Palki Sharma, we miss you

Sad news! She did an excellent job presenting world news almost every day!

Good luck in your new endeavor!

According to Google AI:

"As of April 2026, Palki Sharma has stepped down from her role as Managing Editor at Firstpost and is departing mainstream media after a 25-year career.

She is transitioning to entrepreneurship to focus on her own venture, including restarting her saree brand, Reyva

Final Role: She was the Managing Editor at Firstpost and host of the popular show Vantage.

Career Move: She officially resigned from Network18 (Firstpost) with March 31, 2026, marking her last day.New Endeavor: She is returning to entrepreneurship, having previously operated a designer saree label between 2016 and 2019. ..."

Cleaner air, thinner clouds? Less air pollution, warmer planet between 1850-2020!

Besides the urban heat island effect and rapid global population growth, this could be another major anthropogenic reason for why we observe global warming since the end of the Little Ice Age in the first half of the 19th century!

What about junk climate models!

Do not dismiss the study just because it only reveals two limited geographic regions, i.e. the Southeastern US and the United Kingdom. I bet in Europe and Asia there were probably similar situations.

Something seems dubious about this study when you look at the chart below:

• Apparently, Antarctica was also affected.
• Japan is missing.
• Europe (except the UK) is missing.
• What about China?
• Why is central Africa in blue color?
• What was going on in southeast Asia?

Caveat: This research paper also relies on computer simulations not hard facts!

"Pre-industrial pollution from coal smoke and wood-burning in regions like the southeastern U.S. and UK may have made the air murkier than previously thought. This historical haze could significantly alter our understanding of how clouds formed and reflected sunlight in the past.

Tiny particles in the air can have big climate effects. Each tiny dust or soot grain can seed a water droplet, so more particles mean more, smaller droplets and a brighter, whiter cloud. ...

The vast majority of climate models have assumed that the skies over 19th-century Earth were pristine, meaning that anthropogenic aerosols were much lower than those observed today. "

From the abstract:

"Understanding the preindustrial (PI) to present-day (PD) change in cloud droplet number concentration (ΔNd) is important to constrain the anthropogenic influence on clouds and aid future model projections.

Perturbed parameter ensemble simulations of PI and PD conditions in the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SMv3) reveal two locations with consistent negative ΔNd signal across parameter space–the Southeastern US and the United Kingdom–despite a trend of positive ΔNd globally from increased fossil fuel consumption.

These negative ΔNd signals are driven by higher anthropogenic biofuel emissions in the PI. By varying the PI aerosol mass and/or number emissions across these data sets' uncertainty ranges, we can change the magnitude and sign of ΔNd and the effective radiative forcing from aerosol-cloud interactions (ERFaci) regionally and globally, with near-zero ΔNd leading to near-zero ERFaci.

These results highlight the need to constrain PI emission uncertainty to better understand Earth system responses to aerosol-cloud interactions."

Clean air, thinner clouds? A century-old pollution puzzle

Sensitivity of Anthropogenic Cloud Droplet Number Change to Preindustrial Emission Inventories and Physics Parameterizations (open access)

Fig. 1 (partial, enlarged)

(a) Global ΔNd from the Nephele PPE (default, ensemble mean, and means of the lowest and highest 2.5th percentiles) with the Southeastern US (SEUS) and United Kingdom (UK) denoted by green and blue rectangles, respectively.

A tale as old as time: Young, attractive femme fatale lore appears in nearly every culture

Amazing stuff!

"... The collected data was then split into two groups based on the type of society they belonged to: egalitarian, where everyone has relatively equal power and resources, and complex societies, where large differences in wealth and power exist. ...

They found that these stories existed in almost all egalitarian and complex societies. So, the researcher suggests this isn't just a story shaped by powerful societies to control women—it's a pan-human theme that cuts across cultures. ...

The author also highlighted that these women are consistently portrayed as young and physically attractive across cultures ..."

From the abstract:

"This paper examines the cross-cultural prevalence of the femme fatale (dangerous woman) motif using folkloric materials, ethnographic accounts, and consultations with ethnographers across 84 societies.

Narratives were coded for depictions in which male protagonists suffer harm following involvement with an unfamiliar but physically attractive woman.

Results show that 94% of sampled societies contain recognizable femme fatale imagery.

When male motivation could be inferred, narratives overwhelmingly emphasized expectations of emotional attachment or long-term partnership rather than short-term sexual encounters. This pattern challenges interpretations that frame male involvement primarily in terms of sexual gratification or predatory intent.

Instead, the findings suggest that femme fatale narratives function as culturally mediated responses to recurrent mating dilemmas rooted in asymmetric emotional investment. More broadly, the study demonstrates how universal predispositions toward attraction and attachment are symbolically elaborated within culturally specific moral frameworks."

A tale as old as time: Young, attractive femme fatale lore appears in nearly every culture

Wanting Beauty, Fearing Beauty: Mate Preference, Intimacy, Deception, and the Femme Fatale (open access)

The current state of cancer vaccination with over 500 cancer vaccines are in development

Good news! Cancer is history (soon)!

"The progress of cancer vaccines has been limited by immune tolerance, variability in how well antibodies can attach to targets and modest clinical efficacy.

But recent advances in mRNA vaccines, better ability to predict cancer-specific targets and combination with immunotherapies are helping to make vaccines more precise and effective.

As of May 2025, there are 513 cancer vaccines in development, with most (47%) in early-stage development. Continued advancement will require more accurate ways to predict new proteins on cancer cells that can be targeted by antibodies, improved delivery systems and integration with other forms of therapy, suggest a group of health and drug researchers."

