Science, technology and technology news

Researchers in the UK have shown that Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines are 90 percent and 91 percent effective in preventing death from delta-variant coronavirus, respectively. An article by scientists on vaccine protection against death was published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Scotland Public Health, Strathclyde and Edinburgh Universities estimated health data for 5.4 million Scots from April 1 to September 27, 2021. PCR testing carried out in an out-of-hospital setting showed that during this time, of this number, 115 thousand people were infected with COVID-19, of which 201 died.

None of the 16- to 39-year-olds vaccinated with Pfizer and AstraZeneca died – compared with 17 among the unvaccinated. Among the 40-59 age group, the COVID-19 vaccination rate was 88 percent for AstraZeneca and 95 percent for Pfizer. For those older, the vaccines were 90 percent and 87 percent effective in preventing death, respectively.

There were no deaths among those who were vaccinated with Moderna, so it is not possible to assess its effectiveness, the researchers note.

Twitter has closed the deal to acquire the group chat messenger Sphere. Through the purchase, the social network plans to increase the popularity of communities of interest. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. Twitter previously announced the closure of the Scroll service, which the company bought in May 2021. The social network has integrated the functionality of the service into a paid subscription.

The Sphere Messenger app itself will now stop offline. The entire startup team will continue to work already within the framework of cooperation with Twitter.

The function of creating groups of interests appeared on Twitter in September 2021. Community members can see all messages in the group and write to each other. Each group is led by a separate moderator who sets the rules and monitors them, as well as invites and removes users.

The Sphere service allows you to automatically delete old chats, highlight important messages for each participant and make it possible to thank the most active users with stickers.

Sphere was founded by Thomas Khalgash and Nick D'Aloisio. At the age of 17, D'Aloisio created the news application Summly, which was bought by Yahoo in 2013 for $ 30 million. According to the SME publication, Halgash became the first Slovak who managed to develop and sell his startup idea to a major technology company.

Sphere has attracted investments from Index Ventures, Horizons Ventures, Mike Moritz (one of the first investors in Google), Brian Chesky (founder of Airbnb) and Sean Rad (founder of Tinder).

In early October, it became known that Twitter decided to close the Scroll service, which turns off ads from publications and gives them a part of the money for each user. Social media bought the startup in May 2021. But now its functionality will only be available in the Twitter Blue subscription. In Russia it costs 269 rubles a month.

Earlier, “Secret” wrote that Twitter has introduced a new feature that allows users to independently remove their own subscribers, without blocking them, as they had to do before. The press service of the company added that the remote subscriber will not receive notifications about this. To get rid of an unwanted person, you need to go to the “Subscribers” section, find him there and select “Remove this subscriber”.

Photo: Pixabay, Pixabay License

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The novelty is a less expensive and simpler version of the HONOR Play5. The manufacturer promises a stylish youthful design.

The main difference from its brother is the lack of support for 5G mobile networks. Unfortunately, HONOR did not disclose the parameters of the smartphone. However, insiders are confident that the hardware basis of the device will be a Dimensity 700 or Dimensity 720 single-chip system from MediaTek.

The main camera is dual, there is an LED flash. The square camera module is located at the top in the center of the body. The fingerprint scanner will be placed on the side, in the on / off button.

The cost is not named. But obviously this is a budget model.

Source: GSMArena

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Doctor of Medical Sciences, virologist Anatoly Altstein assessed the danger of the appearance of the AY4.2 type of coronavirus. This subspecies originated from the “delta” and, according to the scientist, cannot yet compete with its “parent”.

Delta dominates the world today. But we must understand that the process of virus mutations is a natural process. So he develops and tries to survive.

– These kinds of things appear all the time. The virus multiplies, its genomes are inaccurately copied, as a result of which new varieties appear, '' says the RT virologist.

He stressed that the experts are now “focused on the delta strain. He is the main enemy and all developments are aimed at neutralizing him.

And the main way to fight the disease is vaccination. Accelerating its pace will help break the chain of diseases.

– And other methods of protection against disease are well known to all. This is wearing masks in crowded places, especially in public transport, keeping a distance, working remotely, if possible. That is, all measures that reduce contact between people to a minimum, – concluded the virologist.

AY4.2 was discovered in England. Experts believe that the dangerous subtype of “delta” within 2-3 weeks can spread widely outside the country, since it is at least 10-15% more infectious than the original version, the newspaper Izvestia writes.

In Russia, the morbidity statistics have been growing for several weeks, and the mortality rate is breaking records. In this regard, non-working days will be introduced in the country from October 30 to November 7.

