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!

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.

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.

Chart of the day

Reckless federal government spending since about the year 2005!

Not since World War II was this ratio so high!

The US was famous and enjoyed a high reputation for fiscal prudence between 1945 and about 2005 to have a moderate debt/gdp ratio compared to many other Western countries.

 

I believe, the US federal debt to GDP ratio has exceeded the 100% already in 2025 or 2024.

Debt-to-GDP Ratio Tops 100 Percent

Israeli Rafael close to buying VW plant in Germany to produce components for the Iron Dome

More news from the banana republic of Germany!

Is Germany becoming a contract supplier to third countries like Thailand! 😊

Caveat: I did not read the entire, long article.

Rafael close to buying VW plant - Globes "“Globes” reveals details of the deal, which would see Volkswagen’s Osnabruck factory converted to produce components for Iron Dome."

Who wins betting on Polymarket?

Food for thought! Is this similar to stock exchanges?

Probably more data analysis is needed here!

There was e.g. that US soldier with insider knowledge on the abduction of dictator Maduro.

"0.1% The share of Polymarket accounts that get 67% of the profits, according to a WSJ analysis of platform data and interviews with traders. Prediction markets’ advertising implies everyone has a fair chance to score. In reality, casual traders bleed cash while a small number of sophisticated pros clean up. Polymarket declined to comment. It has a data partnership with WSJ publisher Dow Jones. WSJ used only publicly available data."

Street Journal What's news

Poland Moves to Grant Displaced Ukrainians 3-Year Residency

Good news! Bravo!

Unfortunately, it appears the long article does not mention how many Ukrainian refugees are affected.

"Poland has unveiled a plan to allow displaced Ukrainians to transition from the current temporary protection status to a three-year residency on Monday, May 4.

The route, known as the CUKR, is available to Ukrainians who have a PESEL UKR tax identifier, held temporary protection status as of June 4, 2025, have maintained it continuously for at least 365 days, and continue to hold it at the time of applying for the residence card, according to Polish outlet RMF24.

The three-year residency would grant applicants the right to work legally without needing additional work permits. However, it would also mean that benefits tied to temporary protection would no longer be available, according to the Polish Office for Foreigners, as cited by the outlet. ..."

Poland Moves to Grant Displaced Ukrainians 3-Year Residency "The transition comes as Europe weighs policy changes for displaced Ukrainians as Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine is now in its fifth year."

Cruelest Month for Russian Fuel: Inside Ukraine’s April Deep Strike Wave damaging 14 Russia refineries

Good news! The Iran war is not the only reason why global crude oil prices are rising!

When will the apathetic and lethargic Russian people finally get rid of the megalomaniac and warmonger Putin the Terrible! The rest of the world is watching and waiting! Another Gorbatchev please!

"Ukraine’s Defense Forces used long-range strike weapons in April to hit 14 Russian oil refineries and terminals, two industrial plants, and military assets from occupied Crimea to the Urals – long considered Russia’s “deep rear,” according to a Defense Ministry report.

The campaign focused heavily on Russia’s oil refining and fuel logistics network, which plays a central role in financing the war and supplying the Russian Armed Forces. ..."

Cruelest Month for Russian Fuel: Inside Ukraine’s April Deep Strike Wave "Ukraine says it struck 14 Russian refineries and key fuel hubs in April, alongside ports, ships, aircraft and military sites from Crimea to the Urals."

This handout satellite image released by 2026 Planet Labs PBC on April 29, 2026, shows a plume of smoke rising from the Tuapse oil refinery in the Russian port of Tuapse, south-western Russia, on April 28, 2026.

AI is starting to beat human doctors at making correct diagnoses in the emergency room

Good news! Finally, human doctors/phycisians get some serious competition to the benefit of our health!

"... This vision of AI-assisted emergency health care may soon be reality. In a new study, researchers show that a type of AI known as a large language model (LLM) often outperformed physicians at diagnosing complex and potentially life-threatening conditions, including decreased blood flow to the heart, even in the fast-moving stages of real ER care when information is limited, they report today in Science.

In early ER cases, the model identified the correct or a very close diagnosis in about 67% of cases, compared with roughly 50% to 55% for physicians. And the technology is only getting better. ..."

From the editor's summary and abstract:

"Editor’s summary

Computational tools for medical decision support have been advancing over time, mainly by serving as resources for limited applications. Machine learning tools for autonomous interpretation of clinical cases have also been gradually improving over time.

