Building a superconducting quantum circuit that follows protons on the go

Amazing stuff!

"Researchers ... have created a device that simulates the quantum “tunneling” behavior of protons that occurs in chemistry, a process so common it occurs in everything from photosynthesis to the formation of human DNA.

The advance has the potential to aid researchers across a variety of disciplines, including the development of new solar fuels, pharmaceuticals, and materials. ...

“Our system is so clean and controllable that we could resolve very subtle quantum tunneling effects with it that were unknown to us,” ..."

From the abstract:

"Dissipative tunneling remains a cornerstone effect in quantum mechanics. In chemistry, it plays a crucial role in governing the rates of chemical reactions, often modeled as the motion along the reaction coordinate from one potential well to another. The relative positions of energy levels in these wells strongly influence the reaction dynamics. Chemical research will benefit from a fully adjustable, asymmetric double-well equipped with precise measurement capabilities of the tunneling rates.

In this paper, we show a quantum simulator system that consists of a continuously driven Kerr parametric oscillator with a third-order nonlinearity that can be operated in the quantum regime to create a fully tunable asymmetric double-well. Our experiment leverages a low-noise, all-microwave control system with a high-efficiency readout, based on a tunnel Josephson junction circuit, of the which-well information.

We explore the reaction rates across the landscape of tunneling resonances in parameter space. We uncover two counter-intuitive effects:

(i) a weak asymmetry can significantly decrease the activation rates, even though the well in which the system is initialized is made shallower, and

(ii) the width of the tunneling resonances alternates between narrow and broad lines as a function of the well depth and asymmetry.

We predict by numerical simulations that both effects will also manifest themselves in ordinary chemical double-well systems in the quantum regime.

Our work is a first step for the development of analog molecule simulators of proton transfer reactions based on quantum parametric processes."

Building a superconducting quantum circuit that follows protons on the go | Yale News "A new device that originated at a pair of Yale labs simulates quantum proton “tunneling,” a ubiquitous phenomenon found commonly in chemistry and biology."

Asymmetry Control in a Parametric Oscillator for the Quantum Simulation of Chemical Activation (open access)

Fig. 1 Experimental setup. (a) Rendering of the half-aluminum, half-copper sample package containing two sapphire chips magnified in (b).

The secret behind planet-warming methane burps by ruminants. Really!

Again, the AAAS gets caught publishing junk science, alarmism and hysteria!

Fact, methane is even more a trace gas in the atmosphere than CO2! "Yes, is classified as a trace gas in Earth's atmosphere because it exists in very small concentrations. ... methane comprises only about 0.00017% (roughly 1.7 to 1.9 parts per million) by volume" (Google AI)

In the near future, synthetically produced proteins and milk etc. will replace many cows  nd so on!

The researchers even falsely claim "Ruminant livestock represent a major source of anthropogenic [???] methane ... Ruminant livestock represent a major source of anthropogenic methane"! Incredible! What a quackery!

Of course, the discovery of these new cell organelles, i.e. hydrogenobody is very relevant, but to associate this with the global warming hoax and climate change religion is junk!

"... Cows and other ruminant animals belch copious amounts [???] of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Now, researchers finally know just what makes their burps so methane-rich: newly discovered organelles called hydrogenobodies. They live within single-celled protozoa called ciliates, that themselves live in the first stomach of cows called the rumen, where plant matter gets broken down.

To find the methane menaces [???], researchers analyzed the genomes of 450 ciliates living in rumens, most of which had never been sequenced. They noticed that dairy cows with more ciliates produced more methane. The reason came down to a new organelle they dubbed the hydrogenobody, which produces hydrogen—a process that stimulates other microbes to produce methane. ..."

From the editor's summary and abstract:

"Editor’s summary

The microbial community living in the guts of cows and other ruminant animals produces methane gas, which is a contributor to global warming. Methanogenic archaea are the direct producers of that gas, but eukaryotic microbes called ciliates have been suspected to collude in the process. Xie et al. assembled a catalog of ciliate genomes across a range of ruminants and used it to determine the varied roles of ciliates in methane metabolism. The authors found that ciliates harbor their own particular single-membraned organelle to produce hydrogen gas, which skews the gas balance to drive methane production by nearby archaea in the rumen. ...

Structured Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Ruminant livestock represent a major source of anthropogenic methane [???], a potent greenhouse gas contributing substantially to global warming [???]. Within the rumen microbial ecosystem, ciliate protozoa account for up to 25% of the total microbial biomass and have long been associated with enhanced methane production. However, the precise mechanisms by which these ciliates promote methanogenesis have remained elusive.

RATIONALE

Building a comprehensive reference genome catalog for rumen ciliates is essential to enable high-resolution analysis of their community structure and to clarify their associations with methanogens and methane emissions. Such a genomic foundation is critical for discerning the differential roles of specific ciliate lineages in shaping ruminant methane emissions.

Furthermore, unlike prokaryotes, in which functional diversity stems mainly from metabolic variation, eukaryotes often evolve through innovations in cellular structure. As eukaryotes, rumen ciliates may influence methane production not only metabolically but also—and perhaps more substantially—through a specialized organelle.

RESULTS

We assembled a catalog of 450 rumen ciliate genomes, 87% of which are newly sequenced.

Using this resource, we measured methane emissions from 100 dairy cows and analyzed nearly 2000 rumen metagenomic and metatranscriptomic datasets. Our analyses demonstrated a strong correlation among ciliate abundance, methanogen abundance and activity, and methane emissions.

