Health officials discuss the spread of COVID-19 in long term health care centers and the possible spread of the virus within schools – YourErie

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Health officials are discussing the spread of COVID-19 in long term health care centers and the possible spread of the virus within schools.

Erie County Executive Kathy Dahlkemper released her remarks as she discussed the situation with Twinbrook Nursing Home in Lawrence Park.

Dahlkemper also discussed this issue with other nursing homes as well.

Dahlkemper claims that the virus is coming from the outside of these homes.

According to Dahlkemper, the COVID-19 virus is coming into these facilities from the outside, when speaking about longer term care centers.

The county executive specifically said that the workers who are around other people are the ones who are bringing the virus into these centers.

Dahlkemper added that people may also not be following guidelines such as the workers themselves, their family members or the general public with whom they interact with.

It came to our attention having a conversation with Twinbrook that it was an asymptomatic worker who had been tested and tested negative and was now asymptomatic and thats how it started spreading. These are the problems with people not following the guidelines and I mean all of us, said Dahlkemper.

As area schools and universities return to in-person learning, there comes the likely hood of COVID-19 cases increasing as well.

The county executive believes that school districts are doing their best to decrease the risk of any potential spread.

Dahlkemper said that there are both pros and cons to not opening up schools for in-person instruction.

Schools have to decide what is best and look at the risk factor for their community.

Melissa Lyon, the director of the Erie County Department of Health, said that they have asked schools to look at the risk factor for their community.

Lyon said that if schools cannot meet a level of safety then they should take it into consideration when moving forward.

We asked them to create an abbreviated risk assessment so they understand the risk of deviating from that guidance and mitigate any issue that may come out of that deviation, helping them to think through any problems and how they would prepare for that, said Lyon.

Lyon added that if there were to be a spike in cases from the schools, the Department of Education and the Department of Health would need to make that call.

As of now, the Department of Education and the Department of Health have set a plan if that were to happen.

You can watch the full news conference by watching the video below.

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Health officials discuss the spread of COVID-19 in long term health care centers and the possible spread of the virus within schools - YourErie

COVID-19 long-term toll signals billions in healthcare costs ahead – Reuters

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Late in March, Laura Gross, 72, was recovering from gall bladder surgery in her Fort Lee, New Jersey, home when she became sick again.

FILE PHOTO: Laura Gross looks out from her balcony in Fort Lee, New Jersey, U.S., July 31, 2020. Picture taken July 31, 2020. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Her throat, head and eyes hurt, her muscles and joints ached and she felt like she was in a fog. Her diagnosis was COVID-19. Four months later, these symptoms remain.

Gross sees a primary care doctor and specialists including a cardiologist, pulmonologist, endocrinologist, neurologist, and gastroenterologist.

Ive had a headache since April. Ive never stopped running a low-grade temperature, she said.

Studies of COVID-19 patients keep uncovering new complications associated with the disease.

With mounting evidence that some COVID-19 survivors face months, or possibly years, of debilitating complications, healthcare experts are beginning to study possible long-term costs.

Bruce Lee of the City University of New York (CUNY) Public School of Health estimated that if 20% of the U.S. population contracts the virus, the one-year post-hospitalization costs would be at least $50 billion, before factoring in longer-term care for lingering health problems. Without a vaccine, if 80% of the population became infected, that cost would balloon to $204 billion.

Some countries hit hard by the new coronavirus - including the United States, Britain and Italy - are considering whether these long-term effects can be considered a post-COVID syndrome, according to Reuters interviews with about a dozen doctors and health economists.

Some U.S. and Italian hospitals have created centers devoted to the care of these patients and are standardizing follow-up measures.

Britains Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are each leading national studies of COVID-19s long-term impacts. An international panel of doctors will suggest standards for mid- and long-term care of recovered patients to the World Health Organization (WHO) in August.

More than 17 million people have been infected by the new coronavirus worldwide, about a quarter of them in the United States.

Healthcare experts say it will be years before the costs for those who have recovered can be fully calculated, not unlike the slow recognition of HIV, or the health impacts to first responders of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.

They stem from COVID-19s toll on multiple organs, including heart, lung and kidney damage that will likely require costly care, such as regular scans and ultrasounds, as well as neurological deficits that are not yet fully understood.

A JAMA Cardiology study found that in one group of COVID-19 patients in Germany aged 45 to 53, more than 75% suffered from heart inflammation, raising the possibility of future heart failure.

A Kidney International study found that over a third of COVID-19 patients in a New York medical system developed acute kidney injury, and nearly 15% required dialysis.

Dr. Marco Rizzi in Bergamo, Italy, an early epicenter of the pandemic, said the Giovanni XXIII Hospital has seen close to 600 COVID-19 patients for follow-up. About 30% have lung issues, 10% have neurological problems, 10% have heart issues and about 9% have lingering motor skill problems. He co-chairs the WHO panel that will recommend long-term follow-up for patients.

On a global level, nobody knows how many will still need checks and treatment in three months, six months, a year, Rizzi said, adding that even those with mild COVID-19 may have consequences in the future.

Milans San Raffaele Hospital has seen more than 1,000 COVID-19 patients for follow-up. While major cardiology problems there were few, about 30% to 40% of patients have neurological problems and at least half suffer from respiratory conditions, according to Dr. Moreno Tresoldi.

Some of these long-term effects have only recently emerged, too soon for health economists to study medical claims and make accurate estimates of costs.

In Britain and Italy, those costs would be borne by their respective governments, which have committed to funding COVID-19 treatments but have offered few details on how much may be needed.

In the United States, more than half of the population is covered by private health insurers, an industry that is just beginning to estimate the cost of COVID-19.

CUNYs Lee estimated the average one-year cost of a U.S. COVID-19 patient after they have been discharged from the hospital at $4,000, largely due to the lingering issues from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which affects some 40% of patients, and sepsis.

The estimate spans patients who had been hospitalized with moderate illness to the most severe cases, but does not include other potential complications, such as heart and kidney damage.

Even those who do not require hospitalization have average one-year costs after their initial illness of $1,000, Lee estimated.

Extra costs from lingering effects of COVID-19 could mean higher health insurance premiums in the United States. Some health plans have already raised 2021 premiums on comprehensive coverage by up to 8% due to COVID-19, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Anne McKee, 61, a retired psychologist who lives in Knoxville, Tennessee and Atlanta, had multiple sclerosis and asthma when she became infected nearly five months ago. She is still struggling to catch her breath.

On good days, I can do a couple loads of laundry, but the last several days, its been hard just to get up and get a drink from the kitchen, she said.

She has spent more than $5,000 on appointments, tests and prescription drugs during that time. Her insurance has paid more than $15,000 including $240 for a telehealth appointment and $455 for a lung scan.

Many of the issues that arise from having a severe contraction of a disease could be 3, 5, 20 years down the road, said Dale Hall, Managing Director of Research with the Society of Actuaries.

To understand the costs, U.S. actuaries compare insurance records of coronavirus patients against people with a similar health profile but no COVID-19, and follow them for years.

The United Kingdom aims to track the health of 10,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients over the first 12 months after being discharged and potentially as long as 25 years. Scientists running the study see the potential for defining a long-term COVID-19 syndrome, as they found with Ebola survivors in Africa.

Many people, we believe will have scarring in the lungs and fatigue ... and perhaps vascular damage to the brain, perhaps, psychological distress as well, said Professor Calum Semple from the University of Liverpool.

