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Jan 30th, 2021, 3:28 pm
This Wood Grown in a Lab Could Cut Deforestation, With Furniture Made From Plant Cells

As if lab-grown meat wasn’t a head turner, a group of scientists at MIT are plotting lab-grown wooden furniture.

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The two projects are nearly identical, made by cultivating cells to divide and multiply into forms outside of their parent phylum, and the proof-of-concept study is a powerful first step towards finding alternatives to forestry.

According to Velásquez-García and team, using a leaf from a zinnia, they were able to grow plant like tissues selectively, free from unnecessary organs. The researchers described in their corresponding paper how plant cells respond well to “tunability,” and that the scalable, land-free cultivation of plant material like wood for use in furniture making, for example, is very possible—and even easier than what other scientists are doing with cell-cultured meat, the correct jargon for “lab-grown meat.”

“Despite considerable and early resource investment, (imagine the cost of buying, fueling, and operating logging trucks and roads alone) only a small fraction of the cultivated crop may be economically valuable at harvest,” write the authors in their paper, noting also that for the production of some natural fibers, as little as 2% to 4% of the harvested plant matter will be used.

Freshly-grown furniture

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The strategy for cell-cultured trees, grown in the shape of a table or a rectangular board, is easier to scale, and could become cost-effective much faster than cell-cultured meat—as plants are simply easier to grow in this way.

Speaking with Fast Company, Ashley Beckwith, an engineering Ph.D. student and co-author of the paper, explains the inefficiencies of relying on forested trees for lumber production.

“Trees grow in tall cylindrical poles, and we rarely use tall cylindrical poles in industrial applications,” she says. “So you end up shaving off a bunch of material that you spent 20 years growing and that ends up being a waste product.”

What if instead you could spend that 20 years growing only furniture or clothing applicable fibers and shapes? Well the scientists haven’t yet grown a table from a petri dish, but their work is an important proof-of-concept that if widely adopted could lead to huge reductions in CO2 emissions from a number of sources.

These could include fueling and driving heavy, low-range cargo trucks up logging roads at low speeds, as well as fueling and manufacturing the vehicles to construct the logging roads, and the manufacturing plants that make both, as well as the vehicles to transport that equipment there.

Then one must think of deforestation, a major contributor of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, as carbon that would otherwise be released through the Earth’s 1,000-year carbon cycle naturally is ripped from the ground as the trees are felled. Tree plantations could be left to age more naturally, retuning more of the carbon cycle into a natural state while attracting more wildlife in return.
Jan 30th, 2021, 3:28 pm

Twitter: Fatima99@fatima99_mobi
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Jan 30th, 2021, 4:10 pm
Miami Team Able to Bring Basketball Fans Back to Arena With the Help of COVID-Sniffing Dogs

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Indeed, dogs have been trained to detect everything from bombs and narcotics to cancers, low-blood sugar, and even depression. Viral diseases like malaria and COVID have also been trained.

The first game will be at home against the LA Clippers, while Monday is the first game when season ticket holders will be allowed to claim their seats, when the arena will be at a little less than 10% capacity.
With the help of some truly potent pooches, the Miami Heat will be able to allow some ticket holders in to watch their games provided they get the A-okay from a team of COVID-19 sniffing dogs.

Several countries have already trained dogs to sniff out COVID-19, and the combination of masks, socially distanced seating maps, and the canines, mean around 2,000 lucky fans get to cheer on their home team next week.

In April, Good News Network reported on the progress of a British medical charity that had successfully trained dogs to smell the infamous virus, while ESPN reports claim the success rate of the Heat’s sniffers are around 94%

It’s not a perfect detection rate, so the Heat staff are augmenting the COVID-19 prevention measures with temp checks, mask wearing, cashless-only transactions, isolated seating patterns, and reduced food and beverage sales. If people are allergic or afraid of dogs, the Heat are even offering rapid antigen tests which they say will produce results in 45 minutes.