We further identified a previously unknown hydrogen-producing organelle called the hydrogenobody (HB), which underlies the taxon-specific influence of ciliates on methane production. The HB is enclosed by a single membrane, distinguishing it from canonical hydrogenosomes found in other protists, which are mitochondrion-derived organelles.

HBs are positioned near ciliary basal bodies and contain unique hydrogenases and oxygen reductases. Vestibuliferida ciliates harbor substantially more HBs than do Entodiniomorphida ciliates, correlating with their greater ciliary coverage. This structural distinction corresponds to elevated hydrogen-generation and oxygen-scavenging capacity, leading to a more pronounced stimulation of methanogenesis.

CONCLUSION

Our study provides a comprehensive genomic resource for rumen ciliates, reveals a new hydrogen-producing organelle that connects ciliate cellular activity to methane emissions, and uncovers the mechanistic basis of ciliate-driven methanogenesis in ruminants."

ScienceAdvisor

Rumen ciliates modulate methane emissions in ruminants (no public access)

Mechanistic model of rumen ciliate–driven methane production.

Chart of the day

Reckless federal government spending since about the year 2005!

Not since World War II was this ratio so high!

The US was famous and enjoyed a high reputation for fiscal prudence between 1945 and about 2005 to have a moderate debt/gdp ratio compared to many other Western countries.

 

I believe, the US federal debt to GDP ratio has exceeded the 100% already in 2025 or 2024.

Debt-to-GDP Ratio Tops 100 Percent

Israeli Rafael close to buying VW plant in Germany to produce components for the Iron Dome

More news from the banana republic of Germany!

Is Germany becoming a contract supplier to third countries like Thailand! 😊

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

Rafael close to buying VW plant - Globes "“Globes” reveals details of the deal, which would see Volkswagen’s Osnabruck factory converted to produce components for Iron Dome."

Who wins betting on Polymarket?

Food for thought! Is this similar to stock exchanges?

Probably more data analysis is needed here!

There was e.g. that US soldier with insider knowledge on the abduction of dictator Maduro.

"0.1% The share of Polymarket accounts that get 67% of the profits, according to a WSJ analysis of platform data and interviews with traders. Prediction markets’ advertising implies everyone has a fair chance to score. In reality, casual traders bleed cash while a small number of sophisticated pros clean up. Polymarket declined to comment. It has a data partnership with WSJ publisher Dow Jones. WSJ used only publicly available data."

Street Journal What's news

Poland Moves to Grant Displaced Ukrainians 3-Year Residency

Good news! Bravo!

Unfortunately, it appears the long article does not mention how many Ukrainian refugees are affected.

"Poland has unveiled a plan to allow displaced Ukrainians to transition from the current temporary protection status to a three-year residency on Monday, May 4.

The route, known as the CUKR, is available to Ukrainians who have a PESEL UKR tax identifier, held temporary protection status as of June 4, 2025, have maintained it continuously for at least 365 days, and continue to hold it at the time of applying for the residence card, according to Polish outlet RMF24.

The three-year residency would grant applicants the right to work legally without needing additional work permits. However, it would also mean that benefits tied to temporary protection would no longer be available, according to the Polish Office for Foreigners, as cited by the outlet. ..."

Poland Moves to Grant Displaced Ukrainians 3-Year Residency "The transition comes as Europe weighs policy changes for displaced Ukrainians as Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine is now in its fifth year."

Cruelest Month for Russian Fuel: Inside Ukraine’s April Deep Strike Wave damaging 14 Russia refineries

Good news! The Iran war is not the only reason why global crude oil prices are rising!

When will the apathetic and lethargic Russian people finally get rid of the megalomaniac and warmonger Putin the Terrible! The rest of the world is watching and waiting! Another Gorbatchev please!

"Ukraine’s Defense Forces used long-range strike weapons in April to hit 14 Russian oil refineries and terminals, two industrial plants, and military assets from occupied Crimea to the Urals – long considered Russia’s “deep rear,” according to a Defense Ministry report.

The campaign focused heavily on Russia’s oil refining and fuel logistics network, which plays a central role in financing the war and supplying the Russian Armed Forces. ..."

Cruelest Month for Russian Fuel: Inside Ukraine’s April Deep Strike Wave "Ukraine says it struck 14 Russian refineries and key fuel hubs in April, alongside ports, ships, aircraft and military sites from Crimea to the Urals."

This handout satellite image released by 2026 Planet Labs PBC on April 29, 2026, shows a plume of smoke rising from the Tuapse oil refinery in the Russian port of Tuapse, south-western Russia, on April 28, 2026.

AI is starting to beat human doctors at making correct diagnoses in the emergency room

Good news! Finally, human doctors/phycisians get some serious competition to the benefit of our health!

"... This vision of AI-assisted emergency health care may soon be reality. In a new study, researchers show that a type of AI known as a large language model (LLM) often outperformed physicians at diagnosing complex and potentially life-threatening conditions, including decreased blood flow to the heart, even in the fast-moving stages of real ER care when information is limited, they report today in Science.

In early ER cases, the model identified the correct or a very close diagnosis in about 67% of cases, compared with roughly 50% to 55% for physicians. And the technology is only getting better. ..."

From the editor's summary and abstract:

"Editor’s summary

Computational tools for medical decision support have been advancing over time, mainly by serving as resources for limited applications. Machine learning tools for autonomous interpretation of clinical cases have also been gradually improving over time.

