The pandemic may force certain improvements but I'm not sure that it will, because political distractions are doing a rather good job of drawing our focus away from fixing things now. For instance, we should be ramping domestic manufacturing of PPEs and ventilators permanently to prepare for a likely huge fall spike in COVID-19 infections. Still, we aren't.

The next generation of Oculus Quest virtual reality headsets is in the works, but pandemic-related product development and supply chain problems may delay market arrival. Oculus reportedly has multiple potential Quest successors on the drawing board. Smaller, lighter versions with a faster image refresh rate for more realistic rendering are in the advanced testing stage.

Acoustic overexposure, such as listening to loud music too often, results in noise-induced hearing loss. The pathologies of this prevalent sensory disorder begin within the ear at synapses of the primary auditory receptors, their postsynaptic partners and their supporting cells. The extent of noise-induced damage, however, is determined by overstimulation of primary auditory receptors, upstream of where the pathologies manifest. A systematic characterization of the electrophysiological function of the upstream primary auditory receptors is warranted to understand how noise exposure impacts on downstream targets, where the pathologies of hearing loss begin. Here, we used the experimentally-accessible locust ear (male, Schistocerca gregaria) to characterize a decrease in the auditory receptor's ability to respond to sound after noise exposure. Surprisingly, after noise exposure, the electrophysiological properties of the auditory receptors remain unchanged, despite a decrease in the ability to transduce sound. This auditory deficit stems from changes in a specialized receptor lymph that bathes the auditory receptors, revealing striking parallels with the mammalian auditory system.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Noise exposure is the largest preventable cause of hearing loss. It is the auditory receptors that bear the initial brunt of excessive acoustic stimulation, because they must convert excessive sound-induced movements into electrical signals, but remain functional afterward. Here we use the accessible ear of an invertebrate to, for the first time in any animal, characterize changes in auditory receptors after noise overexposure. We find that their decreased ability to transduce sound into electrical signals is, most probably, due to changes in supporting (scolopale) cells that maintain the ionic composition of the ear. An emerging doctrine in hearing research is that vertebrate primary auditory receptors are surprisingly robust, something that we show rings true for invertebrate ears too.

FAO will attend the fourth Annual Strategic Consultation with the Government of Japan on Tuesday 21 January 2020, in Tokyo, Japan. The objective is to review the progress of [...]

The ‘greatest pandemic in history’ was 100 years ago – but many of us still get the basic facts wrong

The USS Barb had an unusual target in its sights in 1945 - one that wasn't even in the water. It was a Japanese supply train on the island of Karafuto

Delaying the Games for a year is considered by many to be the best course of action for public health

The exact molecule behind the Minamata mercury disaster, caused by a chemical plant’s wastewater, remains a point of disagreement

The spacecraft Hayabusa2 hurled a four-pound copper ball toward the asteroid's surface at about 4,500 miles an hour to create an artificial crater

Illustrators are sharing artwork of Amabie, a spirit first popularized during the Edo period, on social media

Americans have some time before social distancing measures can let up—and every day counts

The Asian giant hornet, seen for the first time in North America in 2019, is unlikely to murder you or U.S. bees, according to a Smithsonian entomologist

In 1847, the Choctaw Nation sent $170—more than $5,000 today—to victims of the Irish potato famine

In April alone, the Sturminster Newton Mill ground more than one ton of wheat

A planned exhibition at the Portland Art Museum highlights the boldness of their work

A conversation about the challenges facing—and the resilience of—the largest reservation in the country, which has become a COVID-19 hotspot

In 1919, a second wave of cases of the previous year's flu lead to the sudden death of the hockey championship

Plague, war and politics have altered the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca throughout history

A newly discovered pyramid yields a baffling mystery: A royal tomb, usually reserved for kings, is found to contain a mystery woman. Who was she and why was she given such a great honor?

In the late 1300s, tea was introduced to Japan from mainland China, transported in delicate jars. Over the years, as drinking tea became a prized activity in Japan, so too did the jars in which it was stored

The Heritage neighbourhood's free little libraries are being transformed.

A large destination resort in Minnesota, just a few hours south of Thunder Bay, Ont., has some big expansion plans.

A St. John's cardiologist says public health restrictions put in place under the COVID-19 pandemic, while justified, may be harming cardiac patients whose procedures have been postponed indefinitely as well as heart patients who are avoiding hospitals.

Newfoundland and Labrador's already fragile economy suffered another gut-punch in April, with Statistics Canada reporting Friday that 29,000 jobs were lost in April alone.

COVID-19 is not an equal opportunity pandemic. As Memorial president Vianne Timmons writes in this guest column, women are often in harm's way because of their work.

Take a listen to Episode 9 of CBC Edmonton's new podcast, The Loop.

