Bad news! That is what dictatorship communist governments do!
Monday, August 10, 2026
Hanoi is building a new futuristic city by tearing down the old one
Sunday, August 09, 2026
Punk music turns 50 in the UK with festival celebration
Recommendable! Punk and funk, two unlike music genres came about around the same time.
Global warming is coming for the countryside. Really!
New climate disinformation und demagoguery by the AAAS! E.g. the headline of this news article contradicts the mentioned research!
The article heavily relies on climate model forecasts up to 2050! Laughable! Junk journalism!
Does this article/research confuse urban sprawl with rural areas? Quite possibly!
What is please "urban climate change"? Microclimate? How relevant is that compared to global warming/climate change? Or is this an admission that greenhouse gases are a red herring (junk science)? You bet!
This research also relies on junk climate models and forecasts of up to 100 years. Climate is a much too complex a phenomenon that is still poorly understood. Weather forecasts are still barely accurate for more than 48 hours or so and so on.
Does not the urban heat island effect already mess up the temperature measurement record for over 100 years or so given expanding urban areas and population growth? You bet! The urban heat island effect is perhaps the strongest reason why Global Warming is a hoax! Many of the systematic temperature measurements have been taken at meteorological stations in urban areas for the past 100 or more years..
Resolution of climate models is not a convincing metric!
"... But now a pioneering study [???] suggests that as global warming continues in much of the world, the countryside’s appeal as a climate buffer may dwindle. ...
But such regional models inherit the biases of the coarse global models and don’t capture feedback effects of cities on the broader climate. They have offered varying forecasts for the urban heat island effect: Some suggested it will stay the same, others saw it growing stronger, and still others forecast it would weaken. For the past few years, 20 modeling centers worldwide have been collaborating, hoping to converge on a verdict.
Taking advantage of increasing computing power, other researchers are pursuing global climate models that can simulate the whole planet at resolutions high enough to capture cities. As part of the European Union’s Destination Earth project to forecast the planet’s future, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) has developed a high-resolution climate model. Researchers there used it to simulate a greenhouse-warmed world from 2020 to ’50 at a 9-kilometer resolution, fine enough to track urban climate.
The ECMWF team zoomed in on 200 cities in four climatic regions: cold, arid, temperate, and tropical. The results, published in June in Geophysical Research Letters, led to a surprising conclusion:
By 2050, whereas cities on average remained hotter than the countryside nearby, “the rural surroundings of cities warmed up faster,” says Xabier Pedruzo-Bagazgoitia, the study’s lead author. Except in cold regions, the urban heat island effect was weakening. ...
Fifteen years ago, a modeling study in the Journal of Climate had suggested a plausible mechanism for a weakened heat island effect [???]. ..."
From the abstract:
"Coupled multi-decadal global km-scale simulations completed in recent years open new perspectives in the investigation and understanding of urban climate change [???].
This study introduces a generic method for extracting urban areas and their rural references worldwide and validates it on hourly timescales with remote-sensing observations of land-surface temperature for over 400 cities, while identifying the key role of spatial resolution.
We showcase the immense amount of hourly data available for each city for 60 years of past and future climate [???] in the Next Generation Earth Modelling Systems simulations, and how these simulations represent surface-atmosphere interactions driven by urban areas.
We finally propose city clustering as a method to exploit these simulations and move beyond city-specific results. Results suggest a mean potential decrease in future urban heat island intensity driven by stronger rural warming for all clusters except for cold climates."
Dürre, Wasserknappheit und Ernteausfälle: Wie lässt sich die mittelalterliche Warmzeit mit heute vergleichen?
Empfehlenswert! Der Artikel ist anscheinend eine Zusammenfassung eines anderen, englischen Artikels.
Der Redakteur dieses Artikels macht auch den schweren Fehler die Umbenennung von Mittelalterlicher Warmzeit in "Mittelalterliche Klima-Anomalie" zu verteidigen. Diese Umbenennung dient wohl auch der Täuschung und Verdeckung das möglicherweise globale Warm Perioden von wenigen Jahrhunderten vielleicht sehr normal sind (aber bisher nicht weiter erforscht, fehlende Daten etc.). Und das wir seit der letzten Eiszeit (Little Ice Age von ca. 1300 bis etwa 1850 AD/CE) wieder in einer natürlichen Warmperiode leben.
