Naomi Wolf: 'Your Body is Where Totalitarianism Takes Place'

Recommendable!

"'Distressed liberal' Naomi Wolf says that since the 2020 election, a "fascistic ideological rigidity" has quickly arisen within the Democratic Party, taking the form of a "cult around medical coercion.""

Während Deutschland aussteigt, nimmt China ersten Kernreaktor mit Thorium in Betrieb

Sehr empfehlenswert!

Die Bananenrepublik Deutschland unter der Regie von der SED Kanzlerin Merkel verfolgt die absurde Energiewende mit Windmühlen und Solarenergie. Die deutschen Kernkraftwerke wurden in einer abrupten, stark irrationalen und absurden Reaktion auf den Fukushima Unfall hin abgeschaltet!

Während Deutschland aussteigt, nimmt China ersten Kernreaktor mit Thorium in Betrieb In einem Reaktor des Typs, der in China demnächst den Betrieb aufnimmt, kann keine Kernschmelze mehr stattfinden. Künftige Reaktoren sind extrem klein, kostengünstig und aus Unfällen sollen keine Katastrophen mehr werden können. An Deutschland geht das alles vorbei.

Israel becomes first country to begin giving third COVID vaccine shots

Good news?

"Israel is the first country to start giving a third dose of the COVID vaccine shot to its population in an effort to stem the spread of the Delta variant. Those older than 60 are the first to get the booster from health care providers. President Isaac Herzog was among the first in that group. Benjamin Netanyahu, the former prime minister and current leader of the parliamentary opposition, got his shot on camera and encouraged others to vaccinate. ..."

Israel becomes first country to begin giving third COVID vaccine shots - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Milestone: Over 4 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine administered worldwide

Just phenomenal! Breathtaking! Mind blowing! Given that there are about 8 billion people living on this earth and that this global pandemic only started around January 2020!

COVID-19 Map - Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center

China threatens Australia with missile attack

Very recommendable, albeit serious stuff! Another Cold War is brewing or heating up! The Cold War actually never ended, it had faded in the background and is now becoming more active again!

"... As far as Australia is concerned, the growing torrent of threats and bullying from Beijing mean that we need to have a much clearer understanding from our American ally about extended deterrence—not just nuclear deterrence but also conventional deterrence against Chinese long-range theatre missiles with conventional warheads. In May, the editor-in-chief of Beijing’s Global Times newspaper, which generally reflects the views of the Chinese Communist Party, threatened Australia with ‘retaliatory punishment’ with missile strikes ‘on the military facilities and relevant key facilities on Australian soil’ if we were to send Australian troops to coordinate with the US and wage war with China over Taiwan. 
The specific threat made ...: ‘China has a strong production capability, including producing additional long-range missiles with conventional warheads that target military objectives in Australia when the situation becomes highly tense.’ ... This is made more difficult by the fact that China co-locates its conventional and nuclear theatre missile forces. ...

it’s virtually impossible, even with the most sophisticated intelligence methods, to detect reliably any difference between a missile with a conventional warhead and one with a nuclear warhead [before and after launch]. ...
For example, taking out the joint US–Australian intelligence facilities at Pine Gap near Alice Springs might be seen in Washington as an attempt to blind the US to any warnings of deliberate nuclear escalation by Beijing. During the Cold War, this sort of danger was well understood. In my experience in the late 1970s and 1980s, Moscow made it clear to us that attacks on Pine Gap, Nurrungar and North West Cape would only occur in the context of an all-out nuclear war. ...
The problem with Beijing is that it has no experience in high-level nuclear arms negotiation with any other country. It doesn’t understand the value of detailed discussions about nuclear warfighting. This is a dangerous gap in Chinese understanding about war—especially as its strategic nuclear warheads, which number in the low 200s according to the Pentagon, are barely credible as a second-strike capability and its submarines armed with strategic nuclear weapons are noisy.
However, US estimates suggest that China is planning to double its strategic nuclear forces and recent media reports claim that Beijing is building more than 100 new silos for intercontinental ballistic missiles in the northwest of the country. If true, this is a strange development because ICBMs in fixed silos are becoming more vulnerable with the increased accuracy of nuclear strikes. China’s recent ICBMs have been road-mobile for precisely this reason. The only rational explanation for new fixed-silo ICBMs is that they’re designed for a new launch-on-warning posture, which suggests new developments in China’s early warning capabilities.

