David Barnea shares Mossad role in Nasrallah assassination, Iran war details

Don't mess with Mossad at your own peril!

"On Tuesday, David Barnea completed his astounding five-year term as Mossad chief. During that time, he transformed the spy agency from a unit that carried out one or two operations in the shadows at a time, to a juggernaut that could influence the course of war and peace on multiple Middle Eastern fronts – from Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon, to protecting Jews from terrorism overseas.

He has spent decades in the agency, with five years at its helm, including some of the most crucial in Israel’s history. He helped hobble Iran with hundreds of agents, sabotaging the country in June 2025. There were the exploding beepers in September 2024, which killed Hezbollah operatives. That same month, he oversaw the assassination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon. ..."

David Barnea shares Mossad role in Nasrallah assassination, Iran war details | The Jerusalem Post "After decades in the agency, and five years at its top, including some of the most crucial in Israel's history, Barnea also has some critical viewpoints which Israel and the world can learn from."

Head of Mossad David Barnea attends a ceremony held at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem, as Israel marks the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day. April 23, 2025.

Chinese Sodium-ion batteries could become a low-cost rival to Tesla's batteries

Good news! We need more cheap and better batteries! Hina from China!

I also just blogged here in German about this story!

"A popular sodium-ion battery designed by the company Hina and used in cars and large-scale energy storage systems in China matches performance parameters and production quality of Tesla's lithium-ion batteries, finds new research published in Cell Reports Physical Science. ..."

From the highlights and abstract:

"Highlights

• Sodium-ion cell performance rivals established lithium-ion batteries

• High capacity retention observed at extreme charge rates and low temperatures

• Unique NaCu1/9Ni2/9Fe1/3Mn1/3O2 cathode composition identified in sodium-ion cells

• Archimedean spiral method accurately estimates jelly roll electrode length

Summary

Transparent insight into the design and materials of commercial sodium-ion batteries is essential for assessing their maturity and benchmarking against lithium-ion technologies.

We report postmortem analysis and electrochemical testing of the most commercialized sodium-ion battery technology from Hina Battery, which employs a tabless double-aluminum architecture and a novel cathode composition, NaCu1/9Ni2/9Fe1/3Mn1/3O2. This cathode features a distinctive spatial separation of copper from the other transition metals (Ni, Fe, and Mn) within individual particles.

Using an Archimedean-spiral analysis of computed tomography data, we estimate total cathode length with 2% deviation, without additional image optimization.

The cell delivers performance and production quality comparable to state-of-the-art Li-ion batteries: impedance variation across 120 cells is 5.3%, capacity remains over 100% at 4C (25°C), and usable discharge energy above 80% at −20°C, though this value drops to 56% in the charging direction."

Sodium-ion batteries could become a low-cost rival to Tesla's batteries

Cell teardown and characterization of a Hina commercial sodium-ion battery (open access)

Credits: Akku für E-Auto & Co.: Natrium statt Lithium? RWTH Aachen testet | FAZ (behind paywall) "Natrium statt Lithium: Eine neue Batterietechnologie könnte die Rohstoffabhängigkeit beenden. Forscher von der RWTH Aachen haben ein aktuelles Modell aus China zerlegt – und waren überrascht von der technischen Reife."

Figure 7 SEM and EDX of anode and cathode

Morphological and elemental analysis of sodium-ion battery electrodes.

Houston fiercest, most fabulous drag queens

Showtime in Houston! Texas, more than longhorns, cowboys, and crude oil! 😊

Houston, we have a problem! Drag queens everywhere! Just kidding!

"Houston's drag scene is one of the most dynamic and diverse in the country. We have it all, from pageant to comedy to dancing queens. Seven days a week, you can see your favorite queen at karaoke, bingo, brunch or your favorite club. ..."

Houston fiercest, most fabulous drag queens

New propulsion system could make tiny satellites both fast and fuel-efficient

Amazing stuff!

"MIT engineers are testing a new propulsion system that combines the power and speed of conventional chemical thrusters with the precision and fuel-efficiency of electrical thrusters. 

The system could enable the design of nimbler, more flexible small satellites, which could perform both fast, powerful maneuvers and slower, precise adjustments, depending on the mission and moment at hand.

The key to the new system is a special propellant that can power both chemical and electrical thrusters, which traditionally have required separate, bulky fuel sources.  ..."

New propulsion system could make tiny satellites both fast and fuel-efficient | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology "For satellites as small as a briefcase, getting around in space just got a whole lot easier."

Performance Characterization of Electrospray Thrusters with Energetic Ionic Liquid Monopropellant (open access)

Electrospray Thrusters

On Graph Neural Networks Are Not Continuous Across Graph Resolutions

This could be an interesting, new paper by Michael Bronstein and his team!

Caveat: I did not read the paper.

From the abstract:

"We show that contrary to conventional wisdom in the community, graph neural networks (GNNs) are not continuous with respect to all natural modes of graph convergence.

As a result, GNNs may generate substantially different latent representations for graphs that are very similar.

In particular they assign vastly different latent embeddings to graphs that represent the same underlying object at different resolution scales.

We trace this failure of continuity back to a structural obstruction arising from commonly used information-propagation schemes.

Building on this insight we then derive a principled modification to standard GNN architectures which equips models with continuity across scales. The proposed modification enables consistent integration of distinct resolutions and reliable generalization between them. We systematically validate our theoretical findings in a wide range of numerical experiments."