Brodeur et al. pitted a large language model, the OpenAI o1 series, directly against hundreds of physicians at different levels of training and experience on a variety of clinical cases ranging from published patient vignettes to evaluations of brand-new emergency room patients, as well as on clinical tasks including both diagnosis and planning of clinical management  ... Across a variety of scenarios and applications, the large language model outperformed both human physicians and older models, suggesting its potential utility for clinical care.  ...

Abstract

More than 65 years ago, complex clinical diagnostic reasoning cases were introduced as the gold standard for the evaluation of expert medical computing systems, a standard that has held ever since.

In this study, we report the results of a physician evaluation of a large language model (LLM) on challenging clinical cases across five experiments with a baseline of hundreds of physicians.

We then report a real-world study comparing human expert and artificial intelligence (AI) second opinions in randomly selected patients in the emergency room of a major tertiary academic medical center.

In all experiments, the LLM outperformed physician baselines and displayed continued improvement from prior generations of AI clinical decision support. Our study suggests that LLMs have eclipsed most benchmarks of clinical reasoning, motivating the urgent need for prospective trials."

AI is starting to beat doctors at making correct diagnoses | Science | AAAS "Large language model excels at clinical decisions, even in fast pace of a simulated ER"

AI can reason like a physician—what comes next? (Perspective, open access) "Text-based AI can think like a physician; the challenge is achieving safe clinical implementation" [This Perspective has no abstract!]

Performance of a large language model on the reasoning tasks of a physician (no public access)

Superhuman performance of a large language model on the reasoning tasks of a physician (similar preprint, published 12/14/2024, open access) 

Scientists Create First-Ever map of smell receptors in the nose

Amazing stuff!

"At a glance

• Scientists have created the first detailed map of smell receptors in the nose, catching up with similar achievements in sight, hearing, and touch.
• The map reveals that smell receptors are highly organized into tight bands based on type.
• The findings provide foundational knowledge needed to develop better therapies for loss of smell.

...

Yet from a scientific perspective, “olfaction is super-mysterious,” ... with basic biological understanding lagging behind that of vision, hearing, and touch. ...

Working in mice, ... team have now created the first detailed map of how the thousand-plus types of smell receptors in the nose are organized.

They discovered that unlike what scientists had long believed, the neurons expressing these receptors have a high degree of spatial organization: They form horizontal stripes based on receptor type from the top of the nose to the bottom. ..."

From the highlights and abstract:

"Highlights

• ∼1,100 olfactory receptors adopt stereotyped spatial distributions in the epithelium

• Epithelial space coherently regulates the graded expression of ∼250 genes

• Precursor spatial identities bias olfactory receptor choice

• Receptor positions in the nose are aligned with their axonal targets in the brain

Summary

Although topographical maps organize many peripheral sensory systems, mouse olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) are thought to randomly choose which one of ∼1,100 possible olfactory receptors (ORs) to express, with spatial organization in the olfactory epithelium limited to a handful of broad anatomical “zones” that modestly restrict OR choice.

Here, we reveal that each OR is instead expressed at a unique mean dorsoventral position, thereby instantiating a stereotyped receptor map in the olfactory epithelium.

OSN dorsoventral identities are encoded by a coherent gene expression program, which includes key transcription factors and axon guidance molecules; use of this program reflects a dorsoventral gradient in retinoic acid signaling, translates each physical location into a spatially appropriate distribution of potential OR choices, and aligns receptor maps in the nose and brain.

Spatial order in the olfactory system, therefore, arises from a continuously varying transcriptional code that precisely organizes the many discrete channels responsible for smell."

Scientists Create First-Ever ‘Smell Map’ | Harvard Medical School "A detailed diagram of smell receptors in the nose fills in missing details of how olfaction works"

A spatial code governs olfactory receptor choice and aligns sensory maps in the nose and brain (open access)

Graphical abstract

Figure 2 Each OSN subtype occupies a unique region of the epithelium

English for trippers: Cruel fuel

Ready for a duel?

Hopfions split into multiple lower H-hopfions

Amazing stuff!

"In the past few years, physicists have created long-predicted quasiparticles called hopfions—3D, localized, knot-like arrangements of a magnetic material’s spin texture.

A hopfion can be described in terms of its Hopf number H, which counts how many loops of spins are interlinked in the knot.

Researchers have proposed using hopfions in spintronic computers, where H would encode information. This is because a hopfion is a topologically protected state, meaning H stays the same under many deformation conditions.

In new computational work ... have developed a method for splitting high-H hopfions into multiple lower-H hopfions, an operation that would be useful for such spintronic information-storage devices.

The team modeled a two-layer structure in which hopfions were hosted by a magnetic material adjacent to a heavy metal.

An electric current flowing along the heavy-metal layer generated a perpendicular spin-polarized current via the spin Hall effect. This spin-polarized current leaked into the magnetic layer and exerted a torque on the magnetic moments, pulling different parts of the magnetic texture in opposite directions and thereby stretching the hopfions. The researchers found that, once the torque exceeded a threshold, it could overcome a hopfion’s topological protection and tear a higher-H hopfion into multiple lower-H hopfions. An H = 4 hopfion, for example, could split into four H = 1 hopfions or two H = 2 hopfions depending on the strength of the spin-orbit torque. ..."

From the abstract:

"Knots formed by the intertwining of strings have attracted broad interest across various scientific disciplines owing to their rich topology. This concept has recently gained increasing importance in condensed matter physics, as exemplified by a magnetic hopfion labeled by a topological invariant called the Hopf number 𝐻.

