Two-minute EV charging coming to Israel thanks to Chinese BYD

Good news!

"In the next few months, Chinese car manufacturers will raise the competitive threshold a further notch in the electric vehicle segment in Israel, through supercharger technology that makes it possible to charge a battery fully within a few minutes. Leading the charge is BYD, which has announced a global rollout of the technology under the brand name "Flash".

The venture has two sides to it. The first is the construction of public chargers with a charging rate of 1.5 megawatts, almost ten times the average rate of existing fast charging stations in Israel and three times faster than the current maximum rate of Tesla’s new fast chargers set up in Israel.

The second component is a series of new and rehashed electric and plug-in hybrid car models equipped with second generation batteries. These models are designed to support Flash charging, without overheating or other side-effects, over a long lifetime. ..."

Two-minute EV charging coming to Israel - Globes "New technology from BYD enables hundreds of kilometers of range to be added to an electric car in less time than it takes to fill up with gasoline."

AWS extends Ichilov AI medical collaboration for hospital to become cloud based

Good news!

"The new agreement is a continuation of a collaboration between the parties, in which Ichilov transferred all of its computer systems to the cloud, becoming one of the world’s first hospitals to do so."

AWS extends Ichilov AI medical collaboration - Globes "The new agreement is a continuation of a collaboration between the parties, in which Ichilov transferred all of its computer systems to the cloud, becoming one of the world’s first hospitals to do so."

The Ancient Weapons Active in Your Immune System Today

Recommendable!

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

"... In recent years researchers have come upon a surprising finding: Some of the machinery that bacteria use to defend against phages exists, almost unchanged, in our own cells. According to dozens of discoveries made over the past decade, the rules of engagement between cells and viruses were written billions of years ago and still largely define how our innate immune system, the first responder to infection, defends us against viruses and bacteria today. ...

Two recent waves of discovery broke this field open.

First, in 2018, researchers reported a variety of novel bacterial defense systems against viruses(opens a new tab), which now number in the hundreds.

The second wave, starting around 2019, showed that some of these bacterial mechanisms exist in plant and animal cells, including our own — and that they still work the same way they did in those distant ancestors. ...

These and other discoveries that followed reveal an unexplored landscape of human innate immunity — one that could lead to new medical treatments and biotechnological tools ...

A few years later, ... team observed that big constellations of immune genes, including restriction-modification enzymes and CRISPR arrays, tended to cluster together in the same region of bacterial genomes. He and other labs observed that genes of unknown function within these “defense islands” or “genomic islands” could potentially represent novel anti-phage mechanisms. ...

In 2018, his team showed that many of the unknown genes in these defense islands did, in fact, function as a variety of anti-phage defense systems. ..."

The Ancient Weapons Active in Your Immune System Today | Quanta Magazine "Dozens of new discoveries reveal that defenses evolved by bacteria and viruses billions of years ago still define our own innate immune system."

Remarkably, the core machinery of the STING protein (top, protein diagrams) has remained structurally preserved across diverse organisms, although the underlying gene sequence differs widely. Some parts of the protein (bottom, dashed outline) have changed over billions of years.

A nasal spray reversed brain aging and inflammation in just two doses

Good news! This could be a breakthrough!

"A nasal spray reversed brain aging and inflammation in just two doses, restoring memory and cognitive sharpness, in a Texas A&M study of mice that researchers say could reshape treatment for dementia."

"Summary: For decades, “neuroinflammaging”, the slow-burning inflammation that causes brain fog and memory decline, was considered an unavoidable part of getting older. However, a landmark study suggests the clock can be turned back.

Researchers developed a non-invasive nasal spray that uses microscopic “delivery parcels” to travel directly into the brain. With just two doses, the therapy dramatically reduced chronic inflammation, recharged cellular “power plants” (mitochondria), and restored memory and cognitive sharpness in aging models.

Key Facts

• Rapid & Lasting Results: Significant cognitive improvements were observed within weeks and, remarkably, persisted for months after only two doses.
• Universal Efficacy: Unlike many medical studies that show varying results by sex, this therapy proved equally effective in both males and females.
• Behavioral Recovery: Treated models showed a restored ability to recognize familiar objects and adapt to changes in their environment—key indicators of a healthy, functioning memory center.

..."

From the abstract:

"Neuroinflammaging, a moderate, chronic, and sterile inflammation in the hippocampus, contributes to age-related cognitive decline.

Neuroinflammaging comprises the activation of the nucleotide-binding domain, leucine-rich repeat family, and pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasomes, and the cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS)-stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathway that triggers type 1 interferon (IFN-1) signalling.

Studies have shown that extracellular vesicles from human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neural stem cells (hiPSC-NSC-EVs) contain therapeutic miRNAs that can alleviate neuroinflammation.

Therefore, this study examined the effects of late middle-aged (18-month-old) male and female C57BL6/J mice receiving two intranasal doses of hiPSC-NSC-EVs on neuroinflammaging in the hippocampus at 20.5 months of age. Compared with animals receiving vehicle treatment, the hippocampus of animals receiving hiPSC-NSC-EVs exhibited reductions in astrocyte hypertrophy, microglial clusters, and oxidative stress, along with elevated expression of antioxidant proteins and genes that maintain mitochondrial respiratory chain integrity.

Moreover, hiPSC-NSC-EVs therapy decreased the levels of various proteins involved in the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, p38/mitogen-activated protein kinase, cGAS-STING-IFN-1, and Janus kinase and signal transducer and activator of transcription signalling pathways.

Furthermore, in vitro assays using genetically engineered RAW cells and hiPSC-NSC-EVs, with or without targeted depletion of specific miRNAs, demonstrated that miRNA-30e-3p and miRNA-181a-5p, both present in hiPSC-NSC-EVs, can significantly inhibit the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome and the STING pathway, respectively. Additionally, single-cell RNA sequencing conducted 7 days post-treatment revealed that hiPSC-NSC-EVs induce widespread transcriptomic changes in microglia, including increased expression of numerous genes that enhance oxidative phosphorylation and reduced expression of abundant genes that drive multiple proinflammatory signalling pathways.

