Bad news! Very concerning!
Tuesday, August 18, 2026
Xi's China Tightens Exit and entry Rules, Citizens Face Bans Of Up To 3 Years to protect technology and national security
What Drove Life Into The Trees during evolution?
Recommendable!
The host's silver shining nose ring is a little distracting! 😊
Meta’s $200-$1 trillion lawsuit could change social media forever
This seems to be more of a government shakedown and it reeks of government paternalism!
Other, Western countries have implemented stupid social media bans for children!
Meta will have a very tough stand to defend against so much government power and the claim it is harmful to children.
What about e.g. the responsibility of parents?
"Thirty US states are suing Meta for over $1 trillion, accusing it of knowingly designing Instagram and Facebook to be addictive and harmful to children, while concealing what it knew."
What's Behind India's 'Record' Social Media Takedowns in India? with Palki Sharma
Rising government censorship in India? A controversial issue not only for India!
President Trump is serious: Hormuz could become U.S. territory. Really!
Many of the news media outlets had fit over one of his latest remarks by President Trump! This president is having too much fun irking journalists!
Not to mention that he also threatened to bomb Oman!
Where are the coward European powers when you need them (e.g. for mine sweeping and escorting cargo ships etc.)!
President Trump certainly has a way of keeping the news media busy and breathless! It is a lot of fun to watch!
"President Trump doubled down Monday on the idea of declaring the Strait of Hormuz U.S. territory, arguing that American forces already have "total control" of the critical waterway as Iran threatened military action to break the U.S. blockade. ..."
The One Big Beautiful Bill restored 100 percent expensing for machinery and equipment, immediate expensing for domestic research and development, and temporary full expensing for qualifying factory structures
Good news! Bravo President Trump! This could become a booster for the US economy!
"... And, importantly, it made this permanent.
Instead of deducting the cost of a machine over many years, a business can take the deduction immediately. This lowers the after-tax cost of investment and rewards companies for acting now.
Tariffs raise the return on producing in the United States and eliminate the threat of predatory dumping from abroad, while deregulation and faster permitting make it easier to get factories built. ..."
Copper is new king for Australia's BHP as profit jumps 30%
Headline of the day! Good news!
BHP has copper smelting and refining operations at Olympic Dam in South Australia, where it mines significant deposits of the red metal, as well as uranium.
One of the most egregious mistakes in journalism: Comparisons with same period last year
On a daily basis tons of news media articles are published including such annual comparisons per month, quarter, semi annual.
Often times this information is rather useless or even disinformation! What if e.g. last year's number was an aberration from normal or an extreme value or unique for some reason. Some journalists note this deviation from normal, but often without further analysis.
Much better would be comparisons to some normal value e.g. moving averages or monthly/quarterly,semiannual averages over several years etc. Practical suggestions: A 12 months moving average for monthly data and a 16 quarters moving average for quarterly data. You get the idea!
Given that it is now the second quarter of the 21st century with so many data sources and analytics easily available, this journalistic failure is even more difficult to excuse!
However, too many journalists are lazy or lack understanding!
Deregulation Before Privatisation: Fixing Pakistan’s Power Market
Good news!
A famous question regarding privatization of state owned enterprises: What comes first, privatization or market deregularization/liberalization? Most agree both are necessary for more free markets.
"The Government of Pakistan has begun the phased privatisation of three state-owned power distribution companies to minimise sector losses and address recurring debt.
Privatisation can certainly enhance efficiency when firms operate in a competitive and well-functioning market. However, Pakistan’s energy sector continues to be operated in a single-buyer structure, with strict administrative controls over pricing, market access, and electricity transactions.
This raises a critical question about the order of reform: should the power sector move towards privatising distribution companies before creating the conditions necessary for competition? PRIME’s (2024) report “Breaking Monopolies Deregulation Before Privatisation” argues that deregulation should proceed [precede?] privatisation.
Without market liberalisation and required market reforms, privatisation risks replacing public monopolies with private ones, leaving consumers with limited choices and weak competitive pressures. ..."
Inheritable, fragmented DNA can transfer from mammalian cell to neighboring cell and change how they function via tunneling nanotubes
Amazing stuff! This could be a major milestone!
"... A new study ... reveals just that: an alternate, previously unknown, route for DNA to travel between cells. Scientists ... found that in some cases when chromosomes failed to divide equally, DNA fragments remained behind in tiny sacs called micronuclei, which float in the cell's cytoplasm rather than the nucleus. Using fluorescently tagged ... cell lines, the researchers observed these micronuclei migrating from one cell to another carrying their DNA passengers with them, which was a surprising discovery. ...
