g-f(2)108 THE BIG PICTURE OF THE DIGITAL AGE, WSJ, How Big Tech Got Even Bigger

VIRAL KNOWLEDGE: The “genioux facts” knowledge news

Extra-condensed knowledge

Technology giants such as Alphabet, Amazon and Apple are more dominant than a year ago thanks to a greater reliance on their services during the pandemic. The forces propelling them to new heights are expected to outlast Covid-19.

• The tech industry’s titans were already huge before Covid-19, the subject of soaring valuations and snowballing antitrust investigations. The pandemic has only made them bigger. A lot bigger.
• Even amid one of the most punishing economic downturns on record, spending surged on computers, videogames, online retail, cloud-computing services and digital advertising.
• The result was dizzying growth for some of the largest corporations in history—and for their stock prices.

Genioux knowledge fact condensed as an image

Condensed knowledge 

• Technology giants such as Alphabet, Amazon and Apple are more dominant than a year ago thanks to a greater reliance on their services during the pandemic. The forces propelling them to new heights are expected to outlast Covid-19.
• The tech industry’s titans were already huge before Covid-19, the subject of soaring valuations and snowballing antitrust investigations. The pandemic has only made them bigger. A lot bigger.
• Even amid one of the most punishing economic downturns on record, spending surged on computers, videogames, online retail, cloud-computing services and digital advertising.
• The result was dizzying growth for some of the largest corporations in history—and for their stock prices.
• At a time when companies such as airlines and bricks-and-mortar retailers struggled to survive, combined revenue for the five biggest U.S. tech companies— Apple Inc., AAPL -0.31%, Microsoft Corp. , Amazon.com Inc., AMZN 0.63%, Google-parent Alphabet Inc., and Facebook Inc. FB 0.60% —grew by a fifth, to $1.1 trillion. Their aggregate profit rose an even faster 24%. And their combined market capitalization soared by half over the past year to a staggering $8 trillion.
• Their economic sway expanded in other ways, too, including employment: Amazon alone added 500,000 new workers in a single year, roughly equivalent to the entire population of Atlanta.
• Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella has said that he expects spending on technology to double to 10% of gross domestic product from its current level of 5%. This month he said he now expects that to happen even faster.

Category 2: The Big Picture of the Digital Age

[genioux fact produced, deduced or extracted from WSJ]

Type of essential knowledge of this “genioux fact”: Essential Deduced and Extracted Knowledge (EDEK).

Type of validity of the "genioux fact". 

• Inherited from sources + Supported by the knowledge of one or more experts.

Authors of the genioux fact

Fernando Machuca

References

How Big Tech Got Even Bigger, The staff of The Wall Street Journal, February 6, 2021, The Wall Street Journal, WSJ.

g-f(2)39 University of Oxford: Misinformation about basic issues in science and technology abounds

Extra-condensed knowledge

The Oxford Martin Programme on MISINFORMATION, SCIENCE AND MEDIA

• Public understanding of key issues in science and technology is often limited and misinformation about basic issues in science and technology abounds.
• In this three-year programme researchers from the Oxford Internet Institute and the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism are examining the interplay between systematic misinformation campaigns, news coverage, and increasingly important social media platforms for public understanding of science and technological innovation. 
• The programme looks at the problem of “junk science”, “fake news” and public policy issues.

Genioux knowledge fact condensed as an image.

