Science & Technology

GENEVA, May 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Pinning down the source of the coronavirus pandemic should help in working out how COVID-19 has “invaded the human species” so quickly, a senior WHO official said.

The outbreak has triggered a fierce diplomatic spat between China and the United States — with the World Health Organization at the centre of the row.

In late March, US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping struck an informal truce in the war of words over the origin of the deadly disease.

TEHRAN, May 11 (NNN-TASNIM) – An Iranian army general said on Sunday that, the recent launch of Noor 1 satellite, by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), is a prelude to the “shift in the balance of power” in favour of Iran.

The launch of the homegrown Noor 1 satellite, amid the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, shows the Iranian army is playing a role in the battle with COVID-19, said Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Hossein Baqeri.

NEW DELHI, May 6 (NNN-Xinhua) — A group of medical researchers and scientists that interacted with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday is learnt to have told him that “over 30 Indian vaccines were in different stages of Corona vaccine development”, with a few going on to the trial stages.

WASHINGTON, May 3 (NNN-XINHUA) – There is “no scientific backing” for the two claims, floated recently by some U.S. politicians and media outlets that, COVID-19 could be human-made and have escaped from a laboratory, scientists said.

“The origin of the novel coronavirus is a legitimate area of scientific inquiry, in which there are still open questions,” said an article posted on Apr 22 on BuzzFeed News.

Abu Dhabi; 03 May 2020 (UMM):  A patent has been granted by UAE’s Ministry of Economy for an innovative and promising treatment for Covid-19 using stem cells.

According to Khaleej Times, the treatment was developed by a team of doctors and researchers at the Abu Dhabi Stem Cell Center, ADSCC, and involves extracting stem cells from the patient's own blood and reintroducing them after activating them.

Kochi, May 2 (PTI) Two students of Government College of Engineering, Kannur, won the first prize of USD 10,000 (Rs 7.5 lakh approximately) in a global competition for developing a virtual classroom amid the coronavirus lockdown.

Abinand C and Shilpa Rajeev, both doing second-year B.Tech (computer science) from the institution upstate, emerged toppers in the #CODE19 (against COVID-19) Hackathon for their 'iClassroom', a release issued by Kerala Startup Mission said here on Saturday.

Beijing, Apr 25 (PTI) China has approved its third coronavirus vaccine for the second phase of clinical trials as it reported 12 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of infections in the country to 82,816.

China has approved three coronavirus vaccines, including the one developed by Chinese military, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) for clinical trials.

24 April 2020; MEMO: Following the successful launch of Iran’s first military satellite on Wednesday, commander of the space unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Ali Jaafar Abadi said yesterday that the “Noor 2” satellite is ready and that the next step is to send it into orbit, with plans to launch larger satellites in the future, reported 

BEIJING, April 24 (NNN-Xinhua) — China’s first Mars exploration mission has been named Tianwen-1, announced the China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Friday, China’s Space Day.

The name comes from the long poem “Tianwen,” meaning Questions to Heaven, written by Qu Yuan (about 340-278 BC), one of the greatest poets of ancient China.

In “Tianwen,” Qu Yuan raised a series of questions in verse involving the sky, stars, natural phenomena, myths and the real world, showing his doubts about some traditional concepts and the spirit of seeking the truth.

19 April 2020; MEMO: The Iranian armed forces have acquired three bomb-carrying drones with a range of 1,500 kilometres (932 miles), Defence Minister Amir Hatami said on state television on Saturday.

The drones could monitor “enemy movements from a considerable distance” and were capable of combat missions, he said at the delivery ceremony in Tehran broadcast on TV.