Science & Technology

Another new name has been added to the list of human species, with its remains found in a cave in the Philippines.

The remains of this extinct new species have been found in the largest island of Luzon, after which this species has been named Homo luzonesis.

Some physical features found in this species are similar to the ancient human species and today's human species.

It is speculated that this relation can be associated with Africa, which would later have settled in South-East Asia. This was considered to be almost impossible before the discovery of these residues. After this discovery, it is now believed that the development of human species in the Philippines and this region may have been very intriguing because there were already three or more human species living here.

One of these was the 'Hobbit' or 'Homo floresiensis', which were about 50 thousand years in the island of Flores, Indonesia.

Professor Chris Stringer of London's Natural History Museum says, "In 2004, information about human species Homo floresiensis was published in 2004. At that time, I had said that what has been done on Flores to find the human species should also go to the area's islands.''

''My guess was right. On Luzon Island, which is about 3,000 kilometers away from it, has been successful.''

According to Nature Magazine, the remains of Homo luzonesis have been found in the Callao cave present in the north of Luzon. It is being told that they are 67 thousand to 50 thousand years old.

In the remains of the cave, three parts of the human body have been found, including tooth, arms and legs bones. These residences are of four people, one of the remains of a young man. They were released at the time of excavation of cave in 2007.

Some features of Homo luzonesis from today's human species, while many such features, such as the Australopithecine, are similar to human species that are similar to standing and monkeys found in Africa, which occur around 2 to 4 million years ago. Used to go. Some of these features also come from the ancient Homo species.

The fingers of hands and feet are folded inwards, which point to the fact that these people climb on trees.

If there is confirmation that species like Australopithecine could reach Southeast Asia, then it can be an idea that which descendants of human history first came out from Africa.

It is believed that Homo erectus was the first species that left Africa 1.9 million years ago.

The Luzon Island is surrounded by water from all sides, and this is why new discoveries have raised questions on how they would have reached this island.

In addition to Homo luzonesis, a human species named Denisovans was also found in Southeast Asia. It is believed that after coming into this area, this species was mixed with Homo sapiens.

This is considered the basis of DNA analysis because no fossils of Denisovans have been found in this area.

Flores Island of Indonesia is considered to be the home of Homo floresiensis, which is also called Hobbit due to their stature.

It is believed that they lived on earth almost a lakh years ago and had ended 50 thousand years ago. And with go away of them, the time of the arrival of the modern human was started.

Scientists believe that certain symptoms found in Homo floresiensis were also observed in Australopithecine. But some researchers believe that Homo floresiensis come in the genealogy of Homo erectus.

Scientists hope that they are very close to finding the treatment of baldness. Researchers believe that they have discovered a method that can remove the problem of baldness and hair again on the head.

Scientists of the New York School of Medicine have activated a path within the brain, named 'Sonic hedgehog'. When the baby is in the womb, this path is very active, so that hair follicles are ready. But as the age increases or the wounds in the skin increase, this path is blocked.

Figures show that one-fourth of the men's hair starts flying the age of 25-reaching. Britain's Prince William's hair began to fly at the age of 22. It is not that this problem is only in men.

According to the American Academy of Dermatology, 40 percent of women reach the age of 40 to see the problem of hair fall. The path which is activated by the Doctor Mayumi Ito-led team also works as a communication mechanism between the cells.

Scientists studied the damaged skin of rats in the lab, in which the main focus was on the cells named 'fibroblast'. This cell is secreted by the name of collagen protein. This protein retains the strength and shape of the hair and skin. The researchers also focused on 'fibroblast' because of this, because there are many biological properties like fixing the wound itself.

According to a study published in 'Nature Communication', within four weeks of establishing communication between brain cells, the hair of rats began to grow again. The roots and structures of hair began to appear again within nine weeks. So far scientists used to believe that due to damaged skin the hair can not grow again. But now this evidence has shown a new direction in this area.

Doctor Ito says, "Now we know that this path is very active in the embryo, while with aging, this process starts slowing down. Our research suggests that 'fibroblast' can be corrected through Sonic hedgehog. The hair can be grown again.''

