No, AMD Isn’t Building a 48-Core Ryzen Threadripper 3980X Rumors are rocketing around the ‘net that AMD is preparing to launch a 48-core Ryzen Threadripper 3980X, based on a fake image being passed around on Twitter. It’s a superficially tempting thought, as it offers the prospect of a high-core-count CPU …

New Study Identifies Link between Dietary Selenium and COVID-19 Cure Rate In a new study, a team of researchers from the UK, the United States and China investigated possible links between selenium levels in the body and cure rates of patients with the COVID-19 disease. Zhang et al show an …

Chinese Scientists Develop New Test to Detect SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies A team of researchers in China has developed a quick and sensitive test to detect IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, a novel coronavirus behind the COVID-19 disease. A new lateral flow immunoassay can detect antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, which appear as a bright …

Microsoft opens registration for its free, online Build 2020 developer conference Microsoft has now opened registration for the virtual edition of its online-only Build 2020 developer conference, which will take place from May 19 to 20. Typically, the event draws more than 6,000 developers, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, …

Paleontologists Find 66-Million-Year-Old Fossil of Bizarre Mammal A new species of gondwanatherian mammal from the Cretaceous period has been identified from a very well-preserved fossilized skeleton found on the island of Madagascar. Life reconstruction of Adalatherium hui. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin / Denver Museum of Nature Science. Named Adalatherium hui, …

Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus is First Known Aquatic Dinosaur Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus is First Known Aquatic DinosaurA species of carnivorous dinosaur called Spinosaurus aegyptiacus used tail-propelled swimming locomotion to hunt for prey in rivers, according to a new analysis of the world’s only existing skeleton of this ancient predator, found in the Kem …

Have we hit bottom yet? What new earnings reports say about COVID’s impact on digital advertising   “We experienced a significant reduction in the demand for advertising, as well as a related decline in the pricing of our ads, over the last three weeks of the first quarter of 2020.” …

New Species of Moray Eel Discovered A team of researchers from South Africa has discovered that the Indo-Pacific undulated moray eel (Gymnothorax undulatus), first described by the French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède in 1803, is in fact two genetically and morphologically distinct species. Gymnothorax elaineheemstrae. Image credit: Dennis King. …

Newly-Developed Metasurface-Enhanced Laser Emits Super-Chiral Light A team of scientists from the University of the Witwatersrand, Harvard University and the National University of Singapore has come up with a new metasurface-enhanced laser that efficiently produces any desired chiral state of light, with full control over both angular momentum components of …

Electric charging gets more juice as Soros Fund Management makes a bet on Amply Power Even as oil companies are getting crushed by the collapse of demand for energy in the wake of international shutdowns responding to the global pandemic, investors representing one of the world’s savviest financiers are placing …