Mark Woolhouse is professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, SAGE adviser, and now author of ‘The Year the World Went Mad’, a personal, insider’s view of how the Covid pandemic played out. The book is a very useful review of what happened, even for …
Read More »Leading US vaccine scientist explains why Sputnik V beats Pfizer against Omicron
Sputnik V produces a better neutralizing antibody response to Omicron than the mRNA vaccines, Professor Hildegund Ertl, one of the top US vaccine specialists, said, according to a statement posted on Sputnik V Twitter page on Monday. The vaccine and immunotherapy researcher working at the Wistar Institute located in Philadelphia, …
Read More »Chinese scientist pleads guilty over theft of US trade secrets
A Chinese national has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit economic espionage after he was accused of attempting to steal trade secrets from American agrochemical company Monsanto while residing in the US. Xiang Haitao, 44, “conspired to steal a trade secret” from the company “for the purpose of benefiting a …
Read More »Scientist reveals when Covid vaccine with lifelong protection might be available
A Covid-19 vaccine potentially able to give lifelong protection has proved effective on mice and primates and is set for clinical trials. Production is planned for 2024, Japanese scientist Michinori Kohara told the Japan Times. With all the existing Covid-19 vaccines requiring booster shots to remain effective, the emeritus investigator …
Read More »Top Russian scientist comments on whether Omicron variant is man-made
Omicron’s mutations are well within the realm of possibility for a natural variant of the virus, according to Alexander Gintsburg, the head of the Gamaleya Institute, which developed Russia’s pioneering Sputnik V vaccine. Speaking to Interfax on Monday, the scientist emphasized that this is especially true given that Omicron originated …
Read More »Moon has enough oxygen for 8 billion people – scientist
In a piece penned this week in The Conversation, John Grant, a lecturer in soil science at Australia’s Southern Cross University explained that the Moon was heavy in minerals that bind tightly with oxygen. Grant claims that, even if one ignores the oxygen tied up in deep, hard rock, the …
Read More »Moscow ‘radiation fog’ is nothing to worry about, Russian scientist says, as poor visibility grounds flights from the city
On Tuesday, the scientific director of the Hydrometeorological Center, Roman Vilfand, cleared the air around concerns that Moscow’s thick fog could be harmful, in an interview with business daily RBK. According to him, despite its name, the phenomenon has nothing to do with radioactivity. “With a little cloudy sky at …
Read More »‘Inherently politicized case’: Political scientist subjected to massive wiretapping by US denies acting as Iran’s ‘foreign agent’
Afrasiabi told RT that according to the US’s own complaint, Washington was aware of his “completely legitimate” activity as a consultant to Iran’s UN mission for over a decade. The political scientist, who has penned multiple books and numerous articles for such leading media outlets like The New York Times …
Read More »Ex-Facebook data scientist says Russia not driving Covid-19 conspiracies online, warning Americans really have themselves to blame
In an article for the UK’s The Guardian on Wednesday, former Facebook data scientist Sophie Zhang said that the allegations had become a convenient way to blame Moscow, rather than face up to the worrying trends. According to her, the networking giant relentlessly focuses on whether posts are “authentic,” and …
Read More »‘An evidence-free zone’: WHO chief scientist warns against ‘mixing and matching’ coronavirus vaccines
With pharmaceutical companies touting the possibility of booster shots against the latest Covid-19 variants, Dr. Swaminathan warned on Monday against mixing different vaccines in an effort to boost immunity. “I really want to caution folks,” Swaminathan said during a World Health Organization (WHO) press briefing. “There are people who are …
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