Monthly Archives: April 2020

5 COVID-Related Cryptocurrency Scams that Can Trick You Out of Your Money – Coin Idol

Posted: April 21, 2020 at 7:49 pm

Apr 21, 2020 at 10:55 // News

While most of the world is in a lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have lost their jobs or sources of income. While searching for a way to improve the situation, it is rather easy to fall victim to a fraudulent scheme.

As the outbreak of the coronavirus has put most of the planet into a lockdown, scammers and fraudsters take their chance to make some profit for themselves. Some of them target critical health departments of governments, non-profit organizations (including WHO), and private firms working hard to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) has in recent weeks registered a rapid hike in the number of hacks, most of which demand ransoms in cryptocurrency.

However, ordinary people suffer no less, and even more, as scammers trick them out of their last money. In conditions when it is not so easy to earn funds, it might be fatal for some families. Coinidol.com, a world blockchain news outlet, has gathered a list of the most widespread scam schemes related to coronavirus, in order to help our readers protect themselves.

While everybody understands it is important to combat COVID-19 as soon as possible to get back to normal life and prevent global economic collapse, scammers try to benefit from peoples willingness to help. So they pose themselves as reputable organizations such as National Health Service or World Health Organization and ask for cryptocurrency donations to aid the victims of COVID-19, buy drugs and medical equipment or fund the research for a vaccine.

It is easy for fraudsters to trick trusting people as such organizations really collect donations. However, none of them accepts cryptocurrency. Not directly, at least. For instance, the Dutch Red Cross accepts digital currency donations using BitPay as an intermediary. So, if you receive an email from, lets say, WHO, asking you to donate cryptocurrency directly to a wallet, most probably it is nothing but a scam trying to trick you out of your money.

With the death toll of COVID-19 being quite high, it is natural that people wish to protect themselves by any means. And this has not gone unnoticed for scammers that have started offering a really working cure from coronavirus or lists of infected people so that those healthy ones could protect themselves.

The latter scheme targeted the citizens of Great Britain, namely, the residents of Manchester, Pembrokeshire, and Norfolk. People were offered to buy lists covering their neighbourhood, so they could isolate themselves from those infected. However, as a result, the victims got nothing in return.

As of now, there is no cure against coronavirus either legal or illegal. There can also be no lists of infected people as such information is confidential, so disclosing it is considered a crime. If you get any kind of such offers, you must not trust them, for if you do, you will end up with nothing but an empty wallet.

Intimidating people to make them pay is no news for the criminal world. However, now this scheme has been modified in COVID-19 style. Some of the scams come threatening people (victims) to reveal their personal information and also send Bitcoins in the addresses provided or else the family of the victims will be infected with coronavirus.

In this case, scammers simply manipulate peoples fears. The globe is in panic, people are afraid of leaving their homes in order to stay healthy and survive this pandemic. So the threat might seem really formidable to those easily scared.

However, as in most cases, these are only threats, for it is actually not so easy to infect someone who does not leave home. Besides, there is no chance to infect someone without the risk of being infected. Scammers are also people. They have the survival instinct. So dont let fear affect your critical thinking and stay calm.

This is another good old fraudulent scheme that has been brought back for COVID-19. Scammers usually disguise themselves as legitimate and reputable organizations and prompt their victims to open some links or documents within their emails. These might be databases of the infected people, some fake research results that testify finding of a cure or a vaccine etc.

If a user clicks such a link, one will be forwarded to a fake website that usually steals credentials. For instance, a group of scammers in Great Britain posed themselves as Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and offered people tax returns as if to aid the citizens during a lockdown. Those who clicked the bait were forwarded to a credential-stealing website or asked to pay a small processing fee before actually getting the money. Well, no need to say no one got any money at all.

This scheme is not directly related to coronavirus, however, the pandemic has triggered its significant growth. People are forced to stay at home, with many of them having lost their jobs and sources of income. So remote jobs are becoming more and more relevant.

Scammers have realised this as well. So while people are desperately looking for new jobs, fraudsters are sending them fake offers and lure their personal data and credentials. Some of such employers ask to pay some kind of fees or buy some tools or information necessary for future work. But as soon as the person pays, the employer vanishes along with ones money.

The best way to protect yourself against such schemes is to think twice, explore and investigate. It might be not so easy to tell fraudsters that disguise themselves as a reputable organization, but still, it is possible if you take your time and study the situation. For instance, if you are offered a cure from COVID-19, you may surf the web and see that there is actually no cure, so you have been contacted by scammers.

Governments and other organizations from various countries also keep a close eye on such scams, trying to warn people against them. For instance, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a warning related to the increase of COVID-19 related scams. The Bureau advised the general public to be sure to tell apart legitimate vendors from scammers before any dealings, research well on online investment opportunities, and to avoid disclosing personal bank account details online suspicious business-related activities.

Furthermore, the FBI and the Office of Criminal Investigation (CIA) said that they have formed a dedicated team to prevent money laundering and fraud crimes using cryptocurrency. So any victim who wants to report an activity involving cryptocurrency or suspected of being a crime, please visit the dedicated team office or contact the FBI Internet Crime Reporting Center.

