Recommendable! It has a little bit of a leftist bias.
Thursday, August 27, 2026
Graffiti: A tool of resistance | Inside Latin America
Wednesday, August 26, 2026
A new chapter for Syria’s Kurds: What integration really means
Good news! They Kurds may gain some independence and recognition.
Beyond music: Dolly Parton's lifesaving gift to science
Recommendable! This video touches upon some of Dolly Parton's philanthropic work! And how she supported vaccination during Covid-19.
PM Modi Pulls Up Officials Over Infrastructure Issues with Palki Sharma Show
Bad news! India under Prime Minister Modi has heavily invested in infrastructure, but the quality of these mega projects appears to be lacking.
Dolly Parton's other legacy
R.I.P. What else will she be remembered for? She was a cosmetic surgery doll in her later life! Was she obsessed with her beauty and her figure? I don't mean to be nasty or disrespectful.
How many women (or men) were influenced by her cosmetic surgery?
"Yes, Dolly Parton has openly confirmed that she has breast implants and has undergone multiple breast augmentations and lifts throughout her career.
Details on Her Surgery
Open admission: Parton has never hidden her cosmetic procedures and often jokes about them with her signature humor.
Timeline: She has stated that she got her first breast augmentation later in her early career, with further adjustments and lifts done as her body changed over the decades.
No injections: While she confirmed implants and lifts, she has explicitly denied ever having dangerous silicone or foreign substance injections. ...
Her other documented cosmetic procedures (like facelifts or Botox) ..." (Google Search)
Dolly Parton in 1977 at age 31
What happened to pacifism and the non violence principle in the 21st century?
I am afraid the historic lessons of the 20th century with two World Wars, the Cold War and the use of the first nuclear weapons have been unlearned by the end of the first quarter of the 21st century!
This is a sad state of affairs at the beginning of the second quarter of the 21st century! It is certainly a regression/reversal for humanity! What will be the consequences?
Apple bets big on AI users running local models on their personal computers
Good news! This could become a next trend coming to personal computers!
"Apple updated its Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips, with the M5 Ultra offering up to 4.3 times the peak AI compute performance of the M3 Ultra, according to Apple.
The M5 Max configuration has an 18-core CPU, up to a 40-core GPU, and up to 128GB of unified memory, while the
M5 Ultra scales to a 36-core CPU, an 80-core GPU, and up to 512GB of unified memory for running large language models entirely on device. ...
the 512GB memory configuration arrives in late October. ...
The larger memory pools and clustering support for both devices let developers run bigger open-weight models on-device instead of paying for cloud compute."
Apple introduces new Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra — the ultimate desktop for on‑device AI and the most extreme pro workflows (original news release) "Apple’s most powerful Mac raises the bar for local AI with up to 4.3x faster performance, more advanced graphics, up to 512GB of unified memory, and extensive connectivity"
Bedrock Robotics' first operator-free retrofitted excavator deployments take off at job sites
Good news!
"Bedrock Robotics Inc. has deployed fully autonomous, retrofitted heavy excavators onto active infrastructure projects in Texas and Nevada. These AI-driven heavy equipment projects directly address the construction industry’s severe labor shortages, safety hazards, and cost overruns. ..."
"... The excavators use Bedrock’s Operator system, which retrofits existing fleets with a sophisticated sensor and compute suite to perform excavation without onboard operators, according to the company. ..."
Bedrock Robotics deploys fully autonomous excavators on jobsites "The company said its retrofit tech, which digs without an operator, is now active on infrastructure projects for firms such as Sundt Construction and Zachry Construction."
Taiwan is developing a hypersonic missile interceptor for its T-Dome
Good news!
"Taiwan’s National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) revealed details of a hypersonic missile interceptor that could be central to the proposed T-Dome air defense concept. ...
NCSIST said the Chiang Kung, also known as the Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV), would use a land-based mobile vertical launch system to fire interceptor missiles at up to hypersonic speeds to intercept ballistic missiles at “mid-level” altitudes — up to 70 km, according to an unnamed defense official, which is a major improvement on the Tien Kung III missile’s maximum altitude of 45 km.
Each launcher can hold four missiles at a time. The missile will use a two-stage solid-fuel rocket to propel the warhead and thrust-vector control to maneuver it at high altitudes. The Chiang Kung system includes a mobile active electronically scanned array radar vehicle co-developed by Taiwan and the United States, which can classify, track, and engage multiple tactical ballistic missiles while being resistant to electronic jamming.
The Chiang Kung will form the outermost layer of the multilayered T-Dome integrated air and missile defense (IAMD) concept ..."
EU: Freiheitseinschränkung der Bürger durch neue Kapitalkontrollen gegen Banken aus Drittstaaten
Sehr bedenklich! Zieht die Festung EU noch mehr Zugbrücken rauf! Betrifft das z.B. auch das Vereinigte Königreich und Schweiz?