Here, we show that spin-orbit torque (SOT) enables dynamic manipulation of the Hopf number of magnetic hopfions. We investigate the SOT-driven evolution of hopfions, revealing the splitting of a high-𝐻 hopfion into multiple lower-𝐻 ones, a process that can be quantified by an effective tension picture.

Comparative analysis across different 𝐻 uncovers a hierarchy of instabilities that dictates these dynamical topological transitions.

These findings not only indicate potential applications of hopfions in SOT-driven multilevel memory devices, but also provide a paradigm for the dynamical control of knot topology."

Physics - Hopfions at the Breaking Point "Simulations show that knot-like magnetic structures called hopfions can be pulled apart—a capability that could be harnessed for spintronic memory devices."

Controlling knot topology in magnetic hopfions via spin-orbit torque (open access)

Fig. 1

(a) Schematic illustrations of magnetic hopfions with 𝐻=1,2, and 4, shown by the isosurfaces of 𝑆𝑧=0, along with their corresponding preimages that satisfy 𝑆𝑥=1 (blue) and 𝑆𝑥=−1 (red). The color code in the inset is used throughout this Letter to depict spin orientations.

(b) A typical setup for this study. A spin current injected from the lower heavy metal layer works on magnetic moments as a SOT, thereby inducing hopfion dynamics in the upper magnetic layer. Snapshots of the 𝐻=2

(c) and 𝐻=4

(d) hopfions under (𝐵,𝜁)=(0.003,0.002) and (𝐵,𝜁)=(0.003,0.0021), respectively. The lower panels show their preimages to support the observation of changes in the knot topology.

Taiwan’s President Makes Daring Africa Trip to Eswatini, Defying Chinese Airspace Blocks

Good news!

Communist China should be reunited with democratic Taiwan not the other way around. It should be a peaceful and voluntary reunification. Germany was reunited in 1990.

"The Chinese Communist government exerted pressure last month on the Seychelles, Mauritius, and Madagascar to revoke flight permits for Lai’s presidential aircraft, making it all but impossible for the Taiwanese president to reach Eswatini’s airspace. 

Lai canceled his trip on April 21, denouncing China’s “economic coercion,” but on Saturday he managed to bypass the Chinese blockade by taking an unannounced flight on an Eswatini aircraft. ...

Eswatini is one of just 12 remaining countries that maintain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan. The island’s other diplomatic partners were systematically peeled away by Beijing in an aggressive campaign that began after the election of Lai’s predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, in 2016. ..."

Taiwan’s President Lands in Eswatini, Defying Chinese Airspace Blocks "Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te arrived in Eswatini on Saturday, defiantly proclaiming Taiwan’s right to engage with friends and allies despite intensive efforts from China to block his trip."

Spain's government spent $2bn on Illegals, But Spent Just $70m on Border Protection in 2025

Headline of the day! Maybe the numbers are somewhat incorrect, but in general such a large spending gap is probably in the ballpark.

"... In contrast, the Spanish government spent just €60 million ($70m) to stop illegal migration, €20 million ($23.4m) of which was funded by a grant from the European Union’s Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), making Madrid’s overall spending on protecting its borders even smaller.

Out of that €60 million, the Spanish Interior Ministry barely spent €20 million last year to reinforce border security. Of the € 1.8 billion spent to support migrants once they have arrived in Spain, the costs are widely spread across the state. ..."

Spain Gave $2bn to Illegals, But Spent Just $70m on Border Protection "The Spanish government spent over €1.8 billion of taxpayers’ money last year attending to the needs of illegal migrants in the country, while spending only a tiny fraction of that, €60 million, funding efforts to stop them from arriving in the first place."

Disclaimer

Since end of February, I  am 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.

Kanzler im Panzer. Wirklich!

Der Mann macht sich nur lächerlich! Bilder aus der Bananenrepublik D!

1975 hat der Mann seinen 15 Monate Wehrpflicht abgeleistet. Das ist wohl seine ganze Erfahrung mit der Bundeswehr. (Quelle)

Source

Im Juni 2025 ließ der Kanzler sich im Kampfflugzeug abbilden (Quelle)

Dopant boosts carbon nanotubes’ conductivity tenfold

Good news!

"Doping carbon nanotubes with tetrachloroaluminate ions can increase their electrical conductivity around tenfold without harming the nanotube structures, researchers in Spain have shown. The research helps explain the chemistry of nanotube doping, and could potentially lead to applications such as lighter, stronger cables for electricity distribution. ...

exposed commercial double-walled carbon nanotubes with an initial conductivity of around 1.4MS/m to an atmosphere of aluminium trichloride and excess chlorine for 24 hours, causing tetrachloroaluminate ions to diffuse into the structure. Spectroscopic analysis indicated that, rather than entering the nanotubes’ centres, the ions intercalated between the walls. The researchers observed no significant expansion of the nanotubes. They showed that the fact that the nanotubes are wrapped concentrically creates a greater gap between the carbon atoms than in multilayer graphene, ... ‘Therefore, it can host the dopant without distorting the bundle.’ ..."

From the editor's summary and abstract:

"Editor’s summary

Translating the outstanding individual properties of carbon nanotubes, such as their electrical and thermal conductivity, into bulk materials that retain those properties remains a challenge.

de Isidro-Gomez et al. demonstrated controlled vapor-phase intercalation of tetrachloroaluminate (AlCl₄−) ions within intertube channels to make macroscopic double-walled carbon nanotube fibers.

The fibers showed high electrical conductivity approaching 40% of the value of copper at room temperature.

