Iranians rally outside US embassies, consulates around the world

Good news! Why is this apparently not or more reported by Western media so far?

Whether the Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former Shah of Iran, is a good option for forming the next government of Iran has to be seen. He might be an important person to help form the next government.

"Hundreds of thousands of Iranians across the diaspora rallied outside US embassies and consulates in more than 20 countries on Saturday, calling on the international community to maintain pressure on the Islamic Republic and support the Iranian people.

The coordinated demonstrations, held in at least 34 cities across Europe, Asia, and North America, followed a call by Iranian opposition figure Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi. ..."

Iranians rally outside US embassies, consulates around the world | The Jerusalem Post "Protesters sent a unified message to Washington, urging policymakers not to reach agreements with Tehran and instead to “stay the course” in confronting the regime."

People hold signs featuring images of Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran's last shah and an Iranian opposition figure, during a protest against the Iranian government, amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, in front of the Iranian embassy in London, Britain, April 4, 2026.

Inexpensive detecting of multiple cancers and other diseases from a single blood sample by analyzing circulating DNA fragments

Good news! Will we soon have much better and cheaper health checkups?

"UCLA scientists have developed a simple and cost-effective blood test that, in early studies, shows promise in detecting multiple cancers, various liver conditions and organ abnormalities simultaneously by analyzing DNA fragments circulating in the bloodstream. The test, described in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could offer a powerful and more affordable approach to early disease detection and comprehensive health monitoring. ..."

"Key takeaways

• In early studies, the blood test, developed by UCLA scientists, shows promise in detecting multiple cancers.
• The new method, called MethylScan, works by analyzing cell-free DNA, tiny fragments of genetic material released into the blood when cells die.
• In tests, MethylScan detected about 63% of cancers across all stages and roughly 55% of early-stage cancers. 

..."

From the significance and abstract:

"Significance

Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in blood carries molecular signals from multiple organs, offering a powerful, noninvasive way to detect disease and monitor health. Current cfDNA methylation tests are costly and usually focus on a single condition.

We developed MethylScan, a low-cost assay that sequences cfDNA methylome from blood. In over 1,000 individuals, MethylScan shows robust performance across a range of clinical applications, including multicancer detection in the general population, liver cancer surveillance in high-risk individuals, liver disease classification, organ injury detection, and ancestry prediction, all from one blood sample. This versatile approach enables affordable, wide-ranging cfDNA tests that can identify various health conditions simultaneously, with the potential to transform early disease detection and health monitoring across diverse clinical settings.

Abstract

Plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA), originating from multiple organs, holds significant potential for noninvasive diagnostics and prognostics. Current cfDNA methylation assays primarily focus on single clinical indications by targeting specific genomic loci. In contrast, comprehensive profiling of cfDNA methylome can enable simultaneous detection of multiple diseases by capturing organ-specific methylation signatures, thereby offering a holistic view of health, when disease etiology is unclear or when conventional biochemical diagnostics are unavailable. However, deep sequencing required for sensitive detection of methylation abnormalities remains prohibitively expensive, limiting widespread clinical use. To overcome this barrier, we developed MethylScan, a highly cost-effective approach for cfDNA methylome sequencing. We demonstrated its broad clinical utility in a cohort of 1,061 individuals across diverse applications, including multicancer detection in general population, liver cancer surveillance in high-risk individuals, liver disease classification, identification of organ abnormalities, and race prediction from cfDNA.

In multicancer detection (liver, lung, ovarian, and stomach cancers), MethylScan achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.938 (95% CI: 0.920 to 0.954), with a sensitivity of 63.3% (95% CI: 58.9 to 67.9%) at 98.0% specificity for all cancer stages.

For early-stage cancers, the AUROC was 0.916 (95% CI: 0.890 to 0.940), with 55.3% sensitivity (95% CI: 49.1 to 62.1%) at the same specificity.

In liver cancer surveillance, MethylScan achieved an AUROC of 0.927 (95% CI: 0.889 to 0.959), with 79.6% sensitivity (95% CI: 70.6 to 87.8%) at 90.4% specificity.

The assay also demonstrated strong performance in additional diagnostic tasks, supporting its potential as a versatile platform for comprehensive cfDNA-based health monitoring."

Detecting multiple cancers and other diseases from a single blood sample

UCLA researchers develop low-cost blood test to detect multiple cancers and other diseases from a single sample (original news release)

Toward the simultaneous detection of multiple diseases with a highly cost-effective cell-free DNA methylome test (open access)

Fig. 1 Illustration of the principle of the MethylScan assay and the criteria of choosing target regions of the MethylScan panel. Shown are four genomic regions, of which the middle two regions have consistent unmethylated MSRE cutting sites in the background cfDNA and are therefore included in the MethylScan panel.

In Step 1, upon MSRE digestion, the background cfDNA in the two panel regions are removed.

In Step 2, the target panel specifically captures cfDNA from the panel regions, thereby enriching tumor cfDNA in the final sequencing pool.

Fig. 4 Study design. (A) overview of plasma samples. (B–F) the usage of plasma samples in five studies. (G) the usage of tissue samples.

Cannabidiol (CBD) further confirmed to reverse brain damage in mouse model of Alzheimer's disease

Good news!

"... The non-psychoactive compound derived from the Cannabis sativa plant, called cannabidiol (CBD), was recently found to show promise for protecting brain cells from damage.

Compared to Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the compound in cannabis that elicits feelings of euphoria and alters a user's mental state, CBD is safer and could thus be easier to introduce in clinical settings. ...

Du and her colleagues studied a mouse model of AD known as triple-transgenic AD mice. These are genetically modified mice whose synapses become progressively damaged, following the formation of Tau protein tangles and the accumulation of Aβ. These mice exhibit characteristics that resemble those observed in patients with AD, such as memory loss and anxiety-like behaviors.

First, the researchers treated the mice with CBD six days per week for a total period of 45 days. After this treatment period, they observed the mice's behavior and examined their brains.

Interestingly, they found that the mice's memory had improved after treatment and their anxiety levels appeared lower. In addition, dendritic spines in their brains and the overall structure of synapses (i.e., junctions between neurons) appeared to be restored.

"We next looked at how CBD achieves the effects we observed," said Du. "We found that it activates the TrkB-PI3K-AKT pathway—a critical pathway for neuronal survival and plasticity. ..."

From the abstract:

"Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by progressive synaptic failure, neuroinflammation, amyloid and tau pathology, yet effective disease-modifying therapies remain limited. Cannabidiol (CBD) has shown neuroprotective potential in AD, but its direct molecular targets and signaling mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate that CBD ameliorates cognitive and emotional deficits in 3×Tg-AD mice by restoring synaptic integrity and plasticity.

