The Physics of Covid-19–If You Squeeze the Coronavirus, Does It Shatter?, asks Katherine Wu for The New York Times. –Scientists are exploring the physics of viruses, to understand how these pathogens assemble themselves and might be rent apart.
The Pandemic Is Finally Softening. Will That Last? asks Robinson Meyer for The Atlantic –The pandemic is softening, but the reprieve may not last. “In other words, the numbers are finally moving in the right direction. But while the trajectory of the pandemic is encouraging, the overall level of infection is staggering”
Physicists Study How Universes Might Bubble Up and Collide, reports Charlie Wood for Quanta. –Since they can’t prod actual universes as they inflate and bump into each other in the hypothetical multiverse, physicists are studying digital and physical analogs of the process. f our universe is a bubble that inflated inside a larger multiverse, it might bear scars from collisions with nearby bubbles. “What lies
TEN years ago, this week, the family of a man who killed a customer outside their North-East pub saw its opening hours dramatically reduced. Durham Police were monitoring the Beehive, in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, before Maurice Rowell, 27, killed Stephen Wilson, 48, early on August 10, 2009. A police application to revoke the licence at Durham County Council’s Spennymoor offices failed - but did result in several changes. As well as closing three hours earlier at weekends, the licensing committee decided that a licence holder must be present at all times after hearing Rowell’s sister, Rachel Rowell, the designated premises supervisor, had left when Mr Wilson was hurt.
Calls for insurance scheme intensify in industry letter
Thursday, 7 January 2021
A number of MPs and live event specialists have signed an open letter to Rishi Sunak in a bid to save summer events and more (Photo: Hanny Naibaho)
UK - The live events industry has launched a fresh appeal for a government-backed COVID-19 insurance scheme with a letter signed by 120 sector representatives and MPs. In the letter, written by the chair of the DCMS committee Julian Knight and addressed to the chancellor Rishi Sunak, the sector - which has largely been shut down since March 2020 - warns that “[w]ithout insurance, the events we know and love simply won’t take place this year - vaccine or no vaccine”. “Sustaining losses like those we’ve seen in 2020 for another year isn’t an option, and hundreds of businesses in the events supply chain have already been forced to fold,” the letter continues. “The Government has backed insurance for the film and television industry to the
“Planet Earth Report” provides descriptive links to headline news by leading science journalists about the extraordinary discoveries, technology, people, and events changing our knowledge of Planet Earth and the future of the human species.
“Sent By an Alien World” –Extraterrestrial Object Visited Our Solar System in 2017. Harvard astronomy professor Avi Loeb’s highly anticipated new book, “Extraterrestrial”,: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth,” is being published Jan. 26, detailing his controversial theory that an artificial object may had been sent to Earth in 2017 from an extraterrestrial civilization. New York Times best selling author Alan Lightman called “Extraterrestrial” provocative “and thrilling” and praising Loeb for asking readers to “think big and to expect the unexpected,” reports The Boston Globe.
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