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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukraine’s troops secured multiple bridgeheads on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River in the Kherson region in fighting that the country’s marine corps described Friday as having left nearly 3,500 Russians killed or wounded and dozens of ammunition depots, tanks, armored vehicles and other weaponry destroyed.

Ukrainian forces have penetrated the main Russian defensive line in their country’s southeast, raising hopes of a breakthrough that would reinvigorate the slow-moving counteroffensive. Ukrainian paratroopers are fighting through entrenched Russian positions on the edge of the village of Verbove, a Ukrainian officer in the area said. Ukrainian forces have also reached the main defensive line to the south of nearby Robotyne village, he said. Ukraine’s military confirmed advances toward Verbove and south of Robotyne, without giving details. Describing the advance, the Ukrainian officer held up three fingers representing lines of attack through entrenched Russian positions on the western flank...

The recently detected BA.2.86 COVID-19 subvariant may be more capable of causing infections in people who previously contracted the virus or have been vaccinated, according to a risk assessment from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), though it remains unclear if this strain causes more severe illness than others. First detected last month, a handful of infections caused by BA.2.86 have been reported in the U.S., Denmark, South Africa, the U.K. and Israel. The CDC noted that genomic sequencing of COVID-19 has dropped “substantially” when compared to the past few years, so the spread and occurrence of new...

The pill works by killing a mutated protein which helps cancers to repair Scientists hope it can be used as a standalone therapy or alongside treatments Scientists have developed a holy grail cancer drug that kills all solid cancer tumors while leaving other cells unharmed. The new molecule targets a protein present in most cancers that helps tumors grow and multiply in the body. It is significant because this protein - the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) - was previously thought to be 'undruggable'. The drug was tested on 70 different cancer cells in the lab - including those derived...

A Ukrainian official tweeted a video of troops holding a flag in the settlement, located about halfway between Mariupol and Zaporizhzhia in the country's southeast. "The 35th brigade and the 'Ariy' territorial defence unit have fulfilled their task and liberated the village of Staromaiorske. Glory to Ukraine!" said a soldier in the video. Staromaiorske lies to the south of a number of small settlements that Ukraine has recaptured during its counteroffensive, which began in June. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy had hinted at a significant win on the frontline last night. "By the way, today our boys had very good results...

Physicists at RIKEN have created an exceptionally neutron-rich sodium isotope, 39Na, which was previously believed to be impossible. This breakthrough has major implications for understanding atomic nuclei structure and the creation of Earth’s heavier elements. In extremely neutron-rich form of the element sodium—which many models of atomic nuclei predict shouldn’t exist—has been created by nuclear physicists at RIKEN for the first time[1]. If you made table salt from this super-heavy version of sodium—and the most neutron-rich isotope of chlorine, salt’s other constituent—it would taste and behave like normal salt, except it would be roughly 1.6 times heavier, says nuclear physicist...

The divisions between Russia’s defense ministry and its notorious Wagner group continue to play out in public with mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin suggesting Tuesday that Russian forces have fled their posts in Bakhmut. In a video posted to the Telegram messaging app, the once top ally to President Vladimir Putin claimed that units from Russia’s military "fled from one of our flanks" and exposed his forces to Ukrainian assaults, which he said were "tearing up the flanks," according to multiple reports. Prigozhin's claims of a Russian retreat were echoed by Ukraine's Third Assault Brigade, which said that forces from Russia's...

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) neuroscientists discovered a method for reversing symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease by interfering with a hyperactive enzyme present in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. The MIT researchers treated mice with a peptide designed to block CDK5, an enzyme that is typically hyperactive in patients with various neurodegenerative diseases, and observed significant reductions in neurodegeneration, the study says. Mice were better at performing tasks and showed reduced DNA damage in the brain. “We found that the effect of this peptide is just remarkable,” said Li-Huei Tsai, director of MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and the...

President Joe Biden revealed Monday night he has been personally chosen by former President Jimmy Carter to deliver his memorial service eulogy when he dies. “I spent time with Jimmy Carter, and it’s finally caught up with him, but they found a way to keep him going for a lot longer than they anticipated because they found a breakthrough,” Biden told guests at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser, according to a UPI report. “He asked me to do his eulogy,” he added. The president then reportedly appeared to catch himself for sharing the information, saying, “Excuse me, I shouldn’t say...

The conservative and influential Club for Growth announced it cut a deal with the super PAC affiliated with House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), signaling possible movement in the House speaker race after a stalemate had resulted in no speaker through six rounds of voting as of Wednesday afternoon. The deal with the McCarthy-affiliated super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), involves CLF agreeing to stay out of open-seat Republican primaries in safely red districts, as well as CLF vowing not to enable other super PACs to do the same.