[2605.31315] Graph Neural Networks Are Not Continuous Across Graph Resolutions

'World-first' vaccine designed by artificial intelligence to provide broad protection from thousands of variants of viruses

Amazing stuff!

"Artificial intelligence has been used to develop a "fundamentally new" type of vaccine that could protect against large swathes of viruses and prevent pandemics, say researchers.

The team at the University of Cambridge say it is the first time a vaccine's key component has been designed entirely by AI and then trialled in people.

The vaccine was engineered to work on all coronaviruses which would include all Covid variants and viruses that infect animals, but could start the next pandemic. ..."

"The first human clinical trial of a universal Sarbeco coronavirus vaccine, developed by the University of Cambridge and spin-out DIOSynVax (DVX) Ltd, has shown that the vaccine is safe and has no significant side-effects. ..."

From the highlights and abstract:

"Highlights

• pEVAC-PS is a novel, needle-free DNA vaccine targeting all sarbecoviruses

• pEVAC-PS was safe and well tolerated in this phase I study

• Followup Phase 2 to provide data on the breadth and durability of immunogenicity to pEVAC-PS

Summary

Background

Coronaviruses such as SARS, SARS-CoV-2 and related Sarbeco-Coronaviruses continue to pose global health threats, underscoring the need for vaccines capable of inducing broad cross-sarbecovirus protection.

The pEVAC-PS vaccine was developed using Digitally Immune Optimised Synthetic Vaccine (DIOSynVax) technology and pre-clinically selected for the ability to induce broadly protective immune responses across the Sarbecoviruses including SARS, SARS-CoV-2, and related viruses representing potential zoonotic spillovers. For this first-in-human study, the antigen was delivered as a DNA vaccine to enable thermostability and needle-free intradermal administration to support future deployment in resource-limited settings.

Methods

This open label phase I dose escalation study investigated the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of the pEVAC-PS vaccine candidate against SARS, SARS-CoV-2 and related Sarbeco Coronaviruses via needle-free intra-dermal delivery using the PharmaJet Tropis Device. ...

Findings

Between December 2021 and September 2023, a total of 39 volunteers were vaccinated. The vaccine was well tolerated at all four doses with no significant safety concerns elicited. Interpretation of immunogenicity outcomes was influenced by high baseline antibody levels and heterogeneous exposure histories due to ongoing waves of Omicron variant infections during recruitment, which differed across dose-escalation cohorts and introduced unavoidable immune bias.

Interpretation

Needle-free intradermal delivery of this novel computationally designed PanSarbeco vaccine was safe and well tolerated. Although immunogenicity was modest in the context of substantial pre-existing immunity, participants developed measurable responses to conserved, vaccine-encoded sarbecovirus epitopes, supporting the feasibility of this antigen design strategy."

'World-first' vaccine designed by artificial intelligence

New ‘universal vaccine’ technology could protect us from future virus outbreaks (original news release) "A Cambridge-led team has developed a way to engineer better vaccines that could provide broad protection from thousands of variants of viruses - such as coronaviruses or Ebola - in a single vaccine. This represents a fundamental new vaccine technology that could prevent future pandemics before they begin."

A phase I, needle free, dose escalation clinical trial of pEVAC-PS, a candidate pan-Sarbecovirus Vaccine (open access)

Fig. 2 Vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 variant timeline. The timeline plot shows the vaccinations periods for each group in relation to the dominant SARS-CoV-2 variant circulating in the UK at the time.

On Using Reward Uncertainty to Induce Diverse Behaviour in Reinforcement Learning

This could be an interesting paper by Doina Precup and his team!

From the abstract:

"Classical reinforcement learning (RL) typically seeks a deterministic policy that maximizes the expected sum of a scalar reward. Yet, modern applications such as language model fine-tuning or scientific discovery demand diversity.

Existing remedies such as entropy regularization or diversity bonuses often require fragile trade-offs that sacrifice performance for stochasticity or rely on heuristic metrics that can misalign policy rankings. We argue that diversity is more naturally understood as the rational response to uncertainty in the reward. When the reward function is not perfectly known--as is the case with ambiguous preferences or imperfect reward models--committing to a single action can be sub-optimal.

Building on this, we propose a fundamental reformulation of the RL objective by replacing the scalar reward with a distribution over reward functions, and applying a non-linear objective over sets of actions.

The result is a framework in which calibrated behavioural diversity emerges naturally, remains controllable through the reward function distribution, and is obtained without sacrificing expected reward.

Focusing on the contextual bandit setting, we derive a principled gradient estimator for this objective and prove that our formulation naturally generalizes both vanilla policy gradient and more recently developed action-set approaches. Our empirical results demonstrate that this framework offers a robust and theoretically grounded alternative for complex RL tasks where the traditional formulation of the problem fails to induce the desired breadth of agent behaviour."

[2606.03962] Using Reward Uncertainty to Induce Diverse Behaviour in Reinforcement Learning

Google annoyances again

Just tried to look up Doina Precup (a well known machine learning and AI researcher) on Google Scholar. Here is what I got:

 Working from behind the Great Firewall of China is not easy despite VPN!

Satellite maps of sinking coastlines are contradictory and come under scrutiny

When scientists believe in the global warming/climate change hoax, their impartiality is seriously affected! Also called confirmation bias!

"But satellite radar, a popular tool for identifying fast-sinking, vulnerable shorelines, may be leading scientists astray, according to a comparison of two influential studies of subsidence along the U.S. Gulf Coast. The studies reached strikingly different conclusions about which areas are sinking, according to the analysis, published today in Earth Observation. ..."