These changes mediated by hiPSC-NSC-EVs were also associated with improved cognitive and memory function.

Thus, intranasal hiPSC-NSC-EVs therapy in late middle age can effectively diminish proinflammatory microglial transcriptome and signalling cascades that drive neuroinflammaging in the hippocampus, contributing to better brain function in old age."

Wednesday, April 15, 2026 - Join The Flyover

Nasal Spray Reverses Brain Aging and Inflammation

Scientists reverse brain aging, with a nasal spray (original news release) "New therapy is turning back the clock in aging brains, healing inflammation, restoring memory and reshaping the future of brain age-related therapies."

Intranasal Human NSC-Derived EVs Therapy Can Restrain Inflammatory Microglial Transcriptome, and NLRP3 and cGAS-STING Signalling, in Aged Hippocampus (open access)

Fig. 2 Intranasal administration of extracellular vesicles from human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neural stem cells (hiPSC-NSC-EVs) to late middle-aged mice reduced hypertrophy of astrocytes and microglial clusters.

The case for a new economic theory of how markets really work without the Invisible Hand. Really!

Food for thought! However, I am not getting smart out of the abstract of this research article. It sounds like gibberish to me!

Is it possible that the authors here wrongly connected market clearing with the Invisible Hand? I bet!

Service economy is not a new concept! It has been around for several decades. So what is new here? Well, manufacturing is still very much alive and kicking too, because humans can not live by services alone, products are still needed.

"... In the real world, it is rare that markets “clear”—meaning that all the products reach customers thanks to the balancing of the invisible hand. Businesses must often commit to what they will charge and how much they will produce before they know what the actual demand will look like. 

A Model for the Service Economy

While traditional economic theories were built in an era of manufacturing, this research is particularly descriptive of the modern service industry [???], which now dominates the U.S. economy. ..."

From the abstract:

"Modern theories of the business cycle do not allow for the simultaneous rational choice of both prices and quantities, instead assuming that an “invisible hand” determines one of these variables to clear markets.

In this paper, we develop a macroeconomic framework in which both prices and quantities are chosen directly by firms, and exchange is both voluntary and efficient. Because of uncertainty about demand and productivity, individual product markets can be in excess supply or rationed.

The absence of market-clearing changes pricing and production in qualitatively important ways: markups are no longer determined solely by the elasticity of demand, and higher uncertainty reduces production and increases markups.

In equilibrium, production in rationed markets has a negative aggregate demand externality on demand in slack markets.

Differently from New Keynesian economies, monetary shocks propagate by reducing economic slack, raising aggregate labor productivity and consumption, while uncertainty shocks act as stagflationary cost-push shocks. We integrate our theory of disequilibrium in a dynamic, rational-expectations “New Old Keynesian Model” and demonstrate its implications for the business cycle."

The case for a new theory of how markets really work | Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics "A new framework shows how uncertainty and real world constraints break traditional models and offers a more realistic theory of pricing inflation and productivity."

Pricing And Production Without The Invisible Hand

FBI says these apps downloaded from smartphone app storefronts let China suck up your personal data

I think this is plausible! These storefronts surely are valuable targets for espionnage.

Unlike the article below, I don't think these apps are limited to typical, popular Chinese apps like Temu, TikTok, Tencent etc. Any popular App could be affected.

"Centralized smartphone app storefronts, like Apple’s App Store for iPhone and the Google Play Store for Android, make apps feel like they all come from the same safe place online, but the developers behind these apps are spread out all over the world. This month, the FBI brought attention to international developers, warning that installing apps built by foreign nations could pose a major threat to user privacy and security. ..."

FBI says these apps let China suck up your personal data (behind paywall)

Solid-state quantum sensors can measure several properties at once

Amazing stuff! This could be a breakthrough!

"A special class of sensors leverages quantum properties to measure tiny signals at levels that would be impossible using classical sensors alone. Such quantum sensors are currently being used to study the inner workings of cells and the outer depths of our universe.

Particularly promising are solid-state quantum sensors, which can operate at room temperature. Unfortunately, most solid-state quantum sensors today only measure one physical quantity at a time — such as the magnetic field, temperature, or strain in a material. Trying to measure both the magnetic field and temperature of a material at the same time causes their signals to get mixed up and measurements to become unreliable.

Now, ... researchers have created a way to simultaneously measure multiple physical quantities with a solid-state quantum sensor. They achieved this by exploiting entanglement, where particles become correlated into a single quantum state. In a new paper, the team demonstrated its approach in a commonly used quantum sensor at room temperature, measuring the amplitude, frequency, and phase of a microwave field in a single measurement. They also showed the approach works better than sequentially measuring each property or using traditional sensors.

The researchers say the approach could enable quantum sensors that can deepen our understanding of the behavior of atoms and electrons inside materials and living systems like cancer cells. ...

Although the researchers say their sensor didn’t measure each quantity at the highest possible precision, in future work they plan to explore if their approach can achieve higher precision for each parameter. ..."

From the abstract:

"Quantum multiparameter estimation promises to extend quantum advantage to the simultaneous high-precision measurements of multiple physical quantities. However, realizing this capability in practical quantum sensors under realistic conditions remains challenging due to intrinsic system imperfections.

Here, we experimentally demonstrate multiparameter estimation using a nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond, a widely adopted solid-state quantum sensor.

Leveraging electronic-nuclear spin entanglement and optimized Bell-state measurement at room temperature, we simultaneously estimate the amplitude, detuning, and phase of a microwave drive from a single measurement sequence.

Despite practical constraints, our results achieve linear sensitivity scaling for all parameters with respect to interrogation time. This work bridges the gap between foundational quantum estimation theory and real-world quantum sensing, opening pathways toward enhanced multiparameter quantum sensors suitable for diverse scientific and technological applications."