Brodeur et al. pitted a large language model, the OpenAI o1 series, directly against hundreds of physicians at different levels of training and experience on a variety of clinical cases ranging from published patient vignettes to evaluations of brand-new emergency room patients, as well as on clinical tasks including both diagnosis and planning of clinical management  ... Across a variety of scenarios and applications, the large language model outperformed both human physicians and older models, suggesting its potential utility for clinical care.  ...

Abstract

More than 65 years ago, complex clinical diagnostic reasoning cases were introduced as the gold standard for the evaluation of expert medical computing systems, a standard that has held ever since.

In this study, we report the results of a physician evaluation of a large language model (LLM) on challenging clinical cases across five experiments with a baseline of hundreds of physicians.

We then report a real-world study comparing human expert and artificial intelligence (AI) second opinions in randomly selected patients in the emergency room of a major tertiary academic medical center.

In all experiments, the LLM outperformed physician baselines and displayed continued improvement from prior generations of AI clinical decision support. Our study suggests that LLMs have eclipsed most benchmarks of clinical reasoning, motivating the urgent need for prospective trials."

AI is starting to beat doctors at making correct diagnoses | Science | AAAS "Large language model excels at clinical decisions, even in fast pace of a simulated ER"

AI can reason like a physician—what comes next? (Perspective, open access) "Text-based AI can think like a physician; the challenge is achieving safe clinical implementation" [This Perspective has no abstract!]

Performance of a large language model on the reasoning tasks of a physician (no public access)

Superhuman performance of a large language model on the reasoning tasks of a physician (similar preprint, published 12/14/2024, open access) 

Scientists Create First-Ever map of smell receptors in the nose

Amazing stuff!

"At a glance

• Scientists have created the first detailed map of smell receptors in the nose, catching up with similar achievements in sight, hearing, and touch.
• The map reveals that smell receptors are highly organized into tight bands based on type.
• The findings provide foundational knowledge needed to develop better therapies for loss of smell.

...

Yet from a scientific perspective, “olfaction is super-mysterious,” ... with basic biological understanding lagging behind that of vision, hearing, and touch. ...

Working in mice, ... team have now created the first detailed map of how the thousand-plus types of smell receptors in the nose are organized.

They discovered that unlike what scientists had long believed, the neurons expressing these receptors have a high degree of spatial organization: They form horizontal stripes based on receptor type from the top of the nose to the bottom. ..."

From the highlights and abstract:

"Highlights

• ∼1,100 olfactory receptors adopt stereotyped spatial distributions in the epithelium

• Epithelial space coherently regulates the graded expression of ∼250 genes

• Precursor spatial identities bias olfactory receptor choice

• Receptor positions in the nose are aligned with their axonal targets in the brain

Summary

Although topographical maps organize many peripheral sensory systems, mouse olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) are thought to randomly choose which one of ∼1,100 possible olfactory receptors (ORs) to express, with spatial organization in the olfactory epithelium limited to a handful of broad anatomical “zones” that modestly restrict OR choice.

Here, we reveal that each OR is instead expressed at a unique mean dorsoventral position, thereby instantiating a stereotyped receptor map in the olfactory epithelium.

OSN dorsoventral identities are encoded by a coherent gene expression program, which includes key transcription factors and axon guidance molecules; use of this program reflects a dorsoventral gradient in retinoic acid signaling, translates each physical location into a spatially appropriate distribution of potential OR choices, and aligns receptor maps in the nose and brain.

Spatial order in the olfactory system, therefore, arises from a continuously varying transcriptional code that precisely organizes the many discrete channels responsible for smell."

Scientists Create First-Ever ‘Smell Map’ | Harvard Medical School "A detailed diagram of smell receptors in the nose fills in missing details of how olfaction works"

A spatial code governs olfactory receptor choice and aligns sensory maps in the nose and brain (open access)

Graphical abstract

Figure 2 Each OSN subtype occupies a unique region of the epithelium

English for trippers: Cruel fuel

Ready for a duel?

Hopfions split into multiple lower H-hopfions

Amazing stuff!

"In the past few years, physicists have created long-predicted quasiparticles called hopfions—3D, localized, knot-like arrangements of a magnetic material’s spin texture.

A hopfion can be described in terms of its Hopf number H, which counts how many loops of spins are interlinked in the knot.

Researchers have proposed using hopfions in spintronic computers, where H would encode information. This is because a hopfion is a topologically protected state, meaning H stays the same under many deformation conditions.