From the abstract:

"Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) is widely used to monitor surface-elevation change in subsiding coastal regions, but inconsistencies between studies hinder understanding of the processes driving vertical land motion (VLM). Here we compare two recent InSAR datasets from the central U.S. Gulf Coast which yield similar mean rates (−2.8 ± 2.8 and −3.3 ± 1.8 mm yr−1) but show negligible spatial correlation (R2=0.05), except in medium to highly developed urban areas (R2>0.5). Using 41 Global Navigation Satellite System records from adjacent Pleistocene uplands with minimal shallow subsidence and sediment accretion, we find a median VLM of −1.2 mm yr−1, largely driven by glacial isostatic adjustment that is higher than previously believed. InSAR data exhibit larger uncertainties and are presently unable to capture this rate.

Given the struggles of InSAR in vegetated landscapes, we recommend that vertical velocities below 5 mm yr−1 are interpreted with utmost caution."

Satellite maps of sinking coastlines come under scrutiny | Science | AAAS

Evaluating InSAR-derived rates of surface-elevation change along the central U.S. Gulf Coast (open access)

Figure 1Maps of InSAR-derived surface-elevation change (SEC) rates and corresponding frequency histograms.

On No More K-means: Single-Stage Sparse Coding for Efficient Multi-Vector Retrieval

This could be an interesting paper by Stefanie Jegelka and her team!

Caveat: I did not read the paper.

From the abstract:

"Multi-vector retrieval (MVR) models, exemplified by ColBERT, have established new benchmarks in retrieval accuracy by preserving fine-grained token-level interactions. However, this granularity imposes prohibitive storage and retrieval efficiency bottlenecks: to manage the immense memory footprint and computational overhead of billion-scale token vectors, state-of-the-art systems are forced to rely on aggressive dimension reduction and complex clustering (e.g., K-means).

This compromise introduces two critical limitations: excessive indexing latency of clustering large-scale corpora and semantic information loss inherent to compression. In this paper, we propose Single-stage Sparse Retrieval (SSR}, a paradigm shift that replaces expensive clustering with efficient sparse coding. Instead of compressing features into low-dimensional dense vectors, we utilize Sparse Autoencoder (SAE) to project token embeddings into a high-dimensional but highly sparse representation. This transformation enables us to bypass vector clustering entirely and leverage inverted indexing for precise, high-throughput retrieval. Extensive experiments on the BEIR benchmark demonstrate that SSR achieves a "trifecta" of improvements: it reduces indexing time by 15x compared to ColBERTv2, halves retrieval latency, and simultaneously improves retrieval performance over leading baselines."

[2605.30120] No More K-means: Single-Stage Sparse Coding for Efficient Multi-Vector Retrieval

Surprisingly intelligent bumble bees

Amazing stuff!

"In a new study bumble bees solved a completely novel object-manipulation task. What makes this behaviour especially remarkable is that the bees had never been trained. The findings challenge the long-standing assumption that spontaneous problem-solving is restricted to humans and other large-brained vertebrates.

More than 100 years ago, psychologist Wolfgang Köhler famously showed that chimpanzees could solve novel problems by suddenly combining objects in new ways, such as stacking boxes to reach an out-of-reach banana. These experiments became some of the earliest and most influential demonstrations of insight and spontaneous problem-solving in animals.

Now, researchers from the University of Oulu, the University of Helsinki, and the University of Turku report strikingly similar problem-solving abilities in bumble bees. ..."

From the editor's summary and abstract:

"Editor’s summary

Recent research has revealed that bumble bees are much more cognitively advanced than previously thought: They play with balls, count, recognize faces, and even feel rhythm. However, it has not been shown that they could achieve one of the highest peaks of cognitive performance: the ability to spontaneously solve a problem. Bhambore et al. tested this ability by providing bees with a ball that could be used as a tool to reach an otherwise unreachable flower reward. Bees that had been allowed to play with a ball and experience the flower spontaneously learned to move the ball to access the flower when they were present together.

Abstract

Problem-solving using novel solutions without explicit training is often considered a hallmark of cognitive flexibility. We investigated whether bumble bees (Bombus terrestris) could solve a novel object manipulation task spontaneously.

Bees trained to associate a blue ring (“flower”) on the floor with a reward successfully moved a ball underneath a flower relocated to the ceiling to reach the flower. In control experiments in which the flower was out of sight when ball movement began and remained hidden during transport, bees still succeeded in the task. These results suggest that these were goal-directed actions rather than reinforcement-based associations driven by perceptual feedback. Our findings provide evidence that bumble bees can exhibit spontaneous problem-solving, challenging the notion that such advanced cognitive abilities are exclusive to large-brained vertebrates."

In Science Journals | Science

Bumble bees show spontaneous problem-solving in study published in Science (original news release)

Spontaneous problem-solving in bumble bees (no public access)

A bumble bee standing on a ball beneath the artificial flower containing reward, illustrating the experimental solution.

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.

UK Prime Minister kneels for a lifelong, petty criminal and drug addict who tried to fake an emergency before arrest. Really!

Incredible! What a fool and idiot! Appalling! God save the UK!

UK quo vadis! Thatcher and Churchill are spinning in their graves!