“If you think about it, detection dogs are not new,” Matthew Jafarian, the Heat’s executive vice president for business strategy, told ESPN. “You’ve seen them in airports, they’ve been used in mission-critical situations by the police and the military. We’ve used them at the arena for years to detect explosives.”

Indeed, dogs have been trained to detect everything from bombs and narcotics to cancers, low-blood sugar, and even depression. Viral diseases like malaria and COVID have also been trained.

The first game will be at home against the LA Clippers, while Monday is the first game when season ticket holders will be allowed to claim their seats, when the arena will be at a little less than 10% capacity.
Jan 30th, 2021, 4:10 pm

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Jan 30th, 2021, 4:11 pm
Sea shanties are having a moment amid isolation of pandemic

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Bennett Konesni sings a sea shanty while raising a sail on his ketch, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021, in Belfast, Maine. Konesni started singing sea shanties aboard a schooner
in Penobscot Bay and has since traveled the world studying work songs. The app TikTok helped sea shanties surge into the mainstream. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)


There once was a tune that tickled the Internet’s fancy/When TikTok revived the humble sea shanty/The views came fast, the fad could last/Go, read about it go:

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People are stuck at home, toiling away, getting bored, going stir crazy.

Cooped-up sailors who felt the same way on long ocean journeys broke up the tedium with work songs called sea shanties.

It only makes sense, then, that shanties have come full circle with a moment of unprecedented popularity during the pandemic.

“Times are tough. If we can sing, it’ll help us get through it, just like sailors did on the tall ships,” said Bennett Konesni, of Belfast, Maine, who started singing sea shanties aboard a schooner in Penobscot Bay and performs several times a week with the Mighty Work Song Community Chorus.

TikTok helped sea shanties surge into the mainstream.

The app has a duet feature that lets people create a 60-second song and then allows others to add their voices.

People began using the feature to record sea shanties, and shantying quickly became a mainstream thing, starting last month. The ShantyTok movement has even contributed to a rendition by the Longest Johns of the centuries old “Wellerman” sailing into the United Kingdom’s Top 40 chart. Another version by Nathan Evans with a driving beat reached No. 2 at midweek.

The sudden popularity isn’t so hard to fathom. After all, people are craving interaction during the pandemic, and shanties are group efforts that don’t require great singing skills — though some of the TikToks are quite sophisticated and elaborate.

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Long live the work song’s run/To bring us a sense of glee and fun/One day, when the pandemic is done/Back to the office we’ll go

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Shanties and sea songs are lumped together in the trend, but true shanties were work songs. Sailors of yore sang to pass the time and to coordinate their efforts in hoisting sails and anchors, and manning the bilge pumps.

They generally consist of a chorus — in “Wellerman,” it’s about a ship loaded with “sugar, tea and rum” — that’s easy to memorize. There might be formal lyrics, or participants might choose to ad lib, with others joining for the chorus, said Matthew Baya, a radio show host from Williamstown, Massachusetts.

The shanties helped sailors defuse tension and remain sane amid the cruelty of isolation and cramped quarters. Shanties sometimes involved good-natured insults at skippers or the shipping companies that employed them.

Vocal chops are a bonus, but not a necessity.

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Bennett Konesni holds a book of sea shanties Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021, in Belfast, Maine. Work songs have helped sailors on long ocean journeys to
break up the tedium. The genre is seeing a global revival among people bored and isolated by the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)


“Not all sailors kept perfect pitch. They weren’t in that job for their musical talent,” Baya said. “You’ll get some people who are really talented, and other people who’re just having fun but may not hit all of the right notes.”

Many people who sing sea shanties at local festivals in Mystic, Connecticut; Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Plymouth, Massachusetts, and other seaport locations across the U.S. are thrilled by the sudden attention. Shanties are even more popular in some parts of Europe.

“If people are having fun singing, that’s got to be good,” said Baya, one of the hosts of the “Saturday Morning Coffee House” on WERU-FM in Blue Hill, Maine. His show often includes a shanty or two.