At the mechanistic level, CBD activated TrkB signaling independently of BDNF, leading to suppression of tau hyperphosphorylation via the PI3K/AKT/GSK3β pathway and attenuation of neuroinflammation and amyloid pathology through inhibition of the JAK2/STAT3/SOCS1 axis.

Using isothermal shift assays combined with biophysical binding analyses, we identified FRS2, a core adaptor protein of TrkB, as a direct molecular target of CBD. 

Molecular dynamics simulations further revealed that CBD stabilizes the FRS2–TrkB interface, thereby facilitating TrkB activation.

Importantly, genetic knockdown of FRS2 abolished CBD-induced TrkB signaling and its downstream neuroprotective effects in both cellular and in vivo AD models. Together, these findings identify FRS2 as a critical signaling node mediating BDNF-independent TrkB activation by CBD and establish a mechanistic framework linking CBD to disease-modifying pathways in AD."

CBD found to reverse brain damage in mouse model of Alzheimer's disease

Mechanistic insights into cannabidiol-mediated TrkB activation via FRS2 interaction in attenuating Alzheimer’s disease pathology and cognitive impairment

Comment on Astrill VPN

I have been using Astrill VPN here in China. It is a lousy software! So many websites I can not access from behind the Great Firewall of China despite Astrill VPN!

I have to force kill it almost every day to restart it etc.

I see this popping up several times a day! Totally annoying!

Oxygen sensing helps explain why amphibians regenerate limbs but mammals cannot

Amazing stuff! Be aware, there are two concurrent studies published on this subject. I ignored the second study.

"... For decades, biologists have tried to understand why. Now a team ... has discovered that oxygen plays a crucial role in limb regeneration. By comparing amputated limbs from frog tadpoles and embryonic mice, the researchers found that the way cells sense oxygen determines whether regeneration can even begin. ...

The researchers amputated developing limbs from frog tadpoles and mouse embryos and cultured them outside the body under controlled oxygen conditions. Oxygen levels were lowered to match aquatic environments or raised to levels close to air.

They tracked how cells responded by measuring wound closure, cell movement, gene activity, metabolism, and epigenetic states, including changes to DNA packaging. The work focused on HIF1A, a protein that acts as a cellular oxygen sensor. When oxygen is low, HIF1A becomes stable and activates programs that set the stage for wound healing and regeneration.

Lowering oxygen levels had a clear effect on the limbs of mouse embryos. Under reduced oxygen, mouse cells closed wounds faster and showed signs of entering a regenerative program. Stabilizing HIF1A produced similar effects, even when oxygen levels remained high.

Low oxygen also changed cell behavior, with skin cells becoming more mobile and altering their mechanical properties. Metabolism shifted toward glycolysis, a process that takes place in low-oxygen states. At the same time, chemical marks on DNA-associated proteins shifted to favor the activation of regeneration-related genes.

Frog tadpoles behaved differently. Their limbs regenerated efficiently across a wide range of oxygen levels, including levels well above those normally found in air. Molecular analysis showed that their cells maintain stable HIF1A activity even when oxygen increases, due to low expression of genes that normally shut this pathway down.

By comparing frogs, axolotls, mice, and human datasets, the team found a consistent pattern. Regeneration-competent amphibians show reduced oxygen-sensing capacity, allowing regenerative programs to be initiated and sustained. Mammals show the opposite pattern. Their cells respond strongly to oxygen and switch regenerative programs off soon after injury. ..."

From the abstract of the Perspective:

"The ability to regenerate varies widely across the animal kingdom.

Planarians, a type of flatworm, can rebuild their entire body from small fragments.

Fish and salamanders can regenerate complex structures such as fins and limbs.

By contrast, mammals exhibit much more limited natural regenerative abilities (2). This disparity has profound clinical consequences. Poor wound healing, scarring, and limb loss continue to diminish quality of life. Defining how animals orchestrate regenerative processes is important for developing therapies for humans. Emerging evidence suggests that the genes carried by mammals may not render them intrinsically regeneration incompetent.

Instead, the default mammalian wound environment may reinforce nonregenerative programs. On pages 177 and 176 of this issue, Mui et al. (11) and Tsissios et al. (12), respectively, report that regeneration is not simply a fixed genetic trait but rather a state that is dependent on the extracellular environment, oxygen sensing, and epigenetics."

From the editor's summary and abstract:

"Editor’s summary

Some vertebrates can regenerate limbs, whereas others cannot. By comparing regenerating frog tadpoles and nonregenerating mouse embryonic limbs, 

Tsissios et al. found that species-specific oxygen sensing determines whether amputation triggers limb regeneration ... 

Frog tadpoles exhibited reduced oxygen sensing associated with diminished regulation of hypoxia-inducible factor 1A (HIF1A), enabling robust regeneration by promoting biomechanical, epigenetic, and metabolic states conducive to tissue regrowth.

By contrast, mouse limbs displayed heightened sensitivity to oxygen, which destabilizes HIF1A and prevents regeneration. Lowering environmental oxygen levels or stabilizing HIF1A allowed mouse limbs to initiate regeneration.

Mui et al. used a mouse digit amputation model to investigate why some injuries regenerate while others scar. They found that the extracellular matrix, the network of proteins and sugars surrounding cells, was crucial to regeneration. Regenerating tissue is soft, fluid, and rich in hyaluronic acid, whereas nonregenerating tissue is stiff and collagen heavy.

Depleting hyaluronic acid halted regeneration and triggered scarring, whereas stabilizing it improved bone regrowth.

Structured Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Some vertebrates, such as frog tadpoles and salamanders, can regenerate lost limbs after amputation, whereas mammals cannot. Many regeneration-associated molecular pathways and cellular programs are conserved across species, suggesting a possible latent limb-regenerative capacity for mammals. Nonetheless, it remains unclear why these pathways and cell types are not activated after limb amputation and whether limb regenerative programs can, in principle, be initiated in mammals.

RATIONALE

Direct functional comparisons of amputation responses across species are difficult in vivo because of physiological, environmental, and developmental differences, as well as practical constraints. We therefore used limb explants, tissues grown outside the body, as a highly controlled experimental platform.

Having shown that frog tadpole (Xenopus laevis) limbs initiate regeneration as explants, we investigated whether embryonic mouse (Mus musculus) limbs do so under comparable conditions and, if not, which mechanisms distinguish regenerative from nonregenerative species.

