earlier with this with the smugglers were lions as of it. what's your story. ready of he wasn't, i was women, especially and victims of violence in and i was him take part and send us your story. we are trying always to understand this new culture. so you are not a visitor, not a guests. you want to become a citizen. in phil migrants your platform for reliable information ah ah. ringback 2021 began with hospital systems struggling against a deadly wave of corona, virus infections. but hopes were high for cove at 19 vaccines, and the return to normality that jobs would eventually enable. the vaccine campaign

has been slow and uneven. oh, many poor countries are still waiting for shots. millions of people and the developed world have refused to get vaccinated altogether. ah, that's allowed the virus to mutate and evade our defenses. crone of iris variance the prospect of new locked downs and the continued fears for our health. these are the concerns that we'll offering with us into the new year. this is your cobra 19 special. i'm chelsea delaney and berlin. well, it seems like a lifetime ago, but germany and me, early days of the pandemic was widely praised for its measures to contain the virus . but this year, germany's reputation as they pandemic success story has flipped the country has found itself at the center of new virus outbreaks. while vaccine skepticism has proliferated. our next report takes us through the ups and downs of germany's fight against the pandemic,

and 2021. everything's closed. germany is in the hot looked down at the start of 2021. the 2nd wave of infections has swept across the country. by now, the vaccination campaign has just gotten underway. many hope that the japs, we bring gradual relief to the situation. but it has to come that if i get the chance i would like to be vaccinated because i think there will be little side effects. i'm sick for right, because i'm over 70 and are, is it fair that during the 1st few months of the campaign, there's a priority list of people who can get immunized elderly people in health care workers being 1st in line. but the start of the inoculation campaign has been a bit dumpy. there are not enough exceeds a new production facility is yet to be built for the german develop biotech, pfizer vaccine. the situation in hospitals is becoming more dire by spring. a 3rd wave has reached germany, triggered by the more contentious elva variant. as absolute as it was incredibly

stressful for my colleagues that there was a lot of an aside. he and we had frequent staff shortages. they wanted to do the best he could to comply with the hygiene bruce. it was extremely tense situation on the front as it hurts on. the situation in a crematorium is also tens, especially in the eastern german state of saxony. here the number of corona virus deaths is particularly high beyond tartar, and there were days when we had no del stem. we could cremains in a day of yum takara from in me the cove. its situation has finally started to improve as infections, numbers drop, more and more regions are starting to ease their corona restrictions. to what extent can people enjoy freedom? despite the danger posed by the virus? this question remains at the center of the debate all summer. while the vaccination campaign makes good progress, that's why children are allowed to go back to school after the summer vacation with face mass, regular tests and airing of the rooms. but they're happy,

nevertheless. in homeschooling, is that homeschooling wasn't fun. mark you did. i get real lessons if you had a question. you couldn't get a proper answer. colored initially from for then, with the pandemic is not over. the number of infections rise significantly again, and for this time it's those who are unvaccinated, who are affected the most by the highly contagious delta variant. the rights of the vaccinated and unvaccinated now becomes a point of contention. those who choose not to get immunized on board from entering more and more places. germany has seen many protests against corona regulations. many of those happened in the state of saxony, where far fewer people want to get vaccinated than in the rest of the country. since november, germany is caught up in the fall and by far the worst wave of the virus incidence rates in several regions have skyrocketed. at the same time,

the country has started to administer booster shots, but experts say they are clearly too late. we have to do something and because people wait at sort decision make us wait at so long to do anything, it won't be possible to really do it without these restrictions. unfortunately, high infection rates have forced authorities to cancel mainly christmas markets and events. in december, the 1st report at hays is the only cron very, and also causing concerns among people in germany. 2021 and much like the you, the for, with great uncertainty and the question of how long this pandemic were lost. all earlier i spoke to tobias kurt the epidemiologist. he saw there in that report and i asked him what has proved successful and what hasn't. and during the pandemic so far, take a look. although the vaccinations are working certainly does. that is not the only measure, particularly if you are in a wave. so with increasing numbers of people who are infected,

we need to continue to learn that we're keeping a distance repairing that face a face mask. m, m and, and other things that like like bringing fresh air into the rooms. that's a, certainly a very important thing. we have also learned that it is important to think on a global level the pandemic is on the global level. and if we not managed to really provides vaccines on the global level, we will not stop future variance to develop and future ways to role in several regions. and the wells. we've obviously heard criticism from scientists throughout the spent i make that politicians aren't listening closely enough to the research. do you think that's true? has that changed? our politicians are listening to the scientific community when making restrictions . it's always difficult. so because the situation often was not that clear, scientific data are not available right away. but now i think we've learned over