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Many workers are stuck inside and alone/A sense of whimsy can throw them a bone/Because of that, the shanty trend has shone/So sing, sing as you go

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Shanties tend to be associated with England, which ruled the seas in the 18th and 19th centuries. But they’re sung from Maine, where English colonists began a shipbuilding tradition, to Massachusetts, home of the nation’s whaling fleet, down to Alabama’s Mobile Bay, the Caribbean and all the way around the world, Konesni said.

They’re work songs like the ones sung by enslaved people harvesting crops in the South, miners chipping away deep underground and loggers felling trees in the woods, all of which are seeing renewed attention thanks to shanties, said Konesni, who’s a cultural ambassador for the State Department and has performed shanties around the world.

The trend is a refreshing one in a world that has become accustomed to people performing on a stage for a crowd, Konesni said.

Shanties are different because they’re participatory. The audience is encouraged to boisterously sing along.

“It’s got a depth, history and singability that a lot of pop songs don’t,” he said.

Geoff Kaufman, who made a living singing sea shanties and directed the Sea Music Festival at the Mystic Seaport in Connecticut, said he’s amused and intrigued by the sudden fascination with shanties.

He loves the idea of a new generation lifting their voices.

“I hope it brings more young people into the fold,” he said.

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Long live the work song’s run/To bring us a sense of glee and fun/One day, when the pandemic is done/Back to the office we’ll go
Jan 30th, 2021, 4:11 pm
Jan 30th, 2021, 6:13 pm
How COVID-19 will affect the publishing industry
The COVID-19 outbreak has impacted how writers write, what editors want to publish, and how books are sold.

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Early on during the coronavirus pandemic, a meme circulated in the writing community claiming that Shakespeare penned King Lear while in quarantine from the bubonic plague. What the meme didn’t address, and what would be more helpful for writers to know, was how the theater community changed while Shakespeare sheltered in place. Did theatergoers emerge from their 17th-century homes hungry for entertainment? Did they flock to lighthearted or serious productions after months staring at their walls? Were topical plays about the plague avoided like…well, you know.

As the nation prepares to reemerge from quarantine, the publishing community will face many of these same questions, albeit reimagined to suit our modern age. The pandemic will leave lasting impacts on authors, editors, agents, and readers. What will they be? After speaking with people on all sides of the issue, we have a few predictions.

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The Great Pandemic Novel may be a ways off

A well-known fact of publishing: Sales of romances rise during tough times. When life is uncertain, most people want something to distract them, not remind them of the unpleasant things happening in their lives. The question is how long, if ever, people will yearn for distraction. Could pandemic books become a thing in the near term? Or are we a decade away from literarily grappling with the outbreak?

History suggests the latter. The best books about the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina, 9/11 – the cultural touchstones of the past 20 years – hit shelves years after the events themselves. People need space to grapple. Time to process. And this event isn’t confined to a day or a week. The consequences of the pandemic continue to play out months after the virus was discovered. The majority of people aren’t ready to read fiction or nonfiction focused on COVID-19.

Anecdotal evidence bears this out. Anne Bogel, who hosts the book-focused podcast “What Should I Read Next?,” says most of the readers she hears from want a pleasant distraction. “Our community wants to read escapist books that are hospitable to our currently really short collective attention spans. We want books that won’t demand too much of us,” Bogel says.

People dealing with death, financial issues, and job insecurity in real life probably don’t want to read about those things in novels. “Many people are going to look for things to separate themselves from the lives around them,” says Berkley Publishing Group Vice President and Editorial Director Cindy Hwang. “A lot of people look for something that, even for a few hours, removes them from their circumstances.”

