Good news!
Friday, October 02, 2026
Why have Ethiopia and Eritrea cut off relations? with Palki Sharma
Serious stuff! So much war in this region for so many years!
Iran's Parliament Moves Towards Nuclear Treaty Withdrawal
Ist the theocracy making another bad choice?
The Top 10 Richest People In The World according to Forbes
Impressive! Very little change from previous top 10 list.
Andra Pradesh: Cadbury's Sri City Factory Soon to Be the World's Largest chocolate factory
Another good reason to travel to India (at least for a chocoholic like me)! š
The Group of Seven major economies agreed to release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil
Good news!
It was also reported that President Trump pushed and insisted that Western countries release some fuel from their emergency stocks.
"The nations plan to release the fuel from their emergency stocks and also agreed not to restrict exports. It’s a move that aims to bring down the soaring price of fuels and would seem to end the threat of a U.S. ban on diesel exports, at least for now. The first batch of the release will give priority to diesel. It will begin immediately and last for 20 days, the group said."
North America’s largest wildlife overpass in Colorado has cut animal-vehicle collisions by 91%
Good news!
"...
• Dimensions: 200 feet wide and 209 feet long, covering 41,800 square feet (nearly an acre).
• Dimensions: 200 feet wide and 209 feet long, covering 41,800 square feet (nearly an acre).
• Completion Date: December 2025.
..." (Google Search)
"... "This area was getting about one deer hit a day during those high movement periods in the spring and fall." ..."
"North America’s largest wildlife overpass has cut animal-vehicle collisions by 91% along Colorado’s I-25 since opening in December [2025]. Elk herds, bears, and deer are already using the bridge, and pronghorn have crossed to the west side of the highway for the first time in decades."
The US and China will have a red phone for AI emergencies, while Europe is left to watch
Headline of the day! Goes to whether Europe is a museum and a hoard of antiquities!
Astronomers identified a lava planet with an atmosphere about 154 light years away
Amazing stuff!
Why "stars much smaller than the sun"?
"... a scorching world that may resemble early Earth and offer clues about how young planets hold onto their gaseous envelopes."
"... Researchers spotted HD 3167 b, a rocky super-Earth covered in lava, orbiting a star 154 light-years away. This planet orbits so closely to its star that a "year" on the world (one revolution around its star) takes only one Earth day. But it's not just a lava-covered rock — it's the smallest lava world researchers have ever found. And yet, it has managed to hang onto its atmosphere. ...
One of the driving questions that the James Webb Space Telescope is being used to answer is whether planets orbiting stars much smaller than the sun have atmospheres. It appears that most of those terrestrial planets don’t—they’re just bare rock. ..."
From the abstract:
"“Lava worlds”, Earth-sized planets hot enough (Teq ≳ 1100 K) to melt their dayside silicate surfaces, have emerged as promising candidates for atmospheric detection and characterization.
Thermal emission observations show an apparent dichotomy: The hottest lava worlds have colder daysides than the temperature of a maximally emitting bare rock, indicating the likely presence of thick and/or reflective atmospheres, while the coldest ones do not.
However, where in instellation flux this potential bifurcation occurs is uncertain. We present a JWST/MIRI Low Resolution Spectrometer eclipse of the ultra-short-period (USP) lava world HD 3167 b (Teq = 1786 K, R = 1.6 R⊕, P = 0.96 day) that helps bridge this gap.
We measure the white-light eclipse depth to be 38 ± 11 ppm, more than 5Ļ lower than the expected eclipse depth of a dark, maximally hot bare rock. We use this to derive a dayside brightness temperature that is best explained by the presence of an atmosphere that cools the dayside by reflecting incoming starlight and/or efficiently redistributing heat to the planet’s nightside.
An atmosphere is further compatible with the planet’s slight underdensity compared to an Earth-like composition. The corresponding dayside emission spectrum is not precise enough to constrain atmospheric composition, motivating follow-up spectroscopic observations with JWST/NIRSpec.
Lastly, we use our observation and existing data to refine key planetary parameters of the HD 3167 system. HD 3167 b is currently the least irradiated USP super-Earth with evidence for an atmosphere."
Astronomers discover a cold lava planet that may resemble early Earth ""We think early Earth might have looked a lot like a lava world.""
