Friday, March 27, 2026
In a rare event, the moon got a massive new crater and ejecta found up to 120 km from crater
Amazing stuff! Unfortunately, we do not learn what caused the new crater.
"... A routine search of images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter camera found a fresh crater as wide as two American football fields ...
The crater is 225 meters wide and formed in April or May 2024 ...
The discovery can help highlight the risks impacts pose to future astronauts. ...
The crater seems to have formed on a boundary between the cratered and craggy lunar highlands and a wide, flat mare, which formed from liquid magma pooling on the moon’s surface. Its depth, about 43 meters on average, and its steep edges suggest it formed in strong material like solidified lava. But its shape is slightly elongated, which suggests the ground beneath the crater is not all the same, Robinson said.
The crater is also surrounded by a bright blanket of ejecta — rock and dust that splashed out in all directions when the impact occurred — that extends hundreds of meters from the rim. ... found other disturbances as far as 120 kilometers from the crater. ..."
Trump, Xi, and the Specter of 1914 | Foreign Affairs. Really!
This article headline makes very little sense if no sense at all!
China is very different than any of the European countries involved in World War I!
Maybe the author, a professor of history, should first read Sun Tzu's The Art of War!
Caveat: I did not read the article given the idiotic headline!
Written by "ODD ARNE WESTAD is Elihu Professor of History and Global Affairs at Yale University. This essay is adapted from his forthcoming book, The Coming Storm: Power, Conflict, and Warnings From History (Henry Holt, BBC Books). Copyright © 2026 by Odd Arne Westad."
Are Waymos driving significantly longer than humans to get to a destination?
Does it matter? How fair is the comparison?
"... it takes up to 30% longer for a Waymo robotaxi to get somewhere compared to a human driver because of how careful the robot car needs to be and its tendency to avoid potential challenges like unprotected left turns. ..."
Polar algae contain hundreds of genes given to them by giant viruses—roughly 5% of their genome
Amazing stuff!
"Genome forms of the single-cell, green algae called Chlamydomonas do just fine in polar waters despite the fierce cold, harsh UV radiation, and other extremes. Their success may stem in part from genes given them by so-called giant viruses.
Uncommonly large and complex, and often sporting unusual tendrils, giant viruses were first discovered in 2003. They most often infect algae or amoebae, but can invade more complex multicellular organisms, and are found throughout the world, including in marine, aquatic, and terrestrial habitats.
In Current Biology yesterday, a team reported that polar algae have hundreds of genes given to them by these viruses—roughly 5% of their genome. Further studies showed these genes, remnants of past infection, were active and made proteins that could help the algae—some of the genes encode ice-binding proteins, which help keep the algae from freezing in waters that can dip as low as –2°C. “ ..."
From the highlights and abstract:
"Highlights
• Diverse polar algal genomes harbor widespread endogenous giant virus elements
• Polar alga Chlamydomonas ICE-L shows extensive giant virus genome endogenization
• Many viral genes are expressed and respond to abiotic stress
• Co-expression patterns of viral genes suggest regulatory integration with host
Summary
Giant viruses, members of the phylum Nucleocytoviricota (NCV), possess exceptionally large genomes that encode hundreds of genes involved in replication, metabolism, and host manipulation. These viruses have emerged as major players in protist ecology and evolution. Recent studies reveal that their genomes are frequently endogenized in protists, contributing to structural innovation and functional novelty. Yet, the extent and impact of such events on genome architecture and physiological responses in algae inhabiting extreme polar environments remain unknown.
Here, we report widespread giant endogenous viral elements (GEVEs) in nine polar microalgae, revealing extensive viral integration. Most notably, Chlamydomonas sp. ICE-L, an Antarctic sea ice alga, harbors over 400 GEVE regions spanning more than 26 megabase pairs (Mbp)—the most extensive giant viral endogenization recorded in any eukaryote. These insertions, derived from multiple NCV lineages, encode >25,000 genes, including those associated with replication, chromatin remodeling, stress responses, and transposable elements.
Transcriptomic analyses show that ∼40% of GEVE genes are actively expressed, with hundreds being differentially regulated under UV radiation, salinity, and temperature stress. A co-expression network reveals modular regulation patterns, suggesting functional integration of viral genes into host transcriptional networks.
Additionally, phylogeny supports giant viruses as important mediators of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of key freeze-tolerance proteins, such as ice-binding proteins (IBPs), in polar algae.
Our findings position giant viral endogenization as a key driver of genome content, regulatory complexity, and environmental adaptation in polar algae and establish Chlamydomonas sp. ICE-L as a model for studying virus-derived genomic innovation in extreme environments."
Genes from giant viruses help polar algae survive frigid waters and harsh sunlight "A prior infection may create lasting, beneficial evolutionary change in these hardy microbes"
Extensive array of endogenous giant viral elements in a polar alga shows dynamic transcriptional response to abiotic stress (open access)
Figure 1 GEVE statistics and distribution
An Iranian missile struck a Saudi Arabian air base, damaging several U.S. refueling aircraft
How is this possible? Why was it not prevented? Why are Iranian missiles able to hit multiple targets in the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia.
Have the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia not been buying the latest US weapons for decades?
"The attack also involved unmanned aerial vehicles, they said. Check out what other U.S. military assets have been damaged or lost. Meanwhile, Marco Rubio said ... the war would continue for two to four weeks. ..."
Ukrainian drones hit all three Baltic States this week − did Russia redirect them?
Bad news! Is Russia now more able to defend against drone attacks?
"Three Baltic states recorded drone incursions within roughly 48 hours this week, as Ukrainian strike drones targeting Russian Baltic port infrastructure were apparently diverted into NATO territory by Russian electronic warfare. ..."