On a per-weight basis, the cables exceeded both the conductivity and strength of conventional overhead cables. Furthermore, they showed excellent dry stability and reasonable moisture tolerance when protected by a polymer sheath. ...

Abstract

Translating the conductivity of individual carbon nanotubes into practical, macroscopic conductors remains a challenge.

We report highly aligned fibers of double-walled carbon nanotubes intercalated with chains of tetrachloroaluminate anions (AlCl4−) in the intertube channels. The AlCl4− intercalant acts as a noncovalent dopant, accepting 0.65 electrons per anion, mostly from the outer nanotube layer.

Combined with a 17% intercalant volume fraction, it produces an increase in room-temperature conductivity to values as high as 24.5 mega-Siemens per meter, which is 41% of that of copper.

Specific conductivity values reach 17,345 Siemens-meter squared per kilogram, which is superior to that of metals.

These fibers are five times stronger and half the weight of conventional overhead cables while remaining stable in dry conditions and retaining 80% of their conductivity protected from moisture by a cable polymer sheath."

Dopant boosts carbon nanotubes’ conductivity tenfold | Research | Chemistry World

Intercalated carbon nanotube fibers with high specific electrical conductivity (no public access)

The tetrachloroaluminate ions are positioned in interstitial channels between the double-walled carbon nanotubes

English for trippers: Irrigate to irritate

Nothing to be irate about!

US Geological Survey recently estimated that there are over 2 million metric tons of undiscovered, economically recoverable lithium in the Appalachian Mountains

Good news!

"The United States Geological Survey recently estimated that there are over 2 million metric tons of undiscovered, economically recoverable lithium in the Appalachian Mountains, enough to supply the country for centuries at current levels of consumption."

"“The southern Appalachians hold an estimated 1.43 million metric tons of lithium oxide, concentrated in the Carolinas, and

the northern Appalachians hold an estimated 900,000 metric tons, concentrated in Maine and New Hampshire, according to estimates in a new USGS scientific paper published in Natural Resources Research. The lithium is present in pegmatites, large-grained rocks similar to granite. ..."

Doomslayer: Progress Roundup - by Malcolm Cochran

Lithium in Eastern States Could Replace Imports for a Century

https://www.usgs.gov/news/national-news-release/lithium-eastern-states-could-replace-imports-a-century-or-more

California is now allowing companies to test and deploy driverless trucks

Good news! A human driver will still be required for now!

"“The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) on Tuesday adopted new regulations for autonomous vehicles, ​allowing manufacturers to test and deploy heavy-duty ‌driverless vehicle technology on the state’s roads…

Here are a few ⁠details:

• The move lifts the ban on operating ​autonomous vehicles weighing over 10,001 pounds (4,536.4 kg), opening ​California to autonomous freight operations.
• However, vehicles will still be required to stop at patrol stations and comply with state ​and federal commercial motor vehicle rules.
• Medium-duty autonomous ​vehicles up to 14,001 pounds will be allowed to ‌be ⁠operated by public agencies and universities.

..."

California Allows Manufacturers to Deploy Heavy Autonomous Vehicles - Human Progress

Israel to purchase 50 F-35s, 25 new F-15s, doubling fleet sizes

Good news! Israel armed to the teeth! David's slingshot!

However, in the age of drone warfare was this a good choice?

"Israel announced on Sunday a blockbuster decision to double the size of its F-35 fleet from 50 to 100 and its new F-15IA fleet from 25 to 50.

The decision reflects a radical post-October 7 world: Israel will increase defense spending over the next 10 years by NIS 350 billion, in addition to annual defense spending that has risen from under NIS 100 billion to nearly NIS 150 billion. ..."

Israel to purchase 50 F-35s, 25 new F-15s, doubling fleet sizes | The Jerusalem Post "The NIS 350 billion deal resolves the debate over which plane to invest in, resulting in a much larger budget to cover both."

More than 3 million people have lost access to food stamps since stricter eligibility requirements were put in place last July

Good news! For several decades there have been speculations about the fraud going on affecting food stamps!

"3 million +. The number of people who have lost access to food stamps since stricter eligibility requirements were put in place last July, according to federal data. Some states are seeing dramatic declines in recipient numbers, and experts are expressing concern that this will result in vulnerable Americans not getting enough to eat."

Wall Street Journal What's news

Japan eyes world-first transmission of space-based solar power to Earth by 2050. Really!

I am very skeptical of this approach of beaming solar power to Earth from space especially if this was done at large scale around the world!

What is the environmental impact? What does it cost?

By 2050??? Japan is too slow! Others will long have tried this before Japan!

It appears this is not the first time this was reported by a news media outlet!

"Japan aims to launch a 2.5-square-kilometer solar panel into space by 2050."

Japan eyes world-first transmission of space-based solar power to Earth - Nikkei Asia "Experiment will use microwaves to send electricity from orbit"

A satellite foundation model for improved wealth monitoring. Really!

When top ML & AI researchers naively think they can improve social outcomes or social improvements! In this case it is Stefano Ermon of Stanford University! Lets' not forget that the brilliant physicist Albert Einstein was a stupid socialist!

This paper is most likely a joke! How easy is it for wealthy individuals to fool this model?

Will this kind of wealth modeling not be abused by greedy governments to tax the rich? The rich will vote with their feet etc. to avoid extra tax burdens.

From the abstract:

"Poverty statistics guide social policy, but in many low- and middle-income countries, censuses and household surveys that collect these data are costly, infrequent, quickly outdated, and sometimes error-prone.