Der Autor liegt auch falsch zu behaupten, dass "historische Warmphase in ihren Ursachen und ihrem räumlichen Ausmaß grundlegend [???] von der heutigen globalen Erwärmung unterscheidet". Selbstredend, z.B. die Weltbevoelkerung (auch eine Ursache der globalen Erwärmung) ist um ein vielfaches größer als im Mittelalter.
"Eine Hitzewelle über mehrere Monate, ausbleibender Regen, verdorrte Felder und schwere Ernteausfälle – diese Schilderung stammt nicht aus dem Sommer 2026, sondern aus dem England des 13. Jahrhunderts. Der Beitrag zeigt, dass extreme Wärme- und Dürreperioden bereits während der sogenannten Mittelalterlichen Warmzeit auftraten und in vielen Regionen tiefgreifende Folgen für Landwirtschaft, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft hatten. Gleichzeitig macht der Autor deutlich, dass sich diese historische Warmphase in ihren Ursachen und ihrem räumlichen Ausmaß grundlegend von der heutigen globalen Erwärmung unterscheidet [???]."
How Olinia Turns Mexico’s EV Ambition Into Reality at a price of $8,500
Recommendable!
Government run businesses is rarely a good idea and many fail.
"The EV market in Mexico has exploded in the last three years, with the vast majority of cars sold there being manufactured in China—90 percent in 2025. However, Mexico is one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of cars and car parts, and policymakers want to capture a piece of the action.
That’s why the Mexican government launched Olinia, a federally backed effort to develop a homegrown EV brand with engineers and researchers from the country’s public universities and research institutions. Its first vehicle, the Olinia 1, is designed around the needs of the average Mexican driver. Mass production of the Olinia 1 is expected to begin in early 2027 at an assembly plant slated for construction in the state of Puebla later this year. ...
[Chinese] Carmakers like BYD and Geely thus dropped their prices and started marketing aggressively in emerging markets like Mexico. ...
The government plans to replace many taxis [???] in urban areas with the EV. ...
Olinia is one of the signature projects of Plan México, the Sheinbaum administration’s strategy to strengthen domestic manufacturing and technological capabilities. The initiative aims to cultivate domestic expertise in batteries, power electronics, vehicle integration, and advanced manufacturing—areas that policymakers view as critical to Mexico’s long-term industrial competitiveness. The administration hopes the plan attracts $100 billion in annual foreign direct investment by 2030. ..."
Topological Materials Could Shrink Chip Interconnects and replace copper
Amazing stuff!
"... However, as electronics continue to shrink, copper becomes a dramatically worse conductor. Now scientists find that a new class of materials containing exotic quasiparticles might one day help enable next-generation interconnects that become better conductors the thinner they get. ...
Once copper wires shrink beneath this limit—in copper’s case, 40 nanometers—their electrical conductivity drops dramatically because their electrons start experiencing more collisions. ...
Researchers are investigating other metals that show better conductivity at nanometer scales for use in interconnects. For instance, cobalt and ruthenium have electron mean free paths of 10 nm and 6 nm, respectively. This means interconnects made from these metals can get smaller than copper wires before running into the same conductivity problem. However, if they shrink far enough, they will have to deal with the same challenge. ...
In a new study, scientists instead investigated topological materials, which possess extraordinary properties based on the topology of their structures. The researchers synthesized nanowires made of one such material as a proof of concept. ...
In the new study, ... synthesized nanowires of the Weyl semimetal niobium arsenide using a method known as thermomechanical nanomolding. This method allowed the researchers to make a single-crystal nanowire 2 to 3 micrometers long and as thin as 40 nm.
The scientists found the resistivity of niobium arsenide nanowires dropped with decreasing diameter. At room temperature, a 40-nm-wide nanowire displayed a resistivity about 70 percent lower than that of bulk single crystals. Their analyses suggest this improvement was due to surface conduction. ..."
From the editor's summary and abstract:
"Editor’s summary
Nanowires of the topological Weyl semimetal niobium arsenide (NbAs) are three to four times as conductive as the bulk material. Cheon et al. used thermomechanical nanomolding to grow single-crystalline nanowires with diameters as small as 40 nanometers. These stable nanowires also have favorable breakdown current density and thermal conductivity that could enable application as interconnects in electronics. ...
Abstract
Ongoing demands for smaller and more energy-efficient electronic devices necessitate alternative interconnect materials with lower electrical resistivity at reduced dimensions.
We report the synthesis of Weyl semimetal niobium arsenide (NbAs) nanowires through thermomechanical nanomolding with single crystallinity and controlled diameters down to 40 nanometers.