Study led by UChicago scientists finds atmosphere on the coldest lava world to date (original news release) "Studying the atmospheres of lava worlds offers window to Earth’s earliest history, pathway to habitable worlds"
Self-Play Pretraining with Zero Data
This could be an interesting new paper by Noah D. Goodman and Yoav Levine
From the abstract:
"Advances in language modeling have been driven by scaling pretraining on ever more data. Yet, the training data is still largely curated on the model's behalf.
A more general approach to pretraining would let the model learn to generate the data most useful for its own improvement. This would provide an effectively unbounded source of training data, limited by compute rather than human knowledge.
We introduce Self-Play Pretraining with Zero Data, an initial proof-of-concept towards realizing this vision. Our procedure casts synthetic data generation as a search over the space of all computable structure, taking inspiration from Solomonoff induction.
Starting from random initialization, two models learn in tandem:
a generator proposes programs interpreted by a universal Turing machine, generating byte sequences, while
a generator proposes programs interpreted by a universal Turing machine, generating byte sequences, while
a learner autoregressively predicts these byte sequences.
The learner is trained with standard cross-entropy, while the generator is trained with reinforcement learning to produce sequences at the frontier of the learner's capabilities, yielding an adaptive curriculum.
A universal Turing machine gives us a search space over all computable data-generating processes, imposing little domain-specific structure, and self-play searches over this space for useful training data.
We test whether zero-shot performance on natural data improves predictably with self-play compute; this is a clean test of transfer since neither generator nor learner is trained on natural data. Across several natural datasets, zero-shot loss exhibits predictable scaling in compute. The models also exhibit in-context learning, and discover recognizable mathematical sequences during training."
Frankreich brennt: Polizisten werden gejagt, FeuerwehrmƤnner in Brand gesteckt
Wow! Was ist da los in Frankreich? In der Tat diese Gewalt wurde bislang nicht oder sehr wenig in den Medien berichtet!
Selbst wenn nur die HƤlfte dieses Artikels stimmt, dann ist es immer noch sehr schlimm!
Racial Promotion Gaps (at the US patent office). Really!
More junk science published by the American Economic Association (AEA) as I suspect!
Apparently, some economists can not resist to use race baiting!
The first author of this study, i.e. Deepak Hegde (Professor at New York University, Stern School of Business), has only a lifetime citation count of 3544. That is very low! Maybe this paper gets his citation count up a little bit.
"We study racial disparities in promotions in a setting in which promotions are formulaic: the US patent office. Using detailed administrative data that allow us to observe who is eligible for promotion when, we document that Black patent examiners experience delays in promotions they are entitled [???] to, slowing their climb to the top of the career ladder by a year and reducing career earnings by 2.5 percent. Institutional features rule out statistical discrimination with accurate priors. Slow promotions even under Black supervisors argue against taste-based animus. Instead, the patterns fit models of belief-based discrimination."
Israel Defense Forces claims 170 journalists killed in Gaza strikes were actually terrorists
For a terrorist to claim to be a journalist is a perfect cover especially for gullible Westerners! A better cover might be to claim to be a medical staff.
This is what coward mass killers like Hamas do!
Apparently Reuters also hired terrorists!
"... The IDF claims that the individuals it alleges are affiliated with terrorist organizations have worked for news outlets such as Reuters, Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency, and Palestine Now News Agency. While presenting themselves as reporters, according to the IDF, these individuals operated as snipers, commanders, trainers, and propaganda agents, among other roles within the radical Islamic groups. ..."
Surprisingly Complex brain Waves while processing memory
Amazing stuff!
"... emerging evidence in humans and animals suggests that traveling waves play a central role in how the brain functions. ...
In a study ... neuroscientists measured traveling waves of neural activity and observed a menagerie:
source waves that appear to emanate from one location,
sink waves that converge on a spot, and
vortex like spiral waves.
source waves that appear to emanate from one location,
sink waves that converge on a spot, and
vortex like spiral waves.
The team ... found that different behavioral tasks were associated with distinct wave patterns. ...
With the high-resolution method, ... observed two new classes of waves in awake humans for the first time.
One, emanating from an area of the cortex, was a concentric wave, like the ripples from a pebble dropped into a lake, or the reverse, in which waves converged on one region.
The other was a rotating spiral wave traveling in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction, like a hurricane or a flushing toilet. ..."