In new computational work ... have developed a method for splitting high-H hopfions into multiple lower-H hopfions, an operation that would be useful for such spintronic information-storage devices.

The team modeled a two-layer structure in which hopfions were hosted by a magnetic material adjacent to a heavy metal.

An electric current flowing along the heavy-metal layer generated a perpendicular spin-polarized current via the spin Hall effect. This spin-polarized current leaked into the magnetic layer and exerted a torque on the magnetic moments, pulling different parts of the magnetic texture in opposite directions and thereby stretching the hopfions. The researchers found that, once the torque exceeded a threshold, it could overcome a hopfion’s topological protection and tear a higher-H hopfion into multiple lower-H hopfions. An H = 4 hopfion, for example, could split into four H = 1 hopfions or two H = 2 hopfions depending on the strength of the spin-orbit torque. ..."

From the abstract:

"Knots formed by the intertwining of strings have attracted broad interest across various scientific disciplines owing to their rich topology. This concept has recently gained increasing importance in condensed matter physics, as exemplified by a magnetic hopfion labeled by a topological invariant called the Hopf number 𝐻.

Here, we show that spin-orbit torque (SOT) enables dynamic manipulation of the Hopf number of magnetic hopfions. We investigate the SOT-driven evolution of hopfions, revealing the splitting of a high-𝐻 hopfion into multiple lower-𝐻 ones, a process that can be quantified by an effective tension picture.

Comparative analysis across different 𝐻 uncovers a hierarchy of instabilities that dictates these dynamical topological transitions.

These findings not only indicate potential applications of hopfions in SOT-driven multilevel memory devices, but also provide a paradigm for the dynamical control of knot topology."

Physics - Hopfions at the Breaking Point "Simulations show that knot-like magnetic structures called hopfions can be pulled apart—a capability that could be harnessed for spintronic memory devices."

Controlling knot topology in magnetic hopfions via spin-orbit torque (open access)

Fig. 1

(a) Schematic illustrations of magnetic hopfions with 𝐻=1,2, and 4, shown by the isosurfaces of 𝑆𝑧=0, along with their corresponding preimages that satisfy 𝑆𝑥=1 (blue) and 𝑆𝑥=−1 (red). The color code in the inset is used throughout this Letter to depict spin orientations.

(b) A typical setup for this study. A spin current injected from the lower heavy metal layer works on magnetic moments as a SOT, thereby inducing hopfion dynamics in the upper magnetic layer. Snapshots of the 𝐻=2

(c) and 𝐻=4

(d) hopfions under (𝐵,𝜁)=(0.003,0.002) and (𝐵,𝜁)=(0.003,0.0021), respectively. The lower panels show their preimages to support the observation of changes in the knot topology.

Taiwan’s President Makes Daring Africa Trip to Eswatini, Defying Chinese Airspace Blocks

Good news!

Communist China should be reunited with democratic Taiwan not the other way around. It should be a peaceful and voluntary reunification. Germany was reunited in 1990.

"The Chinese Communist government exerted pressure last month on the Seychelles, Mauritius, and Madagascar to revoke flight permits for Lai’s presidential aircraft, making it all but impossible for the Taiwanese president to reach Eswatini’s airspace. 

Lai canceled his trip on April 21, denouncing China’s “economic coercion,” but on Saturday he managed to bypass the Chinese blockade by taking an unannounced flight on an Eswatini aircraft. ...

Eswatini is one of just 12 remaining countries that maintain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan. The island’s other diplomatic partners were systematically peeled away by Beijing in an aggressive campaign that began after the election of Lai’s predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, in 2016. ..."

Taiwan’s President Lands in Eswatini, Defying Chinese Airspace Blocks "Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te arrived in Eswatini on Saturday, defiantly proclaiming Taiwan’s right to engage with friends and allies despite intensive efforts from China to block his trip."

Spain's government spent $2bn on Illegals, But Spent Just $70m on Border Protection in 2025

Headline of the day! Maybe the numbers are somewhat incorrect, but in general such a large spending gap is probably in the ballpark.

"... In contrast, the Spanish government spent just €60 million ($70m) to stop illegal migration, €20 million ($23.4m) of which was funded by a grant from the European Union’s Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), making Madrid’s overall spending on protecting its borders even smaller.

Out of that €60 million, the Spanish Interior Ministry barely spent €20 million last year to reinforce border security. Of the € 1.8 billion spent to support migrants once they have arrived in Spain, the costs are widely spread across the state. ..."