The “genioux facts” Knowledge Big Picture (g-f KBP) chart

Condensed knowledge 

• The Oxford Martin Programme on MISINFORMATION, SCIENCE AND MEDIA
• Public understanding of key issues in science and technology is often limited and misinformation about basic issues in science and technology abounds.
• In this three-year programme researchers from the Oxford Internet Institute and the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism are examining the interplay between systematic misinformation campaigns, news coverage, and increasingly important social media platforms for public understanding of science and technological innovation. 
• The programme looks at the problem of “junk science”, “fake news” and public policy issues.
• Long-held scientific consensus on vital issues such as climate change or the vaccines is increasingly contested, heavily debated on social media and even in the mainstream news media. New technological innovations like artificial intelligence are discussed in terms that veer from the alarmist to the exuberant.
• Our aim is to combine social science and computer science to address the damaging impact of computational propaganda and other forms of digitally‐enabled misinformation campaigns on scientific innovation, policy making, and public life.
• We engage with stakeholders in journalism, the technology industry, the scientific community, and among policymakers in the search for evidence-based actionable interventions.
• LATEST NEWS
• Navigating the COVID-19 'infodemic' - how are people accessing news and information 
• News use is up across all six countries (Argentina, Germany, South Korea, Spain, the UK and the US), and most people in most countries are using either social media, search engines, video sites, and messaging applications (or combinations of these) to get news and information about coronavirus.
• COVID–19 has intensified concerns about misinformation. Here's what our past research says about these issues
• UK media coverage of artificial intelligence dominated by industry and industry sources
• UK media coverage of artificial intelligence is dominated by industry products, announcements and research, according to a new study by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and the Oxford Martin Programme on Misinformation, Science and Media.
• The factsheet, An Industry-Led Debate: How UK Media Cover Artificial Intelligence, is based on an analysis of eight months of reporting on AI, in six mainstream UK news outlets.
• Nearly 60% of articles were focused on new industry products, announcements and initiatives that include AI, from smart phones or running shoes, to sex robots or brain preservation.
• One third (33%) of articles were based on industry sources – mostly CEOs or other senior executives - six times as many as those from government and nearly twice as many as those from academia.
• Media coverage of AI is being politicised: right-leaning news outlets highlight issues of economics and geopolitics; left-leaning news outlets highlight issues of ethics, including discrimination, algorithmic bias and privacy.

Category 1, 2, 3 and 4: 

1. A new, better world for everyone

2. The Big Picture of the Digital Era

3. The Big Picture of Sports

4. Coronavirus and other viruses

[genioux fact extracted from Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford]

Type of validity of the "genioux fact". 

• Inherited from sources + Supported by the knowledge of one or more experts + Based on a research. 

Authors of the genioux fact

Fernando Machuca

References

The Oxford Martin Programme on MISINFORMATION, SCIENCE AND MEDIA, Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Extracted from Wikipedia

The University of Oxford (legally The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford) is a collegiate research university in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world, the world's second-oldest university in continuous operation and one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. 

The university is made up of 39 semi-autonomous constituent colleges, six permanent private halls, and a range of academic departments which are organised into four divisions. All the colleges are self-governing institutions within the university, each controlling its own membership and with its own internal structure and activities. All students are members of a college. It does not have a main campus, and its buildings and facilities are scattered throughout the city centre.

Oxford operates the world's oldest university museum, as well as the largest university press in the world and the largest academic library system nationwide. In the fiscal year ending 31 July 2019, the university had a total income of £2.45 billion, of which £624.8 million was from research grants and contracts.

Oxford has educated a wide range of notable alumni, including 28 prime ministers of the United Kingdom and many heads of state and government around the world. As of October 2020, 72 Nobel Prize laureates, 3 Fields Medalists, and 6 Turing Award winners have studied, worked, or held visiting fellowships at the University of Oxford, while its alumni have won 160 Olympic medals.

The Oxford Martin School is a research and policy unit based in the Social Sciences Division of the University of Oxford. It was founded in June 2005 as the James Martin 21st Century School and is located in the original building of the Indian Institute. It is named after its benefactor, James Martin, author of the books The Wired Society and The Meaning of the 21st Century. Its Director is Charles Godfray, who took up the post in February 2018. Founding director of the School was Ian Goldin who held the post from September 2006 to September 2016.

'Finding solutions to the world's most urgent problems' is the stated mission of the Oxford Martin School.

g-f(2)38 False rumors spread faster and wider than true information

Extra-condensed knowledge

MIT Sloan research about social media, misinformation, and elections

• Over the last several years, MIT Sloan researchers have studied the spread of false information, or so-called fake news, described by researchers as “entirely fabricated and often partisan content presented as factual.” 
• Understanding more about why people share misinformation, and how it spreads, leads to proposed solutions — a goal that becomes more important as people spend more time on social media platforms, and the connections between misinformation and election results become clearer.

Genioux knowledge fact condensed as an image.

The “genioux facts” Knowledge Big Picture (g-f KBP) chart

Condensed knowledge 

• MIT Sloan research about social media, misinformation, and elections
• Over the last several years, MIT Sloan researchers have studied the spread of false information, or so-called fake news, described by researchers as “entirely fabricated and often partisan content presented as factual.” 
• Understanding more about why people share misinformation, and how it spreads, leads to proposed solutions — a goal that becomes more important as people spend more time on social media platforms, and the connections between misinformation and election results become clearer.
• Problems
• False rumors spread faster and wider than true information, according to a 2019 study published in Science by MIT Sloan professor Sinan Aral and Deb Roy and Soroush Vosoughi of the MIT Media Lab. 
• They found falsehoods are 70% more likely to be retweeted on Twitter than the truth, and reach their first 1,500 people six times faster. This effect is more pronounced with political news than other categories. 
• People are the ones hitting retweet on false information. 
• People who share false information are more likely distracted or lazy, rather than biased, according to MIT Sloan professor David Rand and his co-author Gordon Pennycook. 
• Their 2018 study asking people to rate the accuracy of news headlines on Facebook found that people who engage in more analytical thinking are more likely to discern true from false, regardless of their political views. 
• Attaching warnings to social media posts that feature information disputed by fact-checkers can backfire. 
• A study by Rand and his co-authors outlined a potential downfall to labeling misinformation online: the “implied truth effect,” where people assume all information without a label is true. Attaching verifications to some true headlines could be a possible fix.
• Social media can also skew opinions because of what people don’t see.  
• Another study by Rand and several co-authors looked at "information gerrymandering," or how people tend to live in partisan bubbles where they receive just a partial picture of how others feel about political issues. This can distort what people think about how others plan to vote — and even influence the outcome of elections.
• Solutions
• Aral and MIT Sloan professor Dean Eckles outlined a four-step plan for researchers to measure and analyze social media manipulation and turn that information into a defense against future interference. 
• In brief: catalog exposure to social media manipulation; combine exposure and voter behavior datasets; assess the effectiveness of manipulative messages; and calculate consequences of voting behavior changes. 
• In his new book “The Hype Machine,” Aral goes more in-depth, exploring the promise and peril of social media and how to protect society and democracy from its threats.
• When asked directly, most people say it is important to share information that is accurate, according to a study co-authored by Rand. 
• Yet people tend to share false information online because the social media context focuses their attention on factors other than truth and accuracy — not because they don’t care about the truth of what they are sharing. 
• Advertising spreads fake news through methods like Facebook’s marketing tools, which allow advertisers to pay to target certain groups of people. 
• A study co-authored by MIT Sloan marketing professor Catherine Tucker found a 75% reduction in fake news being shared after Facebook rolled out a new advertising system designed to intercept articles with fake news stories.

Category 1, 2, 3 and 4: 

1. A new, better world for everyone

2. The Big Picture of the Digital Era

3. The Big Picture of Sports

4. Coronavirus and other viruses

[genioux fact extracted from MIT Sloan School of Management]

Type of validity of the "genioux fact". 

• Inherited from sources + Supported by the knowledge of one or more experts + Based on a research. 

Authors of the genioux fact

Fernando Machuca

References

MIT Sloan research about social media, misinformation, and elections, Sara Brown, Oct 5, 2020, MIT Sloan School of Management. 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Extracted from MIT Sloan School of Management

Sara Brown

Sara writes about management issues affecting global business leaders, with an emphasis on management science. Areas of interest include artificial intelligence, the digital economy, marketing, operations management, platforms, system dynamics, and supply chain. 

Prior to MIT Sloan, Sara was a reporter and editor at the Vineyard Gazette on Martha's Vineyard. She has written for The Boston Globe and Martha's Vineyard Magazine, among other publications. She is a master's degree in journalism from Boston University and an undergraduate degree from the University of Washington.

g-f(2)37 Cognitive decision biases influence decisions in damaging ways

Extra-condensed knowledge

Decision-making becomes most important in times of crisis

• It also becomes more challenging, too, during periods of stress and most difficult when future outcomes are uncertain. 
• One reason is because cognitive decision biases are likely to appear in highly changeable, high-stress environments, influencing decisions in damaging ways.
• The field of behavioral economics, led by social psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, has identified a number of cognitive biases that affect decision-making — usually in a negative way. 
• Wikipedia lists 124 decision-oriented biases.
• By understanding our biases, we have a better chance of quieting them and moving toward better choices.

Genioux knowledge fact condensed as an image.