Hinweis ich habe den Artikel nicht gelesen.
"Ab dem 11. Januar 2027 droht EU-Bürgern mit Auslandskonten Ungemach. Ab diesem Zeitpunkt soll es Banken aus Drittstaaten wie der Schweiz, Großbritannien, den USA oder auch Singapur untersagt sein, europäischen Bürgern sogenannte Kernbankdienstleistungen anzubieten. Damit sind im Prinzip drei Kernfunktionen gemeint: das klassische Einlagengeschäft, also Giro-, Spar- oder Festgeldkonten, das Kreditgeschäft sowie das Garantiegeschäft. Banken, die diese Dienstleistungen auch künftig EU-Bürgern anbieten wollen, müssen dann eine eigens zugelassene, vollständig beaufsichtigte Zweigstelle in genau dem Mitgliedstaat unterhalten, in dem der Kunde ansässig ist. ..."
Ukraine President Zelensky Awards Elon Musk with Ukraine’s Order of Freedom (in absentia)
Good news! Congratulations!
King Abdullah of Jordan Predicted Iran’s Two Decades Of Expansionism in 2004. Really!
Is the King of Jordan (since 1999, age 64) out of touch with reality?
First of all, Saddam Hussein of Iraq was a menace like Ayatollah Khomeini and the theocratic dictatorship in Iran. Two evil regimes side by side. So if the king of Jordan argues that the US "upended the regional balance of power" is disingenuous at best!
That the Iraqi people and other Arab countries (like Jordan) were unable or failed to establish a robust democracy in Iraq to counter rogue regimes like Iran after the fall of Hussein is there fault!
Caveat I did not read the whole article.
King Abdullah
Concrete structural evidence that ketamine has opioidic tendencies
Amazing stuff!
"Research has provided concrete structural evidence that ketamine has opioidic tendencies.
Until recently, ketamine’s pain-reducing and sedatory abilities have been predominantly put down to its ability to block the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDAR) in the brain.
While studies have suggested some relationship between ketamine and the opioid pathway, until now, no study has visualized ketamine activating opioid receptors. Looking at how NMDAR and opioid receptor signalling works together to drive ketamine's therapeutic effects could help guide the next generation of drugs ..."
From the abstract:
"Ketamine offers rapid relief for treatment-resistant depression and severe pain in the clinic, providing immediate benefits that traditional medications often fail to deliver.
While its antagonistic action at the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) is a key mechanism, ketamine’s dual nature as both a promising treatment and a drug with abuse potential suggests its therapeutic effects extend beyond NMDAR inhibition.
Here we provide structural evidence of human opioid receptors bound to ketamine and its parent analog phencyclidine (PCP), supporting that both ligands can directly bind and activate opioid receptors.
The structures, together with site-directed mutagenesis and structure–activity relationship studies, identify key motifs involved in ketamine and PCP recognition and efficacy modulation.
Furthermore, we determine the structure of the ligand-free state of human κ opioid receptor, revealing molecular details before ligand engagement.
Compared to PCP, ketamine displays more notable binding dynamics in the orthosteric site that may contribute to its unique pharmacology at opioid receptors. Our findings highlight the importance of including opioid receptors to fully understand ketamine’s versatility in clinical settings."
Fig. 1: Cryo-EM structures of human opioid receptors bound to ketamine and PCP.
Fig. 3: Unique pharmacology of 3-OH-PCP.
A new pill to limit appetite and reduce obesity or to maintain weight
This seems to be an interesting new drug!
"Early results for a pill which mimics some of the chemistry of exercise have been positive, announced the company making the pill, Enveda. The trial was conducted in 88 non-obese people, with no adverse effects and none of the side effects often seen in GLP-1s, such as nausea or vomiting.
The pill mimics the enzyme lactate phenylalanine to make people more sensitive to leptin — the hormone which limits appetite — thereby helping to maintain weight loss rather than yo-yoing. The upcoming phase II trial will involve people who have come off GLP-1s to see if the drug can help them to maintain their weight loss."
"Exceptional safety was observed across 88 healthy volunteers. Phase 2 plans to test whether ENV-308 can help people maintain their weight after stopping GLP-1s.
- ENV-308 is the first drug in human trials designed to mimic Lac-Phe, a pseudo dipeptide hormone released by the body in response to high-intensity exercise.
- In its first clinical trial, ENV-308 was extremely well tolerated across 88 healthy volunteers, including for gastrointestinal safety – the most common side effect that leads to people stopping GLP-1 medicines.
- The trial showed ENV-308 reduced circulating leptin, an exploratory signal that the drug reaches biology relevant to metabolic disease.
- In animal studies, ENV-308 preserved lean muscle during weight loss and prevented weight regain after weight-loss therapy was stopped.
..."
Enveda Reports Positive Phase 1 Results for ENV-308, the First Pill Designed From the Chemistry of Exercise (original news release)
What do popular terms like disparity, equity, equality, and justice have in common
They are perfect examples of terms in the toolkit of alarmists, ideologues and demagogues! One of their most favorite terms "disparate impact".