The resistivity of NbAs nanowires decreases with decreasing diameter, and 40-nanometer-diameter nanowires exhibited a room-temperature resistivity of 10.5 ± 1.9 microhm·centimeters, which is ~70% lower than their bulk counterpart.
Calculations attribute this resistivity reduction to surface-dominant conduction with a long carrier lifetime at finite temperatures. Further characterization of nanowires and bulk crystals revealed high breakdown current density, stability, and thermal conductivity.
These properties highlight the potential of NbAs nanowires as next-generation interconnects that could surpass the limitations of current copper-based interconnects."
Surface-dominant transport in Weyl semimetal NbAs nanowires for next-generation interconnects (no public access)
Surface-dominant transport in Weyl semimetal NbAs nanowires for next-generation interconnects (preprint, open access)
The nanowires seen in this electron microscope image were molded from a bulk feedstock of niobium arsenide crystals.
Software developers in Africa are increasingly taking advantage of cheap, open-weight AI models from China
Good news! The Scramble for Africa continues!
"... to build tools for agriculture, education, legal services, and business. Unlike flagship American models, these Chinese models can often be downloaded, modified, and run independently, enabling greater customization and avoiding subscription fees."
"... In Kenya, entrepreneurs are using the models to streamline legal and business services.
In Nigeria, they have made educational tools that teach high school students.
In Ghana, developers are building local chatbots.
China’s A.I. is surging, especially in developing countries, as people look for the best possible system at the lowest possible cost. ..."
"... The A.I. model from the Chinese internet giant Alibaba handled Uganda’s dozens of languages better than anything from Meta or Google ... It was also inexpensive, and he could customize the model with his own data. ..."
How China’s A.I. Is Surging Across Africa (behind paywall)
First direct drone delivery of blood to the scene of traumatic injuries in Florida
Good, life saving news! This could be a breakthrough! "In traumas with hemorrhaging [severe blood loss], every minute matters."
"Tampa General Hospital is preparing to launch what it says will be the first drone system in the United States that delivers blood directly to the scene of traumatic injuries, allowing transfusions to begin on the spot. Average delivery times are expected to be under three minutes across the initial 70-square-mile service area."
"The technology is scheduled to come online in October 2026, subject to approval by the Hillsborough County Commission. The Board of County Commissioners is scheduled to convene on the matter on Sept. 2. ..."
An electrolyzer that can produce more than 99.9% pure hydrogen from water, while running directly on solar power, for under $2 per kilogram
Good news! However, Terraform Industries does not appear to have any convincing/professional Internet presence (their blog posts are outdated)! A little weird even for a startup or a pioneering, new company!
Reminder: Remember the Hindenburg Disaster of 1937! Hydrogen is explosive! Handle with great care!
"Last week the hydrogen electrolyzer team @terraformindies pulled off yet another first, the sustained production of >99.9% pure H2 from our vertically integrated, California-manufactured electrolyzer stack while it was coupled directly to a solar array at our Muroc desert test site. ..."
The world’s installed solar capacity surpassed three terawatts (3 TW) in 2026
Good news, with qualifications!
How often do solar panels be cleaned to be effective?
How intermittent and unreliable is this source of energy?
How many batteries/storage are needed to make it more reliable?
Green or renewable energy are euphemisms!
"... less than two years after reaching two terawatts and four years after reaching one.
China still accounts for most of the growth in global solar capacity, but a rising share now comes from cheap Chinese panels installed in developing countries."
"After crossing the 100-gigawatt mark in 2012, it took the world 10 years to deploy 1 terawatt of solar power. An additional 1 terawatt, enough to meet all of US power demand at its peak, took less than three years to build. Not even two years later in 2026 — the precise timing is subject to debate among analysts — the 3-terawatt threshold was reached."
The World Adds a Third Terawatt of Solar Power (Yale University)
The World Crossed a Major Solar Milestone. No One Noticed (original news source?) "The next phase of the boom may reveal a shift in who is gaining access to the technology."
May be the largest known tungsten deposit in the United States was identified in Nevada
Good news!
"... containing an estimated 1.78 million metric tons of the metal. If commercially recoverable, the contained tungsten would be equivalent to centuries of current US consumption."
Das nächste Atommüll Endlager könnten wir noch schneller bauen in Finnland
Gute Nachrichten!
Wann wird die Bananenrepublik D endlich wieder Kernkraftwerke bauen statt existierende, in Betrieb befindliche abzuschalten und abzureissen!
The U.S. pledged $1 billion in security aid to Colombia as the new President vowed to defeat narco-terrorism and guerilla
Good news!
"The U.S. pledged $1 billion in security aid to Colombia as new President Abelardo de la Espriella vowed to defeat narco-terrorism and abandon peace talks with guerrillas."
"The United States pledged $1 billion in security assistance to Colombia after its new right-wing [???] president took office.
Abelardo de la Espriella, a millionaire lawyer with a taste for spectacle [???], took office Friday for his four-year term after a campaign focused on anger and fears about security. ..."
Diego Cadena and Abelardo de la Espriella. Both lawyers of former President Álvaro Uribe. (Source)
Nearly 7 million U.S. homes are now worth at least $1 million
Good news! Impressive! However, how much is due to price inflation?
"Nearly 7 million U.S. homes are now worth at least $1 million, up from about 1.5 million in 2005, according to the National Association of Realtors. Those properties make up 8% of the market, and in Hawaii, roughly 40% of homes have crossed that threshold.
Meanwhile, Americans need to earn about $110,000 a year to afford even a typical home, a Redfin report found. The median household income sits at roughly $88,000, leaving a gap of more than $22,000 between what families earn and what it takes to buy.
The affordability squeeze has eased slightly, with the gap shrinking from $26,000 a year ago and $29,000 two years ago as incomes rise faster than housing costs. Redfin defines “affordable” as a buyer’s mortgage not consuming more than 30% of their income."
Something seems to be odd with this chart by Redfin! Why that steep increase after 2021? Why not more historical data since it appears the curve was fairly flat before 2021?
Pentagon orders plan for rapid weapons production as US munitions dwindle
So much for this latest and often repeated news media hoax and/or sensationalism of depleting US ammunition!
Armed Bedouin clans in Gaza inflict heavy losses on Hamas, pose dilemma for Israel
Good news! Will the inhabitants of Gaza finally rid themselves of terrorist groups among them?
"Armed Bedouin clans in the Gaza Strip have fought Hamas's military wing, inflicting significant casualties, and are now helping secure areas west of the Yellow Line and locate weapons and terrorist infrastructure, security officials said Sunday.
Since the ceasefire was declared, the clans have continued operating discreetly, assisting security forces in securing the area and locating weapons and terrorist infrastructure both above and below ground. ..."
Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu: Israel officially rejects Board of Peace 15-point plan for Gaza's reconstruction
Bad news! Yes, the sticking point is the disarmament of any and all terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip!
The responsibility lies with the Arab inhabitants of the Gaza Strip and West Bank to rid themselves of any of these terrorists and terrorism and to live peacefully side by side with Israel!
"... "As for the Gaza Strip, first of all, I want to make the main point clear: as long as I am prime minister, there will be no Palestinian state, not in Gaza and not in Judea and Samaria. Neither 'Fatahstan' nor 'Hamastan,'" he said. ..."
The private sector is answering President Trump’s call to lower prices. Really!
How much is President Trump intervening in private businesses? Or is this just false advertisement by the president?
Government price controls by persuasion and/or browbeating?
"... Major retailers including Walmart, Target, Kroger, Giant Eagle, Albertsons, and Costco are cutting prices on thousands of everyday items. Novo Nordisk reduced Ozempic and Wegovy to as low as $199–$350 per month. Pfizer is cutting prices up to 85% through TrumpRx.
Energy utilities including Alliant Energy, NiSource, and Entergy have committed a combined $3.4 billion in consumer savings.
And automakers Ford and Stellantis are offering employee pricing and 0% financing nationwide. ...
Private Sector Answers the Call: Retailers, Drugmakers, and Energy Providers Cut Prices. Major retailers are responding directly to President Trump’s call to lower prices for American families.
Giant Eagle, Walmart, Target, Kroger, Albertsons, Sam’s Club, Meijer, Costco, and H-E-B are collectively cutting prices on thousands of everyday items — with Giant Eagle cutting 10% or more on over 300 products and Kroger announcing its “biggest price cuts in years.”
On prescription drugs, Novo Nordisk slashed Ozempic and Wegovy to as low as $199–$350 per month, while Pfizer is cutting prices up to 85% through TrumpRx.
Energy utilities including Alliant Energy (5-year rate freeze), NiSource ($1.4 billion returned to consumers), and Entergy ($2 billion returned) are delivering meaningful relief on monthly bills. Ford extended employee pricing nationwide; Stellantis offered 0% financing and 90-day deferred payments. ..."
