Notes on Hyperplasia Functions as a Link Between Obesity and Cancer

Good to know! Cancer is history (soon)! I only became aware of this paper, because one of authors is Allain Yuille, a well known ML & AI researcher, who I am following via Google Scholar.

Another good reason to lose weight when overweight!

From the abstract:

"Obesity is a well-established risk factor for several cancers, yet the underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. We hypothesized that as body size increases with obesity, organ size increases to meet metabolic demands, which in turn raises the number of cells at risk of malignant transformation.

Measurement of the liver, pancreas, and kidney volumes in 747 adults across a wide BMI range (17.8 to 70.9 kg/m²) showed a strong positive correlation between BMI and organ size: a 5-unit increase in BMI was significantly associated with volume increases of 12% in the liver, 9% in both kidneys combined, and 7% in the pancreas.

To determine the cellular basis of organ enlargement, kidney cell numbers were quantified using both autopsy samples (34,337 proximal tubular epithelial cells) and biopsy data from 25 individuals. The total number of cells increased substantially, indicating that approximately 61% of kidney enlargement was due to hyperplasia, with the remaining 39% increase attributable to hypertrophy. Moreover, organ volume ratios, relative to volume for normal-weight adults, strongly correlated with cancer risk across the three organs, indicating that a doubling in organ volume corresponded approximately to a doubling in cancer risk. These findings suggest a mechanism linking obesity to cancer: as body size and metabolic demands increase, organs expand primarily through hyperplasia that increases the number of cells susceptible to malignant transformation, complementing known pathways involving inflammation, hormones, and metabolic dysregulation."

Hyperplasia Functions as a Link Between Obesity and Cancer | Cancer Research | American Association for Cancer Research (no public access)

Notes on Efficient Exploration at Scale

This could be an interesting paper by Benjamin Van Roy and the Google team!

Caveat: I have not read this paper yet.

From the abstract:

"We develop an online learning algorithm that dramatically improves the data efficiency of reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF). Our algorithm incrementally updates reward and language models as choice data is received.
The reward model is fit to the choice data, while the language model is updated by a variation of reinforce, with reinforcement signals provided by the reward model. Several features enable the efficiency gains: a small affirmative nudge added to each reinforcement signal, an epistemic neural network that models reward uncertainty, and information-directed exploration.

With Gemma large language models (LLMs), our algorithm matches the performance of offline RLHF trained on 200K labels using fewer than 20K labels, representing more than a 10x gain in data efficiency. Extrapolating from our results, we expect our algorithm trained on 1M labels to match offline RLHF trained on 1B labels. This represents a 1,000x gain. To our knowledge, these are the first results to demonstrate that such large improvements are possible."

[2603.17378] Efficient Exploration at Scale

Die USA verzetteln sich im Iran: Greift China jetzt nach Taiwan? Wirklich!

Eine interessant klingende Spekulation, aber wohl nur eine Spekulation!

Je nachdem wie stark und intensiv die Taiwaner ihre Insel verteidigen würde es für China sehr blutig werden!

Peking schweigt zu Iran: Greift China jetzt Taiwan an | FAZ "Wirtschaftlich ist Peking bestens auf die neue Ölkrise vorbereitet und beobachtet den US-Angriff auf seinen Partner Iran auffälllig still. Was bedeutet das für die Sicherheitsarchitektur in Asien?"

First microlasers capable of detecting individual molecules and ions could one day aid diagnosis

Amazing stuff! Notice it is in whispering-gallery mode! 😊

"Scientists have created the first microlasers capable of detecting individual molecules and even single atomic ions, a breakthrough that could significantly advance early disease diagnosis and molecular-scale medical testing.  ... The paper opens up new possibilities for microlaser biosensing technology, including "lab-on-a-chip" technology capable of instant medical testing and diagnosis. ..."

From the abstract:

"Whispering-gallery-mode microlasers have emerged as powerful tools for label-free biosensing, yet their sensitivity has been limited to detecting nanoparticles larger than 10 nm.

Here we demonstrate a plasmon-enhanced whispering-gallery-mode microlaser capable of detecting single atomic ions in solution, achieving unprecedented sensitivity.

By integrating gold nanorods onto ytterbium-doped silica microspheres, we reduce the effective mode volume by approximately 1,000-fold and enhance the local electromagnetic field, amplifying the signal-to-noise ratio. The self-heterodyne detection of beatnote frequency shifts between split lasing modes enables the real-time monitoring of transient and permanent interactions of zinc (Zn2+) and cadmium (Cd2+) ions with nanorod sensing sites.

We report peak sensitivities with beatnote shifts of 3.7 fm for Zn2+ and 7.2 fm for Cd2+, showcasing the potential of plasmon-enhanced whispering-gallery-mode microlasers for single-molecule and atomic-scale sensing applications, including in vivo probing."

First microlasers capable of detecting individual molecules and ions could one day aid diagnosis

Single-atomic-ion detection with plasmon-enhanced whispering-gallery-mode microlasers (open access)

Fig. 1: Experimental setup and microlaser mode splitting.

English for trippers: A quiet quit

Quid pro quo! Silent or noisy quitters, a matter of personality.

Crafting Safe Sounds for Electric Vehicles

Indeed electric vehicles are too quiet in urban areas!

"... To address that risk, regulators in Australia, Europe, the United States, and other regions now require EVs to emit artificial warning sounds at low speeds, forcing some automakers to recall their cars for failing to meet safety standards. What might seem like a simple safety measure has become a complex web of engineering, involving acoustics, signal design, human perception, and regulatory compliance. ...

But designing those signals means navigating strict technical requirements and the messy realities of urban soundscapes. And it’s still not entirely clear how well those warning signals actually work in real-world conditions. ..."

Crafting Safe Sounds for Electric Vehicles - IEEE Spectrum "How automakers work to balance perceptibility and pleasantness [???]" Why pleasantness?

Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez Spent $19,000 In Campaign Cash On A Psychiatrist

Bad news, if confirmed! Will this be the end of her political career?

Unfortunately, it appears the Daily Caller news source is blocked in China!

dailycaller.com

Greater precision for in vivo cancer-fighting CAR T cells

Good news! Cancer is history (soon)!

"Greater precision for in vivo CAR T

Researchers have invented a two-vector system that uses CRISPR–Cas9 gene editing to create in vivo cancer-fighting CAR T cells without accidentally targeting other cells. Leukaemia and multiple myeloma were eliminated in the mice treated with these precision in vivo CAR T cells, while more than half of mice with sarcoma went into remission. Biotech company Azalea Therapeutics is testing the approach in monkeys and hopes to trial the treatment in people by the end of next year."

From the abstract:

"Engineered T cells, reprogrammed to express chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) or T cell receptors (TCR), have transformed cancer treatment and are being explored as therapeutics for autoimmune and infectious diseases. Enhancing T cell function through genome editing, either by disrupting endogenous genes or precisely inserting DNA payloads, has shown considerable promise. However, the ex vivo manufacturing process is lengthy and costly, limiting accessibility of these therapies. In vivo generation of CAR T cells could overcome these barriers, but current methods rely either on transient expression with limited durability, or on random integration of DNA payloads that lack specificity.

Here we demonstrate that stable and cell-specific transgene expression can be achieved through in vivo site-specific integration of large DNA payloads. We developed a two-vector system to deliver CRISPR–Cas9 ribonucleoproteins and a DNA donor template, using enveloped delivery vehicles and adeno-associated viruses, respectively. We optimized both vectors for T cell-specific delivery and gene-targeting efficiency.

By integrating a CAR transgene into a T cell-specific locus, we generate therapeutic levels of CAR T cells in vivo in humanized mouse models of B cell aplasia, and haematological and solid malignancies. These findings offer a pathway to more efficient, precise and widely accessible T cell therapies."

Nature briefing cancer

CRISPR makes enhanced cancer-fighting immune cells inside mice "Gene-editing technique promises a potentially safer way to create CAR T cells with a simple injection."

A gene-editing method generates immunotherapeutic CAR T cells in the body "Laboratory-engineered immune cells called CAR T cells provide effective treatment for some cancers. Progress is being made towards creating these cells in vivo." (no public access)

In vivo site-specific engineering to reprogram T cells (open access)

Fig. 1: Co-delivery of Cas9-EDV and HDRT-AAV generates TRAC-CAR T cells in vitro and in vivo.

Previous efforts to create in vivo CAR T cells have involved viral vectors (that sometimes accidentally edit ‘bystander’ cells using retroviral transduction) or lipid nanoparticles (which deliver mRNA to T cells, creating transient expression of the CAR protein). To specifically target and permanently edit T cells, the team used two vectors: a CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing system inside ‘enveloped delivery vehicles’, and viruses that transported the DNA coding for the CAR protein.

Ukraine’s Drone Campaign Knocks Out Up to 40% of Russia’s Oil Exports

Good news! Why not 80% or more?

When will the lethargic and apathetic Russian people finally get rid of warmonger and war criminal Putin the Terrible!

"Up to 40 percent of the oil export capacity of Russia has been taken offline following Ukrainian drone strikes, a disputed attack on a major pipeline, and seizures of tankers, according to Reuters calculations based on market data.

The disruption – estimated at around 2 million barrels per day – marks what analysts describe as the most severe hit to Russia’s oil supply chain in modern history. ..."

Ukraine’s Drone Campaign Knocks Out Up to 40% of Russia’s Oil Exports "Oil exports are one of the main sources of revenue for Russia’s state budget and a key part of funding its war in Ukraine."

Putin Reportedly Demands Oligarchs Fund War in Ukraine, Kerimov Pledges 100 Billion Rubles

Will the oligarchs stop Putin the Terrible? Hope and pray they have the courage!

Putin Reportedly Demands Oligarchs Fund War in Ukraine, Kerimov Pledges 100 Billion Rubles "At a closed-door meeting, Putin is said to have urged Russian oligarchs to bankroll his war in Ukraine – with at least two of them agreeing to his "proposal.”"

Putin the Terrible

Ukraine and Saudi Arabia concluded a defense cooperation agreement

Good and unusual news!

"Ukraine and Saudi Arabia concluded a defense cooperation agreement on March 27. The Ukrainian Presidential Office reported that Ukraine will help Saudi Arabia with air defenses under the agreement, which also outlines the foundations for further contacts and includes technological cooperation and investments.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the agreement ahead of further talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman al Saud. Zelensky stated that such cooperation can be mutually beneficial as Saudi Arabia has "something that Ukraine is interested in." Zelensky and al Saud discussed possible energy cooperation.

Zelensky also met with Ukrainian military experts who have been supporting air defense operations in Saudi Arabia for over a week (since at least March 20) and discussed additional measures to support Saudi Arabia's air defense operations. ISW continues to assess that Ukraine can offer the United States and US allies in the Middle East unique insights into how to counter Iranian strikes, as the Ukrainian military has institutionalized and operationalized the fighting experience that Ukraine has learned throughout the past four years of war."

Iran Update, March 27, 2026 | Critical Threats

Klingbeils Weg in die Staatswirtschaft über den staatlichen Wohnungsbau

Ich habe auf meinem Blog schon zig mal gesagt, die Mauer fiel und der Sozialismus breitete sich in ganz Deutschland aus! Hier ist ein weiteres Beispiel!

Klingbeils Weg in die Staatswirtschaft über den staatlichen Wohnungsbau "Die neueste Idee aus dem sozialistischen Baukasten von Finanzminister Klingbeil ist die Wohnraumbewirtschaftung. Dazu möchte er eine staatliche Wohnungsbaugesellschaft gründen. Bezahlen sollen das diejenigen, die ohnehin schon alles bezahlen. Bei der Vergabe werden sie allerdings die letzten sein, wenn sie denn überhaupt eine Wohnung bekommen."