Whenever you see these terms or their derived terms used in research and journalistic articles be immediately alert! It is almost like a red flag! If there is a combination of these terms used in an article be alarmed!
Often the use of these terms identify the author immediately as a simple minded terrible simplificateur!
Then there is the pretense of knowledge that these authors implicitly invoke. E.g. so called intellectuals want to appear as smart and convincing!
Like Karl Marx, many times the world/subject is divided into two supposedly distinctive dogmatic categories aka as dichotomy (e.g. capitalists and laborers). Many times this division is artificial or too coarse or is very incomplete and ignores dynamics/interactions etc.
If we want a better humanity going forward, then this cheap demagoguery needs to stop!
CIA Director John Ratcliffe Visits Moscow Unannounced – US Media
What is going on? It seems this visit is highly unusual!
"CIA Director John Ratcliffe made a surprise visit to Moscow, U.S. officials said.
Ratcliffe spent about four hours in the Russian capital before leaving. The reason for the visit wasn’t immediately clear. It came as intelligence collected by the U.S. showed Russia’s preparations for a possible military mobilization in Ukraine. The CIA declined to comment."
Scotland's Intellectual Triumph – The Scottish Enlightenment
Recommendable!
The year 1776 is not only famous for the US Declaration of Independence but also for the publication of Scottish author Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations.
Waymo robotaxis are headed to Munich, but hailing service may not be available before end of 2027
Good news! But why not to my hometown Frankfurt am Main?
What took Waymo so long or was it the infamous German bureaucracy?
"Waymo said Tuesday [8/25/2026] it plans to launch a robotaxi service in Munich, months after the Alphabet-owned autonomous vehicle company set up an entity in Germany. ...
Waymo said in a blog post on Tuesday that it is working with Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), state authorities, and local officials, and expects to open commercial ride-hailing to the public toward the end of 2027. ..."
Servus München: Waymo is Coming to Germany (original news release)
Why is climate change ideology so powerful?
It is the perfect excuse/cover for many unwanted things! Global warming and climate change is to a shockingly large extent junk science!
It gives numerous governments of Western countries a perfect excuse/cover to impose socialist central planning on their economy and businesses and other restrictions on individual freedom! It guides their interventions in other countries in Africa, Latin America and elsewhere.
It gives a plethora of mediocre political, social and scientific researchers a perfect excuse/cover to do more junk science!
It gives many non profit organisations a perfect excuse/cover for their existence, activism and for more funding!
Tracking the impact of Trump’s tariffs on US households. Really!
The use of tariffs by President Trump is certainly controversial! It runs counter to the enormous efforts and successes since the end of WW II to implement free trade among the nations.
However, there appears to be ample evidence that a lot of countries or e.g. the EU have also implemented e.g. non-tariff barriers to trade (e.g. climate change regulations) etc. over the decades. Or what about the "transshipment scam" (example Spain, Canada)? Thus undermining the principle of free trade!
However, notice that The John Locke Foundation and the Tax Foundation engage in some journalistic dishonesty. The huge extra government revenues due to the imposition of new tariffs is barely mentioned. How much US businesses and households suffered from the above mentioned trade restrictions imposed by other countries appears to be omitted (a typical case of "That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen" fallacy made famous by Frederic Bastiat)
A reversal in the trade balance takes more than 12 months that is why it did not happen in 2025! Plus other than tariff factors may influence the trade balance of a country. Why "a reversal"? This is not required!
"The Tax Foundation is out with a new report summarizing the key economic impacts from Pres. Donald Trump’s tariff regime, kicked off by his “Liberation Day” announcement on April 2, 2025.
In short, the Tax Foundation analysts found that Trump’s tariffs have: imposed significant costs on U.S. households, harmed GDP, did not reduce America’s trade balance, and amounted to the largest tax increase since 1993.
Here is a summary of their key findings:
The Trump tariffs amounted to an average tax increase of $1,000 per US household: According to Tax Foundation analysis, the tax burden passed along to U.S. households amounted to an average of $1,000 per household in 2025. They project this burden will be $900 per household this year.
..."
"... Tariffs did not reverse the trade balance: One of the top stated goals of Trump’s tariff regime was to reverse America’s trade balance. A negative trade balance, of course, is not a reflection of a poor economy and can largely reflect sizeable foreign investment, as the country is seen as a profitable place to invest. Indeed, the U.S. has experienced negative trade balances for fifty years. After the implementation of Trump’s tariffs, the overall trade balance dropped by just $2.1 billion. The trade deficit in goods, however, actually deepened by $25.5 billion in 2025. ..."
Cyber security by antiquity. Really!
AKA "security by obsolescence". What a dangerous delusion or is it junk journalism by BBC!