Margaret OHara, 50, who works at a Birmingham hospital is one of many COVID-19 patients who will not be included in the study because she had mild symptoms and was not hospitalized. But recurring health issues, including extreme shortness of breath, has kept her out of work.

OHara worries patients like her are not going to be included in the countrys long-term cost planning.

Were going to need ... expensive follow-up for quite a long time, she said.

Reporting by Caroline Humer and Nick Brown in New York; Emilio Parodi in Milan and Alistair Smout in London; editing by Michele Gershberg and Bill Berkrot

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The Coronavirus’ Impact on Veterans, Families, and America’s for-profit healthcare systems | The Crusader Newspaper Group – The Chicago Cusader

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By Brett Copeland, Executive Director for Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute

As the world closes its borders to the United States due to the recent spike in Coronavirus cases, Americans are facing challenges from multiple directions in the fight against COVID-19.

In early July, it was reported that up to 10 million Americans have lost their employer-provided health insurance due to COVID-19 related job losses. It is estimated that 12 percent of veterans have lost their jobs more than one million in total. More than 48 million Americans live in a household where at least one person has lost their job during the global pandemic. The costs of caring for an extreme bout of COVID-19, as in the case of one miracle patient, can easily exceed $1 million.

These tremendous losses impact not only veterans, their families, and the health and well-being of millions of Americans, but also for-profit health care systems. Despite the incredible need for healthcare providers across the country, for-profit and not-for-profit healthcare providers continue to furlough employees as revenue plummets. So far, 29 hospitals have declared bankruptcy in the first half of 2020 more than the total number of hospitals that folded in the entire 2019 calendar year. The stress is also putting increased pressure on rural hospitals, which already face a national crisis with 128 disappearing from their communities over the last 10 years.

The healthcare crisis hits Americans with a double punch. Millions with Americans are losing their insurance and even if they have it, itll be more difficult to find care in their communities. For veterans, having access to their dedicated health care system the VAs Veterans Health Administration is critical.

Social isolation due to social distancing practices, job loss, and a tough financial situation at home can negatively impact a veterans mental and physical health. Because of the impact of COVID-19 on veterans and their families, the Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute (VHPI) has issued a call for Congress and the Trump Administration to expand VA healthcare to both groups under the VAs fourth mission as Americas backup healthcare system in times of crisis.

In caring for veterans and during the execution of its fourth mission, the VA has helped communities cope with the pressure COVID-19 has put on non-VA facilities. In Phoenix, for example, early action helped contain an outbreak at the VA hospital, as well as allow its beds to remain open for critical COVID-19 patients. While for- profit and not-for-profit healthcare systems have furloughed employees, the VA healthcare system is rapidly hiring healthcare providers.

VHPI Senior Policy Analyst Suzanne Gordon said that veterans could lead the nation in coping with the global pandemic both in how their dedicated healthcare system has responded to COVID-19 and through taking preventive measures like wearing masks.

Veterans know real sacrifice and know what it means to sacrifice for the well-being of others, said Gordon. They know the meaning of Got your Six, a lesson that can help us all understand in our current situation.

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Landmark Health Named a 2020 Best Place to Work in Healthcare – Business Wire

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HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Landmark Health and its affiliated medical groups (Landmark), an industry leader of in-home medical care, has been recognized as a Best Place to Work in Healthcare, by Modern Healthcare for the 4th consecutive year. The award identifies Landmark as an outstanding employer in the healthcare industry nationwide, empowering employees to provide patients with the best possible care. Landmark is among 150 winners for creating a flexible and responsive work environment among a pandemic, as seen on Modern Healthcares website.

We celebrate ranking on Modern Healthcares Best Places to Work list - the same way we earned it - as a team, shares Anna Gill, Landmarks Chief Human Resources Officer. Our employees, who gave us high marks on the survey, once again demonstrated their engagement and commitment to doing the hard, yet rewarding, work of serving our chronically ill patients. Our successful growth story continues, fueled by the efforts of all our employees.

Landmarks comprehensive in-home medical care and care coordination helps patients stay well in the comfort of their homes, while remaining connected to doctors, specialists and community resources.

Landmarks Chief Business Officer and Co-founder, Eric Van Horn notes, Landmark continues to experience significant growth. In part, this is due to the growing healthcare needs of our countrys aging population. Additionally, the current pandemic has highlighted the importance of new care delivery models needed to safely care for seniors. By the end of 2020, we expect to manage and serve over 130,000 lives in 16 states.

This recognition is all thanks to our front-line providers and those working behind the scenes in a business capacity who remain united in our passion to revolutionize care delivery for our valued patients, says Gill.

If you have an interest in joining our Landmark team, please apply to one of our exciting career opportunities.

About Landmark

Since 2014, Landmark Health and its affiliated medical groups (Landmark) have delivered comprehensive in-home medical care to older adults, 24/7 365 days a year. Specialized in complex chronic care, Landmarks physician-led multidisciplinary teams work with patients existing healthcare networks to bring medical, behavioral and palliative care, along with social services, to individuals where they reside. As one of the nation's largest value-based healthcare companies, more than 114,000 people across 15 states and 48 metropolitan communities can access Landmarks care. Most critically, Landmark is bending the cost curve in health care by reducing avoidable ER visits and hospital admissions, while extending lives of patients. http://www.landmarkhealth.org

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Landmark Health Named a 2020 Best Place to Work in Healthcare - Business Wire

What Will Healthcare in Retirement Cost You? Try $295000. – Independent Tribune

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But also, that $295,000 doesn't account for all of your costs. While it includes Medicare premiums, copayments, and deductibles, it does not include most dental services and long-term care. As such, your total tab could actually be much higher, and that's something you'll need to prepare for.

If the idea of having to spend $295,000 -- or more -- on healthcare in retirement is throwing you for a serious loop, there are a few things you can do to prepare. First, boost your retirement savings. If you're 50 or older, you can contribute up to $26,000 a year to a 401(k), or up to $7,000 a year to an IRA. Save another $200 a month for the next 15 years on top of your current savings rate, and you'll add $60,000 to your retirement plan balance, assume you invest your 401(k) or IRA at an average annual 7% return, which is just below the stock market's average.

Another option is to fund a health savings account, or HSA. Not everyone is eligible for one of these accounts, but if you're enrolled in a high-deductible health insurance plan -- defined in 2020 as a deductible of $1,400 or more for self-only coverage, or $2,800 or more for family coverage -- then you may have the option to contribute.

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What Will Healthcare in Retirement Cost You? Try $295000. - Independent Tribune

Pandemic Stresses National Need for Seamless Information Sharing Between Healthcare Providers, Black Book 2020 Interoperability Surveys – PRNewswire

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TAMPA, Fla., Aug. 5, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Five hundred and nine managers offrontlineproviders confirm the lack of general interoperability across the entire U.S. health care system has detracted from COVID-19 patient care, led to poor health outcomes and higher expenditures, and left population health data muddy and deficient.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced in April it would delay the enforcement of its Interoperability and Patient Access Final Rules until 2021, allowing health organizations and practices a few more months to install an infrastructure that supports true interoperability to ensure the effective transmission and exchange of patient data.

Ninety percent of health system leaders surveyed confirmed that the delay removed any incentive for their organizations to prioritize true interoperability through the coming year, despite the benefits it would provide dealing with the pandemic.

"Portability of data in the middle of this pandemic is vital," said Doug Brown, President of the survey organization Black Book Research. "But resolving systemic data blocking and platforms interfering with the exchange of patient data are not on the industry's front burner."

