President Trump should have done this before the midterm elections!
Saturday, November 07, 2026
President Trump Celebrates Diwali at White House| Trump Lights Diya With Indian-Americans on November 6th
Israeli president picks Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu rival, to form government
The era Netanyahu is over! He became old, but he has been a smart cookie!
Dua Lipa — MOONLIGHT (Official Music Video)
I thought, I give some more recent pop music a chance and listen to it.
However, this lady can not sing, she has no voice!
American left’s most hated man Stephen Miller steps up to take on the radicals
Recommendable! An Australian perspective on Miller!
Why everyone suddenly needs Turkey for energy
Very recommendable! How Turkey became a big energy player!
Chart of the day
Inspired by Giorgia Meloni, Claudia Sheinbaum, and Sanae Takaichi!
"Globally, there are more than 20 women serving as current heads of state (including presidents, acting presidents, and ceremonial rulers)." (Google)
"The list is current as of January, 2026" Why is Sanae Takaichi, Prime Minister of Japan since October 25, 2025, missing from the list below?
Do school smartphone bans make a difference in the US? Certainly it is good business for pouch producers
Phone bans in schools are a very primitive solution/measure indicating desperation on part of the authorities!
Smartphones and ML & AI need urgently to be integrated into e.g. K-12 education!
Smart devices and ML & AI are here to stay and innovation may even accelerate.
E.g. smart devices offer/support individualized/personalized learning.
"In brief
- Stanford researchers and collaborators examined school phone bans using lockable pouches, finding lower phone use and higher reported well-being but little overall change in test scores or attendance.
- Partnerships with teachers and administrators helped shape the research questions, identify outcomes to measure, and gather data nationwide.
- Researchers say bans alone won’t resolve broader challenges around student engagement and achievement. Future work will explore those challenges and practical questions about implementing restrictions.
...
But the impact of phones on kids is still debated.
On one hand, this widespread connectivity has been linked to rising rates of depression and anxiety in youth; in schools, teachers have also reported that smartphones can be highly disruptive to learning.
On the other hand, smartphones enable kids to do plenty of crucial things in their daily life: connect with friends or parents, access school materials, listen to music, hop on a bus, buy a snack, or look something up in the moment. ..."
Good business for the pouch manufacturer Yondr!
Heat Deaths Near Record for 2026 in Maricopa county, Arizona. Really!
Demagoguery with statistical data!
Well, the population growth of Maricopa county was also enormous (see also chart below). "From 1990 to 2026, the population of Maricopa County, Arizona, more than doubled, growing from 2,132,249 residents to a projected 4,724,969." (Google)
I also have a strong hunch that over the years medical diagnosis of heat related death increased perhaps due to better medical services or improved awareness of residents or more residents ignoring related warnings etc.
"Maricopa County has confirmed 511 heat-related deaths this year, with more than 200 cases still under review.
The pending cases could push the toll past the county’s record of 645 deaths, set in 2023. Final totals aren’t expected until spring. ..."
Maricopa County on pace for deadliest year of heat-related deaths "County records more than 500 heat deaths as investigations continue"
About former Texas governor Greg Abbott's wheelchair and accident
It was a very, very rare natural event that caused his accident in 1984! And he has been well compensated for it ever since.
His biography suggests that even as far back as the 1980s, some if not many victims of severe accidents were well compensated or is he an exception? Or did Abbott have excellent attorneys? Yes, it appears he did (Don Riddle, supposedly a top trial lawyer of the time).
Keep in mind he was jogging when the tree fell on him, which makes this rare accident even more rare.
I would assume, this is an extremely rare event for a tree to fall on a person. According to Google Search about roughly 30 to 40 people are killed per year in the US by a falling tree due to natural causes like wind & weather.
This was a very lucrative accident for Greg Abbott it seems. Unfortunately, the Wikipedia entry does not provide a total lifetime sum of these payments. According to my own calculations this comes to perhaps roughly $5.5 to $6.0 million so far.
