Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA

A year after the start of a deadly measles outbreak in West Texas, the virus continues to spread in several parts of the U.S. — a milestone both troubling and significant, as it could mean that measles is no longer considered eliminated in the country.Measles has been eliminated in the U.S. since 2000, a designation that indicates the virus is no longer constantly circulating, though there are occasional outbreaks. However, global public health authorities consider the virus endemic — or always present — after one year of continuous transmission.“We have all the ingredients to have our elimination status revoked,” said…

At least 88 new measles cases in South Carolina have been confirmed amid the state’s outbreak, bringing the total number of infections to 646, state health officials said Tuesday.The majority of cases have been found in the Upstate region and around Spartanburg County, which sits on the border with North Carolina.The South Carolina Department of Public Health said there are currently 538 people in quarantine and 33 in isolation. The latest end of quarantine will be on Feb. 23.There are at least 15 schools — including elementary, middle and high schools — which currently have students in quarantine.Health officials also…

It’s been a year since a measles outbreak began in West Texas, and international health authorities say they plan to meet in April to determine if the U.S. has lost its measles-free designation.Experts fear the vaccine-preventable virus has regained a foothold and that the U.S. may soon follow Canada in losing the achievement of having eliminated it.The reevaluation is largely symbolic and hinges on whether a single measles chain has spread uninterrupted within the U.S. for at least 12 months.Public health scientists around the country are investigating whether the now-ended Texas outbreak is linked to active ones in Utah, Arizona…

2026-01-20T16:15:07.786Z Share Copy link Email Facebook WhatsApp X LinkedIn Bluesky Threads lighning bolt icon An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt. Impact Link Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says some companies are “play-acting” when it comes to AI adoption. Speaking at Davos, Khosrowshahi said it’s “much harder than it sounds” for companies to embrace AI. Companies have been ramping up their spending on AI tools, but with mixed results. How do you separate…

A recent warning out of Davos highlights that even the world’s business elite can fall prey to online scams.Fake VIP passes for the USA House — America’s privately funded celebration site at the World Economic Forum’s event in Davos, Switzerland — have hit the market. In a statement on its website, the USA House warned those attending not to be duped. A warning about scam tickets posted to USA House’s website during Davos. USA House “We will not give access to people who purchased such packages,” the statement reads. “Our sympathies to those who fell victim to these scams.”The scams…

Humans&, a startup with a philosophy that AI should empower people rather than replace them, has raised $480 million in seed funding at a $4.48 billion valuation, reports The New York Times. Investors in the round include chipmaker Nvidia, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and VC firms SV Angel, Google Ventures and Laurene Powell Jobs’s firm Emerson Collective.  The megadeal for the three-month-old company follows a trend of investors throwing money at startups founded by breakaways of major AI labs. Humans&’s founders include Andi Peng, a former Anthropic researcher who worked on reinforcement learning and post-training of Claude 3.5 through 4.5; Georges…

MAYS LANDING, N.J. (AP) — Prosecutors have announced they won’t proceed with a child abuse trial against Atlantic City’s superintendent of schools, just weeks after her husband — the seaside gambling resort’s mayor — was acquitted in the case.La’Quetta Small had been accused along with her husband, Mayor Marty Small Sr., of endangering and physically abusing their teenage daughter. She was to have been tried separately in the spring, but the viability of the prosecution was thrown into question last month when a jury found the mayor not guilty.The decision to abandon the case came after the couple’s daughter, who…

I grew up in rural Colorado, deep in the mountains, and I can still remember the first time I visited Denver in the early 2000s. The city sits on the plain, skyscrapers rising and buildings extending far into the distance. Except, as we drove out of the mountains, I could barely see the city – the entire plain was covered in a brown, hazy cloud.That brown, hazy cloud was mostly made of ozone, a lung-irritating gas that causes decreases in lung function, inflammation, respiratory symptoms like coughing, and can trigger asthma attacks.Denver still has air pollution problems, due in part…

In a sign of the demand, or hype, for AI startups, Emergent, an Indian startup building an AI “vibe-coding” platform, has raised $70 million less than four months after it raised a $23 million Series A. The Series B round was jointly led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 and Khosla Ventures, and values the startup at $300 million post-money, sources with knowledge of the deal told TechCrunch. The startup was previously valued at $100 million post-money, another source told TechCrunch. Prosus, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Together, and Y Combinator also participated. Emergent has now raised $100 million within seven months of…

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday that he owes Indiana Gov. Mike Braun some key lime pie and stone crabs for losing a bet after Indiana’s 27-21 win over Miami earned the college football team the national championship.DeSantis said at a news conference on nursing education that he will be sending the key lime pie, as well as stone crabs from the famous Miami Beach eatery, Joe’s Stone Crab, to the Indiana governor due to his losing wager on the Miami Hurricanes at the hands of the Indiana Hoosiers Monday night in Miami Gardens, Florida.The…