Nature Briefing: Translational Research

The landscape for therapeutic cancer vaccines (no public access)

a) All 513 vaccines were classified based on their mechanism, with most being peptide or dendritic cell vaccines. b) The graph shows the trial-stage breakdown of each vaccine type. c) Distribution of products by antigen type, including tumour-associated antigens (TAAs) and tumour-specific antigens (TSAs).

Some kids are bypassing online age-verification checks with a fake mustache. Really!

Is it not foremost the responsibility of parents to make sure their kids do not access inappropriate content on their devices etc.?

This article appears to be based on self reporting by children! How reliable is that?

"Some age-verification systems are no match for enterprising children, who have found that drawing on a fake mustache with a makeup pencil is enough to skirt the blocks of adult websites.

U.K.-based nonprofit Internet Matters surveyed a thousand children about age-verification checks online, and about half said that age checks were easy to bypass. ..."

Some kids are bypassing age-verification checks with a fake mustache | TechCrunch

EU Diversity Month 2026 | Promoting Inclusive Labour Markets for All. Really!

This leftist ideological nonsense has been going on every May since 2020!

"EU Diversity Month raises awareness about the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace and across our societies. It is about the representation and visibility of different groups, where diverse perspectives are valued and included into the work environment. ..."

EU Diversity Month 2026 | Promoting Inclusive Labour Markets for All

Amazon stuck with months of repairs after drone strikes by Iran on data centers in the Middle East

Bad news! First undersea cables, now datacenters are the very vulnerable assets/infrastructure/targets of modern human progress!

One more reason why humanity can no longer tolerate megalomaniacs and warmongers like Putin the Terrible or religious fanatics and sponsors of suicidal terrorism like the mullahs of Iran!

"Amazon’s cloud customers will need to wait several more months before the US tech company can repair war-damaged data centers and restore normal operations in the Middle East. The announcement comes two months after Iranian drone strikes targeted three Amazon data centers in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain—meaning that full recovery from the cloud disruption could take nearly half a year in all.

The Amazon Web Services (AWS) dashboard posted an April 30 update describing how its UAE and Bahrain cloud regions “suffered damage as a result of the conflict in the Middle East” and are unable to support customer applications. The update also said that “relevant billing operations are currently suspended while we restore normal operations” in a process that “is expected to take several months.”"

Amazon stuck with months of repairs after drone strikes on data centers - Ars Technica

Google employees in the UK protest military uses of AI, vote for labor union

Bad news! Antisemitism? Leftist anti militarism?

Does Google Deepmind need new employees?

"Google employees protest military uses of AI, vote for union

 

Employees at Google DeepMind’s London office voted to unionize, seeking recognition from the Communication Workers Union and Unite the Union specifically to block the lab from providing technology to US and Israeli militaries.

The push accelerated after Alphabet removed its public pledge against weapons development and surveillance from its ethics guidelines in February 2025, a move that prompted one anonymous DeepMind employee to tell WIRED the company is moving toward “further militarization of the AI models we’re building here.”

The unionization effort comes as Google signed a Pentagon deal allowing the US military to use its AI for “any lawful government purpose”—language the employees consider dangerously vague—and follows similar concerns across the industry: DeepMind and OpenAI staff signed a letter supporting Anthropic after the Department of Defense tried to designate it a supply chain risk for refusing autonomous weapons use. If Google refuses to recognize the unions, workers say they’ll escalate to a UK arbitration committee to compel recognition." (Source)

"Employees at Google DeepMind in London have voted to unionize as part of a bid to block the AI lab from providing its technology to the US and Israeli militaries. ...

The push to unionize began in February 2025, when Google’s parent company Alphabet removed a pledge not to use AI for purposes like weapons development and surveillance from its ethics guidelines, according to a DeepMind employee, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. ..."

Google DeepMind Workers Vote to Unionize Over Military AI Deals "UK staff of Google’s AI research lab hope to block the use of the company’s artificial intelligence models in military settings."

White House signals it will more closely regulate AI industry possibly modeled on the FDA drug approval process. Really!

Bad news! Pray and hope that President Trump will not make this mistake!

The FDA drug approval process is slow and cumbersome etc.!

"US signals it will more closely regulate AI industry

The White House is preparing an executive order to create a vetting system for new artificial intelligence models, modeled on FDA drug approval processes, according to National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett.

The move follows Anthropic’s disclosure that its Mythos model can identify network vulnerabilities and poses potential cybersecurity risks; the Trump administration is currently testing the model across federal agencies and large tech firms before wider release.

Hassett said the vetting process would likely extend to all AI companies, not just Mythos, though it remains unclear whether the order would mandate testing or operate as a voluntary framework. The announcement represents a potential shift toward regulation for an administration that has generally favored hands-off AI policy. Separately, the Commerce Department expanded a voluntary testing program on Tuesday, with Google, Microsoft, and xAI now providing the government early access to assess their models’ security and capabilities. " (Source)

"... But in an interview with Fox Business on Wednesday, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett confirmed that the White House is considering an order that would allow the administration to block the release of AI models deemed unsafe.

“We’re studying possibly an executive order to give a clear roadmap to everybody about how this is gonna go, and how future AIs that also potentially create vulnerabilities should go through a process so that they’re released into the wild after they’ve been proven safe — just like an FDA drug [???],” said Hassett. ..."

"... “We’re studying, possibly an executive order to give a clear roadmap to everybody about how this is going to go and how future AIs that also potentially create vulnerabilities should go through a process so that they’re released to the wild after they’ve been proven safe, just like an FDA drug [???],” National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told Fox Business. ..."

White House Prepares Order to Boost AI Security, Hassett Says (behind paywall)

White House mulls tighter controls on advanced AI

Kevin Hassett (perhaps someone President Trump needs to fire?)