"A new study ... used direct recordings of brain activity from human participants to show how “traveling waves” of activity spread across different regions of the brain to coordinate memory formation and recall. The activity forms distinct patterns, such as spirals and concentric waves, that change depending on what the person was doing, including remembering individual items. ..."
From the abstract:
"A fundamental challenge in neuroscience is explaining how widespread brain regions flexibly interact to support behaviors.
We hypothesize that traveling waves of oscillations are a key mechanism of neural coordination, such that they propagate across the cortex in distinctive spatial patterns that control how different regions interact.
To test this hypothesis, we used direct brain recordings from humans performing multiple memory experiments and an analytical framework that flexibly measures the propagation patterns of traveling waves.
We found that traveling waves propagated along the cortex in not only plane waves, but also spirals, sources and sinks, and more complex patterns.
The propagation patterns of traveling waves correlated with novel aspects of behavior, with specific spatial patterns reflecting particular cortical processes and even individual remembered items.
Our findings show that large-scale cortical patterns of traveling waves reveal a diverse range of spatial patterns in the brain that are relevant for neural decoding."
Spirals, sources, sinks, and planes: What brain waves can tell us about memory (original news release) "New research from UChicago and the University of Pittsburgh shows how the brain creates distinct patterns of activity as it processes memories."
Fig. 1: Task structure and identification of stable periods of traveling waves.
Fig. 3: Classification of traveling waves.
Robotaxi operators will face fines for blocking first responders under new California law
How often does this actually happen?
"Autonomous vehicle (AV) technology companies like Tesla, Waymo, and Zoox will have to provide first responders with local, on-the-ground support when their robotaxis cause problems under a new California law. The companies could also face penalties if a robotaxi blocks police or firefighters for more than 30 minutes [???].
Senate Bill 1246, which was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, sets a series of new rules for AVs designed to improve safety and response times when they become disabled or interfere with emergency responders. The law also creates ways to hold these companies accountable if they don’t.
The law follows a string of high-profile incidents in California in which robotaxis broke down and disrupted traffic, drove into crime scenes, or impeded first responders.
The bulk of those incidents involved Waymo, the largest robotaxi operator in the U.S. , which has about 4,000 autonomous vehicles in its commercial fleet across the country. About 1,200 of those are in the San Francisco Bay Area. A TechCrunch investigation earlier this year identified a number of incidents in which Waymo relied on first responders to manually drive its vehicles when they encountered problems. ..."
Musk's AI chatbot Grok reportedly encouraged President Trump to capture Venezuela's president
Well, the ancient Greeks called their oracle!
It is called getting a second opinion!
Get used to it! This will happen more often that elected representatives consult with AI before major decisions.
"In December 2025, about a month before the U.S. invaded Venezuela and captured its president, NicolƔs Maduro, President Trump had a secret meeting with Elon Musk, Time magazine reports. This was roughly seven months after Musk left his role in the Trump administration at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
During this meeting, Trump “spent hours” talking to Musk’s Grok chatbot, including asking how Venezuelans would respond to the capture of their president, a source told Time. Just a few months earlier, in September, Trump began ordering U.S. military strikes against Venezuelan boats that Trump alleged were involved in drug trafficking. ..."
"... Since returning to office, Trump has marveled at AI’s capabilities. He is increasingly in thrall to the tech executives courting him.
In December 2025, Elon Musk returned to the Oval Office for a clandestine meeting. Trump spent hours asking Grok, Musk’s AI chatbot, questions about his presidency and legacy, according to an official present. At the time, Trump was ordering missile strikes against Venezuelan boats he alleged were smuggling drugs into the U.S.
He asked Grok how Venezuelans would react if the U.S. captured Maduro. According to the official present, the chatbot responded that Maduro was a repressive and deeply unpopular dictator and that many Venezuelans would likely celebrate his downfall. After Trump ordered the mission to seize Maduro, the following month, celebrations broke out in the streets. Trump, according to officials, came away thinking Grok was ingenious. ..."
Thursday, October 01, 2026
Ho Chi Minh: The Price of Freedom
Very recommendable! Why was he a communist?
However, the documentary is e.g. silent about how much Communist China or the Soviet Union supported him.
The Astor Chinese Garden Court at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Amazing stuff! A Suzhou garden recreated at the Met!
Einstein’s “Biggest Blunder” Was Actually Right
Very recommendable! However, the title of this video is not really explained in the video!