RESULTS

We found that subatmospheric oxygen conditions, or stabilization of the oxygen-sensitive transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor 1A (HIF1A), promote rapid wound healing after amputation in embryonic mouse limbs.

Reduced oxygen availability reshaped cellular biomechanical properties associated with YAP activation and metabolic states, particularly glycolysis. In parallel, it also rewired the chromatin landscape by decreasing the repressive histone mark H3K27me3 and increasing the activating mark H3K4me3, thereby permitting regenerative gene expression and the formation of limb regeneration–associated cell types.

By contrast, atmospheric oxygen conditions impaired these processes in mouse limbs. In addition, frog tadpole limbs displayed robust wound healing, regenerative cell-type formation, and stable biomechanical, epigenetic, and metabolic features across a wide range of oxygen conditions, even those greatly exceeding atmospheric oxygen levels.

This reduced oxygen sensing was associated with lower expression of HIF1A regulators, resulting in stable HIF1A activity relative to mice. Extending this analysis, we found that regenerative axolotls also show lower expression of HIF1A regulators, whereas humans exhibit a heightened oxygen-sensing signature similar to mice.

CONCLUSION

We propose species-specific oxygen-sensing capacity as a key determinant of limb regeneration initiation across vertebrates. Reduced oxygen sensing promotes biomechanical, epigenetic, and metabolic programs that are conducive to regeneration, with implications extending to development, disease, evolution, and cross-species comparisons.

Finally, our findings demonstrate that modulation of oxygen-sensing pathways can unlock latent limb-regenerative programs in mammals, providing a mechanistic route toward inducing limb regeneration in adult mammals."

Oxygen sensing helps explain why amphibians regenerate limbs but mammals cannot

Awakening latent regeneration in mammals (Perspective, no public access)

Species-specific oxygen sensing governs the initiation of vertebrate limb regeneration (no public access)

Hyaluronic acid and tissue mechanics orchestrate mammalian digit tip regeneration (no public access)

Species-specific oxygen sensing governs the initiation of vertebrate limb regeneration.

Iran used naval mines it laid in the Strait of Hormuz to force ships to use Iranian territorial waters to traverse the Strait

What! That is the first time I learnt about these news while in China!

What the heck are the NATO countries waiting for! Send immediately minesweepers and navy ships to protect the Strait of Hormuz shipping lanes!

"Iran is using the existence of an unknown number of naval mines it laid in the Strait of Hormuz to force ships to use Iranian territorial waters to traverse the Strait, which enables Iran to shakedown these ships for fees while the ships are in Iranian territorial waters. This protection racket is illegal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Iran likely designed its threatening behavior and its shakedowns to disrupt the global economy, which Iran calculates will enable it to extract concessions from the United States.  Iran warned merchant ships that mines could exist in a “hazardous area” that covers 1,394 sq km of the Strait, including the normal traffic separation scheme (shipping lanes) that ships use to transit the Strait."

Langzeitstudie: Medizinische Transition senkt psychische Belastung bei Jugendlichen nicht

Es gibt wohl wenig Zweifel, das die medizinische Geschlechtsumwandlung von Kindern oder Jugendlichen oftmals nicht viel mehr ist als quackery!

Gender dysphoria ist eine höchst obskure medizinische Diagnose, die an Aberglaube grenzt.

Wenn Erwachsene ihr Geschlecht ändern wollen, dann ist denen freigestellt. Dann ist das eher nur eine Frage wer zahlt für die Geschlechtsumwandlung, die Krankenkasse oder der Erwachsene aus eigener Kasse. 

"... Nun kommt ausgerechnet aus Finnland eine große Langzeitstudie, die den Kern dieser Erzählung frontal trifft. Die medizinische Transition von Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachsenen unter 23 Jahren senkt den Bedarf an fachpsychiatrischer Versorgung nicht. In einem beträchtlichen Teil der Fälle steigt die psychiatrische Belastung sogar deutlich an.

Die im Magazin Acta Paediatrica veröffentlichte Untersuchung erfasste 2.083 Personen, die sich in Finnland vor dem 23. Lebensjahr zwischen 1996 und 2019 an spezialisierte Gender-Dienste wandten. Dazu kamen 16.643 Kontrollpersonen aus der Allgemeinbevölkerung. Die Nachbeobachtung lag im Median bei fast fünf Jahren, einzelne Fälle wurden über ein Vierteljahrhundert verfolgt. Das ist keine kleine Aktivistenstichprobe und kein gefühliger Erlebnisaufsatz, sondern ein großer Datensatz mit Registerdaten und langer Laufzeit.

Das Ergebnis ist verheerend für die politische Betriebsreligion der „geschlechtsbejahenden“ Medizin. Unter jenen, die eine medizinische Geschlechtsangleichung erhielten, also 38 Prozent der Kohorte, stieg der Anteil mit Bedarf an fachpsychiatrischer Behandlung stark an. Bei biologisch männlichen Jugendlichen, die eine feminisierende Behandlung suchten, sprang der Anteil von 9,8 Prozent vor der Überweisung auf 60,7 Prozent mindestens zwei Jahre danach. Bei biologisch weiblichen Jugendlichen, die eine Transition zum männlichen Geschlecht vornahmen, stieg er von 21,6 auf 54,5 Prozent. ..."

Langzeitstudie: Medizinische Transition senkt psychische Belastung bei Jugendlichen nicht "Eine große Langzeitstudie aus Finnland zerlegt das Leitnarrativ der Transideologie. Bei Jugendlichen sinkt nach medizinischer Transition der psychiatrische Behandlungsbedarf nicht, teils steigt er sogar massiv an."

Zum Publizisten Sebastian Franck (1499-1542)

Empfehlenswert!

"Wenn man an Reformation denkt, kommt den meisten Luther in den Kopf – ein paar besonders historisch Interessierte verbinden damit vielleicht noch Namen wie Calvin, Zwingli und Melanchton. Dabei war die Gruppe der Protagonisten, die die Stimmung des Wandels aufgriffen und mitprägten, deutlich bunter, vielfältiger und übrigens auch moderner und ungleich sympathischer als diese entweder konservativen (Luther) oder fundamentalistischen (Calvin) Herren.

Eine herausragende Persönlichkeit jener Zeit war der nordschwäbische Publizist Sebastian Franck (1499-1542). Der autoritätskritische Idealist war den weltlichen und geistlichen Autoritäten ein Dorn im Auge, wo auch immer er sich gerade aufhielt. Er fand kaum Unterstützung oder Sympathie für seine Ansichten, die heute fast durchgängig akzeptiert sind – in den verschiedenen Kirchen wie auch in der gesamten Gesellschaft.