Ted Turner (1938-2026), who shaped cable TV and launched CNN, died at 87.

R.I.P.

Whether it was a good idea to donate $1 billion to the United Nations remains questionable!

"The high-profile media tycoon was also a sailor, a conservationist who was one of the largest U.S. landowners, and a major philanthropist who helped set a model for generous giving by billionaires. Turner was best known for turning the billboard-advertising company he inherited from his father into Turner Broadcasting System, an Atlanta-based TV and movie giant that he sold to Time Warner in 1995."

"... As a philanthropist, he gave $1 billion to create the United Nations Foundation, a public charity to broaden U.S. support for the United Nations. Turner served as chairman of the United Nations Foundation board of directors. Additionally, in 2001, Turner co-founded the Nuclear Threat Initiative with U.S. senator Sam Nunn (D-GA). NTI is a non-partisan organization dedicated to reducing global reliance on, and preventing the proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. He served as co-chairman of the board of directors. ..." (Wikipedia)

Wall Street Journal What's news

Ted Turner

The 'First Salute' exhibition explores how Jews in the Caribbean helped to shape the American Revolution

Recommendable!

"In November 1776, a small Caribbean island fired a cannon at an American ship — and in doing so, made history. The exchange, known as the “First Salute,” marked the first international recognition of the United States. Now, a new exhibition at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia is bringing that moment, and the often-overlooked role of Jewish merchants and Caribbean trade networks in the American Revolution, back into view. 

The exhibition, “The First Salute,” which will run until April 2027, traces how the American fight for independence extended far beyond the colonies, relying on global trade networks and unlikely allies. Drawing on newly displayed artifacts — from a 250-year-old cannon recovered from St. Eustatius to letters tied to the movement of revolutionary supplies — it tells the story of how Jewish merchants, many with ties across the Atlantic, helped funnel goods, information, and support to the Patriot cause. ...

At the center of that network was the small Caribbean island of St. Eustatius, then one of the busiest ports in the Atlantic. By the late 18th century, its harbor had become a critical waypoint for goods moving between Europe, the Caribbean, South America, and the American colonies, including weapons and gunpowder, often disguised as ordinary trade goods, that the Continental Army desperately needed.

Because Jews had often been pushed into finance, trade, and mercantile work in Europe ... they developed the Atlantic-world connections that later made them valuable to the Patriot cause. By the time revolutionaries needed weapons, gunpowder, and supplies, “history placed Jews exactly in the right places, with the right skills, the right connections.”

Jewish merchants, who made up 30% of the European population on St. Eustatius at the time, played an outsized role in that system. Many had roots in the Iberian Peninsula, having fled persecution in Spain and Portugal during the Spanish Inquisition, and later built extensive commercial ties across the Atlantic. As a Dutch colony, St. Eustatius offered Jews more religious freedom than in most of Europe. The population grew, and by 1739 had become established enough to build a synagogue, Honen Dalim. By the time of the Revolution, that community was deeply embedded in the commercial networks that made St. Eustatius so valuable to the American cause. ..."

"... For centuries, the story of how a small community of Jews living in America and on a tiny Caribbean island helped tip the scales of the Revolutionary War was largely forgotten — it’s the story of swashbuckling, patriot Jewish pirates who smuggled gunpowder into America.

The Jewish merchants on the lush, windswept island of St. Eustatius, who supplied Washington’s army with the critical contraband, were members of the first international entity to recognize the United States. Their allegiance to the American cause cost them dearly. Targeted for abuse by the British, they were stripped of their homes and wealth, torn from their families and exiled, and had their graves plundered. ..."

The 'First Salute' explores how Jews shaped the American Revolution "The "First Salute" exhibit reveals how Jewish merchants helped fuel the American Revolution and secure its first international recognition."

The First Salute exhibition "The First Salute: An Untold Story of the American Revolution is the first-ever major museum exhibition to explore the little-known story of a small group of Jewish merchants in the Caribbean whose outsized contributions to the cause of American Liberty tipped the scales in the fight for American Independence."

A reimagined Jewish Museum tells the forgotten story the Jews who helped win the Revolution

France moves aircraft carrier into Red Sea ahead of potential Strait of Hormuz mission. Really!

What a coward this president of France is, i.e. Emmanuel Macron!

Allied forces were needed weeks ago to assist the US in its campaign against Iran!!!

"France is deploying the carrier strike group centered on the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier into the Red Sea and towards the Gulf of Aden, positioning the force for a possible mission to secure navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, the Armed Forces Ministry said on Wednesday. ..."

France moves carrier into Red Sea ahead of potential Hormuz mission

Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier

How It Got Harder for Americans to Climb the job ladder by job hopping or job shopping

Bad news! Food for thought! Mass illegal immigration is a good guess as it takes away large numbers of entry and difficult to fill jobs.

Then there is more intense competition going on with respect to international supply chains and foreign trade. Sourcing and buying cheap products from foreign countries has never been easier.

"A new economics paper puts its finger on something that American workers have felt for years, even though economists keep describing it too abstractly: it has become much harder to use one job as a springboard to a better one.

The paper is very good at establishing the decline of upward job mobility. But it misses the major causes: deindustrialization and [illegal] mass immigration.

The economists/authors seem to be dead wrong when they blame "noncompete agreements" for the wage stagnation! These noncompete agreements play most likely a rather minor role.

Let’s start with what they get right. For most workers, the biggest raises don’t come from annual reviews, cost-of-living adjustments, or even internal promotions. They come from getting a better [job] offer somewhere else. When those offers stop coming, wages stagnate even if the economy is still cranking out jobs. ..."