In Great Britain, fraud and cybercrime reporting centre Action Fraud has joined forces with London Police to spread awareness about coronavirus-related scams. Therefore, their information might also turn out helpful in case you find yourself hesitant about any offer or email you receive on the Internet.

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Promising technologies that will change cancer testing in India – Express Healthcare

Posted: at 7:48 pm

All these technologies show amazing promise and some of them are already in use. The scientific community in India is constantly pushing their limits to get to a stage where the diagnosis of cancer will not be a life-altering event for patients

In the last few decades, cancer has become a leading cause of mortality worldwide. According to the WHO, currently, around 10 million new cancers are diagnosed each year worldwide, but unless there is an effective prevention campaign, the number will rise to 20 million in the next 17 years time. Therefore, the global scientific and healthcare community are turning to novel approaches in an attempt to make sure those grim projections dont continue to haunt us. Stronger and effective cancer treatments are certainly part of the development goals, but a premium is also being put on early diagnosis to ensure better medical outcomes and assured prevention.

Today, more focus is given to precision medicine-quantitation, multiplexing and highly precise identification of markers. Precise tools which were once utilised in research settings are now applied in clinical practice with just one goal in mind- faster and more efficient cancer testing.

In this article, we examine top technologies that will improve efficiencies and precision in cancer diagnostics and prevention in India.

Fluid biopsies: Many scientific publications have documented that liquid or fluid biopsies are informative regarding response to a given therapy, are capable of detecting relapse with lead time compared to standard measures, and reveal mechanisms of resistance. According to Dr BS Ajaikumar, Chairman and CEO, HCG Global, liquid biopsy plays a significant role in those cases where it is difficult to establish a tissue diagnosis in a recurrent or metastatic setting. It is a simple minimally invasive procedure done on blood, plasma or urine sample to identify the genetic material of tumour cells either as ctDNA (Circulating tumour DNA) or CTC (Circulating Tumour cells) or cfDNA (Cell-free DNA) by identification of cancer-associated DNA / RNA / exosomes.

He further lists down some benefits of the same:

Real-time cancer diagnostics: With the need to need to translate recent discoveries in oncology research into clinical practice, cancer experts believe that objective, robust and cost-effective molecular techniques for clinical trials and, eventually, routine use is a must. Real-time PCR has become a useful and cost-effective technique for tumour profiling among clinical laboratories.

Dr Kirti Chadha, Head of Laboratory at Metropolis Healthcare expounds, The pathogenesis of tumours is complex making the surgical management more difficult. Here comes the role of real-time diagnostics which will give an on-table diagnosis to make the treatment successful. A lot of research is going on it like an intelligent surgical knife has been developed by using an old technology where an electrical current heats tissue to make incisions with minimal blood loss, but with this technology, the vapourised smoke is analysed by a mass spectrometer to detect the chemicals in the biological sample allowing identification of malignant tissue. Also, a robotic platform has been developed in treating lung cancer. It combines robotics, software, data science and endoscope innovation to help diagnose lung cancer at an early stage with more accuracy and a lower risk of complications. Similarly, realtime detection of breast cancer at the cellular level by a multispectral confocal scanning system has been developed. These are at research levels or some of them are being approved for use. Introducing advanced technology to traditional methods can also give us better real-time solutions like using digital pathology.

Digital PCR: Digital PCR is the latest and advanced iteration of a conventional quantitative RT-PCR for sensitive and accurate measurement of DNA/RNA from samples. The primary principle behind the technique is similar to q-PCR but differs in the way the sample target is analysed.

Dr Dheeraj Gautam, Head of Department Department of Histopathology, Associate Director- Department of Pathology and Lab Medicine, Medanta- The Medicity says, PCR is a common test used to make many copies (millions or billions) of a particular region of DNA. With best systems, we have the capability to detect as few as ~10 copies of DNA templates. It is routinely used in DNA cloning, cancer diagnostics, and forensic analysis of DNA. For example, it might be a DNA sequence (gene) from a crime scene to match crime suspect, by forensic scientists. Typically, the goal of PCR is to amplify enough of the target DNA region, so that it can be analysed to deliver useful scientific information. Presently, Coronavirus is being tested by this method.

Adding to this, Dr Ajaikumar informs, Digital PCR is a simple and reproducible technique that does not rely on a calibration curve for sample target quantification. Digital PCR works by partitioning a sample of DNA into many individual, parallel PCR reactions. Following PCR amplification, the number of positive vs negative reactions is determined and the absolute quantification of target calculated using Poisson statistics. The benefits are, high precision, better signal to noise ratio, removal of PCR efficiency bias and simplified quantification.

Speaking about the areas in which Digital PCR is currently applied, Dr Chadha reveals, dPCR is currently being applied for absolute allele quantification, rare mutation detection, analysis of copy number variations, DNA methylation, and gene rearrangements in different kinds of clinical samples. The form of digital PCR ie. Digital droplet PCR(ddPCR) is performed in Metropolis for circulating tumour DNA(ctDNA), EGFR/KRAS/NRAS/BRAF mutations in lung and colorectal cancer.