Greg Abbott even has a webpage describing his accident on his governor's website. In his own words: "On a summer day in July 1984, Governor Greg Abbott, a 26-year-old recent law school graduate, decided to take a break from studying for the bar exam by going for a jog in a west Houston neighborhood as he’d done many times before. While out running, a large oak tree along his path cracked and fell on Governor Abbott’s back, leaving him forever paralyzed from the waist down."
"... In 1985, Abbott sued the homeowner whose tree fell on him, along with the tree service company that had inspected the giant post oak before it crashed down on a windy summer day in July of 1984. ..."
I don't mean to disparage Greg Abbott or to trivialize his severe accident etc.
Caveat: I am not familiar with the details of this case. I did not do much research on his accident.
According to the Wikipedia entry of Greg Abbott (age 68): "... third elected governor of a U.S. state to use a wheelchair, after Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York ... and George Wallace of Alabama ...
On July 14, 1984, at age 26, Abbott was paralyzed below the waist when an oak tree fell on him while he was jogging in River Oaks, Houston, after a storm.
Two steel rods were implanted in his spine, and he underwent extensive rehabilitation ... and has used a wheelchair ever since.
He sued the homeowner and a tree service company, resulting in an insurance settlement that provided him with lump sum payments every three years until 2022 along with monthly payments for life, both of which were adjusted for inflation. As of August 2013, the monthly payment was US$14,000 and the three-year lump sum payment was US$400,000, all tax-free. ..."
"... Now [August 2013] the front-running candidate for Texas governor, Abbott on Thursday discussed the terms of his multimillion-dollar-lawsuit agreement for the first time in an exclusive interview with The Texas Tribune. His campaign also provided a copy of the 1986 settlement to the Tribune. ...
Abbott’s lawyer, Don Riddle, received more than $1 million from the settlement, the document indicates. ..." "Forbes Magazine: Named one of the Top 20 Trial Lawyers in America (1988)." (Google)
For the First Time, Abbott Discusses Details of His Lawsuit Settlement (article dated 8/2/2013)
Noise from human activities potentially seriously harms animals on land and in water. Really!
What is the point of this research? Is the AAAS here spreading misanthropy again?
Of course, over 8 billion humans roaming the Earth make noise!
That these authors were clearly biased is already indicated in the title of their paper. Anthropocene is obscene!
Animals often also make a lot of, sometimes annoying noise!
The authors also give the impression that any human noise is harmful and alters animal behavior! As if any change in animal behavior is harmful by itself.
Does this study qualify as junk science?
"Scientists have long known that noise from human activities—from the roar of jet engines to the whir of ship propellers—can harm animals.
But it’s been unclear just how pervasive the problem is. A massive analysis published in Science reveals the impacts are far more widespread than even researchers thought.
Data from 177 species that live on land and in the water reveal the vast majority are impacted by sound in some way, fundamentally altering their biology and behaviors, and causing many to die early [???]. ..."
"Scientists have long known that noise from human activities—from the roar of jet engines to the whir of ship propellers—can harm animals, stunting their growth and even scrambling their eggs. But it’s been unclear just how pervasive the problem is. ..."
"... The study also revealed how noise pollution reached all the way down to the animals' genes. It wasn't just stress hormones or behaviour that changed under noise, but researchers found measurable changes in gene activity itself. ..."
From the editor's summary and abstract:
"Editor’s summary
Noise is increasingly a continuous presence across not only urban environments but all environments. Even remote regions experience noise from aircraft flyovers and distant industrial activity.
Many studies have shown that noise affects a wide array of species, but the shape of such effects is varied and variable.
Kunc and Schmidt looked across more than 200 studies, covering a wide array of species and regions, and found that noise has altered behavior, physiology, or development in 80% of the species included, with effects on fitness and survival. Although responses varied, the authors found that noise has become an important selective force globally. ...
Abstract
Anthropogenic noise is a rapidly expanding global pollutant, but its effects across biological levels from individuals to ecosystems remain unquantified.