Immunologist Nikolai Kryuchkov believes that this initiative is not a sufficient measure.

– The duration is only a week. This is not enough. True, here you need to understand that this is better than nothing. That is, the effect will be, but not strong enough. The point is that you need at least two weeks, and according to foreign European data – three to four weeks. Despite the fact that their events were more serious than in Russia, – the immunologist comments to the Free Press.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 115,000 healthcare workers worldwide could have died due to COVID-19 disease since January 2020.

This was stated by WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“According to a new WHO working document, 115 thousand medical workers could die from COVID-19 between January 2020 and May this year,” RIA Novosti quoted him as saying.

Ghebreyesus noted the importance of ensuring that doctors get vaccinated against COVID-19 as a priority.

Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron said that WHO member countries should not hide information about diseases.

Dinara Toktosunova, the head of RT DE and Ruptly, said that they sent a pre-trial letter to Google about the restoration of channels deleted by YouTube. This was reported on Thursday, October 21, 2021 by RT.

“We sent a pre-trial letter to Google. Silence. Then our lawyers filed a motion with the court for an interim ban against blocking and strikes against RT DE. An interim injunction is such a quick remedy. issued in a couple of days or even a couple of hours. The defendant, of course, can challenge this decision, “she said.

Toktosunova added that by the time the petition was filed, there was already an objection from Google in court with reasons why a decision could not be made in favor of RT DE. Now they must familiarize themselves with this document and present their arguments by October 26.

Earlier it was reported that the video hosting YouTube has deleted two German RT channels: RT DE and Der Fehlende Part (DFP) without the possibility of recovery. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov believes that measures can be taken to force the platform to comply with the laws of the Russian Federation, reports the TV channel “360”.

British humanoid robot artist Ai-Da, capable of creating paintings and sculptures, was detained at Egyptian customs. Ai-Da was taken to the opening day at the pyramids of Giza, but vigilant border guards mistook her for an espionage device and kept her in isolation for 10 days, along with the sculpture she created. Diplomats had to intervene in the matter.

Ai-Da is the world's first robot that “creates and is contemporary art.” Its creator is British gallerist Aiden Moeller.

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Ai-Da and the sculpture she created were taken to Giza to participate in the Forever is Now exhibition organized by Art D'Egypt. This will be the first ever exhibition of contemporary art against the backdrop of the pyramids in Giza. Together with Ai-Da, they confiscated a clay sculpture she created based on a robot's interpretation of the Sphinx riddle.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CUezaPpIaVb

It is not entirely clear what questions the customs officers have about the robot. It is only clear that they saw a “security threat” in the robot. There is a version that they considered Ai-Da to be part of some kind of espionage scheme, but the border service did not make any official statements.

According to Meller, at first the border guards did not like that the robot was equipped with a modem. Then their attention was attracted by cameras mounted in her eyes.

“I could have removed the modem, but there was no way to rip out her eyes,” he says.

“The British ambassador worked all night to get her released, but the deadlines are already running out,” Meller told the Times newspaper shortly before the robot was returned to him.

“Let me be very clear. She's not a spy. People are afraid of robots, I understand that. But this whole situation is full of irony, because the point of Ai-Da is to draw attention to the malicious use of technological progress. that she's a robot. She'd probably like the irony, “commented the creator of Ai-Da.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CVJAn5glkN0

Created by Ai-Da sculpture bee.

The robot artist could not appreciate the irony, since she was disconnected from the network throughout the entire scandal. She was released late Wednesday night, and her sculpture was returned. The opening of the exhibition with her participation should take place on Thursday.

South Korea has launched its first space launch vehicle. The launch took place on October 21 from the Naro cosmodrome and was broadcast live by KARI, the Korean Aerospace Research Institute. The rocket has successfully completed its flight.

The name of the rocket “Nuri” means “Peace” in Korean. The rocket itself has three stages, it weighs 200 tons, it can launch a satellite weighing up to one and a half tons into orbit.

South Korea became the seventh country to develop and launch its own rocket capable of launching a satellite weighing more than one ton into orbit. This list includes the USSR, USA, France, China, Japan, India.

Earlier, South Korea made several attempts to launch the Naro space rocket, it was a joint Russian-Korean development. The attempts were unsuccessful.

Over the past day, 36,339 cases of coronavirus infection have been identified in Russia. This is the maximum since the beginning of the pandemic. At the same time, in 3,230 (8.9%), the disease proceeded without clinical manifestations, according to the Operational Headquarters for Combating COVID-19.

