Microsoft has released an emergency update to its Windows operating system that it said would disable an earlier patch from Intel that was intended to secure computers that are vulnerable to a recently disclosed security flaw known as Spectre.
Microsoft said this weekend that its new update for Windows 10 and some older Windows versions would eliminate problems caused by Intel's previous software update that could accidentally damage data on some computers. In an online posting about its update, Microsoft msft went to the unusual length of pointing to Intel's recent earnings report that acknowledged that its recent security update could result in "data loss or corruption."
Prior to its fourth-quarter earnings report, Intel intc said that security patches it had released for both Spectre and the separate Meltdown chip bugs could cause some computers to suddenly reboot or undergo "unpredictable" behavior. The company apologized for the mishap, told customers to not install the updates, and said that it was working on new fixes.
Get Data Sheet, Fortune's technology newsletter.
Microsoft said tests of Intel's latest Spectre-related patch confirmed that the update indeed caused some data to be destroyed under "some circumstances." The company recommended that customers install the new Windows update if they "are running an impacted device," meaning their computers are automatically rebooting more frequently than usual or are exhibiting other strange behaviors.
When it snows, most cities around the United States throw salt on the roads. According to News Herald, experts who think that road salt is starting to contaminate our waterways are turning to something a little less conventional to get the job done: beet juice, molasses, cheese waste, and beer.
Those experts think that all the sodium being added to the water via runoff from the roads is making lakes and rivers closer to salt water, a move that will threaten the life of things like fish and frogs that need to live in a fish water environment.
Concerned about the impact, agencies in New Jersey and North Dakota have started to use a mixture containing beet juice to keep their roads clear. New Hampshire and Maine are using a molasses mixture, and in Wisconsin, cheese brine is even making an appearance on some roads. In other places around the country, you'll also see beer and pickle brine making a roadway appearance.
While mixtures are popping up, we're not likely to see salt replaced entirely anytime soon. Despite its environmental impact, salt is still the cheapest and most effective roadway treatment, a concern for cost-conscious municipalities. Not that beer and cheese doesn't sound like a delicious alternative.
Alternative or "clean" meat startup Memphis Meats is on a mission to eradicate protein sourced from livestock.
But this morning the Silicon Valley-based company announced an investment from just the type of company it's trying to disrupt: Tyson Foods, one of the world's biggest meat producers.
Tyson, which produces about one in five pounds of chicken, beef, and pork in the U.S., invested in Memphis through its venture capital arm. It joins the likes of Cargill, Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Atomico, and DFJ. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Memphis said the funding will go toward research and development and expanding the Memphis team.
Memphis Meats co-founder and CEO Uma Valeti told Fortune that he has intentionally pursued a wide range of investors that represent different parts of the food and financial ecosystem. "We want to continue building alliances and being inclusive," he says. "Taking a divisive approach in this is not going to be helpful for us as well as everyone else."
In the case of the investments from Tyson and Cargill, Valeti noted that Memphis will benefit from their deep knowledge of meat distribution. "They really understand how to scale up," he says. "They'll help us learn a lot about getting meat on the shelf."
Tyson CEO and president Tom Hayes acknowledged in a post on the company's site that the investment "might seem counterintuitive," including "to some inside our company."
But he explained that in a world with a ballooning population and where the No. 1 thing consumers say they want in their diet is protein, companies like Tyson will have to figure out how to answer these demands in a sustainable way.
Tyson has also backed Beyond Meat, which is attempting to replicate the taste of meat with plants. Memphis, meanwhile, is trying to create meat by growing it from animal cells.
"We believe it will take a combination of innovative and traditional approaches," Hayes wrote, adding "This isn't an "either or" scenario; it's a "yes and" scenario."
Valeti believes that "cultured" meat, as the industry calls it, will eventually win out. But in the meantime cultured, plant-based, and meat from animals will live side by side. "At the end of the day, taste is going to win and pricing is going to win."
As Fortune reported in December, the reception of Big Food's investment in the alternative meat industry has been a strange twist: "When legacy packaged food companies began gobbling up natural food startups, the latter lost much of their street cred. But the opposite has happened with meat nouveau: Big Food's backing has helped validate the burgeoning industry."
Editor’s Note: The headline of this story has been updated for clarity.
Bottom lines are seldom straight--particularly in the health arena. Even the glitteriest of gold-standard clinical trials, for instance, are often undone by a leaden follow-up study that has the nerve to arrive at a different result. Likewise, reports by even the most azure of blue ribbon panels often offer conclusions with more wiggle room than a pair of clown shoes.
