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Showing posts from November, 2021

"World's First Living Robots Can Now Reproduce" - Scientists

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Scientists from the United States who created the first living robots known as xenobots say the life forms, can now reproduce -- and in a way totally different from plants and animals.   Xenobots are formed from the stem cells of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) from which it takes its name, and are less than a millimeter (0.04 inches) wide.   The tiny blobs were first unveiled in 2020 after experiments showed that they could move, work together in groups and self-heal. Now the scientists that developed them at the University of Vermont, Tufts University and Harvard University's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering said they have discovered an entirely new form of biological reproduction different from any animal or plant known to science.   "I was astounded by it," said Michael Levin, a professor of biology and director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University who was co-lead author of the research. "Frogs have a way of reproducing t...

2021 Ballon d'Or: Messi Wins Award For The 7th Time

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  Argentina and Paris Saint-Germain forward   Lionel Messi   won the 2021 Ballon d'Or, his record-extending seventh Player of the Year award in his career (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019). He beat out Bayern Munich and Poland forward Robert Lewandowski, who was the other top contender for this year's honor. The final points margin was tight: 613-580. Messi won the last Ballon d'Or award presented in 2019. The 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Lewandowski was widely believed to be the likely winner before it was controversially scratched. FC Barcelona star attacking midfielder  Alexia Putellas  won the women's Ballon d'Or award, PSG goalkeeper  Gigi Donnarumma  was voted the best men's goalkeeper in the world, and another Barcelona player, 19-year-old  Pedri , was named the best men's Under-21 player in the world. Robert Lewandowski  was named the inaugural Striker of the Year as the top sc...

OGUN TANKER EXPLOSION: Grandma, Granddaughter Die, Hoodlums Scoop Fuel, Attack Firemen And Others

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Tragedy struck on Sunday at Lafenwa Market when a fuel-laden tanker exploded, killing a woman and her grandchild. The explosion occurred at a failed portion of the railway on the Lafenwa-Ojurin-Ayetoro Road in the Abeokuta-North Local Government Area of Ogun State. The tanker, loaded with Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), overturned when its axle broke, as it started spilling its content on the road. It was gathered that the accident occurred around 4.45am on Sunday while the tanker driver was inbound Rounder from Oju-Irin, Lafenwa. Pandemonium, however, broke out a few hours after the incident when some traders and hoodlums in the market began scooping fuel from the fallen tanker. Attempts by the police to stop the action reportedly angered the hoodlums, who allegedly ignited a fire that triggered the explosion. It was gathered that the police shot two people while controlling the situation. Aside from the two people killed in the explosion, scores of shops in the market were also bu...

Louis Vuitton Designer And CEO Of Off-White, Virgil Abloh Dies Of Cancer Aged 41

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Virgil Abloh, the artistic director of Louis Vuitton and the first African-American to head a French luxury fashion house, has died of cancer at the age of 41. LVMH, the French holding company that owns Louis Vuitton, said on Sunday that Abloh had passed away earlier that day after several years’ private struggle with the disease. “We are all shocked after this terrible news,” said LVMH boss Bernard Arnault. “Virgil was not only a genius designer, a visionary; he was also a man with a beautiful soul and great wisdom. “The LVMH family joins me in this moment of great sorrow, and we are all thinking of his loved ones after the passing of their husband, their father, their brother or their friend.” Abloh, the child of Ghanaian immigrants who grew up in Chicago and trained as a civil engineer and then an architect, made his name through collaborations with the rapper Kanye West, with whom he began working in 2002 at the age of 22. After a stint as the creative director of Mr West’s design ...

Who Will Win 2021 Ballon d’Or?

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The Ballon d’Or award ceremony is one of the most anticipated events in the football world. The award, first given out in 1956, is presented by the French weekly magazine, France Football, to the best footballer of the year. The prestige of the Ballon d’Or is such that the editor-in-chief of France Football, Pascal Ferre, recently revealed that Cristiano Ronaldo confessed to him that his core aim is to have won more Ballon d’Or awards than Lionel Messi by the time he retires. This is according to the Madrid-based daily, Marca. The 2021 edition of the Ballon d’Or is the 65th award ceremony. The men’s and women’s Ballon d’Or winners will be crowned at a gala event at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris on Monday, November 29. The event will also hand out the Kopa Trophy, given to the best men’s player under 21; and the Yashin Trophy handed to the best goalkeeper. The last men’s Ballon d’Or winner is the Argentine skipper Lionel Messi, who in 2019 picked up his sixth award, the most in the awar...