the last 2 years that things and need to improve in germany generally there's, there's a good interaction. we saw just around the election that there was a vacuum of decision making, which i think led to a to late start of measures to, to bring the numbers down and, and hopefully now and in the future there will be a more open transparency discussions between the scientists and politicians, however, it's also important to have good data available. and here we certainly can improve in germany and some other countries for closing out one year and trying another in the midst of another wave of infections. what should be done differently and near to con? i think we need to be prepared, dead ways are coming and that we need to react fast on the to really have better data available and, and provide his data to scientists really can evaluate whether there is a situation really going on in germany right now. we are speculating due to

d infection rates of other countries and say like, well this will also come to germany, which is very likely. however, when exactly does this arriving and how quickly this is developing is something that we are as of today cannot really predict well. so we need to really watch the situation closely and keep the discussion as transparent and open as possible. i think one of the biggest questions we all have is if the vaccines currently available are going to remain effective as the barrett virus continues to mutate. do we need boosters coming up that very soon? i think that we need to consider a booster vaccination in the future and also with the companies of producing a vaccine that is now modified and be probably very more effective against deal micron very ends. and so however, this won't be the last very and so there will be more coming. and i think we will have to deal with vaccinations for quite some time. that is tobias heard

a professor of public health and epidemiology at charity hospital on berlin. thank you so much for joining us. thank you for having me. now series and you are question about the other types of crowd, a virus for our science correspondent derek williams. oh, look are the types of corona viruses are out there? hundreds of different corona viruses have been identified to date and there are many, many more out there. but the ones that interest us most are of course, the ones that infect us, which are known as the human corona, viruses, and 7 of those have been identified. so far, a thought for only cause mild, cold like symptoms and are considered endemic, which means that they circulate widely, especially in the winter. though these pathogens are pretty harmless. now,

and scientists speculate that they might have caused much more serious disease in the past, but have adapted along with our immune systems to be less deadly to day. then there are 3 much more recent additions to the human corona, virus family. that can cause much worse illness from a lineage called a beta corona viruses. there's the, the pathogen that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome or, or sars, the one that causes middle east respiratory syndrome or, or mergers. and of course there's sars covey to which causes coven 19. 1 characteristic beta corona virus is share, is that they in fact mammals, which means that they exploit similarities. all mammal cells have in common to invade and make more copies of virus. and it also means that they don't have to

change a whole lot to, to jump from mammals species to mammal species. many scientists are pretty confident that sars coby, too originated in baths like the viruses that cause sars and murders. now baths are amazing and lots of ways, not least because although they can carry many different viruses, they somehow seem to remain rarely resistant to the diseases those viruses can cause and other species. and we think that the ability has evolved because many baths live in huge colonies where any infection could quickly wipe out really vast numbers of animals. some research indicates that batt resistance is down to immune systems that come to terms with infections. basically, striking

a balance with the virus, rather than declaring war on it so. so bad, don't get rid of the virus, but they don't get sick either. although the superpower unfortunately, also makes them a reservoir for corona viruses that can john to other mammals, like us. mm. hm, and that's it for this cove at 19 specialty. i'm kelsey delaney from me and the whole team here in berlin. stay healthy. stay safe and see you again soon. shift your guide to life in that digital world. explore the latest online trends. navigate your way through the digital jungle. get

a global perspective. we'll be your guide and show you what's possible. you decide what really matters to you. shift next on d w. ah, we're all good to go beyond the obvious as we take on the world. i do all this. yeah, we're all about the stories that matter to you. whatever it takes by policemen follow up with you. we are your is actually on fire made for mines. hello guys. this is the 77 percent. the platform for

africa. you beat issues and share ideas. ah, you know, or this channel, we are not afraid to happen. delicate because population is growing. and young people clearly have the solution. the future belongs to you. is 77 percent. now every weekend on d. w, with getting stronger and smarter through technology. this sy fi dream is quickly becoming reality. researches and developers are driving forth. the digital optimization of humans with mind blowing results will be all soon become cyborgs. today's topic onset, ah,

