The first animal model of the chikungunya virus (CHIKV), linked with large-scale epidemics that spread to Italy and India in 2007 has been developed by Researchers at the Institut Pasteur and INSERM.

An Asian breed of mosquito capable of carrying the risk of a potentially fatal disease that can be passed from one person to another is poised to invade Britain.

An experimental vaccine provided 100 percent protection against the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus in primates and mice, offering hope it will work for humans too, according to a study.

Scientists claim that delayed appearance of IgG3 antibodies (a naturally-acquired antibody) serves as a specific biomarker that increases the risk of the more severe form of Chikungunya.

According to a new Cornell University computer model, global travel and climate warming could be creating the right conditions for outbreaks of a new virus in this country.

A new method of vaccine creation for Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) using a technique called large scale random codon re-encoding was developed by researchers.

For the first time chikungunya, the mosquito-borne disease has spread in the western hemisphere confirms the World Health Organisation (WHO) Tuesday,

Peru reported its first cases of the chikungunya virus in two people who recently traveled to the Dominican Republic. Health ministry director Henry

Nearly 200 confirmed cases of the chikungunya virus in Puerto Rico and the first two cases of the mosquito-borne disease in Florida have been reported, say health authorities.

Chikungunya is mosquito-borne viral disease that causes fever, headache, severe joint pain and rash on the body. A study published in the iNew England

The National Health Institute has reported that 25 people have succumbed to chikungunya virus in Colombia, South America, in less than a year. Since

A new assay developed in the United States helps to detect the virus that causes chikungunya (CHIKV) within an hour. This is expected to cut down the

The first case of the mosquito-borne viral disease chikungunya has been detected in Spain. A 60-year-old man in the eastern province of Valencia,

Chikungunya and Dengue fever have been the two most distressing disease outbreaks for the past two months in Delhi NCR. By now every must be aware

Homeopathy treatment may offer a promising relief to the mosquito-borne viral disease,chikungunya. Its a form of viral fever caused by an Alpha virus

Delhi has recorded another 3,829 cases of dengue and 502 cases of chikungunya so far this year said the civic agencies on Monday. While the national

Chikungunya causes chronic joint pain after infection. However, the virus that was thought to be present in the synovial fluid of the joints was not detected

A molecule that exhibits antiviral activity against the chikungunya virus, raising hopes of finding a new way to combat the mosquito-borne viral disease,

High-resolution pictures or atomic-level detail of chikungunya virus interacting with a protein found on the cell surface in the joints was snapped by

In Deutschland sind mehr Arbeitsplätze einem hohen Automatisierungs- bzw. Änderungsrisiko ausgesetzt als im Durchschnitt der OECD. Das höhere Risiko der Automatisierbarkeit ist zum Teil auf die Bedeutung des verarbeitenden Gewerbes in Deutschland zurückzuführen.

Colombia necesita mejorar su capacidad para investigar el cohecho internacional estableciendo un régimen eficaz de responsabilidad corporativa, mejorando la coordinación entre sus numerosas agencias y formando con más rigor a los órganos responsables de la aplicación de la ley.

Este documento reporta los avances logrados por el Grupo Aeroportuario de la Ciudad de México (GACM) y otras dependencias con respecto a las 16 recomendaciones realizadas por la OCDE en su informe de noviembre de 2016 “Primer Informe de Avances sobre el Desarrollo del Nuevo Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México: Hacia una Ejecución Efectiva”.

Oprah Winfrey walked 2.26 miles to mark Ahmaud Arbery's 26th birthday. 'I wonder what was he thinking in those last seconds of his life?,' Oprah wrote in the Instagram post.

She's the internet's resident gynaecologist who deals in straight-talk, hard facts and medical science. So profiteering gurus who peddle myths and misinformation make her want to scream

Manchester United have come under intense scrutiny for much of this season after some inconsistent form early in the season but are now unbeaten in nine and still fighting for two trophies.

Manchester United defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka has heaped praise on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for helping him perform this season. He says Solskjaer 'wants every player to improve'

Raging violence across the state continues to take the lives of young men in Manipur. For the young widows left behind, the struggle for survival is fraught with newly added responsibilities, for which many of them are ill-prepared. Thingnam Anjulika Samom reports.

A Taser is an electroshock weapon that uses electrical current to disrupt voluntary control of muscles.

A gene gun or a biolistic particle delivery system, originally designed for plant transformation, is a device used to inject cells with genetic information.

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The next time you swat a fly ponder this: inside its belly is the DNA of whatever it ate before landing on your picnic dinner—roadkill, […]

The post Innovation: Belly gunk from flies used to survey forest animals appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

When you look at fast growing private companies in the U.S., you need look no further than a small city next to Los Angeles International Airport.

Steve Julian: Business analyst Mark Lacter, tell us about the company that's based in El Segundo.

