Free Republic

To efficiently infect human cells, SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is able to use a receptor called Neuropilin-1, which is very abundant in many human tissues including the respiratory tract, blood vessels and neurons. The breakthrough discovery was made by a German-Finnish team of researchers led by neuroscientists Mika Simons, Technical University of Munich, Germany and virologist Giuseppe Balistreri, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland. Why is the new coronavirus so infectious? "That SARS-CoV-2 uses the receptor ACE2 to infect our cells was known, but viruses often use multiple factors to maximize their infectious potential"...

Chemists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have chemically synthesized a new peptide (a short protein fragment) that can bind to part of SARS-CoV-2's spike protein, a key protein responsible for getting the virus into mammalian cells, potentially disarming it. "We have a lead compound that we really want to explore, because it does, in fact, interact with a viral protein in the way that we predicted it to interact, so it has a chance of inhibiting viral entry into a host cell," said senior author Dr. Brad Pentelute, a researcher in the Department of Chemistry at MIT. Coronaviruses,...

Department of Energy's scientists announced this week that they have designed a plastic that can be recycled over and over again. Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory wrote in Nature Chemistry that they had designed new plastic, called polydiketoenamine or PDK, that could be disassembled down to the molecular level and reassembled into different shapes, textures or colors multiple times. Modern-day plastics are reinforced with chemicals to make them more resilient and often end up making the material more difficult to fully recycle. ..... < snip > < snip > ..... Even the most recyclable plastic is only being...

New sustainable biopolymer technology may one day free the world of its worst pollutant Source: American Friends of Tel Aviv University Summary: A new Tel Aviv University study describes a process to make bioplastic polymers that don't require land or fresh water — resources that are scarce in much of the world. The resulting material is biodegradable, produces zero toxic waste and recycles into organic waste. FULL STORY: The invention was the fruit of a multidisciplinary collaboration between Dr. Alexander Golberg of TAU's Porter School of Environmental and Earth Sciences and Prof. Michael Gozin of TAU's School of Chemistry....

Eighteen states raised their minimum wages at the start of 2018, but increasing labor costs are strangling the dining industry so much that restaurants could soon face the same fate as shopping malls. "I think you're going to see thousands of restaurants close their doors," Willie Degel, "Restaurant Stakeout" host and CEO of Uncle Jack's Steakhouse, told FOX Business. "Fine dining is going to go by the wayside." The downward cycle seems daunting to Degel and other industry insiders. As costs rise, only so much of the burden can be passed along to consumers in the form of price hikes...

A day after promising to give its store workers raises and bonuses, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) is preparing to hand out pink slips at its headquarters. The giant retailer, which is based in Bentonville, Ark., and employs more than 1.5 million people in the U.S., plans to cut more than 1,000 corporate jobs ..... < snip > ..... The job cuts are expected to be broad based, focused on workers primarily at the company's headquarters ..... < snip >

This is the Read.md file on the site, explaining how to use a standalone executable file (compiled from a batch file) to disable recently discovered Intel's bug, until Intel machines' firmware get fixed. Download the DisableAMT.exe (or DisableAMT.zip) from https://github.com/bartblaze/Disable-Intel-AMT --------------------------------------------- # Disable Intel AMT Tool to disable Intel AMT on Windows. Runs on both x86 and x64 **Windows** operating systems. Download: [DisableAMT.exe](DisableAMT.exe) [DisableAMT.zip](DisableAMT.zip) ## What? On 02 May 2017, Embedi [discovered](https://www.embedi.com/news/mythbusters-cve-2017-5689) "*an escalation of privilege vulnerability in Intel® Active Management Technology (AMT), Intel® Standard Manageability (ISM), and Intel® Small Business Technology versions firmware versions 6.x, 7.x, 8.x 9.x, 10.x,...

According to a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports, adding cinnamon to your diet can cool your stomach by up to two degrees. "The results of the study, which used pigs, seemed to show that cinnamon maintained the integrity of the stomach wall," said study co-lead author Prof. Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh, from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. "When pigs feed at room temperature, carbon dioxide gas increases in their stomach." "Cinnamon in their food reduces this gas by decreasing the secretion of gastric acid and pepsin from the stomach walls, which in turn cools the pigs' stomachs during digestion,"...

A Sikh bar owner in the US is being hailed as a hero for helping capture the 28-year old Afghan-American wanted for the weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey.Harinder Bains, the owner of a bar in Linden found Ahmad Khan Rahami sleeping in the doorway of his bar on Monday. Bains said he was watching news on TV on his laptop from another business across the street. At first, he thought he was some "drunk guy" resting in the vestibule but then recognised Rahami and called police. "I'm just a regular citizen doing what every citizen should do....

Donald Trump's eldest daughter introduced two progressive issues her father hasn't championed on the campaign trail: equal pay for women and making childcare more widely accessible. "He will fight for equal pay, equal work, and I will fight for this too, right alongside of him," Ivanka Trump said in remarks introducing the GOP presidential nominee at the Republican National Convention Thursday night. ..... < snip > ..... "As president, my father will change the labor laws that were put in place at a time when women were up a significant portion of the workforce," she said. "He will focus on...

When Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed a minimum wage bill into law in March, it was the highest statewide wage floor in the U.S. It was also the most convoluted, setting three different wages and raise schedules depending on the area's population. ‎ Wages will rise to $12.50 in rural Oregon, $13.50 in mid-size regions and $14.75 in greater Portland, all by the year 2022. But before the ink was even dry, Democrats, who control the state House, Senate and governor's office, announced they wanted to change the bill that was rammed through in a five-week legislative session despite fierce...

It was a double whammy for Brooklyn and New York City manufacturing this week with news that 3D printer company MakerBot Industries would be laying off local workers as it shifts its production work, although not its headquarters, to China. It is doing so through St. Petersburg, Florida-based Jabil Circuit (NYSE: JBL), one of the largest contract manufacturers in the world, which has facilities in China. The reasons behind this decision are myriad. Chief among them are the competitive headwinds in the 3D consumer printer business itself, and the high cost of doing business in New York City, ..... <...

"It's not fair!" may be the most pitiful lament in the English language, but Donald Trump seems intent upon adopting it as his battle cry heading into this summer's Republican convention. The GOP's poorly designed nominating process includes more than its share of problems, but is it really unfair to Trump? ..... < snip > ..... open primaries invite abuse from voters whose goals may not involve selecting the party's strongest representative. Those with deep ties to the party deserve greater input than those with tenuous or nonexistent connections. Yet Democrats and Republicans alike have chosen to pretend otherwise. ........

There were a few things Donald Trump made clear when he met Thursday with a select group of Jewish reporters, almost all of them Orthodox, at his corporate offices in Manhattan. Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly was the one who initiated Wednesday's one-on-one powwow with Trump to mend fences, not him. He's a great friend of Israel. He has many Orthodox Jewish friends, including his chief lawyer, Jason D. Greenblatt. And he considers himself a very loyal boss. But in a 20-minute question-and-answer session that touched on religious liberty in the workplace, US foreign policy in the Middle East and...

New York's famous Plaza Hotel is set to go on sale in an auction next month and experts believe that the five-star hotel could sell for more than $1billion. Billionaire brothers David and Simon Reuben hold the mortgage for the storied five-star hotel and scheduled a foreclosure auction for April 26. The auction was prompted after the hotel's 75 per cent owner Sahara India Pariwar — whose chairman went to prison in 2014 for defrauding investors — defaulted on loan agreements... < snip > Foreign investors are pouring capital into New York hotels at a historic rate. Much of the...

In many ways, Donald Trump's political talking points are Orwellian at best. His constant insistence that the U.S. is not "winning" is being repeated with such pneumatic regularity that voters believe it. Or if they don't yet, they may soon. Whether we are getting killed on trade or being flooded with illegal immigrants, Donald Trump has been making arguments that were, in part, true thirty years ago, but most certainly not today. The "INGSOC" slogans in Orwell's epic dystopian novel, "1984": "War is Peace" "Freedom is Slavery" "Ignorance is Strength" Would fit nicely among Trump's litany of incongruous phrases: "The...

During an interview on the FOX Business Network's Mornings with Maria, Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay lashed out against the media for protecting Donald Trump. "The media won't report what's really happening on the ground... They will not investigate Donald Trump. When have you seen a story written about Donald Trump's sleazy business practices? There's plenty of stories out there about that. The media is protecting Donald Trump either because they want him to be the nominee against Hillary Clinton or they're big buddies of his. Most of the media comes from New York and they are buddies," he...

Donald Trump announced Friday he raised $6 million for veterans at his fundraiser in Iowa the night before. Iowa was amazing last night. The event could not have worked out better. We raised $6,000,000 for our great vets. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) > But this would appear a significant increase from what he's given to the cause before, according to some reports which questioned whether the billionaire businessman has been a consistent donor to vet groups. Showbiz 411 reports that the Donald J. Trump Foundation gave a total of $2.6 million in charitable donations in the last three years,...

Russian fighter jets shadowed U.S. predator drones on at least three separate occasions high above Syria since the start of Russia's air campaign last week, according to two U.S. officials briefed on this latest intelligence from the region. Meanwhile, U.S. Navy Captain Jeff Davis told reporters a U.S. aircraft flying over Syria had to be rerouted to avoid a Russian fighter jet at least once. "We have taken action to maintain safe separation," Davis said, adding that the U.S. aircraft "changed path a little bit." He did not disclose which type of U.S. aircraft was involved. U.S. officials tell Fox...

[picture of Robert Creamer] Looks like the Marxist architect of Obamacare also had a major say in putting forth the Iran Deal. Robert Creamer was convicted in 2005 for tax violations and bank fraud. He served time and was under house arrest. While in prison, he crafted the core underpinnings of Obamacare. Creamer is a political consultant who is very close to Barack Obama and is married to Jan Schakowsky, the Marxist Congresswoman from Illinois. While on the inside, he wrote, Listen to Your Mother: Stand Up Straight! How Progressives Can Win. Obamacare was only the first major step in...