In a remarkable first, researchers have successfully transferred the natural camouflage ability often displayed by some species of squid and cuttlefish into human cells, allowing them to bend light.
Certain species of octopus, squid and other sea creatures have specialized tissues in their bodies which allow them to manipulate light and seamlessly blend in with their surroundings to confuse predators, or surprise prey.
Now researchers at the University of California have engineered human cells to have similar camouflage capabilities to those seen in cephalopod skin. While it sounds like the plot of a comic book or a science fiction film, the UCI researchers assure people that this is, in fact, hard science.
"Our project – which is decidedly in the realm of science – centers on designing and engineering cellular systems and tissues with controllable properties for transmitting, reflecting and absorbing light," says lead author Atrouli Chatterjee, a UCI doctoral student in chemical and biomolecular engineering.
Chatterjee works in the laboratory of Alon Gorodetsky, an associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, whose teams have previously made breakthroughs in infrared camouflage and other high tech materials.
Chatterjee drew inspiration from the female Doryteuthis opalescens squid, which can switch the stripe on its mantle from almost transparent to opaque white as a defence mechanism, using certain kinds of proteins called reflectins.
The team took some of the protein-based particles behind this “biological cloaking technique” to recreate the amazing ability in human cells.
"We were amazed to find that the cells not only expressed reflectin but also packaged the protein in spheroidal nanostructures and distributed them throughout the cells' bodies," said Gorodetsky, who co-authored of the study, adding that the cells behaved almost exactly as they do in squids.
The team also tested whether they could turn the ability on or off using external stimuli by placing the cells between two plates of glass coated with different concentrations of salt.
The “cloaking cells” exposed to more sodium chloride scattered more light and stood out more from their surroundings.
For now, however, the breakthrough is restricted to medical and biological microscopy applications, so we likely won’t be chasing invisible men down the street any time soon.
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Italy is now allowing people from most EU nations and Britain to enter without having to spend two weeks in self-isolation. The country has been easing Covid-19-related restrictions in recent weeks.
The restrictions on Schengen Area and UK travelers have been eased from Wednesday, and will be lifted on those from other EU nations on June 15.
“Our goal is to show everyone that Italy is ready to welcome foreign tourists with safety and maximum transparency,” Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio wrote on social media.
Welcoming tourists means setting our economy in motion. It provides opportunities for traders, entrepreneurs, craftsmen, and hotel owners to work.
Di Maio has already unveiled his first official meetings in this regard – he will hold talks with his French counterpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian in Rome, after which he will pay visits to Germany, Slovenia, and Greece.
The lockdown measures are being eased for Italians too. From Wednesday, citizens can both travel freely across the country and go abroad. Wearing a mask in a public places is no longer mandatory, except in the six northern regions, which were worst affected by coronavirus.
However, as railway travel resumes, temperature checks have been introduced aboard high-speed trains. Tourist sites had already begun reopening to visitors last month.
Italy was the hardest hit European nation during the early weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic. Its healthcare system was quickly overwhelmed, forcing the authorities to impose a nationwide lockdown, and to accept disease control teams from states such as Russia and China to help combat the spread of the virus.
As of Wednesday, Italy has had more than 233,500 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 33,530 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan rose to 80,463 on Wednesday after new infections were confirmed in the country.
The province-wise break up of the total number of cases are as follows:
Total confirmed cases: 80,463
• Sindh: 31,086
• Punjab: 29,489
• Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: 10,897
• Balochistan: 4,740
• Islamabad Capital Territory: 3,188
• Gilgit-Baltistan: 779
• AJK: 284
Deaths: 1,688
• Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: 490
• Punjab: 570
• Sindh: 526
• Balochistan: 49
• Gilgit-Baltistan: 12
• Islamabad Capital Territory: 34
• AJK: 7
More than 6.39 million people have been reported infected with the novel coronavirus globally and over 379,000 have died, according to a Reuters tally.
PPP senator Maula Bux Chandio tests positive for the virus
PPP leader Maula Bux Chandio became the latest lawmaker to contract the coronavirus, confirmed a spokesperson of the senator.
According to the spokesperson, the senator is in home isolation and his daughter-in-law and wife have also tested positive for the virus. He added that servant of the senator has also tested positive for the virus.