“This has been well-established in organisms such as bacteria through a process called horizontal gene transfer, where bacteria share DNA with neighboring bacteria, allowing them to acquire a new function, such as resistance to antibiotics,” ... “But we were not aware of this type of transfer before in human cells.” ...
in cases of genomic instability, donor cells transferred micronuclei to recipient cells through bridge-like structures called nanotubes. The transfer occurred across multiple human cell types, including retinal pigment epithelial cells, kidney cells, and cancer cells. ...
To test whether this new DNA that came from another cell had a functional impact on the new cell, the scientists engineered donor cells with resistance to a specific antibiotic. After combining donor and recipient cells in culture and inducing chromosome damage, they found that recipient cells acquired the same antibiotic resistance – direct evidence that mammalian cells can trade genetic material through simple cell-to-cell contact. ..."
"In a recent Cell paper ... show that genomic instability drives human cells to transfer fragmented chromosomes to neighbors via tunneling nanotubes (TNTs), with heritable functional consequences, raising fundamental questions about intercellular communication, genome surveillance, and cancer evolution."
From the highlights and abstract:
"Highlights
• Genomic instability generates micronuclei and chromosome fragments in the cytoplasm
• Direct cell-cell contact triggers intercellular transfer of genomic DNA
• Transferred DNA fragments are functional and maintained within recipient cell genomes
• Intercellular DNA transfer can confer heritable phenotypic changes
Summary
The mammalian genome is safeguarded within the confines of the interphase nucleus. However, genomic instability can trigger the mislocalization of nuclear DNA to the cytoplasm within micronuclei or as fragmented chromosomes.
Beyond activating cell-autonomous signaling programs, whether such cytoplasmic DNA can elicit non-cell-autonomous consequences to nearby cells remains unclear. Here, we show that cytoplasmic DNAs undergo intercellular transfer through contact-dependent, cytoskeleton-based nanotube structures connecting adjacent human cells.
Diverse sources of genomic instability—including exposure to mitotic spindle poisons, ionizing radiation, and Cas9-induced chromosome breakage—promote nanotube-mediated DNA transfer in both cancerous and non-cancerous cells. Transferred DNA fragments are stably inherited as functional extrachromosomal genetic elements in the recipient host genome, thereby conferring heritable phenotypic traits to the recipient cell.
Our findings uncover a horizontal gene transfer-like mechanism through which direct cell-cell contact can propagate genomic instability and reshape mammalian genomes."
Broken chromosomes don’t stay home: Tunneling nanotubes carry damaged DNA between human cells (no public access)
Human cells can exchange genomic DNA that alters cell behavior (original news release) "Children’s Research Institute scientists discover that DNA transferred between cells can be inherited, remain biologically active"
Graphical abstract
Figure 1 Intercellular DNA transfer via nanotube-like connections in human cells
Ships Not Entering Odesa Ports: What This Means for Ukraine’s Grain Exports
Serious stuff! The Russo-Ukrainian War since 2022 has also seriously affected the grain export of the Ukraine (aka the bread basket of the world).
Putin the Terrible is committing war crimes in many ways, this is one of them, i.e. starving the rest of the world! When will we finally see an international war crimes tribunal (a la Nuremberg) against Putin the Terrible!
"Ukraine is called a breadbasket of the world because over half of its land is rich, dark chernozem (black soil) ideal for farming. Before the war, it grew enough food to feed 400 million people, supplying a huge share of the world's wheat, corn, barley, and sunflower oil." (Google Search/AI)
"Since the beginning of 2026, USPA [Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority] has recorded 160 attacks on port infrastructure, 87 attacks on civilian ships in ports, and 68 attacks on ships in the maritime corridor. The attacks became especially intense this summer. Since July 1, Russia has combined large-scale drone attacks with jet-powered Shahed drones, air strikes, and ballistic missiles. By August 11, USPA had recorded 88 attacks on port infrastructure, 48 on ships in ports, and 39 in the corridor. ..."
Older People Face Higher Risks From a Warming World. Really!
How serious is this issue? How much is alarmism and hysteria? How easy is it to protect older individuals from heat exposure (e.g. staying more indoors etc.)?
A strong hint that this is more alarmism and hysteria than science is the use of junk climate model projections in this study to come up with "intolerable heat".
Notice here the switch again from "climate change" to global warming. Whenever it is convenient for propaganda?
Notice here also they provide only a relative temperature range and not an absolute temperature range when older individuals may suffer more! This may indicate e.g. that perhaps many older individuals are not that much affected by warmer outdoor temperatures.
The methodology may also be seriously flawed as they compare Little Ice Age temperatures with current warming period temperatures instead of e.g. Medieval Warming period temperatures! Plus they seem to have used junk climate model projections.
"Older people may face serious health risks from heat at much lower temperatures than previously understood, per new research from Stanford University.
Most previous studies applied heat limits for healthy young adults to all age groups—overlooking the vulnerability of older people.