Multitasking quantum sensors can measure several properties at once | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology "The devices represent a key step toward practical quantum sensing, with applications in biomedical sensing, materials characterization, and more."

Entanglement-Assisted Multiparameter Estimation with a Solid-State Quantum Sensor (open access)

Fig. 1. Principles of multiparameter estimation based on a single NV center in diamond.

Hisbollah in Deutschland: Wie Europas wichtigster Finanzstandort für den Terror wachsen konnte

Neues aus der Bananenrepublik D! Oder ist das eine neue Form von Antisemitismus?

"Deutschland taucht darin als Hauptstandort der Finanzgeschäfte der Hisbollah in Europa auf.

Das ist keine Randnotiz aus dem Nahen Osten – das ist ein Befund über die Bundesrepublik. Während Politiker in Berlin bei jeder Gelegenheit mit moralischer Entschlossenheit posieren, lief hier laut der neuen Analyse ein Knotenpunkt für die Finanzierung einer vom Iran gestützten Terrororganisation.

Die Studie beschreibt Verbindungen zu global tätigen Unternehmen und ein Geflecht aus legalen und illegalen Geschäftsmodellen. Sie nennt ausdrücklich Drogenhandel, Kunsthandel, Blutdiamanten, Ölschmuggel, Geldwäsche und inzwischen auch Kryptowährungen als Teil der Finanzarchitektur. Wer da noch von vereinzelten Sympathisanten spricht, betreibt Beruhigungsrhetorik für Schlafwandler.

Der Kern des Skandals liegt tiefer. Die Europäische Union hat sich jahrelang in die bequeme Fiktion geflüchtet, bei der Hisbollah lasse sich ein angeblich politischer Teil von einem militärischen Teil trennen. Genau diese Aufspaltung beschreibt die neue Studie als Einfallstor. ...

Deutschland hat die gesamte Hisbollah zwar bereits im April 2020 verboten. Das Bundesinnenministerium sprach damals ausdrücklich ein Betätigungsverbot gegen die Terrororganisation aus. Der neue Befund fällt dadurch noch verheerender aus. Ein Verbot auf dem Papier hat den Standort Deutschland offenkundig nicht aus der Gleichung entfernt. Es zeigt nur, wie groß die Lücke zwischen Verlautbarung und Wirkung geblieben ist. Der Apparat verkündet Härte, während sich Netzwerke anpassen, umetikettieren und über Wirtschaftsstrukturen weiterarbeiten. Gut, dass man den Fokus voll auf Rollator-Gangs und politische Schauprozesse verlegt hat. ...

Der Vorgang ist politisch vernichtend. Wer Europa mit immer neuen Kontrollen gegen den eigenen Bürger überzieht, jede digitale Regung misstrauisch beäugt und unter Kontrolle stellen will, sollte doch wohl wenigstens irgendwie versuchen zu verhindern, dass eine vom Iran gefütterte Terrororganisation auf europäischem Boden ihre Finanzadern pflegt. ..."

Hisbollah in Deutschland: Wie Europas wichtigster Finanzstandort für den Terror wachsen konnte "Geheimdienstinformationen und eine neue Studie legen offen, was der deutsche Staat seit Jahren verschleppt: Deutschland ist die internationale Drehscheibe für Hisbollah-Geld in Europa.

Terrorfinanzen laufen über Firmen, Spenden, Geldwäsche und Krypto. Was genau macht eigentlich die Bundesjustizministerin?"

Exklusiv: Geheimdienstinformationen enthüllen Schlüsselfiguren im Finanznetzwerk der Hisbollah "Ein Großteil der Finanzierung der Hisbollah stammt aus Iran. Zusätzliche Einnahmen werden durch Spenden von Sympathisanten im Libanon und in der westlichen Diaspora sowie von libanesischen Unternehmen generiert."

On GIANTS: Generative Insight Anticipation from Scientific Literature

How will machine learning & AI revolutionize scientific research? Here is an example, the latest research paper by Chelsea Finn and Noah D. Goodman.

Caveat: I have not yet read this paper.

From the abstract:

"Scientific breakthroughs often emerge from synthesizing prior ideas into novel contributions.

While language models (LMs) show promise in scientific discovery, their ability to perform this targeted, literature-grounded synthesis remains underexplored.

We introduce insight anticipation, a generation task in which a model predicts a downstream paper's core insight from its foundational parent papers.

To evaluate this capability, we develop GiantsBench, a benchmark of 17k examples across eight scientific domains, where each example consists of a set of parent papers paired with the core insight of a downstream paper.

We evaluate models using an LM judge that scores similarity between generated and ground-truth insights, and show that these similarity scores correlate with expert human ratings.

Finally, we present GIANTS-4B, an LM trained via reinforcement learning (RL) to optimize insight anticipation using these similarity scores as a proxy reward. Despite its smaller open-source architecture, GIANTS-4B outperforms proprietary baselines and generalizes to unseen domains, achieving a 34% relative improvement in similarity score over gemini-3-pro.

Human evaluations further show that GIANTS-4B produces insights that are more conceptually clear than those of the base model.

In addition, SciJudge-30B, a third-party model trained to compare research abstracts by likely citation impact, predicts that insights generated by GIANTS-4B are more likely to lead to higher citations, preferring them over the base model in 68% of pairwise comparisons. We release our code, benchmark, and model to support future research in automated scientific discovery."

[2604.09793] GIANTS: Generative Insight Anticipation from Scientific Literature

Scientists stunned by ‘fundamentally new way’ life produces DNA

Amazing stuff! 

However this is junk journalism by AAAS! No link to the research article! No title of the research article provided!

"For decades, biology textbooks have enshrined a simple rule: DNA is made by copying a template. After one enzyme unzips a DNA double helix into separate strands, another called a polymerase builds a complementary sequence, base by base, for each strand. Presto: two copies of the original DNA. But new research into how bacteria defend themselves from viruses now shows this synthesis rule isn’t absolute. Today in Science, a Stanford University team describes a bacterial enzyme that synthesizes DNA without a nucleic acid template, using its own structure as a guide. ...