Taking action on the shortage of petroleum products in the country, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has served show-cause notice to three companies on Wednesday.
According to the OGRA spokesperson, Shell, Attock and Total Parco have been asked to present their explanation over the shortage within 24 hours.
It is pertinent to mention here that petroleum prices went through another significant decrease on Sunday after Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) summary for slashing prices was approved.
Fuel stations in parts of the country remained shut down over lack of supply from private oil companies amid unprecedented lowering of the petroleum products’ prices
On Monday, fuel shortage was witnessed at the stations of the private oil companies in Karachi after supplies were not released from the companies.
Even police vans were not provided with the fuel as some areas also reported sale of petrol on higher prices. Long queues of vehicles were witnessed at various petrol pumps in the city.
The petroleum retailers have demanded of the government to ensure smooth supply of petrol and diesel to the pumps across the country
Researchers have found yet more evidence that Mars once had its own Saturn-like planetary ring but, curiously, they now also believe that within the next 100 million years, The Red Planet will develop a ring once again.
Deimos, the smaller of the two Martian moons, orbits the planet with a slight tilt relative to the equator, an anomaly which could well be the result of a former planetary ring.
While most people instantly think of Saturn whenever a planetary ring is mentioned, they are actually relatively common, even within our own solar system; Uranus, Neptune, and Jupiter all have them.
As far back as 2017, researchers theorized that Mars too could once have boasted its own planetary ring, believed to have been formed following an asteroid impact which culminated in the formation of an earlier, more massive form of the planet's other moon, Phobos.
According to theoretical models, the remaining debris left behind after the asteroid strike formed a planetary ring.
"The fact that Deimos's orbit is not exactly in plane with Mars's equator was considered unimportant, and nobody cared to try to explain it," said astronomer Matija Cuk of the SETI Institute.
"But once we had a big new idea and we looked at it with new eyes, Deimos's orbital tilt revealed its big secret."
Deimos' orbit is slightly off the Martian equator, an almost negligible amount but just about noticeable, and it swings around the planet roughly every 30 hours, with almost no eccentricity to its orbit.
However, Phobos was a different story altogether; it is closer to Mars with an orbit of just seven hours 39 minutes, and one that is shrinking at a rate of 1.8 centimeters (0.7 inches) per year.
In fact, the orbital decay is fast enough that scientists now estimate that within the next 100 million years, Phobos will reach the Roche limit or the point at which the planet's own gravitational forces tear the moon asunder.
Some of the resultant debris will likely rain down on the planet but the remainder could form yet another planetary ring and even reform into a smaller version of Phobos at the same time. The models predict that this new version of the moon would be repelled from the planet as the ring gets pulled in.
Using advanced simulations, Cuk and his team determined that an earlier version of Phobos, roughly 20 times the moon's current mass, would likely have caused Deimos' orbital tilt.
Thankfully, Cuk and his team of researchers will be able to test their theory, that Phobos in its current state likely formed around 200 million years ago, in the near future as the Japanese space agency, JAXA, has plans to send a probe to Phobos in 2024 to collect soil samples which can be dated back here on Earth to find out once and for all if the Red Planet did indeed have a planetary ring, and whether it might one day develop another one.
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The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday restrained the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from arresting PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif in an assets case against him.
A two-judge bench headed by Justice Tariq Abbasi granted bail to the opposition leader after hearing initial arguments from his lawyer and a NAB counsel on his petition through which he sought pre-arrest bail.
The bench directed him to furnish a surety bond of Rs500,000 to secure the bail until June 17.
Shehbaz Sharif appeared before the bench as a large number of PML-N leaders and workers also gathered on the LHC premises to show solidarity to their leader in utter disregard for social distancing protocols introduced to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
National Accountability Burea (NAB) teams were present at the entrance to the high court to apprehend the opposition leader in case the LHC doesn’t grant him bail. A heavy contingent of law enforcers was also present to avert any untoward incident.
The bench directed the anti-corruption watchdog to submit its response to the petition by next hearing.
On Tuesday afternoon, a NAB team along with a heavy contingent of police raided the residence of Shehbaz Sharif in Model Town. It remained outside his residence for more than an hour as the law enforcement personnel cordoned off roads leading to the house.