The new research ... found that people ages 60 and up could “no longer maintain a stable core temperature”—the point at which the body’s biological cooling mechanisms become overwhelmed––at temps roughly 4.7–7.5 degrees Celsius and (40.46–45.5 degrees Fahrenheit) lower than young adults.
After accounting for ways that aging reduces heat tolerance, the number of people facing repeated, “uncompensable” heat exposure—a combination of heat and physical factors—as climates warm is two-to-eight-times higher than earlier studies estimated using young-adult thresholds for all ages.
Suggested solutions: Researchers say there is a need for targeted, age-specific action plans and warning systems to protect older people, ..."
"In short:
A new global study suggests older people may face serious health risks from heat at much lower temperatures than previously understood.
The study found the temperature at which people age 60 and older could "no longer maintain a stable core temperature" was roughly 4.7–7.5 degrees Celsius lower than for young adults. ..."
From the abstract:
"Background
In a warming world, understanding where, when, and to what extent human heat tolerance limits will be breached has become increasingly important.
Previous projections applied heat limits for healthy young adults to all age groups, overlooking greater vulnerability in older ages.
With global ageing, this oversight could seriously underestimate future heat risks. In this study, we aimed to examine the extent to which accounting for age-specific heat tolerance alters global projections of heat limit exceedances.
Methods
We integrated experimentally derived heat limits for young (18–39 years), middle-aged (40–59 years), and older adults (≥60 years) with climate projections [???] and age-stratified population projections to assess where and to what extent these limits could be breached across age groups under 1–4°C of global warming above preindustrial levels.
The climate projections [???] include bias-corrected projections of dry-bulb temperature and wet-bulb temperature from 14 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 climate models under the shared socioeconomic pathway 5-8·5 scenario. We also highlighted countries with high exposure risk and low adaptive capacity.
Findings
More widespread and imminent breaches of heat limits were estimated among older adult populations than among other populations.
Older adults faced more frequent and spatially extensive exceedances under the 1·5°C global warming scenario [???] relative to the preindustrial period than young adults did under 4°C. Using age-specific thresholds more than doubled the global population having 180 h or more of exceedance annually as compared with previous estimates.
Older adults in south Asia and the Persian Gulf could face sustained, day-and-night exposure for three consecutive months at 3°C or more warming.
We also identified 13 countries under 3°C global warming above the preindustrial period where poverty rates exceed 50% and either at least 10 million older adults or at least 80% of the older adult population experiences 180 h or more of heat limit exceedance annually.
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Niger exceed both the absolute (10 million older adults) and proportional (80% of older adults) exposure thresholds.
Interpretation
Our results suggest accounting for age stratified vulnerability, intolerable heat [???] will be experienced at much larger scales and for longer durations, affecting far more people than previously estimated.
By identifying who and where people are exposed, our findings can inform targeted heat action plans and guide resource allocation and response planning. ..."
People over 60 face heat exposure danger at lower temperatures, study suggests
When Heat Outpaces the Human Body: A Warming, Aging World at Risk "As the climate warms, understanding where, when, and to what extent human heat tolerance limits will be breached has become increasingly important—particularly for the elderly."
Figure 1 Spatial distribution of UHS [uncompensable heat stress] frequency across age groups and warming levels
Scientists harness nature to engineer stronger CAR-T cells by switching CAR signalling and receptor shedding
Good news! Cancer is history (soon)!
"In brief
- Stanford Medicine researchers developed a CAR-T cell design, called the AIR platform, that uses a natural protein-shedding process to reduce unwanted signaling.
- In cell and mouse studies, AIR-equipped CAR-T cells showed less exhaustion and stronger antitumor activity.
- By mimicking natural immune regulation, the approach could help advance future CAR-T treatment options for patients with solid tumors.
...
While impressively fatal against blood and lymphatic cancers, CAR-T cells hit barricades in the harsher solid-tumor environment, inhibiting their success. A chief obstacle is tonic signaling, which occurs when the CAR is continuously alert and the cell is trigger-ready, even if its antigen is nowhere nearby. ... CAR-T cells become exhausted and dysfunctional, dehydrating their ability to track and kill their targets. ..."
From the highlights and abstract:
"Highlights
• A 15-aa AIR motif endows activation-induced receptor shedding in human T cells
• AIR tunes tonic signaling CARs, reducing exhaustion and improving anti-tumor potency
• AIR improves CAR activity by selectively dampening NFAT signaling and limiting AICD
• AIR enables logic-gated CARs and activation-shed FAS/TGFBR2 to enhance tumor control
Summary
We sought to endow T cell autonomous regulation of cell surface protein expression by exploiting the conditional proteolytic activity of ADAM17 following T cell activation.