Spain Gave $2bn to Illegals, But Spent Just $70m on Border Protection "The Spanish government spent over €1.8 billion of taxpayers’ money last year attending to the needs of illegal migrants in the country, while spending only a tiny fraction of that, €60 million, funding efforts to stop them from arriving in the first place."

Kanzler im Panzer. Wirklich!

Der Mann macht sich nur lächerlich! Bilder aus der Bananenrepublik D!

1975 hat der Mann seinen 15 Monate Wehrpflicht abgeleistet. Das ist wohl seine ganze Erfahrung mit der Bundeswehr. (Quelle)

Source

Im Juni 2025 ließ der Kanzler sich im Kampfflugzeug abbilden (Quelle)

Dopant boosts carbon nanotubes’ conductivity tenfold

Good news!

"Doping carbon nanotubes with tetrachloroaluminate ions can increase their electrical conductivity around tenfold without harming the nanotube structures, researchers in Spain have shown. The research helps explain the chemistry of nanotube doping, and could potentially lead to applications such as lighter, stronger cables for electricity distribution. ...

exposed commercial double-walled carbon nanotubes with an initial conductivity of around 1.4MS/m to an atmosphere of aluminium trichloride and excess chlorine for 24 hours, causing tetrachloroaluminate ions to diffuse into the structure. Spectroscopic analysis indicated that, rather than entering the nanotubes’ centres, the ions intercalated between the walls. The researchers observed no significant expansion of the nanotubes. They showed that the fact that the nanotubes are wrapped concentrically creates a greater gap between the carbon atoms than in multilayer graphene, ... ‘Therefore, it can host the dopant without distorting the bundle.’ ..."

From the editor's summary and abstract:

"Editor’s summary

Translating the outstanding individual properties of carbon nanotubes, such as their electrical and thermal conductivity, into bulk materials that retain those properties remains a challenge.

de Isidro-Gomez et al. demonstrated controlled vapor-phase intercalation of tetrachloroaluminate (AlCl₄−) ions within intertube channels to make macroscopic double-walled carbon nanotube fibers.

The fibers showed high electrical conductivity approaching 40% of the value of copper at room temperature.

On a per-weight basis, the cables exceeded both the conductivity and strength of conventional overhead cables. Furthermore, they showed excellent dry stability and reasonable moisture tolerance when protected by a polymer sheath. ...

Abstract

Translating the conductivity of individual carbon nanotubes into practical, macroscopic conductors remains a challenge.

We report highly aligned fibers of double-walled carbon nanotubes intercalated with chains of tetrachloroaluminate anions (AlCl4−) in the intertube channels. The AlCl4− intercalant acts as a noncovalent dopant, accepting 0.65 electrons per anion, mostly from the outer nanotube layer.

Combined with a 17% intercalant volume fraction, it produces an increase in room-temperature conductivity to values as high as 24.5 mega-Siemens per meter, which is 41% of that of copper.

Specific conductivity values reach 17,345 Siemens-meter squared per kilogram, which is superior to that of metals.

These fibers are five times stronger and half the weight of conventional overhead cables while remaining stable in dry conditions and retaining 80% of their conductivity protected from moisture by a cable polymer sheath."

Dopant boosts carbon nanotubes’ conductivity tenfold | Research | Chemistry World

Intercalated carbon nanotube fibers with high specific electrical conductivity (no public access)

The tetrachloroaluminate ions are positioned in interstitial channels between the double-walled carbon nanotubes

English for trippers: Irrigate to irritate

Nothing to be irate about!

US Geological Survey recently estimated that there are over 2 million metric tons of undiscovered, economically recoverable lithium in the Appalachian Mountains

Good news!

"The United States Geological Survey recently estimated that there are over 2 million metric tons of undiscovered, economically recoverable lithium in the Appalachian Mountains, enough to supply the country for centuries at current levels of consumption."

"“The southern Appalachians hold an estimated 1.43 million metric tons of lithium oxide, concentrated in the Carolinas, and

the northern Appalachians hold an estimated 900,000 metric tons, concentrated in Maine and New Hampshire, according to estimates in a new USGS scientific paper published in Natural Resources Research. The lithium is present in pegmatites, large-grained rocks similar to granite. ..."

Doomslayer: Progress Roundup - by Malcolm Cochran

Lithium in Eastern States Could Replace Imports for a Century

https://www.usgs.gov/news/national-news-release/lithium-eastern-states-could-replace-imports-a-century-or-more

California is now allowing companies to test and deploy driverless trucks

Good news! A human driver will still be required for now!