However, the team returned as Shehbaz Sharif was not present at home.
The NAB team carried out a raid at the residence of Shehbaz Sharif after he refused to appear before the accountability watchdog in the assets beyond means case. He, however, opted to submit a written statement to the accountability watchdog in response to a questionnaire handed over to him.
Sharif through his lawyer Amjad Pervaiz moved the bail petition, citing National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal and others as respondents.
He claimed in his petition that the corruption watchdog’s assets beyond means case against him is based on mala fide intentions. It launched the probe against him under the incumbent government’s influence, he alleged.
Defying coronavirus restrictions, hundreds of protesters took to the streets of France's capital, expressing solidarity with their US counterparts and demanding justice for the country's own victims of police brutality.
The Black Lives Matter protest took place in Paris on Tuesday evening, and saw hundreds of activists marching towards the High Court to hold a rally there.
The event had not been greenlighted by the authorities due to the ban on large gatherings, which is in place to stem the spread of coronavirus. However, this did not prevent the demonstrators from turning out in force. The procession was met by police, who fired tear gas into the crowd in a bid to disperse it.
Minor scuffles broke out between police and protesters as they tried to block motorways and erect barricades, setting trash and construction equipment on fire. No major blazes occurred, as flames were promptly extinguished.
The march used slogans "Justice for George" – in reference to George Floyd, a black man who died at the hands of Minneapolis police last week – as well as "Justice for Adama."
The latter refers to the 2016 case of a 24-year-old black French national of Malian origin, Adama Traore. The young man died in police custody hours after his arrest under unclear circumstances. While the whole affair is still under investigation, reports in the media indicated that Traore had been asphyxiated by officers as they struggled to restrain him.
The US protests have been going on for more than a week already, engulfing some 400 cities. In many locations, the protests turned into riots with widespread looting, arson and even shootouts between rioters and police. The National Guard has been called in to quell the unrest in several states, while some 1,600 soldiers have been deployed to the region around Washington, and are currently on standby. US President Donald Trump has also threatened to send troops to other states if local authorities fail to tackle the civil unrest.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) says Pakistan’s coastal areas are under “no immediate threat” from tropical cyclone “Nisarga” in the Arabian sea.
The authority in a statement said: “Deep depression over the East-central Arabian Sea has intensified into Cyclonic Storm “NISARGA” and lay centred at 1700PST, the 2nd June near Latitude 15.8N and Longitude 71.4E, at a distance of about 1100km southeast of Karachi.”
It said maximum sustained surface winds around the system centre are 60-70 km/hour, gusting 80km/hour with sea condition rough/very rough.
The NDMA said the cyclone is likely to intensify further into a Severe Cyclonic Storm (SCS) by Tuesday night and move towards north initially and then re-curve north-eastwards toward south Gujarat coast, India.
“Currently none of Pakistan coastal area is under threat from this system,” it said. However, it advised fishermen to remain careful and not to venture out into the deep sea till June 4.
The NDMA asked the provincial authorities to be on the alert for the impact of the cyclone in coming days.
NASA is reporting that at least five asteroids are headed towards Earth this week, adding yet another ominous threat people should watch out for.
According to NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), four of the near-Earth objects are due to fly past the planet on Tuesday, June 2.
Kicking things off will be the 108-foot wide 2020 KK7, cruising along at 34,000mph. It is due to skim past the Earth at 4:43am EDT, at a merciful distance of roughly 319,000 miles, or just beyond the Moon. Close one.
Next up will be 2020 KD4, measuring 115 feet wide, with a velocity of almost 12,000 miles per hour, which will pass us at 8:47am EDT, at a distance of 2.5 million miles away.
The biggest of Tuesday’s bunch, the 144-foot 2020 KF, will shoot past our planet at 24,000 miles per hour some 2.9 million miles away, at 12:00pm EDT.
Bringing up the rear in Tuesday’s space rock parade will be 2020 KJ1, measuring a relatively paltry 105 feet and plodding along at 11,000 miles per hour. The asteroid will wrap up Tuesday’s celestial spectacle at 2:57pm EDT, passing some 1.3 million miles from the Earth at its closest point.