Satellite imagery offers global coverage and the possibility of predicting economic livelihoods at scale, yet existing approaches to predicting livelihoods with imagery or other non-traditional data often fail to reliably identify local-level variation and, as we show, degrade under temporal shift.

Here we introduce Tempov, a satellite foundation model pretrained by self-supervision on three million bi-temporal Landsat pairs and adapted with parameter-efficient fine-tuning to sparse survey labels. The model enables large-scale, high-resolution wealth mapping and dynamic measurement, including zero-shot nowcasting up to a decade after observed labels, retrospective hindcasting, and decadal change tracking, while outperforming existing neural network and geospatial foundation-model baselines.

In low-label regimes, Tempov achieves competitive accuracy with only 10% of survey samples, indicating substantially reduced dependence on expensive label collection.

The model further generalizes across populous countries within and outside Africa, and scales to a unified Africa-wide model with strong continent-level performance (, ), from which we generate high-resolution decadal maps of wealth and wealth changes for the African continent.

Analysis of these maps shows large variation in recent economic performance both within and across countries. Our open-source approach provides a pathway to timely, scalable, low-cost monitoring of wealth and poverty from routinely collected satellite data."

[2604.23166] A satellite foundation model for improved wealth monitoring

On RL Token: Bootstrapping Online RL with Vision-Language-Action Models

This might be an interesting paper by Sergey Levine and his team!

From the abstract:

"Vision-language-action (VLA) models can learn to perform diverse manipulation skills "out of the box," but achieving the precision and speed that real-world tasks demand requires further fine-tuning -- for example, via reinforcement learning (RL). We introduce a lightweight method that enables sample-efficient online RL fine-tuning of pretrained VLAs using just a few hours of real-world practice.

We (1) adapt the VLA to expose an "RL token," a compact readout representation that preserves task-relevant pretrained knowledge while serving as an efficient interface for online RL, and

(2) train a small actor-critic head on this RL token to refine the actions, while anchoring the learned policy to the VLA. Online RL with the RL token (RLT) makes it possible to fine-tune even large VLAs with RL quickly and efficiently.

Across four real-robot tasks (screw installation, zip tie fastening, charger insertion, and Ethernet insertion), RLT improves the speed on the hardest part of the task by up to 3x and raises success rates significantly within minutes to a few hours of practice. It can even surpass the speed of human teleoperation on some of the tasks."

[2604.23073] RL Token: Bootstrapping Online RL with Vision-Language-Action Models

Physicists Discover the Most Complex Forms of Ice Yet

Recommendable! The many wonders of water!

"... Since 1900, scientists have observed more than 20 phases of ice, many of them shaped under extreme conditions. The growing list includes hot ice and even ice that conducts electricity. ...

Over the past decade, computer simulations have predicted tens of thousands of possible forms of ice. Though uncommon on our planet, exotic ice may exist in off-Earth environments, from cold and amorphous comet tails to the hot and crushing cores of icy planets.

As physicists put water to the test with improved experimental techniques, they keep finding surprises. “You take water, and just the way you compress it — a little bit faster, a bit slower, up and down, at the right timescale — and then you can find this completely unexpected behavior,” ...

In 2018, an international research group from Europe and Japan created an ambitious computer simulation of the dynamics of water molecules that aimed to predict undiscovered forms of ice. The result was a catalog of over 75,000 phases, each characterized by a slightly different way that the water molecules could fit together when subjected to a different combination of temperature and pressure. ...

In 2025, Bove’s team in Lausanne discovered a smaller but in some ways stranger metastable phase of ice. In a study published in Nature, they reported the first observation of plastic ice VII. This is a variation of ice VII, a high-pressure phase of ice, that appears when the ice is heated to around 500 degrees Celsius. ..."

Physicists Discover the Most Complex Forms of Ice Yet | Quanta Magazine "Scientists keep detecting new forms of ice. According to simulations, there could be many more left to find."

Fig. 1: Phase diagram of the QENS experiment and investigated thermodynamic paths.

a, Experimental phase diagram of water in the investigated P–T region, melting lines are reproduced from refs. 31,43. The region of stability of plastic ice VII from numerical simulations8 is shown with white dashed lines, pressures and temperatures are shifted to match the experimental melting line. The measured thermodynamic points are represented as circles with colours corresponding to the phase attribution (a selection of thermodynamic points from previous experiments34 are represented as squares). Error bars on the pressure determination are of ±0.5 GPa for the high-pressure isobars, whereas they are of 0.1 GPa for the thermodynamic points close to the melting as the melting was used to calibrate the pressure. 

English for trippers: Drive, arrive and thrive

Rife with opportunity?

First total synthesis of macrocycle with four stereocentres at the heart of bacterial photosynthesis

Good news! But the abstract of this research is loaded with technical terms.

"After nine years of effort, chemists in the US have completed the first total synthesis of bacteriochlorophyll a, a molecule they describe as ‘one of the most challenging photosynthetic tetrapyrroles to synthesise’. ... approach opens the door to making a wide range of photosynthetic tetrapyrroles and exploring their function ‘in a way that’s not been possible previously’. ...

Photosynthetic tetrapyrroles are organic compounds made up of four pyrrole rings. Common examples are bacteriochlorophyll a and chlorophyll a, the main pigments in anoxygenic and oxygenic photosynthesis, respectively. ..."

"Researchers ... have successfully synthesized bacteriochlorophyll a, a photosynthetic pigment found in bacteria which absorbs infrared light. The work represents the first chemical synthesis of this molecule and could give scientists deeper insights into photosynthetic function and photosynthetic energy. ...