In addition to its strategic nuclear warheads, Beijing has about 2,000 theatre nuclear missiles capable of targeting much of the Indo-Pacific. The majority of them are nuclear-armed, but some of the optionally conventionally armed variants (such as the 4,000-kilometre-range DF-26) can reach the north of Australia.

The main point here for Australia is that unless we acquire missiles with ranges in excess of 4,000 kilometres, we won’t be able to retaliate against any attack on us. ..."

China threatens Australia with missile attack | The Strategist

The Real Origins Of Ancient Egypt with Joann Fletcher

Very recommendable!

Genug ist genug: wie Frauen in Aserbaidschan sich gegen Unterdrückung wehren

Empfehlenswert und schockierend!

Meet the Original Antifa: The Weather Underground

Recommendable! Among other things, Mark Levin mentions several leftist violent attacks of the 1970s and 1980s on the U.S. Capitol.

Diagnose Chorea Huntington: Karsten pflegte seine Ehefrau 21 Jahre zu Hause

Bewundernswert!  Das der Mann seine Frau wegen Corona in den letzten Tagen ihres Lebens nicht im Krankenhaus besuchen durfte is eine außerordentliche Schande!

National Institutes of Health gave $46 Million research funds to Chinese Entities since 2011

Incredible! Why any U.S. taxpayer dollars are disbursed by the federal government on research in a communist dictatorship is beyond comprehension!

In particular, if the NIH financed research in China that is not allowed or difficult to conduct in the U.S., then this would be very dubious!

Why President Trump did not fire or retire this 80 year old clown Anthony Fauci and highest paid federal employee is a riddle and a major mistake!

"The National Institutes of Health has doled out nearly $46 million in taxpayer funds to 100 Chinese institutions in the form of subgrants since 2011 to conduct research into infectious diseases, drug addiction, mental health, and other scientific fields, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation analysis of federal spending data. ...
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Institutes of Health subagency led by Dr. Anthony Fauci, provided $6.6 million in taxpayer-funded subgrants to 27 Chinese entities, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology, to conduct research into allergies and infectious diseases ...
Another National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases-funded project provided $600,000 in subgrants to the Wuhan Institute of Virology prior to the COVID-19 pandemic to conduct research that involved the genetic modification of bat-based coronaviruses. ...
Fauci has defended his agency’s funding of the Wuhan lab amid growing concern that it could be linked to the COVID-19 outbreak, saying it would have been “negligent” for his agency not to do so. ..."

NIH Gave Millions to Chinese Entities to Study Infectious Diseases

Water transformed into shiny, golden metal

Amazing stuff! The miracle of water!

Humans still do not even understand water let alone climate! However, powerful, yet medieval forces in our society incessantly demand that Global Warming is real and not a hoax and that Climate Change is an existential threat and not a religion!

"If you can’t turn water into gold like a good alchemist would, the next best thing might be to transform water itself into a shiny, metallic material.

Researchers have achieved that feat by forming a thin layer of water around electron-sharing alkali metals.

The water stayed in a metallic state for a only few seconds, but the experiment did not require the high pressures that are normally needed to turn non-metallic materials into electrically conductive metals. ..."

"... We found that the explosive behaviour of the water–alkali metal reaction can be suppressed by adsorbing water vapour at a low pressure of about 10−4 millibar onto liquid sodium–potassium alloy drops ejected into a vacuum chamber. This set-up leads to the formation of a transient gold-coloured layer of a metallic water solution covering the metal alloy drops. ..."

Water transformed into shiny, golden metal Electrons from a droplet of sodium and potassium turn water into a metallic material that conducts electricity.

Spectroscopic evidence for a gold-coloured metallic water solution (no public access)

Eliminating RNA-binding protein improves survival in aggressive leukemia

Good news! With every passing day cancer is becoming history!

"... The research ... could aid in the development of targeted therapies for cancers that have high levels of the RNA-binding protein IGF2BP3 — especially acute lymphoblastic and myeloid leukemias that are characterized by chromosomal rearrangements in the mixed lineage leukemia (MLL) gene.

In these MLL-rearranged leukemias, IGF2BP3 attaches to certain RNA molecules that carry genetic instructions for cancer-related proteins, markedly amplifying cancer development. ...

team used the powerful gene-editing tool known as CRISPR-Cas9 to remove IGF2BP3 from both MLL-leukemic mice and cell lines. The effects on survival, they found, were striking.