"The enforcement of interoperability standards put forth by HHS, because of the COVID-19 crisis, has greatly slowed," said Brown. "But vendors have continued to introduce and roll out a wide variety of possibilities to support providers and health care systems in meeting the requirements."

Ninety-three percent of survey participants report that complete patient health pictures have not been reaching the downstream COVID-19 clinicians upon admission.

According to 79% of respondents, manual processes are failing to gather and submit COVID-19 information with public health agencies consistently.

In a separate Black Book survey of 2,517 health care consumers across all 50 states. 324 COVID-19-diagnosed patients reported they were treated in new care environments in 2020, yet not one consumer stated their full patient record was available to their COVID treatment provider electronically.

Twenty-two percent of surveyed health care consumers stated they had difficulty or were unable to access their normalproviders to obtain records electronically, via fax or in person in 2020.

Closed clinics and practices hampered ability to fax or retrieve records according to 11% of consumers polled.

"Interoperability will obviously affect and enable consumer behavior in the years ahead as a result of the lack of data sharing and troubles with data blocking during this pandemic," said Brown.

Ninety-three percent of consumers polled in July 2020 expressed their disappointment in the lack of data sharing during COVID 19 across separate vendor systems. 55% placed blame on their provider. 31% placed blame on the EHR their provider chose to utilize.

Sixty-seven percent of consumers revealed they will consider changing their physician and hospital providers in the coming year after learning how their health record was not shareable or available or was blocked in the past year.

"The greatest constraint of the health care industry is not the capabilities of technology to share data seamlessly, but rather the intricate and complex conundrum of data and system integration, big data, multiple information exchanges, and federal regulations," said Brown.

The market comprises a wide array of interoperability segments that cumulatively support information sharing including application programming interface integration,appintegration, data cleansing, data integration, EMPI, data analytics, and connectivity.

"Recognizing the electronic health records and revenue cycle management IT market places are highly fragmented, it will be critical for developers to identify best practices across disparate platforms to ensure the consistency of adoption to meet the expectations of health care consumers," said Brown. "The regulatory drive to command greater interoperability is also advancing new opportunities in health care technology including privacy and data security."

About Black Book

Black Book Market Research LLC, its founder, management and staff do not own or hold any financial interest in any of the coding solutions vendors covered and encompassed in the surveys it conducts. Black Book reports the results of the collected satisfaction and client experience rankings in publication and to media before firm notification of rating results and does not solicit survey participation fees, review fees, inclusion or briefing charges, or involve consultant firm collaboration with Black Book before the announcement of the polling outcomes.

Black Book rankings are based on client experience scores obtained from the 660,000crowdsourcedballots cast and available through mobileapps, web surveys, remote polling instruments, interview calls, and on-site trade shows and user groups throughout the year. They represent the opinions of health care professionals and clinicians from more than 4,600 hospitals, 600IDNs, 2,800 clinics, 23,000 physician practices, 250 health plans, and nearly 505,000 health care industry consumers, and account for 6,000 products and services from more than 1,700 vendors.

For Black Book vendor satisfaction rating methodology, auditing, resources, comprehensive research, and ranking data, seewww.blackbookmarketresearch.comor contact [emailprotected].

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Pandemic Stresses National Need for Seamless Information Sharing Between Healthcare Providers, Black Book 2020 Interoperability Surveys - PRNewswire

Kindred Healthcare and Dignity Health to open new inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Arizona – Healthcare Finance News

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Kindred Healthcare and Dignity Health have announced plans to build the companies' second inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Phoenix, Arizona.

The hospital will be located in Gilbert, Arizona, and will focus on acute rehabilitation for patients who suffer from stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, complex neurological disorders, orthopedic conditions, multiple trauma, amputation and other injuries or disorders.

The building itself will be 50,000 square-feet, two stories high and have all private rooms, with a 40-bed patient capacity. It will offer therapeutic technologies such as augmented reality balance training, therapy bionics and a full-body exoskeleton.

Amenities will include multifunctional therapy gymnasiums and a therapeutic courtyard with exterior amenities, such as a golf chipping range and pickleball.

Kindred and Dignity expect the hospital to open by the end of 2021.

WHAT'S THE IMPACT?

This is the second inpatient rehabilitation hospital that Kindred and Dignity have opened in the Phoenix area. The first, Dignity Health East Valley Rehabilitation Hospital in Chandler, Arizona, began serving patients in 2016.

The two companies decided to build this second hospital to address increasing demand for the services they were providing.

THE LARGER TREND

Kindred believes that inpatient rehabilitation facilities could be used to drive cost savings in a value-based payment model, according to a report.

If the inpatient rehabilitation facility is able to efficiently lower mortality rates, shorten inpatient stays, lower readmission rates, create fewer emergency room visitsand create better patient outcomes, it will see better outcomes and realize savings.

Recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services provided another method of creating cost savings for IRFs. In a proposed rule from April, these facilities will get a payment increase of 2.9% for 2021 because of the COVID-19 public health emergency.

CMS also recently waived the 60% rule that requires each IRF to discharge at least 60% of its patients with one of 13 qualifying conditions, and allowed for telehealth visits in response to the pandemic.

ON THE RECORD

"We are excited to grow our relationship with Dignity Health one of the nation's leading health care providers to offer the Phoenix community increased access to high-quality inpatient rehabilitation services," said Russ Bailey, the COO of Kindred Rehabilitation Hospitals. "As with Dignity Health East Valley Rehabilitation Hospital, this new hospital will be dedicated to passionately advocating for and providing hope, healing and recovery to patients in its care."

"We are delighted to partner with Kindred to provide services that help patients function as independently as possible while safely returning to the activities they love," said Linda Hunt, the Dignity Health Arizona division president. "Dignity Health continues to address the growing health care needs of our East Valley and the Gilbert community."

Twitter:@HackettMalloryEmail the writer:mhackett@himss.org

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7 safe and socially distant things to do in Denver this weekend – The Denver Channel

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DENVER -- If you're looking for some fun while keeping socially distant during the coronavirus pandemic, here are a few events to consider. But remember: Take your mask with you, wash your hands and avoid large gatherings with people not in your close circle.

1. Landmark DTC introduces FREE drive in movie nights every Friday and Saturday night! Every weekend they will be showing drive-in movies at dusk from the upper level of their parking lot at 5375 Landmark Pl., Greenwood Village, Colo. The lineup this weekend will be Peanut Butter Falcon on Friday night and Grease on Saturday night. Parking is socially distanced, with every other space open. All of the movies are free, but they ask that anyone who can to make a small donation to the Dumb Friends League.

2. The Orchard Town Centers Summer Concert Series is back! Family night. Date Night. However you want to enjoy it, drive over to The Orchard Town Center to enjoy some of Colorados best bands. Watch a live concert from the comfort of your car with your favorite Orchard restaurant for dinner. Tickets are $10 with 100% of all proceeds being donated to Colorado Artists Relief Fund.

3. Check out arts and crafts at the 16th Street Fair this Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. 7 p.m.! The 16th Street Fair is an annual celebration of fine art, handcrafted goods and the 16th Street Mall in Downtown Denver. Take a stroll along the 16th Street Mall to enjoy a showcase of emerging artists and designers, producing original and unique handmade goods, in a wide array of media. Please note: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic only a maximum of 175 people will be allowed at the event at any given time, and those attending will be required to keep a minimum six foot distance from others and view the art in a single-direction traffic flow.