So postulierte er etwa, dass selbstverständlich auch „Türken und Heiden“ ein rechtes und gottgefälliges Leben führen könnten – eine Vorstellung, die die wenigsten damals auch nur ihren Mit-Christen in einer anderen Konfession einräumen wollten.

Franck war tatsächlich ein Vorreiter der Aufklärung, weil er sich gegen das strukturell konservative Verständnis von Luther wandte, allein die Bibel sei eine Quelle der Offenbarung. Im Gegenteil: Für Franck spielte das „innere Wort“ des Menschen, also sein Gewissen und seine Vernunft, die wesentliche Rolle bei der immer besseren Erkenntnis des Glaubens.

Entsprechend wandte er sich auch vehement gegen jegliches Wahrheitsmonopol. Aus seiner Sicht war absolute Gewissensfreiheit unumgänglich, weil sie allein garantierte, dass keine Autorität den Fortschritt der Erkenntnis hemmen konnte und es zu einem echten Wettbewerb der Ideen kommt. Francks Welt- und Menschenbild war so anti-autoritär und pluralistisch, wie unsere Gesellschaft erst im Laufe des 20. Jahrhunderts wurde." (Quelle)

China cashless

Apparently, most daily transactions are paid for by consumers with their smartphones in China by scanning the seller's code.

I have very rarely seen any Chinese individuals paying with cash for products or services.

Wieder idiotische oder sogar antisemitische Schlagzeilen zu Israel in der deutshen Presse

Antisemitismus wie leibt und lebt!

Was hat der Krieg gegen islamistische Terroristen in Libanon mit der Feuerpause im Iran zu tun? Ausser das Iran der staatliche Sponsor der Hizbullah ist.

Die zweite Journalistin fabuliert über die Kriegsziele Netanjahus!

Quelle der Schlagzeilen.

Die Hizbullah ist nicht totzukriegen 
Der Krieg in Libanon geht weiter. Damit bringt Netanjahu die Vereinbarung zwischen Iran und den USA in Gefahr – für ein zweifelhaftes Ziel."

"Böses Erwachen für Netanjahu

Der israelische Ministerpräsident hat seine Kriegsziele in Iran nicht erreicht. Doch nun gibt Trump wieder die Linie vor – und Netanjahu muss folgen."

P.S. Leider ist mein Zugang zur FAZ.net website hier in China blockiert.

Disclaimer

I  am currently blogging from behind the Great Firewall of China.

My Internet service in China is very spotty. Thus, I am not able to blog as usual.

Adolescents who underwent medical gender reassignment had markedly increased psychiatric morbidity during follow-up

More evidence that medical procedures for transgender children and teenagers are often quackery.

Gender dysphoria is one of the most absurd medical diagnosis out there especially when applied to large number of adolescents.

When genital mutilation is involved then these doctors could be criminally liable!

From the abstract:

"Aim

To examine the prevalence of severe psychiatric morbidity among gender-referred adolescents, focusing on gender differences and outcomes related to medical gender reassignment.

Methods

Finnish nationwide cohort of all under-23-year-old gender-referred individuals between 1996 and 2019 (n = 2 083) and 16 643 matched controls. Cross-tabulations with X2 statistics and Cox regression were used to analyse the data.

Results

Gender-referred adolescents showed significantly higher psychiatric morbidity than controls both before (45.7% vs. 15.0%) and ≥ 2 years after referral (61.7% vs. 14.6%). Those referred after 2010 had greater psychiatric needs than earlier cohorts, both before (47.9% vs. 15.3%) and ≥ 2 years after (61.3% vs. 14.2%) referral.

Among adolescents who underwent medical gender reassignment, psychiatric morbidity increased markedly during follow-up—rising from 9.8% to 60.7% in feminising gender reassignment and from 21.6% to 54.5% in masculinising gender reassignment. After adjusting for prior psychiatric treatment, all gender-referred adolescents had similarly elevated risks of psychiatric morbidity, with hazard ratios approximately three times higher than female controls and five times higher than male controls.

Conclusion

Severe psychiatric morbidity is common among gender-referred adolescents and appears to be more prevalent in those referred after the recent surge in referrals. Psychiatric needs do not subside after medical gender reassignment.

Summary

• Gender-referred adolescents show high psychiatric morbidity, yet gender differences and mental health trajectories after medical gender reassignment remain poorly understood.
• These adolescents had markedly higher psychiatric morbidity than controls before and after referral, with treatment needs often persisting and even intensifying after medical interventions—on some, they might even have a negative impact.
• Findings emphasise the need for thorough psychiatric assessment and ongoing treatment throughout medical gender reassignment.

"

Psychiatric Morbidity Among Adolescents and Young Adults Who Contacted Specialised Gender Identity Services in Finland in 1996–2019: A Register Study - Ruuska - Acta Paediatrica - Wiley Online Library (open access)

Credits: Langzeitstudie: Medizinische Transition senkt psychische Belastung bei Jugendlichen nicht

Rücktritt überfällig: Dieses Merz-Video ist ein Dokument des Verfalls

Schlechte Nachrichten! Diese Einschätzung von Tichys Einblick ist ziemlich drastisch! Was ist dran? Mein Eindruck ist auch, das Kanzler Merz nicht überzeugt! Er ist wohl u.a. ein Zögling der schrecklichen Kanzlerin Merkel!

Dieses Merz-Video ist ein Dokument des Verfalls "Ein Land ruiniert, die Umfragen im Keller. Merz wollte mit einem Filmchen Aufbruch inszenieren und hat vor allem seinen kompletten politischen Verschleiß dokumentiert. Der kurze Clip zeigt einen zutiefst überforderten und erschöpften Mann mit leerem Blick und leeren Durchhalteparolen, die schon beim Sprechen zerfallen. Merz muss gehen."

Bundeskanzler Merz

China: Internal security obsession of the communist party

There are airport like security checks with luggage scanners and screeners in many places in China. On every subway station, museums, etc.

How many domestic terrorist attacks have occured in China over the past several decades? Maybe they were not reported in Western media.

I find this very annoying!

Israel Defense Forces dropped 18,000 bombs during Iran war

What a massive attack just by Israel alone! Apparently, the attacks by Israel and the US were well coordinated.

If the combined attacks by Israel and the US were not crippling to the military, the regime and their WMD programs of Iran then what else?

It is now up to the Iranian people to take advantage and to finally get rid of the terrible theocratic dictatorship since 1979.

"These bombs were dropped as part of 1,000 waves of aircraft, with those aircraft flying 8,5000 separate sorties.

During those sorties, there were around 10,800 attacks targeting around 4,000 different targets, collectively comprising around 6,700 different components. ...

