Inflation Subject: Economy Context: While Covid has destroyed our way of life, few predicted how global shutdowns of factories, refineries, and mines could impact prices. Concept: Cost-push inflation occurs when overall prices increase (inflation) due to increases in the cost of wages and raw materials. Higher costs of production can decrease the aggregate […]
BSL-3 Subject: Science Context: India’s Covid-19 vaccination drive is unlikely to get much help from public sector institutions roped in to push up production of the indigenous vaccine, Covaxin. Barring Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL), the Hyderabad-based subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board Concept: Again building upon the two prior biosafety levels, a […]
OPEC+ Subject: International Relations Context: OPEC+ ministers agreed on Sunday to boost oil supply from August to cool prices which have climbed to 2-1/2 year highs as the global economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. Concept: OPEC+ last year cut production by a record 10 million barrels per day (bpd) amid a pandemic-induced […]
Moon Wobble Subject: Science and Tech Context: US coastlines will face increasing flooding in the mid-2030s thanks to a regular lunar cycle that will magnify rising sea levels caused by climate change, according to research led by NASA scientists. A key factor identified by the scientists is a regular “wobble” in the moon’s […]
Wildfire Subject: Environment Context: By nearly every metric, the wildfires in the Western United States are worsening. They are growing larger, spreading faster and reaching higher, scaling mountain elevations that previously were too wet and cool to have supported fires this fierce. Concept: Wildfires worsening In the forests of the Western United States, […]
Blue Origin Subject: Science and Technology Context: When Blue Origin launches people into space for the first time, founder Jeff Bezos will be on board. No test pilots or flight engineers for Tuesday’s debut flight from West Texas, just Bezos, his brother, an 82-year-old aviation pioneer and a teenage tourist. Concept: Blue Origin has […]
Messenger RNA vaccines Subject: Science and Technology Context: Messenger RNA vaccines against Covid-19 were not detected in human milk, according to a small study by University of California, San Francisco. The paper appears in JAMA Pediatrics. Concept: The study analyzed the breast milk of seven women after they received mRNA vaccines from Pfizer or Moderna […]
Loon balloons Subject: Science and Technology Context: Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, called this week on the administration of President Joe Biden to greenlight a plan to transmit the Internet to people in Cuba via high-altitude balloons when their government has blocked access. Concept: What is loon? Loons are high altitude balloons that […]
Pegasus spyware Subject: Science and Technology Context: One of the worrying aspects of the Pegasus spyware is how it has evolved from its earlier spear-phishing methods using text links or messages to ‘zero-click’ attacks which do not require any action from the phone’s user. Concept: A “zero-day exploit” is a completely unknown vulnerability, […]