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Saturday, November 1, 2025
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Smartphone to be Used for Diagnosing Diseases

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A U.S. team is developing a nanotechnology based diagnostic system that will diagnose diseases needing only a smartphone and a lens attachment valued at $20 to read the test results.

While some challenges still must be overcome, the team is hopeful the results will be a diagnostic tool that is affordable and will be used in the medical field.

The new detecting system was created by Jiming Bao a computer and electrical engineering assistant professor and Richer Willson biomolecular and chemical engineering professor in Texas at the University of Houston.

The ACS Photonics journal recently published the data and the two along with other colleagues had written about the biosensing nanotechnology method that is the heart of the new system.

The design of the new system is a device that uses biosensing coupled together with a microscope that is able to read the results.

New nanotechnology features in biosensing and the smartphone that is enhanced through having an affordable lens, could be the microscope, say researchers.

In their recent study, the researchers described how a high throughput technique in biosensing was developed that combines nanoholes optic transmission with silver staining.

In essence, the new device works as do all diagnostic tools, it can detect the result of chemical reactions between a molecule and a pathogen that bonds with it uniquely.

The pathogen might be a bacterium or virus, and the molecule an antibody that is disease fighting. An example of a diagnosis that is ironclad is the reaction that takes place when strep bacterium reacts with an anti-strep antibody that is unique.

The new diagnostic system allows a reaction to take place and then is able to sense a result in a way that it will not be confused with any other.

What is challenging is to devise a system that can work cheaply, easily and quickly: both on the side of biosensing of allowing such reactions and the results to take place uniquely and on the side of interpretation so they are able to be viewed then analyzed.

Much work is still needed but the possibility exists that an inexpensive quick and easy disease diagnostic unit can be developed.

Getty Making Photos Free

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Getty Images, the largest photo agency in the world, has made over 35 million photos free for use as it attempts to combat piracy.

Millions of different images including the world famous shots of Barack Obama and Marilyn Monroe will soon be available without any cost to social media sites and blogs.

The photos will have a frame with a code that links them back to the Getty website. Getty said it decided to make the photos available after it realized thousands of images it owns were being used with no attribution.

A business development executive for Getty said the company content already was everywhere. He said if you want an image from Getty today it can be found very easily without any watermark.

The company announced it was making as many as 35 million of its images available through the embed tool it has just started using. The images can be share on sites such as Tumblr and Twitter.

Users have a choice of different types of photos to choose from. The categories range from fashion shows to sporting events to stock images and celebrity gatherings.

There are notable exceptions however, editorial photos for example such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks or the Tiananmen Square shots from 1989.

Getty in the eyes of many is admitting to defeat. Getty is now saying without saying it that by offering embedded photos it cannot police effectively its own images across the vast Internet.

The code, which is able to be cut and pasted onto any type of website, is similar to the one provided by YouTube for sharing videos. Images are not able to be resized and will have a logo for Getty Images and a photographer’s credit.

Photographers are not pleased, as now some will not be paid anything for the use of their photos. They say they do not work for free and now believe they will not make anything.

The commercial use of the library of Getty images, which includes television, newspapers and advertisers, is to continue being charged.

Saturated Mountains Worry Cities in California

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The waterlogged mountainsides looming over the communities in the foothills in California have city officials worried. The state is in dire need of moisture but not at high rates that have become increasingly more dangerous.

Evacuation orders for hundred of Los Angeles County homes remained in effect where fires have burned vegetation holding the soil in place and heavy rain bursts have caused the mountainsides to belch the occasional flow of debris.

The storm that is now situated just off the coast and sending bands of rain onto the mainland is a marked departure from months of drought. The drought is at crisis proportion for the huge farming industry in the state.

However, storms of this sort would need to be commonplace to make a serious dent in the drought, said weather forecasters.

Officials have warned that even though there have been long lulls, additional heavy downpours can be expected and they have urged all residents that have left their homes to not return yet.

The weather forecast has the storm moving east over the Rockies to the Plains and into the Mississippi Valley, bringing large amounts of rain with it.

The eastward movement of the storm on Saturday ended a streak of 70 straight days without any precipitation in Phoenix. A spell of 85 days of no rainfall of any measurable amount ended Friday in Las Vegas.

Snow and rain finally arrived in New Mexico, which has been drought stricken as well. A highway accident in Denver due to heavy snow involved over 100 vehicles killing one person and injured dozens more.

More than 1,200 homes in Monrovia, Glendoria and Azusa all adjacent cities to one another have been evacuated, because of the possibility of huge flows with destructive force originating from the San Gabriel Mountains.

Forecasters are saying that the upper-level low at the center of the storm would be coming ashore moving east and by the end of Sunday would leave just showers in the area.

The storm has saturated much of the state. San Francisco has received over 8 inches of rain this week bringing the city to more than 44% of its normal rainfall.

Putin Reassures Merkel Russia not Interested in Breaking Up Ukraine

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Vladimir Putin the President of Russia has assured Angela Merkel the German Chancellor that Russia was not interested in breaking apart Ukraine. This announcement came amidst increasing concern internationally after men armed with weapons occupied airports in Crimea the pro-Russia region of Ukraine.