the cybernetic organism, or cyber for short, has played a major role in pop culture. for example, in the movie robo call, police officer with potentially fatal injuries, becomes a super cough. with his high tech implants, tony stark from the marble universe can fly in his armor and superman's for league cyber updates his hardware to get new powers and skills. these days, even real up humans, enhanced their bodies with artificial components. they call themselves cyborgs, or bio hackers, needle harbison from britain is one of them. he is colorblind and has an antenna that converts carlos into sounds and i like the human eye, his intent, i can even detect infrared and algebra islet. he has a chip implanted in his head to make this work pretty intense. but actually there are lots of scientists and companies working on brain computer interfaces. they allow direct communication between brain and computer. so you can control device

with your mind, but it's not just a gimmick. it can fundamentally improve the lives of people with spinal injuries on your logical disorders. u. s. tech tight and eli mosque is developing a brain computer interface at his startup new relic. the team implanted chips in both brain hemispheres of m a cock pager. they then taught him to play a game with a joystick, and his snuff signals were transmitted to a computer by a bluetooth pager was fed bananas smoothly through a tube as a reward. when the researchers deactivated the joystick page controlled the game with his paws alone. the computer had learned to interpret the brain activity. but there are devices that humans can control with the mind even without a brain chip like by jani prosthesis that replace missing body parts. british gamma daniel melville even uses one when he plays video games. but prostheses can also give people a brand new powers. how would you like a 3rd thump?

ah, this prosthetic fell, makes it possible to do things that usually require 2 hands. the prosthesis is connected to a wrist band with a motor, which drives the thumb receive signals via bluetooth from pressure sensors attached to the shoes. the user can control the prosthesis by moving their big toe zealand, born scientists, danny clo, develop the 3rd film in london. she wanted to show that prosthetic don't always have to replace what's missing. they can also provide an ad on an upgrade. ah, what's fascinating is after just 5 days of training with the 3rd thump you assign him, says had formed in the test, subject sprains, and the way they use their normal fingers had changed. the other developments like this that blur the line between human and machine. sometimes on the skin,

sometimes under the skin, it might look like a temporary tattoo, but this is actually a communication interface made from gold leaf do oh skin was invented by the massachusetts institute of technology. one version works like a touch pad, while another uses near a field communication for nf c technology to communicate with other interfaces. in the future when you walk into a tattoo holler, you would come out with a tattoo like this. they will not only be very sophisticated technically, but they will become an extension of yourself. often forget your keys. eric frisk can open his door in sweden with a micro chip implanted under his skin. if the size of a grain of rice and works like a room card in a hotel, it's estimated that $50000.00 people around the world already where one of these implants, they can even be ordered online. the interesting thing is when the chips start

getting smarter and start having, you know, sensors and things like that. so, and instead of just opening a door, maybe i can have continuously chord my, my body temperature, my blood sugar level center, et cetera, et cetera. and, and actually give me useful information about my body. but technology that literally gets on the your skin isn't for every one. implants are just one way to become a sidewalk. now, also, robotic suits called exoskeletons. they promised most strength and better agility, heavy lifting uncomfortable work exoskeletons could some day help people reduce the strain on their backs. originally developed for medical and military use, they're now increasingly deployed in the automotive industry and logistics. many see it as when, when employees stay healthier and companies profit from the increased efficiency

and production robotic technology that makes work more economic is under intensive development, predominantly in the u. s. in germany, but also in china and japan mclean . one of our idaho, they store us, get out early on. we want to create devices that help people in their workplace and to make these tools more accessible and easy to use. no more fun, i don't think humans will ever become dispensable. and there are, there are only a few companies that are designing completely automated systems because they require, consider it investment odyssey. so i think will always have human workers saw with him on a particular domain. the exoskeleton created by japanese company at own has been in use for years in production, the care sector, and in japan's the biggest airports. the 4 and a half kilogram suit is worn like

a rucksack and it has a sensor that detects the where's movements. so when lifting 2 motors in the suit automatically support the users movement, the motors deactivate when the user is walking with countries like japan are increasingly relying on robotics because with an aging population, work forces are becoming depleted off right now we mainly make support devices, but in the future, we want to create products that enhance people's abilities and ad physical functions like a 3rd arm see we want to cater to a society in which people of all ages can work without physical limits. and it could get much more spectacular than that. the developers that are to own have been working for more than 10 years on this mega expo suit called neo, i was even allowed to try it out. during my visit to japan, i felt like lieutenant ripley in the sy fi classic alias with supernatural powers.

