First official image of the whole group of the Justice League

We released the first official image of the Justice League of DC and Warner for the film.

Meg Ryan for a walk with his son Jack Quaid

Actress Meg Ryan goes for a walk accompanied by his son Jack Quaid.

Ben Affleck on the set of 'Live By Night'

Ben Affleck takes a break between filming scenes for 'Live By Night' in Los Angeles, California.

Zika Virus outbreak in South America - Debunking the myths

So there have been several conspiracy theories presented to suggest that the Zika virus outbreak in Brazil was man made. I'll try and address two regarding the outbreak that I have come across.

The first and easiest CT to debunk is the the notion that the Zika virus outbreak occurred because of the field trial of the genetically engineered mosquitoes in Brazil. This is based on the outbreak occurring after the field trial (conducted in 2011) and starting in the general area the field trial happened. However, when the evidence is examined, this CT falls apart.

The location of the Zika virus outbreak in Brazil, 2015

The interesting thing about this image is that it is shows the occurrence of microcephaly cases and the start of the outbreak. A similar image with the heading intact can be found here. But this map does show an important clue to the start of the outbreak. A large number of microcephaly cases are concentrated around the city of Natal in the state of Rio Grande do Norte (on the eastern tip where the cases are clustered). This is in fact the city where symptoms similar to Zika (but not Dengue or Chikungunya) were first described in Brazil. This next connection is a stretch; the location of the field trials of GE mosquitoes conducted by Oxitec. 

The "location" of the Oxitec GE mosquito field trials

The problem here is that the Oxitec field trials happened in Juazeiro in the state of Bahia and this map is pointing at Juazeiro do Norte in the state of Ceará. Juazeiro do Norte is about 626.1 km from Natal and 371.8 km from Juazeiro. It is 880 km from Juazeiro to Natal (note these are driving distances). So, the actual city where the field trials began is a bit further away from the start of the outbreak. It's still plausible, but less likely. Part of this is because mosquitoes can only travel about 58.2 m so that is a great distance for them to be carried. It also helps to understand exactly what the trials tested.

The field trial tested the ability of GE male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to impact the population size in the trial location.The results were astounding with a population reduction of >90%. The way that the mosquitoes were altered plays a huge role in the success of the experiment. The mosquito has been genetically sterilized in an improvement on the sterile insect technique. Normally, male insects are sterilized with radiation but that has the drawback of zapping insects with radiation which can reduce their fitness. The GE mosquito is still as fit as any other male mosquito, it just doesn't produce viable offspring. But there is a catch, a common antibiotic called tetracycline can interfere with the genetic mechanism that causes the mosquito to be sterile. This increases the fertility of the males a bit.

The way tetracycline inhibits the sterilization of Oxitec GE mosquitoes.

There is an issue here though, this assumes that the tetracycline would be present in high enough levels to increase fertility, the level needed for this has been empiricallydetermined. Unfortunately for the CT, the levels of tetracycline compounds would need to be 746 to 2500 times greater than the highest reported environmental levels of tetracycline compounds.

Another issue that I haven't brought up is there are two Aedes mosquitoes in Brazil that are of concern, the aforementioned Aedes aegypti and a relative, Aedes albopictus. Although it hasn't been demonstrated to be a vector, A. albopictuspopulations (I'll have another blog post on this soon) would not be impacted by sterile A. aegypti males. So with two potential vector species (there may be more but that is another blog post), it's not likely that failing to fully knock out ones that escaped the field trial would increase the spread of a virus.

One last point here, I also came across another GE mosquito CT that Bill Gates was spreading Zika virus with the GE mosquitoes. This is crazy because the GE mosquitoes are male and male mosquitoes don't bite. To release something they don't have approval for would be the end of a small company like Oxitec.

The final CT I will discuss, is the claim that the Tdap vaccine is what is causing the microcephaly. This runs the gambit from tainted vaccine to just regular old vaccine and it is harder to address. The basis for this idea is that the Zika virus was discovered in 1947 and there have been no records of microcephaly until the outbreak in Brazil. There are several problems with this idea. The first is that Zika virus was a rare virus in humans until very recently. Also, further analysis of the outbreak in French Polynesia has shown an increase in neurological defects in babies during that time. Another problem is that the Tdap vaccine has never been associated with microcephaly and Brazil has had a 20-fold increase in cases since the outbreak began. They are also suggesting the wrong vaccine if they'd like a chance of being plausible with the CT. Rubella is another virus that causes microcephaly(27% chance if infection occurs in the first trimester), so the MMR vaccine would be the logical choice. 

So in summation, please don't trust everything you read on the internet. Some of it may be the insane ramblings of someone on Reddit, or it might be scare tactics to try and further an agenda.

Birdman is nominated for best foreign film in France

The Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques of France also nominated "The son of Saul" Laszlo Nemes, "Madre Mia" Nanni Moretti, "Youth" by Paolo Sorrentino, and Taxi Teheran, Jafar Panahi.