From the abstract:

"We quantify how structural changes in the U.S. labor market have contributed to wage stagnation over the past four decades by weakening the job ladder. Using Current Population Survey microdata from 1982–2023 and a partial-equilibrium job-ladder model, we estimate that employed workers today are about half as likely to receive a better-paying outside offer as they were in the 1980s. This decline is unlikely to reflect less efficient matching, weaker labor demand, or changes in workers' acceptance behavior.

Instead, cross-state variation is consistent with rising employer concentration and the growing use of noncompete agreements having curtailed opportunities for job shopping. In a general equilibrium version of the model, we find that these changes have reduced annual real wage growth by 0.68 percentage points—roughly one-third of the post-1980 slowdown—with about two-thirds of the effect operating through equilibrium wage setting rather than mechanical reallocation."

Breitbart Business Digest

The Long-Term Decline of the U.S. Job Ladder (no public access)

US Senator Rand Paul pushes for Anthony Fauci indictment for lying about gain of function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology

What the hell took so long! Unfortunately, Anthony Fauci strategically retired just in time and is now over 85 years old!

I have blogged here as early as 2020 or so that something was very fishy about the US federal government funding so called gain of function research at that Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, the possible source and lab leak of the SARS-CoV-2/Covid-19 virus. This Institute of Virology is also suspected to do dual use research.

"Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Tuesday called for Anthony Fauci, former longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), to be indicted for what the senator claimed was his lying under oath about gain-of-function research.

“6 days from now, on May 11th, the statute of limitations expires on the possibility of indicting Anthony Fauci for denying under oath that he funded gain-of-function research involving bat coronaviruses in Wuhan, the origin city of the pandemic,” Paul wrote on social media. ..."

Rand Paul pushes for Anthony Fauci indictment

Credits: The Flyover

Anthony Fauci

Israel to supply jet fuel to Germany amid Iran war shortages

Israel provides the banana republic of Germany with jet fuel! Let this sink in!

Too bad you can not run airplanes on so called renewable energy like wind and solar power!

Does the banana republic of Germany not have a sufficient strategic reserve of crude oil? Very possible since e.g. working nuclear power plants were shut down etc.

"Israel will begin supplying jet fuel to Germany following a recent request received by the Energy Ministry, the Foreign Affairs Ministry (MFA) announced in a X/Twitter post on Wednesday. ..."

Israel to supply jet fuel to Germany amid Iran war shortages | The Jerusalem Post "Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar informed Germany's Economic Affairs and Energy Minister of the decision during his recent trip to Berlin."

Yale University: The Carbon Dioxide Removal Roadmap. Really!

Plant some more trees and be happy! It is that easy!

Carbon capture: What a waste of money! Or when universities seek new or more funding for ridiculous reasons!!

"In 15 years, carbon dioxide removal (CDR) needs to be a portfolio of safe, effective, and affordable climate solutions that deliver mitigation at scale as well as meaningful benefits to communities, farmers, and ecosystems. In our first five years, the YCNCC has made several contributions towards this goal, and we plan to continue this work for the next five years and beyond. Our symposium is both a celebration of progress to date and an honest survey of the massive task ahead of us. ..."

The Carbon Dioxide Removal Roadmap "The Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture’s Spring Symposium marks an anniversary and sets its sights on what natural carbon capture needs to achieve by 2040."

Stanford University: School cell phone bans deliver benefits – but not right away. Really!

First of all, the term "cell phone" sounds so 1980s/1990s if not 1970s!

Up to what grade should smartphones be banned? All grades?

Why are smartphones not integrated into school curricula beginning from a certain age of the students?

Plus, there is a lot of alarmism and hysteria about the use of smartphones going on! This akin e.g. to the introduction of video and video games!

School cell phone bans deliver benefits – but not right away | Stanford Report "New research reveals that while bans aren’t an instant panacea for problems in U.S. classrooms, schools can achieve positive outcomes with persistence."

China National Tobacco Corp.: The Deadliest Company in the World

This is shocking! Communism kills!

There is no doubt that too many Chinese people are smoking and smoking almost everywhere at anytime! I have seen it with my own eyes while visiting China. This is very regrettable and unfortunate!

"... Outsized impact: ... one company stands out as the single commercial entity linked to the most global deaths: China National Tobacco Corp., better known as China Tobacco—a state-owned company that for decades has controlled ~97% of China’s cigarette market in a country that consumes nearly half the world’s cigarettes. 

 

Staggering toll: Tobacco use in China caused ~59–78 million deaths from 1990 to 2023, or 2 million people annually, per data from the Global Burden of Disease study run by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. 

China Tobacco is tied to ~57 million of those deaths—a toll surpassing fatalities linked to war, drugs, or traffic worldwide, even adjusting for the highest plausible death estimates from those other industries.   

The company also wields significant influence over China’s public health policy, systematically undercutting anti-smoking efforts. 

Intervention possible—and unlikely: Because of China Tobacco’s centralized role, direct policy change could avert millions of early deaths over decades.  

But the government’s dependence on billions in tax revenue from the industry means the company “is likely to retain its spot as No. 1 in the world for years to come.” ..."

Global Health NOW: Identifying ‘The Deadliest Company in the World’; and On the Front Lines of an Emerging Drug Crisis

English for trippers: Full of rigor and vigor

Like cigar and vinegar! A composition by Igor Stravinsky?

Disclaimer

Since end of February, I  am 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.

The Type of Fat—Not the Amount—Fuels Pancreatic Cancer

Bad news for olive oil! Cancer is history (soon)!

Olive oil gets a bad rap here, while e.g. fish oil is more beneficial.

"... The research ... shows that for pancreatic cancer, the type of fat you consume matters more than the amount. ...