the developers claim that one arm alone can lift up to 50 kilograms. it's hold that neil will soon a, the construction industry or in disaster management exoskeletons have a growing role in the medical sector as well. what special about this model from japan is that is controlled by nerve impulses. how is its name that stands for hybrid assistive lip as an ultimate goal? even paraplegics could train with how and learn to walk. again. my colleague, cassandra bow went to test the exoskeleton at the company's high by dime in japan. so these electrodes here will detect my brain signals and send it to this machine so that it will move before me. so now i'm going to try to flex and move my arm through. it detects pretty well. and now i'm going to try to lock my arm in place,

and it will still move for me. with the that was pretty cool. but i do wonder why does this kind of is the same, does is go out of control. sometimes. no. also electrodes translate cassandra's brain signal into a command for the exoskeleton. her brain sends the command move to the muscles via the spine. the signal is detected by health built in sensors. the motor receives a signal and power starts moving. this is more difficult for patients with paraplegia because the nerve connections are disrupted. but if there are any remaining impulses, how could provide beneficial treatment time for a little test walk? cassandra is allowed to wear the exoskeleton herself. it's attached to a bracket,

since it's designed for people with impaired mobility. it's a very intimate um setting is actually really late starting training right now. okay. i feel a little bit mechanic with my math, but i think it is just getting used to the machine because now i feel a little more comfortable in it. so now he's increasing the speed the monitor displays cassandra and her nerve signals as a waveform. how works together with other ai systems to analyze the signals and evaluate user data. so, how do paralyzed people actually learn to walk again with help? the activation of muscle impulses create a feedback effect that enables the brain to learn how to make the body walk again

from scratch. it's called neural feedback training. it only works for about 20 to 30 percent of paraplegic patients, but the results are still impressive. so with other exoskeletons, the movements are preprogrammed. so patients wearing the suit will have to rely on it permanently. however, with hell, it teaches you how to walk again, basically making the connections from your brain to your broken synopsis. so basically these patients, they go through the, these trainings and at the end of the training, they're able to walk again without the technology without the suit. how was developed by japanese robot assist yoshi yuki son kite? he is the founder and see all cyber dine and a professor at the university of to cooper. she believes these by jani gays and sy books acknowledges, are a step into a new age. took little dude swimming. it's getting to cuz we're constantly wearing

technology or a strongly connected to it. in that sense. we're born cyborgs, don't you thank. take little detail, one older unity. as technology becomes more accessible, he will be able to use it without even being aware of it. this phenomenon is diffusion of humans and technology, and the symbiotic relationship will continue to develop. are we all becoming cyborgs or are we already? and if the technology becomes available soon, won't people get left behind who don't want to be enhanced or who can't afford it. what are your views on cyber technology? is this the chance for us all to upgrade or are you skeptical? let us know, for example, on youtube there, you'll also find more videos about ellen mosques, newer the project and the paralyzed man who controls in excess, gutted him with his mind. take care bye. ah, ah

ah ah ah, with

ah, ah, a jolie old man from the far north on christmas eve, he brings presence to children all into the world. really a closer look at his life was a different story. this is the true story, a t w tax hikes for millionaires. one millionaire is demanding just that her wealth could help others, especially during the pandemic. but that doesn't mean that the rest of the super rich are ready to pay. there are different views as to who should profit the most

from their money. germany wealthy elite after corona close up the 90 minutes on d w. o. my 1st vice i was a sewing machine. i come from women are bound by this ocean, given something as simple as learning how to write a bicycle, isn't since i was a little girl, i wanted to have a bicycle of my own, but it took me years to my parents. finally, they gave up and went to buy me on my side, but returned with a sewing machine sewing, i suppose, was more appropriate for girls than writing a bite. and now i want to reach out to those women back home for bone to buy their

duties and social rules and inform them about that basic rights. my name is i don't think we're home and i work with t w's crime fighters are back to little africa. most successful radio drama series continues to end up all episodes are available online. and of course you can share and discuss on d. w, africa's facebook page and other social media platforms, crime fighters, tune in now with mrs. dw news, and these are our top stories. france has introduced new measures to help curb an explosion in cases of corona virus in the country. they include a vaccine mandate for entry to venues such as bars and restaurants, france set.