"Birdman" directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, was nominated as the best foreign film of the year by the French Film Academy.

The film already won the Oscar for Best Director and Best Picture, will compete with six other films from around the world by Caesar, whose list of nominees was published Wednesday.

The Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques of France also nominated "The son of Saul" Laszlo Nemes, "Madre Mia" Nanni Moretti, "Youth" by Paolo Sorrentino, and Taxi Teheran, Jafar Panahi.

For Inarritu, who just two weeks ago was in the French capital for the premiere of "The reborn", also nominated for an Oscar this year, this is one of the last major nominations Birdman.

French film "Marguerite" by Xavier Giannoli and "Three memories of my youth" by Arnaud Desplechin, topped with eleven nominations each, the list of nominations for the national awards of this year's French cinema.

The 41st edition of the César awards will take place on February 26 at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris.

At the ceremony the American actor Michael Douglas will receive an honorary Cesar for his entire career.

First audition of Salma Hayek in Televisa, which occurred 29 years ago. See video.

With a look in the style of 80 and a hopeful look that betrays her youth, she described the actress then demonstrate their talent.

"I am Salma Hayek, I have 20 years. I'm in the first group of second year of the Training Center and have no experience," says a little nervous before the camera. In the morning program they did not specify what role Salma racing. 

It was only a matter of time before obtained her first starring role in Teresa soap opera, in 1989. Two years later, he decided to try his luck in Los Angeles, where he had a hard time because he spoke very little English and, on several occasions, he has confessed that suffered from dyslexia as she studied. 

Today Salma Hayek is synonymous with success, although he has left his job a little acting to focus on his passion as a producer, in addition to devote more time to his nine year old daughter, Valentina Paloma. The actress is now married to one of the richest men in France.

'DAREDEVIL': RELEASE DATE AND NAME CHANGE OF SEASON WITH THE PUNISHER

Daredevil will return this year with its second season , where new characters will no longer see as the expected Frank Castle / The Punisher played by Jon Bernthal , the famous actor of The Walking Deadwhich apparently enjoy greater role than expected, since the beginning of this new stage, where in addition to this new foe forCharlie Cox , also will break Elodie Yung (Gods of Egypt , The Great Challenge ) as the new Elektra , taking the baton from Jennifer Gardner in the movie co-starred with Ben Affleck more than a decade .

Now in addition, thanks to Entertainment Weekly we can confirm that the date of release of the second season of Daredevil will be much closer than most fans predicted, as Netflix has decided to issue the new batch of episodes during the month of March, as picked up by said means.

Daredevil and The Punisher , one of the most anticipated sequels of Netflix

Moreover, according to this publication, the name of the second television stage blind antihero of Hell's Kitchen, will be renamed Daredevil and The Punisher , highlighting the plot weight of the new Frank Castle, whose success could well be a spin-off 2016. Recall that Netflix already changed the name of Jessica Jones series, which in principle would be called AKA Jessica Jones.

The next series of Netflix after Luke Cage

Currently the next series of Netflix Brand pending Luke Cage , starring Mike Colter. In principle, the latter is expected to shortly before Christmas of next year.

The following fictional brand will be Iron Fist , which is expected to arrive in 2017, as announced a month ago with the publication of its official synopsis. This series tells the story of Daniel Rand, who will return to New York after being missing for years to fight crime like the other heroes of Netflix , with whom he will meet in The Defenders .

'CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR': JAMES GUNN THINKS ABOUT THIS FILM AND THE NEW 'SPIDER-MAN'

Captain America: Civil War hit theaters in late April, heralding one of the most successful releases of recent times forMarvel Studios , which will bring together a large number of members of the Avengers(noticing the absence of Thor and Hulk, which will return in Thor: Ragnarok ), besides being presented Tom Holland (The impossible , In the Heart of the Sea ) and the new Peter Parker / Spider-Man , who meet again in the summer of 2017 in his own monographic film, where the actor says his character will begin to define themselves and we will see a very different way to his first appearance.

Some lucky ones have already had occasion to see the (not final) assemblyCivil War , as has been the case withJames Gunn , director and screenwriter ofGuardians of the Galaxy already working on the sequel of it, which will come just one year after this third part of the adventures ofCaptain America .

According to the filmmaker, all the work of the Russo brothers have been rewarded, and apparently could exceed the success ofCaptain America: The Winter Soldier , considered one of the greatest successes the second phase of the film universe of Marvel :

Tom Holland, a great Spider-Man from Civil War

Gunn said through his account of Facebook that Tom Holland was also amazing in the film, so it appears that his speech will go beyond a mere cameo, as pointed out at the beginning of the project.

Scarlett Johansson said after reading the first script (which itself contained Hulk) that Spider-Man would be a key player, like Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), whom the president of production at Marvel Studios , Kevin Feige, defined as the umpire , unable to be defined in one of two groups.