One fat in particular—oleic acid, the primary fatty acid in olive oil—may be accelerating tumor growth in ways scientists never anticipated. The result was surprising given oleic acid's reputation in medicine. "It's traditionally been considered a healthy type of fat for cardiovascular health," ...

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) ...

Fat can be protective against cancer

To find out the effects of each fat, ... designed a comprehensive dietary screen using 12 high-fat diets, each identical in caloric content but differing solely in fat source. The diets were modeled on real patterns of modern American fat consumption. ...

for decades, the research community broadly “gave mice very high levels of fat in their diet, often using a single fat source.” Most prior studies used lard-based diets at 60% fat by calories—a formulation that neither reflects what most people actually eat nor isolates the effects of specific fatty acids.

“Exactly what components of dietary fat cause cancer has remained a mystery,” ...

What the team found was striking. Diets rich in oleic acid—a monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) found in, among other foods, olive oil, high-oleic safflower oil, high-oleic sunflower oil, peanuts, and lard—significantly accelerated tumor development in mice carrying a genetic mutation that leads to illness closely mimicking human PDAC development.

However, diets high in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) suppressed it, especially omega-3 fatty acids, such as those found in fish oil."

From the abstract:

"High-fat diet (HFD) intake has been linked to an increased risk of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), a lethal and therapy-resistant cancer.

However, whether and how specific dietary fats drive cancer development remains unresolved.

Leveraging an oncogenic Kras-driven mouse model that closely mimics human PDAC progression, we screened a dozen isocaloric HFDs differing solely in fat source and representing the diversity of human fat consumption.

Unexpectedly, diets rich in oleic acid – a monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) typically associated with good health – markedly enhanced tumorigenesis. Conversely, diets high in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) suppressed tumor progression.

Relative dietary fatty acid saturation levels (PUFA/MUFA) governed pancreatic membrane phospholipid composition, lipid peroxidation, and ferroptosis sensitivity in mice, concordant with circulating PUFA/MUFA levels being linked to altered PDAC risk in humans.

These findings directly implicate dietary unsaturated fatty acids in controlling ferroptosis susceptibility and tumorigenesis, supporting potential “precision nutrition” strategies for PDAC prevention."

The Type of Fat—Not the Amount—Fuels Pancreatic Cancer | Yale School of Medicine

Diet-induced phospholipid remodeling dictates ferroptosis sensitivity and tumorigenesis in the pancreas (no public access)

Diet-induced phospholipid remodeling dictates ferroptosis sensitivity and tumorigenesis in the pancreas (preprint, open access)

How do mutations of mitochondrial DNA affect your health? A new embryonic stem (ES) cell–based platform may allow better investigations

Good news!

"Highlights

• Salk scientists have created a platform to study mitochondrial DNA mutations that lead or contribute to human disease
• They generated a library of 155 mitochondrial DNA mutant cells, nearly the human level of mitochondrial DNA mutant diversity
• The platform and library will accelerate innovation in the mitochondrial disease therapeutic space

...

“Mitochondrial DNA accumulates mutations at a high rate, and more than 260 inherited disease-causing mtDNA mutations have been identified in humans,” ..."

From the significance and abstract:

"Significance

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) accumulates mutations at a high rate, and more than 260 pathogenic germline mtDNA mutations have been identified in humans, producing diverse and often tissue-specific disorders.

In addition, numerous population-specific mtDNA variants have arisen through evolution and may influence adaptation and disease susceptibility.

However, the lack of animal models representing this diversity has limited mechanistic insight and therapeutic development.

Our scalable embryonic stem (ES) cell–based platform enables efficient generation of mouse models carrying functional mtDNA mutations across a broad spectrum of physiological effects. This resource will facilitate systematic investigation of mtDNA variation in health, disease, and evolution, and accelerate efforts to develop treatments for mitochondrial disorders.

Abstract

Mitochondria are central to energy metabolism and cellular signaling, and mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) can disrupt these processes and contribute to human disease.

However, progress in defining how mtDNA variation influences adaptation, pathophysiology, and disease susceptibility has been limited by the lack of suitable animal models. Although recent base-editing approaches enable direct mtDNA modification, their low efficiency restricts the generation of diverse models reflecting human mtDNA variation.

Here, we develop a scalable embryonic stem (ES) cell–based platform for efficient production of mtDNA mutant mice. Random mutagenesis using an error-prone mtDNA polymerase generates a broad spectrum of mtDNA mutations, which are transferred into ES cells via a multiplexed cybrid fusion strategy coupled with sensitive mutation detection.

Optimized ES cell–embryo aggregation enables robust contribution of mtDNA mutant ES cells to host embryos, producing chimeric mice with germline transmission.

Using this platform, we generate a library of 155 donor fibroblast lines carrying distinct homoplasmic single-nucleotide mtDNA mutations that produce diverse mitochondrial phenotypes, including impaired oxidative phosphorylation, increased reactive oxygen species, and altered mitochondrial membrane potential. We further generate 34 female C57BL/6 ES cell lines harboring 18 mtDNA mutations across a range of heteroplasmy levels, yielding multiple chimeric mice and achieving germline transmission for one mutation.

These data reveal a strong correlation between mitochondrial function and early embryonic development, suggesting a minimal energetic threshold required for normal development. This scalable resource enables systematic investigation of mtDNA variation in physiology, adaptation, disease mechanisms, and therapeutic development."

How does mitochondrial DNA affect your health? - Salk Institute for Biological Studies "Salk Institute researchers establish new platform for studying mitochondrial DNA in human physiology, adaptation, disease mechanisms, and therapeutic development"

A scalable embryonic stem cell–based platform for efficient generation of mitochondrial DNA mutant mice (no public access)

Deep-Earth map reveals a lost U.S. continent

Amazing stuff!