Israel's Traumatic History of Plane Hijackings with Palki Sharma
Very recommendable! Yes, I remember some of these past airplane hijackings by Arabs!
46 Accused War Criminal, Ukraine Invasion Commanders Take Up Seats in Russian Duma
In the empire of Putin the Terrible! That is about 10% of the 450 member Duma!
South Korea to build 8 nuclear power plants in the US, invest $120bn
Wow! This seems to be very unusual! Gigantic!
"South Korea said it will spend $120 billion in the U.S. to build eight nuclear power plants as part of an agreement to invest $350 billion in exchange for lower tariffs."
"Here are details of the projects, according to the Korean government:
- The 6.47-gigawatt-hour plant is scheduled to begin commercial operations in 2029, the Korean government said in a statement issued in Seoul on Thursday following Trump's announcement.
- South Korea plans to invest $120 billion in building eight nuclear reactors in the US, including two based on South Korea's APR-1400 design.
- Seoul and Washington will review a project to build pipelines and a terminal to transport and export liquefied natural gas in Alaska, although the project will proceed only if commercial and legal conditions are met.
- South Korea's investments will be capped at $20 billion annually under a legally binding agreement.
- Profit will be equally split between South Korea and the US until South Korea recovers its principal investment across all projects.
- Specific details on the nuclear power plant project haven't been decided yet.
..."
Bio Drucktinten fĆ¼r die Herstellung von funktionellen Organen
Gute Nachrichten!
Randbemerkung: Der anscheinend dƤmliche Journalist konnte es sich nicht verkneifen das Modewort "nachhaltig" fĆ¼r den Schlagzeile seines Artikels zu verwenden. Ziemlich unangebracht!
"... FĆ¼r erste Druckversuche verdruckten die Forschenden die Kollagen Typ I-Tinte mit drei, fĆ¼nf und sieben Prozent mit verschiedenen DruckdĆ¼sen und untersuchten dabei die StrukturstabilitƤt sowie die ZellvitalitƤt. WƤhrend bei drei Prozent Kollagenanteil nach dem Druck bzw. wƤhrend der Gelierung die Tinte noch verlƤuft, zeigte sich bei den beiden hƶheren Konzentrationen, dass ein freistehender Druck mƶglich ist.
Erste Hautgewebemodelle wurden bereits erfolgreich gedruckt, die die Anwendbarkeit der Kollagen Typ I-Tinte demonstrieren. Eine EchtzeitĆ¼berwachung des Stoffwechsels der humanen Zellen ermƶglicht zudem die kontinuierliche Kontrolle der NƤhrstoffversorgung des Zellgewebes. Auf diese Weise kann die QualitƤt der gedruckten Gewebestrukturen bewertet und deren Architektur gezielt optimiert werden. ..."
Im Projekt PhysioINK entwickeln Fraunhofer-Forschende Bio-Drucktinten aus den gƤngigsten Gewebeproteinen, mit denen sich ohne chemische Modifikation physiologische Gewebestrukturen nachbilden lassen."
Prozessoptimierte Biotinten fĆ¼r den praxistauglichen 3D-Biodruck (Projekt website)
3D-Druck freistehender Gitterstrukturen
Vier BrĆ¼cken in Rekordzeit: Warum Herne nur 18 statt 54 Monate brauchte
Sehr beeindruckend! Es geschehen auch noch erfreuliche Wunder in der Bananenrepublik D!
"Im Kreuz Herne hat die Autobahn GmbH ein Projekt abgeschlossen, das zeigt, wie stark sich die eigentliche Bauzeit von BrĆ¼cken verkĆ¼rzen lƤsst. Der SchlĆ¼ssel liegt nicht nur in Fertigteilen. Schon bei der Ausschreibung wurde auf Tempo geachtet.
Im Kreuz Herne fĆ¼hrt die A42 Ć¼ber die A43. DafĆ¼r liegen vier BrĆ¼cken dicht nebeneinander: zwei fĆ¼r die Hauptfahrbahnen und zwei fĆ¼r die Nebenfahrbahnen. Die Bauwerke mussten im Zuge des sechsstreifigen Ausbaus der darunter verlaufenden A43 angepasst und erneuert werden. Zugleich hatten die bestehenden BrĆ¼cken ein Alter erreicht, das ohnehin einen Neubau erforderlich machte.