Chromosome Analysis: Since altered genetic mechanisms lead to the development of cancer, chromosome analysis plays a significant role in the diagnosis and treatment monitoring of patients with various types of cancer. Chromosome analysis can be done by karyotyping and CGH(Comparative Genomic Hybridisation) array.

Dr Ajaikumar explains the various techniques that follow under chromosome analysis:

Cytogenetics(Karyotyping and FISH): FISH can identify chromosomal abnormalities such as insertions, deletions, translocations and amplification, through the use of fluorescent dyes that bind to sequences of interest. It is well known that certain types of cancer have specific genetic alterations. So far > 200 rearrangements and fusions have been identified. Examples include BCR-ABL translocation in CML, ALK rearrangement in NSCLC, Her-2 in Breast Cancer, Synovial sarcoma with t(X:18) (p11.2;q11.2), Ewings Sarcoma with t(11:22) (q24;q12.2). FISH is applied to detect genetic abnormalities that include different characteristic gene fusions or the presence of an abnormal number of chromosomes in a cell or loss of a chromosomal region or a whole chromosome. It is also applied in different research applications, such as gene mapping or the identification of novel oncogenes. FISH has high sensitivity and specificity. With microfluidics FISH, it can be faster and less costly.

Immunohistochemistry: Provides a platform for identification of certain chromosomal alterations through detection of proteins. Examples are the Her-2 testing in Breast and gastric cancer, ALK in NSCLC, TFE3 in Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma, MDM2 and CDK4 in certain soft tissue sarcomas like Liposarcomas. They have high sensitivity and specificity of almost 95-97 per cent. They also provide targets for drug therapy.

Molecular testing: Through PCR, Direct sequencing, DNA and Protein microarray techniques and the latest path-breaking technology of NGS. PCR and sequencing are useful when we want to look for the presence of a known genetic alteration such as EGFR mutation in lung adenocarcinoma. But when the alterations are unknown or are likely to involve many loci, a panel of genetic markers can be screened through Next-Generation sequencing.

Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS): Massively parallel deep sequencing of a large number of patients with a variety of cancers to analyse the mutation profile of tumours at one go provides a comprehensive understanding of the processes that drive an individuals cancer. This will break the cycle of trial and error medicine, and link the test to patient-tailored action and evidence-based therapy/ treatment plan in cancer. Furthermore, using genomic markers as response predictors to chemotherapy will dramatically improve response rates impacting the risk-benefit ratio for these patients.

Cell Signaling Pathway Testing: According to experts, cancer is caused by genetic and/or epigenetic changes in one cell or a group of cells. These alterations disrupt normal cell function and cause cancerous cells to proliferate and avoid mechanisms that would typically control their growth, division, and migration. Many of these disruptions map to specific cell signalling pathways. These pathways are involved in deregulated cell survival, cell differentiation and apoptosis. They form the hallmark of cancer that include immune evasion, replicative immortality, activate invasion and metastasis, induce angiogenesis, resist cell death, deregulate cellular energetics, sustained proliferative signalling, evading growth suppressors, possess genome instability and mutations, and mediate a tumour associated inflammatory response. Signalling pathways such as Ras proteins through Raf-MEK-Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathways regulate cell survival, cell proliferation and migration/invasion in response to matrix adhesion and growth factor stimulation. Three Ras proteins KRAS, NRAS and HRAS become mutationally activated and promote oncogenesis. Also identified are Wnt/Beta Catenin signalling in APC and NF2 gene in Neurofibromatosis Type 2. Certain growth factors such as RTK-VEGF, TGF Beta, PTEN in several types of cancers, are detected with either FISH or IHC or ELISA or other molecular profiling such as NGS more accurately and form the target for drug therapy.

Tissue microarrays: Tissue microarray technology overcomes the bottleneck of traditional tissue analysis and allows it to catch up with the rapid advances in lead discovery.Dr Chadha further explains, Tissue microarrays consist of paraffin blocks in which up to 1000 separate tissue cores are assembled in array fashion to allow multiplex histological analysis. It is a recent innovation in the field of pathology. A microarray contains many small representative tissue samples from hundreds of different cases assembled on a single histological slide, and therefore allows high throughput analysis of multiple specimens at the same time. It can permit simultaneous analysis of molecular targets at the DNA, mRNA, and protein levels under identical, standardised conditions on a single glass slide, and also provide maximal preservation and use of limited and irreplaceable archival tissue samples. This versatile technique, in which data analysis is automated facilitates retrospective and prospective human tissue studies. It is a practical and effective tool for high-throughput molecular analysis of tissues that is helping to identify new diagnostic and prognostic markers and targets in human cancers and has a range of potential applications in basic research, prognostic oncology and drug discovery. This technique is very versatile as many downstream molecular assays such as immunohistochemistry, cytogenetic studies, Fluorescent In situ-Hybridisation (FISH) etc., can be carried out on a single slide with multiple numbers of samples.

Adding further, Dr Ajaikumar points out, The field of biomarker research can further be escalated by the integration of TMA technology with digital pathology. The most important disadvantage of this technique is that one small tissue core may not be representative of the whole tumour analysed conventionally. Therefore, many such cores of the same may be required to carry out analysis to arrive at a definitive conclusion. This is mainly significant for heterogeneous tumours like a human ovarian tumour. Whether this technology is useful in heterogeneous tumours is still highly debated.