The largest number of diseases was detected in Moscow, where 7,897 people were infected per day. St. Petersburg ranks second in terms of the number of new infections – there are 3,280 diseases. The third place belongs to the Moscow region – 2318 new patients.

Thus, the total number of cases of coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic in Russia has increased to 8,131,164. In addition, over the past day, 25,895 patients recovered from the disease in the country, 1,036 died. The total number of recovered patients increased to 7,091,607, and the number of deaths – to 227,389.

As the site kp.ru previously wrote, immunologist Nikolai Kryuchkov assessed the danger from the new strain of coronavirus AY.4.2, cases of which are already being recorded in Russia. The new subspecies is 15% more infectious than the delta strain, of which it is.

Why are the icebreaker “Ivan Papanin” armed with cruise missiles “Caliber-K”? The project 23550 Ivan Papanin, an Arctic dual-use ship, may become the carrier of the Kalibr-K cruise missiles. To do this, it is enough to place three special containers with mobile launchers on the deck.

Trump card in the arctic war

On board the “Ivan Papanin” can be placed a mobile missile system “Caliber-K”. The launchers are housed in three standard cargo containers that are installed on board the ice drift. Experts believe that if the Russian army equips the icebreakers with “Caliber”, then these ships will become a formidable weapon in the Arctic conflict. After all, the range of the sea-based Kalibr cruise missiles is 1400 km. Container placement will allow unloading the complex ashore to form a battery in any part of the Arctic. The range of the sea-based Kalibr-NK missile in case of transfer to land will be up to 2.6 thousand km.

Project “Arctic”

Project 23550 ice-class patrol ships (also called “Arktika” or “Ermak”) have been developing since 2016 after the closure of the military icebreaker project 21180, on which only one ship was built: “Ilya Muromets”. The military decided they needed more versatile ships. The new project was developed at the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau, and the construction was entrusted to the Admiralty Shipyards. “Ivan Papanin”, the lead ship, was laid down in St. Petersburg in 2017 for the Russian Navy, and in 2019 it was launched. Currently, the Ministry of Defense has plans for two patrol icebreakers under the project 23550, the second ship “Nikolai Zubov” is planned to be launched in 2024.

Universal ship

“Ivan Papanin” belongs to the class of universal patrol ships of the Arctic zone, unique for the Russian Navy. Its main task is to work in the harsh conditions of the northern seas, therefore it has a special design. In fact, this is a patrol ship with the functions of an icebreaker and a tug. From the icebreakers, the new patrol ship received a reinforced hull and other design features that ensure operation in the Arctic. The ship's ice class is Arc7. “Ivan Papanin” is able to overcome ice up to 1.7 m thick. Ice 1 m thick breaks through on a continuous run. The design of the ship as a whole and of its individual systems is adapted to the harsh northern conditions.

Project 23550 combines a combat ship and a support ship. They have sufficiently developed detection and destruction systems, including a set of various electronic systems for monitoring the situation, searching for targets and targeting weapons. It is reported about the use of radar detection and guidance “Positive”, navigation locator and shipborne electronic warfare system. There is also special equipment that is used by rescue vessels and tugs.

Patrol for the Northern Sea Route

A multipurpose patrol ship must operate in northern latitudes. First of all, he is a patrol, during the war his main task will be to search for and hit surface or air targets. For this, the ship is armed with an AK-176 artillery mount. Icebreaking capabilities can be used for their own benefit or for pilotage of other vessels. For the same ship, project 23550 needs towing equipment.

In peacetime, “Ivan Papanin” is able to make shuttle voyages along the Northern Sea Route, it can also play the role of an expeditionary vessel. Thanks to the ice reinforcement of the hull, the Azipod electric propulsion system and the ice radar station, it will be able to move in difficult ice conditions without being accompanied.

The transport will promptly deliver modules with repair shops, medical and residential units to scientific and military bases in the Arctic, as well as transport groups of specialists. The refrigerator can be used to transport seafood.

Design features

The ships of the project 23550 have a total displacement of about 9 thousand tons with a length of 114 m and a width of 20 m. There are characteristic rounded bow contours. The multi-tiered superstructure is shifted back. In its aft part there is a hangar for a helicopter. For the use of which the stern of the ship forms the take-off area. The crew of the ship is 60 people. It is possible to take on board another 50 people. Autonomy for reserves – 70 days.

Information source: https://www.19fortyfive.com/2021/10/russian-arctic-patrol-ships-will-carry-containerized-cruise-missiles/