Maybe many of those believing in and applying cyber security by antiquity are of little relevance/value to cyber hackers or are no targets of criminals anyway.
Perhaps this "top cybersecurity expert" is antiquity himself or herself and nobody bothers anymore to hack him or her! 😊
Why are militaries still using old software? Perhaps, they have too much old software to be replaced.
Notice the article below is only about the long obsolete email client software Eudora (discontinued in 2006)!
"A top cybersecurity expert ran obsolete email software for years because hackers had stopped bothering with it. The strategy is called “security by antiquity,” and militaries swear by it too."
"... "The vast majority of attackers are criminals trying to make money and it doesn't make any sense for them to target systems being run by 50 people," [the cybersecurity expert] explains. ..." Maybe this cybersecurity expert from Finland is poor! 😊
'Security by antiquity': Why older tech is sometimes safer from hackers "The fear of hacking has made some people turn to other forms of technology ignored by new generations of cyber criminals."
U.S. Court of Appeals delivered one of the strongest First Amendment rulings for undercover journalism in years.
Good news!
"On August 21, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled 2-1 in Democracy Partners v. O'Keefe, overturning a $130,000 jury damages award against conservative activist James O'Keefe and undercover reporter Allison Maass.
Case Background
The Sting:
In 2016, Project Veritas reporter Allison Maass spent eight days as an unpaid intern at the consulting firm Democracy Partners. She secretly recorded conversations with Democratic strategist Robert Creamer and others.
The Lawsuit:
Democracy Partners sued O'Keefe and Maass for fraud, wiretapping, and breach of fiduciary duty, winning a $130,000 judgment in a lower court.
Key Rulings by the Court
First Amendment Protection:
The majority opinion written by Circuit Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson concluded that the damages award violated the First Amendment. It improperly punished the defendants for publishing a news story rather than penalizing separate actionable conduct.
Fiduciary Duty Reversal:
The court ruled that Maass did not become a fiduciary to her news target simply by tricking him into an unpaid internship.Wiretapping Claims: The appeals panel also set aside the lower court's findings regarding wiretapping violations tied to the undercover operation. ..." (Google Search)
Caveat I am not familiar with this case.
Democracy Partners, LLC v. O'Keefe, 25-7080 (D.C. Cir. 2026)
President Trump: US Navy cleared mines in Strait of Hormuz, new mines will be 'systematically destroyed'
Good news!
Where are the coward European powers when you need them! Shame on them! This minesweeping would have been a job for them!
Tuesday, August 25, 2026
Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso Launch Alliance of Sahel States (AES) Joint Parliament in Historic Step
This could be huge! However, all three countries are governed by military leaders!
Russia Unveils 'Powerful' Lasers in Backpacks to Destroy unexploded ordinance or landmines
This laser weapon seems to be a little bit of a joke! Effective distance only 100 m.
Ethiopia Secures $330Mn China Trade Deals as Abiy and Xi Expand Market Access
Recommendable! The Scramble for Africa continues!
UPI Turns 10: How India Built the World's Digital Payments Powerhouse
Very recommendable! Will India become the first cashless society?
Trump's Trade War with Canada Is Pointess | National Review. Really!
Are we detecting here Trump Derangement Syndrome at the NR? This piece was written by the "The Editors" of NR!
Perhaps, the Canadians were for too long free riders and enjoyed great American leniency for many decades?
Perhaps, serious damage in the US-CA relation was also done during the administration of the foolish Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau?
"... However, for the U.S. to be in the middle of a poisonous brawl with Canada (Canada!) takes a degree of foolhardiness that would once have been inconceivable. ..."
Ketamine increases neuroplasticity in female mice but not in males
Amazing stuff! Good news!
"Doctors use ketamine on patients as general anesthesia before surgery. They also prescribe it in low doses for pain management, and more recently, it’s been used for treatment-resistant depression where other drugs have failed.
It works by dampening communication between brain cells. But a new study reveals that its effects on the brain are different in male and female mice. This insight—if reproduced in humans—could change the way we test the efficacy of drugs and unlock better treatments for depression. ...
discovered that when female mice are recovering from a single ketamine sedation, their brains become more active than their male counterparts, specifically their microglia. These specialized brain cells began reaching out with their branch-like arms to intermingle with surrounding brain cells. This increased activity led to the removal of the extracellular matrix—the proteins and molecules surrounding, supporting, and giving structure to cells—and created space that allowed new synapses to form and remodel the neural network, thereby increasing neuroplasticity. Researchers didn’t observe this behavior in male mice. ...
Neuroplasticity is a delicate balance: too much or too little have both been linked to neuropsychiatric disorders. ..."
From the abstract:
"Anesthesia recovery is critical for resuming normal physiological and neuronal functions; however, the mechanisms involved remain elusive.
Here, we identify a female-selective corticosterone-mediated microglia-neuron interaction during ketamine anesthesia recovery, absent in males.
