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A robot equipped with real pigeon feathers flies like a living bird

Pigeons feathers are remarkably complex and understanding how they work has led to the first robot that flies like a pigeon, dubbed PigeonBot




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UK nuclear fusion reactor will fire up for the first time in 23 years

Within months researchers will attempt to create a ball of plasma hotter than the sun inside the Joint European Torus, a doughnut-shaped machine in south-east England




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Ironbark: Did two spies really prevent all-out nuclear war?

Ironbark is one of 2020’s anticipated movies. Benedict Cumberbatch plays the MI6 handler of a Russian spy who may have helped prevent nuclear war




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People will sell access to their fingerprints for just $7.56 a month

We are increasingly aware that our personal data is a valuable commodity – but just how valuable? A survey has revealed how much people are willing to sell their data for




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What would our lives be like if Amazon or Tinder ran an entire city?

A sci-fi collection explores extreme corporate futures, such as a Tinder-run city where you can swipe left or right for everything from sex to teachers




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World’s largest ever firework successfully explodes over Colorado

Weighing around 1270 kilograms, the largest ever firework travelled at more than 480 kilometres and exploded over Steamboat Springs in Colorado




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China is using mass surveillance tech to fight new coronavirus spread

QR codes, tracking apps and drones at toll booths are just some of the tech tools China is deploying to monitor the spread of the new coronavirus




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Robots are taking manufacturing jobs but making firms more productive

Robots are replacing manufacturing workers in France, making companies more productive and reducing employment across the industry




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Coronavirus: Hospital ward staffed entirely by robots opens in China

A temporary coronavirus hospital ward in China is being staffed entirely by robots. Around 200 patients with mild symptoms will be fed and treated by machines, while medical staff issue commands from outside




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Wind-powered turbines could clean pollutants from our air

A self-powered device that generates electricity from the wind can also absorb and break down harmful nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide from the air




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Why people become strangely attached to their robot vacuum cleaners

Kate Darling researches human-robot interaction. She explains why we are prone to forming emotional connections with robots and what we can learn from our relationships with pets and other animals




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The coronavirus crisis could fundamentally alter the internet

The covid-19 pandemic has many of us stuck at home. The result could completely reshape how we use the internet, writes Annalee Newitz




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The US Navy patented a device to make laser ‘ghost planes’ in mid-air

The US Navy is researching how to use lasers to form plasma into 2D or 3D infrared images of aeroplanes that can distract heat-seeking missiles




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Coronavirus in Gorakhpur: गोरखपुर में 23 साल का युवक मिला कोरोना पॉजिटिव, संक्रमितों की संख्या हुई चार

उत्तर प्रदेश के गोरखपुर जिले में कोरोना पॉजिटिव मरीजों की संख्या बढ़कर चार हो गई है।




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Coronavirus: आगरा में 24वीं मौत, केंद्रीय कारागार के सजायाफ्ता संक्रमित कैदी ने तोड़ा दम

आगरा में नहीं थम रहा कोरोना वायरस का कहर




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How to Watch the Xbox Series X First Look Stream This Afternoon

Watch everything unfold in real time, rather than reading about it later.




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Disneyland in China to Reopen 11 May With Temperature Checks and Masks Required

This could be a trial run for the rest of Disney’s parks in the US, Japan, France, and Hong Kong.




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Axl Rose and the U.S. Treasury Secretary are Fighting on Twitter About the Trump Regime's Coronavirus Death Toll

Why? Because that’s our reality here in the year 2020.




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New Standard Adds Low-Power Wireless Charging to NFC

It's called the Wireless Charging Specification, or WLC for short.




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Pandemic Robots Deployed in Singapore Parks to Remind Humans of Their Own Mortality

As well as announcing reminders to stay away from each other, the robots also estimate how many people are in the park at any given time.




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BA Owner Thinks Heathrow's Third Runway is "Impossible" Now

It does make several enormous assumptions about the future that now seem perilously flaky.




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Lyft, Like Uber, Will Also Now Require Drivers and Passengers Wear Face Coverings

Up until now mask-wearing had only been an unenforced suggestion by the company.




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Zens Comes Closest to Delivering the Wireless Charger Apple AirPower Promised to Be

It delivers almost all the functionality Apple promised, with a steep Apple-like price tag to match.




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Scientists Cry Foul After Government Redacts Criticism of Its Response in Key Coronavirus Report

"This government has failed to show any self-criticism whatsoever, when it is glaringly obvious to everybody that big mistakes have been made."




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Full-Time Airbnb Hosts Strive for Justice

The revolution will be on a website for a midcentury modern bungalow.