Author Morgan Baden is one of them. “I’m currently of the mindset that I don’t want to write or read (or watch or hear) anything about pandemics and lockdowns and social distancing. I want to escape,” says Baden, who started quarantining with her 5-year-old daughter, 3-year-old son, and husband while finishing a book she wrote for Scholastic. “I’m diving into something light and magical with my writing now, and even my reading choices have started leaning towards beach reads and witches. I suspect many readers will feel the same, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot of books in the next two to three years that are more based in humor and whimsy.”
Jan 30th, 2021, 6:13 pm

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Jan 30th, 2021, 6:21 pm
Boy, 12, breaks Guinness record with 'Star Wars' Lego set

A 12-year-old Lego enthusiast in Kentucky broke a Guinness World Record by building a Star Wars Millennium Falcon micro fighter kit in under 2 minutes.

Guinness said Haddon Haste, 12, of Louisville, assembled the Millennium Falcon micro fighter kit in 1 minute, 59.72 seconds, setting a record for the fastest time to build the model.

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Matthew Haste, the boy's father, said Haddon wanted to break a Guinness World Record while stuck at home amid the COVID-19 pandemic and found a record that combined his love of Lego building with his love of Star Wars.

"I am proud of my son for his hard work on this record attempt and I am grateful for your organization for encouraging him to pursue something meaningful in the midst of an otherwise difficult year," Matthew Haste told Guinness officials.

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/01/29 ... 611949975/
Jan 30th, 2021, 6:21 pm
Jan 30th, 2021, 6:58 pm
New cookbook by young Toronto-area authors helps to support mental health

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TORONTO -- A program that teaches kids financial literacy and entrepreneurship is also showing young people how to give back during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We really are kind of raising the bar when it comes to not only entrepreneurship, but also giving back and being part of a society,” Explorer Hop CEO Hasina Lookman said. “That really is the kind of entrepreneur we need in the future, and we call them change-makers.”

Explorer Hop teaches kids how to create an idea, take it to market, sell the product and give back to a charity of their choice.

Recently, a group of young people from across Canada worked together, from their homes, to create a cookbook called “Kids Cooking Madness.”

“Kids Cooking Madness is a project that is very close to my heart as well,” Lookman told CTV News Toronto. “This happened right in the middle of the pandemic. What they decided was that all of them would go back and ask their families for recipes, and they would put together this book. Now, all of them are published authors on Amazon.”

One of the leaders of that project was 12 year-old Max Herczeg, who turned to his signature dish for his contribution.

“I make these crepes for my family and they all love it,” he said. “So, I decided that I should put that in the cookbook.”

Herczeg said his group chose to create a cookbook because they all had a shared passion for food. He told CTV News Toronto that they began by choosing the charity they would be giving back to.

“We came up with the [Canadian] Mental Health Association because during COVID times can be hard for some people and we wanted to make it a bit easier for people who are struggling,” he said.

“I really want to acknowledge and celebrate the Explorer Hop team,” said Rebecca Shields, CEO of Canadian Mental Health Association for York Region and South Simcoe Branch.

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“Being able to contribute to something that was meaningful and exciting, and fun for them, that’s really what we want our kids to experience always, but especially during this pandemic.”

Shields tells CTV News Toronto that money from ‘Kids Cooking Madness’ is going to their MOBYSS (Mobile York South Simcoe) youth walk-in clinic.

“This is a wonderful initiative that is making a difference,” she adds. “I also bought a copy of the book and I’ve tried some of the recipes. I had a lot of fun! And I encourage other people to do that as well.”

For Lookman, ‘Kids Cooking Madness’ is just another reason for her to feel proud of her students.

“We as a society like to give lip service about how we want to help the future and how we want to build the future, but if we really want to build the future, we need to give them the skills,” she said.

“That really is our mission, to empower these kids with entrepreneur and financial literacy so you really have a child who is able to step and go to the next level.”

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Herczeg said he’s happy that his project is helping others, and that he feels inspired to do more charity work for causes he feels a connection to.

“I feel very fortunate that I have a nice family that has money to support ourselves during COVID, but I know that other families do not,” he says. “So just to support them, even just a little amount, is always helpful.”