Of the leukemic mice that had IGF2BP3 deleted, approximately 75% had an increase in overall survival, and 50% were leukemia-free. ..."

"... Here, we find that the RNA-binding protein IGF2BP3, which is overexpressed in MLL-translocated leukemia, strongly amplifies MLL-Af4-mediated leukemogenesis. Deletion of Igf2bp3 significantly increases the survival of mice with MLL-Af4-driven leukemia and greatly attenuates disease, with a minimal impact on baseline hematopoiesis. ..."

Eliminating RNA-binding protein improves survival in aggressive leukemia | UCLA: A team led by UCLA scientists found that removing IGF2BP3 selectively targets cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone.

The RNA-binding protein IGF2BP3 is critical for MLL-AF4-mediated leukemogenesis (open access)

US surgeon general recommends fully vaccinated people wear masks outdoors to protect the unvaccinated

Who is more demented, the 46th President of the U.S. or the U.S. Surgeon General? This U.S. Surgeon General is also a holdover of the Obama administration!

Does U.S. Surgeon not realize that e.g. the U.S. in all likelihood has reached herd immunity!

"U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is recommending that fully vaccinated individuals wear face masks outdoors to protect the unvaccinated. Murthy made the suggestion during an appearance on MSNBC, where he said fully vaccinated individuals wearing masks indoors and outdoors was an "extra step" of protection to unvaccinated people."

US surgeon general recommends fully vaccinated people wear masks outdoors to protect the unvaccinated - TheBlaze

The Einstein Papers: Albert Einstein at 50

Recommendable! Incredible, this genius is dead since 1955, but his lifetime oeuvre has still not been published.

"The Einstein Papers Project at Caltech has released the 16th volume of its massive scholarly collection of Albert Einstein's scientific and nonscientific writings and correspondence. The volume covers the period from June 1927 to May 1929 and contains 1,600 letters by and to Einstein, many more than contained in previous volumes. This is due in part to the fact that Einstein turned 50 on March 14, 1929 and received a flood of congratulatory wishes. Some of the documents in the new volume pertain to a birthday present Einstein cherished the most: a single-cabin sailboat, named Tümmler, which means porpoise in German. ..."

Albert Einstein at 50 | www.caltech.edu

Johann Pachelbel Canon in D Major (1680)

Enjoy! "Like his other works, Pachelbel's Canon went out of style, and remained in obscurity for centuries." (Source)

Has herd immunity been attained in the U.S.? Most likely!

As of today, over 60% of the entire U.S. adult population are fully vaccinated. For the population ≥ 65 years of Age it is almost 80%. (Source)

You add to that over 30 Million cases of recovered individuals, who acquired natural immunity. (Source) Unfortunately, I am not aware of a statistics that shows how many recovered individuals were vaccinated after infection. Thus, ruling out any significant overlap between these groups, then another roughly 14% of the adult population of the U.S. are naturally immunized. It is also very disturbing that in the daily discourse about the pandemic, the large population of recovered individuals is typically omitted or ignored!

Hence, adding up the fully vaccinated adult population and the naturally immunized adult population yields a total of roughly 75% of the adult population of the U.S. are protected from Covid-19! In my humble view, this represents herd immunity! One can probably safely assume herd immunity is achieved if at least 67% (2/3) to 75% (3/4) of the population are protected. Such a level of protection ought to slow down the infection rate of the virus. Perhaps, only the highest paid employee in the federal government, i.e. the 80 year old clown Anthony Fauci, would disagree with me.

Given these facts, it is totally absurd that We The People are still inundated on a daily basis with phony mask, vaccination passport or workplace vaccination requirements etc.

Let's return to normal life again ASAP! We The People have suffered enough scaremongering and hysteria and from incompetent elected politicians!

Biden Proposes Buy American Rule for Government Procurements

To spend taxpayers money on domestically produced goods and services is an understandable political demand! It sounds like common sense etc. but is it wise?

It is a kind of one size fits all measure! In most cases, this is unwise!

However, cost savings could be spend more wisely on other, more important things sourced from domestic producers!

The Buy American Act is a leftover of the Great Depression era. It thus certainly contributed to increase the severity of the Great Depression era, because other countries implemented similar laws thereby crippling foreign trade. 

It may conflict with international treaties like WTO and its various agreements.

More federal bureaucracy will be needed especially if the content requirement is to increase from 55% to 60% and to 75% by 2029! How many highly paid federal employees will this take?