Hat der Mann keine besseren Ideen! Wie wärs mit mehr freier Marktwirtschaft! Finanzminister Lars Klingbeil (SPD)

Jury Says Bill Cosby (age 88) Drugged and Raped a Woman in 1972, Awards Her $59 Million

Such verdicts over 50 years after the alleged rape took place are insane and injust!

This is a dangerous attack on the legal principle of statute of limitations! This is a serious perversion of justice!

Did any of the accusers come out to report the rape at the time (1972)?

Caveat: I am not familiar with the details of the case.

"After a nearly two-week trial in Santa Monica, jurors found Cosby, 88, liable for the sexual battery and assault of Donna Motsinger. They awarded her $17.5 million in past damages and $1.75 million for future damages, including “mental suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, inconvenience, grief, anxiety, humiliation, and emotional distress.”

Then in a second phase of the trial Monday afternoon, they awarded an additional $40 million in punitive damages. ...

Deliberations lasted about two days.

The decision came nearly five years after Cosby was freed from prison in Pennsylvania when the state Supreme Court threw out a criminal conviction based on similar allegations. ..."

Jury Says Bill Cosby Drugged and Raped a Woman in 1972, Awards Her $59 Million "A civil jury in California found Monday that Bill Cosby was liable for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 1972 and awarded her $59.25 million."

Indonesia's coastal erosion crisis triggers $80bn seawall bet

Is this necessary? Will this work?

"Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto is reviving an ambitious, long-stalled plan to build a 500-kilometer seawall to try to protect communities from accelerating coastal erosion in the economic powerhouse that is Java, the world's most populous island. A September 2025 presidential regulation designated what was dubbed the "Giant Seawall" a national strategic project at an estimated cost of $80 billion. If the undertaking can surmount engineering, financial and political issues, Indonesia will have built the world's longest seawall."

Indonesia's coastal erosion crisis triggers $80bn seawall bet - Nikkei Asia "Prabowo revives grand 500km wall plan; Java villages, businesses sink as waves encroach"

Image of the day

Source

Disclaimer

I  am currently 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.

Image of the day

Quelle

In a rare event, the moon got a massive new crater and ejecta found up to 120 km from crater

Amazing stuff! Unfortunately, we do not learn what caused the new crater.

"... A routine search of images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter camera found a fresh crater as wide as two American football fields ...

The crater is 225 meters wide and formed in April or May 2024 ...

The discovery can help highlight the risks impacts pose to future astronauts. ...

The crater seems to have formed on a boundary between the cratered and craggy lunar highlands and a wide, flat mare, which formed from liquid magma pooling on the moon’s surface. Its depth, about 43 meters on average, and its steep edges suggest it formed in strong material like solidified lava. But its shape is slightly elongated, which suggests the ground beneath the crater is not all the same, Robinson said.

The crater is also surrounded by a bright blanket of ejecta — rock and dust that splashed out in all directions when the impact occurred — that extends hundreds of meters from the rim. ... found other disturbances as far as 120 kilometers from the crater. ..."

In a rare event, the moon got a massive new crater "The crater is 225 meters wide, a size expected only once every 139 years"

A new 225-M diameter creator on the moon

Trump, Xi, and the Specter of 1914 | Foreign Affairs. Really!

This article headline makes very little sense if no sense at all! 

China is very different than any of the European countries involved in World War I!

Maybe the author, a professor of history, should first read Sun Tzu's The Art of War!

Caveat: I did not read the article given the idiotic headline!

Written by "ODD ARNE WESTAD is Elihu Professor of History and Global Affairs at Yale University. This essay is adapted from his forthcoming book, The Coming Storm: Power, Conflict, and Warnings From History (Henry Holt, BBC Books). Copyright © 2026 by Odd Arne Westad."

Trump, Xi, and the Specter of 1914 | Foreign Affairs "How America and China Can Avoid the Blunders That Led to World War I [???]"

Are Waymos driving significantly longer than humans to get to a destination?

Does it matter? How fair is the comparison?

"... it takes up to 30% longer for a Waymo robotaxi to get somewhere compared to a human driver because of how careful the robot car needs to be and its tendency to avoid potential challenges like unprotected left turns. ..."

When a robotaxi has to call 911

Polar algae contain hundreds of genes given to them by giant viruses—roughly 5% of their genome

Amazing stuff!

"Genome forms of the single-cell, green algae called Chlamydomonas do just fine in polar waters despite the fierce cold, harsh UV radiation, and other extremes. Their success may stem in part from genes given them by so-called giant viruses.

Uncommonly large and complex, and often sporting unusual tendrils, giant viruses were first discovered in 2003. They most often infect algae or amoebae, but can invade more complex multicellular organisms, and are found throughout the world, including in marine, aquatic, and terrestrial habitats.

In Current Biology yesterday, a team reported that polar algae have hundreds of genes given to them by these viruses—roughly 5% of their genome. Further studies showed these genes, remnants of past infection, were active and made proteins that could help the algae—some of the genes encode ice-binding proteins, which help keep the algae from freezing in waters that can dip as low as –2°C. “  ..."

From the highlights and abstract:

"Highlights

• Diverse polar algal genomes harbor widespread endogenous giant virus elements

• Polar alga Chlamydomonas ICE-L shows extensive giant virus genome endogenization

• Many viral genes are expressed and respond to abiotic stress

• Co-expression patterns of viral genes suggest regulatory integration with host

Summary

Giant viruses, members of the phylum Nucleocytoviricota (NCV), possess exceptionally large genomes that encode hundreds of genes involved in replication, metabolism, and host manipulation. These viruses have emerged as major players in protist ecology and evolution. Recent studies reveal that their genomes are frequently endogenized in protists, contributing to structural innovation and functional novelty. Yet, the extent and impact of such events on genome architecture and physiological responses in algae inhabiting extreme polar environments remain unknown.

