Dark matter: The world’s brightest physicists know it’s there, but can’t say for sure what it is.It is invisible, mysterious, and to most people — irrelevant to everyday life. But what if it could reach out and touch us? What if it already has, and so deeply that it just might be responsible for putting us here?One Harvard physicist is exploring that idea, and pondering the possibility that dark matter may have triggered the most famous cosmic collision ever — the one that did in the dinosaurs and opened the way for mammals to take their place.Theoretical physicist Lisa Randall, the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science, sees intriguing lines of evidence that tie dark matter to comets in the solar system’s distant Oort cloud, and from there to the 66-million-year-old impact crater on Mexico’s Yucatán coast.Randall first explored the idea last year in an article, co-authored with Assistant Professor of Physics Matthew Reece, in the journal Physical Review Letters. Inspired by the intricate chain linking dark matter, Earth, dinosaurs, and modern life, Randall decided to take a deep dive into the subject for her new book, “Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe.”“I was just fascinated by this story,” Randall said. “It was really nice for me to be able to communicate about dark matter through its potential connections to what we see today.”The book, to be published Oct. 27, takes the reader on a tour of the universe, from the Big Bang to today, from the story of life to mass extinctions, from the distant galactic disk to Earth’s K-T boundary layer — a thin, globe-spanning blanket of dust that scientists believe is evidence of the cataclysmic impact that ended the dinosaurs’ reign.The book suggests that a thin disk of dark matter could have influenced weakly bound comets in the outer regions of the solar system as it revolved around the center of the Milky Way, and may have been the ultimate cause of the impact. Randall admits that the disk hasn’t been found, but said that current data allows for it, and that instruments that might detect it aren’t far off.Randall makes liberal use of anecdotes and analogies to explain complex scientific ideas. We learn something about Randall, too: She skis, has a robot that vacuums her floors, and was once taken not for a cosmologist — one who studies the universe’s broad structure — but a cosmetologist.The dinosaurs’ demise is a dramatic example of connectedness. Scientists are reasonably sure the killer made an enormous impact, though there’s some question whether it was from a rocky asteroid that would have originated within the solar system or a comet originating at its far fringe, in a vast assemblage of icy bodies called the Oort cloud, far beyond the orbit of Pluto.If the dinosaur killer was a comet, the next question is, what gave it the initial push toward Earth? Scientists confronting that question have an additional clue: The impact that caused the dinosaurs’ extinction wasn’t the only one in the planet’s history. There have been several, in fact, and there’s some evidence that they occur at regular — at least on a galactic scale — intervals of between 30 million and 35 million years.The Oort cloud is so far away and the time scales involved so vast that investigators have sought answers outside the solar system, which circles the galactic center every 240 million years or so, moving up and down through the flattened plane of the galaxy as it does. Some researchers have explored whether that passage could possibly bump a comet onto a collision course with Earth, but the band of visible matter in the galactic disk is diffuse enough that the collisions it would trigger don’t match the timing of those on Earth.This is where dark matter comes in.While dark matter is invisible, it isn’t completely undetectable. All matter exerts a gravitational pull, and it is through dark matter’s gravitational effects on visible objects in the universe that scientists know it’s there.Unlike visible matter, however, dark matter isn’t concentrated in the galactic disk. It is thought to be spread in a sphere around the galactic center that extends well above and below the concentration of stars and other ordinary matter.But what if, Randall asked, there were more than one kind of dark matter? After all, there are many kinds of visible matter, and there’s a lot more dark matter than visible matter. Scientists estimate that 85 percent of all matter in the universe is dark, so why should it all be one kind?If there is a dark particle that is able to emit energy, as ordinary matter does, it would cool and condense, naturally forming a rotating disk around the galactic center. The hypothesized size of dark-matter particles — about 100 times larger than a proton — would create a disk up to 100 times thinner and 20 times denser than one created by visible matter, thin enough that the collision timing would match.“Suppose dark matter had its own photon,” Randall said. “It could radiate and form a disk and the consequences could be very interesting.”Randall, whose past work has dealt with concepts such as supersymmetry and extra dimensions, said that apart from research, educating the public about science is a high priority. Her three previous books were aimed at a general audience, and she’s worked in music, as well, writing the text for an opera based on her study of extra dimensions.To Randall, the story of the dinosaur impact — one of five known mass extinctions — resonates today in disturbing ways.“It’s so important to understand history,” Randall said. “There’s a sixth extinction going on. We’re losing so many species on this planet.”This sixth extinction is a product of human activity. If readers of “Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs” take away nothing else, Randall said, she hopes they gain an understanding of just how interconnected elements of the universe can be, and how strongly humans are linked to non-human life on the planet.
