Vitamin D deficiency linked to Covid-19 severity; Amazon, Nike may bid for Peloton; IIT-GN develops affordable desalination technique

Vitamin D deficiency linked to Covid-19 severity and mortality There is a correlation between vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19 severity and mortality, according to a study conducted by Israeli researchers at the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine of Bar-Ilan University in Safed and the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya. They published their results on February 3 in the journal PLOS ONE, Scitechdaily reports. Patients with vitamin D deficiency (less than 20 ng/mL) were 14 times more likely to have a severe or critical case of Covid-19 than those with more than 40 ng/mL, the study found, according to the Scitechdaily report. Amazon, Nike are considering independent bids for Peloton Amazon and Nike are among potential buyers of Peloton, whose stationary bikes and streamed fitness classes became a rage during the pandemic, but have since lost steam, according to reports in The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times. Peloton became a hit at the beginning of the pandemic when people were looking for fitness alternatives after their gyms closed due to lockdowns. But, as the US opened up and rivals cropped up with cheaper alternatives, the company lost its sales momentum to the extent that it recently stopped some production lines, according to CNBC. IIT-Gandhinagar researchers develop affordable water desalination technique Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar have developed a water desalination technique to make seawater potable by removing more than 99 percent of salt and other impurities with natural processing, according to a Press Trust of India report. The researchers have found a way to expand the space between layers of graphite in a controlled manner to selectively allow water, while filtering out salt, in a way similar to how trees take up water using a process called capillary action. The research findings have been published in the international journal Nature Communications. These findings could eventually help in designing affordable water desalination filters and other applications including gas purification, proton exchange in a fuel cell, chemical separation, recovery of precious metal from waste among others. Microsoft launches Cyber Signals, a quarterly brief on security Microsoft has launched Cyber Signals, a cyberthreat intelligence brief informed by Microsoft’s latest threat data and research, Vasu Jakkal, a corporate vice president for security, compliance and identity, at the company, wrote in a blogpost on February 3. These quarterly briefs are designed to give security professionals and journalists a quick look at the most important trends, tactics and solutions in today’s threat landscape, Jakkal writes. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds