Saving for a safe retirement.
Sunday, April 28, 2024
Anne Robert Jacques Turgot and an Early Theory of Progress
Recommendable!
William Penn Was America's First Great Champion for Liberty and Peace
Very recommendable!
"William Penn was the first great hero of American liberty."
Autonomous drone delivers IV fluid in Ghana
Will Africa adopt drones faster than the West?
"Zipline passed a major milestone this week. One of its autonomous drones, called "Zips," carried two bags of IV fluid from Zipline's distribution center in Ghana's Western North Region to a local health facility — the company's millionth delivery."
More than 5 Million American Kids Are Caregivers Now
I have some doubts about the numbers. E.g. how accurate is the number 1.3 million from 20 years ago? Are the definitions of caregivers the same etc. etc.
Well, the U.S. population also grew from about 294 million in 2004 to 342 million in 2024 or about 16%. Based on this population growth alone, we would expect to have at least 1.5 million teenage caregivers now.
"Leo Remis goes to high school, plays videogames, and helps take care of his disabled mom. Three afternoons a week, he flexes his mom’s legs and arms to keep muscles from deteriorating and blood clots from forming. When her hands shake, he helps her eat and brushes her teeth. “It is my normal,” says Leo, a tall, lanky 15-year-old high-school freshman. There are an estimated 5.4 million children providing care to parents, grandparents or siblings with chronic medical conditions or functional decline, up from about 1.3 million nearly 20 years ago. That number is growing because families can’t afford or find in-home care, researchers say."
Saturday, April 27, 2024
Antony Blinken buys Taylor Swift album during Beijing record store visit. Really!
Is that all he achieved on his latest trip to China? What a joke!
When did the chicken cross the Silk Road? Scientists find first evidence of chickens bred for eggs
Amazing stuff! What came first? Eggs for breakfast since 400 BCE!
"... There are at least 26 billion chickens in the world right now, more than double the number from 1990. That’s more than any other vertebrate and at least one order of magnitude greater than any other bird. ... over a year around 60 billion chickens are slaughtered ...
A team of archaeologists and biologists have found the earliest evidence of chickens raised specifically for their eggs. Some date from as early as 400 BCE in Central Asia. The scientists argue that at least as early as about 2,500 years ago, the domesticated chicken had lost the seasonal egg-laying seen in its wild counterpart. ..."
A team of archaeologists and biologists have found the earliest evidence of chickens raised specifically for their eggs. Some date from as early as 400 BCE in Central Asia. The scientists argue that at least as early as about 2,500 years ago, the domesticated chicken had lost the seasonal egg-laying seen in its wild counterpart. ..."
"... In a new study published by Nature Communications, an international team of scholars present the earliest clear archaeological and biomolecular evidence for the raising of chickens for egg production, based on material from 12 archaeological sites spanning one and a half millennia. The research indicates that the domestic chicken, now a staple in diets around the world, is not as ancient as previously thought. ...
Using eggshell fragments collected from 12 archaeological sites spanning roughly 1500 years, the researchers show that chickens were widely raised in Central Asia from approximately 400 BCE to 1000 CE and were likely dispersed along the ancient Silk Road. The abundance of eggshells further suggests that the birds were laying out of season. It was this trait of prolific egg laying, the researchers argue, that made the domestic chicken so attractive to ancient peoples. ..."
"The origins and dispersal of the chicken across the ancient world remains one of the most enigmatic questions regarding Eurasian domesticated animals. The lack of agreement concerning timing and centers of origin is due to issues with morphological identifications, a lack of direct dating, and poor preservation of thin, brittle bird bones. Here we show that chickens were widely raised across southern Central Asia from the fourth century BC through medieval periods, likely dispersing along the ancient Silk Road. We present archaeological and molecular evidence for the raising of chickens for egg production, based on material from 12 different archaeological sites spanning a millennium and a half. These eggshells were recovered in high abundance at all of these sites, suggesting that chickens may have been an important part of the overall diet and that chickens may have lost seasonal egg-laying"
When Did the Chicken Cross the Road? New Evidence from Central Asia (original news release) New research reveals that chickens were widely raised across southern Central Asia from 400 BCE through medieval periods and likely dispersed along the ancient Silk Road
Fig. 2: A compilation of evidence for ancient chickens in Central Asia.
Why Saving AM Radio in cars Is Redundant in the Age of Modern Technology
Nostalgia! The good old AM radio! About five decades ago I would listen to e.g. Armed Forces Radio news on AM in Germany to brush up on my English.
Do new cars still have to be equipped with AM radio? Probably not. One can always buy an extra radio if need be.
"In an age where technology evolves at an unprecedented pace, it’s hard to justify clinging to outdated modes of communication, especially when superior alternatives exist. This brings us to the current debate around the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act, a legislative effort to mandate the inclusion of AM radio in all new car models. This move echoes the misplaced efforts to save the Airfone—those clunky seat-back phones on planes—which became obsolete once Wi-Fi provided a more efficient communication solution. ..."
