Swift dominates Billboard awards

POP star Taylor Swift has swept the board at the Billboard Music Awards, winning eight of the 14 categories in which she was nominated.

Among her prizes were Best Female Artist, Best Streaming Song for Shake It Off and the ceremony’s top honour, Artist of the Year. While British star Sam Smith won Best New Artist — and accepted his trophy using flash cards after having vocal surgery.

One Direction came away with two trophies, for Best Group and Best Touring Artist, dedicating the latter to “our brother Zayn Malik”, who left the band in March.

The singer, who has successfully transitioned from country artist to pop star, accepted the prize for Best Album by thanking the fans who “embraced change”.

Cuba has developed a vaccine against lung cancer

DESPITE being on the country’s relative poverty, Cuba has a world-class health system and one medical discovery has caught the world’s attention. Researchers in the island nation have developed a vaccine against lung cancer — which is now freely available to Cubans.

The vaccine doesn’t work like a vaccine against viral infections — it is administered to patients who already have the disease. Cimavax has been shown to extend the life spans of patients with lung cancer — which often kills patients rapidly.

The medicine has been approved in Cuba, and clinical trials are now scheduled in other countries.

‘Snake’ now on smart phones!

HERE is the good news for Snake game lovers. Snake – the original and one of the famous mobile games is now available for iOS, Android and Windows phones.

The game, Snake Rewind, has been developed by original Snake creator Taneli Armanto, in conjunction with Finnish mobile game developers Rumilus Design.

Snake Rewind will have 10 levels with ‘distinct visuals and music’, different types of special fruit with ‘unique powers and effects’, and, as the name suggests, will allow users to rewind the snake after it has crashed.