Im Mai 2025 begann der Abriss der ersten BrĆ¼cke. Ende September 2026 sind alle vier Neubauten fĆ¼r den Verkehr freigegeben. ..."
Quantum jumps of sound
Amazing stuff! Looks like a clever experiment!
"... Phonons are much larger than photons or electrons, each representing a coordinated group of atoms. Imagine the last note of a piano sonata being held until it naturally fades. While you may hear the sound gradually decline to silence, phonons are actually changing vibrational energy in discrete quantum jumps—like going from a “1 state” (sound) to a “0 state” (no sound). But despite trying for a century, researchers had never been able to observe these jumps.
To make the breakthrough, a team designed a microscopic mechanical resonator that vibrates at a specific frequency when energy is applied, much like a tuning fork. But despite its tiny size, the resonator could vibrate for two milliseconds—a length that, if the resonator were scaled up to the size of a regular tuning fork, would last hours.
As the resonator faded to silence, the team took hundreds of measurements to see when the sound jumped between energy states. To get the readings, they paired the resonator with an electrical detector called a superconducting qubit, which could read out the quantum measurement of the phonon’s energy state (whether it was “0” or “1”). ..."
"In brief:
- Stanford scientists have confirmed the long-predicted ability of quantum units of sound, or “phonons,” to suddenly change energy levels.
- The team created a device that takes hundreds of measurements within two milliseconds to pinpoint the moment of a quantum jump.
- The advance has implications for quantum computing and sensing as well as improving everyday technologies, such as smartphones.
..."
From the editor's summary and abstract:
"Editor’s summary
Quantum mechanics predict quantized mechanical energy, but conventional measurements of resonator motion cannot reveal that discreteness. Repeated quantum nondemolition measurements that couple to the discrete energy levels (phonon number) rather than position are required to reveal the quantized jumps in sound. Makihara et al. coupled a lithium niobate mechanical resonator with a superconducting qubit and measured the predicted quantum jumps in phonon number. In addition to the foundational observation, such behavior could be of practical use in quantum information processing based on mechanical quantum systems. ...
Abstract
Quantum mechanics predicts that a vibrating object’s energy comes in discrete packets, yet no measurement of its position reveals this discreteness. Resolving individual energy levels requires a qualitatively different measurement, one coupling to the resonator’s energy rather than its displacement.
We use a superconducting qubit dispersively coupled to a nanomechanical resonator to perform repeated quantum nondemolition measurements of the phonon number. An aligned transfer-print technique integrating the qubit and resonator yields a mechanical lifetime of milliseconds and a dispersive shift of ĻĻ
kilohertz per phonon. We heralded single-phonon states with 85% fidelity and observed quantum jumps between the resonator’s first excited state and ground state. These discontinuous transitions are a striking manifestation of quantum mechanics in a massive, vibrating object."
Scientists Catch Sound Making a Quantum Jump With a Microscopic Tuning Fork "Learn how physicists overcame obstacles to watch phonons quantum jump in real-time."
Researchers observe first real-time quantum jump in sound (original news release) "In an experiment, Stanford physicists demonstrated that tiny units of sound can suddenly change energy states, making a quantum jump. This is a long-anticipated breakthrough with the potential to advance a range of technologies."
This mechanical resonator, depicted in an illustration (left) and in an image taken by a scanning electron microscope (right), allowed researchers to detect quantum jumps of sound.
China opens training center with Laos, marking third overseas military base
China's military is expanding its presence abroad!
"China has announced the opening of a new airbase in Laos, described as a joint training center but marking its third overseas military base, and the second in Southeast Asia.
China’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) said on social media on Tuesday that the China-Laos Joint Support and Training Center at Ban Keun Airport in Laos and the China-Laos Friendship Aviation Academy started operations. ..."
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee halts execution of woman who survived two lethal injections
What a bizarre story! Justice delayed is justice denied!
Why did it take 31 years from committing the crime to carrying out the capital punishment in this case?
Caveat: I am not familiar with the details of this story.
"Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee halted the execution of Christa Gail Pike, who was convicted of a 1995 murder in which the victim had a pentagram carved into her body.
Pike's attorneys said in a court filing Wednesday night that their client is still alive and snoring, after she received two lethal doses of drug. ..."
Why were there two extra pilots aboard during the attempted flydubai hijacking?
