By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) -The World Health Organization, at the heart of the world s slow and stuttering handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, faces a potential shake-up aimed at preventing future outbreaks from destroying lives and livelihoods. Health ministers agreed on Monday to study recommendations for ambitious reforms made by independent experts to strengthen the capacity of both the U.N. agency and countries to contain new pathogens. Under the resolution submitted by the European Union, and adopted by consensus, member states are to be firmly in the driver s seat of the reforms through a year-long process. The new virus has infected more than 170 million people and killed nearly 3.7 million, according to a Reuters tally of official national figures. Health ministers from WHO s 194 member states will also meet from Nov. 29 to decide whether to launch negotiations on an international treaty aimed at boosting defences against any future pandemic. WHO s emergencies direct
Mysterious News Briefly May 31, 2021
A new short film platform called Launchpad on Disney+ features one called “The Last Of The Chupacabras” in which an aging Mexican-American woman takes extreme measures to keep her culture and traditions alive. Real chupacabras are disappointed one of them didn’t get to be Disney’s first goat-sucking princess.
A new study found that the long-lasting brain fog many patients suffer when coming out of anesthesia is caused by the brain switching back on one section at a time, rather than all at once, with the abstract problem-solving section the prefrontal cortex – coming up first, while those managing reaction time and attention taking longer. Is this why some doctors hit you with their bill right away?
Study sees untapped solar and wind energy potential in the Alps
Wind turbines have already been installed in some parts of the Jura Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott
Installing wind turbines and solar panels in Alpine regions is the most effective way for Switzerland to become carbon neutral and energy self-sufficient, a study has concluded.
This content was published on May 28, 2021 - 10:54
May 28, 2021 - 10:54
EPFL/SWI swissinfo.ch/ilj
The “optimal scenario” suggests adding new capacity in a ratio of 75% wind power and 25% solar power to supplement the country’s existing hydropower facilities, scientists have said.
The study, conducted by researchers at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, was published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.External link
Mysterious News Briefly May 28, 2021
In Zimbabwe, police arrested a ghost burglar whose skeletal figure was all victims saw as they ran away terrified and left him to rob their homes – and identified him as a local man in a skeleton Halloween costume. He’s expected to plead guilty after his lawyer explained he doesn’t have a ghost of a chance in court.
Hybrid Air Vehicles announced the routes it will be offering in 2025 when it begins its 100-passenger Airlander 10 blimps as an environmentally-friendly but extremely slow alternative to jet travel Liverpool to Belfast will take over five hours; Oslo to Stockholm over six; and Seattle to Vancouver in four hours. Warning: you may be kicked off when the flight attendant tells you the price of drinks and you say, “Oh, the humanity!”
History has shown that government agencies, over the decades, have undertaken some undeniably bizarre experiments. There was the U.S. government’s plot to project images of Jesus over Cuba during the Cold War; the U.K. military’s WWII-era robotic demon designed to freak out the Italian enemy; and military experiments, in the 1950s, to see if dogs could psychically find landmines. And, the list goes on and on. All of that brings me to a very weird story of the CIA: the sad saga of what became known by a very strange name, as you will soon see. It was an experiment that took place back in the 1960s. The results in this affair, however, were not as positive as they could have been, to say the very least. In fact, they were downright disastrous. The operation was titled “Views on Trained Cats.” Within the agency, however, it was unofficially known as “Acoustic Kitty.” No, I’m not joking. There’s no doubt that during the height of the Cold War, agencies all around the worl