Credits: Keir Starmer kniete für George Floyd, schwieg aber monatelang zu Henry Nowak

PM Keir Starmer and deputy Labor leader Angela Rayner (Source)

Zelensky Issues Open Letter to Putin the Terrible: ‘Enough War – Let’s Meet to End It’

Good news! Worth a try after so many years and so many war casualties!

Don't expect Putin the Terrible to become an angel of peace!

"President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed a face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a rare open letter to the Russian leader Thursday, saying he was also ready for a “full ceasefire.”

The letter was released by the Office of the President of Ukraine, amid recent Ukrainian long-range drone strikes near the opening of a major Russian economic forum in St. Petersburg.

“Ukraine proposes ending this war through direct engagement between us – and you. I am proposing a meeting,” Zelensky said in the letter, adding that “Ukraine is ready for a full ceasefire for the duration of the negotiations.” ..."

‘Enough War’: Zelensky Calls Putin to Direct Talks and Monitored Ceasefire "President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly addressed Russia’s leader, arguing that 26 years of Putin’s rule have turned bilateral relations into a ledger of strikes and losses, highlighting Russia’s mounting casualties and economic strain. He offered a path to end the war through a bilateral summit hosted by a neutral state, along with fully swapping prisoners and broader security guarantees from Europe and the US."

Akku für E-Auto & Co.: Natrium statt Lithium? RWTH Aachen testet Chinesische Batterie

Hat man nicht vor früher China der Industriespionage bezichtigt?

P.S. Ich konnte leider keine anderen Artikel dazu finden (inkl. RWTH Aachen website).

Akku für E-Auto & Co.: Natrium statt Lithium? RWTH Aachen testet | FAZ (behind paywall) "Natrium statt Lithium: Eine neue Batterietechnologie könnte die Rohstoffabhängigkeit beenden. Forscher von der RWTH Aachen haben ein aktuelles Modell aus China zerlegt – und waren überrascht von der technischen Reife."

Typische Männer- und Frauenberufe. Wirklich!

Gleichberechtigung hat nichts mit Gleichverteilung zu tun! Was ist daran auszusetzen?

Im Laufe der Zeit (innerhalb der letzten Jahrzehnten) haben sich bereits die Anteile verschoben. 

An der zum Teil extremen Ungleichverteilung in verschiedenen Berufen ist grundsätzlich nichts auszusetzen, wenn sie auf freiwilliger Berufswahl beruht.

Typische Männer- und Frauenberufe - iwd.de "Ob in der Ausbildung oder im Studium – Frauen und Männer entscheiden sich jeweils nach wie vor häufig für bestimmte Berufe. Maßnahmen, um die Geschlechterklischees bereits in der Schule aufzubrechen, sind auch aus wirtschaftlicher Perspektive begrüßenswert."

With over 1600 signatories, mathematicians issue a declaration warning of AI. Really!

I bet, some mathematicians were also complaining when the Abacus was introduced more than 4,000 years ago! 😊 Same old story!

Of course, machine learning and AI is coming to mathematics, the queen of sciences (according to a famous quote from Carl Friedrich Gauss). I am already curious what ML & AI will contribute to mathematics. Apparently, it has already provided some proofs to some very old mathematical problems.

It is probably safe to largely ignore these warnings!

"Few communities have felt that pressure more acutely than mathematicians, who have haplessly watched AI get frighteningly smart, frighteningly fast.

Today, 16 math specialists have turned that unease into a public cry for help—and call to action. Part warning, part manifesto, the 11-page Leiden Declaration on Artificial Intelligence and Mathematics cautions that unchecked automation threatens not only how math is practiced, but what the discipline stands for. It also lays out principles for using AI in ways that support, rather than erode, the field. ..."

Mathematicians issue warning as AI rapidly gains ground | Science | AAAS

Leiden Declaration on Artificial Intelligence and Mathematics "This declaration calls for action to address the challenges posed by the use of artificial intelligence within mathematics research. It is the result of a community initiative and is endorsed by the International Mathematical Union (IMU)."

Brazil plans to buy 20 more Swedish Gripen fighter aircraft

Good news for Sweden and the European defense industry!

"Brazilian Defense Minister José Múcio Monteiro Filho announced today that he wants to buy an additional 20 Gripen E jets, which would bring Brazil’s fleet to 56 fighters.

The announcement came during a press conference today, wrapping up the minister’s four-day visit to Sweden. ...

After Saab beat out the Boeing F/A-18 and Dassault Rafale in 2014, Brazil ordered a total of 36 Gripen fighters: 28 single-seat Gripen E models and eight two-seat Gripen F variants. Eleven aircraft have been delivered to date. ..."

Brazil plans to buy 20 more Gripen fighters - Breaking Defense "Gen. Marcelo Kanitz Damasceno, the Brazilian air chief, told Breaking Defense that the need for extra jets was born from a serious look at Brazil’s air power."

Saab Gripen

Habits form far faster than science previously thought, research shows

Amazing stuff! As they say we are creatures of habit! 😊

I remember, there were rumors and remarks decades ago that it takes only one cigarette to become addicted. It was meant as deterrence!

"... Scientists have long believed that habits emerge gradually after long periods of repetitive behavior. But the new research shows that the transition into habitual action occurs faster than previously understood. And the research suggests that a particular brain region may play a key role in the transition—a discovery that could point to ways to alter entrenched habits.

Key Takeaways

• The formation of habits may not transpire gradually as science has long believed.
• New research show that the transition to habitual behavior occurs far faster than previously understood.
• There may be a brain region that plays a key role in that transition, a discovery that could point to ways to alter entrenched habits.

