The 19th edition of the month-long Asian Art Biennale dedicated to the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation and the Golden Jubilee of Independence will commence March 1 next year at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA).

“We’re eyeing a regular event like the previous years but we’ll be closely monitoring the Covid-19 situation and act accordingly. The festivity had to be shifted from December this year due to the pandemic," BSA Public Relations Officer Hasan Mahmud told UNB. 

He said last time they hosted artists from 68 countries and this time, they are welcoming artists from 100 countries to join this special art extravaganza.

"This 19th Asian Art Biennale will be a great opportunity for us to uphold the pride and glory of our country by showcasing the artistic treasures to the world as it’ll be adding extra festivities to the occasions of the Birth Centenary of our Father of the Nation and the Golden Jubilee celebration of our Liberation War and Independence," Mahmud said.

Artists and art curators from across the world are invited to complete the registration and submission of participation before November 30. All artworks should reach the Asian Art Biennale Cell, Fine Arts Department of BSA on or before January 31, 2021 - which is also the deadline for the participating artists and art curators from abroad to submit their application for VISA on arrival.

The deadline for the participants to arrive in Bangladesh to attend the exhibition is February 26.

Interested artists aged above 22 years who have participated in at least two international-level exhibitions (for foreign participants) and two national-level exhibitions (for Bangladeshi participants) are welcome for registration, according to its website.

Artists may apply through email with soft copies of documents or directly with hard copies delivered through courier or in-person to the organisers’ office at BSA.

Eighteen editions of this international art exhibition have successfully been organised since 1981, cementing its legacy as the longest-running international art biennale event in Asia. From the 17th edition in 2016, countries from Europe and America regions are participating.

Details of the exhibition are available at https://www.asianartbiennale.org.bd/

The 5th edition of Cosmos Art Echo,  an art talk programme organized by Cosmos Atelier71, will be held on Wednesday.

Renowned Art Critic Moinuddin Khaled has been invited in the live  progrmme titled 'Shilper Chotushkon: Zainul Quamrul Sultan Safiuddin' at 6:30 pm from Cosmos Centre, 69/1, New Circular Road, Malibagh, Dhaka.

People have been requested to join though Zoom with the following link :

https://zoom.us/j/95590611967?pwd=SGkrQU9DR1hlUTEzWk5hWGRzd0IwQT09

Meeting ID: 955 9061 1967

Passcode: 012315

The British government's science advisers have warned that reinfections with COVID-19 are "to be expected" as the virus continues to spread in the country.

The conclusion by researchers on the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium is based on what is known about people's immunity to other coronaviruses that cause the common cold, according to a report by The Guardian newspaper on Saturday.

It was unclear how soon people who had recovered from COVID-19 could become vulnerable to reinfection, but emerging reports showed the timeframe was "relatively short", said the report.

Currently, there are seven types of coronavirus that infect humans. Among them, Sars, Mers and Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 are considered the deadliest. The four others cause common colds and can reinfect people six months after they have recovered from the same virus, according to the report.

Nearly two dozen cases of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 reinfections emerged across the globe, but the real number is thought to be far higher, since most reinfections are not recorded, said the report.

Another 16,171 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 705,428, according to official figures released Saturday.

The coronavirus-related deaths in Britain rose by 150 to 43,579, the data showed.

Britain's coronavirus reproduction number, also known as the R number, has edged up slightly, the latest government figures showed Friday.

The government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) said the R number is now between 1.3 and 1.5, up from last week which was between 1.2 and 1.5. If the R number is above one, it means the number of cases will increase exponentially.

To bring life back to normal, countries, such as Britain, China, Russia and the United States are racing against time to develop coronavirus vaccines.

Read Also: Coronavirus can affect memory, language: Study

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has the capacity to affect brain tissue and the structure of the cortex, a region of the brain responsible for functions such as memory, consciousness, and language, according to a Brazilian study released on Thursday.

According to the study, the coronavirus can affect astrocytes, the most abundant cells in the central nervous system, which perform functions such as providing support and nutrients for neurons and regulating the concentration of neurotransmitters and other substances, such as potassium.

"We demonstrated for the first time that the SARS-CoV-2 virus infects and replicates in astrocytes and this can decrease the viability of neurons," said Daniel Martins de Souza, a professor at the Institute of Biology at the University of Campinas (Unicamp).

"The infection of this cell type was confirmed through experiments done with brain tissue from 26 patients who died from COVID-19," the study said.

According to Martins de Souza, scientists used a technique known as immunohistochemistry, which involves using antibodies to detect certain antigens in a tissue sample.

The presence of the virus was confirmed in 26 of the samples studied, and in five of them, certain alterations were found that suggested possible damage to the central nervous system.

Eighty-one other patients with mild COVID-19 symptoms were also studied. The results showed a third of them exhibiting neurological or neuropsychiatric symptoms, such as memory impairment, fatigue, headache, anxiety, and others, 60 days after acquiring the disease.

The study was conducted by scientists from Unicamp and the University of Sao Paulo (USP), with collaboration from scientists at the National Laboratory of Biosciences, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and the D'Or Institute.

Read Also: How can I tell the difference between flu and COVID-19?

Researchers have discovered fossils of a tiny burrowing reptile among a vast expanse of petrified wood in eastern Arizona, reports AP.

The new species has been named Skybalonyx skapter, a part of a group known as drepanosaurs from the Triassic Period, about 220 million years ago.

Petrified Forest National Park outside Holbrook is considered one of the premier places to study plants and animals from that period, sometimes known as the dawning age of dinosaurs.

The researchers say the ancient reptiles are strange because of morphologies that include enlarged second claws, bird-like beaks and tails with claws. They likely looked like a cross between an anteater and a chameleon.

They say the new species could be even stranger because it has claws that allow it to burrow, rather than climb into and live in trees, more like a mole or mole-rat.

The fossils were discovered by a team of researchers from the park, Virginia Tech, the University of Washington, Arizona State University, Idaho State University and the Virginia Museum of Natural History. They published their findings earlier this month in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

They found the fossils in the summers of 2018 and 2019 using a screen-washing technique.

Read also

Israel discovers 5,000-year-old Canaanite city with ritual temple