Artificial intelligence-based therapy: Many cancer care experts believe that integration of AI technology can improve the accuracy and speed of diagnosis, aid clinical decision-making, and lead to better health outcomes. AI-guided clinical care has, therefore, the potential to play an important role in reducing health disparities, particularly in low-resource settings.Dr Gautam exemplifies how AI integration can be done in cancer diagnosis. A pathology AI system is a computer programme that assists pathologists in their work or provides automated pathology. Machine learning allows learning a task from data, like providing a diagnosis or a score, or a subtask, like classifying different cancers. A deep learning network is able to learn highly complex visual features just from the image data, achieving expert human performance, he describes.

Similarly, citing more examples, Dr Chadha spells out, AI also has gained importance in therapy designs, for e.g. Google is collaborating with health delivery networks to build prediction models from big data to warn clinicians of high-risk conditions, such as sepsis and heart failure. A neural network was applied to identify breast cancer with the inputs from mammographic images. A convolutional neural network was also performed to identify skin cancer from clinical images. Many start-ups are developing AI-derived image interpretation algorithms and can identify the patients at most risk as well as those likely to respond to treatment protocols. Digital pathology is one such platform which can be used for AI interpretations and diagnosis. Metropolis is one of the first CAP & NABL approved labs in India to adopt this platform. Scanning of slides to create a database which can be used for machine learning and AI-derived image interpretation.

On the anvil

As the scientific community continues to move ahead there will be cross-fertilisation of tests and technologies in the future. Oncologists and histopathologists also indicate a growing significance of pharmacodiagnostics in cancer care due to the development of new improved targeted drugs.

Adds Dr Chadha, This emerging and expanding speciality with major potential for the specific linking of a treatment outcome like a response, toxicity and resistance to a key molecular alteration (e.g. protein overexpression or gene amplification) within a disease state to predict therapeutic response. It is used in measuring response or adverse side effects of both established and newer therapies. In oncology, recent advances with targeted therapeutics have demonstrated the critical importance of appropriate pharmacodiagnostic approaches. It is based on identifying somatic molecular changes in the tumour which forms the basis of molecular targeting of many novel therapies. The development of Herceptin (targeting the human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER2) oncogene in breast cancer) and Glivec (targeting BCR-ABL translocation in leukaemia) are excellent examples of the close relationship between target expression, pharmacodiagnostic tests and clinical therapeutic response. As treatment response depends on the molecular profile of individual cancer, the major challenge for the future will be to co-develop novel targeted therapies and pharmacodiagnostic tests also called as companion diagnostic tests that will predict patient response to therapy. To successfully integrate novel pharmacodiagnostics into clinical practice the collaboration between pharmaceutical and diagnostic industries, clinical oncologists and researchers must be strengthened.

Going forward, experts reveal immense opportunities for IVD companies to thrive in this business segment. But to be successful, IVD companies must demonstrate the impact their technologies will have on physicians decisions and patient outcomes.

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We Are Probably Living in a Simulation, Here’s What You Need to Know About Simulation Theory – Interesting Engineering

Posted: at 7:47 pm

Say what you want about the entire trilogy and the upcoming sequels, most would agree that the Matrix is one of the best science fiction films in history. Earning $463 million from worldwide ticket sales after its release on March 31, 1999, the Matrix became a pop culture phenomenon. The film's plot, action, writing, cinematography, and perfectly cast actors make this film an enjoyable ride from start to finish.

However, one of the most memorable takeaways from the film, aside from Keanu Reeves, is the idea about the true nature of reality, posing the question, what if life is simply just a simulation? Though fans of the Matrix will not deny some of the film's heady philosophy, this question has plagued philosophers and scientists for millennia. And, the thing is, you actually might be living in a simulation.

Humanity has always seemed to have a healthy distrust for the nature of reality, with philosophers leading the charge in this mind-melting territory. Yet, believe it or not, there is a group of scientists from leading institutions like MIT and Oxford who have a lot to say about our reality and the idea that we may all be living in a computer simulation. Now, before we jump any further into simulation theory or the simulation hypothesis, it is good to mention that this is more of a thought experiment rather than cold hard facts.

There are some compelling arguments out there for simulation theory, but that is because the overarching idea is unfalsifiable. This means that you are confidently asserting that a theory or hypothesis is true or false even though the hypothesis cannot possibly be contradicted by an observation or the outcome of any physical experiment, usually without strong evidence or functional reasons. So until you find out you are the One like Neo, do not try anything too crazy.

The idea of simulation theory can be attributed to the prominent Oxford University philosopher Nick Bostrom. In a paper aptly dubbed, "Are you Living in a Computer Simulation?," the paper argues that one of the following assumptions are true: (1) the human species is very likely to go extinct before reaching a "posthuman" stage; (2) any posthuman civilization is extremely unlikely to run a significant number of simulations of their evolutionary history; (3) we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation. In short, the paper argues that we can not know for sure if any of these are 100% likely to occur without a doubt.