Emigration from Israel continues at peak levels at 270,000 from 2023-2025
Bad news! How serious is this trend?
However, the criterion of leaving for at least three months or more might be flawed:
- What about the intention for leaving?
- What about the prospect of returning after three or more months? (see also 2nd chart below)
"... In previous years [before 2023], the number of Israelis who left the country according to this criterion (three months or more) was 30% lower, and averaged just 60,000 annually in 2010-2019. In 2024-2025, Israel had a negative migration balance for the first time in decades, that is to say, more people left than arrived. ...
The new study from Tel Aviv University and the Central Bureau of Statistics does not cover net migration as there are not yet enough data to examine this statistic for 2025. Data on the number of Israelis who left for twelve months or more, as measured by the group in previous studies ..."
"Not only has the number of Israelis emigrating from Israel increased in recent years, but their economic profile has also changed.
More high-income earners, tech employees, healthcare professionals, and people in the prime of their careers are moving abroad. This is according to a new study by the Israel Tax Authority’s Planning and Economics Division, which examined the income and tax payments of Israelis who emigrated from the country between 2015 and 2024. ..."
Emigration from Israel Remains at Record Levels, New TAU Study Finds "Nearly 270,000 Israelis left the country over the past three years, as researchers warn the trend could have long-term economic and security implications."
Tax Authority warns higher income Israelis are leaving "A Tax Authority study indicates that not only did more Israelis leave the country in 2023 and 2024 but that they had a higher income than those emigrating in previous years."
Number of Israelis leaving Israel for three consecutive months each year between 2009 and 2025
Number of Israelis leaving Israel for at least three consecutive months and for a period of 12 months
Spain claims the sudden mass invasion of its exclave Ceuta was due to social media. Really!
Why was the Spanish socialist government so clueless about the pending mass invasion by over 50,000 individuals?
"... Spanish authorities have so far come to a far more pedestrian conclusion: It was spontaneous and spurred on by social media."
Spain Has a Simple Explanation for Why Migrants Flooded Across Border "Spanish intelligence has so far concluded that the rush into Ceuta was spontaneous and fueled by social media"
Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain and a fool?
There’s a 45% chance of being left empty-handed on your car insurance if you have a car accident.
Serious stuff if confirmed!
I know from personal experience that a car insurance paid way too much for a very minor accident presumably without proper or no investigation of the claims.
"Americans got into more than six million traffic accidents last year. But depending on the type of crash, the chance of getting a payout from your insurer has become increasingly remote.
Auto insurers didn’t pay out on 45% of auto liability and medical claims they resolved last year, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of thousands of company regulatory filings. That’s up from around one in three [33%] of such claims a decade ago."
A suspected Miami gangster is causing headaches for Jared Kushner’s Albania luxury real estate deal
Doing business in foreign lands can be challenging! 😊
Jared Kushner is the current "United States Special Envoy for Peace Missions" (Source)
"An ambitious plan backed by Jared Kushner to build a high-end luxury complex along Albania’s Adriatic coastline has sparked widespread protests and an investigation by the country’s organized-crime prosecutors.
Anti-corruption officials allege that a Miami-based businessman who sold the site’s coastal land for €110 million (equivalent to around $125 million), laundered international cocaine money and forged property deeds to execute the deal. The criminal probe adds intense legal fuel to weeks of mass public protests against the multi-billion-dollar development."
Jared Kushner & Ivanka (Source)
Cloudflare launches Kitesurf, a browser built for AI agents. Really!
Will this new AI browser also ask me several times a day whether I am human like many of the website using Cloudflare that I visit every day?
"Kitesurf is Cloudflare's new stateless, highly scalable browser that runs entirely on top of Workers and is designed for AI agents. It is available for free while in beta.
Compared to Chromium, Kitesurf uses 3–7× less CPU and memory for common agentic tasks like screenshots and HTML extraction, so you can run more sessions and scale better for bursty, AI-driven workloads. ..."
Introducing Kitesurf, an agent-first browser on Browser Run (original news release)
The AI safety test is becoming a safety risk
Headline of the day! Is the genie out of the bottle? 😊 Probably not!
"The phrase "the genie is out of the bottle" comes from Middle Eastern folklore popularized in the West by One Thousand and One Nights" (Google Search)
Two days ago, I blogged here about a similar incident regarding the Chinese Kimi mode.