In the early days of the war, both Israel and the US were dropping around 1,000 bombs or striking around 1,000 targets daily. ...

For most of the war, the parties also divided up the country by region, with Israel mostly attacking in western, northern, and central Iran, including Tehran, and the US focused more on southern Iran as well as the various waterways."

IDF dropped 18,000 bombs during Iran war | The Jerusalem Post "These bombs were dropped as part of 1,000 waves of IAF aircraft ..."

Italy will not deploy naval vessels to patrol the Strait of Hormuz

Italian Prime Minister Meloni is very disappointing when it comes to Iran.

"... Italy signaled limits to its involvement in maritime security operations. Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo ⁠Salvini said on Wednesday that Italy would not deploy naval vessels to patrol the area without authorization from the United Nations. ..."

Meloni: Iran's plan to charge vessels passing through Hormuz may disrupt trade | The Jerusalem Post "Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo ⁠Salvini said on Wednesday that Italy would not deploy naval vessels to patrol the area without authorization from the United Nations."

Chimpanzee civil war after group division sheds light on the biology of warfare

Amazing stuff! Group division and territorial disputes between new subgroups?

Oddly, the research article based on its abstract does not discuss the possibility of territorial disputes between the two subgroups of Chimpanzees.

"Chimpanzee civil war sheds light on the biology of warfare

Chimpanzees, like humans, routinely fight, and sometimes even kill each other. But unlike us, their communities rarely split into two groups and launch a civil war. By observing a chimp community in Uganda for 30 years, the researchers behind a new Science study reveal how friends turned into foes without shortages of food or cultural rifts dividing them.

More than 200 chimps in a densely forested Kibale region called Ngogo lived peacefully between 1995, when researchers first started tracking their movements and behaviors, and 2015. Although they separated into so-called Central and Western groups, the chimps frequently intermingled, with many cross-group matings.

But following the rapid death of five adult males who apparently served as peacekeepers, the Western group turned against the Central one. Over 6 years, males in the Western group killed seven adult males and 17 infants in the Central group. Even though they were larger in number, the Central group males curiously never ganged up to kill any of the Western chimps.

The civil war—only the second one ever documented in wild chimps—both clarifies motivations for human warfare and spotlights how we differ from one of our closest relatives. “You do not need ideology to generate hostilities,”  ... “The motivations for warfare are much more concerned with our biology than people would have believed a long time ago.” ...

“A hostile split among wild chimpanzees is a reminder of the danger that group divisions can present to human societies.” ...

that chimps aren’t as cooperative and prosocial as humans. “Instead of attacking our neighbors, we go out of [our] way to help them, even if they are complete strangers,” ..."

From the editor's summary and abstract:

"Editor’s summary

Group conflict among nonhuman animals from mongooses to monkeys is well known. However, lethal conflict among groups of animals that were once socially affiliated has not previously been observed outside of humans, in whom cultural ideologies can drive divisions among individuals within the same group. Sandel et al. now describe the gradual dissipation of a group of Ngogo chimpanzees over many years, ending with two socially isolated groups, one of which conducted multiple lethal raids upon the other, leading to the death of both adults and infants ... The unrelated deaths of key interconnected individuals may have contributed to the eventually violent split. ...

Abstract

Territorial conflicts in animals can inform aspects of human warfare, but civil war, with its shifting group identities, has not been previously observed. We report a rare, permanent fission in the largest-known group of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). 

Using 30 years of behavioral observations and network analyses, we describe a transition from cohesion to polarization in 2015 and the emergence of two distinct groups by 2018.

Over the next 7 years, members of one group made 24 attacks, killing at least seven mature males and 17 infants in the other group. These findings indicate that group identities can shift and escalate into lethal hostility in one of our closest living relatives in the absence of the cultural markers often thought necessary for human warfare."

ScienceAdviser

Civil war among wild chimpanzees (Perspective, open access) "A violent split in a group of chimpanzees highlights the evolutionary roots of war and peace"

Lethal conflict after group fission in wild chimpanzees (open access)

Fig. 1. Network and spatial separation precede a shift from association to violence.

Fig. 4. Territorial patrols between Western and Central chimpanzees.

In 2016, chimpanzees that would become members of the Western group (orange) began engaging in territorial patrols toward chimpanzees that would become members of the Central group (blue). In 2017, we observed the first patrols by Central chimpanzees toward Western chimpanzees. We summed the number of these within-Ngogo patrols quarterly from 2016 to 2024.

Windkraft in der Krise: Das Subventionskartell der Energiewende fliegt der Politik um die Ohren

Sehr empfehlenswert! Einer der Gründe warum D zu einer Bananenrepublik wurde!

Wer glaubte im 20igsten und 21igsten Jahrhundert Energie per Wind im grossen Massstab zu erzeugen war ein Vollidiot oder Charlatan!

Und wieviele dummselige Bundesbürger haben die Energiewende unterstützt? Viel zu viele!

Der Artikel beschreibt leider gar nicht worin die Krise der Windkraft genau besteht. Insoweit lausiger Journalismus!

"Die Windbranche steht nicht vor einer normalen Marktkrise. Sie steht vor dem Moment, in dem ein jahrelang künstlich aufgepumpter Apparat an der Wirklichkeit zerschellt. Was jetzt ins Rutschen hin zur Lawine gerät, ist kein bedauerlicher Betriebsunfall einer Zukunftsindustrie, sondern das absehbare Ende eines politisch gezüchteten Geschäftsmodells, das nie durch eigene Kraft, technische Überlegenheit oder ehrliche Wettbewerbsfähigkeit getragen wurde.

Diese Branche wurde hochgefüttert, mit Fördermilliarden, garantierten Vergütungen, regulatorischen Sonderrechten und dem ständigen staatlichen Eingriff in Preise, Flächen und Prioritäten. Das Ganze wurde der Öffentlichkeit als Fortschritt verkauft, obwohl es in Wahrheit ein gigantisches Umverteilungsprogramm war: weg vom Bürger, hin zu einer Klasse von Projektentwicklern, Flächenprofiteuren, Lobbyisten, Beratern und grünen Geschäftsmodellen, die ohne die politische Melkmaschine nie in dieser Form existiert hätten. ..."

Windkraft in der Krise: Das Subventionskartell der Energiewende fliegt der Politik um die Ohren "Die Windbranche rutscht in die Krise, Projekte kippen, Renditen schmelzen. Jetzt platzt eine politisch gemästete Blase, an der Funktionäre, Profiteure und Subventionsabgreifer sich jahrelang auf Kosten der Steuerzahler die Taschen vollgestopft haben."