Dramatic chain of events
March 1, 2021
In today’s age of digital disruption, one of the greatest challenges that companies face is the need to keep up with evolving technology. Speed and agility are key to a successful IT transformation, and organizations that can handle transformational workloads, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud-native applications, have a significant advantage over those that can’t.On one end of the spectrum are the innovative companies, with modern data center infrastructure and IT automation in place. On the other end are older businesses with slow, outdated process. A recent ESG study focused on the differences between them describes these two stages as “modernized” and “aging.”One key difference between the two stages is that aging companies typically prioritize predictability and reliability, while modernized companies prioritize speed and agility. [1] In the past, IT departments were solely focused on traditional workloads like website, email, file, print, etc. They had to keep the basics up and running for the business to function. But the industry is shifting, and companies needs change as they move through their IT transformation. While reliability will always be important, the status quo is no longer enough. Today’s modernized companies must focus on speed and agility, so they can quickly process the enormous amounts of data that these transformational workloads require.The same ESG study identified another key difference between modernized and aging companies: the use of modular servers in their infrastructure. ESG found that modular servers make up an average of 20% of a modernized company’s total server infrastructure, compared to only 5% in aging companies.1 That’s a significant difference, and plays a huge role in setting modernized companies apart from their aging counterparts.How Modular Helps with Transformational WorkloadsBecause modernized companies favor speed and agility over predictability and reliability, they need to make sure they have modern data center infrastructure in place. New, data-intense workloads such as AI and ML have different hardware requirements. Modular servers can play a critical role here, because they are flexible, agile and easy to manage. Modernized companies understand this need, which is why so many already have a modular compute strategy in place.How Does Modular Help with Transformational Workloads?Modular infrastructure combines server, storage and networking – along with unified management software – so that users can easily tailor workloads and expand over time. It can meet the needs of both traditional and transformational workloads by providing the following benefits:Increased Scalability – Modular servers give you the flexibility to adjust resources to deliver the compute, storage, and network performance needed to accelerate both traditional and transformational workloads. In fact, an ESG study found that 57% of modular server users reported increased scalability benefits to the organization. 1Easier Management – Users can automate the management of compute, storage and networking resources with integrated, easy-to-use tools and spend less time on routine maintenance. Modular servers improved manageability for 50% of surveyed IT organizations. 1Faster Deployment – Modular infrastructure helps accelerate your time-to-value by quickly deploying traditional and transformational workloads. ESG found that the average benefit was a 35% reduction in deployment time among modernized organizations using modular. 1Improved Reliability – Users can adapt and respond with non-disruptive upgrades and minimal downtime. Modernized IT organizations are twice as likely as aging orgs to experience higher reliability with modular compute. 1Decreased OPEX – Modular is the original “pay as you grow” model, because it allows you to purchase only what you will use now, then add to it as your needs change. The average reduction in procurement costs by purchasing modular servers (compared to alternatives) was 32% among modernized organizations using modular. 1Once an organization has the right infrastructure in place, it can more easily adopt transformational workloads. These innovative technologies help companies save time, increase productivity, decrease operating costs, and increase revenue. Meanwhile their competitors will be left further and further behind. Aging companies simply can’t offer the same services or customer experiences and ultimately run much less efficiently.No matter what state of IT transformation your company is in, it’s worth considering whether modular servers can take your business to the next level. To learn more about modular infrastructure, read ESG’s full white paper Insights from Modernized IT: Modular Compute Can Have a Big Impact.[1] Source: ESG White Paper Insights from Modernized IT: Modular Compute Can Have a Big Impact, commissioned by Dell EMC, August 2018
Broadway alums Vanessa Williams, Julian Ovenden and Lauren Worsham are set to star in a semi-staged production of Show Boat this fall. The classic musical, which features music by Jerome Kern and a book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, will play Avery Fisher Hall from November 5 through November 8. Ted Sperling will conduct and direct. Williams will star as Julie, Ovenden will play Gaylord Ravenal and Worsham will take on the role of Magnolia. All three make their New York Philharmonic debut. Additional casting will be announced at a later date. View Comments Williams recently returned to Broadway as a special guest vocalist in After Midnight, and was nominated for a Tony for her performance in the revival of Into the Woods. Her additional stage credits include The Trip to Bountiful, Sondheim on Sondheim and Kiss of the Spider Woman. Williams received three Emmy nominations for her performance on the ABC comedy series Ugly Betty. Show Boat follows the lives of three generations of performers, stagehands and dock workers as their theater, the Cotton Blossom, floats along the Mississippi River. The musical was first performed on Broadway in 1927 and has been revived on the Great White Way and by opera companies numerous times since then. The tuner features such classic showtunes as “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man,” “Ol’ Man River” and “You Are Love.” Ovenden made his Broadway debut in the 2006 revival of Butley. His London stage credits include Marguerite in the West End, as well as My Night with Reg, Merrily We Roll Along, Grand Hotel and Annie Get Your Gun. His screen credits include Downton Abbey, Smash and The Assets.