The use of a protein as a template for DNA synthesis, ... “is a meaningful conceptual shift from the classical central dogma,” in which information flows in one direction from nucleic acids like DNA to protein. Scientists hope the novel form of DNA synthesis can be adapted as a tool for basic biological research, much like the powerful genome editor CRISPR was developed from another bacterial defense system. ...

The new finding centers on DRT3, a defense system that protects bacteria from viruses, known as phages, that infect them. DRT3, the researchers found, bypasses the logic of base pairing. It relies on two reverse transcriptases: a conventional one that builds single-stranded DNA from an RNA template, and a second, unusual one that assembles its complement from its own built-in template. This unusual enzyme, called Drt3b, has amino acids in its active site that mimic a template RNA strand. ..."

From the abstract:

"Defense-associated reverse transcriptases (DRTs) are widespread bacterial anti-phage systems that use unconventional mechanisms of polynucleotide synthesis. We show that DRT3, which comprises two distinct RTs (Drt3a and Drt3b) and a noncoding RNA (ncRNA), synthesizes alternating poly(GT/AC) double-stranded DNA.

Cryo–electron microscopy structures at 2.6 Å resolution reveal a D3-symmetric 6:6:6 complex of Drt3a, Drt3b, and ncRNA. Drt3a produces the poly(GT) strand using a conserved ACACAC template within the ncRNA.

Notably, Drt3b synthesizes a complementary, protein-primed poly(AC) strand in the complete absence of a nucleic acid template, using conserved active site residues specific to Drt3b to enforce precise base alternation. These findings expand the functional landscape of nucleic acid polymerases, revealing a protein-templated mechanism for sequence-specific DNA synthesis."

Scientists stunned by ‘fundamentally new way’ life produces DNA | Science | AAAS "Newly discovered bacterial defense system challenges genetic code’s central dogma"

Protein-templated synthesis of dinucleotide repeat DNA by an antiphage reverse transcriptase (no public access)

Over 300 humanoid robots will race a half-marathon in Beijing

Good news! I hope these robots will be well lubricated with machine oil! 😊

More than 70 teams are said to participate in this race.

This is the second such race in Beijing.

"Over 100 humanoid robots will race a half-marathon in Beijing on Sunday, as teams test endurance, autonomy, and reliability under real-world conditions. "

"Summary

• More than 300 humanoid robots to take part in 21 km event
• The robots will face more challenging terrain in test of their technical advances
• Nearly 40% of robots expected to navigate the course autonomously
• In the 2025 race, every robot was remotely controlled

...

China dominates global humanoid robot installations, accounting for more than 80% of the 16,000 units installed worldwide in 2025, according to Counterpoint Research.

The top U.S. vendor, Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab, only accounted for 5% of global humanoid installations, the ‌report said. ..."

Saturday, April 18, 2026 - Join The Flyover

China humanoid robot half-marathon to showcase technical leaps

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.

Israel Blocks France’s Participation in its Peace Talks With Lebanon

Probably a good move by Israel! President Macron is dubious or even duplicitous!

Lebanon is perhaps to some extent Francophone, but that does not provide sufficient excuse for President Macron to get involved.

"... For under Macron, France has become even more hostile to Israel than it was before his ascendance to the presidency. ...

Macron never condemned Hezbollah for its missile and drone fire into Israel, though he was quick to deplore Israel’s retaliatory attacks on Hezbollah targets in south Beirut. ...

Macron prevented American military planes delivering weapons to Israel to use its airspace. ..."

Israel Blocks France’s Participation in its Peace Talks With Lebanon | Frontpage Mag "French President Macron and his habitual betrayal of Israel."

Jake Sullivan: The Tech High Ground. Really!

What a moron! He was the National Security Advisor for the senile, demented and pathological liar, the 46th President!

"“For decades, U.S. policy toward China rested on a quiet but powerful assumption: Beijing was essentially running the same race as the United States, just a few steps behind,” writes Jake Sullivan, former U.S. national security adviser, in a new essay from the forthcoming issue of Foreign Affairs. As technology—from semiconductors to artificial intelligence, biotechnology to clean energy—becomes “the central front in U.S.-Chinese competition,” Washington may not have the durable lead [???] it thought it had.

The United States’ biggest rival is starting to dominate “many of the foundational layers that underpin the modern economy,” Sullivan argues. Regaining these areas of high ground [???] “must be the central task of American statecraft [???] in the twenty-first century.” After all, “technological power is translating directly and rapidly into geopolitical power to a degree the world hasn’t seen in years.”"

Jake Sullivan: The Tech High Ground "What It Will Take to Gain the Advantage Over China"

Jake Sullivan

English for trippers: Planktonic organisms

With about their platonic relationships?

Is there a Planck constant involved?

Growing engineered liver tissue on demand directly in the body

Good news!

"... “We asked if it would be possible to first implant a small-scale liver construct and then drive it to expand in the body following its engraftment. A sufficiently grown, functional ‘satellite liver’ could immediately relieve the metabolic burden in a damaged liver and help bridge the time until a transplant becomes available,”  ..."

From the abstract:

"Despite the promise of engineered tissue implants for the treatment of organ failure, scaling of these constructs to sizes of therapeutic relevance remains a barrier to clinical translation.

Here, we propose a strategy to circumvent this limitation: to instead implant a small-scale construct and then induce it to grow in situ after its engraftment into a host.

Using engineered liver tissue as a proof-of-concept application, we integrated synthetic biology and tissue engineering tools to build liver tissues that can be expanded on-demand after implantation in vivo.

To achieve this goal, we first identified the combination of Yes-associated protein (YAP) and growth factor (GF) signaling as sufficient to drive human hepatocyte proliferation in dense, three-dimensional engineered tissues.

We then engineered control of these signaling axes using synthetic biology tools to drive human liver tissue expansion both in vitro and in vivo.