Fourth time in nature organelle evolution has been identified in a marine alga
Amazing stuff!
"... Known as ‘primary endosymbiosis,’ this process has been foundational for complex organisms (like humans). It describes how a single-celled organism is engulfed by a larger, more complex eukaryotic cell and evolves into a functional organelle. ...
This new, fourth example of primary endosymbiosis is being called a ‘nitroplast’ and has been found within an algal species called Braarudosphaera bigelowii. It appears to have evolved just 100 million years ago. ...
At the same time, UCYN-A appears to have discarded parts of its genome in order to take on proteins supplied by the algal host.
“That’s one of the hallmarks of something moving from an endosymbiont to an organelle,” ..."
"... The organelle also provides insight into ocean ecosystems. All organisms need nitrogen in a biologically usable form, and UCYN-A is globally important for its ability to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere. Researchers have found it everywhere from the tropics to the Arctic Ocean, and it fixes a significant amount of nitrogen. ..."
"Eukaryotic cells are notably complex—for example, they have various organelles, which are membrane-bound structures with specific functions. Two of these organelles, mitochondria and chloroplasts, which function in respiration and photosynthesis, evolved from the integration of endosymbiotic bacteria to the eukaryotic cell. In marine systems, some nitrogen-fixing bacteria are endosymbionts of microalgae, such as Candidatus Atelocyanobacterium thalassa (UCYN-A), a cyanobacterial symbiont of the unicellular algae Braarudosphaera bigelowii. ... report a close integration of the endosymbiont into the architecture and function of the host cell, which is a characteristic of organelles. These findings show that UCYN-A has evolved from a symbiont to a eukaryotic organelle for nitrogen fixation—the nitroplast—thereby expanding a function that was thought to be exclusively carried out by prokaryotic cells to eukaryotes. ..."
From the editor's summary and abstract:
"Editor’s summary
Many partnerships have been formed between nitrogen-fixing microbes and carbon-fixing eukaryotes that need nitrogen to grow. The possibility of a eukaryote with a nitrogen-fixing organelle derived from endosymbiosis, which is called a nitroplast, has been speculated. Studying a marine alga with a cyanobacterial endosymbiont, Coale et al. used soft x-ray tomography to visualize cell morphology and division of the alga, revealing a coordinated cell cycle in which the endosymbiont divides and is split evenly, similar to the situation for plastids and mitochondria in these cells ... Proteomics revealed that a sizable fraction of the proteins in this structure are encoded by and imported from the alga, including many that are essential for biosynthesis, cell growth, and division. These results offer a fascinating view into the transition from an endosymbiont into a bona fide organelle. ...
Abstract
Symbiotic interactions were key to the evolution of chloroplast and mitochondria organelles, which mediate carbon and energy metabolism in eukaryotes. Biological nitrogen fixation, the reduction of abundant atmospheric nitrogen gas (N2) to biologically available ammonia, is a key metabolic process performed exclusively by prokaryotes. Candidatus Atelocyanobacterium thalassa, or UCYN-A, is a metabolically streamlined N2-fixing cyanobacterium previously reported to be an endosymbiont of a marine unicellular alga. Here we show that UCYN-A has been tightly integrated into algal cell architecture and organellar division and that it imports proteins encoded by the algal genome. These are characteristics of organelles and show that UCYN-A has evolved beyond endosymbiosis and functions as an early evolutionary stage N2-fixing organelle, or “nitroplast.”"
Scientists discover first nitrogen-fixing organelle (original news release)
The nitroplast: A nitrogen-fixing organelle (no public access) A bacterial endosymbiont of marine algae evolved to an organelle
Nitrogen-fixing organelle in a marine alga (no public access)
The new organelle, indicated by an arrow
A soft x-ray tomography image shows B. bigelowii cell division, with the nitroplasts (UCYN-A) in cyan.
Vast DNA tree of life for flowering plants revealed by global science team covering almost 8,000 known flowering plant genera
Amazing stuff! Impressive! What a gigantic effort!
"A new paper ... by an international team of 279 scientists led by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew presents the most up-to-date understanding of the flowering plant tree of life.
Using 1.8 billion letters of genetic code from more than 9,500 species covering almost 8,000 known flowering plant genera (ca. 60%), this incredible achievement sheds new light on the evolutionary history of flowering plants and their rise to ecological dominance on Earth. ...
Among the species sequenced for this study, more than 800 have never had their DNA sequenced before. ...
a huge stride towards building a tree of life for all 330,000 known species of flowering plants ...
The vast treasure troves of dried plant material in the world's herbarium collections, which comprise nearly 400 million scientific specimens of plants, can now be studied genetically. ...
511 of the species sequenced are already at risk of extinction, according to the IUCN Red List, including three more like Hesperelaea that are already extinct. ..."