The “genioux facts” Knowledge Big Picture (g-f KBP) chart

Condensed knowledge 

• Decision-making becomes most important in times of crisis.
• It also becomes more challenging, too, during periods of stress and most difficult when future outcomes are uncertain. 
• One reason is because cognitive decision biases are likely to appear in highly changeable, high-stress environments, influencing decisions in damaging ways.
• Wikipedia lists 124 decision-oriented biases. 
• The field of behavioral economics, led by social psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, has identified a number of cognitive biases that affect decision-making — usually in a negative way. 
• There is no definitive list of such biases. 
• It’s sobering to note all the ways in which human brains distort decision processes; perhaps it’s a wonder that any good decision is ever made.
• Perhaps seeing these pointed out will improve decision processes for all of us — including politicians who make large-scale decisions affecting millions, business leaders who make decisions affecting their organizations and many stakeholders, and those who make decisions for themselves and their families.
• Emotion-driven beliefs and intuition are powerful at guiding people toward less-than-optimal decisions. 
• By understanding our biases, we have a better chance of quieting them and moving toward better choices.
• Framing effect. 
• One of the most powerful influences on any decision is how the issue to be decided is framed. 
• Binary, either/or framing is often suboptimal. 
• The very large and important issue of how to manage the virus in the U.S. is increasingly framed as a “save the economy or lock everything down” question.
• Neglect of probability. 
• Public health and epidemiology are probabilistic fields, as is the individual attempt to evade a microbe. 
• No treatment or intervention can lower the relevant probability to zero or raise it to 100%; one can only lower or raise the probability within limits. 
• Yet many lay people are uncomfortable with probabilistic thinking, and have a strong preference for absolute judgments.
• Political bias. 
• While the coronavirus has no politics, people do — and their politics affect how they interpret information and make decisions. 
• Normalcy bias. 
• Normalcy bias is the belief that things will continue to go as they have gone in the past, which leads to an unwillingness or inability to plan for unforeseen circumstances. 
• Confirmation bias. 
• One of the most common decision biases is confirmation bias, in which we search for and pay more heed to information that supports our own views. It’s a more generalized case of political bias. 
• Hostile attribution bias. 
• When others don’t agree with us in a time of high stress, we tend to attribute hostile intent to them. Assuming hostile intent, of course, only raises everyone’s stress levels. 

Category 1, 2, 3 and 4: 

1. A new, better world for everyone

2. The Big Picture of the Digital Era

3. The Big Picture of Sports

4. Coronavirus and other viruses

[genioux fact extracted from MIT SMR]

Type of validity of the "genioux fact". 

• Inherited from sources + Supported by the knowledge of one or more experts + Based on a research. 

Authors of the genioux fact

Fernando Machuca

References

How to Make Better Decisions About Coronavirus, Thomas H. Davenport, April 08, 2020, MIT Sloan Management Review, MAGAZINE SUMMER 2020 ISSUE.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Thomas H. Davenport (@tdav) is the President’s Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management at Babson College, as well as a fellow at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy and a senior adviser to Deloitte’s Analytics and Cognitive practice.

Extracted from Wikipedia

Thomas Hayes "Tom" Davenport, Jr. is an American academic and author specializing in analytics, business process innovation, knowledge management, and artificial intelligence. He is currently the President’s Distinguished Professor in Information Technology and Management at Babson College, a Fellow of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, Co-founder of the International Institute for Analytics, and a Senior Advisor to Deloitte Analytics.

Davenport has written, coauthored, or edited twenty books, including the first books on analytical competition, business process reengineering and achieving value from enterprise systems, and the best seller, Working Knowledge (with Larry Prusak) (Davenport & Prusak 2000), on knowledge management. He has written more than one hundred articles for such publications as Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, California Management Review, the Financial Times, and many other publications. Davenport has also been a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, CIO, InformationWeek, and Forbes magazines.

g-f(2)22 MIT Sloan expert insights: 4 books from 2020

VIRAL KNOWLEDGE: The “genioux facts” knowledge news

Extra-condensed knowledge

What started as a promising new decade quickly turned into one of the most tumultuous and divisive years in modern history. 

• The COVID-19 pandemic shuttered businesses and shifted workers to remote offices. 
• And the fear and uncertainty that threaded its way throughout the pandemic and lead up to the presidential election were fueled by social media and the ongoing battle over freedom of speech and how to define misinformation.
• Here are four books from MIT Sloan experts that make some sense of the power of social media, the future of remote work, and more.

Genioux knowledge fact condensed as an image.