FSI Briefs No 1, April 2020. Regulatory policy responses should seek to support economic activity while preserving the financial system's soundness and ensuring transparency. The recommendation for banks to make full use of capital and liquidity buffers should go hand in hand with restrictions on dividends and bonuses and clarity concerning the process for rebuilding them. Flexibility in loan classification criteria for prudential and accounting purposes should be complemented with sufficient disclosure on the criteria banks use to assess creditworthiness. The publication of detailed guidance on the application of expected loss provisioning rules, combined with sensible transitional arrangements, may constitute a balanced approach to mitigating the unintended effects of the new accounting standards.

FSI Briefs No 2, April 2020. Guidance issued by financial sector authorities in response to the Covid-19 crisis seems to suggest that international efforts to come up with operational resilience standards should take into account at least the following elements: Critical/essential employees: identifying the critical functions and employees that support important business services, as well as ensuring employees' safety and that they can safely resume their duties (remotely, if necessary); IT infrastructure: ensuring that IT infrastructure can support a sharp increase in usage over an extended period and taking steps to safeguard information security; Third-party service providers: ensuring that external service providers and/or critical suppliers are taking adequate measures and are sufficiently prepared for a scenario in which there will be heavy reliance on their services; Cyber resilience: remaining vigilant in order to identify and protect vulnerable systems, and detect, respond and recover from cyber attacks..

FSI Briefs No 3, April 2020. In response to the 2007-09 Great Financial Crisis (GFC), accounting standard setters introduced a new methodology to value loans based on expected credit losses (ECL). The previous approach, based on incurred losses, was viewed as procyclical and inconsistent with prudential objectives. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, several prudential authorities and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), introduced a series of measures to clarify how banks should consider various public and private debt relief programmes in their ECL estimates and in their calculation of regulatory capital. These measures are intended to incentivise banks to continue supporting the real economy, while reducing pressure on banks' ECL provisions, earnings and regulatory capital. Supervisory initiatives that provide capital relief should be augmented by severe constraints on the payment of dividends, bonuses and share buybacks. These joint actions will simultaneously expand banks' lending capacity and enhance their ability to absorb losses. Prudential authorities face difficult trade-offs as they confront the most severe economic crisis in modern times. Encouraging the use of flexibility in applicable accounting standards, while preserving market trust and transparency in the reported financial statements of banks, will be key in fostering both economic and financial stability.

The National Book Festival Presents series was created to provide a book festival experience to lovers of the event on a year-round basis. Because these programs can no longer be held at the Library, we are offering a virtual multipart series, with authors who have written books about widespread diseases and the worldwide response to them.

The BIS Board of Directors has decided to invite the central banks of Kuwait, Morocco and Vietnam to become members of the BIS. This is the first such expansion since 2011 and will take the number of members to 63.

Tissue engineering has a unique set of tools and technologies for developing preventive strategies, diagnostics, and treatments that can play an important role during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of people evaluated for signs of stroke at U.S. hospitals has dropped by nearly 40% during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study led by researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis who analyzed stroke evaluations at more than 800 hospitals across 49 states and the District of Columbia.

It’s the coronavirus election now.

We need to recognize any signposts leading up and out.

The purpose of suffering may be mysterious, but the search for meaning is obligatory.

Vowing to return next summer, this year's Little League World Series was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. All seven World Series tournaments and their respective regional qualifying events are off this summer.

Baseball Hall of Famer Andre Dawson spoke to CBC's John Northcott about the realities of running a funeral home during the pandemic.

About one in 12 Manitoba jobs disappeared during the first two months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Statistics Canada's latest monthly survey of Canadian employment.

Eight COVID-19 cases are now connected to that workplace, including six employees.

With Mother's Day only a few days away, businesses are coming up with creative ways to help your family celebrate. Everything from brunch in a box to colourful bouquets and home delivered chocolate.

Legal experts and leading scientists have teamed up with Creative Commons to create the Open COVID Pledge to help speed up the battle against the coronavirus pandemic. The Pledge gives broad permission to anyone to use intellectual property not otherwise accessible to the public, and generally replaces the need for any other license or royalty agreement.

Salesforce has announced a new version of Work.com designed to help businesses function safely during the COVID-19 pandemic. "Work.com is a completely new initiative using an existing domain name that we previously owned," said Salesforce spokesperson Joel Steinfeld. "Our focus is on speed and moving as quickly as possible to help our customers, and Work.com is an optimal way to do that.

With opposition parties continuing to call for the legislature to be convened, P.E.I. Premier Dennis King says that opportunity for them to examine the government’s spending is coming.

Women on P.E.I. are having a harder time holding onto their jobs than men in the COVID-19 pandemic, which runs contrary to the national trend.

With time on their hands, many Islanders have tapped into their creative sides. Some people who are artistic had more time to create and try new things, while others discovered untapped potential as makers. 

You may not like who you’re about to become.

Readers open up about their mental states.