21st Century Innovative Technologies and Developments as also discoveries, curiosity ( insolite)...

New York (CNN Business)Leading Covid-19 vaccine developer AstraZeneca agreed on Saturday to buy Boston pharmaceutical firm Alexion (ALXN) for $39 billion.

The acquisition is one of the largest deals of the year for the drug industry and would expand AstraZeneca's (AZN) reach in rare diseases. Alexion has an immunology unit in Boston that serves patients with rare disorders.
AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish drugmaker headquartered in the United Kingdom, has partnered with the University of Oxford to produce a Covid-19 vaccine. It's in the final stages of development and is awaiting authorization from European and British governments. Last month, the company found its vaccine was 70% effective on average, but scientific experts raised concerns over a lack of transparency in reporting the vaccine trial data, potentially slowing down the timeline for approval.
AstraZeneca agreed to pay for the purchase with a mix of cash and stock, and said it took out a short-term loan of $17.5 billion from Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs to help pay for it.

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LONDON, May 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A university professor has launched a computer game called "Can You Save the World?" to help children understand how social distancing can save lives during the coronavirus pandemic.

Richard Wiseman said he came up with the idea for what is thought to be the world's first COVID-19 computer game after going for a walk during lockdown in Britain and finding it "felt like a computer game" as he dodged pedestrians and cyclists.

Wiseman, a professor of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, said research showed that games which encourage positive social behaviour can influence people's actions in the real world.

"It's a fun way of getting quite a scary message across," said Wiseman, who created the game, which has already gone viral, with designer Martin Jacob.

"There's quite a lot of research showing that if you get people - kids in particular - to behave in certain ways in video games it really does transfer to real life."

The creators, who are now looking at developing an app, say governments, schools and health authorities could use the game to encourage social distancing - a key measure to keep the virus in check as countries emerge from lockdown.

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Victorian hologram keeps music in touch with lockdown audience

LONDON (Reuters) - Musicians are using an interactive hologram based on Victorian technology to reach fans in the locked down world of the coronavirus pandemic.

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MIT’s deep learning found an antibiotic for a germ nothing else could kill

Scientists at MIT and Harvard’s Broad Institute and MIT’s CSAIL built a deep learning network that can acquire a broad representation of molecular structure and thereby discover novel antibiotics. The resulting compound, halicin, can destroy a pathogen for which no cure has existed, and it could even help in the fight against coronavirus.

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