Here, we report widespread giant endogenous viral elements (GEVEs) in nine polar microalgae, revealing extensive viral integration. Most notably, Chlamydomonas sp. ICE-L, an Antarctic sea ice alga, harbors over 400 GEVE regions spanning more than 26 megabase pairs (Mbp)—the most extensive giant viral endogenization recorded in any eukaryote. These insertions, derived from multiple NCV lineages, encode >25,000 genes, including those associated with replication, chromatin remodeling, stress responses, and transposable elements.

Transcriptomic analyses show that ∼40% of GEVE genes are actively expressed, with hundreds being differentially regulated under UV radiation, salinity, and temperature stress. A co-expression network reveals modular regulation patterns, suggesting functional integration of viral genes into host transcriptional networks.

Additionally, phylogeny supports giant viruses as important mediators of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of key freeze-tolerance proteins, such as ice-binding proteins (IBPs), in polar algae.

Our findings position giant viral endogenization as a key driver of genome content, regulatory complexity, and environmental adaptation in polar algae and establish Chlamydomonas sp. ICE-L as a model for studying virus-derived genomic innovation in extreme environments."

ScienceAdviser

Genes from giant viruses help polar algae survive frigid waters and harsh sunlight "A prior infection may create lasting, beneficial evolutionary change in these hardy microbes"

Extensive array of endogenous giant viral elements in a polar alga shows dynamic transcriptional response to abiotic stress (open access)

Figure 1 GEVE statistics and distribution

An Iranian missile struck a Saudi Arabian air base, damaging several U.S. refueling aircraft

How is this possible? Why was it not prevented? Why are Iranian missiles able to hit multiple targets in the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia.

Have the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia not been buying the latest US weapons for decades?

"The attack also involved unmanned aerial vehicles, they said. Check out what other U.S. military assets have been damaged or lost. Meanwhile, Marco Rubio said ... the war would continue for two to four weeks. ..."

Wall Street Journal What's news

Ukrainian drones hit all three Baltic States this week − did Russia redirect them?

Bad news! Is Russia now more able to defend against drone attacks?

"Three Baltic states recorded drone incursions within roughly 48 hours this week, as Ukrainian strike drones targeting Russian Baltic port infrastructure were apparently diverted into NATO territory by Russian electronic warfare. ..."

Ukrainian drones hit all three Baltic States − did Russia redirect them?

Unified theory explains paradox of freezing water water thrown into air to make snow

Amazing stuff!

"Unified theory explains paradox of freezing water water thrown into air to make snow

Here’s an oddity of nature: Hot water seems to freeze faster than cold water. But it turns out that the phenomenon, called the Mpemba effect after a Tanzanian teenager who first noticed it in the 1960s, occurs in a variety of materials, from crystallizing polymers to magnets. More recently, the effects have turned up in the quantum realm, such as single ions suspended with lasers.

Now, a new theoretical framework,  ... stitches the assorted Mpemba effects together. It explains how, in each case, a system that’s pushed farther from equilibrium can find a quicker path back to a steady state. “ ...

The shortcuts to equilibrium are not just curios of nature; if scientists can identify the initial conditions that give rise to Mpemba effects, they could optimize all kinds of processes. That could lead to more efficient cooling and heating schemes, and in the quantum realm, could help speed up quantum computers and the preparation of quantum states."

"... It turns out water was only the tip of the iceberg. Over the past decade, scientists have uncovered similar “Mpemba effects” in a zoo of different materials—from crystallizing polymers to magnets. More recently, the effects have turned up in the quantum realm, such as single ions suspended with lasers. ..."

ScienceAdviser

Hot things can freeze faster than cool ones. Now, this paradox has gone quantum (no public access)

Resource-Theoretical Unification of Mpemba Effects: Classical and Quantum (open access)

Fig. 1 In a resource-theoretic framework, the Mpemba effect occurs when a state that initially possesses more of a given resource depletes that resource faster than a less resourceful state, under the evolution by the same free operation, so that their resource monotones cross. This single picture unifies a variety of anomalous equilibration phenomena (for example, restoring thermal equilibrium or symmetry in classical and quantum systems). Mpemba physics then becomes the study of why different initial states dissipate resources at different rates and how we can harness those differences to engineer exotic effects such as ultrafast cooling. In this article, we apply this analysis to the specific resource theories shown in the schematic.

Iranian hackers backed by the Iranian government claim breach of FBI director Kash Patel's personal email account

Desperate measures by desperate people? In how bad a shape is the theocratic dictatorship in Iran now?

"A hacking group backed by the Iranian government dubbed “Handala” said on Friday that it has breached the personal email account of FBI director Kash Patel. 

In a post on its website, Handala included several pictures of a visibly younger Patel, as well as a link to a cache of files that appear to come from Patel’s personal Gmail account.  ..."

Iranian hackers claim breach of FBI director Kash Patel's personal email account | TechCrunch

Waymo’s skyrocketing ridership in one chart

Good news! What an amazing business success!

Since I live in the Phoenix metro area, I can confirm that Waymo cars now can be seen almost everywhere on the streets all the time.

"Waymo is now providing 500,000 paid robotaxi rides every week across 10 U.S. cities, the company shared in a post on X this week. The eye-popping figure is reflective of the Alphabet-owned company’s accelerated commercial expansion. But it’s Waymo’s rate of growth in ridership and markets that offers a more compelling story. 

In less than two years, the company’s average weekly paid robotaxi trips have grown tenfold, from 50,000 per week in May 2024 to 500,000 per week today. Over that same two-year timespan, Waymo has expanded within its initial markets of Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles — and beyond them to Austin, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando. Those seven cities in the Sun Belt were all added in just the past year. ..."