Then, after a brief respite, an asteroid potentially taller than New York’s Empire State Building and the London Eye combined, 2002 NN4, will zoom by on Saturday, June 6.
2002 NN4 is an Aten-class asteroid which boasts a very wide orbit around the Sun and measures between 820ft and 1870ft, based on its brightness and the way it reflects light.
Somewhat surprisingly, the asteroid is considered ‘small’ in absolute terms and yet it is still bigger than roughly 90 percent of the asteroids we encounter in our solar system, which are approximately football-field size.
Thankfully, and despite its classification as a Near-Earth Object or NEO, 2002 NN4 will pass us at a very safe distance of 3,168,993 miles.
NEOs are space rocks that come within 1.3 astronomical units of the Earth, or 1.3 times the distance between Earth and the Sun.
However, lest we get too comfortable, 2002 NN4 is estimated to revisit us some time in 2024 and its orbit may be shifted in the intervening period by other space debris or planetary gravitational force, potentially deflecting it into a collision course with Earth. Therefore, CNEOS boffins will be keeping a close eye on it for a while longer.
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The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan rose to 76,398 on Tuesday after new infections were confirmed in the country.
The province-wise break up of the total number of cases are as follows:
Total confirmed cases: 76,398
• Sindh: 29,647
• Punjab: 27,850
• Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: 10,027
• Balochistan: 4,514
• Islamabad Capital Territory: 2,893
• Gilgit-Baltistan: 738
• AJK: 271
Deaths: 1,621
• Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: 482
• Punjab: 540
• Sindh: 503
• Balochistan: 49
• Gilgit-Baltistan: 11
• Islamabad Capital Territory: 30
• AJK: 6
More than 6.2 million people have been reported infected with the novel coronavirus globally and over 374,000 have died, according to a Reuters tally.
Prime Minister Imran Khan
Prime Minister Imran Khan in a live televised address apprised the nation on the decisions made regarding the lockdown in Pakistan to contain the novel coronavirus during the National Coordination Committee (NCC) meeting held on Monday.
Noting that the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) met every morning and consulted everyone, including health experts from Pakistan and around the world, on every step, PM Imran spoke of the country's response and the current situation regarding the coronavirus.
"Since day one when we got to know that the coronavirus had started spreading in Pakistan, we imposed a lockdown following a national security committee meeting.
"We observed the conditions in Chinese city of Wuhan and in Europe when the virus started spreading and we were seeing how the world was responding. But at that time, when we had discussions and meetings, I was very clear on the path Pakistan had to take.
"Pakistan's situation is different than that in China or Europe," he said, noting that he had earlier informed the nation that 25% of the country's population was below the poverty line, which "means that nearly 50 million people in our country do not eat two full meals a day".
"After doing calculations, we figured out that there are 25 million people who are daily wagers and who get paid weekly and whose households had to remain hungry if they did not earn for one day," he added, saying those families comprised 12-15 million people in total.
The labourers and daily-wagers, he added, were part of the informal, unregistered economy.
Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse peaceful demonstrators near the White House on Monday as U.S. President Donald Trump vowed a massive show of force to end violent protests over the death of a black man in police custody.
Law enforcement, including officers on horseback, moved on protesters in Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House as Trump made his remarks from the Rose Garden.
The president pledged to end six nights of looting and violence in major cities across the nation “now,” saying he would deploy the U.S. military if state governors refused to call out the National Guard. “Mayors and governors must establish an overwhelming law enforcement presence until the violence has been quelled,” Trump said. “If a city or state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.”
The police action against protesters cleared the way for Trump to walk from the White House to nearby St. John’s Episcopal Church along with other officials including U.S. Attorney General William Barr. Trump posed for photos at the church, which suffered minor damage the night before, holding up a Bible.
The security forces that moved against protesters at the White House included National Guard military police, Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security police as well as District of Columbia police.
Just a few hours later, thousands of people marched through the streets of Brooklyn, shouting “justice now!” while cars drove alongside, some drivers honking in support while police vans followed.
A smaller march took place in Hollywood, where protesters defied a curfew imposed by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to march to a line of police, where they knelt down with their arms raised.