“What we did was synthesize both halves of the macrocycle [made up of rings A,B,C, and D], then use constituents of ring E as the joining site for bringing the two halves together,” ... “When the halves are attached to an atom that will eventually become ring E, a cascade reaction triggers and the molecule self-assembles in the last step.”"

From the abstract:

"Photosynthetic tetrapyrroles absorb light to power the biosphere but have largely been neglected as targets of chemical synthesis.

Bacteriochlorophyll a – a key macrocycle in the bacterial photosynthetic reaction center – contains four stereocenters at the rim of the bacteriochlorin chromophore due to the trans-dialkyl group in each pyrroline ring (B, D), and an epimerizable β-ketoester embedded in the isocyclic ring (E).

Here, each pair of stereodefined vicinal substituents was introduced as a chiral 4-nitroalkanal building block, which was converted to an alkynone for subsequent coupling with an iodopyrrole (A, C), affording the AD and BC dihydrodipyrrins. The dihydrodipyrrins were equipped with reactive groups (1-formyl, AD-half; 1-(1,1-dimethoxymethyl) and 8-(3-methoxy-1,3-dioxopropyl, BC-half) suited for directed macrocycle formation.

Knoevenagel condensation of AD and BC halves afforded a propenone, the nexus for constructing ring E concomitantly with the macrocycle in the subsequent one-flask, double-ring closure (Nazarov cyclization, electrophilic aromatic substitution, elimination of methanol).

The aromatic bacteriopheophorbide was obtained as the 2-trimethylsilylethyl propanoate, which upon acidolysis and esterification with phytol yielded bacteriopheophytin a; subsequent magnesiation gave bacteriochlorophyll a.

The modularity of the synthesis, straightforward construction of asymmetric building blocks, and convergent joining of AD and BC halves suggest that the present route may provide an entrée into diverse photosynthetic macrocycles."

First total synthesis of macrocycle with four stereocentres at the heart of bacterial photosynthesis | Research | Chemistry World

Researchers Synthesize Photosynthetic Molecule Found in Bacteria (original news release)

Synthesis of bacteriochlorophyll a (open access)

Bacteriochlorophyll a is the most common photosynthetic pigment in anoxygenic photosynthetic bacteria, and plays significant roles in light-harvesting, energy-migrating and electron-transporting reactions

Lawsuit: JPMorgan Executive Sexually Abused, Drugged Junior Male Employee

Another Me Too event in the age of gender equality! At least she was not ugly! Caution: satire!

Men watch out! When male victims report such incidents they should be believed, right?

"... According to what appeared to be her LinkedIn profile, Hajdini graduated from the NYU Stern School of Business and has certifications from Harvard Business School. ...

At one point, Hajdini was accused of inviting the man for drinks and when he refused her, she allegedly told him, “If you don’t f**k me soon, I’m going to ruin you, never forget, I f**king own you.” ..."

Lawsuit: JPMorgan Executive Sexually Abused, Drugged Junior Male Employee "A top staffer with financial institution JPMorgan Chase is accused of sexually abusing a junior male colleague and threatening his career."

JPMorgan Executive Lorna Hajdini Accused Of Sexual Harassment, Drugging & Racial Abuse In Explosive Lawsuit "A JPMorgan executive has been accused in a lawsuit of sexual harassment, coercion, assault and racial abuse by a junior employee. The plaintiff alleged repeated non-consensual acts, threats to his career and drugging. He also claimed retaliation after reporting the misconduct, while the bank denied the allegations, saying they lack merit."

JPMorgan Executive Lorna Hajdini Accused Of Sexual Harassment, Drugging & Racial Abuse In Explosive Lawsuit |

MIT Study by economists: Immigrants help address the US eldercare shortage. Really!

I guess, lefties always have an excuse for illegal mass immigration!

Why does the MIT not develop robots to assist elderly?

These MIT economists are jokers!

"... Overall, [MIT economist Jonathan] Gruber and his colleagues determined that when there is more immigration, registered nurses and other aides work more hours at nursing homes, without displacing already-employed caregivers, while patient outcomes improve. Essentially, a 10 percent increase in female immigrants in a given metro area leads to a 1.1 percent increase in hours that registered nurses spend with elderly patients, while hospitalizations for those patients drop, among other things. ..."

It appears the same three authors and economists like to churn the same subject again and again. See also their paper Immigration, The Long-Term Care Workforce, and Elder Outcomes in the U.S. (published February 2023)

Study: Immigrants help address the US eldercare shortage | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology "Economists find that in metro areas with more immigration, nurses are spending more time with elderly patients."

Immigration, The Long-Term Care Workforce, and Elder Outcomes in the U.S.  (no public access, not even for the abstract!!!)

MIT economist Jonathan Gruber

Autodata: an automatic data scientist to create high-quality data

Could be self defeating! What if AI learns that this curated and/or synthetic dada was created by AI and exploits it?

Caveat: I did not read the entire, long blog post by Meta.

"We introduce Autodata, a method that enables AI agents to act as data scientists who iteratively build high quality training and evaluation data. We show how to train (meta-optimize) such a data scientist agent, so that it can create even stronger data.

Our initial study with a specific practical implementation, Agentic Self-Instruct, shows strong gains on scientific reasoning problems compared to classical synthetic dataset creation methods. Further, meta-optimizing the data scientist agent itself delivers an even larger performance uplift.

Agentic data creation provides a way to convert increased inference compute into higher quality model training. ..."

