each other to improve the image’s detail, show the clearest ever account of the mission, … Read more

More than 500,000 Zoom user credentials were sold on the dark web for less than a PENNY each

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More than 500,000 Zoom user credentials have been stolen and sold on the dark web for less than a PENNY each More than a half a million Zoom user credentials were found on the dark web Hackers in a forum were selling accounts for less than a penny each  The buckets included passwords, meeting URLS … Read more

Children today are ‘just as sociable’ as previous generations

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Children today are ‘just as sociable’ as previous generations despite spending hours on social media and glued to smartphone screens Experts studied assessments of children aged five to 11 by parents and teachers  The study compared children starting school in 1998 with those starting in 2010  They found that screen time and social media had … Read more