Worsham is currently starring in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. Her performance as Phoebe, which marks her Broadway debut, landed her a Tony nomination, a Drama Desk Award and a Theatre World Award. She is also the lead singer for the Brooklyn-based band Sky-Pony. Star Files Vanessa Williams
Walter Reeves Don’t miss “Gardening in Georgia” Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 12:30 p.m. Designed especially for Georgia gardeners, the show is produced by the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and GPTV. The unpredictably cool weather this spring shows how useful a cold frame can be in protecting plants you move outside. On “Gardening in Georgia” this week, host Walter Reeves shows how to build three types of cold frames using materials you may have in your yard or storage shed.A popular gardening show in its third season on Georgia Public Television, this week’s show also covers pruning hollies and reusing hanging baskets. Reeves takes a look, too, at creeping ground cedar, watermelons and the Georgia Gold Medal winner pink Chinese loropetalum.
UGA CAES File Photo
Farmers and Food Buyers Hook Up at Local Foods Matchmaker Event”Speed dating” event equals economic development for VermontRandolph, Vt – The first Vermont Foods Matchmaker took place at the Three Stallion Inn in Randolph on October 29th. The event brought together over 40 buyers, from the state’s largest supermarkets to its finest restaurants as well as non profit groups such as the Vermont Foodbank, to talk one-on-one with Vermont food producers interested in finding new customers. It was a chance for food producers to explore their options in wholesale or indirect markets, while buyers learned their own options for sourcing closer to home.The Agency of Agriculture also found enthusiastic partners with their co-sponsors the Vermont Grocers’ Association, Vermont Fresh Network and Vermont Hospitality Council.”The idea for hosting this event began to form during a working day devoted to exploring ways to get more local foods into state government facilities this spring,” explained Helen Labun Jordan, with the Vermont Agency of Agriculture. “We heard from many buyers that they would like to find more local options, they just needed an efficient way to have those conversations with interested producers.””Today’s event was super. The topics were relevant and the energy was tangible. Buyers and sellers were connecting-a number of new relationships were formed. I commend the VT Agency of Agriculture for spearheading this event. Statewide collaborations like this are essential to developing a viable local food economy,” commented Meghan Sheradin, Executive Director of the Vermont Fresh Network.”The timing of this event is perfect considering the increased interest in purchasing local,” said Jim Harrison, President of the Vermont Grocers’ Association. “The forum provided an excellent opportunity for our supermarkets, Co-ops and individual markets to make new contracts and to meet new suppliers.””Vermont’s agriculture and food industries are an important sector of our economy. The Vermont Specialty Food Association estimates there are nearly 400 food-related companies in Vermont generating $1 billion in revenues annually,” said Mike Quinn, Vermont Commissioner of Economic Development. “Providing producers with an opportunity to sell to these companies is a way to strengthen both sectors.”The Matchmaker model, which is essentially speed dating, has many advantages for building business relationships. Sellers sign up for 10 minute sessions with buyers, based on a pre-published participant list. Each seller gets a full 10 minutes to make their pitch, so they have time to explain advantages of purchasing local product and address concerns like distribution, volume and price.Bill Suhr, owner of Champlain Orchards commented, “It’s a rare opportunity to have a mix of buyers and sellers in one place with time set aside to focus on local foods. Setting up a meeting with just one of these potential buyers could have taken my business all day. Now we’re all in a room and the potential momentum is incredible.”More than 40 buyers and over 70 sellers participated in the event. The response was greater than anticipated and the event was met with overwhelming enthusiasm.”Based on the great response we received this year, we will certainly look into making this an annual event. The goal was to create opportunities for farmers, food producers and buyers to contract with each other to get more local foods in more outlets,” said Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Anson Tebbetts. “The key is to put more local foods on more dinner plates to support Vermont farmers and the Vermont economy.”