Mark Lacter: It's called Fuhu, Steve - that might ring a bell with some parents because Fuhu is the maker of the Nabi.  The Nabi is an Android tablet for kids, and it's a very cool device that mimics a lot of the capabilities of regular tablet, including the ability to play games and get onto the Web (with controls that parents are able to set up).  Last year, they sold 1.2 million Nabis, and that helped push the El Segundo company to the very top of Inc. magazine's list of fastest-growing businesses.  That's number one on a list of 5,000 companies, with a three-year growth rate of 42,148 percent.  Or, to put it another way, company revenue was $279,000 in 2009; it was almost $118 million in 2012.  Now, by the standards of an Apple or a Samsung, those are still not huge numbers -

Julian: - and maybe that explains why there's been relatively little media coverage of this company.

Lacter: It might also explain why local tech companies in general get short shrift.  Many of them are quite successful, but they're often on the small side, and they're also privately held as opposed to publicly-traded on a stock exchange.  That's one big difference from Silicon Valley, which has so many huge public corporations: Apple, Intel, HP.  L.A. County has only six Fortune 500 companies, and not a single one devoted solely to technology.  In Silicon Valley, there are 22 in the Fortune 500.

Julian: And yet, the L.A. economy has more than held its own without those large corporations.

Lacter: Matter of fact, the accounting firm PriceWaterhouse studied more than two dozen cities around the world to determine where it was easiest to do business (that's based on factors like access to labor), and what they found - somewhat surprisingly - was that L.A. ranked ahead of both San Francisco and Tokyo.  And, you can see evidence of that with the increase in venture capital money coming into all parts of L.A.  Now, it's important to keep an eye on all these up-and-coming companies because these businesses are helping generate higher-wage jobs.  And, for an area with a still-high unemployment rate - still over 10 percent in some places -- that's a big deal.

Julian: Speaking of companies, does anyone want to buy the L.A. Times?

Lacter: The answer is yes - most recently, the controlling owner of the Dodgers, Mark Walter, said he was interested in both the Times and the Chicago Tribune (though there's no way to know whether there are actual discussions taking place).  You also have several local groups, including one that involves billionaire Eli Broad, that have been interested to one degree or another.  But what was thought would be a fairly straightforward auction process has turned enormously complicated.  It's now to the point where the Tribune board has decided spin off the papers into a separate business, and that process will take until next year to complete and could preclude any sales for quite some time after that.

Julian: So, it's Limbo-land for the Times for who knows how long.

Lacter: Steve, it's not that Tribune really wants to keep the newspapers.  But, selling them off presents huge tax implications.  Also, there are assets that the potential buyers thought would be part of the package - assets that include real estate - that Tribune wants to hold onto.  So, what's left to sell are just the newspapers themselves, and frankly, they're among the least valuable properties.

Julian: Now, last week came word that the billionaire Koch brothers, who were believed to be interested in the Tribune properties, decided not to pursue a deal...

Lacter: ...that's right, they don't consider the Times or the other dailies to be economically viable.  You might recall a bit of an outcry over the prospect of having the Kochs, who are staunch conservatives, becoming the owners of these papers.  So, they're out of the picture.  But for the L.A. Times, it's really the worst of all worlds: no new owner and no vision for recasting the paper, at least in the near term.

Mark Lacter writes for Los Angeles Magazine and pens the business blog at LA Observed.com.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

A new report from the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council proposes priorities for a research agenda to improve understanding of the public health aspects of gun-related violence, including its causes, health burden, and possible interventions.

; Credit: Patrick Semansky/AP

The U.S. Supreme Court has once again punted on the question of gun rights, throwing out as moot a challenge to New York City's strict gun regulations on transporting licensed guns outside the home.

New York City, in the name of public safety, has very strict gun regulations. It allows people to have a permit for guns in their homes, but those regulations originally barred people from transporting their guns anywhere except shooting ranges within the city. The New York State Rifle & Pistol Association challenged the regulation as a violation of the Second Amendment right to bear arms and lost in the lower courts.

But, after the Supreme Court agreed to review the case, New York state and New York City changed their laws to allow gun owners to transport their guns outside the city to shooting ranges, to competitions, and to second homes. That gave the challengers exactly what they asked for in their lawsuit, and so on Monday, the court, by a 6-to-3 vote, dismissed the case as moot--in short, it no longer presented a live controversy.

The unsigned opinion was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court's four liberals, and Trump appointee Brett Kavanaugh.

But Kavanaugh wrote separately to stress that while he agreed with the majority on procedural grounds, he agreed with the dissenters--Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Neil Gorsuch--on one key issue.

Those three said that the lower courts were using the wrong test to evaluate gun laws, a test that is far too deferential to gun regulators. The dissenters mainly argued however, that the court essentially had been gamed on the mootness question, and that the justices should have decided the case, and decided it for the gun owners.