4. The 34th annual Colorado Black Arts Festival is going virtual! You can catch the virtual festival on YouTube this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 7 p.m. The Colorado Black Arts Festival is committed to presenting a festival of high standards for all age groups. The event provides a venue for talented visual artists, who may not otherwise have a means to show and sell their artwork. The event is FREE, but donations are encouraged.

5. Join the Denver Public Library online for Learn Make Share. Try out new creative projects at home and then share your results in this weekly online gathering of makers! Learn Make Share is a weekly series from the ideaLAB team. Every Tuesday they publish a new video on YouTube on a maker topic that you can follow along with, and the following Tuesday evening they host an online discussion about it. Learn Make Share kicks off this Tuesday, August 11 with Bookbinding.

6. This Saturday, August 8, RedLine will be hosting their 6th Annual 48 Hours Summit Virtually. 48 Hours of Socially Engaged Art & Conversation Summit is a two-day summit and exhibition that engages culture organizations, nonprofits, artist and individuals to share their expertise on culture responsiveness, social responsibility, and collective leadership. Throughout 2020, RedLine's exhibitions and programs, including 48 Hours, will be inspired by the cultural genre known as Afrofuturism. With rich and expansive source material that ranges from ancient mythology, science fiction, astrophysics, and technology to social justice movements, indigenous ethics, and popular culture, the possibilities for exploring this genre are boundless. You can learn more about registration and the event schedule here.

7. Join the Denver Botanical Gardens this Friday at 9 a.m. for a day full of family fun! Pollinators: Guided Family Exploration offers families with children 6-12 a chance to celebrate the importance of Pollinators with a fun and engaging exploration of the Gardens and the amazing creatures that help our plants grow. Pre-registration is required. Head here to learn more about registration instructions, and COVID-19 safety procures.

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Mystery radio signal sent to Earth from closest ever point within Milky Way – New York Post

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Scientists have traced mysterious radio signals detected on Earth to a dead star within our Milky Way galaxy.

The millisecond-long burst of radiation was emitted by a magnestar a type of star with an extremely powerful magnetic field roughly 14,000 light-years away, according to a study.

Known as fast radio bursts (FRBs), signals such as these have baffled scientists for years and typically originate from far beyond the Milky Way.

Their origins are unknown. Some think the energetic waves are the result of cosmic explosions, while others have controversially suggested theyre signals sent by aliens.

Picked up by radio telescopes worldwide in April, the FRB examined in the new study was the first to be detected from inside the Milky Way.

Astronomers traced it back to a magnetar called SGR 1935+2154, potentially settling the debate on where FRBs come from.

This is the first ever observational connection between magnetars and fast radio bursts, said astrophysicist Dr. Sandro Mereghetti of the National Institute for Astrophysics in Italy.

It truly is a major discovery, and helps to bring the origin of these mysterious phenomena into focus.

FRBs are intense pulses of radio waves that last no longer than the blink of an eye and produce the energy of millions of suns.

More than 100 FRBs have been discovered to date, but only a handful have repeated, and fewer still in a predictable pattern.

This makes them notoriously difficult to study, meaning their origins have eluded scientists since the signals were first detected in 2007.

For the new study, carried out by an international team, researchers analyzed data from the European Space Agencys INTEGRAL satellite.

They found that the burst from the magnetar SGR was weaker than FRBs detected from outside our galaxy.

Magnestars are a type of neutron star collapsed remnants of stars that sport powerful magnetic fields.

Sometimes, their magnetic fields can warp the stars shape and trigger eruptions of huge bursts of radiation in what scientists call a starquake.

Very few starquakes have been detected by scientists, and fewer still have been caught emitting radio waves.

Following the detection of the April FRB, a number of scientists suggested it had come from SGR 1935+2154, a theory confirmed by the new study.

This is a very intriguing result and supports the association between FRBs and magnetars, Mereghetti told ScienceAlert earlier this year.

Though the evidence now points strongly in favor of magnestars being the source of all FRBs, the study is not conclusive.

Its possible other stellar phenomena may also lead to the eruption of the mysterious signals.

That could mean the dying embers of a huge star, black holes, or something never before detected by humans.

At least one scientist has suggested the signals could be produced by alien spaceships. However, the majority of experts disagree with this theory.

Whatever their origins, FRBs have the potential to be a new tool that we can use to understand the structure of matter in the universe.

The radio bursts were first discovered in 2007, so even small steps toward understanding their source mean big excitement for astronomers.

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Mystery radio signal sent to Earth from closest ever point within Milky Way - New York Post

Dark Energy Survey census of the smallest galaxies hones the search for dark matter – Stanford University News

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To test those models, the researchers first developed computer simulations of dark matter and its effects on the formation of relatively tiny galaxies inside denser patches of dark matter found circling larger galaxies.

"The faintest galaxies are among the most valuable tools we have to learn about dark matter because they are sensitive to several of its fundamental properties all at once," said Ethan Nadler, the studys lead author and graduate student at Stanford University and SLAC. For instance, if dark matter moves a bit too fast or has gained a little too much energy through long-ago interactions with normal matter, those galaxies wont form in the first place. The same goes for fuzzy dark matter, which if stretched out enough will wipe out nascent galaxies with quantum fluctuations.

By comparing such models with a catalogue of faint dwarf galaxies from the Dark Energy Survey and the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System, or Pan-STARRS, the researchers were able to put new limits on the likelihood of such events. In fact, those limits are strong enough that they start to constrain the same dark matter possibilities direct-detection experiments are now probing and with a new stream of data from the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time expected in the next few years, the limits will only get tighter.

"Its exciting to see the dark matter problem attacked from so many different experimental angles," said Fermilab and University of Chicago scientist Alex Drlica-Wagner, a Dark Energy Survey collaborator and one of the lead authors on the paper. This is a milestone measurement for DES, and Im very hopeful that future cosmological surveys will help us get to the bottom of what dark matter is.

Still, said Nadler, theres a lot of theoretical work to do. For one thing, there are a number of dark matter models, including a proposed form that can strongly interact with itself, where researchers arent sure of the consequences for galaxy formation. There are other astronomical systems as well, such as streams of stars that might reveal new details when they collide with dark matter.

The research was a collaborative effort within theDark Energy Survey. The research was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, by the Department of Energy's Office of Science through SLAC, and by Stanford University.

Editors note: this article is based on a press release from Fermilab.

Citation: Ethan Nadler et al., available as an arXiv preprint (http://arxiv.org/abs/2008.00022)

For questions or comments, contact the SLAC Office of Communications atcommunications@slac.stanford.edu.

SLAC is a vibrant multiprogram laboratory that explores how the universe works at the biggest, smallest and fastest scales and invents powerful tools used by scientists around the globe. With research spanning particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology, materials, chemistry, bio- and energy sciences and scientific computing, we help solve real-world problems and advance the interests of the nation.

SLAC is operated by Stanford University for theU.S. Department of Energys Office of Science.The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.

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Dark Energy Survey census of the smallest galaxies hones the search for dark matter - Stanford University News

MLB Has Made No Changes To The Baseball And Doesnt Plan To For 2020 – Forbes

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Aaron Judge has been hitting the ball out of the ballpark solidly in 2020. The ball, itself, which ... [+] has been under close scrutiny, has not been changed as part of recommendations by the league's committee studying the ball. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

Before baseball fans were engrossed in whether there would even be a season, COVID-19 test results, and debates about 7-inning doubleheaders and other odds rules, one of the biggest stories heading into the season centered on whether the ball was juiced in Major League Baseball. Expect that story to continue in 2020.