Among the species sequenced for this study, more than 800 have never had their DNA sequenced before. ...
a huge stride towards building a tree of life for all 330,000 known species of flowering plants ...
The vast treasure troves of dried plant material in the world's herbarium collections, which comprise nearly 400 million scientific specimens of plants, can now be studied genetically. ...
511 of the species sequenced are already at risk of extinction, according to the IUCN Red List, including three more like Hesperelaea that are already extinct. ..."
From the abstract:
"Angiosperms are the cornerstone of most terrestrial ecosystems and human livelihoods. A robust understanding of angiosperm evolution is required to explain their rise to ecological dominance. So far, the angiosperm tree of life has been determined primarily by means of analyses of the plastid genome. Many studies have drawn on this foundational work, such as classification and first insights into angiosperm diversification since their Mesozoic origins. However, the limited and biased sampling of both taxa and genomes undermines confidence in the tree and its implications. Here, we build the tree of life for almost 8,000 (about 60%) angiosperm genera using a standardized set of 353 nuclear genes. This 15-fold increase in genus-level sampling relative to comparable nuclear studies provides a critical test of earlier results and brings notable change to key groups, especially in rosids, while substantiating many previously predicted relationships. Scaling this tree to time using 200 fossils, we discovered that early angiosperm evolution was characterized by high gene tree conflict and explosive diversification, giving rise to more than 80% of extant angiosperm orders. Steady diversification ensued through the remaining Mesozoic Era until rates resurged in the Cenozoic Era, concurrent with decreasing global temperatures and tightly linked with gene tree conflict. Taken together, our extensive sampling combined with advanced phylogenomic methods shows the deep history and full complexity in the evolution of a megadiverse clade."
Phylogenomics and the rise of the angiosperms (open access)
Fig. 1: Time-calibrated phylogenetic tree for angiosperms based on 353 nuclear genes.
Fig. 2: Diversification dynamics across angiosperms.
Acoustic navigational tech gets scuba divers using GPS maps
Good news!
"Manufactured by German underwater tech company EvoLogics, DNS consists of three main components: a tracker unit, a diver console, and a USBL (ultra-short baseline) buoy. ...
Floating at the surface over the diving area, the buoy continuously sends acoustic "pings" through the water. These are received by the tracker unit, which is mounted on the diver's air tank. The tracker automatically responds to each initial ping with a reply ping of its own, which is received by the buoy. ...
As an added bonus, the console also lets divers send and receive simple preprogrammed text messages to and from one another – again, the data is transmitted via acoustic pulses. The topside crew can also send and receive such messages via the Wi-Fi-linked buoy. ..."
"The innovative system facilitates map-based navigation for divers on a mission, offering the flexibility of seamless two-way communication between divers and the dive supervision team, and setting map waypoints both during a mission’s planning and execution. ...
With the new system, EvoLogics aims to streamline complex underwater tasks such as search and rescue, salvage operations, recovery efforts, and cleanup operations. The Diver Navigation system enhances coordination, improves task management, and promotes efficient information sharing, ultimately enhancing the effectiveness of diver operations. ..."
Friday, April 26, 2024
Putins Geheim-Einheit »29155«: Attacken auf Agenten und Diplomaten
Empfehlenswert! Seit gut 50 Jahren wird immer wieder behauptet, das die Soviet Union/Russland geheime Wellen Waffen einsetzt, die die Gesundheit ihrer Opfer verschlechtert. Warum der Westen bis heute dies nicht widerlegen noch belegen kann oder will ist komisch! Oder hat Der Spiegel die Widerlegung nicht berichtet?
First ‘personalised’ melanoma skin cancer vaccine trial under way in UK
Good news! Cancer is history (soon)! This is only the beginning!
How light can vaporize water without the need for heat
Amazing stuff! This is a huge discovery!
"... What the MIT team discovered is that light in the visible spectrum is enough to knock water molecules loose at the surface where it meets air and send them floating away. In other words, while it's true that evaporation has been happening all of these years due to fluctuations in temperature, water has also been turning to vapor from the force of light beams alone.
The scientists have termed the process the "photomolecular effect" after the photoelectric effect that was explained by Einstein in 1905, in which particles of light could free electrons from atoms in the material they strike. ...
“It could help us gain new understanding of how sunlight interacts with cloud, fog, oceans, and other natural water bodies to affect weather and climate," ... "It has significant potential practical applications such as high-performance water desalination driven by solar energy. This research is among the rare group of truly revolutionary discoveries ...
Because the discovery of light-based evaporation was so striking, the MIT researchers carried out 14 different verification experiments that all supported the finding. During the course of this process using laser light they found that the strongest evaporative effects happened when light that was polarized in a particular way known as transverse magnetic polarization hit the surface of the water at a 45° angle. It was also strongest with green light ..."