This microglia-neuron interaction induces plastic and functional neuronal changes, as evidenced by increased mEPSC frequency, which was occluded upon microglia depletion.
We showed that this process is driven through up-regulation of the stress-responsive co-chaperone Fkbp5 mRNA and its protein, Fkbp51, in female microglia. Fkbp5/Fkbp51 is a key intermediary in a corticosteroid-induced stress response, and its involvement points toward a critical interface between endocrine signaling and microglia.
To counteract the observed ketamine anesthesia-mediated increase in blood corticosterone during recovery, we removed the primary source of corticosterone by adrenalectomy. Close microglia-neuron interaction was reduced and increased again following corticosterone injection.
Our findings identify a sex-specific microglia-mediated mechanism of neuronal plasticity during anesthesia recovery, driven by corticosterone, thereby enhancing our understanding of sex differences in brain function."
Corticosterone-linked microglial activity underpins sexually dimorphic neuroplasticity after ketamine anesthesia (open access)
Distribution of microglia (green) across the different cortical layers (orange) in the mouse visual cortex
Fig. 1. Female microglia interact with neurons, promoting spinogenesis and plasticity upon ketamine recovery.
Trump administration will start revoking about 200,000 'bogus asylum claims'
Good news! Bravo President Trump!
Has this information intentionally been leaked to the news media to encourage more self deportation?
There is little doubt that many immigrants try to abuse generous asylum rights of Western countries. Germany would be another good example.
If I am not mistaken, then, in particular, asylum rights were strengthened in Western countries in the aftermath of WW II (e.g. Holocaust) and during the Cold War (e.g. politically persecuted).
"The days of foreigners using temporary tourist and business visas to stay in the U.S. indefinitely are over.
In addition to launching a Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force aimed at curtailing the number of anchor babies, the State Department is poised to take action against foreigners who are attempting to use their nonimmigrant visas as stepping stones to asylum in America. ...
According to a pair of U.S. officials and State Department documents obtained by the Associated Press, Secretary of State Marco Rubio's department is set to announce the revocation of B-1 and B-2 visas that were issued over the past decade to foreigners who have sought or are seeking asylum. More than 200,000 foreign nationals reportedly could see their visas revoked at the outset.
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau noted on Monday, "People in the US and all over the world are fed up with bogus asylum claims." ..."
"... Unless challenged or revised, the State Department is expected to announce in the coming weeks the revocation of so-called B1 and B2 visas issued between 2016 and 2026 whose holders have sought asylum or are now seeking asylum, according to State Department documents obtained by The Associated Press and two U.S. officials. The action will be taken in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security. ..."
Thunderquakes to image the Earth's subsurface
Amazing stuff!
"... the powerful acoustic waves from thunder can ripple the Earth, the resulting seismic signals have long been too difficult to parse. Now, researchers have turned the so-called “thunderquakes” into a useful tool for probing inside Earth.
To interpret thunderquakes, researchers turned to a technique called distributed acoustic sensing. It involved turning a 4-kilometer-long fiber-optic cable, more commonly used for internet and phone services, into a string of more than 2100 sensors that measured vibrations in the ground. In two years, the team identified 458 high-quality thunderquakes.
Since seismic waves travel at different speeds at different depths, the team used the thunderquakes to map the ground below, down as deep as 100 meters. In Pennsylvania, where the cable is located, researchers spotted weak zones and areas where the ground is sinking, both geological features that can cause sinkholes or groundwater contamination if left unaddressed. ..."
"... Using existing fiber-optic telecommunication cables buried just a few feet below the ground under Penn State’s University Park campus, the researchers developed a new way to use distributed acoustic sensing technology, or DAS, to better understand how atmospheric acoustic waves transfer energy into the ground. They also demonstrated how this coupling can be used in seismic imaging. ..."
From the abstract:
"Thunder generates atmospheric acoustic waves that couple into the ground, producing seismic signals called “thunderquakes.” Although widely observed, this atmosphere-solid Earth conversion has rarely been exploited for imaging because the coupled wavefield is complex and its governing physics are poorly constrained.
Here, we show that thunderquakes recorded by preexisting telecommunication fiber-optic cables using distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) contain coherent air-coupled Rayleigh waves that can serve as seismic energy sources for near-surface tomography.
We validate this mechanism using three-dimensional spectral-element simulations and dispersion modeling of thunderquakes.
We analyze 2.5 years of continuous DAS data and a catalog of 458 high-fidelity thunderquakes validated by lightning records.
Cross-correlation virtual-source interferometry and stacking yield dispersed surface waves from which we invert shear-wave velocity structure to ∼100-meter-depth beneath an urban karst setting. The resulting tomographic image reveals several previously undetected weak zones, some coinciding with surface deformation measured by Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar.
The tomographic results are further validated by independent borehole logs and engineering surveys.
Our results establish that thunder energy can be converted into dispersive seismic wavefields in the solid Earth and that thunderquakes can act as novel, meteorologically driven sources for seismic imaging in regions with limited access to traditional seismic sources."