Waymo’s skyrocketing ridership in one chart | TechCrunch

Scientists uncover two million ancient DNA switches controlling plant genes

Amazing stuff!

"The study ... reveals that the power of plant genomes lies not only in their protein-coding genes, but also in ancient regulatory DNA sequences that control where, when and how strongly to turn on gene expression. ...

Scientists have long searched for similar ancient regulatory sequences in plants, but with limited success. Now, The Conservatory Project team has revealed the hidden ancient regulatory sequences that have been hiding in plain sight. ...

Plant genes are continually shuffling themselves around, which makes the links between genes and their master switches extremely hard to spot. ...

They identified over two million ancient gene master switches, which control gene expression across 284 plant species from 73 plant families. This includes DNA switches that pre-date the emergence of flowering plants over 300 million years ago. ..."

From the abstract:

"Developmental gene function is often conserved over deep time, but cis-regulatory sequence conservation is difficult to identify. Rapid sequence turnover, paleopolyploidy, structural variation, and limited phylogenomic sampling have impeded conserved non-coding sequence (CNS) discovery.

Using Conservatory, an algorithm that leverages microsynteny and iterative alignments to map CNS-gene associations over evolution, we uncovered ~2.3 million CNSs, including over 3,000 predating angiosperms, from 284 plant species spanning 300 million years of diversification.

Ancient CNSs were enriched near developmental regulators, and mutating CNSs near HOMEOBOX genes produced strong phenotypes.

Tracing CNS evolution uncovered key principles: CNS spacing varies, but order is conserved; genomic rearrangements form new CNS-gene associations; and ancient CNSs are preferentially retained among paralogs, but are often lost as cohorts or evolve into lineage-specific CNSs."

Scientists uncover two million ancient DNA switches controlling plant genes | University of Cambridge "An international project has uncovered millions of ancient DNA ‘switches’ that have been regulating plant genes for up to 300 million years – a discovery that could pave the way for more precise engineering of crop traits."

A deep-time landscape of plant cis-regulatory sequence evolution (no public access)

Olympics Bar Biological Males from Women’s Events

Good news! Bravo! When common sense prevails!

What about biological females? I smell gender discrimination here! 😊

Why not let transgender individuals compete with each other?

"The International Olympic Committee on Thursday banned biological males from competing in women’s events at the Olympics, starting with the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

This reverses a policy first adopted in 2004 that allowed transgender women to compete after undergoing sex reassignment surgery and hormone therapy. ..."

Friday, March 27, 2026 - Join The Flyover

Kinder sollen keine Pornografie schauen: Die EU verlangt von Portalen wie Pornhub eine wasserdichte Altersverifizierung

Was für ein Unsinn! Ist das ist ein Vorwand/Versuch Pornographie wider zu verbannen?

Warum können das z.B. die Eltern und die Smartphone/Netzwerk Betreiber nicht verhindern?

"In Mitgliedsländern der EU schauen bis zur Hälfte der über 12-Jährigen Pornos auf dem Smartphone. Schuld daran seien die nachlässigen Videoportale, sagt die Kommission." (Quelle)

Unprecedented footage shows sperm whales joining forces to help a newborn calf

Amazing stuff!

"The researchers quickly realized they had in fact observed a group of whales helping a calf take its first breath. Even more fortuitous, they had captured it on video from a drone.

It’s rare for researchers to see a sperm whale birth, with only a handful having been recorded previously.

And this time, overhead footage allowed the scientists to meticulously analyze the individual whales’ behavior before, during, and after the delivery. Although researchers have long hypothesized that sperm whales cooperate in certain social situations, the new study—reported today in Science—shows whales from different family branches can work together to support a newborn calf. ..."

Unprecedented footage shows sperm whales joining forces to help a newborn calf | Science | AAAS

IDF soldiers target Hamas infrastructure, kill over 60 terrorists in past month

Hamas is still not defeated and disarmed!

"IDF soldiers continue to conduct counterterrorism operations in the Gaza Strip, particularly along the Yellow Line, to destroy terror infrastructure, including destroying terror tunnels, locating weapons, and killing Hamas terrorists.

The military has killed over 60 terrorists who attempted to carry out acts of terror against the IDF or who crossed the Yellow Line, posing a threat to the soldiers. Among those were armed members of Hamas's Nukhba Force, and senior commanders of the terror group, as well as a cell of terrorists who participated in the October 7, 2023, massacre. ..."

IDF soldiers target Hamas infrastructure, kill over 60 terrorists in past month | The Jerusalem Post "The IDF's Southern Command continues operations to destroy terror infrastructure and remove threats in the Gaza Strip, killing over 60 Hamas terrorists last month."

Google caches in with TurboQuant extreme compression

Amazing stuff!

"Not to oversimplify, but I understand TurboQuant to be part of a trio, with TurboQuant the compression algorithm, and PolarQuant and Quantized Johnson-Lindenstrauss making up the trio of techniques that work in tandem. Together, they're a training-free data compression algorithm that solves one of the most expensive bottlenecks in running large language models, the Key-Value cache. ..."

"High-dimensional vectors are incredibly powerful, but they also consume vast amounts of memory, leading to bottlenecks in the key-value cache, a high-speed "digital cheat sheet" that stores frequently used information under simple labels so a computer can retrieve it instantly without having to search through a slow, massive database.

Vector quantization is a powerful, classical data compression technique that reduces the size of high-dimensional vectors. This optimization addresses two critical facets of AI: it enhances vector search, the high-speed technology powering large-scale AI and search engines, by enabling faster similarity lookups; and it helps unclog key-value cache bottlenecks by reducing the size of key-value pairs, which enables faster similarity searches and lowers memory costs. ..."