Because the discovery of light-based evaporation was so striking, the MIT researchers carried out 14 different verification experiments that all supported the finding. During the course of this process using laser light they found that the strongest evaporative effects happened when light that was polarized in a particular way known as transverse magnetic polarization hit the surface of the water at a 45° angle. It was also strongest with green light ..."
"... The new work builds on research reported last year, which described this new “photomolecular effect” but only under very specialized conditions: on the surface of specially prepared hydrogels soaked with water. In the new study, the researchers demonstrate that the hydrogel is not necessary for the process; it occurs at any water surface exposed to light, whether it’s a flat surface like a body of water or a curved surface like a droplet of cloud vapor. ..."
From the significance and abstract:
"Significance
We use 14 different experiments to demonstrate the existence of the photomolecular effect: photons in the visible spectrum cleave off water clusters from air–water interfaces. We use laser to study single air–water interfaces and show polarization, angle of incidence, and wavelength dependent responses, peaking at green where bulk water does not absorb. Raman and infrared absorption spectra and temperature distribution in air show the existence of water clusters under light. We suggest the photomolecular effect provides a mechanism to resolve the long-standing puzzle of larger measured solar absorptance of clouds than theoretical predictions based on bulk water optical constants and demonstrate that visible light can heat up clouds. Our work suggests that photomolecular evaporation is prevalent in nature.
Abstract
Although water is almost transparent to visible light, we demonstrate that the air–water interface interacts strongly with visible light via what we hypothesize as the photomolecular effect. In this effect, transverse-magnetic polarized photons cleave off water clusters from the air–water interface. We use 14 different experiments to demonstrate the existence of this effect and its dependence on the wavelength, incident angle, and polarization of visible light. We further demonstrate that visible light heats up thin fogs, suggesting that this process can impact weather, climate, and the earth’s water cycle and that it provides a mechanism to resolve the long-standing puzzle of larger measured clouds absorption to solar radiation than theory could predict based on bulk water optical constants. Our study suggests that the photomolecular effect should happen widely in nature, from clouds to fogs, ocean to soil surfaces, and plant transpiration and can also lead to applications in energy and clean water."
How light can vaporize water without the need for heat Surprising “photomolecular effect” discovered by MIT researchers could affect calculations of climate change and may lead to improved desalination and drying processes.
Photomolecular effect: Visible light interaction with air–water interface (no public access)
The team used a lab device that beamed laser light at water to observe the evaporative effects of light
Chile: 19,000-year-old biosphere with links to Mars discovered beneath desert floor
Amazing stuff!
"...
Most of the sequences were assigned to bacteria; 0.5% were archaea, single-celled microorganisms similar in structure to bacteria but evolutionarily distinct. Archaea are thought to constitute an ancient group between bacteria and eukaryotes or organisms whose DNA-containing cells contain a distinct nucleus. Three bacterial groups (phyla) dominated, accounting for over 90% of genetic sequences: Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria. ...
Ecologically speaking, the playa deposits are relatively young; sedimentation started about 19,000 years ago. However, the alluvial deposits are much older, with depths of 4.2 m dating back up to 3.8 million years. ..."
Gene sequencing revealed an abundance of diverse microbial communities across the different layers.
Ecologically speaking, the playa deposits are relatively young; sedimentation started about 19,000 years ago. However, the alluvial deposits are much older, with depths of 4.2 m dating back up to 3.8 million years. ..."
"Summary For a long time, the extremely dry soils of the Chilean Atacama Desert were considered completely lifeless. In one of its driest regions, a team of scientists ... from the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, together with colleagues from the TU Berlin and the University of Antofagasta, Chile, has now uncovered a previously unexplored underground habitat. This was based on newly developed methods of molecular DNA analysis, which allow the focussed extraction and analysis of intracellular DNA. This comes from intact cells of living or dormant organisms, making it possible to detect viable and potentially active microbial communities which inhabit hyperarid soils down to a depth of 4.20 metres. The study, published in the journal PNAS Nexus, thus expands our understanding of biodiversity of a region where extreme conditions of drought, salinity and nutrient deficiency are close to the limits of life. The results also have implications for the search for life on other planets."
From the abstract:
"Desert environments constitute one of the largest and yet most fragile ecosystems on Earth. Under the absence of regular precipitation, microorganisms are the main ecological component mediating nutrient fluxes by using soil components, like minerals and salts, and atmospheric gases as a source for energy and water. While most of the previous studies on microbial ecology of desert environments have focused on surface environments, little is known about microbial life in deeper sediment layers. Our study is extending the limited knowledge about microbial communities within the deeper subsurface of the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert. By employing intracellular DNA extraction and subsequent 16S rRNA sequencing of samples collected from a soil pit in the Yungay region of the Atacama Desert, we unveiled a potentially viable microbial subsurface community residing at depths down to 4.20 m. In the upper 80 cm of the playa sediments, microbial communities were dominated by Firmicutes taxa showing a depth-related decrease in biomass correlating with increasing amounts of soluble salts. High salt concentrations are possibly causing microbial colonization to cease in the lower part of the playa sediments between 80 and 200 cm depth. In the underlying alluvial fan deposits, microbial communities reemerge, possibly due to gypsum providing an alternative water source. The discovery of this deeper subsurface community is reshaping our understanding of desert soils, emphasizing the need to consider subsurface environments in future explorations of arid ecosystems."