"“The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) on Tuesday adopted new regulations for autonomous vehicles, ​allowing manufacturers to test and deploy heavy-duty ‌driverless vehicle technology on the state’s roads…

Here are a few ⁠details:

• The move lifts the ban on operating ​autonomous vehicles weighing over 10,001 pounds (4,536.4 kg), opening ​California to autonomous freight operations.
• However, vehicles will still be required to stop at patrol stations and comply with state ​and federal commercial motor vehicle rules.
• Medium-duty autonomous ​vehicles up to 14,001 pounds will be allowed to ‌be ⁠operated by public agencies and universities.

..."

California Allows Manufacturers to Deploy Heavy Autonomous Vehicles - Human Progress

Israel to purchase 50 F-35s, 25 new F-15s, doubling fleet sizes

Good news! Israel armed to the teeth! David's slingshot!

However, in the age of drone warfare was this a good choice?

"Israel announced on Sunday a blockbuster decision to double the size of its F-35 fleet from 50 to 100 and its new F-15IA fleet from 25 to 50.

The decision reflects a radical post-October 7 world: Israel will increase defense spending over the next 10 years by NIS 350 billion, in addition to annual defense spending that has risen from under NIS 100 billion to nearly NIS 150 billion. ..."

Israel to purchase 50 F-35s, 25 new F-15s, doubling fleet sizes | The Jerusalem Post "The NIS 350 billion deal resolves the debate over which plane to invest in, resulting in a much larger budget to cover both."

More than 3 million people have lost access to food stamps since stricter eligibility requirements were put in place last July

Good news! For several decades there have been speculations about the fraud going on affecting food stamps!

"3 million +. The number of people who have lost access to food stamps since stricter eligibility requirements were put in place last July, according to federal data. Some states are seeing dramatic declines in recipient numbers, and experts are expressing concern that this will result in vulnerable Americans not getting enough to eat."

Wall Street Journal What's news

Japan eyes world-first transmission of space-based solar power to Earth by 2050. Really!

I am very skeptical of this approach of beaming solar power to Earth from space especially if this was done at large scale around the world!

What is the environmental impact? What does it cost?

By 2050??? Japan is too slow! Others will long have tried this before Japan!

It appears this is not the first time this was reported by a news media outlet!

"Japan aims to launch a 2.5-square-kilometer solar panel into space by 2050."

Japan eyes world-first transmission of space-based solar power to Earth - Nikkei Asia "Experiment will use microwaves to send electricity from orbit"

A satellite foundation model for improved wealth monitoring. Really!

When top ML & AI researchers naively think they can improve social outcomes or social improvements! In this case it is Stefano Ermon of Stanford University! Lets' not forget that the brilliant physicist Albert Einstein was a stupid socialist!

This paper is most likely a joke! How easy is it for wealthy individuals to fool this model?

Will this kind of wealth modeling not be abused by greedy governments to tax the rich? The rich will vote with their feet etc. to avoid extra tax burdens.

From the abstract:

"Poverty statistics guide social policy, but in many low- and middle-income countries, censuses and household surveys that collect these data are costly, infrequent, quickly outdated, and sometimes error-prone.

Satellite imagery offers global coverage and the possibility of predicting economic livelihoods at scale, yet existing approaches to predicting livelihoods with imagery or other non-traditional data often fail to reliably identify local-level variation and, as we show, degrade under temporal shift.

Here we introduce Tempov, a satellite foundation model pretrained by self-supervision on three million bi-temporal Landsat pairs and adapted with parameter-efficient fine-tuning to sparse survey labels. The model enables large-scale, high-resolution wealth mapping and dynamic measurement, including zero-shot nowcasting up to a decade after observed labels, retrospective hindcasting, and decadal change tracking, while outperforming existing neural network and geospatial foundation-model baselines.

In low-label regimes, Tempov achieves competitive accuracy with only 10% of survey samples, indicating substantially reduced dependence on expensive label collection.

The model further generalizes across populous countries within and outside Africa, and scales to a unified Africa-wide model with strong continent-level performance (, ), from which we generate high-resolution decadal maps of wealth and wealth changes for the African continent.

Analysis of these maps shows large variation in recent economic performance both within and across countries. Our open-source approach provides a pathway to timely, scalable, low-cost monitoring of wealth and poverty from routinely collected satellite data."

[2604.23166] A satellite foundation model for improved wealth monitoring