Moderna gave its omicron-specific COVID-19 vaccine to the first participant in a clinical trial, the company announced Wednesday. The report comes a few days after Pfizer / BioNTech launched a trial of its shot targeting the fast-spreading variant. The announcement coincides with the release of data showing that the two-dose series of Moderna’s original vaccine struggled to block the omicron variant of the virus, which has mutations that help it dodge those antibodies. A booster shot restored much of its ability to neutralize the virus — and while that protection weakened over time, it still stuck around for at least…
Author: Mike Harrison
Lanora Vasquez wasn’t at any of the protests against police brutality that spread through the city of Portland in summer of 2020. But she lived in Portland, near where the protests happened and where police officers regularly fired off canisters of tear gas. Gas doesn’t stay confined to one area — it spreads, and Vasquez says it spread into her home. During and after the protests, Vasquez said she experienced changes to her menstrual cycle, including severe spotting and major cramping. She attributes those changes to tear gas exposure. And she isn’t alone: many other people in the city also…
The case reportedly involved four people. They have now been fined a total of $300,000 for their violation of the country’s anti-spam law. CRTC Closes Canadian HQ Marketplace (Photo: Kaur Kristjan from Unsplash)CRTC seized Dark web marketplace and fined the suspects totaling $300,000. According to a report from IT World Canada, CRTC, the country’s governing telecommunications regulatory agency, has announced that it has successfully shut down the ongoing activities of the infamous people behind the dark web market. CRTC considered it one of the largest dark web networks it has recently shut down. Following a report Wednesday afternoon, the site…
Akili Interactive, the company behind the first video game to get approved as a medical treatment, announced today that it will go public through a merger with Social Capital Suvretta Holdings Corp, which is run by former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya. The deal values the company at $1 billion. The Food and Drug Administration approved Aikili Interactive’s first product, a video game called EndeavorRX used to treat ADHD in children, in 2020. The company is still working towards full commercialization of the game but said in fillings today that around 1,000 doctors have written prescriptions for the game so far.…
Pfizer and BioNTech are launching a clinical trial to test an omicron-specific version of their COVID-19 vaccine, the companies announced today. They’re moving forward with studies of a new form of the vaccine in response to concerns that the original shot isn’t preventing infection with the newest variant of coronavirus or mild COVID-19 illness — even though it appears to be holding up well in terms of preventing hospitalization and death, especially for people who received a booster. The original two-dose series of the gene-based COVID-19 vaccines, made by Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna, don’t appear to offer much protection…
urian b., Tech Times January 24, 2022, 7:01 PM Video games may be a multi-billion dollar industry, but it’s not every day that a smaller company is bought out for as much as $1 billion. However, it actually happened. ESL Gaming, an esports company, has been acquired by Savvy Gaming Group for $1 billion. ESL bought by Savvy Gaming Group for $1 billion What makes this news quite interesting is how ESL is actually valued. While most people would think that only those who make games within the gaming industry would achieve this rating, it’s important to note that ESL…
Urian B., Tech Times 23 January 2022, 06:01 pm Google says that they could “act as a censor” should the higher court not overrule a law that resulted in a lawyer receiving $40,000 in “defamation damages.” The company defends that a hyperlink is just a hyperlink and not a direct communication of what it links to. Google Asks the High Court of Australia to Overturn a 2020 Ruling According to the story by Engadget, Google has asked the High Court of Australia to overturn a 2020 ruling that the company warns could have a “devastating” effect on a much wider…
Light sensors used to track heart rate in wearable devices like the Apple Watch Series 5 and the Fitbit Versa 2 don’t work as well on darker skin or people with obesity, according to modeling done in a new study. That’s a problem for features currently built into devices — but it’s also a bad sign for efforts to use light sensors for new applications in wearables, like monitoring blood pressure, says study author Jessica Ramella-Roman, an associate professor studying bioimaging sensors at Florida International University. “The architecture of the device has to change,” she says. The study looked at…
Navitas today officially announced that its next-generation GaNFast power IC drives the 120W ultra-fast charger supplied ‘in-box’ with vivo’s iQOO-brand flagship iQOO 9 Pro mobile phone. The 9 Pro’s powerful 4,700 mAhr battery charges from 0-100% in only 19 lightning-fast minutes, and at only 60.5 x 52.5 x28.8 mm (92 cc), the charger is 26% smaller than the previous generation, reaching a stunning 1.3 W/cc power density. (Photo : Grand Bridges ) READ ALSO: iQOO 8 to Feature Snapdragon 888+ 5G Chip–Leaked Specifications Revealed Ahead of its ‘Alleged’ Release Next Month At a featherweight 135 g, the iQOO 120W GaNFast charger, is another milestone in…
Elon Musk’s brain-machine interface company Neuralink has a new job posting for a clinical trial director, a position that could help the company move towards its stated goal of testing its brain implant in actual people. Since launching publicly in 2017, Neuralink has demoed its brain implant in pigs and monkeys but has yet to announce a start to the long-promised trials in humans. The company’s implant is a coin-like device with electrodes studded on thin, flexible wires. The wires are its main innovation over older brain-machine interfaces, which use stiffer needles that can damage cells in the brain. The…