Incoming US congressman Robert Garcia will be sworn in using the US Constitution - and a Superman comic.In a tweet on Tuesday, he said it is one of three items he will use that "mean a lot to me personally". The other two are a photo of his parents, who he said were lost to Covid-19, and his citizenship certificate. Mr Garcia is still waiting to take the oath of office, however, after Republicans failed to elect a speaker.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore Lab (LLL) in Northern California has recently gotten a lot of attention. It was just announced that they finally fused some hydrogen atoms and got more energy out than they put in — a net positive result. Drew Magary, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, throws a little cold water on the event by adding that the lasers causing the fusion reaction were powered by electricity generated at way less than perfect efficiency.hrowing more cold water, I was told by someone who worked on the facility in question that they already had a...

Ukrainian forces were charging through an expanding area of previously Russian-held territory in the east on Friday after bursting through the frontline in a surprise breakthrough that could mark a major turning point in the war. After keeping silent for a day, Moscow effectively acknowledged that a section of its frontline had crumbled southeast of Ukraine's second largest city Kharkiv. "The very fact of a breach of our defences is already a substantial victory for the Ukrainian armed forces," the head of the Moscow-installed administration for occupied areas in Kharkiv province, Vitaly Ganchev, said on Russian state TV.

WASHINGTON (LifeSiteNews) — White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced Tuesday she had contracted COVID-19 for the second time despite being “fully vaccinated,” forcing her to opt out of accompanying President Joe Biden on his trip to Europe this week for a special NATO summit.Psaki made the announcement in a tweet Tuesday afternoon, just a day before she was slated to join the president on his scheduled trip to Europe, where he will sit down with NATO allies to address the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.“Today, in preparation for travel to Europe, I took a PCR test this morning....

In the superheated market for batteries, promising lab developments often get overhyped by startups. ‘Liar, liar, battery supplier.’ Given what’s at sake, it’s easy to chalk up exaggerated claims about new battery breakthroughs to the tech industry’s propensity for hyperbole and grandstanding. A typical example: Researchers invent a tweak to a type of battery that has long shown promise but has never come close to commercialization. That gets spun into claims that an electric car with a 2,000-mile range is within reach. “People like a breakthrough, but when we write papers we try to avoid using these kinds of words,”...

A recent study looked at the strength, durability and breadth of neutralizing antibody responses generated by breakthrough infections in individuals vaccinated against SARS-CoV2. The findings are published this week in Cell, one of the scientific journals of Cell Press. Alexandra Walls and David Veesler in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Washington in Seattle led the project. Characteristics of the Delta and Omicron coronavirus variants of concern include enhanced transmissibility and immune evasion even in non-immunologically naïve individuals, compared to the ancestral pandemic coronavirus. These characteristics, and the waning of immunity from vaccines, have led to breakthrough infections...

Posted: Jan 12, 2022 / 12:11 AM EST / Updated: Jan 12, 2022 / 04:36 PM EST UPDATE (11:34 a.m. on Wednesday, January 12): Governor Justice’s Chief of Staff Brian Abraham appeared on MetroNews Talkline to give host Hoppy Kercheval an update on the governor’s condition: “He’s not doing well, Hoppy. He’s very ill. He continues to suffer as I can hear it through the phones. I can hear congestion. He still has elevated blood pressure. He’s uncomfortable.” Abraham went on to say that the governor received monoclonal antibody treatment and has medical care being provided to him. CHARLESTON, WV...

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) announced on New Year’s Eve that she tested positive for coronavirus, despite being fully vaccinated and boosted. “Today, I received a positive, breakthrough COVID-19 test result. Thankfully, my symptoms are mild & I’m grateful to be fully vaccinated & boosted,” the congresswoman and “squad” member tweeted. “I’m currently isolating & following all health protocols.” [cut] In her statement, Pressley touted the vaccines as life-saving and encouraged her followers to “do their part by getting vaccinated, boosted and masking up.” “Vaccines save lives. With this unprecedented pandemic continuing to rage, I am deeply grateful for the scientists,...

“I am asymptomatic,” Clyburn shared on Twitter, urging Americans to get vaccinated and boosted. “No one is immune.” Fully vaccinated House Majority Whip James Clyburn announced on Twitter Wednesday that he tested positive for COVID-19. “This is a breakthrough case, and I am asymptomatic,” the South Carolina congressman shared in a statement. “America is in a new phase of this pandemic. No one is immune,” Clyburn wrote. “I urge anyone who has not done so to protect themselves by getting vaccinated and boosted.” Clyburn is not the only lawmaker to test positive for COVID-19 in recent days. As reported by...

Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) revealed on Wednesday that she has contracted the Chinese coronavirus despite being vaccinated and boosted. Schakowsky said she is experiencing a fever and feeling generally “ill.” “As I mentioned in my weekly video, my husband Bob tested positive for COVID Friday. Yesterday I was having a bit of fever and feeling ill. After several negative tests in the days before, I tested positive for COVID last night. We are both vaccinated and received the booster,” she revealed on social media.