Over the past two years, several reports have looked at the ball, including one from Dr. Meredith Willis, an astrophysics Ph.D., who examined the physical properties of the ball, Rob Arthur of Baseball Prospectus who examined Statcast data, as well as FiveThirtyEight x-raying balls to get to the bottom of it. Their consensus was that there were imperfections to the ball that decreased or increased the drag on the ball.

The leagues committee said that For 2016-2017, the increase in home runs is primarily due to an increase in carry. For 2017-2018, the change in home runs is due to two opposing aspects: a change in launch conditions, which would have increased the number of home runs; and a decrease in carry, which would have decreased the number of home runs. The combined effect was a decrease in home runs. They added that For 2018-2019, approximately 60% of the home run increase was due to an increase in carry and 40% to a change in launch conditions. As noted above, only 35% of the increase in home run rate attributable to greater carry is due to a change in the seam

height.

I interviewed MLB commissioner Rob Manfred in September of last year in which he said, . I do think that we need to see if we can make some changes that gives us a more predictable, consistent performance from the baseball.

At the time, Manfred said that the league had pulled together a committee of their own scientists to examine the ball, and at the baseball winter meetings in December, those findings concluded that there were, indeed, properties of the ball that were creating inconsistency and made several recommendations to address the matter. In January, league sources indicated to me that not just some, but all the recommendations, would be adopted. For 2020, they will not be.

Then Gary Sheffield, Jr. tweeted the following, which begged the question: have any changes been made to the ball in the wake of the mountain of analysis on the ball?

According to senior league sources that wished to not speak on the record, there have been no changes to the production process for the 2020 season. The ball in 2020 is consistent with the production processes of 2019, which as the leagues report showed is inconsistent.The league has been looking at a variety of recommendations from the report last year, but according to the sources, the pandemic has slowed the ability to identify and adopt any changes to the production process.

As to what the leagues committee recommended to address the ball, they made several. They recommended that Rawlings, who MLB has an ownership stake in and manufactures all the balls for the league, should develop a system to track the dates on which balls are manufactured and shipped to clubs. Clubs should log which batches of baseballs are used in which games or homestands. To assist in better understanding weather-related properties to how the ball is affected by drag and other properties affecting the performance of the ball during games, MLB should install atmospheric tracking systems at field level in all 30 parks, including temperature, pressure, relative humidity, and wind conditions. In a presentation to the media last month touting advances as part of the leagues Statcast 2.0, a slide was shown indicating wind swirling in the ballpark. But this was derived from AccuWeather and does not follow the committee recommendations of its own weather-related tracking.

One of the bigger recommendations was that the league should codify the current procedures used to monitor the drag, whether in the laboratory or with in-game data, sampling baseballs

manufactured throughout the production cycle and that repeated sampling of the ball to monitor drag coefficients should take place to provide a large sample size of data from which to work from.

Finally, a recommendation to install humidors in all 30 parks to reduce the variability in storage conditions across the league should be employed.

For now, fans, analysts, and media will continue to ponder in the wildest of seasons whether it is any wilder due to the properties of the single-most-important aspect to the integrity of the game: the baseball, itself. Whether changes occur for 2021 is not yet known.

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MLB Has Made No Changes To The Baseball And Doesnt Plan To For 2020 - Forbes

Cricket: Numbers blessed with the touch of immortality – Telegraph India

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The beauty ofWisdenis that every time you go back to it, you discover something different

Here is a little quiz for those who think they are masters of Test match trivia. Which Indian played Test cricket for two countries? The second question is a case for Feluda the mystery of the disappearing Banerjees. Which three Banerjees played one Test each for India and were never picked again?

The answers are hidden inThe Wisden Book of Test Cricket 2014-2019, edited by Steven Lynch, covering 223 matches from September 2014 till the end of the English summer season in 2019. That brought the total number of Tests played since 1877 to more than 2,350.

Test statistics are a bit like fine wine they improve with age. One of the most intriguing sections is at the back with individual Test career records in alphabetical order. India merits nine pages.

The Nawab of Pataudi Senior played three Tests for India in 1946, while his son, the ninth Nawab, Mansoor Ali Khan Tiger Pataudi (Sharmila Tagores late husband), played 46, with a top score of 203 not out. It was Dad who also played three times for England, including twice in the infamous 1932-33 Bodyline series in Australia, scored 102 on debut but was dropped after a row with his skipper, Douglas Jardine, over the ethics of bowling at Donald Bradmans head and body.

Wisdenrecords that S.A. (Sudangsu Abinash) Banerjee and S.N. (Sarobindu Nath Shute) Banerjee got a solo Test each between 1948 and 1949 and S.T. (Subroto Tara) Banerjee in 1992.

The beauty ofWisdenis that every time you go back to it, you discover something different. You could make a whole squad out of the Indians who played a solitary Test among them, M.J. Gopalan (1933-34); Gursharan Singh (1989-90); L.P. Jai (1933-34); K.R. Meherhomji (1936); and the Yuvraj of Patiala (1933-34).

Each of the 223 Tests in the book is allocated a page with a remarkable amount of detail packed in, from the match report and scorecard to the identity of debutants, substitute catchers, award winners, umpires and referees, plus close of play scores and changes of batting and bowling order in the second innings.

The period, 2014-2019, is said to have been a good one for India. Part of the credit must go to Indias batsmen, notably Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma, and the spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin (342 wickets in 65 Tests) and Ravindra Jadeja (198 wickets in 43 Tests). But maybe what tipped the balance are the fast bowlers, such as Jasprit Bumrah (62 wickets in 12 Tests); Ishant Sharma (278 wickets in 92 Tests); Umesh Yadav (119 wickets in 41 Tests); Mohammed Shami (153 wickets in 42 Tests); and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (63 wickets in 21 Tests). That is something new to Indian cricket and the real lesson from the overview offered byWisden.

However, there is some way to go. England, which once had Fred (Fiery) Trueman (307 wickets in 67 Tests) and Brian Statham (252 wickets in 70 Tests), has had James Anderson (575 wickets in 149 Tests) and Stuart Broad (467 wickets in 132 Tests) in modern times, with Jofra Archer (22 wickets in 4 Tests) appearing on the horizon.

Whats missing are India-Pakistan contests because there havent been any. But the book begins with a Pakistan-Australia encounter in Dubai in October 2014, which Pakistan won by 221 runs, with Younis Khan scoring 106 in the first innings and 103 not out in the second. Pakistan also won the second game in Abu Dhabi by 356 runs. This time Younis scored 213 in the first innings and 46 in the second, while Azhar Ali scored 109 and 100 not out in the match. Man of the Match, though, was the skipper, Misbah-ul-Haq, who scored 101 in the first innings and 101 not out in the second. This was only the second time that two batsmen from one team had scored two hundreds in a Test, after the Chappell brothers in New Zealand at Wellington in 1973-74.

A few pages along is the Australia-India series in 2014-15 which Australia won 2-0 with two Tests drawn. This was the series in which Kohli scored 115 and 141 in the first Test, 169 and 54 in the third, and 147 in the fourth. India returned in 2018-2019 and won 2-1. This time Kohli got only one century 123 in the second Test in Perth, while Pujara scored 123 in the first Test in Adelaide, 106 in the third Test in Melbourne, and 193 out of Indias 622 in the first innings in the fourth Test in Sydney which India probably would have won had it not been for rain.

