Friday 7th June 2024

Hybrid Bonding Plays Starring Role in 3D Chips

Tech makes millions of connections in a square millimeter of silicon

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AI in software engineering at Google: Progress and the path ahead

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Inside Myanmar: The devastating cost of fighting the military junta

The BBC hears allegations of rape and torture by Myanmar's military in Chin State.

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Kate Middleton’s cancer diagnosis, explained

Her disappearance from public view is getting weirder.

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Visualizing the State of Refugees by Country

Where are people running to (and from)? This visual highlights refugees by country of origin and asylum in 2023.

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No, gain of function research did not cause COVID-19

In late 2019, unbeknownst to all, a new virus first infected humans in Wuhan, China: SARS-CoV-2. This infectious virus — which turned out to be airborne, highly infectious, lethal to a few but capable of causing long-term damage to many — is the cause of the COVID-19 illness that has now infected at least 700 million (and likely billions) across the globe. By January of 2020, dozens of infections had spread to several countries, and the global response was insufficient to prevent a pandemic. As a result, at least seven million people (and possibly tens of millions) died while tens-to-hundreds of millions more were left with long-term, often disabling, conditions. That novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has gone on to mutate many times and continues to be infectious: to humans and animals both.

And yet, one popular conspiracy theory continues to thrive in the media and in politics: the idea that unlike all other virus-caused pandemics, which originated naturally, this virus was instead created in the lab.

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The upside of feeling dissatisfied with the world: How to work your "weltschmerz"

It doesn’t seem like the world is a great place lately, does it? The last few years have witnessed major political strife, devastating wars, economic struggles, and protests teetering on the edge of civil disorder. And before that there was the COVID-19 pandemic. And before that there was the Great Recession and its prolonged recovery. And before that there was the War on Terror and the 9/11 attacks. And before that there was the 1990s (just all of the Nineties).

With the news and our social media feeds crowded-to-bursting with tragedy, many have come to feel an overwhelming discontent with the state of the world. Turns out, that emotion has a name: weltschmerz.

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Women tend to be better physicians than men. Here's why.

In a study recently published in Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers reported that female Medicare patients seen by female physicians had a lower risk of readmission and death than those seen by male physicians. The roughly quarter-percentage-point difference in mortality rate was small but significant. It translates into 5,000 potentially unnecessary deaths per year. Male patients also fared slightly better under the care of women, though the 0.08% difference in mortality was not statistically significant.

While this result may surprise members of the general public, it did not surprise scientists who have studied differences in patient outcomes.

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Brain overgrowth dictates autism severity, new research suggests

Some children with autism experience profound, lifelong difficulties like developmental delay, social struggles and even the inability to speak. Others experience more mild symptoms that improve with time.

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Google Will No Longer Rank Sites That Don't Render on Mobile

Google announced Monday that it will no longer index websites that aren't accessible on mobile devices after July 5. This marks its final step of migration to a mobile-first index for Google search, which started in 2016 and was initially announced as completed in October 2023.

So, how does this affect your business's website? If your site's mobile page displays an error or doesn't load at all, Google won't index or rank it. It won't appear anywhere in Google's search results, therefore you'll lose potential traffic and leads. 


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