Thunderquakes: A new way to image the Earth’s subsurface (original news release) "Thunderstorms detected by underground fiber-optic cables can be a source for seismic imaging, especially in places where earthquakes are uncommon, researchers report"
Fig. 1. Thunderquake raypath diagram.
Fig. 6. Subsurface tomography results.
More evidence that plants are not passive and defenseless
Amazing stuff! There is much more than thorns to plant defenses!
"Dying [attacked] plants can protect their successors from the same fate
Plants might look like passive life forms, quietly enduring drought, disease or parasites. But they are actually great at fighting back. A new study reveals an intricate feedback system that allows cowpeas attacked by herbivores to protect future plants from the same fate.
Previous studies have documented how some plants ‘call for help’ when being eaten: When caterpillars start to chew on the leaves, they release a chemical into the air that attracts predators, like wasps, which then feed on the caterpillars. But scientists have now uncovered a more complex mechanism, one that triggers protective capabilities across plant generations.
“The major finding is that a mechanism under the soil can impact the response to predators,” ... “This has never been seen before.” ...
found that when attacked by insects called leafminers, cowpea plants—in addition to releasing an airborne chemical to attract wasps—also release chemicals called flavonoids into the soil from their roots. Those flavonoids, in turn, cultivate a particular community of soil bacteria, which influences the next plants to grow in that soil: They cause the new plants to trigger that airborne alarm system before they’re attacked, as a protective measure.
The finding can have direct implications for the development of green pest management ..."
From the highlights and abstract:
"Highlights
• Leaf herbivory leaves a persistent soil-borne defensive legacy
• Jasmonate-dependent flavonoids restructure the rhizosphere microbiome
• The rhizosphere microbiome acts as a soil-borne legacy for subsequent plants
• Soil-borne legacy reconfigures volatile emission and enhances parasitoid attraction
Summary
How organisms convert short-term stress into long-term defense is a key ecological question. Classic herbivore-induced plant volatiles recruit natural enemies but act briefly only in damaged tissues.
Here, we report that leaf herbivory establishes a persistent soil defensive legacy to help uninfested subsequent plants attract parasitoids.
During the conditioning phase, herbivory systemically activates jasmonate signaling, which reprograms root metabolism and promotes the exudation of specific flavonoids, notably daidzein and genistein.
These compounds selectively restructure the rhizosphere microbiome, enriching functionally specialized bacterial taxa that constitute the soil-borne legacy. During the feedback phase, these enriched rhizosphere bacteria, in turn, increase jasmonate signaling in succeeding plants, boosting emission of the key parasitoid-attracting volatile (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate in the absence of herbivory.
Together, our findings reveal plant-soil feedback as an active ecological process that extends the spatial and temporal reach of plant defenses, with broad implications for plant-enemy interactions and sustainable pest management."
Graphical abstract
Figure 1 Leaf herbivory attracts parasitoids via systemic jasmonate signaling-mediated plant-soil feedbacks
OpenAI’s Jalapeno chip is built for fast inference at scale, benchmarks show
Good news! OpenAI is also getting into the chip business.
Why did OpenAI opt to write Jalapeño with the Spanish special character instead of a clean and simple Jalapeno? Grrr! This special character is not on my keyboard! I hope, OpenAI will correct this mistake! Keep it simple stupid (KISS)!
"At the Hot Chips conference on Tuesday [8/25/2026], OpenAI shared a more detailed look at Jalapeno, including the first batch of benchmark results for the new system. Tested on SemiAnalysis’ InferenceX benchmark, Jalapeño registered both more tokens per user and more throughput per kilowatt than the currently available state-of-the-art inference processors. ...
First announced last October, Jalapeño was developed by OpenAI in close collaboration with Broadcom, with OpenAI’s own models assisting in the development process. The company plans to make Jalapeño a multigenerational platform, allowing AI products, models, chips, and memory all developed in concert.
Because of that full-stack approach, OpenAI was able to address specific phases in the inference process that often cause friction during inference processing. In particular, Jalapeño is designed to minimize delays during the prefill and communication phases of processing, which OpenAI says often act as bottlenecks.
“We designed Jalapeno to minimize data movement and communication delays,” ..."
"... OpenAI models also accelerated Jalapeno’s development. Earlier generations helped the team design and bring up the chip, while our latest models are accelerating how we optimize and program it. Jalapeno’s performance extends across GPT‑OSS 120B, DeepSeek R1, and Kimi K2.5 1T, showing that the architecture works across models developed both inside and outside OpenAI.
Across all three, Jalapeno delivered 1.5 to 1.9 times more AI work per watt at peak throughput and 1.7 to 3.6 times lower end-to-end latency than the comparison systems. For highly interactive workloads, it delivered 2.1 to 4.1 times higher performance. ..."