Many decades from now, these stats will take on an ethereal quality. That is the magic of Test cricket for those who choose to walk down memory lane.

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Cricket: Numbers blessed with the touch of immortality - Telegraph India

Sarah Paulsons Mildred is anything but a peach in the first trailer for Netflixs Ratched [WATCH] – Gold Derby

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This will only hurt a little or a lot if youre under Nurse Ratcheds care. Netflix dropped the first trailer for Ryan Murphys new seriesRatched on Tuesday, and, yes, Sarah Paulsons take on the iconic villain is every bit as menacing as Louise Fletchers Oscar-winning turn in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest (1975).

A prequel to Cuckoos Nest, the series imagines the origin story of Mildred Ratched (Paulson), tracing her evolution into the most terrifying nurse etched in pop culture immortality. Set to a disarming rendition of Big Spender, the trailer shows Mildred beginning her new job at a Northern California psychiatric hospital that has started utilizing new and unsettling experiments on the human mind, per the logline. Cue a bevy of footage of incinerators, bloody knives, needles and marionettes.

You have been subjected to enough pain, but you deserve someone to show you mercy, Mildred tells a patient. How different I would be if someone had.

SEE Sarah Paulson teases Netflixs Ratched: Dizzying experience going from villainous nurse to Mrs. America character

Later, when Judy Davis Nurse Betsy Bucket eats Mildreds peach at lunch, she makes the mistake of antagonizing our antihero.

What are you gonna do about it? Betsy bellows. What are you, deaf?

No, Mildred coolly replies. Just thinking of all the things Im gonna do about it.

Tbh, she reacted better than Ross did.

The show takes place in 1947, nearly two decades before the events of Cuckoos Nest, and Murphy, who executive-produces alongside Ian Brennan, once again spared no expense. The bright, lush colors are reminiscent of the look of his other 1940s-set Netflix series this year, Hollywood.

Paulson also serves as executive producer on the show and told Gold Derby earlier this summer that Ratched was the first project of hers that shes watched since her Emmy-winning performance in 2016s The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. Since O.J. I have not watched my work, but I had to watch all of Ratched because Im executive producer on it and Ryan was kind enough to let me weigh in with notes and thoughts, and so I had to really kind of [watch between my fingers], she said.

Created by Evan Romansky, Ratched also stars Cynthia Nixon as Gwendolyn Briggs, Sharon Stone as Lenore Osgood, Jon Jon Briones as Dr. Richard Hanover, Finn Wittrock as Edmund Tolleson, Charlie Carver as Huck, Alice Englert as Dolly, Amanda Plummer as Louise, Corey Stoll as Charles Wainwright, Sophie Okonedo as Charlotte Wells, Brandon Flynn as Henry Osgood and Vincent DOnofrio as Gov. George Wilburn.

Ratched premieres Friday, Sept. 18 on Netflix.

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Sarah Paulsons Mildred is anything but a peach in the first trailer for Netflixs Ratched [WATCH] - Gold Derby

Five minutes with Chai Hansen and Josh Thomson – The News International

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Action-packed family adventure fun; thats what you can expect from The New Legends Of Monkey. Partially inspired by the Japanese show, Monkey, its an international co-production between the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, New Zealands TVNZ and Netflix, and gained a cult following, particularly with children and teens, when it launched in 2018.

Its now returning for a second series, with fallen God, Monkey (Chai Hansen), and his band of fellow misfits, Tripitaka (Luciane Buchanan), Sandy (Emilie Cocquerel) and Pigsy (Josh Thomson), continuing their search for sacred scrolls.

They need seven of them to overcome the chaos of demon rules in their kingdom, but so far only have the scroll of immortality. In the new episodes, we will see them trying to get their hands on the scroll of knowledge but there will be plenty of battles (and funny moments) along the way.

Here, Australian star Hansen, 31, who was born in Thailand, and 39-year-old Kiwi actor and comedian Thomson, whos of Tongan heritage, tell us more.

WHERE DO WE FIND MONKEY AND PIGSY AT THE START OF SERIES TWO?

Josh: Running for their lives! We do a lot of running.

Chai: They put the camera up on this huge wire, which was like a 100m long a cable cam. It looked like we were running like a 100 miles hour. It was amazing.

Josh: Chai was at the front; he was setting the pace, so we had to keep up with Chai. And we did take after take They did the wide shots with Chai at the front and then they did a single of everybody, with me in the background!

SO DO YOU FEEL REALLY FIT AFTER FILMING THEN?

Chai: Oh yeah! After I finish a season of The New Legends Of Monkey, I have my six-pack back and everything and two months after, its gone.

Josh: Theres heaps of action in the second series theres a lot more action than in the first series. But, without going into it, Pigsy gets incapacitated, so I didnt have to do as much running.

These guys were fighting around me, trying to carry me up a mountain, drag me around on a stretcher; that was really good.

Unfortunately, Chai sort of accidentally dropped the stretcher and sat on my head which I found quite funny. But not from my angle

Chai: The whole crew was on the ground laughing. I hope they use it in the show!

WHATS YOUR FAVOURITE THING ABOUT PLAYING THESE CHARACTERS?

Chai: The costumes. I love getting into costume. It just makes me feel like an actual superhero.

Josh: Youve got a very hero-y vibe Im basically wearing a blanket. We filmed in winter, so it was very snuggly.

When I was young, and I would watch TV, there was a lot of fun action stuff that I could watch with my family, and I think being part of something like that is something really rewarding because Ive got friends that watch it with their kids and they get a kick out of it.

And knowing the messages that are in it, friendship, strong female characters, and its got an incredibly diverse cast, its a good buzz.

YOU HAVE TO DO A LOT OF MARTIAL ARTS IN THE SHOW. HAVE YOU KEPT UP WITH THAT IN YOUR SPARE TIME?

Chai: I havent, no. Ive been a little bit lazy.

Actually, because of the pandemic, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to give my body a rest because being actors youre constantly having to be at the top of your game, be in peak physical condition and whatnot.

So, I was like, perfect break for me to just not do any workouts, just relax and watch movies.

Josh: I wish I could, but you go into different roles; Im in another series playing a funeral director now. And Ive got two babies, so its just hard trying to do stuff.

HAVE YOU BEEN RECOGNISED A LOT SINCE THE FIRST SERIES OF THE NEW LEGENDS OF MONKEY LAUNCHED?

Chai: Yeah, actually; quite a lot in Europe. I was doing a couple of conventions there for some of the other shows I do and a lot of the people that come up to me they just rave about Monkey and how theyre excited about the second series.

Its great to see the support, it really helps with everything.

I had a 12/13-year-old kid come up to me and recite the Sutra (an ancient religious text or scripture). I still dont get it right! And I looked it up on Google and I was like, That was word for word youre amazing.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A ROLE MODEL IN A SHOW THATS SO DIVERSE?

Chai: Im half-Chinese, half-Australian, and throughout my entire career, I constantly get just mainly Asian roles.

Theres a lot of people out there who are half like me, and to see people messaging me saying, Youre an idol because Im just like you, it does make you feel so much better to just be able to represent a community like that.

And especially because this is such a historical source material Its reimagined in a very multicultural context which, as the West we are now, were a huge melting pot, and its great to see more diverse casting in shows. Series two of The New Legends Of Monkey launches on Netflix on Friday August 7.