Newly discovered microbial communities beneath the Atacama Desert (original news release)
Persistent microbial communities in hyperarid subsurface habitats of the Atacama Desert: Insights from intracellular DNA analysis (open access)
Abundant, diverse microbial communities live deep under the surface of the hyper-arid Atacama Desert
The microbial composition of different subsurface depths
Portugal: Affordable starter home is 3D-printed in just 18 hours
Good news! Amazing stuff!
"... According to COBOD, Havelar's houses can be produced for €1,500 per sq m, which it contrasts favorably with the Porto average of €3,104 (around US$3,330) per square meter. ..."
The 3D-printed house is located in the Porto area of Portugal and measures 80 sq m (roughly 860 sq ft)
COVID-19 may have eroded doctors’ belief that they are obligated to treat infectious patients
That seems concerning if confirmed! I guess, we take it for granted that a doctor will always see you.
"COVID-19 may have eroded doctors’ belief that they are obligated to treat infectious patients, concluded Duke University–led researchers who compared trends during various pandemics; COVID-19-related characteristics including vaccine refusal, PPE shortages, and abuse of staff by patients and their families may have contributed to the shift. CIDRAP"
"The unique circumstances arising from the COVID-19 pandemic altered a long-held convention that doctors provide care regardless of personal risk.
In a study assessing doctors’ tolerance for refusing care to COVID-19 patients, Duke Health researchers identified a growing acceptance to withhold care because of safety concerns. ..."
From the abstract:
"During pandemics, healthcare providers struggle with balancing obligations to self, family, and patients. While HIV/AIDS seemed to settle this issue, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) rekindled debates regarding treatment refusal. We searched MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL Complete, and Web of Science using terms including obligation, refusal, HIV/AIDS, COVID-19, and pandemics. After duplicate removal and dual, independent screening, we analyzed 156 articles for quality, ethical position, reasons, and concepts. Diseases in our sample included HIV/AIDS (72.2%), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) (10.2%), COVID-19 (10.2%), Ebola (7.0%), and influenza (7.0%). Most articles (81.9%, n = 128) indicated an obligation to treat. COVID-19 had the highest number of papers indicating ethical acceptability of refusal (60%, P < .001), while HIV had the least (13.3%, P = .026). Several reason domains were significantly different during COVID-19, including unreasonable risks to self/family (26.7%, P < .001) and labor rights/workers' protection (40%, P < .001). A surge in ethics literature during COVID-19 has advocated for permissibility of treatment refusal. Balancing healthcare provision with workforce protection is crucial in effectively responding to a global pandemic."
COVID-19 pandemic alters view that doctors are obligated to provide care Previous infectious disease outbreaks such as HIV and SARS showed little impact on how doctors approached their obligation to treat patients
Bird flu Outbreak in cow milk Likely ‘Much Bigger’ Than Official Counts. Really!
The next scare is coming! We should be all dead a long time ago!
The scaremongers tend to say little about how dangerous this virus actually is! Instead they stress infectiousness and discovery!
Maybe this has been going on for ages only humans were previously not able to detect/diagnose it.
"As U.S. government officials gradually release more data about H5N1 being detected in the commercial milk supply, scientists say there are signs that the outbreak is “far more widespread” than the official count of 33 herds in eight states, reports STAT.
Yesterday, the FDA revealed that it had detected milk positive for traces of avian flu in 20% of samples. ...
The bigger worry: The more widely H5N1 spreads in cows, the more opportunities it has to adapt—and become “a pathogen of pandemic potential,” ...
Reminders of early COVID: Researchers worry the U.S. government’s early response is too fractured, slow, and obtuse—reminiscent of missteps in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic ..."
The bigger worry: The more widely H5N1 spreads in cows, the more opportunities it has to adapt—and become “a pathogen of pandemic potential,” ...
Reminders of early COVID: Researchers worry the U.S. government’s early response is too fractured, slow, and obtuse—reminiscent of missteps in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic ..."
Geologists discover rocks with the oldest evidence yet of Earth’s magnetic field on Greenland
Amazing stuff! Why is Greenland called green land? The Vikings discovered a lush green land during the Medieval Warm Period (or global warming before the Industrial Age)!
"Geologists at MIT and Oxford University have uncovered ancient rocks in Greenland that bear the oldest remnants of Earth’s early magnetic field.