Take, for example, the recently published report entitled "Public Health Consequences of E-Cigarettes," by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine--which the Academies helpfully point out is a "congressionally mandated" study. (One gets the feeling they didn't want to release it, but had to.)
This so-called "Consensus Study Report" appears to have no real consensus at all--or if it does, well, then the bottom line is as squiggly as they come.
That said, since I am in the service business, I will do my best to offer a summary. Herewith:
Vaping is addictive...or not...depending on who's doing it: "Among youth" (that's anybody who would never be caught dead using the word "youth"), "there is substantial evidence that e-cigarette use increases the risk of transitioning to smoking conventional cigarettes." For adults, vaping can wean people away from their cigarette addiction, it seems. That's a good thing.
</div>
<p>E-cigs are dangerous...or not...depending on the circumstance: The Academies' uberstudy, which carefully reviewed more than 800 other peer-reviewed studies, found "conclusive evidence" that "most e-cigarettes...contain and emit numerous potentially toxic substances" (besides nicotine, that is), but found only "substantial evidence" that this exposure to poisons is sorta maybe "significantly lower" than it is in tobacco-filled smokes. Sums up David Eaton, chair of the committee authoring the report, in an <a href="http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=24952&_ga=2.250602434.516874203.1517256809-2109674686.1517256809" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accompanying press release</a>: "E-cigarettes cannot be simply categorized as either beneficial or harmful." Gotcha.</p>
In addition, "There is conclusive evidence that e-cigarettes can explode and cause burns and projectile injuries." (Nice!) "There is conclusive evidence that intentional or accidental exposure to e-liquids"--the chemicals in the vaping cartridge that, when heated, release the aerosolized inhalant of nicotine and perhaps one of 7,700 flavors--"can result in adverse health effects such as seizures, anoxic brain injury, vomiting, and lactic acidosis." (And in case you're wondering, drinking that stuff is not only dumb as dirt, but likely fatal too.)
HOWEVER...said the report summary: "Under the assumption that e-cigarette use increases the rate at which adults quit conventional smoking, modeling projects that use of e-cigarettes will generate a net public health benefit..."
Um, "...at least in the short run."
And in the long run? More squiggle, I'm afraid: "The net public health benefit is substantially less, and under some scenarios...harmful."
The full report can be downloaded for free if you register (or available in paperback for an economical $105). But you can save time and/or money and speed-read all 47 conclusions in a matter of minutes. (At least I think there are 47. The conclusions are so strangely numbered, it's hard to tell.)
As for me, I found a much clearer takeaway from a guy named "Steve" (@Stevie__c) on Twitter. His conclusion?
"Vaping is weird. You leave the pub and walk past a group of tough looking football fans and they all smell like strawberry muffins."
Well done, Steve. Well done.
This essay appears in today's edition of the Fortune Brainstorm Health Daily. Get it delivered straight to your inbox.
Krispy Kreme is hoping that you’ll give your loved ones the gift of doughnuts for Valentine’s Day. In addition to its classic selection of Valentine’s Day doughnuts, Krispy Kreme is selling a heart-shaped one called Oreo Cookie’s and Kreme.
The doughnut, available in the U.S. from Jan. 29 through Valentine’s day on Feb. 14, is filled with Oreo cookie cream, dipped in dark chocolate, sprinkled with Oreo cookie crumbles, and drizzled with red icing.
Other Krispy Kreme Valentine’s treats include the Sprinkle Heart Doughnut, Happy Heart Doughnut and Chocolate Iced with Sprinkles Doughnut.
“Whether for a friend, family member, colleague or significant other, delicious Krispy Kreme doughnuts are perfect for sharing,” Jackie Woodward, chief marketing officer of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, said in a statement.
Valentine’s Day is just as well-known for its consumerism as it is for romance. Last year, Americans spent an estimated $18.2 billion for the holiday, according to the National Retail Federation--including $1.7 billion on candy.
Happy Monday, Dailies.
Bottom lines are seldom straight--particularly in the health arena. Even the glitteriest of gold-standard clinical trials, for instance, are often undone by a leaden follow-up study that has the nerve to arrive at a different result. Likewise, reports by even the most azure of blue ribbon panels often offer conclusions with more wiggle room than a pair of clown shoes.
Take, for example, the recently published report entitled "Public Health Consequences of E-Cigarettes," by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine--which the Academies helpfully point out is a "congressionally mandated" study. (One gets the feeling they didn't want to release it, but had to.)
This so-called "Consensus Study Report" appears to have no real consensus at all--or if it does, well, then the bottom line is as squiggly as they come.