We conducted phylogenetically controlled meta-analyses of 214 experimental studies on 177 aquatic and terrestrial species with ranges that span six continents.
Noise altered at least one physiological, developmental, or behavioral trait in 80% of species studied, with declines in fitness and abundance and disruptions of predator-prey interactions.
Effects occurred in every habitat, although response mechanisms varied for some traits and species, creating winners and losers. Only multispecies analyses can reveal such species- and ecosystem-level impacts of anthropogenic stressors.
Our results establish noise as a novel selection pressure reshaping ecosystem dynamics and as a pervasive stressor requiring soundscape protection alongside habitat conservation."
Wildlife paying the price for noise pollution, Queen’s study finds (original news release) "New research by Queen’s University Belfast has found that noise pollution is having increasingly significant impacts on the development, behaviour and mortality of species worldwide."
Echoes of the Anthropocene: Noise pollution as a global threat (no public access)
Direct evidence for psychoactive cannabis use in Siberia about 2800 years ago
Getting high in Siberia a long time ago! 😊
Maybe these people were only eating, but not smoking these plants?
"... Now, researchers have discovered evidence of cannabis use around 2800 years ago —a few hundred years earlier than existing, indirect evidence of the plant’s use. The discovery comes from a Scythian burial mound in southern Siberia, where researchers uncovered more than 1400 tiny cannabis seeds.
Radiocarbon dating revealed they were likely deposited in the 8th century B.C.E., around the time the burial mound was constructed.
The researchers also found preserved human hair at the burial site; a chemical analysis revealed the presence of the compound cannabinol in the hair, which is produced from THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis. ..."
"... The seeds recovered from the grave likely stem from wild plants. It is not possible to determine from this whether they were specifically cultivated for their psychoactive properties. Their presence in a grave does not, in and of itself, prove the psychoactive use of cannabis.
This became apparent only through the analysis of the hair: In several of the hair samples examined, the researchers found clear signals consistent with cannabinol (CBN). CBN is produced, among other things, by the oxidation of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the most important intoxicating compound in cannabis. In addition, the team detected weak signals that, based on their mass, are consistent with THC. High-resolution mass spectrometry, among other methods, was used to analyze the hair samples.
According to the researchers, the hair analyses indicate cannabis use. However, they do not allow for a reliable determination of the amount consumed. ...
However, they do not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the THC content of the plants from that time. Neither has it been possible so far to determine whether the plants were specifically selected or cultivated for higher levels of active compounds. ..."
From the editor's summary and abstract:
"Editor’s summary
Psychoactive plants are used globally today, with increasing evidence of medicinal value and, in some cases, decreasing illegality.
Cannabis is one of the most widely used and cultivated of these plants. The prevalence of past usage, particularly for ritual purposes, has often been suggested, but making conclusions about its use for psychoactive properties has been difficult. Cannabis plants are ephemeral, and even the presence of plant parts and seeds could be an indication of cultivation for its many other useful properties.
Caspari et al. found cannabis plant parts in a 2800-year-old tomb in Siberia and also identified its psychoactive compounds in hair found within the tomb, suggesting ritualistic psychoactive use. ...
Abstract
Cannabis is the world’s most-used illicit psychoactive plant, yet direct prehistoric evidence for its consumption is rare.
In this study, we present the earliest direct evidence of cannabis use: offerings of plant parts and chemical compounds in ancient human hair recovered from a monumental tomb in Siberia.
The findings suggest that the plant was used for its psychoactive qualities across Eurasia, where specific wild populations might have had naturally higher active compound levels.
We show that the practice of cannabis consumption dates back at least 2800 years, anchoring debates around contemporary usage and informing discussions on cannabis in medicine, public health, law, and industry."