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Five minutes with Chai Hansen and Josh Thomson - The News International

Kelsey Grammer is the Best Part of ‘Money Plane,’ the Zaniest Summer Movie of 2020 – Decider

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I can pinpoint the exact moment in my life when I knew I had to watch the movie Money Plane. It was when I saw a 15 second-long clip of five-time Emmy winner Kelsey Grammer explaining what a Money Plane is to WWE superstar Edge, aka Adam Copeland:

Its called a Money Plane. Some of the baddest motherfuckers on the planet are on that plane, all craving action. Whatever you want to wager on, the Money Plane has you covered. You want to bet on a dude fucking an alligator? Money Plane.

This clip, setting up the very concept of Money Plane, captured my imagination like nothing before. The specific line, You want to bet on a dude fucking an alligator?, rocked the foundations of my world. I didnt know a dude could have sex with an alligator, much less that the rich and mighty would want to bet on it! I was so transfixed that I rewatched this clip upwards of 12 times before furiously texting two of the only friends I have in my pandemic bubble: WE HAVE TO WATCH MONEY PLANE!!! And watch it we did

Money Plane is a movie about a casino heist in the skies. It tells the tale of an ordinary man, Jack Reese (Copeland), charged with leading an impossible mission at the behest of an evil man named Darius The Rumble Grouch (Grammer). It is profane, bizarre, and, at $10 to own on VOD, arguably one of the best summer movie deals of 2020.

However, like the wild bets those bad motherfuckers make in the sky, watching Money Plane is a gamble in and of itself. Yes, its a deliciously bad movie and watching bad movies can be its own brand of fun but that also means youre signing up to watch a bad movie. Money Plane is the best and worst of what a bad movie experience can be. It is shameless in its boorish approach to entertainment, but fails to really go as gonzo as it could, making it ultimately disappointing, with one major exception.

The biggest complaint I have about Money Plane comes down to quality. Made on a shoestring budget, its hard to buy that the rather meh commercial style flight we see our heroes take over would actually be this mythical casino of the skies. Blank, bland rooms try their best to double for VIP sky suites and the fake stewardess costume worn by one of Jacks team is laughably out of style. Plot-wise, the story is also rather wanting. Ultimately Money Plane isuhkind of boring? At times it drags like a dead weight and still there are moments of unhinged wildness.

Money Planes most gloriously ridiculous moments come courtesy of director Andrew Lawrences brothers, Joey and Matthew. Yes, Money Plane is a Lawrence brothers joint. You remember Joey Lawrence from the show Blossom, right? The heartthrob and his two younger brothers co-starred together in the short-lived sitcom Brotherly Love in the 90s. Money Plane proves they still have a healthy working relationship. Director Andrew co-stars as one of Jack Reeses crew while oldest brother Joey plays the John Wick rip-off character, The Concierge, and middle brother Matthew gets to ham it up as a high-roller called The Cowboy. The latter two characters are introduced with a whiff of camp that this film could have honestly used more of.

Money Plane definitely features a scene where acting titan Kelsey Grammer talks about betting on a dude fucking an alligator, but it peaks in that moment as well. No other moment has the insane bluster of that one line or the creative majesty. Thats because the best part of Money Plane is Kelsey Grammers performance. He powers through every line of dialogue as though hes delivering Shakespeare and sells Grouchs pernicious plots from beginning to end. While other actors in the film seem to be phoning it in, Grammer gives Money Plane his all. What does Money Plane give him back? Immortality in the guise of that damn alligator line.

Money Plane is a monstrosity of a movie, but hey, that just makes it the perfect summer movie for 2020, eh?

Where to stream Money Plane

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Kelsey Grammer is the Best Part of 'Money Plane,' the Zaniest Summer Movie of 2020 - Decider

The Boruto Anime Reveals the Real Cost of Naruto’s Last Great Ninja War – CBR – Comic Book Resources

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Episode 158 of the Boruto anime exposes the true, disheartening cost of the Fourth Great Ninja War from the Naruto series.

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 158, "The Man Who Disappeared," now streaming on Crunchyroll.

In the Boruto anime and manga, we've seen that the Fourth Great Ninja War fought in the Naruto series hasn't had the positive effect we first thought it did. Sure, the shinobi alliance saved the planetbut only the major nations benefitted, with smaller ones and those considered to be at-risk, such as the Village Hidden by the Rain (aka Amegakure), left tofester with criminals.

In the latest episode, "The Man Who Disappeared," we learn the true cost of the war, and it's a dismal truth -- exposing leaders like Naruto and villages like Konoha as being ignorant, or perhaps even uncaring, about the collateral damage of old.

RELATED:Boruto: Kara's Anime Arrival Is REALLY Underwhelming

Boruto, Sarada and Mitsuki are sent by the Hokage to investigate a missing scientist for a medical/tech firm by the name of Anato. His wife, Mia, sent word from the Land of Valleys as she thinks the company's covering up his absence so the ninjas are here to find out if he's dead or kidnapped, especially as Kara's coming out the shadows. With Konohamaru mentoring Boruto's Team 7, Mugino joins them, but rather than impart happy-go-lucky advice, this senior ninja is despondent, revealingto Boruto that smaller villages have been sufferingover the years.

Small-scale crime is still occurring but the greater nations are preoccupied with the glitz, glam and politics, making the alliance look more or less like a faade. Victor, the owner of the firm, later confirms this, admitting that smaller villages don't have resources, infrastructure and money like the other big nations. In fact, promises haven't been kept at all, leaving them by the wayside after terrorists like the Akatsuki, Orochimaru, Kabuto, Madara and Kaguya plundered their lands. The war took a heavy toll on them: a lot of soldiers joined the alliance only to die or suffer severe damages without proper compensation.

RELATED:The Boruto Anime Just Made Progressive Changes to Konoha's ANBU Unit

It's why Victor formed his company, to experiment on DNA to help them regrow limbs, eyes and even brains. He lost his limbs in the war, too, and with the elite turning a blind eye to areas like his, it's his duty to find some sort of road to immortality. Poor people can't afford healthcare after all, so Victor has a humanitarian agenda to try to fix them himself permanently. There aren't many who can do what he does, though, leaving many villages vulnerable without people to commit to similar ventures. It's why the smaller nations basically become filled with ghettos and crime, because with no health industry, jobs or diversification -- not to mention tech -- they're left to suffer.

This caused Victor's workers to take great risks to harvest animals and plants, endangering themselves in the name of medical and tech advancement, which appears to be the case with Anato's missing team. As a result, Boruto appreciates Konoha even more as he sees how the outside world is lagging behind, but it hits home hard that his dad might be a typical politician whose alliance is filled with lies and a lack of compassion for the very people that helped them win the war. It might not resonate much with Mitsuki and Sarada but Boruto's ambition has always been to unite all the people, so this may well be a lesson he needs to see for himself firsthand -- one that might not be found in textbooks back home. And it seems like Naruto himself is interested in revisionist history rather than the truth, which leaves Boruto torn as to who to look up to when he gets back home.