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Jan 30th, 2021, 6:58 pm

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Jan 30th, 2021, 7:18 pm
Renewables made history in Europe

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There was more positive news this week for the UK’s booming renewables sector, which in 2020 generated more electricity than fossil fuels over an entire year for the first time.

According to a report by the thinktanks Ember and Agora Energiewende, green energy accounted for 42 per cent of the UK’s electricity in 2020, compared with 41 per cent from gas and coal.

A similar landmark was reached in the EU, which saw renewables overtake gas and coal in 2020. “Renewables overtaking fossils is an important milestone in Europe’s clean energy transition,” said Patrick Graichen, director of Agora Energiewende.
Jan 30th, 2021, 7:18 pm

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Jan 31st, 2021, 12:57 pm
'Doctor Doolittle' returned to Canadian library was 82 years overdue

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Jan. 29 (UPI) -- A Nova Scotia, Canada, library said a book was returned 82 years overdue after a homeowner found it stashed away in his attic.

The Cape Breton Regional Library said the book, The Adventures of Doctor Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting, was returned to the McConnell Sydney Library 82 years after it was checked out from the Sydney Public Library.

The book was returned by Jordan Muscyscyn, a Sydney man who found it while renovating his century-old home.

"We were putting a fan in our bathroom, so we had to cut a hole through our roof and while we were up in the attic, we found a bunch of old books," Musycsyn told CTV News.

Musycsyn said the copy of Doctor Dolittle stood out because it bore markings from the Sydney Public Library.

"This one in particular had the old library card from 1939," Musycsyn said. "And I just thought that was interesting, because it was the same week that the library had abolished their fines.

"So, I thought it was a good thing, because I wouldn't want to know what the fine on an 82-year-old overdue book would be."

Library officials said the old Sydney Public Library burned down in 1959, destroying most of its books. They said the tome returned by Musycsyn might not have survived if it had been returned on time.

Nicole MacGibbon of the Cape Breton Regional Library said librarians calculated the late fee just for fun.

"Assuming a charge of 15 cents a day, if we had charged a late fee, it would have amounted to about $3,000," MacGibbon said.

She said library officials are now trying to get in touch with the family of the girl who checked the book out in 1939 to learn more about its journey.

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/01/29 ... 611946712/
Jan 31st, 2021, 12:57 pm

Book request - The Mad Patagonian by Javier Pedro Zabala [25000 WRZ$] Reward!
https://forum.mobilism.org/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=5412023
Jan 31st, 2021, 1:56 pm
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I sometimes get REALLY DEPRESSED reviewing the news these days.
It's always about a global pandemic threatening life as we know it,
protests around the world, stupid politicians, natural disasters,
or some other really bad story.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Welcome to The mobi weekly news magazine
IN OTHER NEWS
SUNDAY JANUARY 31

What is it?
Here is your chance to become an "ACE REPORTER" for our weekly news magazine.
It is your job to fine weird, funny or "good feel" stories from around the world and share them with our readers in our weekly magazine

How do you play?
Just post a story that you have come across that made you smile, laugh, feel good...
BUT NOTHING DEPRESSING :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

EXAMPLE POST
Naked sunbather chases wild boar through park after it steals his laptop bag
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A naked sunbather was seen chasing wild boar through a park after it stole his laptop bag.
Amusing photographs from Germany show the man running after the animal to try and claim the plastic bag back.
But the cheeky boar and its two piglets appear to be too quick for the sunbather, who can't keep up with their speedy little trotters.
As the incident unfolds, groups of friends and family sat on the grass watch on and laugh.
Heads are seen turning in surprise and amusement in the hilarious photographs.
The incident happened at Teufelssee Lake - a bathing spot in the Grunwell Forest in Berlin, Germany.