Jeld-Wen, Inc,JELD-WEN, Inc has signed a long-term lease renewal for 212,340 square feet of industrial space at 36 Precision Drive in North Springfield, Vermont, from Winstanley Enterprises. A global window and door maker based in Klamath Falls, OR, JELD-WEN utilizes the site for product manufacturing for the New England region. In the transaction, the company was represented by Bo Mills, Mark Detmer, Will Strong, and Jackie Orcutt of the Phoenix office of Cushman & Wakefield, and Thomas Farrelly of the firm’s Manchester, N.H. office. Landlord WE 36 Precision Drive LLC, an affiliate of Winstanley Enterprises, was represented by Arthur Ross of Hart Corp. “With its prime location near I-91, this facility is well-suited for JELD-WEN for serving its regional market,” said Mills. “Recently renovated, this industrial property works well for the company’s window and door business.” Originally constructed in 1968 as a single-tenant precision tool manufacturing facility, 36 Precision Drive was completely renovated in 2006 and converted into a multi-tenant property. The building totals 373,000 square feet, expandable to 600,000 square feet, and occupies 15 acres within a 213-acre industrial tract. NORTH SPRINGFIELD, Vt., Dec. 12, 2011 ‘
Embed from Getty Images Sign up for our COVID-19 newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest coronavirus news throughout New York As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump called for a ban on Muslims entering the country, proclaimed that Islam hates the United States, and admitted months later that his proposed ban had morphed into “extreme vetting from certain areas of the world.”Trump’s controversial remarks about a religion worshiped by 1.6 billion people worldwide endeared him further to his supporters, but those same words are coming back to haunt him now that he’s president. In a stinging rebuke to his second attempt to block mostly Muslim immigrants from entering the United States, U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson in Hawaii placed a temporary hold on the president’s executive order just hours before it was to go into effect. Overnight, a federal judge in Maryland overseeing a separate challenge to the ban put a hold on the order’s 90-day prohibition for new visas. Watson’s sweeping decision marks yet another blow to the young administration’s attempt to restrict travel among immigrants, 15 months after then-candidate Trump first proposed his now infamous Muslim ban. The executive order, which was signed March 6, would’ve prohibited for 90 days the issuance of new visas from six Muslim-majority countries and put a hold on the nation’s entire refugee resettlement program. Watson not only considered the executive order as written, but surprisingly, its intent, which he ruled violated the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution prohibiting religious hostility. The ruling is a win for not only the state of Hawaii, whose state attorney general sued the administration, but also civil rights groups who’ve remained adamant that the bans were implicitly biased against Muslims. “[T]he Executive Order causes harm by stigmatizing not only immigrants and refugees, but also Muslim citizens of the United States,” Watson wrote in his 43-page decision. The ruling surprised many observers, who considered the administration’s changes to the original order would’ve made it more difficult for potential plaintiffs to argue standing in court. Watson considered 15 months worth of remarks on the topic made by Trump and his associates, including his senior advisor Stephen Miller and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. In his decision, Watson cited a handful of comments from Trump, including his Dec. 7, 2015 press release calling for a ban on Muslims entering the United States in the wake of the terror attacks in Paris and the slayings in San Bernardino, Calif. “I think Islam hates us,” Trump said in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on March 9, 2016. Asked if there was a war between the West and Islam, Trump responded: “It’s very hard to separate because you don’t know who’s who.”Pressed last July on whether he was softening his stance on Muslim immigration, Trump clarified his position. “I don’t think it’s a [pull-back]. In fact, you could say it’s an expansion,” he said. “I’m looking now at territories. People were so upset when I used the word Muslim. Oh, you can’t use the word Muslim. Remember this. And I’m okay with that, because I’m talking territory instead of Muslim.” In a presidential debate last October, Trump was asked if he remained tethered to the concept of a Muslim ban. “The Muslim ban is something that in some form has morphed into a[n] extreme vetting from certain areas of the world,” he replied. Trump was not the only person to undercut the administration’s argument in the eyes of the court. Watson recalled Giuliani’s remarks on Fox News after the first ban was instituted, in