Cannabis was used as an intoxicant as early as 2,800 years ago (original news release) "An international research team led by the University of Bern has discovered cannabis seeds and molecular traces of psychoactive cannabis compounds in human hair in a princely tomb in Siberia. Radiocarbon dates place the seeds in the early eighth century BCE. According to the research team, this is the oldest directly dated evidence to date for the intoxicating use of cannabis."
Direct evidence for psychoactive cannabis use 2800 years ago (no public access)
Cannabis seeds were uncovered during the excavation of a tomb in the South Siberian Republic of Tyva. The seeds are not easy to spot in the excavation context.
Preserved human hair from the graves made it possible to detect cannabis use.
The Tunnug 1 archaeological excavation site in southern Siberia.
Senfronia Thompson (age 87), the first black lawmaker to become Speaker of the Texas House. Really!
What is wrong with the Dimocratic Party! Another skin color record of sorts!
This obsession with Black firsts (spelled with a capital B) is very annoying!
This is blatant racism!
Is this woman qualified?
"State Rep. Senfronia Thompson announced Friday she has the votes to be the next speaker of the Texas House, putting the 87-year-old Houstonian on the brink of becoming the first woman and the first Black lawmaker to hold the powerful position. ..."
Senfronia Thompson (official photo, source)
Arizona Voters Passed Proposition Labeling Cartels as Terrorists in midterm elections
I am not sure this is helpful or effective! A feel good measure!
"Arizona voters approved Proposition 317 on Tuesday, making drug cartels terrorist organizations under state law.
The measure passed with more than 56% of the vote and directs the Arizona Department of Homeland Security to do “everything within its authority” to address cartel threats. It defines a cartel as any group whose members engage in human trafficking, drug trafficking for profit, or terrorism. ..."
There are now 8 transgender US Representatives in the US House of Representatives after the midterm elections
Elections have consequences! They represent now about 1.8% of all 435 US Representatives. Keep in mind these are only the transgender of LGBTQ.
Quite possibly, transgender US Representatives are overrepresented in the US House of Representatives.
"According to comprehensive demographic data, an estimated 0.84% to 1.0% of the U.S. population aged 13 and older identifies as transgender. This translates to approximately 2.8 million individuals." (Google)
How much of transgenderism is a human fad and will go away or diminish over time?
Here are four of them (unfortunately the image was without names) (Source)
Nuclear reactors under construction rise to 79 globally and they are not build in any Western countries
The future of nuclear power! While naive Western countries still pursue unreliable wind and solar power, because of climate change ideology!
"Leading Builders:
China accounts for nearly half of the global total with 38 reactors under construction, followed by India (8) and Russia (7). ...
Eleven new reactors began construction in 2026 alone. Including projects in the planning phase, an additional 201 reactors are scheduled to come online within the next 15 years, alongside 443 reactors currently in operation." (Google)
Remember this very popular Western sticker of the late 20th century?
How valuable are Nvidia computer chips these days?
Hopefully, this is only a singular event!
It appears it took 14 days to report the vanished truck!
"Six pallets of Nvidia computer hardware worth $11.4 million are now reported as having vanished in August after leaving Oakland, California, bound for Texas. Investigators lost track of the truck in San Bernardino County."
"... The shipment, consisting of six pallets of Nvidia hardware, left the area [of Oakland, CA] on Aug. 29 and was bound for Fort Worth. Authorities said the cargo was picked up as planned by a truck identified as a food transport company.
Investigators later lost track of the vehicle in San Bernardino County.
In a statement, Oakland police said: "The Oakland Police Department is investigating a grand theft that occurred in East Oakland. The victim reported the crime to OPD on Sept. 13, 2026." ..."
$11.4M shipment of Nvidia cargo stolen in California heist "Experts describe the computer hardware theft as a sophisticated cargo heist."
Friday, November 06, 2026
Elvis Presley - My Way (Aloha From Hawaii, Live in Honolulu, 1973)
I could not resist to listen to this song again! An American anthem!
Is This AI’s Biggest Challenge Yet? Global protests against data centers in the neighborhood with Palki Sharma
Should these local protests continue then data centers may need to be build in less populated areas.