However, according to the paper, the third option is probably the most probable outcome. In short, our great great great great great great grandchildren will probably have the computing power needed to run evolutionary simulations of humanity. Why would they not? And, how would you know that you are not currently part of that simulation? Ponder that for a second.

"Many works of science fiction, as well as some forecasts by serious technologists and futurologists, predict that enormous amounts of computing power will be available in the future. Let us suppose for a moment that these predictions are correct. One thing that later generations might do with their super-powerful computers is run detailed simulations of their forebears or of people like their forebears. Because their computers would be so powerful, they could run a great many such simulations," says Bostrom.

"Apart from the interest, this thesis may hold for those who are engaged in futuristic speculation; there are also more purely theoretical rewards. The argument provides a stimulus for formulating some methodological and metaphysical questions, and it suggests naturalistic analogies to certain traditional religious conceptions, which some may find amusing or thought-provoking."

Bostrom is not the only person that believes that we are living in a simulation. MIT Developer and Play Labs's Executive Director Rizwan Virk expanded on Bostrom's ideas in his book The Simulation Hypothesis, describing what he calls the "Simulation Point," or the moment at which we could realistically build a Matrix-like simulation. In an interview with Digital Trends, Rizwan Virk describes his interpretation of simulation theory stating, "The basic idea is that everything we see around us, including the Earth and the universe, is part of a very sophisticated MMORPG (a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game) and that we are players in this game. The hypothesis itself comes in different forms."

The French philosopher Ren Descartes once said, "It is possible that I am dreaming right now and that all of my perceptions are false." As mentioned above, the nature of reality has been pondered by philosophers for millennia. In fact, some of the ideas presented in the simulation theory parallel some of the overarching ideas presented in history's most significant philosophical lessons. Though Plato or Descartes were probably not thinking about the Matrix, many people have noted that simulation theory is a modern iteration of Plato's Allegory of the Cave or Descartes's evil demon hypothesis.

This is probably not the first time you have heard about simulation theory. The hypothesis about our reality has made its way into pop culture, appearing in everything from popular subreddits to tv shows and films. More notably, Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and Elon Musk have both welcomed and embraced the theory. In an interview with NBC News, Neil deGrasse Tyson expressed that there is probably a better than 50-50 odds that the simulation hypothesis is correct, stating, "I wish I could summon a strong argument against it, but I can find none." This also echoes a similar sentiment that Musk shares toward the nature of our reality.

At the Code Conference in 2016, Musk stated, "Forty years ago we had Pong two rectangles and a dot. That's where we were. Now 40 years later, we have photorealistic, 3D simulations with millions of people playing simultaneously, and it's getting better every year. And soon we'll have virtual reality, we'll have augmented reality," said Musk. "If you assume any rate of improvement at all, then the games will become indistinguishable from reality."

"If one progresses at the current rate of technology a few decades into the future, very quickly, we will be a society where artificial entities are living in simulations that are much more abundant than human beings." However, not everyone fully embraces the idea of simulation theory. In an interview with the Guardian, Max Tegmark, a professor of physics at MIT stated that "Is it logically possible that we are in a simulation? Yes. Are we probably in a simulation? I would say no."

"In order to make the argument in the first place, we need to know what the fundamental laws of physics are where the simulations are being made. And if we are in a simulation, then we have no clue what the laws of physics are." Nevertheless, Tegmark went on to state that recognizing that, we are probably living in a simulation is as game-changing as Copernicus realizing that the Earth was not the center of the universe.

Those who have jumped down the rabbit hole have pointed to various scientific phenomena, claiming that these are visible signs that we are living in a simulation. So, what are they?

This is the most obvious. You have probably played games like Sid Meyer's Civilization or even Sims. These games allow us to simulate human life on a global scale or within a small neighborhood. As mentioned above, at the rate at which computing power is growing, what is stopping humans from simulating their history? As a nineties or eighties baby, you have watched games evolve into these photorealistic 3D renderings of reality. Computing power in just the next 50 years will be millions of times more powerful than it is today. Harvard's Odyssey computer can already simulate 14 billion years in just a matter of months.

Do you ever wonder why humans have not come in contact with aliens yet? In the vast, unimaginable size of the universe, why are there not more signs of intelligent life out there? Welcome to the Fermi Paradox. Named after the Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi, the Fermi Paradox is the apparent contradiction between the lack of evidence for extraterrestrial civilizations and various high estimates for their probability, ie, the Drake Equation. Perhaps there are no aliens in this simulation? In this current reality, the easiest thing to do for the people behind the simulation is to simply simulate life in just one place in the universe. The universe might have just been created for us.

Scientists like Nuclear physicist Zohreh Davoudi and NYU David Chalmers have made it very clear that the chances of us living in a simulation are most likely very low. Even more so, how would you go about proving that you live in a simulation? As David Chalmers simply puts, "You're not going to get proof that we're not in a simulation, because any evidence that we get could be simulated."

Do you ever experience something and think to yourself, "This can't be real." To some people who have bought into the notion that our reality is currently being simulated, there are examples all around us, that demonstrate glitches in the Matrix. Deja Vu? Ghosts? The Mandela Effect? These could all be direct examples of flaws in the simulation. Some have simply pointed to the most recent events in history as proof that we are currently living in a simulation. Could the Coronavirus be an indication that we are living in a simulation?