Unified theory explains paradox of freezing water water thrown into air to make snow
Amazing stuff!
"Unified theory explains paradox of freezing water water thrown into air to make snow
Here’s an oddity of nature: Hot water seems to freeze faster than cold water. But it turns out that the phenomenon, called the Mpemba effect after a Tanzanian teenager who first noticed it in the 1960s, occurs in a variety of materials, from crystallizing polymers to magnets. More recently, the effects have turned up in the quantum realm, such as single ions suspended with lasers.
Now, a new theoretical framework, ... stitches the assorted Mpemba effects together. It explains how, in each case, a system that’s pushed farther from equilibrium can find a quicker path back to a steady state. “ ...
The shortcuts to equilibrium are not just curios of nature; if scientists can identify the initial conditions that give rise to Mpemba effects, they could optimize all kinds of processes. That could lead to more efficient cooling and heating schemes, and in the quantum realm, could help speed up quantum computers and the preparation of quantum states."
"... It turns out water was only the tip of the iceberg. Over the past decade, scientists have uncovered similar “Mpemba effects” in a zoo of different materials—from crystallizing polymers to magnets. More recently, the effects have turned up in the quantum realm, such as single ions suspended with lasers. ..."
Fig. 1 In a resource-theoretic framework, the Mpemba effect occurs when a state that initially possesses more of a given resource depletes that resource faster than a less resourceful state, under the evolution by the same free operation, so that their resource monotones cross. This single picture unifies a variety of anomalous equilibration phenomena (for example, restoring thermal equilibrium or symmetry in classical and quantum systems). Mpemba physics then becomes the study of why different initial states dissipate resources at different rates and how we can harness those differences to engineer exotic effects such as ultrafast cooling. In this article, we apply this analysis to the specific resource theories shown in the schematic.
Iranian hackers backed by the Iranian government claim breach of FBI director Kash Patel's personal email account
Desperate measures by desperate people? In how bad a shape is the theocratic dictatorship in Iran now?
"A hacking group backed by the Iranian government dubbed “Handala” said on Friday that it has breached the personal email account of FBI director Kash Patel.
In a post on its website, Handala included several pictures of a visibly younger Patel, as well as a link to a cache of files that appear to come from Patel’s personal Gmail account. ..."
Waymo’s skyrocketing ridership in one chart
Good news! What an amazing business success!
Since I live in the Phoenix metro area, I can confirm that Waymo cars now can be seen almost everywhere on the streets all the time.
"Waymo is now providing 500,000 paid robotaxi rides every week across 10 U.S. cities, the company shared in a post on X this week. The eye-popping figure is reflective of the Alphabet-owned company’s accelerated commercial expansion. But it’s Waymo’s rate of growth in ridership and markets that offers a more compelling story.
In less than two years, the company’s average weekly paid robotaxi trips have grown tenfold, from 50,000 per week in May 2024 to 500,000 per week today. Over that same two-year timespan, Waymo has expanded within its initial markets of Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles — and beyond them to Austin, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando. Those seven cities in the Sun Belt were all added in just the past year. ..."
Scientists uncover two million ancient DNA switches controlling plant genes
Amazing stuff!
"The study ... reveals that the power of plant genomes lies not only in their protein-coding genes, but also in ancient regulatory DNA sequences that control where, when and how strongly to turn on gene expression. ...
Scientists have long searched for similar ancient regulatory sequences in plants, but with limited success. Now, The Conservatory Project team has revealed the hidden ancient regulatory sequences that have been hiding in plain sight. ...
Plant genes are continually shuffling themselves around, which makes the links between genes and their master switches extremely hard to spot. ...
They identified over two million ancient gene master switches, which control gene expression across 284 plant species from 73 plant families. This includes DNA switches that pre-date the emergence of flowering plants over 300 million years ago. ..."
From the abstract:
"Developmental gene function is often conserved over deep time, but cis-regulatory sequence conservation is difficult to identify. Rapid sequence turnover, paleopolyploidy, structural variation, and limited phylogenomic sampling have impeded conserved non-coding sequence (CNS) discovery.
Using Conservatory, an algorithm that leverages microsynteny and iterative alignments to map CNS-gene associations over evolution, we uncovered ~2.3 million CNSs, including over 3,000 predating angiosperms, from 284 plant species spanning 300 million years of diversification.
Ancient CNSs were enriched near developmental regulators, and mutating CNSs near HOMEOBOX genes produced strong phenotypes.
Tracing CNS evolution uncovered key principles: CNS spacing varies, but order is conserved; genomic rearrangements form new CNS-gene associations; and ancient CNSs are preferentially retained among paralogs, but are often lost as cohorts or evolve into lineage-specific CNSs."
A deep-time landscape of plant cis-regulatory sequence evolution (no public access)
Olympics Bar Biological Males from Women’s Events
Good news! Bravo! When common sense prevails!
What about biological females? I smell gender discrimination here! 😊
Why not let transgender individuals compete with each other?
"The International Olympic Committee on Thursday banned biological males from competing in women’s events at the Olympics, starting with the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
This reverses a policy first adopted in 2004 that allowed transgender women to compete after undergoing sex reassignment surgery and hormone therapy. ..."
Kinder sollen keine Pornografie schauen: Die EU verlangt von Portalen wie Pornhub eine wasserdichte Altersverifizierung
Was für ein Unsinn! Ist das ist ein Vorwand/Versuch Pornographie wider zu verbannen?
Warum können das z.B. die Eltern und die Smartphone/Netzwerk Betreiber nicht verhindern?