Screening of canonical ADAM17 substrates yielded a minimal 15-aa CD62L-derived motif that confers rapid and reversible cleavage of a receptor following T cell activation—termed activation-induced release (AIR).
Embedding AIR into tonic-signaling CARs reduced basal CAR expression proportional to the degree of tonic signaling induced, curtailing exhaustion and improving antitumor potency.
In non-tonic signaling CARs, AIR decreased activation-induced cell death and enhanced T cell expansion after stimulation.
AIR’s modularity supports higher-order logic-gating;
AIR-regulated peptide masks enable antigen-dependent unmasking of an EGFR-targeting CAR.
Finally, CRISPR knockin of AIR into endogenous FAS or TGFBR2 endowed them with activation-induced shedding, which enhanced tumor clearance while preserving signaling in non-activating conditions.
AIR is a compact switch that provides fast, autonomous regulation of surface proteins for next-generation cell therapies."
Graphical abstract
Figure 1. Characterization of the T cell surfaceome identifies proteins with activation-dependent surface expression, and analysis of the minimal regions required for surface downregulation
Estrogen-only menopausal hormone therapy linked to fewer Alzheimer’s hallmarks in women
Good news!
Notice how Stanford University strenuously avoids to mention women in the first article below even though this health subject is about women!!! A typical case of deplorable ideology and indoctrination? It is certainly very strange!
"In brief
- Stanford Medicine researchers examined autopsied brains for Alzheimer’s defining pathological hallmarks to learn how menopausal hormone therapy relates to the disease.
- The study found that estrogen-only therapy was associated with fewer of these Alzheimer’s hallmarks and better performance on memory tests and in the ability to function independently.
- The finding challenges a longstanding recommendation against hormone therapy for memory decline and points to a possible benefit against dementia for women who reach menopausal age without a uterus.
...
The study ... is the first to measure the connection between menopausal hormone therapy, or MHT, and reductions in Alzheimer’s-related pathological deposits in autopsied brains. ..."
From the abstract:
"Background and Objectives
Although evidence suggests that the neurophysiologic impact of estrogen decline during menopause may contribute to increased risk of Alzheimer disease (AD) in women, the effect of menopausal hormonal therapy (MHT) on AD risk requires further study. We sought to examine the associations between MHT use and neuropathologic, clinical, and imaging/fluid biomarker outcomes.
Methods
In this cohort study, we tested the association between estrogen-only MHT use and dementia outcomes in female participants using 2 independent, large-scale data sets:
National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center (NACC) and
Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI).
Participants included women 50 years and older with self-reported use of estrogen-only MHT or no self-reported use of MHT. Clinical, imaging/fluid biomarker, and neuropathologic outcomes were examined. Research was performed at academic medical centers.
Results
Neuropathologic data were collected from
NACC for 258 MHT users (mean age of death = 81.9, SD = 19.5) and 2,701 non-MHT users (mean age of death = 82.2, SD = 11.0).
NACC for 258 MHT users (mean age of death = 81.9, SD = 19.5) and 2,701 non-MHT users (mean age of death = 82.2, SD = 11.0).
The ADNI cohort included 110 MHT users (mean age = 76.5, SD = 7.5) and 1,948 non-MHT users (mean age = 73.2, SD = 8.9).
The odds of increased AD pathology on autopsy (primary outcome) were significantly decreased in MHT users relative to nonusers (odds ratio [OR] 0.65, 95% CI 0.48–0.88, p = 0.005).
MHT use was associated with secondary outcomes including significantly decreased amyloid pathologic load assessed through plasma (β = 0.44, 95% CI 0.16–0.73, p = 0.0025) and CSF (β = 0.07, 95% CI 0.002–0.13, p = 0.030).
MHT use was associated with significantly lower odds of clinical dementia diagnoses (OR 0.61, 95% CI 0.55–0.67, p < 0.0001) and lower odds of symptoms of memory/functional decline (OR 0.67, 95% CI 0.61–0.74, p < 0.0001).
Discussion
Our findings demonstrate small but significant associations between MHT use during later life and a range of AD-related neuropathologic and clinical outcomes in 2 large cohorts of female participants.
Although our results do not address causality and have limited generalizability due to the retrospective nature of the study, they suggest a protective effect of MHT use in the dementia course."
Study ties estrogen-based menopausal hormone therapy to lower Alzheimer’s risk "Some studies have reported that menopausal hormone therapy raises dementia risk. A new study that analyzed Alzheimer’s-disease hallmarks in autopsied brains indicates the opposite."
Meet Mexico’s secretary of security and citizen protection who is the counterpart for the US in fighting cross border crime
Good news!
"Omar García Harfuch has become Washington’s most important security counterpart in Mexico by doing the unglamorous thing: producing results.