Too bad, I was not able to find an image of this former continent using Google and Bing search.

"Along the eastern front of the Appalachian Mountains, buried just below the surface, lies a fragment of a lost continent. Running from Maine to Georgia, the 200-kilometer-thick slab of crust was probably created by volcanic eruptions during the breakup of the Pangaea supercontinent some 200 million years ago and later buried by silt from eroding mountains.

Known as the Piedmont Resistor, this piece of Pangaea is one of the signature discoveries of the Magnetotelluric (MT) Array, 1800 temporary stations scattered across the contiguous United States that measured the conductivity of deep rocks. Now, 20 years after it started, the MT Array has released its final map and model ... It shows how the assembly of the continent left hidden structures such as the Piedmont Resistor—and mineral riches. ..."

From the abstract:

"The United States Magnetotelluric Array (USMTArray) data set, collected in the years 2006–2024, consists of more than 1,700 long-period magnetotelluric stations covering the entirety of the contiguous United States on a quasi-regular 70 km grid. ...

Together with parallel advancement in the development of publicly available three-dimensional (3D) inversion codes, the USMTArray has revitalized the US magnetotelluric community and increased the visibility of magnetotellurics within the Earth-science community.

Taken as a whole, these data are visualized as the National Impedance Map, which, together with a 3D synthesis conductivity model of the nation, reveals the electrical architecture of the contiguous US. USMTArray data are used by researchers worldwide for fundamental and applied studies, including investigations of continental architecture and evolution, estimation of hazards to critical infrastructure due to geomagnetic storms, and assessment of the nation's undiscovered geothermal and mineral resources.

We here review the history and development of the project, discuss the challenges and successes in its execution, present the National Impedance Map and synthesis conductivity model, and highlight the breadth of research stemming from this rich data set."

Deep-Earth map reveals a lost U.S. continent | Science | AAAS "Sensor array traces how rocks conduct electricity, exposing ancient continental fragments, mineral targets, and grid hazards"

The United States Magnetotelluric Array and the National Impedance Map (open access)

Light pollution in urban areas could be making allergies worse and longer

Recommendable!

"... Now, a study finds, flashy billboards, streetlights and bright buildings are extending pollen season in cities.

Indeed, that season can now run two months longer there than in rural areas. ...

Pollen season starts around 20 days earlier in cities than in rural areas ... It also ends 20 to 30 days later. ..."

From the abstract:

"Artificial light at night (ALAN), a growing environmental stressor in urban ecosystems, disrupts natural light–dark cycles and alters plant phenological events such as leaf-out and flowering. However, the extent to which ALAN influences airborne pollen season timing and exacerbates allergy-related health risks remains largely understudied.

This study investigates how ALAN influences the timing and duration of the airborne pollen season across the Northeastern United States from 2012 to 2023 and the consequences of allergenic pollen exposure. Using daily pollen concentrations from the National Allergy Bureau, ALAN data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite product, and gridded Daymet climate data, we derived three key pollen season metrics: start of season, end of season, and season length, and examined their relationship with environmental conditions.

We found that higher ALAN exposure was significantly associated with an earlier start of pollen season, a later end of season, and a longer pollen season length, after controlling for temperature and precipitation.

ALAN’s impact on the end of the season is larger than on the start of the season. ALAN sites experienced more days and higher severity for allergenic pollen exposure, relative to sites with minimal or no ALAN exposure. These results underscore the potential of ALAN to exacerbate allergy-related disease burdens, calling for its integration into urban environmental public health and planning strategies."

Got pollen allergies? Light pollution might make them worse "In the Northeast’s brightest cities, pollen season was two months longer than in rural areas"

Artificial light at night extends pollen season and elevates allergen exposure (open access)

Fig. 3.Proportion of days in the pollen season under four exposure severity levels for “No ALAN” and “ALAN” conditions.

Cell-based microbots induce cell death only in cancer cells of multiple, different cancer types without affecting health cells

Good news! Cancer is history (soon)!

"Microrobots are a promising avenue for delivering medicines in the body ... A similarly tiny workhorse does a better job: our body’s own cells.

Researchers aimed to design a therapeutic that merged the drug delivery abilities of microrobots with the biological hunting abilities of natural cells.

They genetically engineered living human embryonic kidney cells to express a special molecule called tumor necrosis factor–related apoptosis-inducing ligand, or TRAIL.

When TRAIL binds to so-called “death receptors” in cancer cells, it sparks a series of signals that cause the cell to undergo programmed death.

Healthy cells, which have comparatively lower levels of death receptors, get left unharmed.

The researchers then outfitted the TRAIL-modified cells with tiny magnetic beads that enabled the team to magnetically navigate the cells to their targets. Across all kinds of cancer cells the team tested, including colon, brain, kidney, and ovarian cancer cells, the cell-based bot significantly harmed cancerous cells while leaving normal cells alive. ..."

"... These microrobots are built from living human kidney cells and also human fibroblasts that are genetically engineered to produce:

• TRAIL (tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand)–a protein that selectively induces cancer cell death.
• GFP (green fluorescent protein)–a fluorescent marker used to visualize and track microrobots during navigation.

The engineered human cells are then attached to magnetic particles—tiny silica beads partially coated with a thin magnetic FePt layer. This design allows the microrobots to be remotely guided using magnetic fields.

After this fabrication process, the human cell-based microrobots can be magnetically controlled and directed toward target locations, where they release TRAIL as a therapeutic agent. Under external magnetic fields, they can be precisely guided to tumor sites, where they accumulate and act locally. ..."

From the abstract:

"Medical microrobots have strong potential for targeted therapeutic delivery; however, current systems achieve only physical targeting, and once at the target site, they are unable to distinguish healthy cells from cancerous ones because of the lack of biological selectivity.