MIT Theoretical physicist James Gates has made a discovery that allegedly caused Neil deGrasse Tyson to sit down in shock. Now for the uninitiated, superstring theory is a concept that could unify all aspects of physics if proven right. While working on his superstring theory, he made an odd discovery. Gates claims to have identified what appears to be actual computer code embedded in the equations of string theory that describe the fundamental particles of our universe. In short, he found "error-correcting codes," the same error-correcting codes that you might find on the web browser you are using right now.

So if we are currently living in the universe that is being simulated by some highly intelligent individuals, should we care? No, not really. Life continues to go on. You will continue to work, eat, sleep, and worry about COVID-19. Simulation theory is a fun thought experiment that tackles a question about reality that has plagued us since humanity existed.

As Nick Bostrom so aptly put it, "If we are living in a simulation, then the cosmos that we are observing is just a tiny piece of the totality of physical existence While the world we see is, in some sense' real,' it is not located at the fundamental level of reality."

Nevertheless, Douglas Adams in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, perfectly states, "There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened."

What do you think about simulation theory? Do you think that it is plausible?

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An astronaut spotted SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites from the International Space Station – CNBC

Posted: at 3:45 am

A photo taken by an astronaut from the International Space Station on April 13, 2020.

NASA

An astronaut on the International Space Stationlast week captured a unique view of SpaceX's Starlink satellites photographing a group of the satellites in space, from space.

Starlink isSpaceX's plan to build a network of about 12,000 small satellites to provide high-speed internet to anywhere in the world.The company has launched 360 Starlink satellites in the past year and aims to begin offering early, limited service later in 2020.

The train of Starlink satellites that were photographed areSpaceX's fifth Starlink launch.

A cropped and edited photo shows the trail of Starlink satellites in this photo taken by an astronaut from the International Space Station on April 13, 2020.

NASA

Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, shared a data visualization of the locations of the Starlink satellites when the photo was taken.

The location of SpaceX's Starlink satellites (red) compared to the International Space Station (blue) on April 13, 2020.

Jonathan McDowell

Starlink is an ambitious project that will require billions in capital to succeed, given the costs of building the required ground infrastructure in addition to the hardware and operating costs of the satellites in space.SpaceX has said it expects it will cost about $10 billion or more to build the Starlink network.

Starlink will make the company the world's largest satellite operator by number of spacecraft.If SpaceX can overcome the technological challenges of building and distributing this service, the company is optimistic on its potential demand and revenue. SpaceX CEOElon Muskin May told reportersthat Starlink could bring in revenue of $30 billion a year or about 10 times the highest annual revenue it expects from its core rocket business.

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Astronauts Return to Earth From International Space Station – EcoWatch

Posted: at 3:45 am

In Africa, for example, there are fewer than 2,000 working ventilators in public hospitals across 41 African countries, the World Health Organization says, compared with more than 170,000 in the U.S., as The New York Times reported.

Ten countries in Africa have none at all.

Somalia's Health Ministry has none. The Central African Republic has three. South Sudan has four, which is one fewer than the number of vice presidents it has. Liberia has five. Nigeria, with a population of over 200 million, has fewer than 100, as The Washington Post reported.

The paltry number of ventilators across the continent means that patients who appear at hospitals with the most severe acute respiratory symptoms from the novel coronavirus have little chance of surviving. While the number of ventilators is expected to increase as donations trickle in, few doctors across the continent have had the extensive training necessary to use them. Also, the ventilators usually require an anesthesiologist to intubate patients, or at least supervise the process, but anesthesiologists are scarce in Africa, according to The Washington Post.

The shortage of ventilators, training and specialists required to make them functional is only part of the massive shortage in resources that poorer countries face during the global pandemic. Health officials have also warned about a dire shortage of oxygen and masks. Even soap and water are in short supply.

According to the United Nations, only 15 percent of sub-Saharan Africans had access to basic hand-washing facilities in 2015. In Liberia, UN numbers showed that in 2017, 97 percent of homes did not have access to soap and clean water, according to The New York Times.

"The things that people need are simple things," said Kalipso Chalkidou, the director of global health policy at the Center for Global Development, a research group, as The New York Times reported. "Not high-tech things."

As of Saturday, there were more than 21,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and 1,000 deaths across the continent. The World Health Organization said that the virus appears to be spreading away from Africa's capital cities. The UN Economic Commission for Africa warned that 300,000 could die and called for a $100 billion safety net for the continent, including halting external debt payments, as the BBC reported.

"Anywhere between 300,000 and 3.3 million African people could lose their lives as a direct result of COVID-19, depending on the intervention measures taken to stop the spread," the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa said in a report released Friday.

The problem, according to the UN agency, rests partly with the layout and infrastructure of some of Africa's biggest cities, where the majority of the urban population lives in overcrowded neighborhoods without reliable access to hand-washing facilities, as NPR reported.