"In Mitgliedsländern der EU schauen bis zur Hälfte der über 12-Jährigen Pornos auf dem Smartphone. Schuld daran seien die nachlässigen Videoportale, sagt die Kommission." (Quelle)
Unprecedented footage shows sperm whales joining forces to help a newborn calf
Amazing stuff!
"The researchers quickly realized they had in fact observed a group of whales helping a calf take its first breath. Even more fortuitous, they had captured it on video from a drone.
It’s rare for researchers to see a sperm whale birth, with only a handful having been recorded previously.
And this time, overhead footage allowed the scientists to meticulously analyze the individual whales’ behavior before, during, and after the delivery. Although researchers have long hypothesized that sperm whales cooperate in certain social situations, the new study—reported today in Science—shows whales from different family branches can work together to support a newborn calf. ..."
IDF soldiers target Hamas infrastructure, kill over 60 terrorists in past month
Hamas is still not defeated and disarmed!
"IDF soldiers continue to conduct counterterrorism operations in the Gaza Strip, particularly along the Yellow Line, to destroy terror infrastructure, including destroying terror tunnels, locating weapons, and killing Hamas terrorists.
The military has killed over 60 terrorists who attempted to carry out acts of terror against the IDF or who crossed the Yellow Line, posing a threat to the soldiers. Among those were armed members of Hamas's Nukhba Force, and senior commanders of the terror group, as well as a cell of terrorists who participated in the October 7, 2023, massacre. ..."
Thursday, March 26, 2026
Google caches in with TurboQuant extreme compression
Amazing stuff!
"Not to oversimplify, but I understand TurboQuant to be part of a trio, with TurboQuant the compression algorithm, and PolarQuant and Quantized Johnson-Lindenstrauss making up the trio of techniques that work in tandem. Together, they're a training-free data compression algorithm that solves one of the most expensive bottlenecks in running large language models, the Key-Value cache. ..."
"High-dimensional vectors are incredibly powerful, but they also consume vast amounts of memory, leading to bottlenecks in the key-value cache, a high-speed "digital cheat sheet" that stores frequently used information under simple labels so a computer can retrieve it instantly without having to search through a slow, massive database.
Vector quantization is a powerful, classical data compression technique that reduces the size of high-dimensional vectors. This optimization addresses two critical facets of AI: it enhances vector search, the high-speed technology powering large-scale AI and search engines, by enabling faster similarity lookups; and it helps unclog key-value cache bottlenecks by reducing the size of key-value pairs, which enables faster similarity searches and lowers memory costs. ..."
From the abstract:
"Vector quantization, a problem rooted in Shannon's source coding theory, aims to quantize high-dimensional Euclidean vectors while minimizing distortion in their geometric structure.
We propose TurboQuant to address both mean-squared error (MSE) and inner product distortion, overcoming limitations of existing methods that fail to achieve optimal distortion rates. Our data-oblivious algorithms, suitable for online applications, achieve near-optimal distortion rates (within a small constant factor) across all bit-widths and dimensions.
TurboQuant achieves this by randomly rotating input vectors, inducing a concentrated Beta distribution on coordinates, and leveraging the near-independence property of distinct coordinates in high dimensions to simply apply optimal scalar quantizers per each coordinate.
Recognizing that MSE-optimal quantizers introduce bias in inner product estimation, we propose a two-stage approach: applying an MSE quantizer followed by a 1-bit Quantized JL (QJL) transform on the residual, resulting in an unbiased inner product quantizer.
We also provide a formal proof of the information-theoretic lower bounds on best achievable distortion rate by any vector quantizer, demonstrating that TurboQuant closely matches these bounds, differing only by a small constant () factor. Experimental results validate our theoretical findings, showing that for KV cache quantization, we achieve absolute quality neutrality with 3.5 bits per channel and marginal quality degradation with 2.5 bits per channel. Furthermore, in nearest neighbor search tasks, our method outperforms existing product quantization techniques in recall while reducing indexing time to virtually zero."
TurboQuant: Redefining AI efficiency with extreme compression "We introduce a set of advanced theoretically grounded quantization algorithms that enable massive compression for large language models and vector search engines."
TurboQuant: Online Vector Quantization with Near-optimal Distortion Rate (open access; published already in April 2025; no revisions nor updates since then)
How Autonomous Drone Warfare Is Emerging in the Ukraine
Recommendable!
Near future wars will be fought by remotely controlled or autonomous drones and robots!
Caveat: I did not read the entire, long article.
"Rise of the Autonomous Attack Drones
AI-enabled drones and anti-drone tech developed by Ukraine and Russia are remaking the battlefield."
"... “swarms of autonomous drones carrying other autonomous drones to protect them against autonomous drones, which are trying to intercept them, controlled by AI agents overseen by a human general somewhere.” ...
flotillas of autonomous submarines, each carrying hundreds of drones, suddenly emerging off the coast of California or Great Britain and discharging their cargoes en masse to the sky ...
Ukrainian troops first began using drones for battlefield surveillance, but within a few months they figured out how to strap explosives onto them and turn them into effective, low-cost killing machines. ...
Since then, The Fourth Law has dispatched “more than thousands” of autonomy modules to troops in eastern Ukraine (it declines to give a more specific figure), which can be retrofitted on existing drones to take over navigation during the final approach to the target. ... the autonomy modules, worth around US $50, increase the drone-strike success rate by up to four times that of purely operator-controlled drones. ...
thousands of developers, including some who relocated from Western countries, who are applying their skills and other resources to advancing the drone technology that is the defining characteristic of the war in Ukraine. This eclectic group of startups and founders includes Eric Schmidt, the former Google CEO, whose company Swift Beat is churning out autonomous drones and modules for Ukrainian forces. ..."
An interceptor drone, part of the U.S. MEROPS defensive system, is tested in Poland on 18 November 2025.