Jalapeno’s first results show industry-leading speed and efficiency in AI inference (original news release)
Grasses have doubled pathways to synthesize lignin and starch
Amazing stuff!
"... Some of this success stems from grasses’ turbocharged growth: The plants can produce both energy-rich starch and structurally supportive lignin through two different metabolic pathways apiece, allowing them to grow faster and taller than their competitors. But researchers never knew how and when these innovations sprouted.
In a new Science study, botanists analyzed the genomes of the grass family’s closest relatives to reveal the evolutionary history of grasses’ key innovations. They found that the doubled starch production pathway was truly unique to grasses, having resulted from a previously documented whole-genome duplication event that also instilled the plants with some of their other world-conquering traits. This duplication “ likely gave a competitive advantage to grasses to grow in open habitat, where a lot of plants would love to grow because of all the sun,” ...
By contrast, their sister groups had only one strategy to produce starch, restricting them to slow growth in the shade of their fast-rising relatives.
In addition, both grasses and related plants can also make lignin from two different precursor molecules, indicating that a separate gene duplication gave rise to the dual pathway before grasses split into their own lineage 100 million years ago. The researchers were able to track the specific genetic causes of the doubled route, potentially allowing them to introduce the mutation into other plants to help produce crops and feedstocks for bioenergy."
"One hundred million years ago, long before human intervention, ancestors of grasses, like wheat, rice and maize generated “bypasses” of chemical pathways that are used to create two critical compounds: lignin and starch. These more efficient pathways could explain why grass plants are so successful in nature and agriculture, according to a new paper recently published ...
Just as scientists use the chimpanzee’s genome as a comparison tool to study how humans evolved, Maeda’s group and their collaborators ... turned to one of the closest relatives of grasses, Joinvillea ascendens.
This long-leafed plant is found in wet forests of the South Pacific islands and grows much more slowly than many grasses. ..."
"... The researchers then mapped the genome of Joinvillea and three related species. Comparing the thousands of genes in these genomes revealed that, unlike grasses, Joinvillea has only one pathway to create starch.
“We knew that a common ancestor of all grasses doubled its gene content through a whole genome duplication,” ... “Some of the duplicated genes then enabled the evolution of an additional starch synthesis pathway, or a bypass route, which emerged in an early common ancestor of all grasses.”
As a result ... grasses are able to produce twice the amount of starch relative to Joinvillea and all other non-grass plants. ..."
From the editor's summary and abstract:
"Editor’s summary
Grasses include many economically important food crops and function as primary producers in diverse ecosystems. They also exhibit distinctive metabolic traits, such as the ability to synthesize starch in both plastids and cytosol and the synthesis of lignin from both phenylalanine and tyrosine.
However, the evolutionary origin of these traits has been unclear.
Takeda-Kimura et al. sequenced the genomes from grass sister clades and found that although some cytosolic starch synthesis genes emerged within grasses, a key plastid membrane transporter predates their evolution.
An earlier tandem duplication event predating a grass-specific whole-genome duplication gave rise to the bifunctional phenylalanine/tyrosine ammonia lyase, enabling dual lignin biosynthesis in grasses. ...
Structured Abstract
INTRODUCTION
The grass family (Poaceae) includes foundational primary producers in global ecosystems and economically important crops. Rice, wheat, and maize account for more than 40% of caloric intake for humans, and sugarcane, sorghum, and bamboo make abundant sugars and lignocellulosic biomass for renewable bioenergy and biomaterial production. Their genome assemblies have advanced our understanding of critical traits in agriculturally and ecologically important grass species. However, we still lack chromosomal assemblies for their closest relatives, which diverged from grass progenitors more than 100 million years ago, before the rho whole-genome duplication (ρWGD) in the ancestor of all grasses. This gap limits our understanding of how gene and genome duplications contributed to evolutionary innovations that define the grass lineage.
RATIONALE
This study generated reference-quality genomes for Joinvillea ascendens and Ecdeiocolea monostachya, which represent the sister lineage to all grasses, along with Pharus latifolius and Typha latifolia, which represent sister lineages to core grasses and all other members of the order Poales, respectively. Using these new genomic resources, we traced the evolutionary history of two distinctive metabolic traits of grasses: dual starch and lignin biosynthetic pathways. These grass-specific metabolic innovations contribute to the starch-rich endosperm of cereals and substantial lignin deposition in the vasculatures and fibers of grasses.
