Early | Common News Update

Dec32020 by adminNo Comments

Space balloon company plans stratospheric mission in early 2021

Science

ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 3 (UPI) -- A new space tourism company plans its first uncrewed test flight of a capsule suspended from a hydrogen balloon in late March from Florida, its founders said. Arizona-based Space Perspective plans to launch the balloon from Kennedy Space Center's former space shuttle landing strip, sending it on an hour's long ascent to the edge of space, about 20 miles high. Advertisement The company's ambitions are part of a nascent space tourism industry that includes such major firms as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and Elon Musk's SpaceX. Initial interest and signups for potential customers on company's website far outstripped anything the founders expected in June when it first announced its plan, said Jane Poynter, the Space Perspective founder and co-CEO wit...

Nov222020 by adminNo Comments

Covid: First Americans ‘could get vaccine in early December’

World

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Nov192020 by adminNo Comments

Oxford vaccine produces strong immune response in older adults, early results show

Technology

The COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University produces a strong immune response in older adults, data from early trials has shown.The phase one and phase two results suggest that one of the groups most at risk of death or serious illness from COVID-19 may be able to build immunity, according to data published in The Lancet medical journal. It comes a day after Pfizer announced its coronavirus vaccine was 94% effective among adults over 65 in its final efficacy results, and that it would be seeking authorisation over the next few days.Live coronavirus updates from the UK and around the world Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player ...

Nov52020 by adminNo Comments

Diagnostic testing, elective procedures dropped early in COVID-19 pandemic, study shows

Health

Nov. 5 (UPI) -- U.S. residents with private insurance sought fewer diagnostic tests and skipped or postponed elective surgeries in March and April compared with the same months in 2018 and 2019, a study published Thursday by JAMA Network Open found. The number of colonoscopies and mammograms performed across the country, for example, dropped by more than 90% in April compared with that month last year. Advertisement The height of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States came in March and April, and resulting lockdowns led to delays in non-emergency medical procedures and visits, the study showed. Meanwhile, use of telemedicine increased by 4,000% in April 2020 compared with 2019 -- but not enough to compensate for the in-person care decrease, suggesting that many healt...

Nov42020 by adminNo Comments

Female hunters were common in early hunter-gatherer groups in the Americas

Science

Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Analysis of ancient burial sites suggests female hunters were common among hunter-gatherer groups in the Americas. After discovering a 9,000-year-old female hunter buried in the Andes Mountains, researchers decided to undertake an expansive review of the literature on late Pleistocene and early Holocene burials. Advertisement After reviewing documented accounts of 429 individuals from 107 burial sites, researchers were able to identify 27 female individuals buried with big-game hunting tools. The analysis confirmed the Wilamaya Patjxa female, unearthed in the Andes in 2018, as the oldest known hunter burial in the Americas. The findings, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, suggest labor among early human societies in the Americas was shared relatively eve...