As such, this work establishes a genetic strategy for generating large organ implants through bioengineered on-demand outgrowth via synthetic biology triggering (BOOST)."

Growing liver tissue on demand directly in the body "New study combines tissue engineering with synthetic biology tools to grow healthy liver tissue inside the body, and lays foundation for “smart” solid organ therapies"

Synthetic control of implanted engineered liver tissue growth (open access)

Fig. 1. GF and YAP signaling synergize to induce proliferation of dense cultures of HEPs.

The genetic “BOOST” strategy, explained in his graphic, integrates tissue engineering and synthetic biology tools to enable on-demand liver growth inside the body. By specifically rewiring the gene expression of primary liver hepatocytes and supportive fibroblast cells, a tissue growth program is switched on in a small, engineered liver construct after its implantation into recipients and upon addition of an inducing agent (shown as a pill). As a result, the hepatocytes in the construct start and continue to proliferate until a desired construct size has been reached and the inducing signal is not provided anymore. In mice, BOOST resulted in robust and healthy liver growth.

Study reveals a new role for cell membranes

Amazing stuff!

"Cells are enveloped by a lipid membrane that gives them structure and provides a barrier between the cell and its environment. However, evidence has recently emerged suggesting that these membranes do more than simply provide protection — they also influence the behavior of the protein receptors embedded in them.

A new study ... adds further support to that idea. The researchers found that changing the composition of the cell membrane can alter the function of a membrane receptor that promotes proliferation.

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) can be locked into an overactive state when the cell membrane has a higher than normal concentration of negatively charged lipids, the researchers found. This may help to explain why cancer cells with high levels of those lipids enter a highly proliferative state that allows them to divide uncontrollably. ..."

From the eLife assessment and abstract:

"eLife Assessment

The authors describe an interesting approach to studying the dynamics and function of membrane proteins in different lipid environments. The fundamental findings have theoretical and practical implications beyond the study of EGFR to all membrane signalling proteins. The evidence supporting the conclusions is compelling, based on the use of a nanodisk system to study membrane proteins in vitro, combined with state-of-the-art single-molecule FRET. The work will be of broad interest to cell biologists and biochemists.

Abstract

Cell surface receptors transmit information across the plasma membrane to connect the extracellular environment to intracellular function. While the structures and interactions of the receptors have been long established as mediators of signaling, increasing evidence suggests that the membrane itself plays an active role in both suppressing and enhancing signaling. Identifying and investigating this contribution has been challenging owing to the complex composition of the plasma membrane.

We used cell-free expression to incorporate the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) into nanodiscs with defined membrane compositions and characterized ligand-induced transmembrane conformational response and interactions with signaling partners using single-molecule and ensemble fluorescence assays. We observed that both the transmembrane conformational response and interactions with signaling partners are strongly lipid dependent, consistent with previous observations of electrostatic interactions between the anionic lipids and conserved basic residues near the membrane adjacent domain.

Strikingly, the active conformation of EGFR and high levels of ATP binding were maintained regardless of ligand binding with high anionic lipid content typical of cancer cells, where EGFR signaling is enhanced.

In contrast, the conformational response was suppressed in the presence of cholesterol, providing a mechanism for its known inhibitory effect on EGFR signaling.

Our findings introduce a model of EGFR signaling in which the lipid environment can override ligand control, providing a biophysical basis for both robust EGFR activity in healthy cells and aberrant activity under pathological conditions. The membrane-adjacent protein sequence, likely responsible for the lipid dependence, is conserved among receptor tyrosine kinases, suggesting that active regulation by the plasma membrane may be a general feature of this important class of proteins."

MIT study reveals a new role for cell membranes | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology "Long thought to be mainly a structural support, the cell membrane also influences how cells respond to signals and may contribute to the growth of cancer cells."

Active regulation of the epidermal growth factor receptor by the membrane bilayer (open access)

Fig. 2 Membrane composition influences EGFR function through ATP binding.

Big Pharma Bets Big on AI

Good news!

"... What’s new: Pharma giant Eli Lilly agreed to give as much as $2.75 billion to Insilico Medicine, a Hong Kong-based biotechnology company that applies generative AI across its drug-discovery pipeline.

Initially, Lilly will pay $115 million for exclusive rights to develop and sell undisclosed drugs that have not yet been tested in humans, while further payments will be tied to developmental, regulatory, and commercial milestones ... 

This is the third agreement between the companies following an AI software license in 2023 and a $100 million research collaboration in November 2025.

AI drug-discovery: Founded in 2014, Insilico has used AI to develop 28 candidate drugs, roughly half of which are in clinical trials.

The most advanced one, Rentosertib, targets idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a disease in which scarring progressively reduces lung function. A Phase 2a trial (an early, small-scale test of efficacy) showed positive results.

A second drug, Garutadustat, which is intended to treat inflammatory bowel disease, entered Phase 2a in January 2026. ...

Insilico’s pipeline suggests generative AI can tackle one of the hardest problems in science: finding a molecule that binds to a particular protein, is absorbed by the body, isn’t toxic, and helps patients. ..."

Meta Pivots From Open Weights, Big Pharma Bets On AI, Regulatory Patchwork, Simulating Human Cohorts

Insilico Medicine pipeline

Trump's Illegal War in Iran Is Financed by Your Taxes. That's a Good Reason To Stop Paying Them. Really!

What a moron or useful idiot wrote this article! 

Is this author on the payroll of the fanatic, suicidal mullahs and a major state sponsor of terrorism Iran trying to acquire a nuclear bomb?

Caveat: I did not read the article as the headline says enough!

"The executive branch is out of control [???]. We're now more than six weeks into a deeply unpopular, unnecessary war [???] with Iran that lacks any semblance of congressional authorization. The Trump administration has sent masked, unaccountable goons into American cities, where they have harassed and arrested innocent people and killed multiple times. President Donald Trump's signature economic policy is an illegal tax increase that his administration is refusing to refund. ..."

