COVID 19 Tech

SARS-CoV-2 variant found in Brazil: More infectious, may limit immunity

Enlarge / COVID-19 has taken a terrible toll on Brazil. (credit: Michael Dantas / Getty Images) Almost from the moment it made the jump to humans, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been picking up mutations and creating new lineages as it expands into different populations. In practical terms, the vast majority of these mutations makes absolutely […]

Tech

Rocket Report: SpaceX to build huge launch tower, Branson sells Virgin stock

Enlarge / New Shepard crew capsule is seen landing in West Texas. (credit: Blue Origin) Welcome to Edition 3.41 of the Rocket Report! As always there is plenty of news in the world of launch, and this week we have several stories about heavy lift vehicles. Perhaps most interesting, SpaceX has received approval from the […]

COVID 19 Tech

99.992% of fully vaccinated people have dodged COVID, CDC data shows

Enlarge / Residents wait in an observation area after receiving Covid-19 vaccines at a vaccination site in Richmond, California on Thursday, April 15, 2021. (credit: Getty | Bloomberg) Cases of COVID-19 are extremely rare among people who are fully vaccinated, according to a new data analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among […]

Tech

MIT scientists study spider web structure by translating it into music

Now you can walk through a virtual spider web, using VR headset and controllers to interact with a web sonification model. A spider weaving its intricate web is a bit like a person composing a song, at least in the eyes of MIT materials engineer Markus Buehler, whose research involves translating web structure into musical […]

COVID 19 Tech

CDC expert panel punts on deciding fate of J&J COVID vaccine

Enlarge / Boxes of Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination site in Florida. (credit: Getty | Paul Hennessy) An advisory committee for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declined to vote on the fate of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday, likely leaving in place a pause on the vaccine’s use […]

Tech

Comparing the actual US grid to the one predicted 15 years ago

Enlarge (credit: VCG / Getty Images) On Monday, the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley Lab released a report entitled “Halfway to Zero,” referring to a goal of a zero-emission US electric grid. The report’s headline claim is a bit bogus, in that we’ve not cut our emissions in half relative to any point in […]

COVID 19 Tech

The very common vaccine ingredient at the center of J&J, AstraZeneca drama

Enlarge / Adenoviruses seen via transmission electron microscopy. (credit: Getty | BSIP) Out of an abundance of caution, US officials on Tuesday recommended pausing use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine. Officials linked the vaccine to six peculiar illnesses in which people developed life-threatening blood clots in combination with low levels of blood platelets, the […]

Tech

It now seems likely that Starliner will not launch crew until early 2022

Enlarge / What a docking of Boeing’s Starliner to the International Space Station will look like. (credit: Boeing) About five weeks have passed since Boeing updated the status of its Starliner spacecraft, with the company saying it was “evaluating” a new target launch date for its next mission. This test flight of Starliner, which will not […]

Tech

Tesla tells customers they’ll have to pay more for solar roof

Enlarge (credit: Tesla) Tesla has jacked up the price of its solar roof, which integrates solar panels directly into roof tiles, Electrek reports. A 12.3 kW system that Electrek priced at $54,966 last summer now costs more than $70,000, according to Tesla’s online calculator. Customers report that Tesla is not only raising prices for future […]

Tech

17th-century pirates might have stashed Middle Eastern coins in New England

Enlarge / A Yemeni khamsiyat (top left), a Spanish real (top right), and an English shilling (bottom) from the 17th century. (credit: Associated Press) According to historian and metal-detector enthusiast Jim Bailey, the handful of 17th-century Arabic coins unearthed at sites across New England could be remnants of an infamous pirate’s last big score—or, to […]