For years, Washington has asked the same question about Mexico: Can we count on our southern neighbor as a serious security partner? Increasingly, the answer appears to be yes.
Much of the change runs through Omar García Harfuch, Mexico’s secretary of security and citizen protection. Under President Claudia Sheinbaum, Harfuch has emerged as one of the most important officials in Mexico — and perhaps the Mexican official who matters most to American security. ..."
Omar García Harfuch (Source)
Astronomers discover a brand-new type of astrophysical object: A black hole star
Amazing stuff!
"Astronomers ... have spotted an extremely bright red spot in the early universe. The object resembles an enormous star, spanning the size of our solar system. But it also is putting out 100 billion times more energy than any known star can physically produce. In fact, such energies are closer to what a black hole might generate.
The curious combination suggests that the red spot is an entirely new type of astrophysical source. The astronomers are calling it a “black hole star.” ..."
From the abstract:
"The physical processes that led to the formation of billion-solar-mass black holes within the first 700 million years of cosmic time, a period known as cosmic dawn, remain a puzzle.
Several theoretical scenarios have been proposed to seed and rapidly grow black holes, but direct observations of these mechanisms remain elusive.
Here we present a source 660 million years after the Big Bang that exhibits singular properties: among the largest hydrogen Balmer breaks reported at any redshift, broad multi-peaked Hβ emission, and Balmer line absorption in several transitions.
We model this source as an enshrouded black hole in which the Balmer break and absorption features are a result of extremely dense, turbulent gas forming a dust-free envelope around a supermassive black hole.
This source may provide evidence of an early black hole embedded in dense gas—a theoretical configuration proposed to rapidly grow black holes by super-Eddington accretion.
Radiation from the black hole seems to dominate almost all observed light, leaving limited room for contribution from its host galaxy. If the source merged with its brighter neighbour, it would resemble the recently discovered ‘little red dots’ with perplexing spectral energy distributions.
The redness of the black hole is due to gas, not dust, and scattering, not kinematics, gives rise to the complex line shapes and luminosities—black hole masses of these sources may therefore be overestimated by orders of magnitude."
Fig. 1: JWST imaging and spectroscopy of MoM-BH*-1.
Oxford Ökonom Maximilian Kasy über KI: Das sollten wir nicht Zuckerberg und Musk überlassen. Wirklich!
Sollen wir es vielleicht den Chinesischen Kommunisten überlassen? Als ob nur zwei Männer die KI bestimmen! Was für ein Unsinn!
Der Oxford Professor hat nur einen lifetime citation count von 2511 (Google Scholar Profile). Entweder ist er noch sehr jung oder er ist bestenfalls nur mittelmäßig. Er ist wohl u.a. ein inequality und fairness Ökonom. Vielleicht ist er auch ein Karl Marx Verschnitt der mit groben Dichotomien arbeitet!
"Herr Professor Kasy, haben Sie Angst vor Künstlicher Intelligenz?
Ich habe Angst davor, was mit Künstlicher Intelligenz getan werden könnte. Es wird ja oft eine bestimmte Geschichte erzählt, gerne auch von Vertretern der Industrie selbst: Wir seien in einen Kampf von Mensch gegen Maschine hineingezogen worden, und die großen KI-Konzerne seien die heroischen Verteidiger [???] der Menschheit. Ich glaube, das ist eine gefährliche Mystifizierung. Künstliche Intelligenz ist ein Mittel zum Zweck. Man kann ihr die verschiedensten Ziele geben – und das ist immer sehr explizit. ..."
Er hat auch ein Buch zum Thema geschrieben (Source)
Maximilian Kasy (Source)
Hinweis, der Professor gebraucht Großschreibung für black Amerikaner, aber nicht fuer white Amerikaner. Typisch linker Ideologe! (Quelle: Sein Papier Fairness, Equality, and Power in Algorithmic Decision-Making
Iran offers $30,000 bounty for killing or capturing invading US soldiers with the reward doubled if carried out by a woman.
What rogue states like Iran do!
"... Hatami repeated Iran's call for the US to leave the Middle East, and said "they no longer have permission to enter the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman or the Strait of Hormuz". ..."
Credits: Defense News
Bilayer Graphene’s Magic further Revealed
Recommendable! A nice overview article!
"... Two twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) ...
Is it conventional superconductivity, such as that first identified in mercury more than a century ago, or is it unconventional superconductivity, such as that discovered in the 1980s in high-temperature superconductors? A new study by Julien Barrier of the University of Manchester in the UK and colleagues may help to provide a resolution to this conundrum ...