"We are now failing. Let me use that word deliberately," said Mahad Hassan, one of Somalia's few epidemiologists and a member of the government's coronavirus task force, as The Washington Post reported. "At our main treatment center, almost nothing is there. Last time I visited, beds, only beds. No oxygen, no ventilators."

Liberia's minister of information explained to The New York Times that attempts to procure medical equipment run into problems like wealthier countries hoarding supplies, bidding against other governments, and price gouging by suppliers.

"We keep fighting with our neighbors and the big countries. Even having a contract is not a guarantee we're going to get a supply," Eugene Nagbe, the minister of information said. One vendor, after entering a contract, turned around and raised the price from the agreed-upon $15,000 per ventilator to $24,000, he added, as The New York Times reported.

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Astronauts Return to Earth From International Space Station - EcoWatch

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NASA to launch astronauts to space station from US soil for the first time in a decade – WESTERNMASSNEWS.com

Posted: at 3:45 am

(CNN) -- Next month, human spaceflight will return to US soil after nearly a decade.

NASA announced Friday that SpaceX will launch astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on a mission to the International Space Station on Wednesday, May 27 at 4:32 p.m. ET. Liftoff will be from Florida's Kennedy Space Center marking the first time a rocket will carry astronauts into orbit from the United States since NASA's Space Shuttle program retired in 2011.

It will also be the first crewed mission for SpaceX since its founding 18 years ago.

Because of Covid-19, however, there will be no crowds of spectators lining the beaches and viewing sites along Florida's Space Coast to watch the craft hurtle toward the ISS, as they have for the launch of nearly every crewed US mission since Alan Shepard became the first American to reach space in 1961.

Only a limited number of reporters will be allowed on site, and NASA said it will not host any members of the public.

"This has become yet another footnote in the story of coronavirus and its impact on America," said Dale Ketcham, a vice president at Space Florida, a local industry group. "But NASA is continuing to press ahead with Commercial Crew because there is a profound obligation to keep space station operational."

NASA has shut down many of its activities in response to coronavirus, but it has maintained all ISS-related activity. NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Andrew Morgan returned from their stay on the space station aboard a Russian spacecraft on Friday.

The ISS has continually hosted a rotating crew of astronauts from all over the world since 2000. The United States and Russia are the space station's primary operators, but since 2011, Russia has been the only country capable of transporting astronauts to and from the ISS.

NASA has paid up to $86 million per seat and about $55.4 million on average to fly US astronauts aboard Russia's Soyuz spacecraft, according to the space agency's inspector general.

Years ago, NASA asked the private sector to develop a new generation of crew-worthy spacecraft. SpaceX was allotted $2.6 billion and Boeing was awarded $4.2 billion in 2014, and the space agency initially predicted their vehicles would be ready to fly astronauts by 2017. But development of both spacecraft took years longer than expected.

The companies were neck-in-neck, but SpaceX emerged as the clear leader after completing a successful test of its Crew Dragon spacecraft's emergency abort system in January. Less than a month earlier, Boeing's Starliner spacecraft suffered major setbacks during an uncrewed orbital flight test. The company has since said it will repeat that test mission in the fall.

The Crew Dragon mission in May, dubbed Demo-2, will be the final test for Crew Dragon before NASA transitions to operational crewed flights to the space station using the spacecraft.

Hurley and Behnken are both former military test pilots and veteran astronauts who previously flew on space shuttle missions.

After launching on May 27, they will spend as many as 110 days in space, though NASA said the "specific mission duration will be determined once on station based on the readiness of the next commercial crew launch."

They'll return on the Crew Dragon capsule, which will navigate back through Earth's atmosphere and splash down just off Florida's Atlantic Coast.

Though the US space agency paid the companies to develop their vehicles, Starliner and Crew Dragon are privately owned and operated. Unlike previous human spaceflight programs, NASA is essentially a customer of the companies.

SpaceX and Boeing have both announced plans to fly tourists aboard the spacecraft alongside NASA astronauts.

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NASA to launch astronauts to space station from US soil for the first time in a decade - WESTERNMASSNEWS.com

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NASA astronaut, UCSD grad to return to earth from space station – – KUSI

Posted: at 3:45 am

April 16, 2020

Posted: April 16, 2020

Updated: 11:36 PM

KUSI Newsroom

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) NASA astronaut and UC San Diego graduate Jessica Meir is scheduled to return to Earth Thursday evening after 205 days in space.

Meir, along with fellow NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan and cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka, with whom she servedaboard the International Space Station, will depart the station at 6:53 p.m. Pacific time with a parachute-assisted landing slated for 10:17 p.m. Pacific time in Kazakhstan, according to a NASA statement.

Meirs spaceflight included her participation in the first three all- woman spacewalks along with fellow NASA astronaut Christina Koch.

NASA says Meir has made 3,280 orbits of Earth and traveled nearly 87 million miles.

Meir tweeted a few photos Wednesday of various locations across Earth, including a view from space of San Diego, focused on UCSD.

She wrote Yesterday, @Space_Station flew over almost every place Ive ever lived, ranging from Canada to France all within 8 hours. Mother Earths way of calling me home?

Full coverage of the station departure will begin at 3 p.m. Pacific time at https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive, which will feature coverage of the landing beginning at 9 p.m.