That said, since I am in the service business, I will do my best to offer a summary. Herewith:
Vaping is addictive...or not...depending on who's doing it: "Among youth" (that's anybody who would never be caught dead using the word "youth"), "there is substantial evidence that e-cigarette use increases the risk of transitioning to smoking conventional cigarettes." For adults, vaping can wean people away from their cigarette addiction, it seems. That's a good thing.
E-cigs are dangerous...or not...depending on the circumstance: The Academies' uberstudy, which carefully reviewed more than 800 other peer-reviewed studies, found "conclusive evidence" that "most e-cigarettes...contain and emit numerous potentially toxic substances" (besides nicotine, that is), but found only "substantial evidence" that this exposure to poisons is sorta maybe "significantly lower" than it is in tobacco-filled smokes. Sums up David Eaton, chair of the committee authoring the report, in an accompanying press release: "E-cigarettes cannot be simply categorized as either beneficial or harmful." Gotcha.
In addition, "There is conclusive evidence that e-cigarettes can explode and cause burns and projectile injuries." (Nice!) "There is conclusive evidence that intentional or accidental exposure to e-liquids"--the chemicals in the vaping cartridge that, when heated, release the aerosolized inhalant of nicotine and perhaps one of 7,700 flavors--"can result in adverse health effects such as seizures, anoxic brain injury, vomiting, and lactic acidosis." (And in case you're wondering, drinking that stuff is not only dumb as dirt, but likely fatal too.)
HOWEVER...said the report summary: "Under the assumption that e-cigarette use increases the rate at which adults quit conventional smoking, modeling projects that use of e-cigarettes will generate a net public health benefit..."
Um, "...at least in the short run."
And in the long run? More squiggle, I'm afraid: "The net public health benefit is substantially less, and under some scenarios...harmful."
The full report can be downloaded for free if you register (or available in paperback for an economical $105). But you can save time and/or money and speed-read all 47 conclusions in a matter of minutes. (At least I think there are 47. The conclusions are so strangely numbered, it's hard to tell.)
As for me, I found a much clearer takeaway from a guy named "Steve" (@Stevie__c) on Twitter. His conclusion?
"Vaping is weird. You leave the pub and walk past a group of tough looking football fans and they all smell like strawberry muffins."
Well done, Steve. Well done.
<table class="container" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody>
Omada launches randomized trial of digital diabetes care. There's certainly no shortage of digital health startups aspiring to the loftiest of goals. But cold, hard, clinically proven data about these companies' claims and ambitions is much harder to come by. Omada Health is rare in that regard--the firm, with its digital diabetes management system, is setting out to perform a large randomized clinical trial (the "gold standard" of studies) with the help of the University of Nebraska Medical Center to further gauge the efficacy of its program, which aims to keep those at risk for diabetes from developing the disease (earlier studies of the tech had proved promising enough to earn federal health program reimbursements). "Our goal at Omada has been to continually set new standards for what the industry should expect when it comes to the effectiveness of digital healthcare interventions," said Omada co-founder and CEO Sean Duffy in a statement. "The PREDICTS trial is the next step in that evolution--it will track a range of healthcare and other outcomes, while establishing the highest level of clinical evidence for the effectiveness of a digitally-delivered intensive behavioral counseling program."
Sanofi scoops up Ablynx from beneath Novo's nose. Call it the battle of the insulin makers--French drug giant (and diabetes specialist) Sanofi has beat rival Novo Nordisk in a quest to acquire Belgian biotech Ablynx. The $4.8 billion deal represents Sanofi's second major deal of the year following its buyout of Bioverativ (and underscores the company's need to branch out its product pipeline in the face of intense competition in the diabetes arena). (Reuters)
Will Alex Azar fight high drug prices? President Donald Trump issued a bold task to his newly confirmed Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar on Monday: Combat high drug prices and the opioid addiction epidemic. "He's going to get those prescription drug prices way down," said Trump during Azar's swearing-in ceremony, adding that he expected Azar to be "very tough" on price gouging and opioid hawking pharmaceuticals. Azar mentioned some of these same goals during his confirmation hearings, wherein he faced sharp questions about his history as a top executive at drug giant Eli Lilly.
What to Expect from Trump's First State of the Union Address, by Grace Donnelly
Bitcoin and Taxes: What You Need to Know, by Jeff John Roberts
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Doesn't Want a Government-Backed 5G Network, by Chris Morris
Take a Look Inside Amazon's New Seattle Rainforest Offices, by Alex Scimecca
[ceo_attribution author="Produced by Sy Mukherjee" email="[email protected]" twitter="the_sy_guy"]
Find past coverage. Sign up for other Fortune newsletters.