Rules:
Each Edition of IN OTHER NEWS will be open for 7 days...
You may post One Story in any 24 hour period
So in other words, you can enter only once a day
Each news day will start when I post announcing it
OR at:
9:00 AM CHICAGO TIME (UTC -6)
3:00 PM GMT (UTC -0)

on those days I space out and forget to post or can't due to Real Life :lol:
Stories may be accompanied with images - but No big images, please! 800x800 pixels wide maximum
Videos are allowed, but please keep them to under a minute, and post a short summary for those that don't like to click on videos
No Duplicate stories - Where a post has been edited resulting in duplicates, then the last one in time gets disallowed.
And please limit this to reasonably family friendly stories :lol: :lol: :lol:

Reward:
Each news story posted that I feel is acceptable (must be a real story, too few words or simply a headline are not considered acceptable) will earn you 50 WRZ$
If you post multiple stories on any given day, you will only earn 50 WRZ$ for the first story of the Day
Special Bonus - Each week I will award "The Pulitzer Prize" for the best story of the week
The weekly winner of the "The Pulitzer Prize" will receive a 100 WRZ$ bonus
It's just my personal opinion, so my judgement is final

So help bring GOOD news to the members of mobi, and join our reporting team...

IN OTHER NEWS


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Jan 31st, 2021, 1:56 pm

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Online
Jan 31st, 2021, 2:21 pm
Freddy the Great Dane, tallest dog in the world, dead at 8

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Freddy the Great Dane, shown here with owner Claire Stoneman, known as the tallest dog
in the world, has died. Photo courtesy Guinness World Records


Freddy, a Great Dane known as the tallest dog in the world, has died.

Guinness World Records, which conferred the tallest-dog honor on Freddy in 2016, announced Freddy's passing in a press release Wednesday. He was eight and a half.

When measured by a veterinarian and the book's editor-in-chief, Freddy stood three feet, four inches "from foot to withers" -- the withers being the tallest part of a dog's shoulder.

Standing on his hind legs, he 7 feet and 5.5 inches tall.

"He was not just the tallest dog but the dog with the most love and the biggest heart. A total soppy bugger who was hand fed," Freddy's owner, Claire Stoneman, told Guinness World Records.

Stoneman and Freddy lived in Essex, England.

According to Stoneman, Freddy was the runt of the litter who wasn't able to nurse from his mother, prompting her to adopt him "a couple of weeks earlier than I should have."

"I had no idea he was going to get this big at all," Stoneman said.

When Freddy was named the tallest dog in the world in 2016, Stoneman said it cost her about $123 a week to feed him a diet consisting of whole roast chickens and peanut butter on toast.
Jan 31st, 2021, 2:21 pm
Jan 31st, 2021, 2:41 pm
The Nobel Laureate In Chemistry Who Flunked The Subject In High School

The Nobel Prize is widely considered the world's most prestigious award, so one would expect a Nobel Laureate in Chemistry to have excelled in the subject in school. However, there is actually one Chemistry Laureate who holds the distinction of having failed the topic in high school - although he says it's because his teacher took a dislike to him.

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On Tomas Lindahl's 83rd birthday, the Nobel Prize Organisation celebrated the Swedish scientist and his achievements with an Instagram post reminding the world of his unique distinction - being the only Chemistry Laureate in the world who flunked the topic.

"At school I had a teacher that didn't like me and I didn't like him. At the end of the year he decided to fail me," Dr Lindahl was quoted as saying by the official Instagram handle of the Nobel Prize.

"The ironic thing is that the topic was chemistry. I have the distinction of being the only Chemistry Laureate who failed the topic in high school!"

Tomas Lindahl was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly with American chemist Paul L Modrich and Turkish chemist Aziz Sancar for "mechanistic studies of DNA repair".

Born on January 28, 1938, in Stockholm, Sweden, he received his PhD degree from the Karolinska Institute.

https://www.ndtv.com/offbeat/the-nobel- ... ai-rum=off
Jan 31st, 2021, 2:41 pm
Jan 31st, 2021, 2:43 pm
The world’s greenest companies were revealed

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A French technology firm that helps corporations reduce their emissions has been crowned the world’s most sustainable company. Paris-based Schneider Electric topped the Global 100 index, an annual ranking compiled by Canadian researchers Corporate Knight.