From the abstract:

"Vector quantization, a problem rooted in Shannon's source coding theory, aims to quantize high-dimensional Euclidean vectors while minimizing distortion in their geometric structure.

We propose TurboQuant to address both mean-squared error (MSE) and inner product distortion, overcoming limitations of existing methods that fail to achieve optimal distortion rates. Our data-oblivious algorithms, suitable for online applications, achieve near-optimal distortion rates (within a small constant factor) across all bit-widths and dimensions.

TurboQuant achieves this by randomly rotating input vectors, inducing a concentrated Beta distribution on coordinates, and leveraging the near-independence property of distinct coordinates in high dimensions to simply apply optimal scalar quantizers per each coordinate.

Recognizing that MSE-optimal quantizers introduce bias in inner product estimation, we propose a two-stage approach: applying an MSE quantizer followed by a 1-bit Quantized JL (QJL) transform on the residual, resulting in an unbiased inner product quantizer.

We also provide a formal proof of the information-theoretic lower bounds on best achievable distortion rate by any vector quantizer, demonstrating that TurboQuant closely matches these bounds, differing only by a small constant () factor. Experimental results validate our theoretical findings, showing that for KV cache quantization, we achieve absolute quality neutrality with 3.5 bits per channel and marginal quality degradation with 2.5 bits per channel. Furthermore, in nearest neighbor search tasks, our method outperforms existing product quantization techniques in recall while reducing indexing time to virtually zero."

AI Impact

TurboQuant: Redefining AI efficiency with extreme compression "We introduce a set of advanced theoretically grounded quantization algorithms that enable massive compression for large language models and vector search engines."

TurboQuant: Online Vector Quantization with Near-optimal Distortion Rate (open access; published already in April 2025; no revisions nor updates since then)

How Autonomous Drone Warfare Is Emerging in the Ukraine

Recommendable!

Near future wars will be fought by remotely controlled or autonomous drones and robots!

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

"Rise of the Autonomous Attack Drones

AI-enabled drones and anti-drone tech developed by Ukraine and Russia are remaking the battlefield."

"... “swarms of autonomous drones carrying other autonomous drones to protect them against autonomous drones, which are trying to intercept them, controlled by AI agents overseen by a human general somewhere.” ...

flotillas of autonomous submarines, each carrying hundreds of drones, suddenly emerging off the coast of California or Great Britain and discharging their cargoes en masse to the sky ...

Ukrainian troops first began using drones for battlefield surveillance, but within a few months they figured out how to strap explosives onto them and turn them into effective, low-cost killing machines. ...

Since then, The Fourth Law has dispatched “more than thousands” of autonomy modules to troops in eastern Ukraine (it declines to give a more specific figure), which can be retrofitted on existing drones to take over navigation during the final approach to the target. ... the autonomy modules, worth around US $50, increase the drone-strike success rate by up to four times that of purely operator-controlled drones. ...

thousands of developers, including some who relocated from Western countries, who are applying their skills and other resources to advancing the drone technology that is the defining characteristic of the war in Ukraine. This eclectic group of startups and founders includes Eric Schmidt, the former Google CEO, whose company Swift Beat is churning out autonomous drones and modules for Ukrainian forces. ..."

How Autonomous Drone Warfare Is Emerging in Ukraine - IEEE Spectrum

An interceptor drone, part of the U.S. MEROPS defensive system, is tested in Poland on 18 November 2025.

A fixed-wing drone is tested in Ukraine in April 2025.

Is the current British Defense Secretary John Healey a fool?

It appears so! What a story!

Caveat: I am not familiar with the details of this case.

"It is a sad state of affairs that gangs of inner-city youths have been allowed to thieve with impunity, in London and elsewhere, and the police generally do nothing about it. ...
Defence Secretary John Healey ... ‘We all know somebody who’s had their phone stolen,’ he told Sky News. ‘We’re not all the chief-of-staff of the Prime Minister,’ replied Sophy Ridge. Yet the question isn’t simply whether the phone was stolen, but the cascade of inexplicable behaviour that followed.

The Met Police took the unusual step of releasing a full transcript of the 999 call in which McSweeney reported the theft. Rather than clearing up the matter, it only prompted further questions. The transcript revealed that McSweeney actually gave police the wrong street name – Belgrave Street in Tower Hamlets rather than Belgrave Road near Westminster – meaning officers checked the wrong CCTV footage and, unsurprisingly, found no leads. McSweeney also failed to tell police he was the Prime Minister’s chief-of-staff, or that the phone contained highly sensitive material."

The Spectator newsletter

A new clue to how the skin detects physical touch

Amazing stuff!

"... While scientists have long known that a protein called PIEZO2 acts as a key sensor for touch, it remained unclear why PIEZO2 is specialized for the localized mechanical forces experienced by sensory neurons, whereas its close relative PIEZO1 responds to broader mechanical stresses such as those generated when cells stretch, as occurs in blood vessels. 

Now, a new study  ... clarify how PIEZO2 detects specific types of force and explain why evolution may have selected it as the body’s primary sensor for light touch. This work may guide future exploration into sensory disorders linked to PIEZO2 mutations. ...

Although PIEZO1 and PIEZO2 appear nearly identical in molecular models, they behave very differently in living cells. PIEZO2 is especially important in the somatosensory nervous system, the network of nerve cells that detects touch. These cells are highly sensitive to small indentations, like a light tap on the skin. By contrast, PIEZO1 responds more readily to general membrane stretch, such as when a cell is pulled or swollen, rather than poked at a specific point.

To investigate the difference, the research team used minimal fluorescence photon flux (MINFLUX) super-resolution microscopy ... Whereas other imaging techniques, including cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM), have captured detailed but static images of frozen PIEZO proteins that serve as references for overall shape, MINFLUX allows scientists to track the positions and movements of proteins in cells with nanometer-scale precision. ..."