Condensed knowledge 

• Why It Matters. 2020 left many of us confused, concerned, and curious about what lessons to take from a year of quarantine and remote work. Here are four books to help make sense of it all.
• The Hype Machine: How Social Media Disrupts Our Elections, Our Economy, and Our Health — And How We Must Adapt. Sinan Aral, professor of management and director of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy.
• This year brought highs and lows for the communication ecosystem created by social media — what MIT Sloan professor Sinan Aral calls the “Hype Machine.” 
• Aral lays out the path to achieve the promise of social media, the forces at play and the science behind the Hype Machine, and what social media companies, policymakers, and users need to do to achieve the promise and avoid the peril of this new social order.
• Overload: How Good Jobs Went Bad and What We Can Do About It. Erin L. Kelly, professor of work and organization studies, and University of Minnesota sociology professor Phyllis Moen.
• Remote work allows an employee to build their schedule around their personal responsibilities, supporting mental health and a better work-life balance. 
• Over the course of about five years, Kelly and Moen and their collaborators in the Work, Family and Health Network studied how an organizational change initiative called STAR [Support. Transform. Achieve. Results.] benefited overloaded employees at a tech-focused company referred to as TOMO.
• Creating Good Jobs: An Industry-Based Strategy. Edited by Paul Osterman, professor of human resources and management. 
• During the first wave of the pandemic, people became amateur bread bakers and at-home fitness gurus thanks to point-and-click orders on e-commerce sites like Amazon. 
• In this book edited by Paul Osterman, he and a cadre of experts examine industries like retail, restaurants, manufacturing, and hospitals to learn how workers live paycheck to paycheck, and what can be done to improve these jobs.
• Recommendation Engines. Michael Schrage, research fellow at the MIT Sloan School of Management's Initiative on the Digital Economy. 
• It’s not a coincidence that Netflix seems to have such good taste in your tastes. 
• There’s technology behind those recommendations that seem perfectly tailored to you quarantine-driven impulse purchases. 
• In his book, Schrage explores the origins of recommendation engines, from the earliest predictors to today’s services that can dress and distract you better than you possibly could yourself.

Category 1, 2, 3 and 4: 

1. A new, better world for everyone

2. The Big Picture of the Digital Era

3. The Big Picture of Sports

4. Coronavirus and other viruses

[genioux fact extracted from MIT Sloan School of Management]

Authors of the genioux fact

Fernando Machuca

References

MIT Sloan expert insights: 4 books from 2020, Meredith Somers, November 25, 2020, MIT Sloan School of Management.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Meredith writes about management issues affecting global business leaders, with an emphasis on behavioral and policy sciences. She also covers leadership, workplace communication, competitive strategy and decision-making, diversity and hiring, entrepreneurship, and innovation. 

Prior to MIT Sloan, Meredith was a reporter for Federal News Network in Washington, D.C. She's worked as a Maryland state government reporter for the Associated Press, and as a general assignment reporter on the Metro desk at The Washington Times.

g-f(2)21 WEF: There's no vaccine for the infodemic - so how can we combat the virus of misinformation?

VIRAL KNOWLEDGE: The “genioux facts” knowledge news

Extra-condensed knowledge

In a world where social media is increasingly where most of us get so much of our information, and where we value freedom of speech as a cornerstone of democracy, what can be done to combat dangerous misinformation?

• Fake news about COVID, its origins, treatment and prevention, has gone viral.
• UN has launched counter-attack, wants you to help.
• Storyful founder says algorithms and human editors can help turn the tide.

Genioux knowledge fact condensed as an image.

Condensed knowledge 

• "When COVID-19 emerged, it was clear from the outset this was not just a public health emergency, but a communications crisis as well," says Melissa Fleming, who leads global communications for the United Nations.
• With a huge public demand for information about the pandemic and the rapid spread of false information, the 'infodemic' is putting lives at risk, so Fleming is heading a campaign to help true information surface out of the deluge of rumours and lies.
• She has launched 'Verified' - where people can sign up for daily emails on the latest COVID news that comes from reliable sources: "science-based information" that might otherwise be buried on "page 125 of a PDF" presented "in formats that are optimized for sharing on social media."
• The UN is also encouraging us to stop rushing to re-post potentially dubious content, promoting the hashtag #PledgetoPause.
• The UN is also encouraging social media influencers to help spread real news about the pandemic. "So far, we've recruited 110,000 information volunteers, and we equip these information volunteers with the kind of knowledge about how misinformation spreads and ask them to serve as kind of 'digital first-responders' in those spaces where misinformation travels," Fleming says.
• Journalist and entrepreneur Mark Little sets out potential solutions to the infodemic.
• He's worked for Twitter and founded Storyful, a social media news agency that had fact-checking at its heart. He has now launched a new company called Kinzen which aims to get the best out of artificial intelligence and human editors to combat online rumours and lies.

Category 1, 2, 3 and 4: 

1. A new, better world for everyone

2. The Big Picture of the Digital Era

3. The Big Picture of Sports

4. Coronavirus and other viruses

[genioux fact extracted from WEF]

Authors of the genioux fact

Fernando Machuca

References

There's no vaccine for the infodemic - so how can we combat the virus of misinformation?, Robin Pomeroy and Alexander Court, November 26, 2020, World Economic Forum.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Robin Pomeroy is a journalist with Reuters who is currently working at the World Economic Forum.