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I Cut My Hair With a Vacuum Cleaner and I Think I Screwed Up

The road to haircut hell is paved with good questions. Questions like: Is the coronavirus pandemic the Flowbee’s time to shine?




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Jupiter Looks Like a Fireball in This ‘Lucky’ Infrared Image

Only the best images are used to create a mosaic of the entire planet, resulting in a super-crisp, high-definition view.




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One Child Killed, 72 Others Sickened by Coronavirus-Linked Syndrome in New York

The majority of these children have tested positive for the virus or seem to carry antibodies from an earlier infection.




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Roy Horn, Half of ‘Siegfried and Roy,’ Dies of Coronavirus

Ethan Miller/Getty

Roy Horn, half of the iconic magician duo Siegfried and Roy, has died from complications of the new coronavirus in Las Vegas. He was 75.

Together with Siegfried Fischbacher, Horn, born Uwe Ludwig Horn, created one of the most widely known magic acts in the world, staging shows filled with sleights of hand and exotic animals for packed audiences in Las Vegas for more than a decade. At its height, the glitzy show grossed $45 million per year, according to The Hollywood Reporter, among the highest ever in Las Vegas.

“Today, the world has lost one of the greats of magic, but I have lost my best friend,” Fischbacher said in a statement. “There could be no Siegfried without Roy, no Roy without Siegfried.” Fischbacher thanked the doctors and nurses who cared for his friend.

Read more at The Daily Beast.




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The Queen’s Coronavirus Message to Britain: ‘Never Give Up, Never Despair’

via YouTube

The Queen gave a 75th anniversary VE Day speech Friday night that doubled as a rallying cry against coronavirus. “Never give up, never despair, that was the message of VE Day,” she told the British people.

Second World War heroes would “recognize and admire,” the sacrifices the British were making today in the fight against coronavirus, the Queen added. It was her second major coronavirus-themed speech to the nation.

“It may seem hard that we cannot mark this special anniversary as we would wish. Instead we remember from our homes and our doorsteps. But our streets are not empty,” the Queen said, “They are filled with the love and the care that we have for each other.”

Read more at The Daily Beast.



  • Arts and Culture

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After Five Bloody Years in Syria, Russia Is Turning Against Iran—and Assad

Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Getty

GAZIANTEP, Turkey—After five years fighting to preserve Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, Russia now appears inclined to dispose of its infamous client. Assad’s persistent brutality and corruption, and his inability to establish even the semblance of a functioning state, has grown to be a burden Moscow would prefer not to bear.

And then there’s the problem of Iran. Assad, members of his family, and his Alawite clansmen enjoy close, perhaps unbreakable, bonds to the regime in Tehran and to Iranian-backed militias in Syria. All of which undermines Moscow’s primary mission there: to rehabilitate the Assad regime as a symbol of stability capable of attracting hundreds of billions of dollars of foreign investment for reconstruction, which Russian firms would then be poised to receive. 

As long as Assad’s relatives continue to function as a mafia and give free rein to Iranian troops using Syria as base of operations to threaten Israel and plan attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq, those countries likely to foot the bill for Syrian reconstruction—the nations of Europe and the Gulf—are unlikely to come up with the cash. 

Read more at The Daily Beast.




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This Coronavirus ‘Alarmist’ Looks Pretty Good Right Now

Photo by Bergmann Zwerdlin. Courtesy Eric Feigl-Ding

“HOLY MOTHER OF GOD.” 

That’s how epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding began a since-deleted 14-tweet thread on Jan. 25 warning about the “thermonuclear pandemic level bad” infectiousness of the coronavirus that broke out in Wuhan, China.

The first confirmed U.S. case had been announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) days earlier outside Seattle. But the disease was not widely understood to be a potentially nightmarish pandemic. Many infectious disease experts had been ignored despite warning for years that the U.S. was not prepared for a seemingly inevitable health crisis. Feigl-Ding, a visiting scientist at Harvard’s Department of Nutrition, wanted to help ensure their message was heard.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Real Men Like Trump Dare the Virus to Punch Them in the Lungs

Brendan Smialowski/Getty

On Tuesday the president took his first trip since the coronavirus grounded the country, to a Honeywell factory in battleground state Arizona. This particular Honeywell factory produces N95 masks. Pictures of the trip immediately surfaced on the internet, and they showed a president sporting his usual mango-tinted, ever-tan skin, his usual topiary-structured hair tinted a baffling yellowish, and a pair of clear safety goggles.

But what was missing? What we did not see on the president’s face was a mask. While the rest of us cover our faces as recommended by the CDC, the president does not. In fact, we have never seen a mask on the president, despite the president’s love of masking himself when it comes to his tax returns, his sexual assault allegations, and his financial dealings.   