KEEP READING:The Boruto Anime May Have Just Solved the Manga's Biggest Mystery

Dragon Ball Z Is Anime Porn, Warns Florida Congressional Candidate

I'm a former Chemical Engineer. It was boring so I decided to write about things I love. On the geek side of things, I write about comics, cartoons, video games, television, movies and basically, all things nerdy. I also write about music in terms of punk, indie, hardcore and emo because well, they rock! If you're bored by now, then you also don't want to hear that I write for ESPN on the PR side of things. And yes, I've written sports for them too! Not bad for someone from the Caribbean, eh? To top all this off, I've scribed short films and documentaries, conceptualizing stories and scripts from a human interest and social justice perspective. Business-wise, I make big cheddar (not really) as a copywriter and digital strategist working with some of the top brands in the Latin America region. In closing, let me remind you that the geek shall inherit the Earth. Oh, FYI, I'd love to write the Gargoyles movie for Disney. YOLO.

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The Boruto Anime Reveals the Real Cost of Naruto's Last Great Ninja War - CBR - Comic Book Resources

Super-Earth Exoplanets Could Have Bright-Shining Metallic Atmospheres

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Scientists thought exoplanets appeared bright in sky surveys because of reflective lava oceans, but new research shows something else has to be helping.

Metal Clouds

A bizarre class of exoplanets called hot super-Earths can appear particularly bright on sky surveys.

Astronomers had previously assumed that was because the light was reflecting off vast oceans of lava and glass on their surface, but a team of MIT scientists thinks the brightness comes from a totally-different but equally-weird phenomenon. Their research, published Tuesday in The Astrophysical Journal, suggests instead that the planets are so bright thanks to reflective clouds formed in a metal-rich atmosphere.

World Building

The lava ocean hypothesis was fairly well-accepted, but there was no experimental evidence to back it up. So the MIT team tried it out: They built miniatures of the exoplanets by melting rocks in the lab and seeing how bright the lava and glass was. The verdict? Not enough.

“We still have so much to understand about these lava-ocean planets,” MIT graduate student Zahra Essack who worked on the research, said in a press release. “We thought of them as just glowing balls of rock, but these planets may have complex systems of surface and atmospheric processes that are quite exotic, and not anything we’ve ever seen before.”

Creative Thinking

The experiment didn’t result in new proof for the metal-rich clouds. But it suggests that there has to be something else behind the exoplanets’ unusual luminosity, and the atmosphere seems like a good place to look.

“We’re not 100 percent sure what these planets are made of,” Essack said in the release, “so we’re narrowing the parameter space and guiding future studies toward all these other potential options.”

READ MORE: Lava oceans may not explain the brightness of some hot super-Earths [MIT]

More on exoplanets: Stunning Images Appear to Show a Planet Being Born

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Super-Earth Exoplanets Could Have Bright-Shining Metallic Atmospheres

CERN Says the Higgs Boson Did Something Unexpected

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For the first time, physicists observed the Higgs boson decay into a pair of particles called muons, further reinforcing the Standard Model.

Breaking Up

Scientists at CERN just saw the Higgs boson do something odd — as it decayed, it appeared to break down into an unexpected combination of particles.

This is the first time that they saw the Higgs boson — the particle believed to grant mass to other elementary particles ­— break down into a pair of muons, according to research shared this week at a high energy physics conference. The discovery further reinforces the Standard Model of physics, which has long been challenged by new particle discoveries.

Playing God

One of the best ways for physicists to study the Higgs boson is to observe how it dies. Typically, they’ve seen it decay into comparatively-heavy particles, but muons are far lighter and interact less with the field given off by the Higgs boson.

“[Our CERN team] is proud to have achieved this sensitivity to the decay of Higgs bosons to muons, and to show the first experimental evidence for this process,” CERN spokesperson Roberto Carlin said in a press release.

Next-Gen

Muons are second-generation particles. While atoms are made of first-generation particles like electrons, higher-generations only exist in high-energy environments — like a particle physics lab — and quickly decay. This is the first time scientists have seen the Higgs boson interact with any second-generation particles.

“The Higgs boson seems to interact also with second-generation particles in agreement with the prediction of the Standard Model, a result that will be further refined with the data we expect to collect in the next run,” Carlin said.

READ MORE: CERN experiments announce first indications of a rare Higgs boson process [CERN]

More on the Higgs boson: CERN Scientist on What Physicists Have Left to Discover After Higgs Boson

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CERN Says the Higgs Boson Did Something Unexpected

This Site Lets You Control an Actual Boston Dynamics Robodog With a PlayStation Controller

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Thanks to San Francisco-based startup Formant, you can remotely a control a Boston Dynamics Spot robot dog to go for a stroll.

Walk With Spot

San Francisco-based startup Formant has developed tech that lets you remotely control a Boston Dynamics Spot robot dog from the comfort of your living room, CNET reports, right inside your browser. All you need is a stable internet connection.

The demonstration is mostly a way to showcase software that lets you control a variety of robots, from underwater drones to automated guided vehicles.

“Spot’s fantastic because it’s the first robot that can reliably navigate the world in a non-structured environment,” Jeff Linnell, CEO of Formant, told CNET.

Going for a Stroll

CNET reporter Lexy Savvides walked the robot dog from a mile away in her living room, using a PlayStation controller to steer it through a park in San Francisco. A human handler stayed by its side the entire time.

The robot dog went on sale for a cool $74,500 earlier this year and has been put to use at oil rigs, construction sites, and even hospitals during the ongoing pandemic.

To get a shot at controlling a robot dog for yourself, you’ll have to fill out a form on Formant’s website. The company is looking to test its software out on kids and others, who aren’t particularly into technology, according to CNET.

READ MORE: I walked Spot, the Boston Dynamics robot dog, remotely — and only crashed once [CNET]

More on Spot: Boston Dynamics’ Robot Dog Is Going to Work on an Oil Rig

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This Site Lets You Control an Actual Boston Dynamics Robodog With a PlayStation Controller

Russian Officials Are Injecting Themselves With an Experimental COVID Vaccine

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Russia may begin a mass COVID-19 inoculation campaign this Autumn, but there's no available data showing that the experimental vaccine works.

Russian officials claim to have developed a coronavirus vaccine that’s 100 percent effective, and officials say they’re trying it out on themselves and their family — but, worryingly, there’s no publicly-available evidence to suggest that it actually works.

Russia’s state-operated research facility, the Gamaleya Research Institute, says it’s ready for a phase 3 clinical trial that it wants to conduct on doctors and teachers, Quartz reports. Unfortunately, the World Health Organization (WHO) doesn’t seem to have data suggesting the experimental vaccine is that far along.

The Gamaleya Research Institute filed a small phase 1 study, but never published any results. Kirill Dmitriev, the chief executive of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, told a newspaper in the United Arab Emirates that the researchers want to begin a phase 3 trial in that country, but also that Russia wants to begin mass inoculation in September or October.

If the vaccine is approved for use — something CNN reports that the Gamaleya Institute hopes will happen by mid-August — Russia plans to distribute it to healthcare workers on the front lines.

Even if the vaccine flew through the earlier phases of clinical research, as Dmitriev claimed, a properly-conducted phase 3 clinical trial takes months.

WHO spokesperson Margaret Ann Harris told Quartz that the organization was aware that a Russian vaccine was entering phase 3, but didn’t elaborate on previous results or safety concerns.

But the lack of publicly available safety and efficacy data hasn’t stopped Russian officials from making extremely bold, questionable claims about the research.

“Based on Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials, we also show that 100 percent of about 100 people generated a very high level of antibodies,” Dmitriev told The National.

Dmitriev added that he and his parents already took the vaccine. Project director Alexander Ginsburg told CNN he injected himself with the vaccine as well.

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Russian Officials Are Injecting Themselves With an Experimental COVID Vaccine