To help settle this debate, Barrier and colleagues stacked two TBGs, one with a superconductivity-inducing twist close to the magic angle, the other with a smaller (not magic) twist angle (Fig. 1). This second bilayer acted as a normal metal. By gating each bilayer separately, the researchers could induce different amounts of charge in each, allowing the metallic layer to screen electrons in the superconducting layer. To preserve their distinct electronic properties, the two TBGs had to be electronically decoupled so that their electronic states would not mix. In previous experiments, researchers achieved this decoupling using dielectric hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) spacers, but these several-nanometer-thick layers weakened the screening effect. Instead, Barrier and colleagues introduced a 10° twist between the two TBGs. This ingenious trick decouples the two moiré patterns and suffices to keep their electronic states separate, avoiding the need for physical separation.
Engineering such screening is a good way to probe the pairing mechanism. In the Eliashberg theory of conventional superconductivity—a refinement of BCS theory—electrons experience an effective Coulomb repulsion μ * that must be overcome by an attraction mediated through the exchange of phonons. Increasing the screening between electrons lowers the repulsion μ* while leaving their phonon-mediated attraction unchanged.
If TBG is a conventional superconductor, this screening effect should make phonon-induced electron pairing easier and raise the material’s T c.
But this is exactly the opposite of what Barrier and colleagues observed. They found that increasing the screening between electrons in the superconducting TBG caused the superconducting phase to disappear.
After ruling out trivial explanations, the researchers concluded that this disappearance offers strong evidence that TBG’s superconductivity arises from some type of correlated electron motion that is, at most, very weakly dependent on phonon-mediated attraction. ...
To model the observed behavior, Barrier and colleagues assumed that TBG’s superconductivity arises from an unconventional plasmon-mediated mechanism. Their basic argument is that, for the electronic states involved in superconductivity, screening efficiency decays exponentially on a scale of ∼
2 nm. Because their device uses a large twist angle to decouple the two TBGs instead of a dielectric spacer, the interlayer separation is of subnanometer size, making screening maximally efficient, and much stronger than in earlier experiments with 3–10-nm h-BN spacer layers. Besides explaining the disappearance of the superconducting phase, this plasmon model could also explain an observed disappearance of correlated insulating phases at temperatures below 20 K. ..."
From the abstract:
"The origin of superconductivity in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene has been a subject of intense debate. While some experimental evidence indicated an unconventional pairing mechanism which should be sensitive to Coulomb screening, experimental attempts to tune the critical temperature by screening Coulomb interactions so far have remained unsuccessful, possibly indicating a conventional phonon-mediated pairing.
Here we study a double-layer electronic system consisting of two twisted graphene bilayers in immediate proximity of each other but remaining electronically decoupled.
By increasing the carrier density in one bilayer, we completely suppressed both the superconductivity and the correlated-insulator state in the adjacent magic-angle graphene. The observation of such an effect from screening offers support for an unconventional mechanism of Cooper pairing in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene, shedding new light on the underlying physics governing their properties."
Fig. 1 Characterization of twisted tetralayer graphene device
A lot of Western universities have a lousy website search function
This is incredible in the second quarter of the 21st century! I notice it again and again when I frequently visit various university websites.
Maybe these universities are relying too much on Google Search to substitute for their lousy website search function! Unfortunately, Google Search has its flaws too when it comes to content from Western universities.
Often, the search results are undated!
It is not obvious how the search results were selected or how they were sorted.
An option to sort the search results by e.g. recency is often missing (see e.g. example below)
Here is an example: University of Manchester. I searched for bilayer graphene, because very recently Physical Review X journal published an article from researchers of University of Manchester.
Die vier Ursachen des deutschen Niedergangs, IV: Migration, die wirtschaftlich schadet, statt nützt
Empfehlenswert! Wie Deutschland eine Bananenrepublik wurde!
Leider benutzt dieser Artikel auch den neumodischen und falschen Begriff Migration statt Immigration! Migranten bleiben nicht, Immigranten schon!
"Deutschlands Wirtschaft lahmt, die Insolvenzen steigen auf Rekordniveau und Investitionen fließen ins Ausland: In seiner Reihe analysiert DDW-Kolumnist Rainer Zitelmann die vier Ursachen des Niedergangs.
Folge 1: Wie die Bürokratie Deutschland stranguliert
Folge 2: So verdummt Deutschland
Folge 3: Hohe Energiekosten erdrosseln Unternehmen in Deutschland
Folge 4: Migration, die wirtschaftlich schadet, statt nützt
...
Stelter befasst sich in seinem Buch auch mit den wirtschaftlichen Folgen der Massenmigration. Die fiskalischen Kosten der [Imm]igration, so Stelter, belasten die öffentlichen Haushalte massiv. Mit jährlich 50 Milliarden Euro bewegten sich die Ausgaben in der Größenordnung des Verteidigungshaushalts vor dessen Erhöhung. ...