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Amazing shots of International Space Station over Swindon (and here’s when you can see it next) – Swindon Advertiser

Posted: at 3:45 am

THE coronavirus lockdown has provided the perfect opportunity for stargazers to catch a glimpse of the International Space Station.

The fast-moving ISS orbits the planet 16 times a day at 17,500mph. Plummeting air pollution levels and a lack of planes in the sky have made it easier to spot on a clear night.

Gareth Breen, a map-maker from Covingham, has always had an interest in photography but it took the government restrictions for him to put some effort into his newfound hobby.

He told the Adver: It was basically to stave off boredom a little bit, but Ive always been interested in space observation, the night sky and photography in general.

Ive had a DSLR (digital single-lens reflex camera) for about 10 years and never known how to use it.

With all this extra time weve had its just the perfect opportunity to try something new.

Gareth used information from YouTube and Google to get himself set up and shared some tips with the Adver for those looking to match his amazing results.

He said: I used an app on my phone thats a star chart which you can point at the sky and itll tell you whats there. One app called Heavens Above will show you a live feed of all the satellites and the space station and when itll be overhead and how long for.

So youve then got time to set up your camera.

With the photos themselves, dependent on the light or how dark the sky is, you can set the exposures and the ISO and aperture to allow as much light into the camera as possible so it captures the station going across the sky.

How long you leave the shutter open and how big the aperture is will affect what you see. Its about the amount of time the shutter is open.

Its a lot of trial and error, my wife was quite happy because I was out in the back garden for an hour or two just testing things out.

To find out when the space station will next be over Swindon you visit spotthestation.nasa.gov/home.cfm

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Amazing shots of International Space Station over Swindon (and here's when you can see it next) - Swindon Advertiser

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UFO Spotted On NASA Live Stream Video Outside The International Space Station Is Absolutely Real – BroBible

Posted: at 3:45 am

Looks like weve got another NASA live stream from the International Space Station (ISS) on our hands possibly revealing yet more clues about UFOs and extraterrestrial life than the government would like us to know.

It happened back in November in what one expert called 100 percent proof that NASA and Russia know aliens visits the International Space Station.

And it occurred again in February with the person in the video sounding dismayed and unprepared for its sudden appearance.

Now, in April, we have yet another NASA video from the ISS in which UFO and alien expert Scott Waring says on his web site while discussing the footage, This UFO looks like a classic disk design. The metallic glint is unmistakable.

It looks to be in lower orbit as the space station passes it in upper orbit. Awesome catch, very rare, but absolutely real.

This is what NASA does not want the public to see, but this UFO was so faint and so small that Im sure they missed it, especially since most NASA is at home on lock down, probably fooling around instead of doing real work.

He is speaking about the second sighting documented on the video below which begins at around the 4:20 mark. He believes the first sighting in the video was not aliens

Two months ago, Waring was watching the NASA live space station cam and captured a 22-minute long video of a UFO sighting near the ISS. In that video, he points out, They [NASA] are as baffled by it as I am. They dont know what it is or why it is there.

He goes on to speculate that with the pandemic spreading like a wildfire out of control, its possible that aliens know what going to happen and they decided abandon the Earth. The virus may be very dangerous to aliens too. If this is true, expect to see a big rise in UFO sightings as they appear from underground bases and leave Earths atmosphere.

We have most certainly seen a big rise in UFO sightings over the past couple of months. No doubt about that. The question is, are the aliens leaving, as he suggests, or are they monitoring their handiwork and reporting back?

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UFO Spotted On NASA Live Stream Video Outside The International Space Station Is Absolutely Real - BroBible

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Three amember Space Station Crew Return to Earth – En Tempo.co

Posted: at 3:45 am

The International Space Station (ISS) crew members Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir of NASA and Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos are seen inside the Soyuz MS-15 space capsule shortly after the landing in a remote area outside Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan April 17, 2020. three-member crew left the confines of the International Space Station to return to Earth where their home countries grapple with the outbreak of COVID-19. Andrey Shelepin/GCTC/Russian space agency Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir reacts after landing of the Soyuz MS-15 space capsule in a remote area outside Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan April 17, 2020. They will then head to the recovery staging city in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Andrey Shelepin/GCTC/Russian space agency Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS

International Space Station (ISS) crew member Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos gets medical treatment shortly after the landing of the Soyuz MS-15 space capsule in a remote area outside Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan April 17, 2020. Andrey Shelepin/GCTC/Russian space agency Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS

NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan reacts after landing of the Soyuz MS-15 space capsule in a remote area outside Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan April 17, 2020. Andrey Shelepin/GCTC/Russian space agency Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS

The Soyuz MS-15 space capsule carrying International Space Station (ISS) crew members NASA astronauts Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka descends beneath a parachute before landing in a remote area outside Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan April 17, 2020. Andrey Shelepin/GCTC/Russian space agency Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS

A search and rescue team works on the site of landing of the Soyuz MS-15 space capsule carrying International Space Station (ISS) crew members NASA astronauts Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka, in a remote area outside Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan April 17, 2020. Andrey Shelepin/GCTC/Russian space agency Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS

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