The rocks appear to be exceptionally pristine, having preserved their properties for billions of years. The researchers determined that the rocks are about 3.7 billion years old and retain signatures of a magnetic field with a strength of at least 15 microtesla. The ancient field is similar in magnitude to the Earth’s magnetic field today. ..."
From the abstract:
"Recovering ancient records of Earth's magnetic field is essential for determining the role of the magnetosphere in protecting early Earth from cosmic radiation and atmospheric escape. We present paleomagnetic field tests hinting that a record of Earth's 3.7-billion-year (Ga) old magnetic field may be preserved in the northeastern Isua Supracrustal Belt as a chemical remanent magnetization acquired during amphibolite-grade metamorphism in the banded iron formation. Multiple petrological and geochronological lines of evidence indicate that the northernmost part of Isua has not experienced metamorphic temperatures exceeding 380°C since the Eoarchean, suggesting the rocks have not been significantly heated since magnetization was acquired. We use “pseudo” baked contact tests (intrusions emplaced 3.26–3.5 Ga ago) and a fold test (folding 3.6 Ga ago) to demonstrate that some samples preserve a ca. 3.7 Ga record of the magnetic field. We recover a field strength of >15 µT. This suggests that Earth's magnetic field may have been weak enough to enhance atmospheric escape during the Archean."
Possible Eoarchean Records of the Geomagnetic Field Preserved in the Isua Supracrustal Belt, Southern West Greenland (open access)
[Researchers] stand on the outcrop of a banded iron formation containing the oldest records of Earth’s magnetic field. The Greenland ice sheet is in the background.
Fig. 7 Passed pseudo-baked contact tests for site 8A/A.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Immanuel Kant's radical philosophy
Recommendable! Unfortunately, very basic! You have to give some credit to this attempt to present the philosophy of Immanuel Kant! Sapere aude! (Dare to know!)
German President Tries "Doner Kebab Diplomacy" in Turkiye: Creative or Cringe with Palki Sharma
I guess, most Germans know that their current president (a figure head) is not the sharpest knife! But to to put one's widely known dim wittedness on such an international display is quite a feat! Let's see what will be his next embarrassment!
Pakistani Businessmen Ask PM Sharif to Restart Trade with India with Palki Sharma
Recommendable! Hopefully, the prime minister is listening!
AI Index: State of AI in 13 Charts from the AI Index report 2024
Recommendable!
Pottery reshapes understanding of Australia's First Nations people
Prehistoric life on the Great Barrier Reef!
"... The archaeologists say this significant finding challenges notions that Aboriginal Australian communities were unaware of pottery manufacture before European settlement: “…instead suggesting a rich history of long-distance cultural exchanges and technological innovation long before British arrival.” ..."
From the abstract:
"Aboriginal manufacture and use of pottery was unknown in Australia prior to European settlement, despite well-known ceramic-making traditions in southern Papua New Guinea, eastern Indonesia, and the western Pacific. The absence of ancient pottery manufacture in mainland Australia has long puzzled researchers given other documented deep time Aboriginal exchange networks across the continent and the close proximity of pottery-bearing Lapita and post-Lapita maritime communities in the western Pacific with ocean-going watercraft and sophisticated navigation abilities. We report the oldest securely dated ceramics found in Australia from archaeological excavations on Jiigurru (Lizard Island Group) on the Great Barrier Reef, northeast Australia. Comprehensive radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modelling constrains ceramic deposition to between 2950–2545 cal BP and 1970–1815 cal BP. This timing overlaps with late Lapita and post-Lapita ceramic traditions of southern Papua New Guinea. Geological characterisation of the sherds strongly suggests local manufacture as the vessels belong to three temper and clay groups locally sourced to northeast Australia, and most likely to Jiigurru. The oldest occupation layers date to 6510–5790 cal BP, making Jiigurru the earliest offshore island occupied on the northern Great Barrier Reef. The results demonstrate that northeast Australian First Nations communities had sophisticated canoe voyaging technology and open-sea navigational skills and were intimately engaged in ancient maritime networks, connecting them with peoples, knowledges, and technologies across the Coral Sea region."
Fig. 1. Top: Map of known Lapita cultural area showing the location of Jiigurru (Lizard Island Group) ... Dashed extension of the Lapita cultural area into Torres Strait and northeast Australia indicates possible Lapita distribution or influence ... Bottom: Median onset ages for pre-nineteenth century ceramic sites in the Coral Sea region. Median calibrated ages have been rounded to nearest 50 years. Only sites with published radiocarbon chronologies are included ...
Fig. 2. Visualisation of sea-level rise on Jiigurru (Lizard Island Group) since the Last Glacial Maximum. By at least −30 m (10,000 years ago), Jiigurru would have been surrounded by water.
Fig. 11. Ceramic sherd selection.
The lavish salaries of school district supervisors in Texas
They say everything is bigger in Texas!
