North Korea bans all leisure activities including laughing for 11-days
North Korea imposed a ban on laughing, drinking, and grocery shopping as it was a mourning period for the country, marking the 10th death anniversary of former leader Kim Jong-il, who ruled North Korea from 1994 to 2011.
All leisure activities have been banned for this period. The offenders will be arrested as it happens every year.
According to reports, even if your family member dies during the mourning period, you are not allowed to cry out loud and the body must be taken out after it's over. People cannot even celebrate their own birthdays if they fall within the mourning period. The mourning period will go on for 11 days this year, instead of 10 days every year, as this is the 10th death anniversary.
NASA spacecraft officially touches Sun
Because the sun lacks a solid surface, the corona is where the action is; exploring this magnetically intense region up close can help scientists better understand solar outbursts that can interfere with life here on Earth.Scientists announced the news during a recent meeting of the American Geophysical Union that a Nasa spacecraft has officially “touched” the sun, plunging through the unexplored solar atmosphere known as the corona. Launched in 2018, Parker was 8m miles from the center of the sun when it first crossed the jagged, uneven boundary between the solar atmosphere and outgoing solar wind. The spacecraft dipped in and out of the corona at least three times, each a smooth transition, according to scientists.
Moderna's third dose provides good immunity to Omicron
A 50 microgram booster dose - the authorized amount, which is half the dose used for primary immunization - saw a 37-fold increase in neutralizing antibodies, the company said in a statement. The company also tested a 100 microgram dose, which increased antibody levels 83-fold compared with the primary two-dose course.
As company's shares rose 6.5% in premarket trading in New York, Moderna Chief Executive Officer Stephane Bancel said in a statement. "To respond to this highly transmissible variant, Moderna will continue to rapidly advance an omicron-specific booster candidate into clinical testing in case it becomes necessary in the future." The results add to a growing body of evidence that three shots will be needed to neutralize the fast-spreading omicron.
Wuhan lab leak most likely origin of Covid
Dr Alina Chan and Matt Ridley who has co-written a book about the origins of Sars-CoV-2, the virus behind the pandemic gave an update to MPs at the Science and Technology Select Committee today.
According to Dr. Chan "We all agree there was a critical event at the Wuhan seafood market that was a super spreader event caused by humans, but there’s no evidence pointing to a natural animal origin of the virus at that market".
The idea of a lab leak was dismissed early on in the pandemic as a ‘conspiracy theory’ but it has now started to gain ground, even among Western intelligence officials.
Mr Riley told MPs that it was ‘incredibly surprising’ no animal host has been discovered after two years of searching.