"For over 100 years the theory of how habits form has been one of gradual strengthening and repetition ..."

From the abstract:

"The speed of goal-directed to habit transitions has been debated since Clark Hull asked in 1943: is habit formation slow or sudden?

To address this, male mice were given home-cage access to citric-acid water that reduced—without eliminating—reward-seeking for plain water in an auditory go/no-go task. Animals learned to discriminate quickly but exhibited ongoing state-like fluctuations in engagement.

Strikingly, these fluctuations abruptly ceased (transition) long after discrimination stabilized, with HMM-GLM modeling pinpointing a ~3-trial transition.

We confirmed this as a goal-directed to habit transition using sensory-specific outcome devaluation, DLS lesions, motor stereotypy, and pupillary responses. Dual-site fiber photometry showed equally abrupt DLS dynamics at the transition: outcome-related activity dropped and stimulus-response activity sharpened, suggesting a switch-like mechanism that recruits a readily available habit circuit rather than gradual changes across a threshold.

Thus, habits can emerge suddenly, mediated by an abrupt dorsostriatal shift from outcome- to stimulus-driven processing."

Habits form far faster than science previously thought, research shows | Hub "A Johns Hopkins is team is studying whether a region of the brain plays a key role in developing habitual behavior, a discovery that could point to ways to alter entrenched habits"

Revealing abrupt transitions from goal-directed to habitual behavior (open access)

Fig. 2: Abrupt state-like transitions from goal-directed to habitual behavior appear spontaneously within individual animals.

§ 188: When the shit hits the fan

Eine deftige, deutsche Schlagzeile! So eine Scheisse! 😊

Laut Google entstand dieser Ausdruck u.a. so: "The Bar Joke: Another common origin tale comes from an old joke. A man in a crowded, multi-story bar couldn't find the bathroom, so he used a hole in the floor upstairs. When he returned to the main floor, he found the bar in absolute chaos and the bartender hiding. When the man asked what had happened, the bartender replied: "Where were you when the shit hit the fan?""

§ 188: When the shit hits the fan "Man hat ihnen gesagt: Der Majestätsbeleidigungsparagraph ist eine ganz blöde Idee. Schafft den besser gestern ab. Nun schlägt der Union ihre Anzeigenflut gegen kritische Bürger voll ins Gesicht. Warum halbherzigem Rückwärtsgerudere dabei kein Vertrauen zu schenken ist."

Japan's fertility rate at record low; 10th straight year of decline

When will the Japanese people go extinct? No more Sushi, Samurais and Sumo wrestler! Just kidding!

Demography is destiny!

Japan's fertility rate at record low; 10th straight year of decline - Nikkei Asia "Births in 2025 lowest since survey began in 1899" (behind paywall)

Source

A study on bird masturbation involving 120 bird species

Amazing stuff!

Notice Oxford University insists in their news release that masturbation should not be punished! How old is Oxford University? 😊

"... In a new study, scientists investigated acts of autosexual behavior in 120 bird species across 22 major groups. The team surveyed bird experts, gathered data from online communities of bird enthusiasts, and combed the relatively scant scientific literature on bird masturbation. “Avian self-pleasure is usually a rather inelegant affair,” they wrote in a piece for The Conversation, which involves a bird rubbing its cloaca against an object, frequently accompanied by wing-flapping and “self-satisfied” vocalizations.

Such behavior, the researchers found, is widespread among bird species and is actually more common in the wild than in captivity. Although slightly more accounts involved males, self-love occurred in both sexes and across all age groups. Species that mate with multiple partners were more likely to engage in the behavior than socially monogamous species or species that form long-term pair bonds, suggesting that it helps increase reproductive success or plays a role in enhancing sexual arousal. ..."

From the abstract:

"Most theories on sexual behaviours are based on adaptive explanations. However, masturbation, a common but scarcely discussed sexual behaviour, appears a Darwinian puzzle.

Why would individuals waste valuable resources such as time, energy and, for males, sperm?

We combined targeted surveys with information from published accounts to test hypotheses about why masturbation occurs, using a phylogenetically broad dataset on the presence or absence of masturbation across 120 bird species.

We find masturbation is widespread in birds, but strongly phylogenetically conserved, typically being fixed (as present or absent) or nearly so within broad clades.

Masturbation is more common in males, though the widespread evidence for masturbation in females suggests that maintaining fresh sperm in testes cannot be the single explanation.

We find no difference in masturbation occurrence between juveniles and adults, further suggesting that it does not solely represent practice copulations before maturity.

Species with indiscriminate matings are more likely to masturbate than socially monogamous species or species with long-term pair bonds.

Importantly, as masturbation is more commonly reported in wild than captive birds, we find it is therefore not a negative or maladaptive response to captivity. Instead, it is part of a wider repertoire of sexual behaviours exhibited in birds. Overall, our data are consistent with masturbation serving as an outlet for increased sexual arousal, a means of increasing reproductive success through postcopulatory selection, or both."

ScienceAdviser

Masturbation in pet birds is natural and should not be punished (original news release)

The Evolution of Masturbation in Birds (open access)

Wie Rotorsegel und Wing Sails Frachtschiffe effizienter machen. Wirklich!

Auch deutsche Ingenieure (laut VDI) sind anscheinend dem Klimawahn verfallen! Sehr bedauerlich!