I wondered yesterday when I learnt of this in the news for the first time. Was it just a lucky coincidence that there were other pilots on the plane?
Hospitals Used AI To Inflate Medical Bills By Nearly $1 trillion Report Finds
Bad news!
"Hospitals’ use of artificial intelligence tools hiked healthcare spending by nearly $1 billion over a two-year period, per a Blue Cross Blue Shield Association analysis released Thursday.
BCBSA’s new study shows that a major rise in patients being documented as having complex conditions led to $942 million in additional medical care costs for Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS) companies between 2023 and 2025. ..."
"Key Findings:
- A sharp increase in patients being documented as having complex conditions appears to have added an estimated $942 million in healthcare spending for BCBS companies between 2023 and 2025, driving higher premiums and out-of-pocket costs for families, employers and taxpayers.
- There is a clear disconnect between coding and treatment — our research shows that coding for care has changed, but there is no evidence of corresponding change in care delivered.
- Patients often fell into a higher-cost billing category after a secondary diagnosis, a condition identified in addition to the patient's primary reason for receiving care. This secondary diagnosis may be derived from single laboratory values, making it particularly well-suited for detection by AI tools. Approximately 70% of the additional costs, more than $650 million, were tied to secondary diagnoses.
- This growth in complex coding comes as more than 60% of hospital systems began using AI coding tools, which can document patient visits, analyze lab reports and doctors’ notes.
...."
Credits: AZ Free News
Scandium's electrons may explain predicted room-temperature superconductivity
Good news!
"Scientists have confirmed the existence of a predicted room temperature superconductor, while explaining the microscopic mechanism that distinguishes it from a similar one discovered several years ago. The work, published in the journal Physical Review B, offers "a theoretical blueprint for the future design of superior superconductor hydrides" ...
These metal clathrate superhydrides have unit cells—the smallest repeatable unit—made up of metallic elements surrounded by a "cage" of hydrogen ions. (The structure of LaSc2H24 has fully enclosed lanthanum in a cage of 30 hydrogen atoms and partially enclosed scandium atoms in cages of 24 hydrogen ions.)
Hydrogen atoms occupy three inequivalent sites forming these anisotropic layers, creating structurally different properties between the two different layers. The material's anisotropy opens two different superconductivity channels, each having a different value for the critical temperature. ..."
From the abstract:
"The discovery of LaSc2H24 represents an advance in the quest for room-temperature superconductivity, yet the microscopic mechanism underlying its high-temperature superconductivity remains unclear.
Through a comprehensive revisit of theoretical analysis, we uncover a pivotal transition from the anisotropic two-gap superconductivity of LaH10 to an isotropic single-gap superconductivity in LaSc2H24 upon the introduction of scandium, thereby enhancing the superconducting critical temperature (šc).
This enhancement is rooted in a critical dual role of Sc 3š electrons:
(i) the Sc-derived Jahn-Teller effect promotes hydrogen metallization via the elongation of specific interlayer H-H bonds and enhances electron-phonon coupling (EPC) through the softening of associated phonon modes;
(ii) Sc 3š electrons reconstruct the electronic structure into an MgB2-like configuration, generating Sc-H-Sc š- and šæ-bonding states with EPC strengths comparable to LaH10.
(i) the Sc-derived Jahn-Teller effect promotes hydrogen metallization via the elongation of specific interlayer H-H bonds and enhances electron-phonon coupling (EPC) through the softening of associated phonon modes;
(ii) Sc 3š electrons reconstruct the electronic structure into an MgB2-like configuration, generating Sc-H-Sc š- and šæ-bonding states with EPC strengths comparable to LaH10.
Crucially, the pronounced orbital overlap between Sc and the hydrogen cages effectively unifies these two contributions on the Fermi surface. This Sc-induced gap unification bridges the high-EPC H-H states with widespread Sc-H states, establishing an isotropic single-gap nature with a large overall EPC strength.
Our findings identify this Sc-induced gap unification as the fundamental mechanism for achieving room-temperature superconductivity in LaSc2H24, offering a theoretical blueprint for the future design of superior superconducting hydrides."
Isotropic superconductivity in the room-temperature superconductor LaSc2H24 (no public access)
Isotropic Superconductivity in Room-temperature Superconductor LaSc (preprint, open access)
China funding UK research and sending it to Beijing's spies, MI5 warns
Bad news!