All 15 nuclear fusion startup company that has raised over $100M, latest update

Good news! When will humans finally be able to generate power with nuclear fusion!

Hopefully, ML & AI will expedite the success in this long endeavor!

This article lists 15 companies!

Every fusion startup that has raised over $100M | TechCrunch

Image of the day

Bilder aus der Bananenrepublik Deutschland (Quelle)! Da kommt Freude auf!

Coal Still Powers the World Economy

Only mostly Western countries are stupid enough not to rely on coal for power generation! In particular, Germany became a banana republic by e.g. demolishing working coal and nuclear fueled power plants!

While e.g. China built hundreds of new coal fired power plants in recent years!

High time to end the global warming hoax and climate change nonsense!

"But yet, here we are… global coal consumption has definitely not declined, quite the contrary, it has only grown from roughly 6 billion tons in 2008 ... to around 9 billion tons today. Not to mention the seaborne trade which almost doubled! So the question is not whether coal is disappearing as we were told, it’s whether we misunderstood this useful black rock in the first place. ..."

Coal Still Powers the World Economy "If you think coal is a thing of the past…then you are missing the big picture, which is far more complex and far more relevant than most headlines suggest ..."

Gut bacteria influence mice social behavior through smell

Amazing stuff! Why do humans use perfume and deodorants?

When one metabolite molecule regulates aggressiveness of individuals!

"In a new study, Northwestern University neurobiologists discovered that gut bacteria and the nose work together to shape social behavior in mice, including who fights and who backs down. Using a combination of genetic and behavioral experiments, the scientists found gut microbes produce a pungent odor that other animals can smell. When detected, these scents trigger aggression and shape social hierarchies. The discovery reveals a previously unknown way the microbiome influences social interactions. ...

"Over the past 20 years, there's been a growing realization that microbes in the gut have profound influences on behavior and physiology," ... "They produce bioactive chemicals that affect the function of many organ systems, including the immune system, and can even cross the blood-brain barrier to affect behavior. These chemicals can also affect social behaviors through the sense of smell. While species use microbiome-derived chemicals for social communication, our study is the first to uncover the underlying mechanism." ...

In the new study, ... team focused on trimethylamine (TMA), a molecule produced in the gut that smells like dead, rotten fish. When gut bacteria break down choline-rich foods, such as eggs and meat, they generate TMA as a byproduct. The body's liver then converts TMA into an odorless metabolite. But in adult male mice, testosterone suppresses the liver enzyme that typically neutralizes TMA, allowing it to accumulate in urine.

"It seemed like mice use TMA as a male-specific odor," ...

To better understand why adult male mice produce this odor, ... team imaged the olfactory bulb within the brain to see which neurons respond to TMA. They specifically focused on trace amine-associated receptors (TAARs), a small family of odor detectors that are especially sensitive to strong-smelling molecules. Among the 14 TAARs in mice, the team found that TAAR5 is the most sensitive receptor to TMA and plays a central role in detecting the odor. ...

From scent to social hierarchy

When mice detect this scent, it changes how they behave. Dominant animals initiate fights, while subordinate mice adopt defensive postures—patterns that quickly establish a social hierarchy. 

But when ... team disabled TAAR5 in mice, those distinctions blurred. Mice still interacted with one another, but their behavior became more evenly matched. Without this signal, it took longer for clear dominant-subordinate relationships to emerge. ..."

From the highlights and abstract:

"Highlights

• TAAR5 deletion alters aggression and social dominance in male mice

• The effect of TAAR5 on social behavior occurs via the main olfactory pathway

• Blocking production of the TAAR5 ligand TMA by gut microbes reduces aggression

• A microbiome-derived chemical cue shapes mammalian social behavior via olfaction

Summary

Many species use microbiome-derived metabolites as chemosensory cues, yet the chemicals involved and the sensory pathways that detect and process them remain poorly understood.

Trimethylamine (TMA) is a volatile metabolite that is produced by the gut microbiome and selectively accumulated in the urine of sexually mature male mice.

Here, we show that TMA regulates inter-male aggression and social dominance by activating trace amine-associated receptor 5 (TAAR5) in the main olfactory system.

In wild-type mice, early aggressive behavior during male-male encounters strongly predicts eventual social status: dominant males initiate more attacks, whereas subordinate males display more defensive behaviors.

Deletion of TAAR5 eliminated this asymmetry, with dominant and subordinate mice showing similar levels of aggressive and defensive behaviors.

Strikingly, restoring TAAR5 expression in olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) rescued the behavioral asymmetry, indicating that this effect is mediated by the main olfactory system and arguing against contributions from proposed TAAR5 expression in the brain.

Finally, pharmacological suppression of microbial TMA production reduced inter-male aggression, and this effect was reversed by painting treated males with TMA, showing that microbiome-derived TMA is the key volatile ligand for TAAR5 in this context.

Taken together, our findings identify TMA as a critical olfactory cue that signals the presence of sexually mature males and facilitates social hierarchy formation. More broadly, our results demonstrate that a microbiome-derived metabolite can shape mammalian social interactions through the main olfactory system and uncover a previously unrecognized role for the TAAR family in regulating social behavior."

Gut bacteria may influence social behavior through smell

A microbiome-derived olfactory signal regulates inter-male aggression and social dominance in mice (open access)

Graphical abstract

Can This 3d printed, personalized “Living Knee” Revolutionize Joint Replacement due to osteoarhthrits?

Good news! This seems to be a promising approach! A company was already formed to commercialize this new orthopedic joint. It uses patient stem cells to build new cartilage.

"... to create a new biological knee joint that can last a lifetime, expand joint surgery to younger patients, and provide a better joint for all patients.

Two years into the project, ARPA-H has now given the team the green light to move into the second phase of development and begin preclinical testing of their “living knee” implant, called NOVAKnee. ...

“Our decades of research studying cartilage have shown that no other material has the same joint lubrication or load-bearing properties of articular cartilage. Based on this, we decided that we needed a strategy to regenerate a living knee, rather than simply replacing it,” ...

The Columbia design for this new joint looks like current metal and plastic replacement joints and will be surgically implanted with the same procedures. But NOVAKnee is a living, 3D-printed human organ, created with a biodegradable scaffolding material infused with stem cells. After implantation, the cells will regenerate the joint’s natural cartilage and bone tissues as the scaffold disappears. 

The team identified new biomaterials and used them to design an implant that can sustain the loading of the human knee. The implant contains combinations of biomaterials to make femoral- and tibial-shaped implants, sized to the patient’s knee. Then it gets seeded with cartilage and bone cells, derived from stem cells either from the patient’s own body (lipoaspirate from the abdomen) or from adult inducible pluripotent stem cells. ...