Diese Idee von solchen Schiffen ist mehrere Jahrzehnte alt! Warum wurden solche Schiffe bislang nie gebaut, wenn ich mich nicht irre?

Wie Rotorsegel und Wing Sails Frachtschiffe effizienter machen (eine Publikation des VDI)

Flettner-Rotoren, Wing Sails und Kite-Systeme: So nutzt die Schifffahrt den Wind neu und spart Millionen Tonnen CO₂.

Direct flights between Hong Kong and Uzbekistan to launch this year, sources say

Hong Kong never ceases to amaze me! I recently visited Hong Kong!

"... The new route follows close on the heels of Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific’s plan to launch a service to Almaty in Kazakhstan in the first quarter of next year, one of the outcomes of Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s official visit to the region. ..."

Direct flights between Hong Kong and Uzbekistan to launch this year, sources say | South China Morning Post "Direct flights between Hong Kong and Tashkent to start as talks begin on reciprocal 30-day visa-free stay agreement to boost trade, tourism and regional ties"

Flatworms reveal explosive new type of immune cell

Amazing stuff!

"In brief

• ... scientists uncovered a new type of cytotoxic cell called “ruptoblasts” in experiments with planarian flatworms.
• Unlike common blood-derived immune cells, ruptoblasts are specialized gland cells that undergo an explosive cell death called "ruptosis” when triggered by a specific hormone.
• A single ruptoblast can kill dozens of target cells within minutes through an explosion of toxic agents that quickly dissipate.
• Ruptosis is the most explosive form of cell death known to date, making it distinct from all previously described cell death pathways.

... scientists have discovered a new type of immune cell that kills surrounding cells via explosion – a cellular detonation so fast and complete that the cell vanishes within minutes, leaving no trace behind. This discovery comes from an unlikely source: planarian flatworms. ..."

From the highlights and abstract:

"Highlights

• Ruptoblasts are a cytotoxic glandular cell type likely conserved across bilaterians

• Activin triggers explosive ruptosis via ER calcium amplified through the cytoskeleton

• Ruptoblasts drive tissue rejection in planarian chimeras and aid bacterial clearance

• Ruptosis releases potent broad-spectrum cytotoxic agents

Summary

Current understanding of cytotoxic immunity is shaped by hematopoietic-derived cells—T cells, natural killer cells, and neutrophils.

Here, we identify “ruptoblasts,” a previously unknown cytotoxic glandular cell type in regenerative planarian flatworms. Ruptoblasts undergo an explosive cell death, “ruptosis,” triggered by activin, a multifunctional hormone acting as an inflammatory cytokine.

Excessive activin—induced through protein injection, genetic chimerism, or bacterial infection—initiates ruptosis, discharging potent diffusible cytotoxic agents capable of eliminating nearby cells, bacteria, and even mammalian cells within minutes.

Ruptoblast ablation suppresses inflammation but compromises bacterial clearance, highlighting their broad-spectrum immune functions.

Mechanistically distinct from known cytotoxic and cell death mechanisms, the explosive nature of ruptosis relies on endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-derived calcium and cytoskeleton-dependent signal amplification.

Ruptoblast-like cells appear conserved in diverse basal bilaterians, implying an ancient evolutionary origin. These findings unveil a strategy coupling hormonal regulation with immune defense and expand the landscape of evolutionary immune innovations."

Flatworms reveal explosive new type of immune cell | Stanford Report "The discovery that hormonal triggers cause “ruptoblast” cells in flatworms to detonate and destroy surrounding cells within minutes could inspire new ideas in medical science."

Explosive cytotoxicity of ruptoblasts bridges hormone surveillance and immune defense (no public access)

Graphical abstract

President Trump: This Is Why You Don’t Slash Humanitarian Aid. Really!

Other countries are free to step up their humanitarian aid!

What a stupid commentary by NYT by a two times winner of the Pulitzer Prize! Must be Trump Derangement Syndrome when another small Ebola outbreak in a war zone in Africa triggers it!

Caveat: I did not read the article.

"... Yet in reality American humanitarian aid not only saved one life every 10 seconds but was also safeguarding the world from epidemics. So now we face a rapidly increasing outbreak of Ebola ..."

Opinion | Ebola Shows Why Humanitarian Aid Matters - The New York Times (by Nicholas Kristof, behind paywall, unlocked article)

Credits: Global Health NOW

Official photo of Nicholas Kristof Source

Martin Herrenknecht: Deutschland ist auf dem Weg zur Bananenrepublik

Ich sage schon seit einigen Jahren hier auf meinem Blog, dass Deutschland eine Bananenrepublik ist, spätestens seit der unsäglichen SED Kanzlerin Merkel!

Martin Herrenknecht: Deutschland ist auf dem Weg zur Bananenrepublik | FAZ (behind paywall) "Der Unternehmer Martin Herrenknecht ist unzufrieden mit der Politik. Ein Interview über die Lage der Nation, das Manko von Friedrich Merz und darüber, warum er eine Übernahme der Commerzbank bedauern würde."

Germany loses vote for UN Security Council seat

Good news! We don't want a banana republic like Germany to be on the UN Security Council! 

A country who sends a buffoon like Annalena Baerbock (currently President of the UN General Assembly) as a representative to the UN does not deserve any better!

Germany loses vote for UN Security Council seat "Fifteen of the 193 UN member states sit on the UN Security Council. Germany was in competition with Austria and Portugal for two seats in the "Western Europe and Others" group."