Here, we present a biohybrid microrobot system that combines magnetic targeting with biological selectivity. The microrobots are derived from human embryonic kidney cells genetically engineered to produce tumor necrosis factor–related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), a molecule that induces cancer cell death in multiple tumor types without damaging healthy cells.

Engineered cells are then conjugated to biocompatible magnetic Janus particles—silica beads half-coated with FePt nanofilms—to enable external magnetic control. With magnetic fields, the microrobots accumulate around the tumor spheroids and continuously release TRAIL for several days, leading to selective cancer cell death while avoiding damage to healthy cells.

This study combines microrobotics with genetically engineered cell therapies to achieve a targeted, prolonged, and cancer-selective therapeutic delivery."

ScienceAdviser

Human cell-based microrobots selectively kill cancer cells without harming healthy tissues

Genetically engineered human cell–based microrobots for selective cancer cell death (open access)

Figure 1. Fabrication of human cell-based microrobots.

T cells secrete extracellular vesicular DNA to help immune system fight cancer

Good news! Cancer is history (soon)!

"Activated immune cells secrete tiny capsules bearing DNA that can enter other immune and tumor cells to stimulate the body’s defense systems, according to a study ...

The discovery extends the scientific understanding of the immune system, identifies a new strategy for boosting immunity against cancers and potentially offers a new tool for delivering genetic payloads to other cells. ...

In the new study ... the researchers discovered that [extracellular] vesicles secreted by activated T cells – major weapons of the immune system – carry DNA that enters immune cells and nearby tumor cells to enhance the immune response against the tumor.

Preclinical experiments showed that this vesicle-associated DNA could be useful therapeutically, boosting T cell attacks against tumors that otherwise evoke little or no immune response. ..."

From the highlights and abstract:

"Highlights

• Activated T cells secrete abundant extracellular vesicular DNA (AT-EVDNA)

• AT-EVDNA is mainly from newly made genomic DNA rich in immune-related gene content

• ATEVs boost antigen presentation via EVDNA intranuclear transfer aided by granzyme B

• ATEVs act as acellular immunotherapy to overcome tumor immune evasion

Summary

Antigen processing and presentation (APP) is essential for adaptive immunosurveillance.

We uncover a mechanism whereby activated T cell-derived extracellular vesicles (ATEVs) drive a positive feedback loop that enhances antigen presentation and immune responses in normal physiology and cancer.

ATEV-induced immunogenicity relies on extracellular vesicular double-stranded DNA (EVDNA), which is notably abundant and primarily composed of genomic DNA enriched in immune-related genes, including those encoding APP machinery.

Mechanistically, granzyme B (Gzmb) packaged by ATEVs disrupts the nuclear envelope of recipient cells, facilitating intranuclear transfer and subsequent transient expression of EVDNA encoding APP genes.

DNase treatment removes most AT-EVDNA, abrogating APP upregulation and thus T cell activation and recruitment to tumors.

Notably, ATEVs hold promise as an acellular immunotherapy, restoring APP and synergizing with checkpoint blockade in immunotherapy-refractory tumors. Collectively, our findings uncover a mechanism of transient, non-viral gene delivery by ATEVs that boosts APP and anti-tumor immunity while limiting autoimmunity."

T cells secrete DNA to help immune system fight cancer | Cornell Chronicle

Activated T cell extracellular vesicle DNA transfer enhances antigen presentation and anti-tumor immunity (open access)

Graphical abstract

China: When Buddhist monks are presented with the flag of the communist party of China

Very disturbing! 

As seen on a board posted inside one of the oldest, largest and still in operation Buddhist temples in China, i.e. Daxiangguo Temple in Kaifeng, Henan province.

China: Culinary humor

That hot pot was too hot! 😊

The Pot of ex-boyfriend!

 

Deutsche Sprache: Drohnenbedrohungen

Ein neudeutsches Wort! Klingt roh!

As of early May still no allied country has sent navy ships in support of the US navy campaign against Iran and in the Strait of Hormuz

I believe this information is correct or allied countries are not disclosing their involvement.

This is very shameful! This is coward! When the US needed help from its allies, they failed spectacularly! The allies provided not even mine sweeping boats or security to commercial ships stuck in the Strait of Hormuz!

A fanatical theocratic dictatorship sponsoring suicidal mass murder and terrorism should never be able to obtain nuclear weapons! Period!

India-Russia pact allows troops and warships on each other's soil

Good news! Maybe India can take care of this megalomaniac and warmonger Putin the Terrible!

"India and Russia have taken their defense ties to a new high in the form of a new pact under which they can share military bases, ports and airfields, and station up to 3,000 troops in each other's territory. ..."

India-Russia pact allows troops and warships on each other's soil - Nikkei Asia (behind paywall) "Analysts say agreement deepens trust despite Moscow's close China ties"

Building a superconducting quantum circuit that follows protons on the go

Amazing stuff!

"Researchers ... have created a device that simulates the quantum “tunneling” behavior of protons that occurs in chemistry, a process so common it occurs in everything from photosynthesis to the formation of human DNA.

The advance has the potential to aid researchers across a variety of disciplines, including the development of new solar fuels, pharmaceuticals, and materials. ...

“Our system is so clean and controllable that we could resolve very subtle quantum tunneling effects with it that were unknown to us,” ..."

From the abstract:

"Dissipative tunneling remains a cornerstone effect in quantum mechanics. In chemistry, it plays a crucial role in governing the rates of chemical reactions, often modeled as the motion along the reaction coordinate from one potential well to another. The relative positions of energy levels in these wells strongly influence the reaction dynamics. Chemical research will benefit from a fully adjustable, asymmetric double-well equipped with precise measurement capabilities of the tunneling rates.