"... There are eight supers who make over $400,000 – or more than the President of the United States. It might make some sense when you see that the highest paid super (Cypress-Fairbanks, $536,775) oversees more than 118,000 students. But it starts to make less sense when you see Lake Travis ISD (#6, $418,284) has just over 11,000 kids, or Barbers Hill ISD (#2, $477,213) with less than 8,000 enrolled in the whole district.
According to Yahoo Finance, the top 5% of all earners in Texas make $250,000 or more per year. That puts 172 superintendents into the elite category of the state’s most wealthy people."
Achieving a malaria-free Rwanda by 2030 is possible
Good news! Bravo! Drones to the rescue!
"Latest data from Rwanda Biomedical Centre, as reported by The New Times in its April 24 edition, indicates that malaria cases in the country dropped by a staggering 88% in 2023.
Rwanda targets to completely eradicate malaria by 2030, and the trend over the last seven years gives hope that it is possible. About five million cases were recorded in 2016, but just over 600,000 were registered last year. ..."
Rwanda was the first African country to integrate drone technology in fighting malaria in 2019. Drones are used to target mosquitoes at their breeding sites.
Research chemists devise easier new method for making a common type of building block for drugs
Good news!
"Ring-shaped chemical structures called saturated heterocycles are found in most FDA-approved drugs but are often difficult to create. ... Research chemists have just developed a surprisingly easy method for making many of these sought-after compounds from inexpensive starting chemicals.
The new method ... enables chemists to make saturated heterocycles from relatively simple, chain-like amine compounds. ...
The researchers demonstrated the power of their new method by using it to perform an efficient synthesis of stemoamide, a complex plant-derived compound found in traditional medicines. ..."
From the abstract:
"Recent developments of bifunctional ligands have rapidly advanced palladium-catalysed C(sp3)–H activation reactions directed by native carboxylic acids. However, using this approach in inter- or intramolecular C(sp3)–H amination reactions is often hampered by N-coordination overriding the directing effect of the native carboxyl group. Here we report the design and development of chlorinated pyridine–pyridone ligands, which can overcome N-coordination and enable exclusive carboxylic-acid-directed lactamization and cycloamination of N-protected ω-amino acids. The compartmentalization of directed C(sp3)–H activation and C(sp3)–N bond formation in this reaction is distinct from existing C(sp3)–H amination approaches, in which both processes are directed by nitrogen. The protocols described in this report transform linear ω-amino acids into valuable cyclic β-amino acids possessing γ- and δ-lactam, pyrrolidine and tetrahydroquinoline scaffolds pertinent to drug discovery. The utility of this process was demonstrated by the formal synthesis of stemoamide."
Why Does the United States Operate Blind in Yemen? by Michael Rubin
Recommendable!
"... Because Sana’a is unsafe, the United States has since 2014 stationed its Yemen country team in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This is backwards for three reasons.
First, given the history between the two neighbors even before the Houthi take-over, the U.S. decision to base its Yemen embassy in Riyadh has all the sensitivity of stationing a temporary U.S. Embassy to Ukraine in Moscow. ...
Second, putting the U.S. mission to Yemen in Saudi Arabia effectively excludes Yemenis. Saudi Arabia requires Yemenis to acquire visas to enter Saudi Arabia but it has closed its embassy in Sana’a making visa acquisition impossible. ...
"
Hotel Chain Development Pipelines in Africa 2024
Big gain tourism all over Africa! Over 100 hundred new hotels since 2020!
Circadian rhythms of the liver can influence drugs’ effectiveness
Amazing stuff! Take your pills on time or your liver will not forgive it! 😊
The influence of the circadian rhythms on all kinds of bodily function has been known for decades. Here is more about it!
"Using tiny, engineered livers derived from human patients, ... researchers found that more than 300 liver genes are under circadian control. These circadian variations affect how much of a drug is available and how effectively the body can break it down. ...
The study also revealed that the liver is more susceptible to infections such as malaria at certain points in the circadian cycle, when fewer inflammatory proteins are being produced. ...
It is estimated that about 50 percent of human genes follow a circadian cycle ...
It is estimated that about 50 percent of human genes follow a circadian cycle ...
Most of these genes clustered in two groups — about 70 percent of the genes peaked together, while the remaining 30 percent were at their lowest point when the others peaked. These included genes involved in a variety of functions, including drug metabolism, glucose and lipid metabolism, and several immune processes. ..."
From the abstract:
"Critical aspects of physiology and cell function exhibit self-sustained ~24-hour variations termed circadian rhythms. In the liver, circadian rhythms play fundamental roles in maintaining organ homeostasis. Here, we established and characterized an in vitro liver experimental system in which primary human hepatocytes display self-sustained oscillations. By generating gene expression profiles of these hepatocytes over time, we demonstrated that their transcriptional state is dynamic across 24 hours and identified a set of cycling genes with functions related to inflammation, drug metabolism, and energy homeostasis. We designed and tested a treatment protocol to minimize atorvastatin- and acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity. Last, we documented circadian-dependent induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines when triggered by LPS, IFN-β, or Plasmodium infection in human hepatocytes. Collectively, our findings emphasize that the phase of the circadian cycle has a robust impact on the efficacy and toxicity of drugs, and we provide a test bed to study the timing and magnitude of inflammatory responses over the course of infection in human liver."