Alexander Court is marketing communications lead at the World Economic Forum. He previously worked for three years at the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR.

g-f(4)3 For children, during the coronavirus pandemic, according to science, schools are the best place to be

VIRAL KNOWLEDGE: The “genioux facts” knowledge news 

Extra-condensed knowledge

When it comes down to where children are safest during the coronavirus pandemic, CDC Director Robert Redfield says schools are the best place to be.

• Redfield said evidence shows that students are contracting the respiratory illness from family gatherings and local events rather than schools.
• Political leaders and school administrators are once again shifting millions of American kids back to virtual leaning as coronavirus cases mount.
• In both Europe and the United States, schools have not been linked to substantial transmission, and teachers and family members have not been shown to be at extra risk (this is more clear of elementary schools than of high schools). 

Genioux knowledge fact condensed as an image. 

Condensed knowledge

1. Fox News. CDC director says schools are among 'safest places' kids can be. When it comes down to where children are safest during the coronavirus pandemic, CDC Director Robert Redfield says schools are the best place to be.
• At a coronavirus task force briefing held at the White House on Thursday, Redfield said evidence shows that students are contracting the respiratory illness from family gatherings and local events rather than schools.
• “The infections that we’ve identified in schools when they’ve been evaluated were not acquired in schools. They were actually acquired in the community and in the household,” he explained, citing task force coordinator Dr. Deborah L. Birx, who believes Americans are getting comfortable in removing protective face masks.
• “The truth is, for kids K-12, one of the safest places they can be, from our perspective, is to remain in school, and it’s really important that following the data, making sure we don’t make emotional decisions about what to close and what not to close,” Redfield continued. “I’m here to say clearly the data strongly supports that K-12 schools — as well as institutes of higher learning — really are not where we’re having our challenges.”
2. WaPo. The Health 202: The evidence doesn't support closing schools to stop the coronavirus. Political leaders and school administrators are once again shifting millions of American kids back to virtual leaning as coronavirus cases mount.
• Yet data from the fall semester indicates schools aren’t a big vector for the virus after all.
• “We have not seen schools as a major source of transmission for covid, particularly in the low-prevalence areas,” said Emily Oster, an economics professor at Brown University. “I think that suggests it’s possible to reopen schools safely, probably more than we are currently doing.” 
• Infection rates are extremely low among students and teachers in both public and private schools. That’s according to a database created by Oster, who noticed there was no central place to track how the virus was spreading in elementary, middle and high schools and wanted to fill that need.
• The nation's top infectious disease expert, Anthony S. Fauci, said last night he too was a proponent of keeping schools open if at all feasible. 
• In schools that have opened classrooms full or part time, there are 17 daily cases for every 100,000 students.
• A new UNICEF report underscores Oster’s findings. The U.N. agency said data from 91 countries shows no consistent link between reopening schools and higher rates of infection from the coronavirus. The report, which warns of a “lost covid generation,” says children are more likely to get the virus outside of school settings.
3. NYT. When Trump Was Right and Many Democrats Wrong. Children have suffered because many mayors and governors were too willing to close public schools.
• I’ve been writing since May about the importance of keeping schools open, and initially the debate wasn’t so politicized. But after Trump, trying to project normalcy, blustered in July about schools needing to open, Republicans backed him and too many Democrats instinctively lined up on the other side. Joe Biden echoed their extreme caution, as did many Democratic mayors and governors. So Democrats helped preside over school closures that have devastated millions of families and damaged children’s futures. Cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., have closed schools while allowing restaurants to operate.
• In both Europe and the United States, schools have not been linked to substantial transmission, and teachers and family members have not been shown to be at extra risk (this is more clear of elementary schools than of high schools). Meanwhile, the evidence has mounted of the human cost of school closures.
• One child in eight in America lives with a parent with an addiction — a reflection of America’s other pandemic. I’ve seen kids living in chaotic homes, and for them the school building is a refuge and a lifeline.
• America’s education system already transmits advantage and disadvantage from one generation to the next: Rich kids attend rich schools that propel them forward, and low-income children attend struggling schools that hold them back. School closures magnify these inequities, as many private schools remain open and affluent parents are better able to help kids adjust to remote learning. At the same time, low-income children fall even further behind.