"More than 100 academics linked to British institutions have unwittingly assisted China's espionage operations against the UK via a front company working for its intelligence and security services, MI5 has warned.
In the highly unusual public alert, the UK's internal security service warned universities and academics that continuing ties with China General Technology Research Institute (CGTRI) could ultimately lead to criminal charges for aiding a foreign state.
Security minister Dan Jarvis said MI5's warning exposed attempts by Chinese intelligence agencies to use British academic research to undermine UK national security. ..."
Federal employment payroll shrinks to a 60-year low under President Trump
Good news! Bravo! Trim the fat!
"The federal workforce has fallen to its lowest level in roughly six decades following a sweeping reduction in government payrolls during President Trump’s second term.
Federal employment now stands at about 2.7 million workers, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, down more than 300,000 since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025. ..."
BMW built the same car for gas and electric. The EV is $4,400 cheaper
I suspect this is not much more than a marketing gimmick!
However, should batteries become cheaper ...
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
How Jack Maple Revolutionized Policing in New York
Very recommendable!
NYC Transit PD (1970–1992)
That the PBS biography video does not mention then mayor of NYC Rudy Giuliani is strange at best! Was this politically motivated?
I also bet that then NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton was more involved then this video shows.
For some odd reason this video also does not mention the famous and successful Broken windows policing strategy in the 1990s introduced by mayor Rudi Giuliani and Police Commissioner William Bratton.
PM Modi's Diplomatic Playbook: India's Diplomatic Strategy In A New & Emerging World Order
Recommendable! PM Modi is perhaps one of the most consequential PMs since Mahatma Gandhi!
Netanyahu meets survivor/hero of FlyDubai flight diverted to Saudi Arabia following attack
The hero did not even have time to change his bloody t-shirt before the interview!
Iran allegedly sets up to $40,000 bounty on captured, killed US soldiers for Iranian citizens and others
What is the definition of a rogue state?
What are theocracies capable of in the name of God?
This measure actually speaks of distrust in their own people!
"Iran has reportedly offered a reward of up to $40,000 to any citizen who captures or kills an American soldier, according to Iran's Army Spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia in a video circulating on social media on Tuesday. ...
He said the reward would double to $40,000 if the citizen is a woman. ...
“Furthermore, I believe that if people from countries in the region were to do the same, that is, succeed in taking down or capturing an American soldier, we could award this prize to them as well,” Akraminia said. ..."
Chinese commercial reactor achieves nuclear fusion with clean hydrogen-boron fuel
Good news! This appears to be still kind of breaking news!
"In a first, a Chinese company has achieved high-parameter hydrogen-boron plasma control, marking a “significant and valuable” advance in research into neutron-free magnetic confinement fusion. ...
Unlike deuterium-tritium (D-T) fuel, the primary fuel used in mainstream fusion research, hydrogen-boron fusion does not produce high-energy neutrons as its primary product. Instead a hydrogen proton fuses with a boron-11 nucleus. The reaction releases energy and produces alpha particles, or helium nuclei. ..."
Chinese tokamak achieves hydrogen-boron fusion with 100 million reactions a second "A clean energy firm in China has just achieved hydrogen-boron fusion reactions in the EXL-50U spherical tokamak, the nation’s first medium-scale spherical torus experimental device, at a rate exceeding 100 million per second."
China's first medium-scale spherical torus experimental device, the EXL-50U.
A 1988 U.S. spy satellite nicknamed after Farrah Fawcett blew apart in orbit
This is a strong reminder that dealing with accumulating space junk is becoming a more urgent issue.
Was this perhaps a space weapons test of some sort?
"The debris is circling 480 miles up, in a lane shared by at least 200 other satellites."
"... The spacecraft, known as USA 32 or Farrah III, was launched by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in 1988. Its mission, which was only fully declassified earlier this year, was to intercept Soviet radar and radio signals from space, according to Futura.
The cylindrical spacecraft, whose shape has been described as a giant "tuna can," likely stopped functioning decades ago and has been silently circling Earth ever since. (It was nicknamed after actor Farrah Fawcett, in line with the NRO's former custom of naming its satellites after famous figures from the 1970s and '80s.)