Merkel was concerned over the events taking place in Crimea said one of her spokespersons at a news conference. The spokesperson said that Putin told Merkel he accepted Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

These comments come as military soldiers in uniforms that were unmarked took positions at Sevastipol’s Belbek airport, where a naval base is leased by Russia and at the Simferopol airport. Simferopol is the administrative capital of Crimea.

The Interior Minister said the occupation of the airport took place a day after armed men took the one government building and put a flag from Russia on its roof.

The events in Crimea have raised concerns of leaders in the West. They worry Russia could encourage separatism within the region, which was ceded by Russia to the Soviet Socialist Republic of Ukraine 60 years ago.

European diplomats and their counterparts in Germany said that Merkel has taken the informal lead as a key link between Western leaders and President Putin since the crisis boiled over in Ukraine last week, when troops fired upon protesters in the central square of Kiev.

Merkel spoke with Putin on repeated occasions since then. She has said Russia should help to stabilize Ukraine financially and politically, as well as protect the territorial integrity. She also has appealed to Kiev’s new regime to reach out to its segment of the overall population that is pro-Russian.

Germany had said any financial assistance for Kiev from Europe is conditional on Ukraine obtaining loan monies through the International Monetary Fund.

Officials in Germany said that other conditions included the formation of government that was inclusive and a commitment of financial help by Russia.

The new government in Ukraine requested an IMF bailout as it struggles with the decision by Russia to freeze funding support of $15 billion that was promised in 2013.

Murder Suspect Killed in Israeli Prison Shootout

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Samuel Sheinbein, a notorious killer from the U.S., was shot and killed inside an Israeli prison during a gun battle with prison guards. Three guards were shot in the blaze of gunfire, with one in critical condition.

Sheinbein, who was 33, was a high school student in 1997 at the age of 17 when he killed a teenager with another friend, used an electric saw to cut the arms and legs off the victim and wrapped the victim’s torso inside trash bags.

Then, while being searched for by U.S. detectives, Sheinbein made his way to Israel. He succeeded in fending off his extradition, but eventually pled guilty in Israel to killing 19-year old Alfredo Tello Jr. He was given a sentence of 24 years in prison.

A rift between the governments of Israel and the U.S. was created when the case first broke, when Israel said it would honor Sheinbein’s refusal to not return to the U.S.

Israel eventually changed and sided with U.S. officials, but the courts in Israel sided with Sheinbein. His case prompted Israel to change the way it handles such matters.

Authorities still do not know what the motives were for Sheinbein to start a firefight or how he was able to have a firearm in his possession. However, around 2 p.m. he started shooting at three guards inside the prison.

Officials at the prison closed off a section of the prison and Sheinbein then isolated himself in a prison cell.

Shortly thereafter counterterrorism officers took over. They attempted to communicate with him, but just 90 minutes following the first shot, he starting firing more.

The counterterrorism unit returned Sheinbein’s fire and killed him.

Prior to Sunday’s shootout, Sheinbein was eligible for furloughs from prison grounds. Just a month ago, while on furlough, he attempted to buy a pistol on the Internet.

When originally convicted in 1999 he was said to be eligible parole in 2013 and officials from the U.S. were attempting to find out if he was going to be paroled.

Sheinbein’s lawyer in Israel said she had spoken to her client only a few days before the shooting and said she had been concerned for his mental health.

Walmart Accelerates Growth of Small Stores

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Walmart Stores has announced it is accelerating its plan for its small store format in the United States for its current fiscal year.

The company will expand its original forecast for capital provided from last October and expects to now add as many as 300 small format stores during the current fiscal year, which would double its original forecast of up to 150 stores.

Walmart U.S. is also continuing its plan to open as many as 115 supercenters during the current year as well.

The CEO and president of Walmart U.S. Bill Simon said the customers’ expectations and needs were changing. They want to be able to shop when they want to shop, how they want to shop and the company is transforming to meet those needs.

Simon said customers like the myriad of selections at its supercenters for trips to stock up, while they also appreciated the smaller stores as fill-in trips.

By unlocking the growth opportunity and the continuance of combining the supercenters with the small store formats and unlimited choices through its ecommerce site, Walmart is providing customers with anywhere, anytime access to its brand, said Simon in a prepared statement.

The small stores have continued delivering positive sales and increases in traffic each quarter. The comp sales for their Neighborhood Market stores increased nearly 4% during the 2014 fiscal year, helped by pharmacy and fresh items.

Simon said that their Neighborhood Market was performing comparable as well as favorable to other leading grocers. The small store expansion as well as providing customers a wide variety of different products, including pharmacy, fresh foods and fuel has helped the company usher in its next generation of retail.

Walmart currently has 345 Neighborhood Markets as well as 20 Walmart Express locations. The Express stores are performing well and have been expanded beyond the pilot program of three markets.

Due to its aggressive project, Walmart U.S. will see an increase in net retail footage growth of more than 23 million square feet during this fiscal year.

To fund additional growth, Walmart U.S. had revised its expenditures in capital forecasted from as much as $6.3 billion to $6.9 billion.

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