‘MECHANICAL ASPHYXIATION’
Anti-police brutality marches and rallies, which have turned violent after dark each night over the last week, erupted over the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American who died in Minneapolis police custody after being pinned beneath a white officer’s knee for nearly nine minutes.
A second autopsy ordered by Floyd’s family and released on Monday found that his death was a homicide by “mechanical asphyxiation,” meaning that physical force interfered with his oxygen supply. The report says three officers contributed to Floyd’s death.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner then released details of its autopsy findings that also said Floyd’s death was a homicide caused by asphyxiation. The county report added that Floyd suffered cardiopulmonary arrest while being restrained by police and that he had arteriosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease, fentanyl intoxication and recent methamphetamine use.
Derek Chauvin, the 44-year-old Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on Floyd, was arrested on third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter charges. Three other officers involved in the arrest have not been charged.
Floyd’s death was the latest case of police brutality against black men caught on videotape and prompting an outcry over racism in U.S. law enforcement. It reignited simmering racial tensions in a politically divided country that has been hit hard by the pandemic, with African Americans accounting for a disproportionately high number of cases.
Dozens of cities across the United States remain under curfews not seen since riots after the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The National Guard deployed in 23 states and Washington, D.C.
The curfews were imposed as most Americans were still emerging from weeks of strict “stay-at-home” orders imposed in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
On Monday, dozens of people paid their respects to Floyd outside Cup Foods, the scene of his death, leaving flowers and signs. A little girl wrote, “I’ll fight with you,” in aqua blue chalk in the road.
“This is therapeutic. My heart was real heavy this morning so I came down extra early and when I got here, the heaviness lifted,” said Diana Jones, 40, the mother of four children. “This right here let’s me know that things are going to be OK.”
Terrence Floyd, the victim’s brother, told the gathering he wanted people to get educated and vote rather than resort to violence and destruction. “Let’s do this another way,” he said.
Trump, a Republican, has condemned the killing of Floyd and promised justice but has described protesters as “thugs.”
Opponents accuse him of stoking conflict and racial tension when he should be uniting the nation and addressing underlying issues, and his campaign-style appearance at St. John’s Church sparked criticism.
“I am outraged,” Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, which includes the church, said on CNN. Trump’s message was antithetical to church teachings, she said.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo criticized the use of force against demonstrators to make way for Trump to hold the picture-taking opportunity. “It was really, truly shameful,” he said.
Federal Minister for Law Barrister Farogh Naseem resigned from his post on Monday to represent the government in the Justice Qazi Faez Isa case before the Supreme Court.
The law minister has sent his resignation letter to the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan for approval.
The Supreme Court (SC) will resume hearing of the Justice Qazi Faez Isa case on June 2 (Tuesday).
A 10-member judge bench, led by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, will resume hearing of the case wherein the federal government will respond over Justice Isa’s petition in which he contended that the presidential reference against him is based on malafide intent.
The last hearing of the case was conducted on February 24 in which the federal government had sought three weeks adjournment.
Law minister will represent federation after the Attorney General for Pakistan, Khalid Javed, recused himself from representing the federal government in the presidential reference filed against Justice Qazi Faez Isa.
Last year in November, Law Minister Farogh Naseem also resigned from the post to represent Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Jawed Bajwa as a lawyer in extension case before the Supreme Court (SC).
After being repeatedly broadsided by Washington’s incendiary regime-change rhetoric, Tehran is now returning the favor. Iran’s Foreign Ministry seems to be urging Americans to “rise up” against their government.
The ministry tweeted out a photograph of a black demonstrator, fist in the air, standing defiantly in front of a group of riot police. The image is accompanied by a quote from civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up & live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,’” the text reads.
— Iran Foreign Ministry 🇮🇷 (@IRIMFA_EN) June 1, 2020
This isn’t the first time that Iran has ribbed the Trump administration over ongoing protests across the US.
As nationwide anger grew over the police killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called out the US for its human rights record, artfully editing a State Department press release about alleged injustices in Iran to make his point.
Mike Pompeo responded to the criticism by accusing Tehran of “exterminating Jews” and other alleged crimes. Washington has repeatedly called for a revolt against Tehran, claiming that they stand with the Iranian people – even as the US imposes crippling sanctions on their country.