Progressive US Senators (D) Take Aim at US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D)
Well, Chuck Schumer (age 75) has become almost as senile and demented as the former 46th President! He is long overdue!
He has been a US Senator since 1999 or for 27 years.
Chuck Schumer (Source)
Trump Jr.’s Russian Wedding Sponsor close to Putin the Terrible
If confirmed, this does not look good! Trump's son probably should have declined any such payments!
"... In September, investigative outlet ProPublica found that Umar Kremlev, an associate close to the Kremlin’s inner circle and a guest at Trump Jr.’s May wedding, paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Bahamas celebrations, including a private island rental and fireworks. His team also helped organize the event. ...
Trump Jr. and his wife later denied wrongdoing and called the funding an “extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend,” promising to reimburse Kremlev. ..."
Did the Republicans fail to advertise their many achievements since President Trump's second term?
Is this one of the major reasons why the GOP lost so bitterly in the midterm elections?
The GOP may have become to lazy and overconfident!
This might very well be the case!
Here is just one example: Prescription drug prices fell 4.5% over the past year, the largest annual drop since 1963 according to the White House.
Using less politically charged language can ‘lower the temperature’ on DEI training. Really!
What a strange headline by an elite university like Cornell!
DEI is ideological indoctrination to be continued with more careful language!
"Replacing commonly used diversity, equity and inclusion-related terminology such as “belonging” with carefully matched alternative language may improve Republicans’ favorability toward diversity training, according to new research from the ILR School. ..."
Houston Mayor directs Houston Police Department to reverse ICE policy following midterm elections
Are we going to see more headlines like this after the midterm elections? You bet!
"Mayor John Whitmire said Friday that he will direct the Houston Police Department to limit when its officers’ contact federal immigration agents after Democrats swept Texas’ statewide offices in Tuesday’s midterm election."
After grandma Karen Bass, Los Angeles now has a Democratic Socialist as mayor
What a progress! Pardon my facetiousness!
Nithya Raman (Source)
Abnormal Neurons Are Surprisingly Common in the Developing Brain, Study Finds
Amazing stuff!
"During fetal development, the human brain generates an excess of neurons, most of which are eliminated shortly before and after birth. New research ... suggests that this is a critical quality control mechanism. ...
A study ... shows that neurons with multiple copy number variants — abnormal duplications or deletions of segments of DNA — are surprisingly widespread in the developing brain. Copy number variants can impact brain function and may contribute to neuropsychiatric conditions, including autism, schizophrenia, epilepsy, and intellectual disability.
But the research also shows that the vast majority of these flawed neurons are selectively eliminated, likely because the genomic alterations disrupt their ability to form synapses.
“Between 13 and 46 percent of neurons in the developing brain are riddled with copy number variants, but there seems to be a mechanism by which these abnormal neurons are eliminated around the time of birth,” ..."
From the abstract:
"Human neurons are postmitotic and long-lived, requiring precise genomic regulation. Normal neuronal function is highly dosage-sensitive, with copy number variants (CNVs) and heterozygous point mutations associated with a host of neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric conditions.
Here we investigated somatic CNVs arising in single neurons to understand the dynamic processes that shape the normal neuronal genetic landscape.
Altogether, we sequenced 2,357 single neurons from human postmortem brain from fetal to postnatal life.
Two single-cell whole-genome sequencing approaches—Tn5-transposase-based amplification (1,526 neurons, 16 individuals) and primary template amplification (831 neurons, 12 individuals)—showed that an average of 25.9% [12.7–46%] of prenatal cortical neurons have highly aberrant genomes, that is, widespread CNVs involving multiple chromosomes.
This proportion reduced by about 4.5-fold after birth across the two single-cell whole-genome sequencing approaches (Fisher meta-analysis P = 3.5 × 10−6). Neurons with widespread CNVs were mainly eliminated perinatally, timed roughly parallel to periods of programmed cell death, whereas neurons with smaller CNV burdens declined slowly in frequency with postnatal age.
