Daily Archives: July 14, 2020


Wristband Allows Wearers to ‘Hear’ Through Skin

It is commonly accepted that the human senses are limited — what can be seen through the eyes, heard through the ears. Sound is created when things vibrate. We hear it through our ears. Researchers have developed a wearable device that augments the reality of users by allowing them to “hear” through their skin in the form of vibrations. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has the details.Camera: Elizabeth Lee   Produced by: Elizabeth Lee  …


Study: People Bond with Music in Teenage Years

Researchers have taken a scientific look at why people love the music they do and how it connects to important times in their lives. The study, published last week in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, sought to look at music people hear in their teenage years and how that music becomes intrinsically linked to a person’s “sense of themself.” Researchers with the University of Westminster School of Social Sciences in London analyzed 80 guests on the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) show Desert Island Discs in which celebrities select eight pieces of music …


Pakistan to Resume Anti-Polio Drive as COVID-19 Infections Decline  

Pakistan said Tuesday it would relaunch door to door vaccinations of children against polio next week after a four-month suspension due to the coronavirus outbreak.     The announcement comes amid a substantial decline in daily COVID-19 infections across Pakistan, one of the two polio-endemic countries in the world along with its war-torn neighbor Afghanistan.     Pakistani officials have so far recorded 58 new polio cases this year from across the country amid warnings by the World Health Organization that “transmission continues to be widespread.”    The anti-polio drive, starting July …


Rising Temperatures, New Species Threaten World’s Waters

Growing threats imperil life in the world’s oceans and seas. Scientists say warming waters endanger young and unborn fish more than previously thought while a newly discovered species of seaweed suffocates life in Pacific waters. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports on threats to waters both local and global.Produced by: Arash Arabasadi  …


Anthropologist Hates Confederate Statues but Isn’t Eager to Dump Them

Anthropologist Lawrence Kuznar isn’t a fan of Confederate statues, but he feels Americans have a lesson to learn from them. “I’m not necessarily against taking them down,” says the professor of anthropology at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, who is in the process of retiring.“It’s easy to get emotional and excited in a group and go tear down a monument. It absolutely does nothing to address a deep racial and political divide that really seems to be tearing this country apart. Even lawfully removing them, I think, should be done in a thoughtful way.” As the Black …


Organic Farming More Popular in Ghana During Pandemic

In Ghana and West Africa, organic food is growing in popularity as people try to stay healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. But organic produce is not easily regulated, and some consumers are paying extra for unverified claims. Farmers across the region are creating their own system, with support from international bodies, to certify organic produce. Stacey Knott reports from Accra.Camera: Stacey Knott  Produced by: Stacey Knott    …


Britain Bans China’s Huawei from New 5G Network

The British government has banned China’s Huawei telecommunications equipment company from playing a limited role in Britain’s new high-speed mobile phone network.Britain’s Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, said the country’s telecommunications operators have until 2027 to remove Huawei’s equipment that is currently used in Britain’s 5G network.Britain’s decision could have wide-ranging implications for relations between the two countries and signals that Huawei may be losing support in the West. Dowden said the ban was imposed after the U.S. threatened to cancel an information-sharing deal due to concerns Huawei’s equipment could allow the …


Sheriff: ‘Glee’ Star Naya Rivera Saved Son Before Drowning 

“Glee” star Naya Rivera ‘s 4-year-old son told investigators that his mother, whose body was found in a Southern California lake Monday, boosted him back on to the deck of their rented boat before he looked back and saw her disappearing under the water, authorities said.  “She must have mustered enough energy to get her son back on the boat, but not enough to save herself,” Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub said at a news conference.  The boy, Josey Hollis Dorsey, was found asleep and alone in a life vest …


US Aims for End of Summer Vaccine as Rising COVID Cases Worldwide Prompt New Lockdowns

With the number of confirmed coronavirus infections around the world topping 13 million, including more than 570,000 deaths, the United States says it expects to start producing potential vaccine doses by the end of the summer, even as more and more governments are imposing, or re-imposing, strict quarantine and social distancing guidelines to blunt the spread of the disease.  The U.S.-based cable financial news channel CNBC reported Monday that a senior Trump administration official told reporters the manufacturing process is already underway even though they aren’t sure which vaccine – if …


Judge OK’s Release of Tell-all Book by Trump’s Niece

A New York state judge lifted a stay on Monday that had temporarily blocked Donald Trump’s niece from publishing a book offering an unflattering look at the U.S. president and his family. Justice Hal Greenwald of the state Supreme Court in Poughkeepsie, New York, denied the request to stop publication and canceled the temporary restraining order he issued on June 30 against Mary Trump and her publisher, Simon & Schuster, at the request of Robert Trump, the brother of the president. Simon & Schuster was due to release the book on Tuesday. Robert Trump said previously that the release of …


Google Plans to Invest $10 Billion in India

Google announced it will invest $10 billion in India in an effort to make the internet more “affordable and useful” to the more than one billion people living there. “This is a reflection of our confidence in the future of India and its digital economy,” CEO Sundar Pichai said in a statement Monday. The money, to be spent through a new Google for India Digitization Fund over the next five to seven years, will invest in India’s technology sector.  FILE – Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks during a visit to El Centro …