Autodata: an automatic data scientist to create high-quality data

Figure: Autodata pipeline. The framework employs an autonomous agent that emulates the role of a data scientist, iteratively generating data, conducting qualitative inspection and quantitative performance evaluation, synthesizing insights, and updating the data-generation recipe. The agent itself can be trained to be better at the data scientist task using the same criteria used in the inner loop. This cyclical process aims to progressively enhance data quality; the diagram depicts the general workflow underlying possible instantiations.

More Countries and Industries Are Abandoning or Reducing Net-Zero Commitments

Recommendable! Good news!

Caveat: A long article I did not read entirely!

",,, some of Trump’s actions that are draining the climate swamp of resources, supporters, spirit, and momentum. These include defunding climate boondoggles across federal agencies, pulling the United States out of the Paris climate agreement, withdrawing the United States from dozens of climate-monitoring and wealth-transfer organizations (most importantly the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change), and rescinding the greenhouse gas endangerment finding. All these actions and more have left the progressive climate elite bereft ... 

Evidence suggests that with America [since President Trump's second term] no longer playing the fool, cast as a villain in the climate scam, other countries and companies around the globe are increasingly refusing to do so. ..."

Climate Change Weekly # 578— Countries and Industries Are Abandoning or Reducing Net-Zero Commitments - The Heartland Institute

The House voted 280-142 to strip pro-pesticide liability protections from the farm bill. Really!

I am not sure this is a good decision in a litigious country like the US!

As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions!

"The House voted 280-142 to strip pro-pesticide liability protections from the farm bill, a major win for MAHA-aligned Republicans who said the provisions shielded chemical companies like Bayer from lawsuits."

Friday, May 1, 2026 - Join The Flyover

Racism and socioeconomic stress may alter pregnancy biology, leaving black women nearly three times more likely to die. Really!

Unfortunately, the University of Cambridge also engages in racist propaganda and demagoguery! Very regrettable!

Comparing black and white skinned women is not science, but quackery and junk science!

It is very well known that when you honestly compare women of similar socioeconomic circumstances, backgrounds, family history etc. any differences in health outcomes between black and white women are greatly diminished.

"Black women and their babies face significantly higher health risks during pregnancy and childbirth than white women. Black women in the UK are 2.7 times more likely to die during pregnancy compared with white women, and black babies are more than twice as likely to die before their first birthday as white babies."

Racism and socioeconomic stress may alter pregnancy biology, leaving black women nearly three times more likely to die | University of Cambridge "A University of Cambridge study has found that stresses such as systemic racism and socioeconomic disadvantage may sensitise key processes in the body during pregnancy, helping to explain why black women and their babies face significantly higher rates of complication than white women."

University of Cambridge News

How Thomas Jefferson Crafted a Case Against Slavery all his life

Recommendable! Food for thought!

Why did Thomas Jefferson hold slaves? "Thomas Jefferson held over 600 people in slavery throughout his life primarily due to extreme debt, reliance on enslaved labor to maintain his lifestyle at Monticello, and a belief that immediate emancipation was impossible." (Google AI search result)

What nature was the affair between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings? Like between a slaveholder and a slave or more like between lovers? How did Jefferson treat Ms. Hemings? What did he learn from Ms. Hemings?

"... As a student at the College of William and Mary and as an apprentice lawyer, Jefferson studied under William Small and George Wythe, two antislavery thinkers who shaped his views on the immorality of slavery.

As a young legislator in Virginia, Jefferson pioneered efforts to facilitate both individual and statewide emancipation, although without success. 

Jefferson began composing Notes in 1780, and he spent years revising the manuscript. In the mid-1780s, Virginia loosened legal restrictions on manumission. Dozens of people—many inspired by religion—freed their enslaved workers. Jefferson updated Notes to take advantage of this turn in public opinion. He argued for both emancipation and colonization. ..."

How Jefferson Crafted a Case Against Slavery — The Coolidge Review

A c.1804 caricature of Sally Hemings, the only known contemporary image of the subject (Source)

Cem Özdemir und Boris Palmer fordern: Schluss mit dem kleinteiligen Reinregieren beim Klimaschutz! Wirklich!

Was für zwei Idioten! Jeder der glaubt ein einziges Land ,wie die Bananenrepublik D, könnte das Klima retten (Klima kennt keine Grenzen und ist ein globales, kontinentales Naturphänomen).

Was für ein deutsches Unwort ist "zukunftsfest"? Welch ein Unsinn!

Was meinen die beiden Armleuchter mit "ein zentraler Hebel"?

"Klimaschutz war gestern, Wirtschaft ist heute: So kann man die aktuelle Politik der Bundesregierung, insbesondere der Wirtschaftsministerin, verstehen. Und sie scheint die gesellschaftliche Grundstimmung widerzuspiegeln. Mit Klimaschutz verbinden viele kleinteiliges Reinregieren in ihren Alltag. Zeit, das Gegenteil zu beweisen: Genau das wollen wir in Baden-Württemberg tun und zeigen, dass Klimaschutz ein zentraler Hebel [???] ist, um unseren Wirtschaftsstandort zukunftsfest zu machen. ..."

Cem Özdemir und Boris Palmer fordern: Schluss mit dem kleinteiligen Reinregieren! | FAZ (behind paywall) "Klimaschutz [???] kann ein zentraler Hebel [???] sein, um unseren Wirtschaftsstandort zukunftsfest [??] zu machen. Aber er geht besser und billiger – wenn man Unternehmen nicht mit ständig neuen Regeln ausbremst."

Cem Özdemir

Boris Palmer