From the abstract:

"PIEZOs are mechanically gated ion channels that transduce force into electrochemical signals.
PIEZO1 responds to diverse stimuli including membrane stretch2 and shear stress, whereas 

PIEZO2 is generally tuned to detect cellular indentation. The functional specialization of PIEZO2 is proposed to underlie its distinct physiological roles, including mediating the sense of touch. How PIEZO2 achieves this selectivity despite its close structural similarity to PIEZO1 is unclear.
Here we combine single-molecule MINFLUX fluorescence nanoscopy with electrophysiology to link the conformational states of PIEZO2 to channel gating in intact cells. We find that PIEZO2 is intrinsically more rigid than PIEZO1, and that disparate mechanical stimuli paradoxically evoke opposite conformational and gating responses in each channel.

These unique gating properties arise in part from a connection to the actin cytoskeleton, and we identify filamin-B (FLNB) as a molecular tether that is required for this interaction. This complex alters how force is transmitted to PIEZO2 and confers heightened sensitivity to and selectivity for cellular indentation. PIEZO2 and FLNB are co-expressed in somatosensory neurons and colocalize within tens of nanometres at the end organs of cutaneous mechanosensory afferents. These findings help to explain why PIEZO2 is a specialized mechanosensor and provide a molecular blueprint for understanding how cells decode diverse mechanical stimuli across tissues and organ systems."

A new clue to how the body detects physical force | Scripps Research

The molecular basis of force selectivity by PIEZO2 (open access)

Fig. 1: The divergent structural mechanics of PIEZO1 and PIEZO2 in a cell membrane.

Tiny bubbles, sound waves clean produce safely and effectively

Good news! Don't we like bubble bath? Would you like to be a bubble bath scientist? 😊

"... new research finds that a bubble bath with a constant acoustic sound in the water may be the best chemical-free, gentle method for cleaning agricultural produce and possibly medical instruments and semiconductors. ...

Agricultural produce is currently cleaned by washing with bubblers for greens or soft brushes for root crops to clean off sediments. Chorine, ozone and peroxyacetic acid are often added to the water as sanitizers. ..."

From the abstract:

"Traditional surface cleaning methods often suffer from drawbacks such as chemical harshness, potential for surface damage, and high-energy consumption. This study investigates an alternative approach: acoustic-driven surface cleaning using millimeter-sized bubbles excited at low, sub-cavitation frequencies.
We identify and characterize a distinct translational resonance of these bubbles, occurring at significantly lower frequencies (e.g., 50 Hz for 1.3 mm diameter bubbles) than the Minnaert resonance for a bubble of the same size. At this translational resonance, stationary bubbles exhibit amplified lateral swaying, while bubbles sliding on an inclined surface display pronounced “stop-and-go” dynamics.
The theoretical model treats the bubble as a forced, damped harmonic oscillator. In this framework, surface tension supplies the restoring force, while the inertia is governed primarily by the hydrodynamic added mass of the surrounding fluid. It accurately predicts the observed resonant frequency scaling with bubble equilibrium radius R0 (∝R0−3/2).
Cleaning efficacy, assessed using protein-based artificial soil on glass slides, was significantly improved when bubbles were driven at their translational resonant frequency compared to off-resonant frequencies or nonacoustic conditions. These findings demonstrate that leveraging translational resonance enhances bubble-induced shear and agitation, offering an effective and sustainable mechanism for surface cleaning."

Tiny bubbles, sound waves clean produce safely and effectively | Cornell Chronicle

Acoustic-driven surface cleaning with millimeter-sized bubbles at translational resonance

Fig. 1 Translational resonance of an acoustically driven bubble (1.3 mm diameter).

Fig. 5 Cleaning performance and mechanism under resonant excitation.

What's for dinner? Tooth enamel reveals what early Mesopotamians really ate

Amazing stuff! I believe, there were other studies in the past that analyzed enamel to determine e.g. what food was consumed.

"... In particular, the team focused on zinc isotopes (different versions of the same element) in the enamel, as they detail in their study ... "Zinc isotope analysis of dental enamel provides a viable alternative for reconstructing diet in southern Mesopotamia, where collagen preservation is poor," they write.

The zinc in your teeth changes depending on what you are eating. For example, plants absorb zinc from the soil through their roots and carry a distinctive chemical signature. When animals eat plants, the isotope signal shifts slightly in predictable ways as it moves through the food chain. By measuring those shifts in human teeth, scientists can estimate how much plant versus animal food people consumed. In addition to zinc, the team examined carbon and oxygen isotopes and trace elements such as barium and strontium. ..."

From the significance and abstract:

"Significance

Understanding ancient diets is one of the keys to reconstructing lifeways and social structures. In what are now arid regions like southern Mesopotamia, poor collagen preservation has long hindered direct dietary reconstructions. Here, we apply zinc isotope analysis to human and faunal dental enamel from the third-millennium BCE site of Abu Tbeirah (southern Iraq), offering a method to overcome this limitation. Combined with carbon and oxygen isotopes and trace element ratios (Ba/Ca and Sr/Ca), zinc isotopes reveal an omnivorous diet based on C3 cereals, terrestrial animal protein, and possibly freshwater resources, with no evidence of marine fish consumption. These findings offer individual-level insight into subsistence practices, early-life nutrition, and animal management within a nonelite population in early-urbanized southern Mesopotamia.

Abstract

Reconstructing past lifeways and diets is essential to understanding the emergence of urban societies. However, in what are now arid environments like southern Mesopotamia, poor collagen preservation has long hampered direct isotopic analysis of trophic levels. This limitation has left key gaps in our understanding of subsistence in one of the world’s earliest urban heartlands.