CNVs in surviving neurons were depleted for dosage-sensitive genes and genes involved in neurodevelopmental disorders (hypergeometric test P < 0.05), suggesting selective elimination of neurons with these CNVs.
Analysis of 44,861 nuclei with single-nucleus assay for transposase-accessible chromatin (snATAC) and single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) showed that neurons with high CNV burdens exhibited abnormal synaptic gene expression, suggesting that abnormal synaptic gene regulation contributes to neuronal elimination.
Elimination of defective neuronal genomes might represent an important developmental genome quality-control process that may be vulnerable in neurodevelopmental disease, and suggests purifying selection during human neurodevelopment."
Fig. 1: A subpopulation of human postmitotic neurons harbours aberrant copy number patterns.
548 inmates in California are facing execution since last execution in 2006, but Governor Newsom plans to commute all of them
Food for thought! What about justice delayed is justice denied! Is the governor here exceeding his power? Would thisbe not extremely extrajudicial?
About 15% of all condemned in California were received before 1990 (Source)
P.S. I am not a fan of capital punishment, but when it is the law and was adjudicated it should be applied until capital punishment is abolished.
"The last execution in California took place on January 17, 2006.
Execution Moratorium: Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order in March 2019 establishing an official moratorium on all executions in the state and dismantling the execution chamber at San Quentin." (according to Google Search)
548 is a very large backlog number (on average 27 inmates per year). Are the laws in California too tough?
"548 the number of people facing execution by California whose death sentences Gov. Gavin Newsom said he plans to commute, allowing them to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The state’s Supreme Court must approve the resentencing for those with more than one conviction. Newsom said 382 people on death row had more than one conviction."
Gavin Newsom (official photo, source)
Condemned Inmate Summary by ethnicity (Source)
Did President Trump do too little for minorities contributing to the severe loss of the GOP in the midterm elections
If I am not mistaken, then minorities (incl. black Americans) voted in relative and even unusual large numbers for President Trump in 2020.
However, it appears he lost significant numbers of minority voters in the midterm elections. What did President Trump do wrong?
Marco Rubio as Secretary of State was not enough!
See e.g. chapter "Hispanic and black voters shift again" in this BBC article (Source)
A safer, more efficient vaccination system for farmed fish
Good news! Next time you eat fish again!
However, this is early, untested research.
"... Now a team of researchers ... has developed a potentially better way to deliver vaccines. The approach uses water-resistant, food-grade microneedles that can lightly penetrate and remain attached to fish skin before decomposing. ...
In 2021, for the first time, farmed aquatic animals exceeded wild-caught aquatic animals in global food production by weight. ...
To prevent losses to disease, farmers use a range of automated and manual vaccination strategies, each with their own drawbacks. ...
The most effective way to vaccinate fish is with metal needles. The process requires farmers to sedate the fish, then get them out of the water and onto a conveyor belt, where workers hurry to vaccinate the fish and get them back in the water to minimize harm. ...
“Workers inject fish one by one,” Li explains. “It’s high intensity, there’s a risk of cross contamination of blood-borne diseases, and workers may accidentally jab themselves because they are working so quickly. So it’s labor intensive, costly, stressful for fish, and dangerous for workers.” ...
The system described in the new paper uses a thin layer of shellac, an insect-secreted resin used in food coating and pills, to make silk microneedles water-resistant by providing a moisture barrier that remains intact before fish injection. ...
The researchers say there is still work to be done before their device can be seamlessly used at scale in fish farms. But they believe this paper is an important first step. ..."
From the abstract:
"Aquatic foods provide around 15% of consumed animal-derived protein worldwide and aquaculture now supplies most of it. But the industry faces significant challenges in disease prevention and excessive use of antimicrobials. Vaccination, particularly for juvenile fish, can mitigate these risks, but manual and automated needle-based vaccination methods are costly, stressful, and labor-intensive.
