BBC resurrects WWII-era shortwave broadcasts as Russia blocks news of Ukraine invasion

The BBC is resorting to broadcasting news bulletins over shortwave radio in Russia after the country blocked access to BBC websites, The Guardian reports. The BBC announced it was bringing back the WWII-era broadcasting technology in the region just hours before its sites were banned. News of the ban was also reported by Russian state news agency RIA.
Shortwave radio uses frequencies that carry over long distances and are accessible on portable sets. The BBC says its shortwave broadcasts will be available on frequencies of 15735 kHz from 4PM to 6PM and 5875 kHz from 10PM to midnight, Ukraine time. News will be read in English, which the BBC says will be available in Kyiv as well as “parts of Russia.”

India cancelled orders for MiG-29 jets from Russia claims US

India has cancelled orders for MiG-29 fighter jets, helicopters and anti-tank weapons from Russia in the last few weeks, a senior United States official claimed, according to a report in The Indian Express on Friday.
The official, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, made the statement before the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday. India’s defence ministry has not responded to the claim as yet.
Lu said that it will be difficult for any country to continue purchasing military equipment from Russia after the United States imposed sanctions on Moscow.

Pfizer says it raked in $36,800,000,000 in COVID-19 vaccine sales

Pfizer made nearly $40 billion from the COVID-19 vaccine in 2021, making it among the best-selling drugs in history, and expects to bring in $50 billion from the vaccine and the Paxlovid therapeutic in 2022.
Pfizer reports annual profits of $22 billion, more than double the 2020 level. Annual revenues nearly doubled to $81.3 billion, with $36.8 billion from the COVID-19 vaccine.

Even Dying Stars Could Give Birth to Brand New Planets, Says Study

When young stars coalesce out of a cloud of molecular hydrogen, a disk of leftover material called a protoplanetary disk surrounds them. This disk is where planets form, and astronomers are getting better at peering into those veiled environments and watching embryonic worlds take shape. But young stars aren’t the only stars with disks of raw material rotating around them.
Some old, dying stars also have disks. Can a second generation of planets form under those conditions?

Humans May Be Slowly Losing Their Sense of Smell, New Study Hints

Humans May Be Slowly Losing Their Sense of Smell, New Study Hints.

Humans’ sense of smell may indeed be gradually fading, according to a study that has found people carry different versions of two scent receptors for musk and body odor.
Olfactory receptors detect airborne chemicals that waft into our noses, but smell receptors vary immensely from one person to the next.
Any two people, on average, will have functional differences in over 30 percent of their odorant receptor genes, a 2013 study found. Which explains why some people might find some smells pungent or pleasant that the next person can’t even detect.