„Laut Daten der Bundesagentur für Arbeit hatten bereits 2023 rund 62,8 Prozent der erwerbsfähigen Bürgergeldbezieher einen [Imm]igrationshintergrund“
Nach aktuellen Zahlen der Bundesagentur für Arbeit hat knapp die Hälfte aller Bürgergeldbezieher keinen deutschen Pass.Für 2025 wurden rund 5,3 Millionen Bürgergeldempfänger gezählt, davon etwa 2,5 Millionen Ausländer. Das entspricht ungefähr 47 Prozent. ...
„2025 ist bereits das 13. Jahr in Folge, in dem mehr als 100.000 Menschen erstmals Asyl in Deutschland beantragten. Obwohl die meisten Anträge abgelehnt werden, bleiben die Menschen im Land… Noch problematischer ist die Tatsache, dass immer mehr dieser eigentlich nur mit einem Duldungsstatus versehenen Menschen bereits nach fünf Jahren Aufenthalt im Land die deutsche Staatsbürgerschaft erhalten. ..."
Monday, August 17, 2026
Niger Signs $1.9 Billion Oil Refinery Deal with a Canadian company & Drilling Begins at Kafra Oil Well
Good news!
Niger will become one of the major oil producers in Africa.
Gen Z vs Meloni: Young Italian Voters Are Turning Against The Government
Is Giorgia Meloni (age 49) in trouble with voters under 30?
UK-made drones strike targets inside Russia for the first ime
Putin the Terrible will not be happy! The Russo-Ukrainian War is World War III by any other name given how many countries are involved on both sides.
"... The drones, built by two separate British companies, have been used in mainland Russia in widespread and successful targeting of military and industrial targets, including refineries and warehouses of online retailer Wildberries.
The strikes, first reported by the Sunday Times, are said to have caused more than £35bn in economic damage. A well-placed military source confirmed to the BBC the UK drones had been used.
British manufactured Storm Shadow missiles had earlier been used in the conflict, although this new phase is having a far more decisive impact. ..."
Credits: Defense News
China seems to use its strategic petroleum reserve to dampen global oil prices during the Iran war
Recently, there have been several news reports about China lowering its oil imports.
Not only the US has a Strategic Petroleum Reserve!
Which other countries are doing the same?
"China: Estimated to hold the world's largest massive national stockpile at roughly 1.3 billion barrels." (Google search)
"... Beijing’s deployment of its mammoth strategic petroleum reserve. The Chinese are saying “we have saved the world for a second time thanks to our foresight,” Ek says.
Many analysts attribute the fact that the worst fears on oil prices have not (yet) been realised to Beijing’s careful release of barrels into its domestic market, and its restrictions on product imports and exports. ...
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is tight-lipped on the state of the strategic petroleum reserve. It consists of two parts: one under the direct control of the state and the other, larger element, within the state-owned oil companies.
Before the war, the US Energy Information Administration estimated that it totalled about 1.4 billion barrels — enough to cover more than 100 days of imports. ..."
Laute Wärmepumpe: Wie viel Lärm Nachbarn dulden müssen
Neues aus der Bananenrepublik D! Wärmepumpen sind auch so eine Schnapsidee, wie Windenergie!
So wie die riesigen Windturbinen nicht leise rotieren!
Wer hat die Grenzwerte für Wärmepumpen festgesetzt? Ich wette, die sind hoch genug, um jede Kritik zu abzuschmettern!
An attack on healthcare every six hours or 4 per day, and no one held to account (mostly war or armed conflict related attacks)
Bad news!
"Across the world, healthcare has suffered more than 10,000 attacks in the past eight years, including during the brutal conflict in Ukraine and efforts to contain the current Ebola outbreak spreading rapidly in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). ...
The UN agency maintains a surveillance system for attacks on healthcare, which includes hospitals and other facilities, personnel and patients, ambulances and other transport, as well as warehouses and supplies.
Since 2018, more than 10,400 attacks have been reported across 29 countries and territories, resulting in approximately 5,700 deaths and over 8,000 injuries. To date, no one has been held accountable. ...
Between January and August of this year alone, WHO recorded more than 900 attacks resulting in at least 900 deaths and more than 1,400 injuries – a rate of more than four attacks a day.
Most incidents occurred in Ukraine, Lebanon and the occupied Palestinian territory, but other locations include Myanmar, Iran, Sudan, the DRC, South Sudan, Russia, Syria and Nigeria. ..."
14 distinct foodborne parasites drive ~277 million illnesses worldwide
Bad news! Next time you travel to some of these regions ...
"... finds a new WHO analysis published in The Lancet Global Health; the research highlights “the significant burden” of “these often-overlooked diseases” that disproportionately affect low-resource regions. ..."