English for trippers: The genome of a gnome

Still to be analyzed! 😊

The Myth of Green China

Recommendable! Sweet and short! To the point! Anyone, who traveled extensively in China in recent times can easily confirm this too.

"That is, a lot of U.S. [Western] environmentalists use the “climate crisis” as a lever to abolish capitalism and change the whole nature of American [Western] society. ..." Who pays these Western agitators? Some Western billionaires, China, Russia ...

The Myth of Green China | American Enterprise Institute - AEI

Through the roof!

Today, I was unable to connect to a VPN server from behind the Great Firewall of China

Only by around 8 PM (China Standard Time), I was able to connect to the Internet again via VPN.

I hope to resume blogging as usual by tomorrow.

Vierbeinige Roboter „Anymal“ des Schweizer Robotic-Start-ups Anybotics

Die Roboter kommen! Auf den Hund gekommen! Sehr animalistisch!

"Er läuft Patrouille in Umspannwerken, Gasanlagen und Stahlhütten. Er kann Treppen erklimmen und sogar 3D-Modelle der Anlagen erstellen, die er inspiziert. Die Rede ist von einem neuartigen Tier, das die Natur so nicht vorgesehen hatte – dem künstlichen Hund.

Der rot-graue Vierbeiner „Anymal“ des Schweizer Robotic-Start-ups Anybotics ist keine Zukunftsvision, sondern Alltag, schreibt das Handelsblatt. Der Roboter wird bereits weltweit eingesetzt, teilweise gibt es für ihn sogar Hundenamen und Hundehütten.

„Wir haben inzwischen mehrere Hundert Roboter in Betrieb, die pro Tag zwei bis acht Stunden arbeiten“, sagt Firmenchef Peter Fankhauser. Zu den Anybotics-Kunden gehören der Industriekonzern Siemens und das brasilianische Bergbauunternehmen Vale. ..."

Verfassungsschutz: Extremisten in Berlin immer jünger, linker und islamistischer

Welcher Robotertyp überzeugt in Unternehmen "Zweibeinige Roboter stehlen den „Robodogs“ zwar die Show. Doch vierbeinige Modelle werden Experten zufolge bisher viel häufiger eingesetzt. Branchenkenner erwarten ein enormes Marktwachstum."

Anybotics-Chef Fankhauser: Der Firmengründer mit seinen vierbeinigen Anymals. 

Why are white-black marriage rates so low in the US? Really!

This study relies way too much on statistical modeling! 

Notice also the ideological usage of Black v. white! Very annoying and disturbing! How biased is this research?

Spatial exposure seems to be overemphasized and narrowly defined, i.e. childhood neighborhood, but what  e.g. what about military service?.

Some black folks may say white people can't dance and have no rhythm! 😊 Just kidding!

"Americans rarely marry outside of their race or class in a nation where residential segregation is relatively common. It is a dynamic widely viewed as a contributing factor to income inequality and intergenerational social mobility.

A new National Bureau of Economic Research working paper examines whether increased exposure to members of other race and class groups affects marriage rates between Black and white partners, based on an analysis of Census data and federal tax records. The overall rate has grown slowly over the years and currently stands at only 11 percent of intermarried couples. ..."

From the abstract:

"Americans rarely marry outside their race or class group, a pattern with well-documented implications for inequality and intergenerational mobility.

Limited exposure—or interactions with members of other groups—may partly explain these low intergroup marriage rates. We instrument for exposure using variation in childhood neighborhoods based on whether other race and class groups had more opposite-sex children of similar age.

Exposure increases interclass (high- and low-parent-income) marriage but has no detectable effect on interracial (White and Black) marriage.

A spatial marriage market model predicts that residential segregation—one of many forms of exposure—accounts for more than one third of marital sorting by class but less than 5% by race."

Why are white-Black marriage rates so low? — Harvard Gazette "New research suggests increased exposure between groups results in more couplings across class but not racial line."

Who Marries Whom? The Role of Segregation by Race and Class (open access)

Delayed and Denied Care for hundreds of ICE Detainees. Really!

Nice try at propaganda! Did these illegal immigrants have medical care from where they came from? Why and how did they immigrate if their health is poor or if they need medical care?

KFF stands for Kaiser Family Foundation.

"Hundreds of people in ICE detention facilities across the U.S. are alleging medical neglect—saying they’ve gone untreated for conditions including diabetes, cancer, HIV, epilepsy, and high blood pressure—along with a lack of basic disability care, reports a joint investigation by KFF Health News and the AP.  

 

The findings, drawn from court filings across 33 states, show a system under strain as the detained population surged to 75,000+ people this year, up from ~40,000 a year earlier, amid the Trump administration’s push for deportations.  

Previously, medically vulnerable detainees were often released on humanitarian parole. Now people with serious conditions remain in custody under “mandatory detention.”  ..."

"... KFF Health News and AP analyzed thousands of court cases filed since Trump’s second inauguration that use a legal route known as habeas corpus to argue people are being held illegally [???] by ICE. The records offer a rare window into how those detained say, often under penalty of perjury, ICE is handling their medical needs. Reporters also interviewed more than 50 detainees, family members, and lawyers. ..."

Global Health NOW: Delayed and Denied Care for ICE Detainees; and The Rise in ‘Battery Cows’

Festering Infections to Untreated Cancer: ICE Detainees Describe Medical Neglect Across US

The world’s largest privately owned laser just turned on

Good news!

"Fusion startup Xcimer Energy on Wednesday flipped the switch on its Phoenix laser system, which the company says is the largest privately owned example in the world.