Gun-safety advocates breathed a sigh of relief that there was no decision adverse to gun regulations. But they worry that gains they are making in some state legislatures may be taken away by a conservative court majority.

"The reality is that the gun-safety movement is winning in state houses and at the ballot box, so the NRA is turning to the court to try to change the tide," says Eric Tirschwell, managing mirector of Everytown for Gun Safety.

Monday's decision was the first in a major gun case in 10 years, the first since a landmark set of decisions in 2008 and 2010. In those cases, a sharply divided court ruled that the Second Amendment right to bear arms is an individual right, not a right associated with the militia, as the court had previously implied. Those decisions marked a huge victory for the NRA and other gun-rights organizations.

In the decade following that decision, however, the court did not agree to hear any of the dozens of challenges to gun restrictions in cases appealed to the court. In part because the composition of the court made outcomes uncertain.

The previous big gun cases were decided by 5-to-4 votes, with Justice Anthony Kennedy casting the fifth and decisive vote. Kennedy, according to court sources, insisted, as the price of his vote, on adding limiting language that likely would have resulted in some, maybe even most, gun restrictions being upheld. With neither side of the court sure how Kennedy would vote on most regulations, neither the pro-gun, nor the pro-gun-control side wanted to risk an adverse ruling.

That changed when Kennedy retired in 2018 to be replaced by Justice Kavanaugh, who has a much more gun-friendly record than Kennedy did.

Nothing Kavanaugh said in his concurring opinion Monday would dissuade anyone from thinking he has changed his mind.

Bottom line here is that when it comes to gun control, there look to be four pretty solid votes against a lot of the measures enacted in recent years after mass shootings. Specifically, laws that bar carrying weapons in public places, and bans on assault weapons and large ammo magazines. All these, plus so called red-flag laws and other measures could be in jeopardy.

The question is where Chief Justice Roberts will be on these and other gun-control questions. To date, he has never been much of a supporter of gun-control laws, but he hasn't been an outspoken opponent, either. All we really know is that he was part of the 2008 and 2010 majority that for the first time declared that the Second Amendment is an individual right, not, as the court had previously implied, a collective right that was attached to the colonial militia.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Gov. Ralph Northam, seen last month, was wrong to close gun ranges in response to the spread of the coronavirus, a state court ruled Monday.; Credit: Steve Helber/AP

A Virginia gun range can remain open, despite Gov. Ralph Northam's order closing nonessential businesses throughout the state in response to the coronavirus pandemic, a state judge ruled Monday.

In a March executive order, Northam had included indoor shooting ranges among the businesses to be temporarily shuttered to stop the spread of COVID-19. In response, the shooting range SafeSide sued, asking a court to block the order. Judge F. Patrick Yeatts granted the request, prohibiting law enforcement from blocking citizens' access to the gun range.

Northam lacks the authority to close gun ranges, Yeatts said, because of a state statute, modeled on the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving citizens the right to bear arms. "During an emergency, the governor is given great deference, but [the statute] specifically limits his authority in relation to the right to keep and bear arms," Yeatts wrote.

"The purpose of the right is to have a population trained with firearms in order to defend the Commonwealth," Yeatts wrote. "Proper training and practice at a range ... is fundamental to the right to keep and bear arms."

"The Court understands the Governor's desire to protect the citizens of our great commonwealth," Yeatts said. "But in taking steps to stop the spread of COVID-19, he took a step beyond what is allowed."

In a statement, Attorney General Mark Herring said that his office was considering how to respond. "Governor Northam's efforts to save lives and slow the spread of COVID-19 are necessary and proving to be effective, but unfortunately, the gun lobby believes the ability to shoot a gun indoors during this pandemic is worth risking further spread of the virus and making Virginia communities and families less safe," Herring said, according to the Associated Press.

University of Virginia law professor Richard Schragger told The Virginian-Pilot that the ruling only applies to the Lynchburg gun range — but the reasoning could apply to any subsequent lawsuits brought by other gun ranges in the state.

SafeSide was joined on the lawsuit by Gun Owners of America, the Association of Virginia Gun Ranges and the Virginia Citizens Defense League. Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, told the AP his group would try to get a broader ruling that applied statewide.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Mike Okamoto poses as Shogun Santa with visitors to Japanese Village. ; Credit: Chava Sanchez/KPCC

LA’s Asian Santa tradition is back. Shogun Santa has returned to Little Tokyo after a big loss in the community last year.  

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Biologists use weapons to harass Oregon sea lions into leaving an area populated by endangered salmon and other fish.

Japanese homeowners are investing in solar panels in an act that the WSJ describes as a 'post-tsunami revolt against conventional electric utilities.'

By 2050, New Zealand hopes to be rid of rats, possums, stoats and other invasive predators.

A decade-long search for alien life called the Breakthrough LiBillionaire Yuri Milner pledges to fund a decade-long search for intelligent life.

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Marc Gunther is a veteran journalist and online media maven covering the world of green business.