However, perhaps the most illuminating conclusion from their analysis of 8,080 companies was this: the more sustainable among them tend to outperform and outlast their rivals, even during crises like coronavirus.

“This year’s analysis and results strongly suggest that the world’s leading companies learned a lesson from the aftermath of the 2008/09 financial crisis,” said Toby Heaps, CEO of Corporate Knights. “Rather than de-prioritising sustainability when confronted with a major shock, they’ve recognised that it will drive the success of recovery strategies.”
Jan 31st, 2021, 2:43 pm

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Jan 31st, 2021, 3:17 pm
Michael Jordan opens clinics for Americans in need

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The famous American basketball player, Michael Jordan, opened two new hospitals in North Carolina. These are dedicated to low-income people who have no health insurance.

Unequal access to health
The pandemic period highlights the shortcomings of the United States and the health of its citizens. Indeed, the country does not have a universal health care system, only the needy and the elderly benefit from semi-public coverage, Medicaid, and Medicare. As a result, individuals must take out private insurance to be reimbursed. However, 50 million people are poorly insured due to their economic and social situation. At the same time, 9% of Americans, or 27.5 million people, cannot afford the luxury of having coverage. As a result, many do not seek treatment, especially since they live in a country where the average cost of care is the highest.

For example, one father and his family had to pay $4,000 in hospital costs after being quarantined upon their return from Wuhan, China. Although Covid-19 alerts the world’s population, in the U.S. the tests are not covered. The unequal access to care appears to be a question of survival that Michael Jordan is trying to curb.

Michael Jordan’s clinics
The NBA champion opened two clinics for low-income people in collaboration with Novant Health. The former athlete paid $7 million for these clinics! Located in Charlotte, North Carolina, the first clinic opened a year ago; the other is about to open. Mr. Jordan wants to help those who encourage him. That’s why he set up the Novant Health Michael Jordan Family Clinic in the west end of the city, where low-income residents live. While the second will serve the northern community that does not have health coverage. In these hospital centers, the offer of care appears to be complete. They include a multitude of services, whether chronic illnesses for vaccination, screening for sexually transmitted diseases, or gynecological care. Tailored to clients, they also include a focus on the social determinants of health. Here, taking a consultation is not complicated; patients can come without an appointment or quickly make one online.

Making health a right
With his clinics, Mr. Jordan filled the health equity deficits that had increased during Covid-19. Caroline’s disadvantaged families can receive quality care and ongoing follow-up for the rest of their lives. In this regard, the first clinic proved its worth. It provided 14,000 Covid-19 tests and welcomed more than 3,350 patients, including 450 children. Among them, 750 people benefited from a social worker, and 80 were referred to behavioral health care. The athlete thus contributes to ensuring that access to preventive and primary care is vital.

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“The impact of the first clinic has been measurable and if COVID-19 has taught us anything, it is the importance of having accessible, safe, and quality care in communities that need it most,” said Carl Armato, CEO, and president of Novant Health.
Jan 31st, 2021, 3:17 pm

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Jan 31st, 2021, 3:40 pm
Oscar Mayer hiring ‘hotdoggers’ to drive Wienermobile

Applications being accepted for this dream job, deadline is Jan. 31

Have you been looking for something that will stand out on your resume? Are you the kind of person who wants to work your buns off while "meating" hot dog fans from across the country? Or maybe you just always dreamed of driving a weird car?

This may be your lucky day, because Oscar Mayer is looking to hire a new crew of "hotdoggers" to drive the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

The Chicago-based company is looking for recent college graduates to take on the one-year paid job crisscrossing the country in the iconic 27-foot-long hot dog-shaped vehicle.

