Children’s immune systems can repulse coronavirus
Young children account for only a small percentage of Covid-19 infections – a trend that has puzzled scientists. Now, a growing body of evidence suggests why – kids’ immune systems seem better equipped to eliminate SARS-CoV-2 than are adults’. “Children are very much adapted to respond – and very well...
Dark side of Big Tech’s funding for Artificial Intelligence research
Last week, prominent Google artificial intelligence researcher Timnit Gebru said she was fired by the company after managers asked her to retract or withdraw her name from a research paper, and she objected. Google maintains that she resigned, and Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai said in a company memo on...
Antitrust litigation isn’t enough, Biden will need to go beyond the law
On Wednesday this week, the Federal Trade Commission and 46 states, the District of Columbia and Guam filed parallel antitrust suits against Facebook for the acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram, and practices that excluded competitive threats in social networking and messaging. In October, the Department of Justice and 11 states...
Kenya Rugby taps high performance wonk Harding for national teams
High performance consultant Peter Harding has been seconded to the Kenya Rugby Union on a three-month renewable contract by World Rugby. Harding’s immediate task will be to prepare Kenyan rugby teams for KRU, specifically KRU Women’s 7s for Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games. iIn a statement, KRU said Harding “will also...
Corporate Council on Africa launches US-Africa health resilience initiative
Corporate Council on Africa will launch the US-Africa health security and resilience initiative at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on December 15 formally. The two-year initiative brings together US and African opinion leaders, corporations, multilateral organisations, foundations and other players in the health sector to create strategic...
Cybersecurity: Notorious Russian hacker outdone by a creepier malware
FireEye has built its reputation on defending high-stakes clients from hackers. Early this week, the cybersecurity firm acknowledged that it had itself been the victim of a breach – and that the attackers made off with some of its offensive tools. It is a startling admission but almost certainly not...
US fair trade agency sues Facebook for ‘illegal monopolisation’
United States fair competition agency, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) moved to a federal court on Wednesday to seek a permanent injunction that, if granted, will among other things require divestitures of assets, including Instagram and WhatsApp. The agency also wants Facebook prohibited from imposing anti-competitive conditions on software developers besides...
Cocoa farmers in West Africa earn a pittance as chocolate manufacturers bank billions
Recent statistics on world chocolate industry lay bare how exploitative the beverage’s market is, with cocoa farmers in West Africa forced to make do with a paltry six per cent of total revenues. Leading chocolate companies have since 2001 made pledges to end widespread abusive labour practices, but continue to...
New vaccine data is coming, watch out for these three claims
The last few weeks have seen dramatic headlines on the efficacy of several new coronavirus vaccines. But coverage to this point has been based on press releases – tiny snippets of results that were trickled out from clinical trials. This week, the real data deluge will begin. The Food and...
Fund launched to speed up access to clean energy in Kenya
The Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) has launched a results-based financing programme aimed at unlocking new markets for clean energy companies in Kenya. The $4 million programme will support commercially viable companies to establish new markets and accelerate access to clean energy for 87,000 unserved and underserved households in Kenya....