A fixed-wing drone is tested in Ukraine in April 2025.
Is the current British Defense Secretary John Healey a fool?
It appears so! What a story!
Caveat: I am not familiar with the details of this case.
"It is a sad state of affairs that gangs of inner-city youths have been allowed to thieve with impunity, in London and elsewhere, and the police generally do nothing about it. ...
Defence Secretary John Healey ... ‘We all know somebody who’s had their phone stolen,’ he told Sky News. ‘We’re not all the chief-of-staff of the Prime Minister,’ replied Sophy Ridge. Yet the question isn’t simply whether the phone was stolen, but the cascade of inexplicable behaviour that followed.
Defence Secretary John Healey ... ‘We all know somebody who’s had their phone stolen,’ he told Sky News. ‘We’re not all the chief-of-staff of the Prime Minister,’ replied Sophy Ridge. Yet the question isn’t simply whether the phone was stolen, but the cascade of inexplicable behaviour that followed.
The Met Police took the unusual step of releasing a full transcript of the 999 call in which McSweeney reported the theft. Rather than clearing up the matter, it only prompted further questions. The transcript revealed that McSweeney actually gave police the wrong street name – Belgrave Street in Tower Hamlets rather than Belgrave Road near Westminster – meaning officers checked the wrong CCTV footage and, unsurprisingly, found no leads. McSweeney also failed to tell police he was the Prime Minister’s chief-of-staff, or that the phone contained highly sensitive material."
A new clue to how the skin detects physical touch
Amazing stuff!
"... While scientists have long known that a protein called PIEZO2 acts as a key sensor for touch, it remained unclear why PIEZO2 is specialized for the localized mechanical forces experienced by sensory neurons, whereas its close relative PIEZO1 responds to broader mechanical stresses such as those generated when cells stretch, as occurs in blood vessels.
Now, a new study ... clarify how PIEZO2 detects specific types of force and explain why evolution may have selected it as the body’s primary sensor for light touch. This work may guide future exploration into sensory disorders linked to PIEZO2 mutations. ...
Although PIEZO1 and PIEZO2 appear nearly identical in molecular models, they behave very differently in living cells. PIEZO2 is especially important in the somatosensory nervous system, the network of nerve cells that detects touch. These cells are highly sensitive to small indentations, like a light tap on the skin. By contrast, PIEZO1 responds more readily to general membrane stretch, such as when a cell is pulled or swollen, rather than poked at a specific point.
To investigate the difference, the research team used minimal fluorescence photon flux (MINFLUX) super-resolution microscopy ... Whereas other imaging techniques, including cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM), have captured detailed but static images of frozen PIEZO proteins that serve as references for overall shape, MINFLUX allows scientists to track the positions and movements of proteins in cells with nanometer-scale precision. ..."
From the abstract:
"PIEZOs are mechanically gated ion channels that transduce force into electrochemical signals.
PIEZO1 responds to diverse stimuli including membrane stretch2 and shear stress, whereas
PIEZO1 responds to diverse stimuli including membrane stretch2 and shear stress, whereas
PIEZO2 is generally tuned to detect cellular indentation. The functional specialization of PIEZO2 is proposed to underlie its distinct physiological roles, including mediating the sense of touch. How PIEZO2 achieves this selectivity despite its close structural similarity to PIEZO1 is unclear.
Here we combine single-molecule MINFLUX fluorescence nanoscopy with electrophysiology to link the conformational states of PIEZO2 to channel gating in intact cells. We find that PIEZO2 is intrinsically more rigid than PIEZO1, and that disparate mechanical stimuli paradoxically evoke opposite conformational and gating responses in each channel.
Here we combine single-molecule MINFLUX fluorescence nanoscopy with electrophysiology to link the conformational states of PIEZO2 to channel gating in intact cells. We find that PIEZO2 is intrinsically more rigid than PIEZO1, and that disparate mechanical stimuli paradoxically evoke opposite conformational and gating responses in each channel.
These unique gating properties arise in part from a connection to the actin cytoskeleton, and we identify filamin-B (FLNB) as a molecular tether that is required for this interaction. This complex alters how force is transmitted to PIEZO2 and confers heightened sensitivity to and selectivity for cellular indentation. PIEZO2 and FLNB are co-expressed in somatosensory neurons and colocalize within tens of nanometres at the end organs of cutaneous mechanosensory afferents. These findings help to explain why PIEZO2 is a specialized mechanosensor and provide a molecular blueprint for understanding how cells decode diverse mechanical stimuli across tissues and organ systems."
The molecular basis of force selectivity by PIEZO2 (open access)
Fig. 1: The divergent structural mechanics of PIEZO1 and PIEZO2 in a cell membrane.
Tiny bubbles, sound waves clean produce safely and effectively
Good news! Don't we like bubble bath? Would you like to be a bubble bath scientist? 😊
"... new research finds that a bubble bath with a constant acoustic sound in the water may be the best chemical-free, gentle method for cleaning agricultural produce and possibly medical instruments and semiconductors. ...
Agricultural produce is currently cleaned by washing with bubblers for greens or soft brushes for root crops to clean off sediments. Chorine, ozone and peroxyacetic acid are often added to the water as sanitizers. ..."
From the abstract:
"Traditional surface cleaning methods often suffer from drawbacks such as chemical harshness, potential for surface damage, and high-energy consumption. This study investigates an alternative approach: acoustic-driven surface cleaning using millimeter-sized bubbles excited at low, sub-cavitation frequencies.