In this paper, we show a quantum simulator system that consists of a continuously driven Kerr parametric oscillator with a third-order nonlinearity that can be operated in the quantum regime to create a fully tunable asymmetric double-well. Our experiment leverages a low-noise, all-microwave control system with a high-efficiency readout, based on a tunnel Josephson junction circuit, of the which-well information.

We explore the reaction rates across the landscape of tunneling resonances in parameter space. We uncover two counter-intuitive effects:

(i) a weak asymmetry can significantly decrease the activation rates, even though the well in which the system is initialized is made shallower, and

(ii) the width of the tunneling resonances alternates between narrow and broad lines as a function of the well depth and asymmetry.

We predict by numerical simulations that both effects will also manifest themselves in ordinary chemical double-well systems in the quantum regime.

Our work is a first step for the development of analog molecule simulators of proton transfer reactions based on quantum parametric processes."

Building a superconducting quantum circuit that follows protons on the go | Yale News "A new device that originated at a pair of Yale labs simulates quantum proton “tunneling,” a ubiquitous phenomenon found commonly in chemistry and biology."

Asymmetry Control in a Parametric Oscillator for the Quantum Simulation of Chemical Activation (open access)

Fig. 1 Experimental setup. (a) Rendering of the half-aluminum, half-copper sample package containing two sapphire chips magnified in (b).

The secret behind planet-warming methane burps by ruminants. Really!

Again, the AAAS gets caught publishing junk science, alarmism and hysteria!

Fact, methane is even more a trace gas in the atmosphere than CO2! "Yes, is classified as a trace gas in Earth's atmosphere because it exists in very small concentrations. ... methane comprises only about 0.00017% (roughly 1.7 to 1.9 parts per million) by volume" (Google AI)

In the near future, synthetically produced proteins and milk etc. will replace many cows  nd so on!

The researchers even falsely claim "Ruminant livestock represent a major source of anthropogenic [???] methane ... Ruminant livestock represent a major source of anthropogenic methane"! Incredible! What a quackery!

Of course, the discovery of these new cell organelles, i.e. hydrogenobody is very relevant, but to associate this with the global warming hoax and climate change religion is junk!

"... Cows and other ruminant animals belch copious amounts [???] of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Now, researchers finally know just what makes their burps so methane-rich: newly discovered organelles called hydrogenobodies. They live within single-celled protozoa called ciliates, that themselves live in the first stomach of cows called the rumen, where plant matter gets broken down.

To find the methane menaces [???], researchers analyzed the genomes of 450 ciliates living in rumens, most of which had never been sequenced. They noticed that dairy cows with more ciliates produced more methane. The reason came down to a new organelle they dubbed the hydrogenobody, which produces hydrogen—a process that stimulates other microbes to produce methane. ..."

From the editor's summary and abstract:

"Editor’s summary

The microbial community living in the guts of cows and other ruminant animals produces methane gas, which is a contributor to global warming. Methanogenic archaea are the direct producers of that gas, but eukaryotic microbes called ciliates have been suspected to collude in the process. Xie et al. assembled a catalog of ciliate genomes across a range of ruminants and used it to determine the varied roles of ciliates in methane metabolism. The authors found that ciliates harbor their own particular single-membraned organelle to produce hydrogen gas, which skews the gas balance to drive methane production by nearby archaea in the rumen. ...

Structured Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Ruminant livestock represent a major source of anthropogenic methane [???], a potent greenhouse gas contributing substantially to global warming [???]. Within the rumen microbial ecosystem, ciliate protozoa account for up to 25% of the total microbial biomass and have long been associated with enhanced methane production. However, the precise mechanisms by which these ciliates promote methanogenesis have remained elusive.

RATIONALE

Building a comprehensive reference genome catalog for rumen ciliates is essential to enable high-resolution analysis of their community structure and to clarify their associations with methanogens and methane emissions. Such a genomic foundation is critical for discerning the differential roles of specific ciliate lineages in shaping ruminant methane emissions.

Furthermore, unlike prokaryotes, in which functional diversity stems mainly from metabolic variation, eukaryotes often evolve through innovations in cellular structure. As eukaryotes, rumen ciliates may influence methane production not only metabolically but also—and perhaps more substantially—through a specialized organelle.

RESULTS

We assembled a catalog of 450 rumen ciliate genomes, 87% of which are newly sequenced.

Using this resource, we measured methane emissions from 100 dairy cows and analyzed nearly 2000 rumen metagenomic and metatranscriptomic datasets. Our analyses demonstrated a strong correlation among ciliate abundance, methanogen abundance and activity, and methane emissions.

We further identified a previously unknown hydrogen-producing organelle called the hydrogenobody (HB), which underlies the taxon-specific influence of ciliates on methane production. The HB is enclosed by a single membrane, distinguishing it from canonical hydrogenosomes found in other protists, which are mitochondrion-derived organelles.

HBs are positioned near ciliary basal bodies and contain unique hydrogenases and oxygen reductases. Vestibuliferida ciliates harbor substantially more HBs than do Entodiniomorphida ciliates, correlating with their greater ciliary coverage. This structural distinction corresponds to elevated hydrogen-generation and oxygen-scavenging capacity, leading to a more pronounced stimulation of methanogenesis.

CONCLUSION

Our study provides a comprehensive genomic resource for rumen ciliates, reveals a new hydrogen-producing organelle that connects ciliate cellular activity to methane emissions, and uncovers the mechanistic basis of ciliate-driven methanogenesis in ruminants."

ScienceAdvisor

Rumen ciliates modulate methane emissions in ruminants (no public access)

Mechanistic model of rumen ciliate–driven methane production.