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The gig will last from June 2021 through June 2022 following a two-week training session. Oscar Mayer’s hotdoggers will represent the company at various events like media appearances, charity functions and other celebrations.

This will be Oscar Mayer’s 34th class of hotdoggers. They will stop at more than 200 events during the year, appearing in local news and creating social media content for Oscar Mayer.

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It’s not unusual to make the news while traveling in the Wienermobile. Last year, the crew made headlines after getting pulled over in Wisconsin for breaking the state’s Move Over Law. And one hotdogger grabbed attention last fall after proposing to his girlfriend in front of the Wienermobile at Yellowstone National Park.

"The longstanding mission of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile has always been to spread smiles," Emily Klein, senior associate brand manager at Oscar Mayer, said in a press release. "We’re looking forward to continuing this tradition and invite recent grads to submit their resumes for an opportunity they’re sure to relish and join our team of meat-loving, adventure-craving do-gooders."

Candidates who "cut the mustard" will likely include recent graduates with a bachelor’s degree in public relations, journalism, communications or marketing, plus strong communication skills and a "love of hot dog puns," according to Oscar Mayer.

The company has put up a job posting online for anyone interested in applying. The deadline is Jan. 31.

Better get a wiggle on!
Jan 31st, 2021, 3:40 pm

Twitter: Fatima99@fatima99_mobi
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Jan 31st, 2021, 5:49 pm
Engineers Design New Face Masks With Test Strip to Detect COVID – Much Like a Pregnancy Test

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Similar to a classic pregnancy test, a color-changing strip may, in the future, be mounted on face masks to detect the presence of COVID-19 in the air you breathed that day, allowing everyone to self-monitor the environments they pass through.

The project was launched by nanoengineers at UC San Diego with a $1.3 million grant from the NIH’s Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Radical (RADx) program.

The scientists created a small test kit to attach to the front of any mask, which can be mass produced at a cost of about 3 cents per kit.

After breathing through the mask for 4-5 hours, enough particles would be available to determine if you came in contact with the virus throughout the duration, or indeed if you perhaps have contracted it.

“In many ways, masks are the perfect ‘wearable’ sensor for our current world,” said Jesse Jokerst, professor of nanoengineering at the California university and project lead. “We’re taking what many people are already wearing and repurposing them, so we can quickly and easily identify new infections and protect vulnerable communities.”

To detect the virus, the wearer would crack a small blister pack that would immediately coat the test kit in fluid which would indicate the presence of proteases—protein-cleaving molecules produced from the coronavirus.

The grant program from the NIH totals $107 million and is being handed out to 49 projects at 43 institutions looking for “non-traditional viral screening approaches, such as biological or physiological markers, new analytical platforms with novel chemistries or engineering, rapid detection strategies, point-of-care devices, and home-based testing technologies.”

An advancement for the future


Despite the fact that the test strip turns blue or red, Jokerst said the product would more represent a smoke detector in function.

“Think of this as a surveillance approach, similar to having a smoke detector in your house,” he said. “This would just sit in the background every day and if it gets triggered, then you know there’s a problem and that’s when you would look into it with more sophisticated testing.”

Perfect for prisons, homeless shelters, nursing homes, dialysis clinics, or other areas where people must stay in quite close proximity, the kits could prevent outbreaks from becoming epidemics, and while Jesse understands that by the time his idea is mass-produced, which might not even come this year, the vaccination program might have COVID-19 under control.

But, his test also turns red for the original SARS virus from 2003, as well as MERS, which means he thinks they could be utilized—as a rapid and quickly-deployable weapon—for future pandemics originating form coronaviruses

“To solve a problem as complicated as COVID-19, we need ideas, tools, and technologies that challenge the way we think about pandemic control,” said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., in a statement.

“These awards from the RADx-rad program provide superb examples of outside-the-box concepts that will help us overcome this pandemic and give us a cadre of devices and tactics to confront future outbreaks.”

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Jan 31st, 2021, 5:49 pm

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