We identify and characterize a distinct translational resonance of these bubbles, occurring at significantly lower frequencies (e.g., 50 Hz for 1.3 mm diameter bubbles) than the Minnaert resonance for a bubble of the same size. At this translational resonance, stationary bubbles exhibit amplified lateral swaying, while bubbles sliding on an inclined surface display pronounced “stop-and-go” dynamics.
The theoretical model treats the bubble as a forced, damped harmonic oscillator. In this framework, surface tension supplies the restoring force, while the inertia is governed primarily by the hydrodynamic added mass of the surrounding fluid. It accurately predicts the observed resonant frequency scaling with bubble equilibrium radius R0 (∝R0−3/2).
Cleaning efficacy, assessed using protein-based artificial soil on glass slides, was significantly improved when bubbles were driven at their translational resonant frequency compared to off-resonant frequencies or nonacoustic conditions. These findings demonstrate that leveraging translational resonance enhances bubble-induced shear and agitation, offering an effective and sustainable mechanism for surface cleaning."
We identify and characterize a distinct translational resonance of these bubbles, occurring at significantly lower frequencies (e.g., 50 Hz for 1.3 mm diameter bubbles) than the Minnaert resonance for a bubble of the same size. At this translational resonance, stationary bubbles exhibit amplified lateral swaying, while bubbles sliding on an inclined surface display pronounced “stop-and-go” dynamics.
The theoretical model treats the bubble as a forced, damped harmonic oscillator. In this framework, surface tension supplies the restoring force, while the inertia is governed primarily by the hydrodynamic added mass of the surrounding fluid. It accurately predicts the observed resonant frequency scaling with bubble equilibrium radius R0 (∝R0−3/2).
Cleaning efficacy, assessed using protein-based artificial soil on glass slides, was significantly improved when bubbles were driven at their translational resonant frequency compared to off-resonant frequencies or nonacoustic conditions. These findings demonstrate that leveraging translational resonance enhances bubble-induced shear and agitation, offering an effective and sustainable mechanism for surface cleaning."
Fig. 1 Translational resonance of an acoustically driven bubble (1.3 mm diameter).
Fig. 5 Cleaning performance and mechanism under resonant excitation.
What's for dinner? Tooth enamel reveals what early Mesopotamians really ate
Amazing stuff! I believe, there were other studies in the past that analyzed enamel to determine e.g. what food was consumed.
"... In particular, the team focused on zinc isotopes (different versions of the same element) in the enamel, as they detail in their study ... "Zinc isotope analysis of dental enamel provides a viable alternative for reconstructing diet in southern Mesopotamia, where collagen preservation is poor," they write.
The zinc in your teeth changes depending on what you are eating. For example, plants absorb zinc from the soil through their roots and carry a distinctive chemical signature. When animals eat plants, the isotope signal shifts slightly in predictable ways as it moves through the food chain. By measuring those shifts in human teeth, scientists can estimate how much plant versus animal food people consumed. In addition to zinc, the team examined carbon and oxygen isotopes and trace elements such as barium and strontium. ..."
From the significance and abstract:
"Significance
Understanding ancient diets is one of the keys to reconstructing lifeways and social structures. In what are now arid regions like southern Mesopotamia, poor collagen preservation has long hindered direct dietary reconstructions. Here, we apply zinc isotope analysis to human and faunal dental enamel from the third-millennium BCE site of Abu Tbeirah (southern Iraq), offering a method to overcome this limitation. Combined with carbon and oxygen isotopes and trace element ratios (Ba/Ca and Sr/Ca), zinc isotopes reveal an omnivorous diet based on C3 cereals, terrestrial animal protein, and possibly freshwater resources, with no evidence of marine fish consumption. These findings offer individual-level insight into subsistence practices, early-life nutrition, and animal management within a nonelite population in early-urbanized southern Mesopotamia.
Abstract
Reconstructing past lifeways and diets is essential to understanding the emergence of urban societies. However, in what are now arid environments like southern Mesopotamia, poor collagen preservation has long hampered direct isotopic analysis of trophic levels. This limitation has left key gaps in our understanding of subsistence in one of the world’s earliest urban heartlands.
Here, we apply zinc isotope analysis to human and faunal dental enamel from the third-millennium BCE site of Abu Tbeirah (Iraq), integrating δ13C, δ18O, and trace element ratios (Ba/Ca and Sr/Ca). This multiproxy approach reveals an omnivorous diet based on C3 cereals, terrestrial animal products (likely including pigs), and limited freshwater resources, with no or little evidence of marine fish consumption, despite the site’s proximity to the ancient shoreline. Dietary patterns do not vary by sex, suggesting broad access to similar food sources within this nonelite population. Moreover, zinc and carbon isotopes proved valuable in identifying animal feeding practices. Our results provide direct dietary evidence from southern Mesopotamia, overcoming long-standing preservation challenges. The results allow us to evaluate specific expectations about diet and animal management in a collagen-poor context, also highlighting early-life feeding behaviors. They demonstrate the power of zinc isotopes to reconstruct trophic level in collagen-poor contexts, opening broad avenues for bioarchaeological research in early complex societies."
Fig. 2 Scatterplots of isotopic values divided in (A) δ66Zn vs. δ18O in humans, grouped by feeding behavior; (B) δ66Zn vs δ18O, with symbols indicating species and color indicating drinking strategy; (C) δ66Zn vs. δ13C in humans, grouped by feeding behavior; (D) δ66Zn vs. δ13C, with symbols indicating species and color indicating feeding behavior; (E) δ18O vs. δ13C in humans, grouped by feeding behavior; (F) δ18O vs. δ13C, with symbols indicating species and color indicating drinking strategy, compared with available data from Ur
For several years China mapped ocean floors as it prepares for submarine warfare with US
Hopefully, civilian use of these maps will eventually be possible!
Officially, China used equipment from a New Zealand company for this purpose.