Trump's Illegal War in Iran Is Financed by Your Taxes. That's a Good Reason To Stop Paying Them "If Congress will not deploy the power of the purse to restrain a lawless administration [???] and an illegal war [???], then it falls to the public to do so."

'The Rich Don't Pay Their Fair Share' and 4 Other Tax Myths That Won't Die

Recommendable! 

The argument regarding the Myth No. 5 is flawed. Yes, tax cuts that stimulate economic growth, labor force participation etc. pay for themselves if government exercises restraint on expenditures!

"Myth No. 1: The Rich Don't Pay Their Fair Share ...

Myth No. 2: We'll Fix the Budget Deficit by Taxing the Rich ...

Myth No. 3: If You Can't Tax the Rich, Tax Corporations ...

Myth No. 4: Capital Gains Should Be Taxed Like Ordinary Income ...

Myth No. 5: Tax Cuts Pay for Themselves ..."

'The Rich Don't Pay Their Fair Share' and 4 Other Tax Myths That Won't Die "The United States has the most progressive income-tax system in the developed world"

Uber will now pick up your returns from your doorstep

More progress of the leisure society! 😊 When will retail stores become superfluous?

"Uber launched a new feature on Friday that lets customers return purchased items without leaving their home.

The new returns feature, which is accessed through the Uber Eats app, is the latest effort by Uber to add “stickiness” to its app by offering services that extend beyond its core ride-hailing and delivery businesses.

There are limitations to the new service, and there is, of course, a courier fee. The return fee is calculated based on the courier’s time and distance, according to Uber.

Customers can only send back eligible retail items purchased on Uber Eats, and they must comply with each store’s return policy. Participating retailers include At Home, Best Buy, Dick’s Sporting Goods, GNC, Michael’s Pet Food Express, Pacsun, Petco, and Target. Uber said more retailers will be added in the future.

Uber has also placed price limitations on the service. Customers can only return items with retail prices above $20, according to the company. ..."

Uber will now pick up your returns from your doorstep | TechCrunch

Yes, President Trump Can unilaterally Withdraw from NATO by John Yoo

Maybe President Trump should indeed withdraw the US from NATO! Let the Europeans do their own defense for once!

Such a withdrawal would certainly make President Trump an outstanding US president! Would be great for his legacy!

An exit from NATO would also free up the US to go forward in foreign affairs etc.

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

"The Iran war has had the unintended consequence of undermining the West’s preeminent postwar alliance. Disappointed by the refusal of European allies to assist the United States, the Trump administration is floating the possibility of exiting the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Critics argue that the president cannot terminate a treaty on his own.

But the Constitution is clear: Presidents can indeed unilaterally end U.S. participation in international agreements. If Donald Trump wants to tear up the NATO treaty, he can just do it. And in June, the Supreme Court may even provide implicit support for such an exercise of presidential power. ..."

Yes, President Trump Can Withdraw from NATO "He has the constitutional authority to do so. That doesn’t mean he should"

Unearthed mega-structure hints at communal rule in Romania 6,000 years ago

Amazing stuff!

"Archaeologists working at the ancient settlement of Stăuceni-"Holm" in northeastern Romania have uncovered a mega-structure measuring 350 square meters dating back about 6,000 years. This is one of the few examples of a massive building that has been physically excavated in the region. It is hoped that it will reveal more about the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture (ca. 5000–3500 BC) of Eastern Europe, which is known for its large, well-planned settlements.

A civilization without rulers?

Researchers have studied this culture extensively, yet many mysteries remain about their settlements. There are no palaces, no obvious signs of rich elite burials and precious metals are extremely rare. Even though thousands of people lived together in these early cities, most houses look the same. ..."

From the abstract:

"2021 to 2024, the Cucuteni A3 settlement of Stăuceni-‘Holm’, Botoşani County in north-east Romania was surveyed geophysically and by systematic field collections.

According to the geomagnetic results, on the plateau a settlement with about 45 houses was delimited by several ditch- and palisade systems.

A comparatively large building (350 m2) was located in the area between the ditches, which is meant to be a mega-structure, mainly due to its size and the clearly visible position next to the probable entrance of the settlement.

The mega-structure was partially excavated in 2023–2024. The observations, regarding the architecture and the dating of the feature in particular, provide valuable information for the discussion about the function of these special structures, of which only five others have been investigated in detail by excavation to date."

Unearthed mega-structure hints at communal rule in Romania 6,000 years ago

The mega-structure at Stăuceni-‘Holm’, Botoşani county, Romania and the debate about the governing of Cucuteni-Trypillia-settlements (open access)

Scientists confirm precursor to commonest form of oesophageal cancer – offering opportunities to catch the disease early

Good news! Cancer is history (soon)!

"The findings, ... could help improve screening for and early detection of oesophageal cancer, the sixth most deadly cancer, helping improve outcomes for the disease.

Cancer of the oesophagus, including its most common form oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC) ...

To answer the question of whether Barrett’s oesophagus is a pre-requisite for OAC, researchers ... analysed epidemiological and clinical data from 3,100 OAC patients undergoing surgery to remove their tumour or diseased tissue. Patients were recruited from 25 centres across the UK.

The team also analysed whole genome sequencing data from 710 patients, which allows them to look at all of an individual’s DNA, and whole exome sequencing from multiple samples taken from 87 patients, allowing them to understand how their tumours evolved and how different parts of the same cancer may differ genetically.

The researchers hypothesised that if OAC can arise through different routes – not always involving Barrett’s oesophagus – then genomic data and associated risk factors would differ between these two groups. Conversely, extensive overlap would strongly suggest that Barrett’s oesophagus plays a central role in OAC progression.

Just over a third of participants (35%) had a diagnosis of Barrett’s oesophagus. However, the DNA, mutations, genomic patterns, and cellular ‘identity’ inside the cancers were essentially indistinguishable, regardless of whether doctors could identify Barrett’s oesophagus during endoscopy or in pathology samples.