From the abstract:
"Background
Over 10 years ago, WHO estimates of hazard-specific foodborne disease burdens showed that parasites exert considerable health burdens globally. We updated these estimates, focusing on 14 invasive parasitic diseases.
Methods
Incidences, deaths, and disability-adjusted life-year (DALY) burdens were estimated for each parasitic disease from 2000 to 2021, using data from systematic reviews and the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study.
For some diseases, structured expert judgement was used to estimate proportions of foodborne infection.
Data were pooled via hierarchical meta-regression models with uncertainty propagated through Monte Carlo simulations following disease-specific computational models defined by incidence rates and probability parameters.
Findings
We estimated that 277 million illnesses were caused by potentially foodborne invasive parasites, with approximately 171 million attributable to foodborne transmission.
Considerable heterogeneity by parasite, in magnitude and uncertainty, was observed. Of 4·89 million foodborne DALYs associated with these diseases, highest contributions were from Taenia solium (1·3 million) and Clonorchis sinensis (0·921 million), both also associated with most foodborne deaths.
Burden was greatest in the region of the Americas, predominantly due to Chagas disease, followed by the African region, where neurocysticercosis-associated epilepsy caused most burden.
Burdens decreased globally from 2000 to 2021, except in the Western Pacific region, where the burden, predominantly associated with clonorchiasis, is rising.
Interpretation
Foodborne parasitoses cause considerable suffering, with some populations and regions particularly at risk. These data provide a baseline by which effects of interventions can be assessed and emphasis directed to those parasites exerting the greatest burden."
Did poop/gut evolve with helped fuel the Cambrian explosion?
Amazing stuff! How did bowel movement and excrement develop in the first place? Still an open question, I believe.
One animal's poop is another animal's treasure!
"The driving force behind this biological big bang, they argue in a recent Trends in Ecology & Evolution review paper, just might have been feces.
While many early animals had already appeared in the fossil record during the preceding Ediacaran period, the Cambrian explosion marked the emergence of animal guts, which naturally produced a whole bunch of animal poop. Even so, fossilized turds—known as coprolites—from this time period are hard to come by, and those that are unearthed tend not to attract much attention. Many are left to gather dust in archives, ... or simply abandoned at the dig site.
For the new study, Kimmig and co-author Russell Bicknell analyzed coprolites recovered from more than 35 deposits around the globe, all dating back to before and during the Cambrian explosion. The prehistoric poo came in all shapes and sizes, from microscopic pellets to coprolites measuring several centimeters long and packed with crushed shells and other bits of undigested food. Some had dissolved upon striking the seafloor, creating something evocatively referred to as an “exploded fecal carpet.” (Maybe those marine critters should have laid off the iceberg lettuce...)
The researchers discovered that, as the Cambrian progressed, animal dung became larger, more common, and more complex, reflecting the development of more sophisticated digestive systems. As more and more of this excrement accumulated, the study authors reason, it would have carried organic matter and valuable nutrients from the rich shallows down into the deep ocean, potentially making these environments more habitable. “Together, these fossils show animals were beginning to process and then redistribute organic matter using entirely novel pipelines ,” ... Such a “fecal revolution,” they explain, may have set the stage for an eruption of new life. ..."
From the highlights and abstract:
"Highlights
The ‘Cambrian Radiation’ comprises the rapid diversification of marine organisms and ecological niches during the Ediacaran to Cambrian Periods. It is also the time during which animals with guts first appear. The appearance of guts, in turn, leads to fecal matter, fossils of which are preserved as coprolites.
Fecal matter is rarely preserved in the Cambrian. However, in a few assemblages, the diversity and development of fecal matter are observed. There was little fecal matter available at the onset of the Cambrian, while larger and more diverse fecal matter became available by the middle Cambrian.
We assess the effect that increased availability of fecal matter had on deeper water environments and how this made such environments habitable for Cambrian organisms.
Combining these observations with data on digestive tracts and biogeochemistry of nutrient cycling in the Cambrian demonstrates that fecal matter played a significant role in driving the Cambrian Radiation.
Abstract
Coprolites—fossil material extruded from an animal’s digestive system—represent a rare insight into trophic interactions in deep time. However, while the first animals appeared about 600 million years ago, the first coprolites are only observed in the earliest Cambrian.
Conversely, in modern oceans, fecal pellets are an important part of the particulate organic carbon in the water column and the global flux of organic carbon to deep water.
In this review, we analyze the impact of the advent of fecal matter on the Cambrian Radiation by examining coprolites, analyzing animal biology, and contextualizing this through the role of fecal pellets in the oceanic nutrient cycle. We illustrate the central position of coprolites in driving the Cambrian Radiation."
The Cambrian fecal revolution: Fueling the Cambrian Radiation (no public access)
A curious collection of Cambrian coprolites (fossilized poop)
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