RESULTS
In this study, the new high-quality genome assemblies and annotations enabled comparative genomic analyses to place the timing of the ρWGD event just after the divergence of ancestral lineages leading to the grasses and their sister clade, including Joinvilleaceae and Ecdeiocoleaceae. Phylogenetic and molecular evolutionary analyses of more than 20 gene families involved in starch biosynthesis across many Poaceae and Poales species revealed that ρWGD contributed to the duplication of several of these genes, which now support cytosolic starch biosynthesis in grass endosperms. By contrast, genome comparisons and biochemical analyses of the lignin biosynthesis pathway revealed that an earlier tandem duplication of phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) gave rise to phenylalanine/tyrosine ammonia lyase (PTAL) before the ρWGD and the origin of grasses, enabling grasses to synthesize lignin and other phenylpropanoid compounds from two aromatic amino acid precursors, phenylalanine and tyrosine. Precise determination of the timing of the plant PTAL evolution, combined with site-directed mutagenesis and x-ray crystal structural analyses, further identified two key residues, Ile112 and His140, that are responsible for the neofunctionalization of plant PAL into PTAL, providing a promising gene-editing strategy to enhance diverse phenylpropanoid production in plants.
CONCLUSION
Our integrated genomic, biochemical, and structural analyses, supported by robust phylogenetic resolution of grasses and their relatives, have unveiled the evolutionary history and molecular basis of key metabolic innovations predating the emergence of grasses. Our findings highlight critical roles for both WGDs and tandem gene duplications as drivers of evolutionary innovation. The nonmodel, noncrop Poales reference genomes generated for this study now offer valuable resources for dissecting the diverse and complex traits that contribute to the ecological and economic importance of grasses. The evolutionary basis of grass-specific traits will inform efforts to conserve grass-dominated ecosystems and accelerate breeding and engineering of cereals and other grass crops for sustainable production of food, feed, bioenergy, and biomaterials."
Molecular “bypasses” improve grass plants’s synthesis of lignin and starch, laying the early groundwork for evolutionary success (original news release)
Grass plant ancestors evolved metabolic pathway to ecological success (original news release)
Genomes of Poaceae sisters reveal key metabolic innovations preceding the evolution of grasses (preprint, open access, published already in December 2024 and never updated recently)
Metabolic innovations that predate the origin of grasses.
Fig. 1: Sequencing genomes of Poaceae sisters to trace the evolutionary history of grass metabolic innovations.
Fig. 2. Alteration of starch and fatty acid biosynthesis during the grass evolution.
America is back to blowing up narco boats
Controversial, but perhaps necessary! However, organized crime will surely find other routes!
"The U.S. military killed two suspected drug traffickers Sunday [8/23/2026] in a strike on a vessel operating in the Eastern Pacific, marking the latest use of deadly force against narcotics networks moving drugs toward the United States.
U.S. Southern Command announced the operation Monday, releasing video showing an explosive strike against what officials described as a low-profile vessel traveling along known drug-trafficking routes.
“Confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel’s active involvement in narco-trafficking,” the command said. “The operation killed two narco-terrorists.” ..."
A 600 kilometers long Human Chain connecting the three Baltic States in 1989
When the Soviet Empire fell! A historic moment!
"... Nearly two million people joined hands across Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, forming a human chain stretching some 600 kilometers and connecting three Baltic capitals: Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius. Broadcast around the world, it became one of the defining images of the Singing Revolution and the Baltic struggle to restore independence. ..."
The newly proposed fee for H-1B visas is $103,265
Serious stuff!
"The newly proposed fee for H-1B visas, according to a filing by the Department of Homeland Security. The six-figure fee would replace an earlier plan from the Trump administration, which was struck down by courts, to charge $100,000 for the visa. The new fee would need to be paid before the government decides whether or not to approve an application. H1-Bs are the primary pathway for high-skilled foreign professionals to work in the U.S."
"The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is proposing to establish a $103,265 fee for all H-1B cap-subject petitions, including those eligible for the advanced degree exemption. The proposed fee would be paid at the time of filing and would be imposed in addition to all other applicable fees or payments.
The proposed fee would generate revenue to recover a portion of the federal government’s costs for administering the lawful immigration system. These costs include adjudication of immigration benefits, fraud detection and national security vetting, systems modernization, records and fee collection operations, immigration court operations, consular visa processing, labor standards enforcement, and interagency coordination. DHS estimates the proposed fee would generate approximately $8.8 billion annually, based on a projected annual volume of 85,000 H-1B cap-subject petitions. ..."
DHS Proposes Additional H-1B Fee (original news release)
German female small town political Candidate Turns Heads with her MILF Necklace
Attention grabbing! Just kidding! Apparently, this news was primarily spread by social media!
"38-year-old mother of one Corinna Jodeit says her local Christian Democrat Union (CDU) party is standing behind her after a minor controversy went nationwide over her election posters, which show her wearing a small golden “MILF” necklace.
A phrase which entered the popular vocabulary with the release of American Pie in 1999, Urban Dictionary states the acronym stands for “Mother I’d Like to Fuck”, referring to an attractive mature woman of no blood relation to the observer.
Jodeit is standing for the CDU to get a seat on Wildeshausen council, a city near Bremen in Lower Saxony. Local elections are slated to take place in the region in September. ..."
Image of the day
A sitting US Senator (Ted Cruz R-Tx) writes a biography of a sitting US Supreme Court Justice!
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