Caveat: I did not read the entire, very long article below.
"... In tracing this effort, Reuters examined Chinese government and university records, including journal articles and scientific studies, and analyzed more than five years of movement by 42 research vessels active in the Pacific, Indian or Arctic oceans using a ship-tracking platform built by New Zealand company Starboard Maritime Intelligence.
While the research has civilian purposes – some of the surveying covers fishing grounds or areas where China has mineral prospecting contracts – it also serves a military one, according to nine naval-warfare experts who reviewed Reuters’ findings. ..."
Brightpick Launches Gridpicker; Highest-Throughput Robotic Fulfillment System Ever Developed
Amazing stuff!
"Meet Brightpick Gridpicker – the fastest warehouse robot ever created. Gridpicker redefines warehouse automation by combining AI-powered mobile manipulation with high-density grid storage.
Delivering 2x higher throughput than shuttle systems, 5x less labor needs than Goods-to-Person systems, and cube-level storage density – at up to 40% lower cost." (The Robot Report email)
VW in talks with Rafael to produce Iron Dome in a German VW car plant - report
Sounds embarrassing, but typical for the banana republic of Germany! Volkswagen is becoming an assembly line for foreign companies!
"Israeli government owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems is in advanced negotiations to convert a huge Volkswagen car plant in Germany into a factory for manufacturing components for the Iron Dome air defense system, UK newspaper "The Financial Times" (FT) reports. Iron Dome has already been sold to a range of European countries including Finland and Greece and other countries are in talks to buy the defense system including Germany. Rafael has German subsidiaries engaged in defense production for Germany and other European countries.
Volkswagen has encountered severe financial difficulties with profits cut by tens of percentages in recent years and for the first time in its history the company is considering shutting down factories in Germany."
Irre Einmischung: Bundespräsident Steinmeier belehrt die Bundesregierung zum Iran und greift die USA öffentlich massiv an
Wer so einen, seit Jahrzehnten bekannten, Deppen wie Steinmeier (70 Jahre alt) zum Bundespräsident macht braucht sich nicht zu wundern!
Habe hier schon gestern in Englisch zu Steinmeiers kontroverser Rede gebloggt.
Bundespräsident Walter Steinmeier
Weltrekord in Bahia: Nexat erntet 637 t Soja in 8 Stunden
Sehr beachtlich!
"Ganz genau 637,76 t Sojabohnen in acht Stunden auf 158,16 ha: Mit diesem Rekordlauf in Bahia hat Nexat eine neue Bestmarke in der Erntetechnik gesetzt. Technisch spannend ist der Fall aber nicht nur wegen der Menge. Der Lauf zeigt, woran Hochleistungsmaschinen heute tatsächlich gemessen werden. Nicht entscheidend ist allein, wie viel Erntegut vorne ins System gelangt. Entscheidend ist, ob die Maschine diese Mengen im Inneren ohne Engpässe weiterverarbeiten kann.
Der zentrale Unterschied des NEXCO-Moduls zu klassischen Mähdreschern liegt im Aufbau des Dresch- und Abscheidesystems. Während konventionelle Maschinen das Erntegut meist längs durch die Maschine führen, arbeitet Nexat mit einer quer zur Fahrtrichtung angeordneten Rotoreinheit. ..."
So sieht die FDP heute aus
Die Partei wurde gründlich geschoren, zu recht! Ausser Show nichts gewesen in den etwa letzten 20 Jahren oder so!
FDP Generalsekretärin Nicole Büttner hat sich nach einer verlorenen Wahlwette den Kopf scheren lassen. Source
How huntingtin proteins travel in the brain
Amazing stuff!
"Mutant huntingtin protein, which causes the neurodegenerative disorder Huntington’s disease, travels through the brain using tiny ‘tunneling nanotubes’, research has revealed. Researchers found that a protein called Rhes binds with a protein for cellular acidity regulation, SLC4A7, to build tube-like structures creating a highway to shuttle huntingtin from neuron to neuron. Interrupting this pathway minimised the spread of huntingtin in the brain and offers a potential druggable target."
From the abstract:
"Tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) are membranous structures that mediate intercellular transfer of proteins, including the pathogenic mutant Huntingtin (mHTT) protein in Huntington disease (HD).
We previously identified the ras homolog enriched in the striatum (Rhes) as a key regulator of TNT formation and mHTT transmission; however, the molecular components underlying this process remained unknown.
Here, using unbiased liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry analysis of membrane-associated Rhes complexes, we identify Slc4a7 (solute carrier family 4 member 7), an intracellular pH sensor, as a top membrane-binding partner of Rhes.
Functional studies revealed that small interfering RNA–mediated depletion or pharmacological inhibition of Slc4a7 substantially reduced Rhes-induced TNT formation and suppressed mHTT intercellular transfer.
Mechanistically, Rhes directly interacts with Slc4a7 through both its amino- and carboxyl-terminal domains and modulates intracellular pH to facilitate TNT formation. This interaction does not depend on the transporter activity of Slc4a7. However, inhibition of Rhes farnesylation—a lipid modification that anchors Rhes to the membrane—disrupts its binding to Slc4a7 and abolishes TNT formation.
Slc4a7 knock-out mice showed markedly reduced cell-to-cell transmission of mHTT in the striatum in vivo.
Together, these findings uncover a previously unrecognized Rhes-Slc4a7 signaling axis critical for TNT-mediated mHTT transmission and highlight Slc4a7 as a potential therapeutic target to limit disease spread in HD."
Targeting Tunneling Nanotubes Reduces Spread of Mutant Huntington’s Protein
Membrane-associated Rhes-Slc4a7 complex orchestrates tunneling nanotube formation and mutant Huntingtin spread (open access)
Fig. 1. Membrane-anchored Rhes drives the formation of TNTs between cells.