Category 4: Coronavirus and other viruses

[genioux fact extracted from Fox News, Wapo, NYT]

Authors of genioux fact

Fernando Machuca

References

1. CDC director says schools are among 'safest places' kids can be, Cortney Moore, November 20, 2020, Fox News.
2. The Health 202: The evidence doesn't support closing schools to stop the coronavirus, Paige Winfield Cunningham, November 20, 2020, WaPo, The Washington Post.
3. When Trump Was Right and Many Democrats Wrong, Nicholas Kristof, November 18, 2020, NYT, The New York Times.

g-f(4)2 Where we are with vaccines to face the DISRUPTION of the Coronavirus

VIRAL KNOWLEDGE: The “genioux facts” knowledge news 

Extra-condensed knowledge

More than 150 coronavirus vaccines are in development across the world—and hopes are high to bring one to market in record time to ease the global crisis. It’s too soon to say which candidates will ultimately be successful. It can typically take 10 to 15 years to bring a vaccine to market; the fastest-ever—the vaccine for mumps—required four years in the 1960s. 

• Moderna Therapeutics. This vaccine candidate relies on injecting snippets of a virus’s genetic material, in this case messenger RNA (mRNA), into human cells. 
• Any successful vaccine based on this technology would be the first mRNA vaccine approved for human use. This vaccine requires two doses, four weeks apart.
• Moderna expects to have 20 million doses ready to ship in the U.S. by the end of the year and says it remains on track to deliver at least 500 million doses per year beginning in 2021.
• Pfizer. This vaccine candidate also relies on injecting snippets of mRNA into human cells to trigger an immune response. This vaccine requires two doses taken 21 days apart.

Genioux knowledge fact condensed as an image. 

Condensed knowledge

• More than 150 coronavirus vaccines are in development across the world—and hopes are high to bring one to market in record time to ease the global crisis. 
• Several efforts are underway to help make that possible, including the U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed initiative, which has pledged $10 billion and aims to develop and deliver 300 million doses of a safe, effective coronavirus vaccine by January 2021. 
• The World Health Organization is also coordinating global efforts to develop a vaccine, with an eye toward delivering two billion doses by the end of 2021.
• Vaccines go through a three-stage clinical trial process before they are sent to regulatory agencies for approval—which can be a lengthy process itself.
• Given the urgent need, some vaccine developers are compressing the clinical process for SARS-CoV-2 by running trial phases simultaneously. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has stated that independent Data and Safety Monitoring Boards can end trials early if their interim results are overwhelmingly positive or negative.
• Moderna Therapeutics. This vaccine candidate relies on injecting snippets of a virus’s genetic material, in this case messenger RNA (mRNA), into human cells. It spurs the production of viral proteins that mimic the coronavirus, training the immune system to recognize its presence. Any successful vaccine based on this technology would be the first mRNA vaccine approved for human use. This vaccine requires two doses, four weeks apart.
• Status: On November 16, Moderna announced that an interim analysis of its phase three study shows the vaccine is 94.5 percent effective in preventing COVID-19—including severe cases of the disease—without any significant safety concerns. Moderna intends to apply for an emergency use authorization with the FDA in the coming weeks. 
• Moderna started the third phase of its clinical trials in July. Phase three is testing the vaccine in 30,000 U.S. participants; Moderna expects to have 20 million doses ready to ship in the U.S. by the end of the year and says it remains on track to deliver at least 500 million doses per year beginning in 2021, thanks in part to the deal it has struck with Swiss manufacturer Lonza that will allow it to manufacture up to one billion doses a year.
• Pfizer. This vaccine candidate also relies on injecting snippets of mRNA into human cells to trigger an immune response. This vaccine requires two doses taken 21 days apart. 
• Status: On November 9, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that an interim analysis of the phase three study shows the vaccine is more than 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 with no serious safety concerns—but as yet they have provided no data to back the claim. 
• The project is aiming to apply for emergency authorization from the FDA after the third week in November, even though the drug regulator has recently indicated it is moving away from the prospect. 
• Pfizer has signed a nearly $2 billion contract with the U.S. government to provide 100 million doses by December 2020—an agreement that goes into effect when and if the drug is approved and delivered—and hopes to supply 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021.

Category 4: Coronavirus and other viruses

[genioux fact extracted from National Geographic]

Authors of genioux fact

Fernando Machuca

References

Dozens of COVID-19 vaccines are in development. Here are the ones to follow. AMY MCKEEVER, November 16, 2020, National Geographic. 

AMY MCKEEVER is a senior writer and editor at National Geographic, based in Washington, DC. You can follow her on Instagram.

g-f(4)1 Where we are with the Coronavirus DISRUPTION

VIRAL KNOWLEDGE: The “genioux facts” knowledge news 

Extra-condensed knowledge

Though preliminary, the early results for the two vaccines suggest researchers can develop effective Covid-19 shots, which would be a big help in taming the pandemic.