Autonomous circadian rhythms in the human hepatocyte regulate hepatic drug metabolism and inflammatory responses (open access)
Fig. 1. Primary human hepatocytes display a circadian rhythm in culture.
The Xi files: how China spies
The insatiable need for data by any means by the Communist Party of China! The former Soviet Union may look pale in comparison!
"Most states spy. In principle there’s nothing to stop them. But China’s demand for intelligence on the rest of the world goes far beyond anything western intelligence agencies would typically gather. It encompasses masses of commercial data and intellectual property and has been described by Keith Alexander, a former head of America’s National Security Agency, as ‘the greatest transfer of wealth in history’. As well as collecting data from government websites, parliamentarians, universities, thinktanks and human rights organisations, China also targets diaspora groups and individuals.
Chinese cyber intrusions have targeted British MPs and stolen population-level data from the UK Electoral Commission database. In the US, meanwhile, Congress has just cracked down on the Chinese-owned TikTok, which has admitted that some of its employees had been spying on American journalists.
China’s intelligence agencies used to be circumspect about recruiting foreigners and using honey-traps
Three Germans were arrested on Monday for trying to transfer military information and procuring a special laser that was sent to Beijing without authorisation. On the same day, two British nationals, including a Tory parliamentary aide, were charged with breaking the Official Secrets Act by allegedly passing ‘prejudicial information’ to China. ..."
Bundesverteidigungsminister Pistorius will Wehrpflicht in neuer Form auch für Frauen
Bravo! Im Namen der Gleichberechtigung wäre das auch höchste Zeit!
Für 3000 Dollar hat eine Schweizerin ihre Stimme an Microsoft verkauft. Jetzt kann man sie dank KI alles sagen lassen
Na sowas! Warum ware es nicht eine Lichtensteinerin? 😊
Nigel Farage: Demanding TRUTH About Crime In Britain.
Recommendable! Food for thought! Should crime statistics show the nationality etc. of criminals and suspects?
Richard Nixon On Egyptian Leader Anwar Sadat
Recommendable! Yes, Sadat was courageous and he paid with his life for it. Interesting, Sadat noticed that Nixon was not elected by a Jewish American majority so Nixon would not be so beholden to Israel and more open to Arab and Egyptian concerns.
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Prager University: The Genius of Thomas Jefferson
Recommendable! Why do we never learn what kind of a slave owner Jefferson was? Was he cruel or was he caring etc.?
US Regulator Bans Non-compete Agreements with Palki Sharma
Recommendable! Non-compete agreements are a controversial subject. Palki contrasts a little bit non-compete versus non-disclosure agreements.
South Korean Military Could Soon Ban iPhones with Palki Sharma
Taking a bite out of the Apple! China too!
Why India is Getting Its Own System For Shoe Sizes with Palki Sharma
Good news! About time!
Soon India will be among them!
How aspirin stops the growth and spread of colorectal cancer
The story of the very old miracle drug aspirin continues! It keeps on giving!
Or is it just because it used by so many that more intensive research is aiming at aspirin?
"... There's been a growing body of research showing that regular, long-term low-dose aspirin use was associated with better outcomes of colorectal cancer (CRC). ..."
From the abstract:
"Abstract
Background
Long-term daily use of aspirin reduces incidence and mortality due to colorectal cancer (CRC). This study aimed to analyze the effect of aspirin on the tumor microenvironment, systemic immunity, and on the healthy mucosa surrounding cancer.
Methods
Patients with a diagnosis of CRC operated on from 2015 to 2019 were retrospectively analyzed (METACCRE cohort). Expression of mRNA of immune surveillance-related genes (PD-L1, CD80, CD86, HLA I, and HLA II) in CRC primary cells treated with aspirin were extracted from Gene Expression Omnibus–deposited public database (GSE76583). The experiment was replicated in cell lines. The mucosal immune microenvironment of a subgroup of patients participating in the IMMUNOREACT1 (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04915326) project was analyzed with immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry.
Results
In the METACCRE Cohort, 12% of 238 patients analyzed were aspirin users. Nodal metastasis was significantly less frequent (p = .008) and tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte infiltration was higher (p = .02) among aspirin users. In the CRC primary cells and selected cell lines, CD80 mRNA expression was increased following aspirin treatment (p = .001). In the healthy mucosa surrounding rectal cancer, the ratio of CD8/CD3 and epithelial cells expressing CD80 was higher in aspirin users (p = .027 and p = .034, respectively).
Conclusions
These data suggested that regular aspirin use may have an active role in enhancing immunosurveillance against CRC."
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