On Sept. 17, Space-Track — the satellite observation arm of the U.S. Space Force — announced that USA 32 suffered a sudden "fragmentation" event four days earlier, on Sept. 13. This essentially means the spacecraft exploded, potentially breaking apart into dozens, hundreds or even thousands of pieces. ..."
Farrah Fawcett (Source)
America.gov, the latest website of the US government launched
Whatever you need? Government should be the last resort in a free society, right?
"President Trump launched America.gov, an AI-powered federal website built on Google’s Gemini and xAI’s Grok, and signed an executive order directing agencies to integrate with the new platform." (The Flyover)
US Defense Secretary Hegseth to Cut 20% of Generals, Admirals
Good news! Trim the fat! Less stars!
"War Secretary Pete Hegseth will announce today a 20% cut to the positions reserved for generals and admirals, doubling the reduction he ordered last year.
The cuts apply to slots, not the officers filling them now. Some jobs will be downgraded so that colonels and Navy captains can hold them, and the services have until this Jan. 1 to complete the work.
Last year’s order trimmed 10% of all generals and admirals and 20% of four-stars, which Hegseth summed up as “Less Generals, more GIs.” ..."
How stoned are older Americans?
Serious stuff! Cause for concern! About 1% of older Americans are addicted to Cannabis.
"One in Nine Older Adults Who Use Cannabis Meet Criteria for Cannabis Use Disorder"
"Key Takeaways
- An estimated 8.9% of U.S. adults aged 65 and older used cannabis in the past year.
- Among older adults who used cannabis in the past year, 11.4% met criteria for cannabis use disorder, most with mild severity.
- More frequent cannabis use was associated with a greater likelihood of cannabis use disorder.
..."
From the abstract:
"Background and aims
Cannabis use is increasing among older adults in the United States (US); however, little is known regarding details of use or cannabis use disorder (CUD) in this population. This study aimed to describe cannabis use and CUD among older adults in the US.
Design
Secondary analysis of the 2021–2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an annual cross-sectional nationally representative sample of noninstitutionalized people aged ≥12 living in the US.
Setting
United States.
Participants
Noninstitutionalized individuals age ≥65 years (unweighted N = 21 189).
Measurements
We estimated the prevalence of cannabis use by recency (any past 12-month use and past 30-day use), meeting two or more Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-5 CUD criteria, as well as CUD severity and individual CUD criteria among adults age ≥65 years who used cannabis in the past 12 months. Cannabis use and CUD were compared across sociodemographic and health-related characteristics, modality of use (2022–2024 only), and individual CUD criteria. Bivariable generalized linear regression models estimated the relative risk (RR) of CUD for older adults with each characteristic and modality of cannabis use.
Results
An estimated 8.9% of older adults used cannabis in the past 12 months, and among them, 11.4% met criteria for CUD (76.0% mild, 20.1% moderate, and 3.9% severe CUD).
Smoking was the most common modality of past 12-month use (65.8%), followed by eating or drinking (40.5%), and vaping (15.4%); 19.9% had a doctor recommend any cannabis use.
Among older adults with CUD, the most common CUD criteria met were spending time obtaining, using, and recovering from the drug's effects (74.4%) and craving (67.5%).
Male older adults were at higher risk for CUD than their female counterparts [RR = 1.69, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.12–2.55], as were those ever arrested and booked (RR = 1.59, 95% CI = 1.07–2.37), with past-year mental illness (RR = 2.93, 95% CI: 1.85–4.65), past-year tobacco use (RR = 1.52, 95% CI: 1.04–2.20) or drug use other than cannabis (RR = 3.22, 95% CI: 2.15–4.84), smoking as a mode of cannabis use (RR = 4.94, 95% CI: 2.39–10.23), and frequent cannabis use (e.g., ≥300 days vs. <300 days per year, RR = 3.70, 95% CI: 2.30–5.96).
Summary
One in nine older adults in the United States who have used cannabis in the past 12 months meet criteria for cannabis use disorder. Cannabis use screening, cannabis use disorder treatment, and additional intervention to prevent worsening severity are needed to minimize cannabis-related harms among older US adults."
Lack of Menopause Care Behind Bars
Bad news!
"As more incarcerated women enter menopause, advocates say prisons are failing to provide adequate care.
Women ages 50+ now make up 18% of U.S. prison populations, up from 8% in 2008.
Yet only five states explicitly mention menopause in prison policies ..."
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