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American regulators granted approval on Wednesday to a gene-altering treatment for patients suffering from lymphoma, the second-ever approval for a gene therapy procedure and one that could revolutionize how we fight cancer. The drug, named Yescarta, was developed by Israeli-founded Kite Pharma and it is expected to cost some $373,000, likely generating hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. Kite was purchased by Gilead Sciences in August to the tune of $11.9 billion, and today’s breakthrough may have helped with the sale. The price of Yescarta is set below that of comparable treatments, according to Reuters, as Novartis AG’s gene...

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Google Ends Kite Energy Initiative. Commercializing the tech will take too long and be too risky. 2-20-2020 AUTHORS Andy Szal Google’s parent company is ending an ambitious effort to harness wind energy using kites after officials determined that commercializing the technology would be “longer and riskier” than originally hoped.

Three people, including two children, have died after their throats were slit by glass-coated strings used for flying kites on India's Independence Day. ... Glass-coated strings are used to bring down competitors' kites, but they also end up injuring and killing people. Many Indians fly kites to celebrate festivals and important occasions like the Independence Day, which is celebrated on 15 August. But every year, there are reports of people dying or getting wounded from the kite strings - locally known as manja - treated with powdered glass or metal to sharpen them. ... The Delhi government has now banned...

The following is based on a translation of a report in Chinese media: According to xinhuanet.com’s report on June 19, through 3 years of research, Prof. Chen Yongsheng of the College of Chemistry and Prof. Tian Jianguo of the Institute of Physics, Nankai University have obtained a special graphene material for light-driven flight. Due to the special electronic characteristic of graphene and the macrostructure and form of the material, the material is able to get driving force from light 1,000 times greater than ordinary light pressure. The website’s reporter claimed to have seen with his own eyes a graphene sponge...

STUART - Young great white sharks might be responsible for Wednesday's deadly attack on a kiteboard surfer, a research scientist who investigated a previous shark fatality says. However, Grant Gilmore said it's too early to say which kind of shark killed Stephen Howard Schafer, who was found with bite wounds about 4 p.m. a quarter-mile off an unguarded beach, just south of Stuart Beach, officials said. Schafer, 38, of Stuart, was rushed to Martin Memorial North Medical Center, where he later died. It was Martin County's first fatal shark attack, according to records going back to 1882.

Even building kites can be a breeze with a little basic know-how. "You can make a kite that flies [from] a brown paper bag," said Calvin Mills of Allison Park, as he sent a delta-shaped dual-line model aloft at the recent Kites for Kids day at Carnegie Science Center. "They can be as simple or sophisticated as you want them to be." Mills and other members of the Fly Pittsburgh Kite Club helped with kite-making and flying at the annual event, which is held by KidsVoice to raise awareness about child abuse and neglect. "We chose kites because they're symbols...

Very Neat. Something for a slow Friday nite. Enjoy (Wish the guy would put a shirt on, though. He's getting too much sun.)

LAHORE, Pakistan - Hundreds of kites filled the skies of Pakistan’s cultural capital on Saturday, the opening day of a traditional spring festival, despite a ban that followed the deaths of seven people killed by glass-coated or wire kite strings.

Kennedy’s brother-in-law charged with fraud in La. By PENNY BROWN ROBERTS proberts@theadvocate.com Advocate staff writer Federal authorities in Louisiana have charged the brother-in-law of U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy of committing millions in bank fraud. A bill of information filed Wednesday in New Orleans federal court claims Raymond Reggie, 43, of New Orleans submitted fake documents to get a loan from Hibernia National Bank in December 2000. In the bill of information, federal authorities said Reggie “submitted fictitious documents purporting to be a contract” between his company, Media Direct, and the U.S. Census Bureau. A separate bill of information also filed...

Ray Reggie, a businessman and Democratic operative with close ties to prominent politicians ranging from former President Clinton and U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy to former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial, was charged by federal prosecutors Wednesday with attempting to defraud three banks of millions of dollars. Reggie, 43, known for his web of political contacts at all levels of government, is a member of one of Louisiana's pre-eminent political families, and until 2002 ran one of the largest advertising-placement firms in the state. That company, Media Direct LLC, is at the heart of the charges filed Wednesday in parallel bills...