Your hair falls due to many changes in life. Changing homes, mourning or even during pregnancy, hair starts becoming weak. Apart from this, stress, bad food, chemicals dissolved in water, insecticides present in food, contraceptive pills also have major causes of hair fall.

The world's first artificial intelligence (AI) news anchor made his debut at the ongoing fifth World Internet Conference in east China's Zhejiang Province. The news anchor, based on the latest AI technology, has a male image with a voice, facial expressions and actions of a real person. He learns from live broadcasting videos by himself and can read texts as naturally as a professional news anchor.

China's state-run news agency, Xinhua, has revealed it will deploy a new digitally generated newsreader to report the news in both Chinese and English languages. The artificial anchor has been designed to reduce news production costs and increase efficiency, however, the use of the technology by a propagandic state-run news agency brings a new definition to the term "fake news."

The voice and appearance of the digital anchor is based on Chinese newsreader Zhang Zhao and Xinhua News Agency claims "he" can instantly report news as it happens 24 hours a day. The digital anchor is already available on several internet and mobile platforms in the country.

The system, as revealed in several videos recently released, is not exactly the most sophisticated digital character we have seen. Its voice has the undeniable artificial quality of a simplistic computer-generated text-to-speech engine, while the facial expressions and lip movements are unimpressively animated.

However, several other recent digital innovations have clearly demonstrated the massive potential for this kind of technology. From next-generation deepfake video techniques, to realistic voice-imitation systems, the ability to create digital avatars that perfectly resemble real humans is pretty much already here.

Perhaps the most concerning implication of this Chinese experiment is the entirely transparent move towards completely eliminating human personalities from the world of journalism. Media censorship in China is not a new news story, and the country is well-known for suppressing information that is counter to the state's interests. In many ways there isn't a particular difference in having a digital avatar spout the same propagandic scripts that a human anchor would read.

The most chilling thing is that this technology allows the government to openly create artificial human puppets that can parrot whatever they want without even offering the pretense of human journalistic credibility. Any semblance of trust that develops between a human newsreader and the general public is not only eliminated, but rendered fundamentally unnecessary. With this development, China is essentially saying it doesn't even need a human face to recite its state-sanctioned messages.

The big question that must now be asked is not how can we distinguish between what is real and what is fake, but whether we even care about the difference? With the rise of CGI Instagram influencers and digital reincarnations of long-dead actors, we are rapidly becoming accustomed to engaging with entirely artificial creations. Is this simply the next logical step in that process? The complete realization of the concept of "fake news."

Source: Xinhua News Agency

Social networking App Whatsapp has refused the find the origin of the message on its platform and also refused to give it to India. The Government of India has urged the company to develop such a mechanism after ascending the rumors on WhatsApp, after the growing incidents of violence, to identify the source of the message.

A spokesman of Whatsapp said that by making such software, the decode will be affected from one end to the other, and the personal nature of the whatsapp will also be affected. At the same time it will create more chances of misuse and we do not want to weaken the protection of privacy. So the company can not develop such software. Our focus is on working with others in India and educating people about wrong information. Through this, we want to keep people safe.

Whatsapp chief Chris Daniels met India's Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad this week, in which there was talk of stopping rumor messages.

The number of WhatsApp users in the world is about 1.5 billion. India is the largest market for the company. The number of people using it in India is more than 200 million.

Whatsapp said that the disclosure of the original source of messages will disrupt user privacy. People are dependent on exchanging all kinds of sensitive information through whatsapp. Whether it be his doctor, bank or family member. In such a situation, if their sources are revealed, personal information may leak.

The intention of the Government of India is to take strict measures to prevent the spread of fake news from social media platform like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. In the past few months there has been a spread of false information from the Forum of Whatsapp, which has increased the incidence of mob violence in India.

Air pollution reduces the life of a common Indian by one and a half years. Scientists say that the superior quality of air can increase human life in the world.

This is the first time that data has been studied simultaneously on air pollution and life span in order to find out how the global difference in it affects overall life expectancy.