"Over the past few months, AI agents undergoing cybersecurity evaluations have escaped their boundaries, accessed the internet, and, in some cases, hacked into real-world systems. The incidents have involved models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and most recently, Chinese AI lab Moonshot AI, with testing conducted by several different organizations including a cyber evaluation startup called Irregular. ...
The episodes expose a growing problem for the AI industry: As autonomous agents become more capable, the environments designed to safely test their limits are failing to contain them. ..."
Saturday, August 08, 2026
Ulysses by James Joyce: Great Books Explained
Very recommendable!
I am not sure I really like these English word creations by James Joyce as exemplified in this video. They seem to be a little contrived.
NUCLEAR RENAISSANCE: Oklo CEO highlights rapid pace of industry scale with Maria Bartiromo
Very recommendable! Good news! Fastest built nuclear reactor. It generates nuclear isotopes for medical diagnostics etc. President Trump pushing nuclear power in the US.
AI Is Hyper-Scaling Digital Inequality The next AI divide is about who gets to build, govern, and benefit. Really!
When the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) regurgitates lefty ideology and demagoguery!
Terms like "digital inequality" or "digital divide" are a giveaways! Sounds like primitive communist dialectic!
To look at this issue from a country by country perspective is already a serious flaw!
Given all the open source models, cloud computing etc. that are out there, this technological revolution of AI is probably the most accessible and disseminated technology in human history!
Caveat: I did not read the whole article.
"... The stakes extend far beyond access to AI. Countries that remain primarily consumers rather than creators of AI [???] risk losing opportunities to build local innovation ecosystems, strengthen public-sector capacity, and ensure that their own languages, cultures, and societal priorities are reflected in AI systems. In this sense, the AI divide is also becoming a divide in economic opportunity and technological influence. ...
The core agenda-setting power [???] often remains with a narrow set of industry actors and a small group of technologically advanced states. Most other countries remain in a perpetual catch-up posture, adapting imported models, standards, and templates for “trustworthy AI” to their own contexts, and may have limited local capacity to assess trade-offs or propose alternatives. ..."
RFK Jr. decertifies Kentucky organ harvesting outfit accused of ignoring signs of life in 'donors'
Good news! Serious stuff! A controversial issue!
As long as there is not more certainty that abuse will be prevented, many individuals will hesitate to become organ donors. I personally have similar concerns once I suffer an urgent, life threatening hospital admission.
"Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. decertified Network for Hope, or NFH, a federally designated "organ procurement organization," on Wednesday following a damning independent investigation exposing allegedly "disturbing practices" associated with the organization. ..."
A precise neuronal mechanism allows the brain to plan future routes to remembered goals
Amazing stuff!
"... When humans and other animals move through familiar or unfamiliar environments, their brains rely on numerous intricate neural processes to decide which path to take next.
Past studies have identified a specific population of cells in the hippocampus, a structure deep within the brain, that appears to play a key role in spatial navigation.
These cells, called place cells, become active when an animal either visits or thinks about a specific location. Place cells often fire in rapid sequences during so-called theta oscillations (i.e., rhythmic brain activity patterns that cycle approximately 4–12 times per second). These rapid bursts of sequential place cell activity, also known as theta sweeps, were previously associated with the mental evaluation of possible future routes.
Two distinct research teams based at Cornell University and University College London recently shed new light on the contribution of theta sweeps to spatial navigation.
Their papers ... suggest that theta sweeps reflect the active mental simulation of possible routes toward remembered goals or locations, which in turn helps animals plan their future movements and actions. ..."
From the abstract (1):
"During navigation, animals continuously sample their environment and plan routes to distant goals. Flexible navigation requires neural dynamics capable of rapidly deploying task-relevant information to direct behavior toward goals. Hippocampal spiking sequences within theta cycles, which sweep along spatial trajectories ahead of the animal, serve as a potential candidate.
Previous research identified experience-independent, left–right-alternating theta sweeps as a mechanism for local spatial sampling. However, it remains unclear whether theta sweeps also facilitate trajectory evaluation toward distant, remembered goals.
In rats performing goal-directed navigation in an open arena, we identified a distinct form of learning-dependent theta sequences that predicted upcoming goal-directed trajectories. These sequences coordinated with prefrontal cortical activity and were preferentially replayed during sharp-wave ripples.
We described a circuit mechanism whereby egocentric goal-direction signals, combined with reduced feedback inhibition, generated goal-directed theta sweeps. Experience-dependent and goal-dependent theta sweeps thus provide a flexible mechanism for goal-directed navigation in open environments."