The only major difference between cancers with or without visible Barrett’s oesophagus was the tumour stage – those patients without signs of Barrett’s oesophagus tended to have more advanced cancers.

However, the team found biomarkers for Barrett’s oesophagus, such as the proteins TFF3 and REG4 present in the oesophagus cells at all disease stages including before the cancer has developed. This suggests that the growing tumour can destroy the original Barrett’s tissue, but importantly that proteins such as TFF3 and REG4 could be used to find individuals at future risk of oesophageal cancer. ..."

From the abstract:

"Cancer generally takes years to evolve, and early diagnosis can prevent life-threatening cancer. Establishing a link between precancerous states and cancer is essential for effective screening and prevention.

Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is an increasingly prevalent, poor-outcome cancer, and its presumed precursor, Barrett’s esophagus (BE), characterized by intestinal metaplasia, is evident in only about half of cases.

Here to test whether BE is a prerequisite to EAC, we integrated epidemiological and clinical characteristics in a prospective cohort of 3,100 patients with EAC for any evidence of BE (BE-positive and BE-negative) and compared genomic features using a subset of 710 patients with whole-genome sequencing and 87 patients (380 samples) with multiregional whole-exome sequencing. Demographic and genomic features typically associated with BE were observed across BE-positive and BE-negative EAC cases.

Notably, molecular features consistent with early BE evolution were detected in both phenotypes.

Advanced tumor stage was the only variable that corresponded with increased likelihood of BE-negative EAC, including in some patients with a previous BE diagnosis.

Phylogenetic analyses revealed shared evolutionary trajectories, and spatial transcriptomic and proteomic analyses demonstrated intestinal metaplasia-associated lineage markers in both groups.

These findings suggest a single pathway to EAC, with implications for early diagnosis and prevention strategies."

Scientists confirm precursor to commonest form of oesophageal cancer – offering opportunities to catch the disease early | University of Cambridge "Scientists have found the strongest evidence to date that a condition known as Barrett’s oesophagus is the starting point for all cases of oesophageal adenocarcinoma – the most common type of oesophageal cancer in the developed world – even when telltale signs of this pre-cancerous stage are no longer visible."

Integrated epidemiological and molecular data inform the relationship between precancer and cancer states of esophageal adenocarcinoma (open access)

Fig. 1: The study design to establish whether there is a BE-independent pathway to EAC.

Turkey Expands Influence In Africa update

What is Osman sultan Erdogan up to?

"Key Takeaway:

• Turkey. Turkey has recently advanced economic and security ties with Niger and Somalia, viewing both countries as its African anchor states through which it can further its strategic interests in Africa. These partnerships aim to address several domestic concerns, such as patronage and energy security, and bolster Turkey’s international standing vis-à-vis global competitors.

..."

Turkey Expands Influence In Africa: Africa File, April 16, 2026 | Critical Threats

A hidden army of zombie immune cells may drive fatty liver disease, inflammation and aging

Good news! This could be a breakthrough!

"... researchers have identified a rogue population of immune cells that quietly accumulates in aging tissues and in the livers of people with fatty liver disease.

Clearing these cells, they found, dramatically reduced inflammation and reversed liver damage in mice—even while the animals remained on an unhealthy diet. ..."

"Key takeaways

• UCLA researchers have identified a population of dysfunctional immune cells — dubbed “zombie macrophages” — that accumulates in the liver during aging and fatty liver disease, driving the chronic inflammation behind both conditions. 
• The study found that excess dietary cholesterol, not just aging alone, can push these immune cells into a permanently inflamed state, suggesting that high-cholesterol diets may accelerate biological aging at the cellular level. 
• Treating mice with a drug that selectively clears these cells reversed fatty liver disease and reduced inflammation — even without any change in diet — pointing to a potential new therapeutic strategy for a condition affecting an estimated 30-40% of Los Angeles residents.

...

For years, scientists debated whether macrophages — the large immune cells that patrol every tissue in the body, engulfing debris, pathogens and dying cells — could truly become senescent. The prevailing view was that they could not. Part of the confusion stemmed from biology: macrophages naturally display some molecular markers of senescence even when healthy, making it hard to tell a genuinely dysfunctional cell from one simply doing its job.

The UCLA team resolved this by identifying a molecular signature — two proteins, p21 and TREM2, whose combination reliably flags macrophages that are genuinely senescent: no longer functional, but persistently inflaming their surrounding tissue. 

Using this signature, the researchers found that the proportion of senescent macrophages in the liver surges from roughly 5% in young mice to nearly 60-80% in old ones, closely tracking with the rise of chronic liver inflammation during normal aging. But aging, it turns out, isn’t the only trigger. ...

"

From the abstract:

"Cellular senescence drives chronic sterile inflammation during aging via the senescence-associated secretory phenotype, yet the senescent cell types responsible are poorly defined.

Macrophages share multiple features of senescence, including inflammatory secretion, yet whether macrophages can adopt a senescent state remains unclear. Here we identify p21⁺Trem2⁺ senescent macrophages as a major source of inflammaging, using primary mouse and human macrophage models of DNA damage and cholesterol-induced senescence characterized by multi-omic profiling. We found that senescent macrophages exhibit a distinctive p21-TREM2 expression profile and senescence-associated secretory phenotype, driven in part by type I interferon signaling via cytosolic mitochondrial DNA.

We also found that senescent macrophage accumulation occurs in aging, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease mouse livers, and is enriched in human cirrhotic liver tissue.

Finally, senolytic treatment targeting senescent macrophages reduced liver inflammation and steatosis in both aged mice and mice with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.

These findings establish macrophage senescence as a central driver of chronic inflammation in aging and metabolic liver disease, and a tractable therapeutic target."

A hidden army of zombie immune cells may drive fatty liver disease, inflammation and aging

UCLA scientists identify zombie immune cells as a driver of fatty liver disease, inflammation and aging (original news release)

p21+TREM2+ senescent macrophages fuel inflammaging and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (open access)

Microscopy image showing senescent macrophages in red and cholesterol-laden lipid droplets – a key driver of senescence – in green.

