Family News

Family News
Italian tries to dodge Covid jab using fake arm

An Italian man who wanted a coronavirus vaccine certificate without actually having the jab tried to play the system by presenting health workers with a fake arm, an official said.

Despite the realistic skin colour, nobody was fooled by the silicone limb, and the man – in his 50s – was reported to local police following the incident in Biella, northwest Italy.

“The case borders on the ridiculous, if it were not for the fact we are talking about a gesture of enormous gravity,” the head of the Piedmont regional government, Albert Cirio, said in a statement on Facebook.

The fake arm incident came ahead of a tightening of the rules in Italy for people who have not yet been vaccinated against Covid-19.

Scientists claim big advance in using DNA to store data

Scientists say they have made a major step forward in efforts to store information as molecules of DNA, which are more compact and long-lasting than other options, the BBC reported.

The magnetic hard drives currently used to store computer data can take up a lot of space, and must be replaced over time.

Using life’s preferred storage medium to back up data would allow huge amounts of information to be archived in tiny molecules.

The data would last thousands of years, according to scientists.

A team in Atlanta, US, has now developed a chip that they say could improve on existing forms of DNA storage by a factor of 100.

“The density of features on our new chip is [approximately] 100x higher than current commercial devices,” Nicholas Guise, senior research scientist at Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), told BBC News.

Austrian surgeon fined for amputating wrong leg

An Austrian court has fined a surgeon for amputating the wrong leg of an elderly patient, a spokesperson for the tribunal in the northern city of Linz has said.

While the 43-year-old defendant said her actions were due to “human error”, the judge found her guilty of gross negligence and fined her €2,700 euros, with half the amount suspended, the spokesperson said.

The surgeon had marked the wrong leg of the 82-year-old patient for amputation ahead of the operation in May in the central town of Freistadt, only noticing the mistake two days after carrying out the surgery.

The court awarded €5,000 in damages plus interest to the widow of the patient, who died before the case came to court.

The surgeon said there had been a flaw in the chain of control in the operating theatre.

She has since moved to another clinic and can appeal the judgement.