From the abstract (2):
"Successful spatial navigation requires rapid evaluation of potential future trajectories.
Hippocampal ‘theta sweeps’, the sequential activation of place cells within individual theta cycles, exhibit predictive dynamics within the ideal timeframe for this role. However, whether these sequences reflect movement-related variables, perceptual targets or more cognitive goal-directed planning remains unresolved. Using data from the ‘Honeycomb’ maze, which dissociates head, movement and goal directions, we found that theta sweeps form vectors toward remembered goal locations independent of the rat’s movement or heading directions. Stronger goal modulation preceded correct navigational choices, establishing the relevance of theta sweeps for spatial planning.
A hierarchical continuous attractor network with goal-oriented directional inputs reproduced these findings and made several nontrivial predictions, which we confirmed empirically.
Sequential activity during immobility-related sharp-wave ripples was also goal directed and, therefore, more aligned with theta sweeps than with previously experienced trajectories.
Our findings identify hippocampal theta sweeps as neural substrates for online goal-directed planning."
Goal-directed hippocampal theta sweeps during memory-guided navigation (1, no public access)
Goal-directed hippocampal theta sweeps during memory-guided navigation (preprint, open access, published August 2025)
Hippocampal theta sweeps indicate goal direction during navigation (2, open access)
Fig. 1: Dissociation of movement and goal direction reveals strong goal-oriented direction bias in hippocampal theta sweeps.
Fig. 3: Theta sweeps are more strongly goal modulated prior to correct choices.
Drohnenhersteller: Russisches Attentat auf Donaustahl-Chef offenbar vereitelt
Sehr bedenklich und ernst, wenn bestätigt!
"Stefan Thumann, der Chef des deutschen Rüstungsunternehmens Donaustahl, soll ins Visier des russischen Geheimdienstes geraten sein. Ein womöglich geplantes Attentat sei von deutschen Sicherheitsbehörden verhindert worden, berichtet die Wochenzeitung „Zeit“. Auch im Kanzleramt soll der Fall regelmäßig besprochen worden sein. Das Start-up produziert Kamikazedrohnen für die Ukraine.
Es dürfte nicht das erste Mal gewesen sein, dass Sicherheitsbehörden ein Attentat auf den Chef eines deutschen Rüstungsunternehmens vereitelten.
US-amerikanische Geheimdienste hatten 2024 aufgedeckt, dass Russland die Ermordung von Armin Papperger, dem Vorstandsvorsitzenden des deutschen Rüstungsunternehmens Rheinmetall, geplant hatten.
Deutsche Geheimdienste schützten Papperger. Rheinmetall hatte der F.A.Z. damals mitgeteilt, sich regelmäßig mit deutschen Sicherheitsbehörden abzustimmen. ..."
Nächste Stufe: Mord? (behind paywall) "Ermittler durchkreuzen Vorbereitungen für ein russisches Attentat auf einen deutschen Rüstungsunternehmer."
Under US Defense Secretary Hegseth, women’s share of top military promotions plunged this year
Probably good news! Gender equality does not mean 50%! Meritocracy over ideology please! No gender mediocracy in the US military please!
Probably, the number of qualified high ranking female soldiers is also quite smaller than those of male high ranking soldiers. Or in other words the two pools of individuals are different and the chances for a more qualified male are higher.
Men watch out in the age of gender equality!
"The percentage of high-ranking officer nominations going to women is currently at its lowest level in over two decades."
Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan sign major defense pact amid Iran tensions
Good news! What took so long to counter the hegemonic, fanatical and suicidal theocracy of Iran!
"Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a joint defence agreement in Mecca on Friday, Pakistan's foreign ministry said, as the three countries sought to deepen security cooperation amid heightened military tensions and conflicts in the Middle East. ..."
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif gather to sign a joint defense agreement in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, August 7, 2026.
Physicists watch a material's electrons assemble, and reassemble, into coexisting phases
Amazing stuff!
"A new study by ... physicists sheds light on how two different phases of electron behavior can emerge and coexist in the same quantum material.
Their results ... can help explain how some materials host superconductivity, magnetism and other electronic phases. Untangling such phases and understanding how they emerge will help engineers control electronic behavior and design high-performance quantum devices. ...
Now, ... have teased apart erbium tritelluride's phases and observed how each phase emerges. They found that one phase forms gradually, similar to how liquid water transitions uniformly into vapor. This is the classic, textbook way in which electronic phase transitions are thought to occur.