Researchers at the University of Texas in Austin, USA, studied air pollution from particles (PM) less than 2.5 microns found in the atmosphere. These micro particles can enter the lungs and there is a risk of heart attack, strokes, respiratory diseases and cancer. PM 2.5 pollution is generated by power plants, cars, trucks, fire, farming and industrial emissions.

Scientists found that the air pollution reduces the age in 1.87 years in Bangladesh, 1.85 years in Egypt, 1.56 years in Pakistan, 1.48 years in Saudi Arabia, 1.28 years in Nigeria and 1.25 years in China. According to the study, the air pollution reduces 1.53 years in the average age of Indians.

NASA today said that scientists have claimed to have got accumulated water in the dark and cold parts of the polar regions of the Moon. This claim has been made on the basis of information received from Chandrayaan-1. Chandrayaan-1 was launched by India 10 years ago.

According to the news agency Bhasha, getting ice for some millimeter on the surface makes it possible that the water can be used as a resource for future lunar journeys.

According to a research published in the journal PNAS, this snow is at some distance and is probably very old.

Nipah virus infection (NiV) is a viral infection caused by the Nipah virus. Symptoms from infection vary from none to fever, cough, headache, shortness of breath, and confusion. This may worsen into a coma over a day or two. Complications can include inflammation of the brain and seizures following recovery.

The Nipah virus is a type of RNA virus in the genus Henipavirus. It can both spread between people and from other animals to people. Spread typically requires direct contact with an infected source. The virus normally circulates among specific types of fruit bats. Diagnosis is based on symptoms and confirmed by laboratory testing.

Management involves supportive care. As of 2018 there is no vaccine or specific treatment. Prevention is by avoiding exposure to bats and sick pigs and not drinking raw date palm sap. As of May 2018 about 700 human cases of Nipah virus are estimated to have occurred and 50 to 75 percent of those who were infected died. In May 2018, an outbreak of the disease resulted in at least 18 deaths in the Indian state of Kerala.

The disease was first identified in 1998 during an outbreak in Malaysia while the virus was isolated in 1999. It is named after a village in Malaysia, Sungai Nipah. Pigs may also be infected and millions were killed in 1999 to stop the spread of disease.

Signs and symptoms

The symptoms start to appear within 3-14 days after exposure. Initial symptoms are fever, headache, drowsiness followed by disorientation and mental confusion. These symptoms can progress into coma as fast as in 24-48 hours. Encephalitis, inflammation of the brain, is a potentially fatal complication of nipah virus infection. Respiratory illness can also be present during the early part of the illness. Nipah-case patients who had breathing difficulty are more likely than those without respiratory illness to transmit the virus. The disease is suspected in symptomatic individuals in the context of an epidemic outbreak.

Risks

The risk of exposure is high for hospital workers and caretakers of those infected with the virus. In Malaysia and Singapore, Nipah virus infection occurred in those with close contact to infected pigs. In Bangladesh and India, the disease has been linked to consumption of raw date palm sap (toddy) and contact with bats.

Diagnosis

Laboratory diagnosis of Nipah virus infection is made using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from throat swabs, cerebrospinal fluid, urine and blood analysis during acute and convalescent stages of the disease. IgG and IgM antibody detection can be done after recovery to confirm Nipah virus infection. Immunohistochemistry on tissues collected during autopsy also confirms the disease. Viral RNA can be isolated from the saliva of infected persons.

Prevention

Prevention of Nipah virus infection is important since there is no effective treatment for the disease. The infection can be prevented by avoiding exposure to bats in endemic areas and sick pigs. Drinking of raw palm sap (palm toddy) contaminated by bat excrete, eating of fruits partially consumed by bats and using water from wells infested by bats should be avoided. Bats are known to drink toddy that is collected in open containers, and occasionally urinate in it, which makes it contaminated with the virus. Surveillance and awareness are important for preventing future outbreaks. The association of this disease within reproductive cycle of bats is not well studied. Standard infection control practices should be enforced to prevent nosocomial infections. A subunit vaccine using the Hendra G protein was found to produce cross-protective antibodies against henipavirus and nipavirus has been used in monkeys to protect against Hendra virus, although its potential for use in humans has not been studied.

Treatment

Currently there is no effective treatment for Nipah virus infection. The treatment is limited to supportive care. It is important to practice standard infection control practices and proper barrier nursing techniques to avoid the transmission of the infection from person to person. All suspected cases of Nipah virus infection should be isolated and given intensive supportive care. Ribavirin has been shown effective in in vitro tests, but has not yet been proven effective in humans. Passive immunization using a human monoclonal antibody that targets the Nipah G glycoprotein has been evaluated in the ferret model as post-exposure prophylaxis. The anti-malarial drug chloroquine was shown to block the critical functions needed for maturation of Nipah virus, although no clinical benefit has yet been observed. m102.4, a human monoclonal antibody, has been used in people on a compassionate use basis in Australia and is presently in pre-clinical development.

Outbreaks

Nipah virus outbreaks have been reported in Malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh and India. The highest mortality due to Nipah virus infection has occurred in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, the outbreaks are typically seen in winter season. Nipah virus first appeared in Malaysia in 1998 in peninsular Malaysia in pigs and pig farmers. By mid-1999, more than 265 human cases of encephalitis, including 105 deaths, had been reported in Malaysia, and 11 cases of either encephalitis or respiratory illness with one fatality were reported in Singapore. In 2001, Nipah virus was reported from Meherpur District, Bangladesh and Siliguri, India. The outbreak again appeared in 2003, 2004 and 2005 in Naogaon District, Manikganj District, Rajbari District, Faridpur District and Tangail District. In Bangladesh, there were also outbreaks in subsequent years.

In May 2018, an outbreak was reported in the Kozhikode district of Kerala, India. Eighteen deaths have been recorded, including one healthcare worker. Those who have died are mainly from the districts of Kozhikode and Malappuram, including a 31-year-old nurse, who was treating patients infected with the virus. As of 31 May 2018, about 16 people are being quarantined because they had contact with the sick. This incident has caused panic throughout the state. Blood samples have been sent for testing. India is seeking help from Australia by importing monoclonal antibodies to a Nipah virus antigen. However, the treatment is experimental and has not yet been tested on humans. India is also importing ribavirin tablets from Malaysia.

The car that runs in water is invented by Paris. This is the world's first water car that Paris has launched. More recently, its test video has been uploaded on social media.

A test drive was taken before launch, in which it has come to its standards. The car moves slightly above the surface of the water while flying. It was possible to find a car in the Sea-bubble. And the most interesting thing is that this taxi has been named Sea-Bubble.

Nine out of 10 people worldwide are breathing air with high levels of pollutants.

That's the alarming assessment from new data produced by the World Health Organization.

And it is the people living in poorer countries who are at the highest risk.

Al Jazeera's Natasha Ghoneim reports.

In drought-stricken Kenya life for all residents, and particularly the herding community, has been nothing less than devastating. Erratic weather patterns and the increasing effects of climate change have led to a lack of vegetation and water resources jeopardising the survival of livestock and the pastoralist way of life.

"Last drought, when I migrated near Tanzania, I lost roughly 15 beasts. It's a big impact, I felt it, it was really bad. When it comes to us, I cannot control it. I have to bear," says Joshua Ntaserua, a Maasai herder who has experienced the changes in weather patterns first-hand.

Though it may seem a small price to pay amidst the ongoing two-year drought, cattle are very important to the Maasai, with significant monetary and practical value in each individual specimen.

However, as the onslaught of unpredictable weather continues, some Maasai herders, including Ntaserua, have turned to a hi-tech solution to help them adapt to the current environment. The brainchild of an NGO aiming to help herders with drought, an app that helps locate greener pastures has been introduced to the herding communities suffering the worst.

Downloadable onto a smartphone, the app has helped some herders halve their livestock mortality rates by locating the closest areas of good pastureland for the cattle to travel towards.
 But how exactly does the app work and is this a real solution for Kenya's herders?

earthrise travels to Kenya to see how pastoralists in the south are using this satellite mapping technology to make informed migration decisions.