persistent

The House of Representatives has decried the recurring destruction of oil and gas pipelines in the country and persistent lack of transparency in the operations and regulatory activities in the sector. Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, chairperson, Special Committee on Oil Theft, condemned the act at a meeting with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Ltd in Abuja. The engagement was to unravel the root cause of oil theft in the country and the possible solution to stop the menace. Mr Ado-Doguwa said it had…

Researchers at Duke Health have discovered that persistent pain in recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs) is caused by an overgrowth of nerve cells in the bladder, suggesting a new treatment approach that targets this overgrowth to alleviate symptoms.A study reveals that overgrowth of nerve cells in the bladder is the cause of persistent pain in recurrent UTIs, pointing to new, more effective treatment methods.A perplexing problem for people with recurring urinary tract infections (UTIs) is persistent pain, even after…

A study from the University of Oxford reveals that a significant number of COVID-19 infections persist for over a month, potentially contributing to the emergence of new variants and Long COVID symptoms. Analysis of over 90,000 participants found that up to 0.5% of infections could last 60 days or more, with some infections showing high mutation rates.Recent research conducted by the University of Oxford has found that a high proportion of SARS-CoV-2 infections in the general population lead to persistent infections…

Satellite images of Death Valley’s Badwater Basin captured on July 5, 2023; August 30, 2023; and February 14, 2024.Refreshed by precipitation from an atmospheric river, a temporary lake in Death Valley is extending its stay.An ephemeral lake in Death Valley’s Badwater Basin is showing its staying power. After forming in August 2023 in the aftermath of Hurricane Hilary, the lake gradually shrank but persisted throughout the fall and winter. A potent atmospheric river filled it back up in February 2024.This series of images…

Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), also often known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), already affects tens of millions of people worldwide. But according to new research, we could be facing twice as many cases in the near future.A study from a team in Germany, published in Internal Medicine, says that the long-lasting effects of COVID-19 on many individuals will mean they could meet the diagnostic criteria for ME/CFS. While it's not yet clear if long COVID and ME/CFS are the same, they share enough similarities that mean…

Epic Games and The Walt Disney Company have announced that they will create an interconnected universe somehow tied to Fortnite that will include content from Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and more. The exact nature of the relationship between the companies and what these new projects look like remains to be seen, but as part of it, Disney has invested $1.5 billion for a stake in Epic Games.Within this "new persistent universe," players will be able to create experiences using Disney's own properties and…

The Walt Disney Corporation has just put a lot of money into Epic Games, all to make a new universe. Disney announced today that it’s purchased a $1.5 billion stake in Epic, with the latter working on a “new games and entertainment universe” for the former. The announcement from Disney says it will be a multiyear project, for a new persistent universe that will be a “world class” games experience and also interoperate with Epic’s ever-popular pop-culture mash-up machine, Fortnite. This new universe will have…

In addition to being a world-class games experience and interoperating with Fortnite, the new persistent universe will offer a multitude of opportunities for consumers to play, watch, shop and engage with content, characters, and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar, and more. Players, gamers, and fans will be able to create their own stories and experiences, express their fandom in a distinctly Disney way, and share content with each other in ways that they love. This will all be powered by Unreal…

by Elizabeth M. Ross, Harvard Gazette Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain A new report from the Education Recovery Scorecard, a collaboration between the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard and the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University, shows that some states, including Massachusetts, are still struggling to close academic achievement gaps that widened during…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain While the U.S. has become more racially and ethnically diverse over the last decade, the pace of voter turnout among Latinos, Asian Americans and Blacks continues to lag behind that of white non-Latinos, creating a substantial voter participation gap. That's according to a new study released by the Center for…