But the second phase came about in an entirely new and unexpected way: Instead of emerging gradually, the electrons organized first in pockets that eventually expanded, similar to how liquid water crystallizes into ice. ...
Scientists have observed charge density waves for decades, most recently in materials that also host other, more complicated forms of electron coordination, such as various forms of magnetism and superconductivity, in which electrons pair up and flow through a material without friction.
"Just like superconductivity, charge density waves are a collective phenomenon in which electrons move together in certain ways," ... "The power of CDWs is that they are a much simpler form of matter compared to superconductivity. They offer a playground for fundamental understanding." ..."
From the abstract:
"Understanding the origin of phase transitions and the interactions between distinct phases remains a central task in condensed-matter physics.
Charge-density-wave (CDW) systems provide a useful setting to investigate these questions. Although the dominant CDW phases in many materials can be explained through electron–phonon interactions, certain CDW phase transitions remain poorly understood, challenging conventional paradigms.
One example is the rare-earth tritelluride ErTe3, which hosts two competing CDW orders. Although electron–phonon coupling accounts for the dominant order, the mechanism behind the subdominant order remains unclear.
In this study, we combine time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and time-dependent Ginzburg–Landau theory to establish a time-domain approach for probing phase transitions in solid-state systems.
By analysing the distinct recovery dynamics of the two CDW orders in ErTe3 following light excitation, we reveal a novel nucleation and growth mechanism that probably drives the secondary CDW phase transition.
More broadly, this work provides a time-domain framework for studying phase transitions and phase competition in quantum materials."
Physicists watch a material’s electrons assemble, and reassemble, into coexisting phases (original news release) "The study could help scientists understand how superconductivity and other more complex phenomena emerge in quantum materials"
Time-domain identification of distinct mechanisms for competing charge density waves in a rare-earth tritelluride (no public access)
Time-domain identification of distinct mechanisms for competing charge density waves in a rare-earth tritelluride (preprint, open access, a very short paper with only 9 pages)
US Army opens ranges in Morocco to speed interceptor testing, development
Good news? Is this why President Trump has recently recognized West Sahara in Morocco's favor and Morocco named a long highway after him?
"... The international range is the Multidomain Training Area hosted in Morocco, Driscoll added. He said a private start-up company, called Covenant Industries, successfully tested their Anthem missile there on Thursday. ...
The multidomain training center in Morocco is one of the “primary elements” of a new Africa Multidomain Training and Experimentation Center, created through a memorandum of understanding signed between US Africa Command and the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces last month. ..."
Does America have to compete with China for AI dominance?
Not really! What about e.g. India?
This seems to be a late obsession of conservatives in the US! A End of the Cold War remorse or hangover?
What if the Communist Party of China is replaced in the near future with a pluralistic, multi-party democracy? From rivalry to competition and cooperation? Don't count on it! China moves/progresses very slowly!
What if Taiwan offers reunification for a more democratic China? That would be the German reunification in reverse (the Berlin Wall fell and socialism spread all over Germany after unification).
The ongoing data center scaremongering in Western countries
Western news media almost daily spread demagoguery about data centers! It is mostly alarmism and hysteria!
Who is behind or fueling this disinformation too? China, Russia, Iran ...?
I bet electricity consumption of data centers will go down as time goes on due to better, more efficient chips etc. In the near future perhaps more biological brain inspired data centers will be developed and so on.
Water consumption of data centers can be fairly easily controlled e.g. by closed systems and so on.
What about superconductivity and nuclear fusion? Maybe with the help of machine learning & AI we will finally be able to harness these two in the very near future!
Again, what the heck is this noise/bickering and irrationality all about! As if medieval superstition still runs our lives!
We are living now at the beginning of the second quarter of the 21st century!
Record low major rivers and lakes of summer 2026 news (Danube river, Rhine river, Lake Mead and so on)
There has been quite a bit news reporting about receding waterways and lakes/reservoirs etc. lately this summer 2026.
Take it as largely alarmism and hysteria or journalistic sensationalism. How lazy are journalists?
Some questions to ask about it:
- How much of this decline is due to human diversion of water for drinking, agriculture, industry etc.?
- How much of this decline is due to seasonal variation, other natural phenomenons, urbanization, population growth and how much due to climate change?
- How fast and how much will these declines be reversed in coming months?
- Are there other major rivers and lakes not affected by decline? Which ones and why? I bet there such rivers and lakes around the world.
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