On Wednesday, when pressed on his decision not to wear a mask at a mask factory, the president responded with the very fishy, “I had a mask on for a period of time, I had it on back, backstage. But they said you didn’t need it, so, I didn’t need it. And by the way, if you noticed, nobody else had it on that was in the group.” Okay. Whatever you say. 

Read more at The Daily Beast.




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Little Richard’s Raw Sexiness Inspired the Beatles, David Bowie and Prince

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

It’s not going out on much of a limb to say that the single greatest line in any rock and roll song—shall we double down and say all music ever?—is “A-wop-bom-a-loo-mop-a-lomp-bom-bom!!”

Surely that says it all.

As with any truly oracular pronouncement, it inspires consternation in the first-time listener, and the second-time listener, and the third, the fourth, and on and on. The mystery never diminishes.

Read more at The Daily Beast.




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Experimental U.S. Coronavirus Drug Will Be Trialled In 5 Australian Hospitals

Five Australian hospitals are set to receive the experimental coronavirus drug, remdesivir. Sydney's St Vincent hospital has been confirmed as one location, according to a report from The Guardian. More »
    




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10 Weird Star Wars Facts You Probably Never Knew About

With the three Skywalker trilogies over and done with for now, what better than to celebrate the made-up Star Wars holiday than to re-examine some weird facts we all glossed over. Here's 10 strange (and some downright freaky) facts you probably didn't know about to celebrate. More »
    




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Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2: A Casual $500 In Australia

Sennheiser has just released its second generation of its noise cancelling earbuds in Australia - the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2. Here's what we know about them and how much they cost. Spoiler alert - they ain't cheap. More »
    




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Australian Scientists Discover 'Virgin' Bees That Don't Have Sex And Only Give Birth To Females

Researchers at a Sydney university have discovered how some female bees have managed to reproduce despite never doing the deed with another. More »
    




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Lockdown warning: Tory MP Baker 'gravely concerned' at coronavirus economic damage



THE CORONAVIRUS lockdown is now causing serious damage to the UK's economy, Tory MP Steve Baker has warned - stressing he was now "gravely concerned" at the situation




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Over 50% of people plan not to reinstate direct debits post lockdown – expert gives advice



CORONAVIRUS has forced people to re-evaluate their finances as income takes a hit and budgets are stretched. One of the first port of calls for change has been direct debits and new research reveals that some people may find themselves with more cash available once this all ends.




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Grim statistics reveal coronavirus has decimated US economy



APRIL saw 20.5 million job losses in the United States, the biggest rise in the jobless rate since the Great Depression.




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Mervyn King's brutal analysis of banking sector exposed in blow to coronavirus recovery



MERVYN KING, the former governor of the Bank of England, once issued a brutal analysis of the global banking system and argued for its reinvention, it can be revealed as the Government fine-tunes its economic response to the coronavirus pandemic.




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Coronavirus: रेड जोन से ऑरेंज जोन में पहुंचा देहरादून जिला, अब कुछ राहत मिलने की उम्मीद

कोरोना वायरस के मामलों में आई गिरावट के बाद देहरादून रेड जोन से निकलकर ऑरेंज जोन में आ गया है




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Coronavirus: अब मास्क न पहनने वालों की खैर नहीं, पकड़े जाने पर लगेगा जुर्माना, दर्ज होगा मुकदमा

केंद्रीय गृह मंत्रालय के आदेश के बाद अब हरिद्वार शहर से देहात तक कहीं भी खुले में थूकने, मास्क नहीं पहनने और शारीरिक दूरी का पालन नहीं करने वालों की खैर नहीं।




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UFC 249: UFC issue statement on Jacare Souza's positive coronavirus test, axe Hall bout



The UFC is set to return to return to action this weekend.




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Rafael Nadal: ATP Tour chairman responds to 2020 season cancellation fears



Rafael Nadal revealed this week he was doubtful there will be further tennis in 2020.




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Watford chairman slams Premier League's Project Restart in scathing rant



Watford chairman Scott Duxbury has questioned whether the Premier League should return amid the coronavirus pandemic.




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How to watch the Quadrantids, the first meteor shower of 2020

The Quadrantid meteor shower has a short peak period that lasts only a few hours, so midnight on 3 January is the best time to view in the UK




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A NASA telescope has found its first habitable Earth-sized planet

The TESS space telescope has found its first Earth-sized planet with conditions that might be right for life, orbiting a small star 100 light years away




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China has developed the world’s first mobile quantum satellite station

China has connected the world’s first portable ground station for quantum communication to the Mozi satellite, and has plans to launch another quantum satellite soon