To accelerate this breakthrough technology's path to patients, NOVAJoint Orthopedics ... has been established as an independent company committed to commercializing the NOVAKnee implant and extending the technology across orthopedic applications. ..."

Can This “Living Knee” Revolutionize Joint Replacement? | Columbia University Irving Medical Center

NOVAJoint Orthopedics

Iranian-backed Iraqi militias probably used first-person view (FPV) drones to ambush US Embassy personnel near the Baghdad

What else to expect from this terrible theocratic dictatorship in Iran! Another war crime! (Source)

And cluster bombs on residential areas in Israel!

Warum Europas KI-Pläne am Strom scheitern

Kein Wunder! Mit Windmühlen und Solarzellen ist der Bedarf nicht zu decken!

Europa und insbesondere die Bananenrepublik D ernten was sie säten mit dem Klimawahn (auch euphemistisch und fälschlich genannt Klimaneutralität)!

Wenn der Strombedarf von data centers/Rechenzentren nicht deutlich reduziert werden kann sieht die EU alt aus!

"... Es klafft eine Stromlücke von 80 TWh (finnischer Jahresstrombedarf 2025: 85 TWh), so Matilde Ciani vom Kiel Institut für Weltwirtschaft im neuen Kiel Policy Brief, sollte die EU wirklich ihre Ausbauziele für neue KI-Rechenzentren bis 2030 umsetzen können. ..."

"• Das globale Rennen um die KI-Führerschaft hat begonnen, und Europa versucht, vorne mitzuspielen. Es besteht jedoch eine deutliche Diskrepanz zwischen der Planung von Rechenzentrumskapazitäten und der Stromversorgungsplanung in der EU.

• Trotz ambitionierter Pläne droht die EU im globalen KI-Rennen weiter zurückzufallen: China will seine Rechenzentrumskapazität bis 2030 verdreifachen, die Vereinigten Staaten sind dabei, sie zu verdoppeln, wodurch Europa mit deutlich geringeren Anteilen an der globalen Kapazität zurückbleibt.

• Der Strombedarf der EU-Rechenzentren wird sich in den nächsten fünf Jahren voraussichtlich verdoppeln, von etwa 80 auf 168 TWh. Die obere Grenze dieses Bereichs entspricht dem gesamten Elektrizitätsbedarf einer europäischen Industrienation, beispielsweise dem Bedarf von Polen im Jahr 2024. Der Anteil des gesamten EU-Strombedarfs, der auf Rechenzentren entfällt, wird daher rasch von rund 2% im Jahr 2023 auf rund 5% im Jahr 2030 ansteigen.

• Die Deckung des zusätzlichen Strombedarfs, der durch Rechenzentren entstehen wird, ist nur möglich, wenn der Verbrauch der übrigen Wirtschaftsbereiche weit gehend konstant bleibt. Dies ist jedoch unwahrscheinlich, da der Bedarf auch in anderen Sektoren steigen wird, insbesondere im Wohnungsmarkt (Wärmepumpen) und im Verkehrssektor (Elektrofahrzeuge).

• Bis 2030 entsteht dadurch eine erhebliche Lücke zwischen Strombedarf und verfügbarer Elektrizität, die dem Netto-Stromverbrauch von Ländern wie Belgien oder Finnland im Jahr 2024 entspricht. Ohne vorausschauende Planung droht der Europäischen Union ein gefährliches Trilemma: Sie müsste zwischen Wachstum, Klimaneutralität [???] und einer führenden Rolle im KI-Rennen abwägen.

..."

Warum Europas KI-Pläne am Strom scheitern "Der KI-Boom frisst so viel Strom wie ganz Finnland – und die EU hat keinen Plan, woher die Energie kommen soll. Eine neue Studie des Kiel Instituts zeigt eine Lücke von 80 TWh bis 2030."

Auf dem Weg ins Debakel: Die Diskrepanz zwischen dem KI-Anspruch der EU und ihrer Energieplanung.

Resurfacing a Forgotten Icon: Shere Hite

Older folks may remember the Hite Report published in 1976! It was quite a sensation back then.

Feminists sure liked this report when it came out!

Resurfacing a Forgotten Icon | Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University "There was a time when Shere Hite was everywhere in American media—and then she disappeared. The scholar Rosa Campbell is bringing her groundbreaking lessons to new audiences."

Shere Hite

The Hite Report has sold 50 million copies worldwide, making it the 30th best-selling book of all time.

Judicial Watch: 372,000 Inactive Voters Removed from Colorado Voter Rolls after Lawsuit and Settlement

Good news! Colorado has only a few million population! Unfortunately, I do not remember of the top of my head how close e.g. presidential election results are in Colorado.

"... Under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), states must take reasonable steps to remove ineligible voters—such as those who have died, moved, or become inactive—while protecting eligible voters’ rights.

 Judicial Watch filed the Colorado federal lawsuit to clean the voter rolls in 2020 on behalf of itself and three residents of Colorado. (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Griswold, et al.(No. 20-cv-02992)).

In March 2023, Colorado’s secretary of state agreed to settle the lawsuit and has confirmed to Judicial Watch that since 2023 the state removed 372,000 ineligible voters from the state’s voter registration lists.

Judicial Watch’s lawsuits and legal actions have now led to the removal of six million ineligible names from voter lists nationwide. ..."

Judicial Watch: 372,000 Inactive Voters Removed from Colorado Voter Rolls after Lawsuit and Settlement | Judicial Watch

Hunter Biden Self-Deports to South Africa, Fleeing $17 Million in Debts

Breitbart News headline of today (Source)! What to know about the son of the senile and demented 46th President and his family!

P.S. Breitbart News is not accessible in China.

Green Berets infiltrate 90-plus miles undetected by drones in weeklong exercise

Good news! Recently, there has been lots of debates about whether soldiers on the ground can evade being detected by drones.

"Green Berets recently tested their ability to operate without being detected by drones or enemy personnel in a battlefield exercise that required adapting to today’s advanced surveillance. ...

The exercise tested operator teams of eight or more personnel in areas of infiltration, drone operations and survival amid harsh winter conditions, according to a service release published Wednesday.

Tasked with traversing over 90 miles of simulated enemy territory, teams had to move, undetected, infiltrate beyond a simulated conventional enemy and launch a strike drone at a mock high-value target. ..."

Green Berets infiltrate 90-plus miles undetected in weeklong exercise

This Great, Bipartisan Housing Bill Has a Major Flaw

Another example of how the road to hell is paved with good intentions!

