#033 - These are the Top 7 Best News of Last Week - March 28, 2022
🦠- Should we be giving bacteria invisibility cloaks? Can they be trusted with such technology?
1. Grammarly, founded by Ukrainians continues to pay staffers who joined the Ukranian army
Grammarly Inc, one of the most valuable tech startups in the US, is continuing to pay full salaries and benefits to its employees based in Ukraine who have joined the country’s army to fight against the Russian invasion, the company’s chief executive officer said on March 21.
Grammarly also offered paid leaves of absence for workers who were forced to flee their homes because of the fighting.
2. Mackenzie Scott has given $3.8 billion to 465 organizations since June
In a Medium post, Scott said her team's focus in the past nine months continued to be helping underrepresented people from various backgrounds and communities. The billionaire philanthropist gave money to Planned Parenthood locations across the United States as well as to organizations helping at-risk children, minorities, refugees and rural health access, according to the post.
3. 'Gay' dog abandoned at North Carolina shelter adopted by same-sex couple
A dog who made national headlines this month after being abandoned by his owners for being “gay” has been adopted by a same-sex couple.
Last week, WCCB-TV in Charlotte, North Carolina, reported that 5-year-old Fezco was surrendered to Stanly County Animal Protective Services by his owners after the pup “humped another male dog.”
Fezco’s story quickly made national headlines and caught the attention of Steve Nichols and his husband, John Winn, who live just outside Charlotte, not far from the shelter.
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Bacterial cells have been known, for at least 100 years, to colonize human tumors. Researchers at Columbia University are engineering these bacterial cells to destroy cancer cells in a targeted manner. This new line of research has already been tested in mice, but human trials have been scattered in terms of results. In the future, though, it's likely that cancer-targeting microbes could be tested in the clinic for hard-to-treat tumors.
Bacteria inside the human body evade detection by shielding themselves in a sugar cloak. This has been known, at least by microbiologists, for at least a decade. Sugar shells in some bacteria are found in mammalian cells, and so the human body cannot recognize and destroy them. This observation was a key source of inspiration for the new paper.
5. Indigenous communities transform a Mexican desert landscape into forest
In the Mexican state of Oaxaca, 22 communities have taken on the challenge of reviving soils depleted by centuries of overgrazing. Over the last two decades, they’ve managed to restore at least 20,000 hectares (49,000 acres), turning many sites into burgeoning forests.
6. Shayla Phillips, 4, found ‘safe and well’ after two days lost in southern Tasmania
Shayla Phillips went missing after playing with a neighbour's dogs in the backyard of her Stormlea home.
Four-year-old Shayla Phillips has been found "safe and well" in southern Tasmania more than two days after she was reported missing. She has spent two nights in the open and was found on Friday afternoon. She was located by an SES ground party "in a heavily wooded and very slopey" terrain.
7. Fortnite donating in game purchase proceeds to Ukraine from March 21st-Apr 3rd
The Fortnite publisher announced on 21 March it would donate all proceeds from in-game sales, including cosmetic in-game items and virtual currency bought in a shop or online, until 3 April. Epic Games has raised £37m until now for humanitarian efforts.
And Xbox is donating the fee it would usually take on items bought by players in Fortnite. The amount raised so far is greater than that given by some countries.