Here, a water-resistant, food-grade microneedle platform is designed to deliver cargos underwater. Silk fibroin-based microneedles are engineered to remain water resistant from minutes to hours in order to penetrate fish skin in wet conditions.
To meet the requirements of different underwater applications, three microneedle morphologies─shell, solid-tip, and hollow─are developed, and their different combinations of mechanical integrity, water-resistance performance, cargo compatibility, and release kinetics are studied.
The microneedles also preserve the supercoiled conformation of ⩾50% of the loaded pIHNVw-G plasmids─developed to protect fish against infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus─outside the cold chain for 4 weeks under dry conditions.
In pilot animal studies, injected microneedles remain attached to zebrafish and juvenile rainbow trout while swimming.
Using this food-based microneedle platform, we envision the development of tools for underwater vaccination of juvenile fish that increase aquaculture efficiencies and reduce environmental impact."
Design of Water-Resistant, Food-Grade Microneedles for Fish Injection and Underwater Cargo Delivery (no public access)
Visual abstract
An electrical toothbrush generates electricity through the movement of its bristles to kill bacteria via a chemical reaction
Amazing stuff! "Toothbrushes have undergone no substantive improvements beyond their mechanical function for about 1118 years to date."
"... To [improve] oral hygiene, researchers wanted to target mouth-dwelling bacteria, which are a major component of plaque. They designed a toothbrush with bristles made of material that generates electric charges when put under pressure. So, as someone uses the toothbrush, its bristles bend and produce electricity; this then triggers chemical reactions that produce molecules that can damage bacterial membranes. ..."
"... examining an innovative toothbrush developed by researchers at Peking University that generates electricity through the movement of its bristles to kill bacteria. In a study involving approximately 100 volunteers, researchers found that the battery-free toothbrush significantly reduced plaque, gum inflammation, bleeding and bacteria associated with tooth decay and gum disease compared with conventional toothbrushes. ..."
From the abstract:
"Toothbrushes have undergone no substantive improvements beyond their mechanical function for about 1118 years to date. Conventional toothbrushes often fail to establish an antibacterial environment on the tooth surface, allowing bacteria to recover and recolonize.
Here, we developed an innovative self-charged toothbrush that integrates daily tooth brushing with piezoelectric functionality, synergizing both optimal mechanical properties and stable electrical activity.
The self-charged toothbrushes can generate reactive oxygen species to disrupt bacterial membrane integrity and diminish bacterial adhesion by combining static antibacterial inhibition through surface potential with dynamic piezoelectric stimulation.
Clinical evaluation revealed that the localized piezoelectric stimulation of self-charged toothbrushes can mitigate plaque formation and gingival inflammation. Mechanistic studies further revealed that the self-charged toothbrushes induced oxidative damage to the oral pathogenic bacterial membranes, thereby impairing the ATP-binding cassette transporter pathway. Hence, this study developed a concept of piezoelectric PVDF toothbrushes that combine physical cleaning with sustained antibacterial effect, thus highlighting the potential of self-charged materials in advancing oral healthcare."
Toothbrush zaps bacteria with electricity that’s made when bristles move (original news release)
Toothbrush zaps bacteria with electricity that’s made when bristles move (Nature article, behind paywall) "Innovative polymer could give the manual toothbrush its first radical redesign in more than 1,000 years."
Fig. 1. Surface potential and piezo-catalytic effects for combating bacteria and enhancing tooth cleaning.
Fig. 2. Characterization of the physicochemical and electrical properties of the PVDF monofilaments.
More hints at life on Mars: Detection of hydrogen chloride in the atmosphere
Amazing stuff!
"... hydrogen chloride (HCl) ... has just been detected on Mars. ...
The observation came from the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, a U.S.-Russia collaboration that measures atmospheric changes on the Red Planet. The orbiting spacecraft detected the gas above newly formed cracks on the surface of a giant volcano called Alba Mons.