"... the bill includes a provision, Section 901, that would hollow out its core promise."

"Titled 'Homes Are for People, Not Corporations,' the provision requires large investors who build or purchase homes specifically for rental to sell those homes to individuals within seven years, regardless of market conditions at the time. The section’s ostensible goal is to prevent those investors — companies that own at least 350 homes — from competing against individual home buyers. But its end result will be the evisceration of one of the fastest-growing and most promising sources of new family-oriented housing in the United States today: build-to-rent communities.""

This Great, Bipartisan Housing Bill Has a Major Flaw

11-state southeastern economic corridor absorbed 70% of all U.S. population growth over the last five years

Good news! Voting with your feet in action!

"New US ‘Boom Belt’ Gains Trillions in Wealth

Florida and Texas governors joined forces in Miami on Tuesday to tout an 11-state southeastern economic corridor now generating $9 trillion in annual GDP, a figure that would trail only the national economies of the U.S. and China.

The region has absorbed 70% of all U.S. population growth over the last five years, with Florida alone gaining $21 billion in wealth from interstate moves in 2023, more than the next five states combined. 

California lost $12 billion, and New York lost $10 billion in the same period, as high taxes and cost of living continue pushing residents and businesses south."

Thursday, April 9, 2026 - Join The Flyover

No, Trump is not committing war crimes in Iran by Michael Rubin

Recommendable!

"One hundred legal scholars signed a letter arguing that President Donald Trump’s threat to target Iranian power plants and bridges could amount to war crimes if carried out. ... 

First ... Few if any of the signatories understand the nuances of Iran or its economy. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or its subsidiaries control and profit from the power plants Trump threatens to destroy. That alone makes them legitimate targets.

Since the end of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, the Revolutionary Guard has expanded its reach throughout the civilian economy, slowly taking over most industries. The independent labor union in Iran erupted largely because the Guard ignored labor regulations, failed to pay salaries, and ignored safety standards. Today, Khatam al Anbiya, the economic wing of the Guard, controls up to 40% of Iran’s gross domestic product. Extracting the Guard’s tentacles from the civilian economy will be the major challenge of the post-Islamic Republic era.

Second, the hypocrisy: If Trump’s mean words and threats of destruction amount to possible war crimes, where have these legal scholars been over the past 47 years, when, on almost every Friday, the Islamic Republic’s leaders led chants of “death to America?” Nor did the Iranian leadership limit itself to rhetoric. Their support for terrorism and proxies across Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen led to the deaths of more than 100,000 people. Indeed, while the American legal scholars salivate about the possibility of labeling Trump as a war criminal, they remain silent that the regime he tries to oust massacred 40,000 over two days in January 2026; launched cluster munitions at Israel and specifically target civilian apartment buildings; and then attacked hotels and economic infrastructure in Gulf Arab states that had not joined the conflict with the U.S. and had forbidden Americans from using their bases. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the targeting of civilian tankers from third nations only adds to the litany of Iranian crimes. ..."

No, Trump is not committing war crimes in Iran | American Enterprise Institute - AEI

TII Releases Falcon Perception: A 0.6B-Parameter Early-Fusion Transformer for Open-Vocabulary Grounding and Segmentation from Natural Language Prompts

Recommendable!

"In the current landscape of computer vision, the standard operating procedure involves a modular ‘Lego-brick’ approach: a pre-trained vision encoder for feature extraction paired with a separate decoder for task prediction. While effective, this architectural separation complicates scaling and bottlenecks the interaction between language and vision.

The Technology Innovation Institute (TII) research team is challenging this paradigm with Falcon Perception, a 600M-parameter unified dense Transformer. By processing image patches and text tokens in a shared parameter space from the very first layer, TII research team has developed an early-fusion stack that handles perception and task modeling with extreme efficiency. ..."

From the abstract:

"Perception-centric systems are typically implemented with a modular encoder-decoder pipeline: a vision backbone for feature extraction and a separate decoder (or late-fusion module) for task prediction. This raises a central question: is this architectural separation essential or can a single early-fusion stack do both perception and task modeling at scale?

We introduce Falcon Perception, a unified dense Transformer that processes image patches and text tokens in a shared parameter space from the first layer, using a hybrid attention pattern (bidirectional among image tokens, causal for prediction tokens) to combine global visual context with autoregressive, variable-length instance generation. To keep dense outputs practical, Falcon Perception retains a lightweight token interface and decodes continuous spatial outputs with specialized heads, enabling parallel high-resolution mask prediction.

Our design promotes simplicity: we keep a single scalable backbone and shift complexity toward data and training signals, adding only small heads where outputs are continuous and dense. On SA-Co, Falcon Perception improves mask quality to 68.0 Macro-F compared to 62.3 of SAM3. We also introduce PBench, a benchmark targeting compositional prompts (OCR, spatial constraints, relations) and dense long-context regimes, where the model shows better gains. Finally, we extend the same early-fusion recipe to Falcon OCR: a compact 300M-parameter model which attains 80.3% on olmOCR and 88.64 on OmniDocBench."

TII Releases Falcon Perception: A 0.6B-Parameter Early-Fusion Transformer for Open-Vocabulary Grounding and Segmentation from Natural Language Prompts - MarkTechPost

Falcon Perception (open access)

Pairs of atoms observed existing in two places at once for the first time

Amazing stuff!

"... "This result confirms the predictions of over a century ago that matter can be in two locations at once, and it can interfere with itself even in those locations," ..."

From the abstract:

"Nonlocal entanglement between pair-correlated particles is a highly counter-intuitive aspect of quantum mechanics, where measurement on one particle can instantly affect the other, regardless of distance. 

While the rigorous Bell’s inequality framework has enabled the demonstration of such entanglement in photons and atomic internal states, no experiment has yet involved motional states of massive particles.

Here we report the experimental observation of Bell correlations in motional states of momentum-entangled ultracold helium atoms. Momentum-entangled pairs are first generated via s-wave collisions. Using a Rarity-Tapster interferometer and a Bell-test framework, we observe atom-atom correlations required for violation of a Bell inequality.

This result shows the potential of ultracold atoms for fundamental tests of quantum mechanics and opens new avenues to studying gravitational effects in quantum states."

Pairs of atoms observed existing in two places at once for the first time (This article was not very helpful!)

Spooky quantum helium atoms give hope for a Theory of Everything (original news release. However webpage did not open properly, see screenshot below)

Bell correlations between momentum-entangled pairs of 4He* atoms (open access)

Fig. 1: Schematic of the experimental procedure in momentum space.