Fig. 3: Senescent p21+ macrophages accumulate in aged metabolic tissues.

New laser method gives insight into radioactive atomic nuclei size and shape of Actinides

Amazing stuff!

"... They have developed a new analysis method using a pulsed laser, based on an Optical Parametric Oscillator (OPO). This laser technology can achieve wavelengths and colours that conventional laser systems struggle to produce with sufficient intensity and wavelength precision.

The laser pulses are directed at the atoms, revealing small changes in energy in the wavelengths that are absorbed. ... 

The results of the study can be used to refine theoretical models of atoms and atomic nuclei, making it easier to identify new possible elements and isotopes in future experiments. ..."

New laser method gives insight into radioactive atomic nuclei

New laser method gives insight into radioactive atomic nuclei (original news release) "By directing pulses of laser light at atoms, researchers can study how radioactive elements decay in a matter of seconds. The method is described in a new thesis from the University of Gothenburg, which shows that the atomic nuclei of the elements neptunium and fermium are shaped like rugby balls."

Optical Parametric Oscillators for Spectroscopy of Actinides (thesis, open access)

Shapes of an atomic nucleus. The nucleus is always prolate-shaped for fermium-255, but it can vary, for the same element, depending on how many neutrons the nucleus has.

UK invests £2.5bn in nuclear fusion energy development plan

Good news! When will nuclear fusion take over nuclear fission to generate power?

"The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has released its five-year plan to accelerate the growth of the UK nuclear fusion industry and ‘maintain the UK’s position as a global thought-leader in the field’.

In March, the UK government announced £2.5 billion for the fusion sector between 2026 and 2030 as part of its industrial strategy.

UKAEA’s plan – released earlier this month – assigns

£1.3 billion for the next phase of the UK’s prototype fusion power plant in West Burton, Nottinghamshire, as well as 

£920 million for building and operating fusion research facilities across the UK. The rest of the budget is set for projects that foster international collaboration and develop the next generation of fusion scientists. ..."

UK invests £2.5bn in nuclear fusion energy development plan | Chemistry World

Hosting the Joint European Torus experimental fusion reactor has helped to make the UK a leader in this technology

Math long resisted a digital disruption. AI is poised to change that

Food for thought! I also had the impression that the queen of science was kind of aloof and resisted machine learning & AI to some extent. However, we may see a revolution in the making!

"Mathematician ... is training computers how to prove one of the most famous problems in math history: Fermat’s last theorem.

Resolving the problem isn’t the point. There’s already an accepted proof that was finalized in 1998. That work is a tortuous maze of mathematics that fills about 130 pages over two papers. It spans mathematical fields and unites abstract ideas that previously seemed to have little to say to one another. ... 

Now, the explosion in artificial intelligence has propelled efforts, spearheaded by technology companies, to combine large language models with theorem provers to develop systems capable of autoformalization. In theory, such systems may ultimately be able to do things that humans can’t. ..."

AI could radically change how math proofs are verified "Modern formalization, supercharged by AI, could radically change the way people do mathematics"

The AI Revolution in Math Has Arrived "AI is being used to prove new results at a rapid pace. Mathematicians think this is just the beginning."

Ist Donald Trump ein Faschist? Wirklich!

Wann wird die FAZ diesen peinlichen Journalisten (Frauke Steffens) endlich entlassen!

Wieder mal Schrott Journalismus aus der Bananenrepublik Deutschland! Oder ist es Trump Derangement Syndrome?

Quelle

European police agency Europol sends emails and letters to 75,000 people asking them to stop DDoS attacks

What took so long! For the past several decades there should have been more aggressive law enforcement action against cyber crime like DDOS attacks!

"A coalition of global law enforcement agencies have sent emails to more than 75,000 alleged cybercriminals who paid for a service to launch cyberattacks that can knock websites offline.

On Thursday, Europol announced the coordinated operation against several distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) for-hire services, which allow criminals to launch cyberattacks without needing to have any hacking skills, nor the need to run their own infrastructure. 

Part of the law enforcement action — dubbed Operation PowerOFF — included Europol sending warning emails and letters to more than 75,000 people who are suspected of using these DDoS-for-hire services. 

Europol said it obtained information about the alleged cybercriminals by raiding and seizing servers associated with these services, allowing the police to identify their registered users.

The action also resulted in four arrests, the takedown of 53 domains, and police executing 24 search warrants. ..."

European police email 75,000 people asking them to stop DDoS attacks | TechCrunch

Nature might have a universal rhythm for communication signals across species

Amazing stuff!

"... In a new study, ... scientists found that communication signals across a wide range of species tend to repeat at about 2 hertz, or roughly two beats per second.

The researchers propose this tempo might reflect a shared biological constraint. Animal brains, including humans, may be naturally tuned to process signals arriving at that pace. In other words, two beats per second may be a rhythmic "sweet spot" that enables brains to detect signals more easily and process communication more efficiently. ..."

"Why it matters: Understanding this potentially universal tempo could help scientists better interpret animal signaling and social behavior across species. ..."

From the abstract:

"During fieldwork in Thailand, we observed nearly identical tempos of co-located flashing fireflies and chirping crickets.

Motivated by this, we survey published data showing that an abundance of evolutionarily distinct species communicate isochronously at ~0.5–4 Hz, suggesting that this might be a tempo “hotspot.”

We hypothesize that this timescale may have a universal basis in the biophysics of the receiver’s neurons.

We test this by demonstrating that small receiver circuits constructed from elements representing typical neurons will be most responsive in the observed tempo range."

Nature might have a universal rhythm

Nature might have a universal rhythm (original news release) "From insects to birds to mammals, communication signals follow a common tempo"

A widespread animal communication tempo may resonate with the receiver’s brain (open access)

Fig 1. Tempo comparison across scales, taxa, modalities, and media.

Fig 3. Schematic of the modeling methodology.