Xcimer’s approach to fusion power is modeled after the National Ignition Facility (NIF), which proved in December 2022 that a controlled fusion reaction could release more power than required to ignite it. ...

Xcimer’s plans for a fusion power plant call for two lasers capable of firing in microsecond-long pulses. Light from those pulses will be fed through a compression system, of sorts, which will delivers the lasers’ energy to the fuel target in nanoseconds. The quicker the fuel is compressed, the more likely it is to generate usable fusion reactions.

Phoenix is a step toward an eventual power plant. The system uses excimer amplification, similar to those used in semiconductor manufacturing but significantly more powerful. At full strength, the krypton-fluoride laser generates over 1 kilojoule of energy ... and its core is 38 meters long. ..."

"... What comes next

Phoenix is the first step in Xcimer’s roadmap toward commercial fusion energy.

• Anvil (2028): Commercial-scale excimer amplifier delivering 200 kilojoules on target in a complete two-sided beamline.
• Vulcan (early 2030s): 4–12 megajoule laser system targeting wall-plug breakeven and supporting high-energy-density and national-security applications. Xcimer expects to select a Vulcan site this year.
• Athena (mid-2030s): Commercial-scale laser fusion power plant designed for continuous grid-scale electricity generation.

..."

The world’s largest privately owned laser just turned on | TechCrunch

Xcimer Energy announces the start of operations for Phoenix, a prototype system for industrial-scale laser fusion architecture (original news release)

Scientist adjusts laser optics at Xcimer Energy in Denver, Colorado.

5 key points in Trump's new AI order

Sounds good to me! Laissez faire, laissez passer!

"Less than two weeks after scrapping an executive order on AI, President Donald Trump signed a new one on Tuesday. Promising to promote innovation and security, the policy represents a turning point in the White House’s AI governance ...

• It's created a voluntary review system: tech companies will be asked to share frontier models with the government for review 30 days before they plan to release them.
• There’s no mandatory licensing: the government will not require permits before software can be deployed.
• It establishes a dedicated AI cybersecurity clearinghouse: the new hub will coordinate security checks with the private sector.
• It's a watered-down version of the order Trump shelved last month: the earlier version requested models 90 days before their release.
• But it’s still a move towards stronger AI oversight: the policy marks a clear departure from the White House’s previous hands-off approach.

..."

5 key points in Trump's new AI order

Nordbrücke in Bonn gesperrt: Der Verkehrs-Kollaps in NRW geht weiter

Wie die Bananenrepublik D zusehends zerfällt!

Nordbrücke in Bonn gesperrt: Der Verkehrs-Kollaps in NRW geht weiter "Sofortige Vollsperrung der Rheinbrücke Bonn-Nord: Bei Untersuchungen wurden irreversible Schäden festgestellt. Über die Brücke führt die Bundesautobahn 565, die die A 61, A 555 und A 59 miteinander verbindet. Das Verkehrschaos ist vorprogrammiert."

This strange crystal acts like metal and glass at the same time

Amazing stuff!

"A remarkable crystal called molybdenum oxychloride could help make futuristic technologies like smart contact lenses and ultrathin AR [augmented reality] glasses a reality. Scientists have created the first detailed experimental map of its optical properties, revealing the strongest light-bending effect ever measured in a natural material. The crystal can act either like a reflective metal or transparent glass, allowing it to manipulate light with extraordinary efficiency while being thousands of times thinner than a human hair. ...

When positioned one way, it reflects light much like a metal. Rotate it by 90 degrees, and it becomes transparent like glass. This unusual characteristic stems from its extreme optical anisotropy, meaning its properties vary dramatically depending on direction. ...

Rare Light-Slowing Effect Found in Visible Light

The researchers also identified a rare epsilon-near-zero point at 512 nm (green light).

At this point, part of the material's optical response falls almost to zero. As a result, light effectively slows down while the electric field inside the crystal becomes stronger. This combination can significantly enhance interactions between light and matter. ..."

From the abstract:

"The realization of extreme optical anisotropy is foundational for nanoscale light manipulation.

The van der Waals (vdW) crystal MoOCl2 has emerged as a promising candidate for this quest, hosting hyperbolic plasmon polaritons in the visible and near-infrared wavelengths. However, the fundamental anisotropic dielectric tensor governing this behavior has remained elusive.

Here, we resolve this problem by providing the first experimental determination of the full dielectric tensor of hyperbolic vdW MoOCl2. Via spectroscopic ellipsometry, Mueller matrix, and reflectance measurements, we quantify the material’s optical duality: a metallic optical response (ε1 < 0) along the crystallographic a-axis and a dielectric response (ε1 > 0) along the orthogonal directions.

This dichotomy drives an epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) condition at ≈512 nm and results in a giant in-plane birefringence of Δn ≈ 2.2 for MoOCl2. As a result, our work provides the critical missing experimental parameters for MoOCl2, establishing it as a benchmark hyperbolic and ENZ material."

This strange crystal acts like metal and glass at the same time | ScienceDaily "A newly mapped crystal can manipulate light in astonishing ways, opening the door to ultrathin AR glasses, smart contact lenses, and tiny high-speed optical chips."

Giant Optical Anisotropy and Visible-Frequency Epsilon-near-Zero in Hyperbolic van der Waals MoOCl2 (open access)

Credits: Neuer Kristall macht optische Bauteile tausendfach dünner

Graphical abstract