Tunneling nanotubes connect Rhes expressing striatal neuronal cells
Past greenhouse gas emissions will cost global economy trillions | Stanford Report. Really!
Shocking! Even the Stanford University promotes such nonsense!
Not enough, Nature journal published this dubious research! There is at least a 50 years long history in Western countries of dubious calculations of environmental damages. It is e.g. a cherry picking exercise much liked by biased scientists!
What about e.g. global population growth? What about China?
"In brief
- Researchers developed a new framework for calculating “loss and damage,” or harms from climate change that countries can’t prevent by cutting emissions or avoid through adaptation.
- U.S. emissions since 1990 have caused more than $10 trillion in global economic damages, with roughly a third of the damage hitting the country’s own GDP.
- Removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is a potential alternative to compensation for damages caused, but becomes much less effective if action is delayed [???].
..."
From the abstract:
"Climate change is causing measurable harm globally. Political and legal efforts seek to link these damages with specific emissions, including in discussions of loss and damage (L&D); however, no quantitative definition of L&D exists, nor is there a framework to link past and future emissions from specific sources to monetized, location-specific damages.
Here we develop such a framework, which is integrated with recent efforts to estimate the social cost of carbon. Using empirical estimates of the non-linear relationship between temperature and aggregate economic output, we show that future damages from past emissions—one component of L&D—are at least an order of magnitude larger than historical damages from the same emissions.
For instance, one tonne of CO2 emitted in 1990 caused US$180 in discounted global damages by 2020 ($40–530) and will cause an additional $1,840 through 2100 ($500–5,700).
Thus, settling debts for past damages will not settle debts for past emissions.
In other illustrative estimates, a single long-haul flight per year over the past decade leads to about $25k ($6,000–77,000) in future damages by 2100, and US emissions since 1990 caused $500 billion ($180–1,300 billion) of damage in India and $330 billion ($110–820 billion) in Brazil. Carbon removal offers an alternative to transfer payments for settling L&D, but is increasingly ineffective in limiting damages as the delay between emission and recapture increases."
Chart of the day
Researchers have found that intravenous administration of a nonpathogenic virus, oncolytic alphavirus M1 (OVM), suppresses the growth of glioblastoma, a lethal brain cancer, and also reverses the cancer’s suppression of the immune system. OVM triggers an immune response to cell death (ICD), restoration of the immune system, tumour microenvironment (TME) reprogramming and proliferation of immune cells that specifically target the tumour. (Source)
Suspended Massachusetts female cop arrested on child rape charges, held on $10K bail
That is a Me Too crime!
"Plymouth Police Officer Samantha Pelrine, 31, faces four charges related to the rape of a child: three counts of aggravated rape of a child with force and one count of rape of a child."
Plate tectonics is even older than we thought
Amazing stuff!
The author of the Perspective abstract below is obsessed with Global Warming/Climate Change: "The movement of tectonic plates—massive slabs of rock—over Earth’s surface controls the planet’s habitability by sustaining the carbon cycle that regulates the climate" (The first sentence of the abstract) I have serious doubts that this is correct!
From the Perspective abstract:
"The movement of tectonic plates—massive slabs of rock—over Earth’s surface controls the planet’s habitability by sustaining the carbon cycle that regulates the climate [???] and stabilizes liquid water at the surface .
It also facilitates efficient planetary heat loss, thereby maintaining convection in Earth’s core and the generation of a magnetic field. The presence of a magnetosphere—a space around Earth dominated by its magnetic field—provides shielding from solar and cosmic radiation and mediates the loss of atmospheric gas into space. Deciphering plate motions in Earth’s early history can thus hint at how the planet looked several billion years ago. On page 1278 of this issue, Brenner et al. (2) report differential plate motion 3.5 billion years (Ga) ago by recovering ancient magnetic field records from rocks in Australia. This may provide clues to the nature of early tectonic motions and their role in sustaining habitable conditions."
It also facilitates efficient planetary heat loss, thereby maintaining convection in Earth’s core and the generation of a magnetic field. The presence of a magnetosphere—a space around Earth dominated by its magnetic field—provides shielding from solar and cosmic radiation and mediates the loss of atmospheric gas into space. Deciphering plate motions in Earth’s early history can thus hint at how the planet looked several billion years ago. On page 1278 of this issue, Brenner et al. (2) report differential plate motion 3.5 billion years (Ga) ago by recovering ancient magnetic field records from rocks in Australia. This may provide clues to the nature of early tectonic motions and their role in sustaining habitable conditions."
From the editor's summary and abstract:
"Editor’s summary
Plate tectonics is a global recycling process that underpins most of Earth’s systems. Its onset remains an open question because of sparse early geologic records. Brenner et al. collected paleomagnetic data from approximately 3.4 billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia and compared them with existing data from rocks of the same age in South Africa (see the Perspective by Nichols). They detected diverging paleolatitudes, two crustal blocks moving differently around the same magnetic pole. The rate of motion is consistent with aspects of modern plate tectonics but could reflect an earlier style. This plate motion was occurring against the backdrop of the oldest known geomagnetic reversal, which was also discovered from these data.
Abstract
Whether early Earth had a mobile lithosphere and plate tectonics is debated. We present paleomagnetic data quantifying differential motion between lithospheric blocks at ~3.48 billion years ago (Ga). This manifested as
centimeters per year latitudinal motion of the East Pilbara Craton (Western Australia) across high latitudes, whereas the Barberton Greenstone Belt (South Africa) was stationary at low latitudes. Comparison of this plate motion with candidate analogs suggests either rapid collisional plate tectonics (i.e., an “active-lid”) or an episodically mobile lithosphere. We also document the oldest known geomagnetic reversal at ~3.46 Ga, consistent with an axial dipolar dynamo that reversed less frequently than today’s. The existence and rates of these surface and core geophysical phenomena provide geodynamic context to Earth’s early geophysical and biological evolution."