Researchers think the gas may have seeped out from magma chambers underground, which would mean that the planet is still volcanically active. While discoveries of “Marsquakes” signaled that the planet wasn’t dead inside, it’s been tough to say for sure. ...
If Mars remains volcanically active today, pockets of heat could be trapped just under the surface—conditions not unlike hydrothermal vents, where life may have arisen on Earth. ..."
"... Confirmed volcanically active bodies are an elite club in our solar system — the planets Earth and Venus along with Jupiter's moon Io. ..."
From the abstract:
"Mars is reputed to lack ongoing volcanic activity. However, marsquakes were revealed recently, and clues to volcanism younger than tens of million years have accumulated.
While sulfur dioxide, so far undetected, could testify to ongoing eruptive activity, evidence of active magma chambers may be better identified by seepage of halogen gases, such as hydrogen chloride (HCl).
Observations by Atmospheric Chemistry Suite led to the widespread observations of HCl at part-per-billion levels in the atmosphere of Mars during the warm perihelion period, attributed to aerosol-atmospheric sources.
Here, we report HCl detections during the cold aphelion season that are isolated in the Alba Mons region.
We also identify fresh and narrow (<1 meter) fissures in this area, which we interpret to be potential HCl pathways rooted into magmatic bodies at depth. Our results are best explained by ongoing igneous processes in the Martian interior."
[1/2] The northern flanks of the Alba Mons volcano on Mars, in a wider context, are shown in an undated image released on November 4, 2026. It was in this region that the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter detected traces of hydrogen chloride, a pungent gas often produced by magmatism. MEX/HRSC global colour mosaic, ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, G. Michael. Inset: Blended MOLA-HRSC digital elevation model, Fergason et... Purchase Licensing Rights
Anthropic’s AI takes on mystery of the biological vault in cells of prokaryote and bacteriophages
Amazing stuff!
"... vaults, those strange barrel-shaped particles in our cells that have no known function. ... discovered the objects in rodent cells in the 1980s ...
Yesterday [11/4/2026], Anthropic released those findings, showing that simple bacteria and even viruses appear able to make vaults from previously unidentified versions of the Major Vault Protein (MVP). ..."
From the abstract:
"Vaults are the largest ribonucleoprotein particles in eukaryotic cells, built from 78 copies of the major vault protein (MVP), yet their function remains unknown four decades after their discovery.
MVP homologs occur in prokaryotes and bacteriophages, but whether they form vaults is unknown.
Here, we show that prokaryotic and bacteriophage MVP homologs assemble into vault particles.
We surveyed approximately 15 billion proteins, found MVP homologs in 29 bacterial and 4 archaeal phyla, and used size-exclusion chromatography to rapidly screen and isolate vault particles of eight homologs expressed in Escherichia coli. Cryo-electron microscopy structures of the phage homolog L05 at high resolution reveal a shell of 96 MVP chains enclosing a volume ~25% larger than human vaults, among the largest protein shells of defined size outside virus capsids. Prokaryotic MVPs typically carry seven wall repeats and eukaryotic MVPs nine, and adding wall repeats to L05 yields larger vaults.
Prokaryotic vaults expand the known diversity of vault architecture and offer a tractable system for studying vault assembly and a size-tunable scaffold for cargo encapsulation."
Exclusive: AI company’s research deepens mystery of vaults, cells’ strangest particles
Prokaryotic homologs of the major vault protein form engineerable vault nanocapsules (preprint, open access)
Vaultlike structures made from the viral protein L05 (left) incorporate 96 copies of the molecule, whereas human vaults (right) assemble from 78 copies of our version of the protein
Fig. 3 Cryo-EM of L05 vaults made in E. coli: a field of particles (large panel), selected single vaults (bottom), and 2D class averages in which the ribs of the wall are visible (right).
Thursday, November 05, 2026
Foreign radical takeover of U.S. government was 'always their plan': Finnerty
Some food for thought! However, the commentary by Rob Finnerty is over the top!
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