Here, we apply zinc isotope analysis to human and faunal dental enamel from the third-millennium BCE site of Abu Tbeirah (Iraq), integrating δ13C, δ18O, and trace element ratios (Ba/Ca and Sr/Ca). This multiproxy approach reveals an omnivorous diet based on C3 cereals, terrestrial animal products (likely including pigs), and limited freshwater resources, with no or little evidence of marine fish consumption, despite the site’s proximity to the ancient shoreline. Dietary patterns do not vary by sex, suggesting broad access to similar food sources within this nonelite population. Moreover, zinc and carbon isotopes proved valuable in identifying animal feeding practices. Our results provide direct dietary evidence from southern Mesopotamia, overcoming long-standing preservation challenges. The results allow us to evaluate specific expectations about diet and animal management in a collagen-poor context, also highlighting early-life feeding behaviors. They demonstrate the power of zinc isotopes to reconstruct trophic level in collagen-poor contexts, opening broad avenues for bioarchaeological research in early complex societies."

What's for dinner? Tooth enamel reveals what early Mesopotamians really ate

When collagen fails: Zinc isotopes unlock Sumerian lifeways in southern Mesopotamia (open access)

Fig. 2 Scatterplots of isotopic values divided in (A) δ66Zn vs. δ18O in humans, grouped by feeding behavior; (B) δ66Zn vs δ18O, with symbols indicating species and color indicating drinking strategy; (C) δ66Zn vs. δ13C in humans, grouped by feeding behavior; (D) δ66Zn vs. δ13C, with symbols indicating species and color indicating feeding behavior; (E) δ18O vs. δ13C in humans, grouped by feeding behavior; (F) δ18O vs. δ13C, with symbols indicating species and color indicating drinking strategy, compared with available data from Ur

For several years China mapped ocean floors as it prepares for submarine warfare with US

Hopefully, civilian use of these maps will eventually be possible!

Officially, China used equipment from a New Zealand company for this purpose.

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

"... In tracing this effort, Reuters examined Chinese government and university records, including journal articles and scientific studies, and analyzed more than five years of movement by 42 research vessels active in the Pacific, Indian or Arctic oceans using a ship-tracking platform built by New Zealand company Starboard Maritime Intelligence.

While the research has civilian purposes – some of the surveying covers fishing grounds or areas where China has mineral prospecting contracts – it also serves a military one, according to nine naval-warfare experts who reviewed Reuters’ findings. ..."

China maps ocean floor as it prepares for submarine warfare with US

Brightpick Launches Gridpicker; Highest-Throughput Robotic Fulfillment System Ever Developed

Amazing stuff!

"Meet Brightpick Gridpicker – the fastest warehouse robot ever created. Gridpicker redefines warehouse automation by combining AI-powered mobile manipulation with high-density grid storage.

Delivering 2x higher throughput than shuttle systems, 5x less labor needs than Goods-to-Person systems, and cube-level storage density – at up to 40% lower cost." (The Robot Report email)

Brightpick Launches Gridpicker; Highest-Throughput Robotic Fulfillment System Ever Developed - Brightpick

VW in talks with Rafael to produce Iron Dome in a German VW car plant - report

Sounds embarrassing, but typical for the banana republic of Germany! Volkswagen is becoming an assembly line for foreign companies!

"Israeli government owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems is in advanced negotiations to convert a huge Volkswagen car plant in Germany into a factory for manufacturing components for the Iron Dome air defense system, UK newspaper "The Financial Times" (FT) reports. Iron Dome has already been sold to a range of European countries including Finland and Greece and other countries are in talks to buy the defense system including Germany. Rafael has German subsidiaries engaged in defense production for Germany and other European countries.

Volkswagen has encountered severe financial difficulties with profits cut by tens of percentages in recent years and for the first time in its history the company is considering shutting down factories in Germany."

VW in talks with Rafael to produce Iron Dome - report - Globes "Rafael is in advanced negotiations to convert a Volkswagen plant in Germany into a factory producing components for the defense system, “The Financial Times” reports."

Irre Einmischung: Bundespräsident Steinmeier belehrt die Bundesregierung zum Iran und greift die USA öffentlich massiv an

Wer so einen, seit Jahrzehnten bekannten, Deppen wie Steinmeier (70 Jahre alt) zum Bundespräsident macht braucht sich nicht zu wundern!

Habe hier schon gestern in Englisch zu Steinmeiers kontroverser Rede gebloggt.

Steinmeier belehrt die Bundesregierung zum Iran "Deutschlands Bundespräsident hintertreibt die Außenpolitik von Friedrich Merz und greift die USA öffentlich massiv an. In einem Akt der Selbstermächtigung überschreitet Frank-Walter Steinmeier alle Grenzen seines Amtes."

Bundespräsident Walter Steinmeier

Weltrekord in Bahia: Nexat erntet 637 t Soja in 8 Stunden

Sehr beachtlich!

"Ganz genau 637,76 t Sojabohnen in acht Stunden auf 158,16 ha: Mit diesem Rekordlauf in Bahia hat Nexat eine neue Bestmarke in der Erntetechnik gesetzt. Technisch spannend ist der Fall aber nicht nur wegen der Menge. Der Lauf zeigt, woran Hochleistungsmaschinen heute tatsächlich gemessen werden. Nicht entscheidend ist allein, wie viel Erntegut vorne ins System gelangt. Entscheidend ist, ob die Maschine diese Mengen im Inneren ohne Engpässe weiterverarbeiten kann.

Der zentrale Unterschied des NEXCO-Moduls zu klassischen Mähdreschern liegt im Aufbau des Dresch- und Abscheidesystems. Während konventionelle Maschinen das Erntegut meist längs durch die Maschine führen, arbeitet Nexat mit einer quer zur Fahrtrichtung angeordneten Rotoreinheit. ..."

Weltrekord in Bahia: Nexat erntet 637 t Soja in 8 Stunden "Nexat stellt in Bahia einen Weltrekord bei der Sojaernte auf – rund ein Drittel mehr als der bisherige Bestwert. Wie hat der Hersteller das geschafft?"

Source