which he admitted Trump sought advice on how to legally implement a “Muslim ban.” “When [Mr. Trump] first announced it, he said, ‘Muslim ban,’” Giuliani said. “He called me up. He said, ‘Put a commission together. Show me the right way to do it legally.’”On Feb. 21, Miller, Trump’s senior advisor, told Fox News that the new ban mirrored the first. “Fundamentally, you’re still going to have the same basic policy outcome for the country, but you’re going to be responsive to a lot of very technical issues that were brought up by the court and those will be addressed,” Miller said. “But in terms of protecting the country, those basic policies are still going to be in effect.”Remarkably, Trump on Wednesday night called the new ban a “watered down” version of the original, which could perhaps further undermine the administration’s ability to convince a future judge to overturn the restraining order. During a speech in Tennessee, Trump slammed the decision an example of “judicial overreach” and vowed to fight the ruling by taking the case “as far as it needs to go.” That Watson so resoundingly disregarded the government’s argument was a surprise to some. The administration tried to avoid another unfavorable ruling by eliminating references to religious minorities, adding language to protect legal U.S. residents, including Green Card holders, and by shutting down entirely the nation’s refugee resettlement program. The administration has argued that the president has broad authority to decide who’s allowed into the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. Watson, however, said it was within the court’s powers to consider the motives of the government, which administration lawyers cautioned against. “The government appropriately cautions that, in determining purpose, courts should not look into the ‘veiled psyche’ and ‘secret motives’ of government decisionmakers and may not undertake a ‘judicial psychoanalysis of a drafter’s heart of hearts,’” Watson wrote. “The government need not fear. The remarkable facts at issue here require no such impermissible inquiry. For instance, there is nothing ‘veiled’ about this press release:“‘Donald Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.’”
The affected users highlighted on the Apple Community forums and Reddit that while updating to macOS Big Sur, a black screen appeared that eventually bricked the hardware. One of the users said on the Apple Community forums that an engineer was able to boot an impacted MacBook Pro after unplugging its I/O board.“I am not sure how Apple will be dealing with this issue, especially that all affected Macs are out of warranty. And I am not sure if they’ll be able to fix this with a software update since this seems to be a hardware problem that Big Sur somehow caused,” the user wrote.Apple is reportedly aware of the problem as it has been escalated to the Apple support team. However, the company hasn’t yet provided any clarity to users whether it would be able to resolve the issue through a software update.That said, it is safe for the older MacBook Pro users to delay installing macOS Big Sur until the company makes an official response on the bricking problem.Some users last week reported that macOS Big Sur took hours in the download process. However, the massive rush in installing the new software update that could be thanks to the list of its new features impacted users on existing macOS versions as many of them faced delays in app launches. The problem was caused by a certificate issue, where the macOS Gatekeeper service was failing to check the developer certificate of the app.Some researchers claimed that the app slowdowns happened due to a glitch in the system that was allowing macOS to send user data to Apple servers. Apple, however, has now provided some clarity on that issue and said it had never combined data from Gatekeeper’s checks with information about its users or their devices.“We do not use data from these checks to learn what individuals users are launching or running on their devices,” the company said.Apple also mentioned that it’s overhauling the designing of the network request and enabling an opt-out preference for users. These changes, which are to ensure user security and to resist issues like what happened last week, would come into effect over the next year.Will Apple Silicon Lead to Affordable MacBooks in India? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below. Apple brought macOS Big Sur as its next-generation operating system last week. The update carries a list of fresh features for Mac machines. However, macOS Big Sur was also found to include an issue that causes Apple apps to bypass firewalls and virtual private networks (VPNs). This privacy-concerning problem was initially spotted in a macOS Big Sur beta last month. Apple didn’t fix it at the time of bringing the public release, though. Separately, the macOS Big Sur update was reported to some older MacBook Pro models. Apple also responded to the privacy concerns raised by some researchers over its Gatekeeper security feature that caused some hiccups last week.A Twitter user @mxswd initially spotted the firewall bypass issue on the early macOS Big Sur beta last month. The issue was causing the system to bypass firewalls and VPNs when using an Apple app, such as the Apple Maps. It was confirmed by security researcher Patrick Wardle.