• Moderna Inc. MRNA 1.80% said its experimental coronavirus vaccine was 94.5% effective at protecting people from Covid-19. 
• Researchers won’t have a full set of effectiveness data until a total of 151 people in the trial develop Covid-19 symptoms. Moderna expects that by the time it applies for government authorization.
• Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE said their experimental Covid-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective.
• Until proven vaccines are deployed at scale, the fight against coronavirus is one without an easily-defined weapon. While some countries are faring better than others, and some approaches have been a clear failure, no COVID-stricken nation can be sure of the right way forward.

Genioux knowledge fact condensed as an image. 

Condensed knowledge

1. WSJ. Moderna Inc. MRNA 1.80% said its experimental coronavirus vaccine was 94.5% effective at protecting people from Covid-19 in an early look at pivotal study results, the second vaccine to hit a key milestone. 
• The findings move the vaccine closer to wide use, because they indicate it is effective at preventing disease that causes symptoms, including severe cases.
• Moderna said it plans to ask federal health authorities by early December to clear the vaccine.
• How Messenger RNA Vaccines Work. The vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech uses a new gene-based technology known as mRNA.
• Vaccines in the Works. Instead of using the whole virus to generate an immune response, these vaccines rely on coronavirus's outer spike proteins, which are what antibodies use to recognize the virus.
• When injected into a patient, the RNA enters healthy cells where it helps orchestrate the production of coronavirus spike proteins.
2. WSJ. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the high efficacy rate for Moderna’s vaccine means it could be an effective tool to help end the pandemic. 
• “These are very impressive and very encouraging and exciting results,” Dr. Fauci said.
3. WSJ. Earlier this month Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE said their experimental Covid-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective at protecting people from symptomatic Covid-19 in a large clinical trial.
4. WSJ. Though preliminary, the early results for the two vaccines suggest researchers can develop effective Covid-19 shots, which would be a big help in taming the pandemic.
5. WSJ. U.S. Stock Futures Jump on Positive Moderna Vaccine Results. 
• U.S. stock futures rose on positive study results from another potential Covid-19 vaccine, with the S&P 500 set to open higher after ending last week at a record level.
6. NYT. With 11 Million Cases in the U.S., the Coronavirus Has Gotten Personal for Most People. 
• What was once a health crisis that Americans feared has evolved into one virtually everyone has experienced up close. That will affect behavior, but in many different ways.
7. WaPo. The United States could have two coronavirus vaccines available on a limited basis by year’s end.
• Biotechnology firm Moderna announced Monday that a preliminary analysis shows its experimental coronavirus vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective at preventing illness, including severe cases.
8. Fortune CEO Daily. Until proven vaccines are deployed at scale, the fight against coronavirus is one without an easily-defined weapon. 
• While some countries are faring better than others, and some approaches have been a clear failure, no COVID-stricken nation can be sure of the right way forward. 
• As explained in this worthwhile Wall Street Journal piece from yesterday, no-one even knows where most infections are taking place.
9. CNN, The New York Post. Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday it will still be necessary to social distance, wear masks and take other COVID-19 precautions after a vaccine becomes available to Americans.
10. Fox News. Dr. Anthony Fauci urges Americans to maintain fundamental public health policy. Fauci cautions 'gradual return' to normalcy by 'second, third' quarter 2021. 
• Speaking with Jake Tapper on Sunday morning’s “State of the Union,” Fauci speculated that it may not be until the second or third quarter of 2021 that Americans might expect to “start approaching a degree of normality.”

Category 4: Coronavirus and other viruses

[genioux fact extracted from WSJ, NYT, WaPo, Fortune CEO Daily, CNN, The New York Post, Fox News]

Authors of genioux fact

Fernando Machuca

References

Moderna’s Covid-19 Vaccine Is 94.5% Effective, Early Results Show, Peter Loftus, Nov. 16, 2020, WSJ, The Wall Street Journal. 

U.S. Stocks Open Higher on Positive Moderna Vaccine Results, Mischa Frankl-Duval and Frances Yoon, Nov. 16, 2020, WSJ, The Wall Street Journal.

With 11 Million Cases in the U.S., the Coronavirus Has Gotten Personal for Most People, Amy Harmon, Lucy Tompkins, Audra D. S. Burch and Serge F. Kovaleski, Nov. 15, 2020, NYT, The New York Times.

Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine found to be nearly 95 percent effective in a preliminary analysis, Carolyn Y. Johnson, November 16, 2020, WaPo, The Washington Post.

CEODAILY, David Mayer, November 16, 2020, Fortune CEO Daily.

Social distancing, masks still necessary after getting COVID-19 vaccine: Fauci, Jackie Salo, November 15, 2020, the New York Post, CNN.