New virus restrictions in Europe; Merkel warns of hard days

Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Germans to come together like they did in the spring to slow the spread of the coronavirus as the country posted another daily record of new cases Saturday.

Slovakia to test whole country for coronavirus

Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovic said Saturday the eurozone member will test every resident ages 10 and up for the coronavirus, amid an uptick in infections.

A study analyzes the ergonomic relationship between hand and Lower Paleolithic tools

Emiliano Bruner, a paleoneurologist at the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), has coordinated a study published recently in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, on the ergonomic relationship between hand and Lower Paleolithic stone tools, in particular for choppers and handaxes.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-10-ergonomic-relationship-paleolithic-tools.html

How is STEM children's programming prioritizing diversity?

Children's television programming not only shapes opinions and preferences, its characters can have positive or negative impacts on childhood aspiration, says a new study from Michigan State University.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-10-stem-children-prioritizing-diversity.html

Two planets found orbiting a red dwarf

Red dwarfs are the coolest kind of star. As such, they potentially allow liquid water to exist on planets that are quite close to them. In the search for habitable worlds beyond the borders of our solar system, this is a big advantage: the distance between an exoplanet and its star is a crucial factor for its detection. The closer the two are, the higher the chance that astronomers can detect the planet from Earth.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-10-planets-orbiting-red-dwarf.html

Researchers develop framework to identify health impacts of self-driving vehicles

Autonomous vehicles (AV) are the wave of the future in the automobile industry, and there's extensive discussion about the impacts on transportation, society, the economy and the environment.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-10-framework-health-impacts-self-driving-vehicles.html

YouTube toughens rules for QAnon conspiracy content

YouTube said Thursday it was tightening rules for propagation of conspiracy theories, notably targeting the QAnon movement already limited on Twitter and Facebook.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-10-youtube-toughens-qanon-conspiracy-content.html

Looking to buy a new iPhone 12? Here are 6 questions to ask before you pre-order one

With pre-orders opening Friday at 5 a.m. PT for the new crop of iPhones, you're probably wondering should I upgrade?

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-10-iphone-pre-order.html

YouTube will remove videos making harmful claims rooted in conspiracy theories

YouTube is cracking down on videos displaying "harmful conspiracy theories" as social platforms continue to grapple with the spread of misinformation and hate.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-10-youtube-videos-rooted-conspiracy-theories.html

All-terrain microrobot flips through a live colon

A rectangular robot as tiny as a few human hairs can travel throughout a colon by doing back flips, Purdue University engineers have demonstrated in live animal models.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-10-all-terrain-microrobot-flips-colon.html

Cybercrime money-launders busted by European police, FBI

European and American officials said Thursday that they have arrested 20 people in several countries for allegedly belonging to an international ring that laundered millions of euros stolen by cybercriminals through malware schemes.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-10-cybercrime-money-launders-european-police-fbi.html

Machine learning uncovers potential new TB drugs

Machine learning is a computational tool used by many biologists to analyze huge amounts of data, helping them to identify potential new drugs. MIT researchers have now incorporated a new feature into these types of machine-learning algorithms, improving their prediction-making ability.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-10-machine-uncovers-potential-tb-drugs.html

A new approach boosts lithium-ion battery efficiency and puts out fires, too

In an entirely new approach to making lithium-ion batteries lighter, safer and more efficient, scientists at Stanford University and the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have reengineered one of the heaviest battery components—sheets of copper or aluminum foil known as current collectors—so they weigh 80% less and immediately quench any fires that flare up.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-10-approach-boosts-lithium-ion-battery-efficiency.html

Scientists develop 'mini-brains' to help robots recognize pain and to self-repair

Using a brain-inspired approach, scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed a way for robots to have the artificial intelligence (AI) to recognize pain and to self-repair when damaged.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-10-scientists-mini-brains-robots-pain-self-repair.html

As US battles COVID-19, flu shot misinfo spreads

US health officials are pushing Americans to get vaccinated against the flu to help prevent hospitals already busy battling COVID-19 from being overwhelmed this winter, but false claims are threatening their efforts.

Engineers' report bolsters proposed Mississippi pump project

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Friday published a draft of a new environmental impact statement that supports a proposal for massive pumps to drain floodwaters from parts of the rural Mississippi Delta—a reversal of a previous federal report that said the project would hurt wetlands.

Results from the DEFINE-FLOW study reported

A new observational study of deferred lesions following combined fractional flow reserve (FFR) and coronary flow reserve (CFR) assessments found that untreated vessels with abnormal FFR but intact CFR do not have non-inferior outcomes compared to those with an FFR greater than 0.8 and a CFR greater than or equal to two when treated medically.

Physiology-guided percutaneous coronary intervention optimization strategy may lead to improved outcomes

Results from the randomized controlled TARGET FFR trial show that while a physiology-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) optimization strategy did not achieve a significant increase in the proportion of patients with final FFR ≥0.90, it reduced the proportion of patients with a residual FFR ≤0.80 following PCI.

Results from the FORECAST trial reported

In the FORECAST randomized clinical trial, the use of fractional flow reserve management derived from computed tomography (FFRCT) did not significantly reduce costs but did reduce the use of invasive coronary angiography (ICA).

Study reveals kidney disease or injury is associated with much higher risk of mortality for COVID-19 patients in ICU

New research published in Anaesthesia (a journal of the Association of Anaesthetists) reveals the much higher risk of mortality faced by COVID-19 patients in intensive care who have chronic kidney disease (CKD) or, those who develop new (acute) kidney injury (AKI) as a result of developing COVID-19.

Engineers' report bolsters proposed Mississippi pump project

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Friday published a draft of a new environmental impact statement that supports a proposal for massive pumps to drain floodwaters from parts of the rural Mississippi Delta—a reversal of a previous federal report that said the project would hurt wetlands.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-10-bolsters-mississippi.html

'Classified knots': Researchers create optical framed knots to encode information

In a world first, researchers from the University of Ottawa in collaboration with Israeli scientists have been able to create optical framed knots in the laboratory that could potentially be applied in modern technologies. Their work opens the door to new methods of distributing secret cryptographic keys—used to encrypt and decrypt data, ensure secure communication and protect private information. The group recently published their findings in Nature Communications.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-10-optical-encode.html

'Classified knots': Researchers create optical framed knots to encode information

In a world first, researchers from the University of Ottawa in collaboration with Israeli scientists have been able to create optical framed knots in the laboratory that could potentially be applied in modern technologies. Their work opens the door to new methods of distributing secret cryptographic keys—used to encrypt and decrypt data, ensure secure communication and protect private information. The group recently published their findings in Nature Communications.