The amount of sea ice remaining in the Arctic after the summer has for the second time fallen below a worrying limit within ten years. In total, more than 3.74 million square kilometers of ice floats in the polar seas. The Guardian, under the authority of the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC), reports that this data has …

Chinese tech company Bytedance has made a deal with software company Oracle about the activities of video app TikTok in the United States, says unidentified source familiar with the issue. Oracle will become Bytedance’s technology partner and will manage TikTok’s user data in the US, says the source. The deal will not take the form of a sale, but a …

The French pharmaceutical company Sanofi and partner Regenon Pharmaceuticals have stopped testing a treatment Against Rheumatism as a possible medicine against Covid-19. The results in a patient test were disappointing. Earlier, Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson said that the drug test offered Kevzara a small chance of a breakthrough. In patients in critical condition, there was a trend towards a lower …

Hong Kong is planning a large-scale population test on the SARS v2 virus. A new, large-scale test programme will probably start on 1 september and should last two weeks. According to local media, people can volunteer via the internet, even if they have no symptoms. The authorities in the metropolis are hoping to detect hidden virus cases by mass testing. …

The German, Italian and Swiss authorities have raided automaker Fiat Chrysler and truck manufacturer Iveco regarding possible manipulation of diesel car emissions. Fiat announces that it fully cooperates with. It would involve raids at ten different locations in Germany, Italy and Switzerland. Several vehicles from Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Jeep and Iveco are said to be equipped with technology that makes …

Her cancer is no longer small and is no longer in one place. She stoically undergoes chemotherapy. It will help, she thinks, “because if I don’t do anything I will die and the tumor looks a bit smaller on the scan.” Nowadays you don’t vomit your stomach inside out, but most chemotherapy treatments are not improving life quality. Tired, bald, …

A heat wave hit Siberia: in the Russian Arctic region it was warmer than ever in May. According to scientists from the European Copernicus program, who are researching the Earth and the climate, in some parts of Siberia it got on average 10 degrees warmer than it used to be. In the village of Chatanga, where the temperature is normally …

Germany is fully committed to hydrogen to help make the industry more sustainable. The government in Berlin has therefore adopted a 38-measure plan to boost the production and use of hydrogen and increase spending on infrastructure, research and innovation. By 2030, Germany wants to have the capacity to generate 5 Gigawatts of hydrogen. That should have doubled five years later. …

Lettuce on gutters is in itself an absolute rarity in Switzerland. Of the three cultivation companies that are engaged in so-called hydro cultivation, the family company Wyssa in Galmiz (Kanton Freiburg) is the only one that grows the lettuce in the open air, not under glass. Despite the risk of bad weather and insects that is always lurking, the lettuce …

British medical staff will begin a trial on Thursday to determine whether two anti-malarial drugs can also be used in the fight against the coronavirus. These include hydroxychloroquine, which it says US President Donald Trump takes preventively to prevent him from getting sick. There are anecdotal evidence and some possible explanation on why hydroxychloroquine may prevent infection. However it wasn’t …