- Advertisement – “Previously, a comprehensive macOS firewall could be implemented via Network Kernel Extension (kext). Apple deprecated kexts, giving us Network Extensions… but apparently (many of their apps/ daemons bypass this filtering mechanism,” Wardle noted in a tweet.The security researcher found that the Mac App Store on macOS Big Sur was bypassing firewalls. The issues in the beta were detailed by Apple-focussed blog Apple Term.It was at that time presumed that Apple would fix the issue when releasing the Big Sur update to the general public. However, the company didn’t make any changes.- Advertisement – Wardle noted in a tweet posted on Sunday that the issue of bypassing firewalls and VPNs still persisted in the stable release and could be abused by malware and impact user security on the latest macOS version.Apple has yet to comment on the matter.In addition to the issue of bypassing firewalls and VPNs, macOS Big Sur seems to have some problems that are bricking some older MacBook Pro models. As reported MacRumors, several users on the late 2013 and mid-2014 13-inch MacBook Pro models are reporting that the latest macOS update is bricking their machines.- Advertisement – – Advertisement –
Evi continued that the KPU took a different view than the council on the matter, that it had only adhered to a Constitutional Court ruling regarding the West Kalimantan election results.”In accordance with Law No. 7/2017 on election disputes, the KPU viewed that the Constitutional Court’s ruling must be implemented. However, the DKPP stated that our action was an ethics violation,” she said. “We didn’t change the results.”The ethics council found that the KPU was responsible for manipulating the votes in West Kalimantan electorate district 6 by transferring a number of votes from Hendri Makaluasc to Cok Hendri Ramapon, another Gerindra politician who was contesting the legislative election.The council also issued a stern warning to KPU chairman Arief Budiman and commissioners Pramono Ubaid Tanthowi, Ilham Saputra, Viryan Azis and Hasyim Asy’ari.Commissioner Pramono said that the KPU respected the council’s ruling and would study it carefully, but insisted that Evi did not manipulate the election results as the DKPP had ruled.”Evi did not take the initiative or give the order to intervene in or change the election result,” he said.Pramono added that the KPU had appointed commissioner Hasyim Asy’ari to take over its technical division from Evi following the ruling.Topics : Evi Novida Ginting Manik of the General Elections Commission (KPU) has asserted that she would challenge the decision of the Election Organization Ethics Council (DKPP) that has found against her and ruled that she be dismissed “permanently”.The council issued the ruling on Wednesday at a disciplinary hearing in Jakarta, after it found that Evi had violated the KPU’s code of ethics by falsifying the results of the 2019 regional election in West Kalimantan. The following day, on March 19, Evi said that the DKPP ruling was “too much”, saying that no one had been harmed by the results of the West Kalimantan legislative election. She also noted that the plaintiff, Gerindra Party politician Hendri Makaluasc, had on Nov. 13, 2019 retracted the lawsuit he had filed with the council.
Dubai and fellow members of the United Arab Emirates decided Thursday to reopen malls, cafes and restaurants and to ease lockdown restrictions imposed last month to prevent the spread of the illness.The measures were timed for the start Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.Read also: UAE opens drive-through coronavirus testing siteThe UAE has declared more than 9,000 cases of the COVID-19 illness, with 64 deaths.Dubai had been the only emirate that imposed a total curfew, while the other six members of the federation had restricted movement at night.Dubai has also authorized public transport, including its metro, to resume services from Sunday.Residents are however required to wear face masks at all times, with violators to be fined 1,000 dirhams (US$272).Topics : Dubai on Friday launched a mobile testing service to carry out free coronavirus screening at home for the elderly and most vulnerable, after slightly easing strict confinement measures.The new “Mobile Laboratory Units” are converted ambulances fitted with auto-sterilization equipment, thermal scanners and safe storage cabins for samples, state news agency WAM said.They will “play a key role in reducing pressure on hospitals amidst the COVID-19 crisis and help protect people at high risk,” it said.