Ancient rocks reveal early plate motions (Perspective, no public access)
Japan to temporarily lift coal power plant curbs over Hormuz crisis
One good reason to keep coal power plants around!
"The Japanese government will temporarily lift restrictions on the operation of coal-fired power plants to lower the risk of an energy shortage as the war in the Middle East chokes off supplies of oil and gas from the Strait of Hormuz, according to sources familiar with the matter."
Disclaimer
I am currently blogging from behind the Great Firewall of China.
My Internet service in China is very spotty. Thus, I am not able to blog as usual.
Jury Rules Social Media Liable for Teen's long-term Addiction. Really!
I hope this ridiculous verdict will not stand! The rest of the world will have a good laugh again about American jurisprudence!
What about the parents of this child?
"Jury Rules Social Media Liable for Teen's Addiction
A Los Angeles jury ruled Wednesday that Meta and YouTube must pay a combined $6 million in damages to a 20-year-old woman who said the platforms hooked her as a child through design features like infinite scroll, autoplay, and algorithmically timed notifications.
The plaintiff, known as K.G.M., testified she began using YouTube at 6 and Instagram at 9, eventually spending 16 hours in a single day on Instagram, spiraling into depression, anxiety, and body dysmorphia.
Jurors targeted platform design itself as a defective product, a legal theory one tech policy professor compared to the tobacco lawsuits.
More than 1,500 similar suits against Meta, YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok are pending in California courts alone."
Wednesday, March 25, 2026
Israeli strikes on a major Caspian Sea port in northern Iran last week targeted Russian support for Iran in the ongoing war
Cause for concern!
Was this a high stakes gamble to target Russia? Good, that Putin the Terrible is bogged down in the Russia-Ukraine War thanks to the very effective Ukrainian defense!
So far World War III (Russo-Ukrainian War by any other name) has been geographically very limited. Will this war expand to other geographical regions?
"... Israeli strikes on a major Caspian Sea port in northern Iran last week targeted Russian support for Iran in the ongoing war ... This report is consistent with CTP-ISW's previous reporting that the IDF struck a Caspian Sea port that Iran uses to trade both military and non-military goods with Russia. The IDF targeted “dozens” of vessels, a command center, and a shipyard at Bandar Anzali Port, Gilan Province, on March 18. The Israeli strike on the port followed reports that Russia has provided Iran with satellite imagery and Shahed drones since the war began. Israeli media reported on March 19 that the Israeli strikes in Bandar Anzali “shut down” a critical supply line between Iran and Russia for both basic goods, such as wheat imports, and military equipment.The Wall Street Journal added on March 24 that Russia uses the Caspian Sea to receive Iranian Shahed drones as well as artillery shells and other ammunition to resupply its troops on the front lines with Ukraine. More than 300,000 artillery shells and a million rounds of ammunition were shipped from Iran to Russia in 2023 via the Caspian Sea, according to unspecified documents seen by the Wall Street Journal."
Possible evidence for Iran’s ability to manufacture and operate fiber-optic FPV drones
Bad news! Fiber-optic operated FPV drones have demonstrated to be very effective and devastating in the Russo-Ukrainian War.
Such weapons in the hands of religious fanatics?
"A longtime observer of drone operations suggested on March 25 that drone footage posted by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq on March 24 is consistent with a fiber-optic first-person view (FPV) drone. CTP-ISW is unable to authenticate the Islamic Resistance in Iraq’s video. Iran’s ability to manufacture and operate fiber-optic FPV drones and transfer this technology to its regional proxies and partners would pose a significant challenge to US interests in the Middle East, if the footage is authentic."
Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez propose a ban on data center construction
Old and young modern Luddites and socialists united! 😊 Together we are stronger! Caution: satire!
The beauty and the old man or the odd couple! Don't these socialists have any better ideas! 😊
"Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York are introducing companion legislation in their respective chambers today that would halt the projects until Congress enacts comprehensive AI regulation. ..."
Arbor Energy just landed a billion-dollar order to bring rocket turbine tech to the power grid
This could be an interesting approach! But is it competitive? Similar proposals were made before in the past.
"... Arbor’s Halcyon turbines are based on rocket turbomachinery, high-performance engine technology originally developed for spaceflight, and its first commercial turbines will be 3D printed and capable of generating 25 megawatts each. GridMarket’s order, if fully fulfilled, represents 200 units. ...
The startup plans to connect its first turbine to the grid in 2028 and ramp production through 2030, at which point it hopes to deliver more than 100 turbines annually. The goal, Hartwig said, is to eventually produce enough for 10 gigawatts of new capacity every year.
Arbor’s initial designs ... the power plant would ingest organic material like crop waste and wood scraps from farms and timber operations, which would be turned into syngas — a combustible gas mixture — and burned in the presence of pure oxygen. The result would be pure CO2 ...
Since then, Arbor has modified Halcyon to accept natural gas in addition to biomass ..."
Melania Trump wants a robot to homeschool your child
When will the first First Lady be a robot? Just kidding!
When will robot models be introduced in fashion shows?
"At a press conference at the White House on Wednesday, First Lady Melania Trump showed up with a humanoid robot developed by robotics firm Figure AI. The duo waltzed down a red carpet together before the bot gave a brief speech, chirping: “I am grateful to be part of this historic movement to empower children with technology and education.” ..."
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