"The Biden administration proposed a rule that would accelerate federal procurement policy to require a higher level of American-made products.

Under an initiative released Wednesday, the government will require that products obtained under the longstanding “Buy American” program have at least 60% of the value of components made in the U.S., up from the current 55% threshold. That would increase to 75% by 2029, White House officials said. ..."

Biden Proposes Buy American Rule for Government Procurements - WSJ

How Biden's 'Buy American' plan is different from Trump's

OpenAI: Introducing Triton: Open-Source GPU Programming for Neural Networks

Good news! Exciting!

"We’re releasing Triton 1.0, an open-source Python-like programming language which enables researchers with no CUDA experience to write highly efficient GPU code—most of the time on par with what an expert would be able to produce. Triton makes it possible to reach peak hardware performance with relatively little effort; for example, it can be used to write FP16 matrix multiplication kernels that match the performance of cuBLAS—something that many GPU programmers can’t do—in under 25 lines of code. Our researchers have already used it to produce kernels that are up to 2x more efficient than equivalent Torch implementations, and we’re excited to work with the community to make GPU programming more accessible to everyone. ..."

Introducing Triton: Open-Source GPU Programming for Neural Networks

OpenAI releases Triton, a programming language for AI workload optimization

Triton: an intermediate language and compiler for tiled neural network computations (Link to PDF file)

FREIE WÄHLER fordern die Einrichtung einer unabhängigen Klimaschutzkommission

Ziemlich dumm von der Freie Wähler Partei! 

Warum nicht eine solche Kommission ganz allgemein und generell zu Klimapolitik oder Klimaveränderung?

Es wäre weit besser und klüger gewesen eine Kommission zu Klimawahn oder Klimahysterie in Deutschland zu fordern.

Klimaschutz ist ein deutsches Unwort! Klima ist ein sehr komplexes, extrem langfristiges Phänomen, dass die Menschen immer noch sehr unvollkommen verstehen. Die Vorstellung, dass Menschen das Klima schützen können ist weitgehend absurd! Man denke da nur an die Sonne und ihre Zyklen und wie diese sich auf das Klima der Erde auswirken, die wohl kein Mensch in absehbarer Zukunft je beeinflussen kann!

Mit der Annahme des ideologischen Wortes Klimaschutz hat sich die Partei bereits unglücklich festgelegt und sie hat sich mit den sog. Klimaschützern verbündet! Was unterscheidet diese Partei von den anderen Parteien, wenn sie den Blödsinn wie Klimaschutz nachäfft?

Wie engstirnig ist die Partei? Die Pressemitteilung zitiert "„Ziele müssen nicht nur benannt, sondern auch tatsächlich erreicht werden. Das 1,5-Grad-Ziel ist fix und duldet kein Auseinanderfallen von Ankündigungen und tatsächlicher Zielerreichung. ..." Sind sich diese Politiker nicht mal bewusst, dass solch ein 1.5 Grad Klimaziel völlig absurd ist! Solche Messgenauigkeit vorzugeben in Sachen Klima ist mehr als abenteuerlich. 1.5 Grad ist so viel wie ein Messfehler!

Wirklich freie Wähler lehnen eine Vereinnahmung durch den völlig irrationalen Klimawahn ab!

FREIE WÄHLER fordern die Einrichtung einer unabhängigen Klimaschutzkommission

Hydroponic Farming: How hydroponic farming is coming to India

Good news! 

"The fresh-produce market in India is expected to reach $10 billion by 2025, and traditional farming alone won’t be able to meet this demand. High-tech vertical farming can help Indian farmers produce food where and when they need it by eliminating the need to find fertile land and quality soil." (Source: McKinsey & Co.)

Hydroponic Farming: How hydroponic farming is redefining the approach of adopting a healthy lifestyle?

Israeli COVID-19 Vaccine In Pill Form To Start Clinical Trial In Tel Aviv

For anyone, who refuses vaccination, because of the jab!

"Oramed Pharmaceuticals has created a single-dose oral version of a prospective vaccine being developed by India-based Premas Biotech, and in March announced that it had successfully generated antibodies in pigs.
It hopes that the Israeli-developed pill will be suitable as a simple initial vaccination, as it won’t need to be stored at low temperatures and eliminates the need to have professionals administering injections. ..."

Israeli COVID-19 Vaccine In Pill Form To Start Clinical Trial In Tel Aviv

Antonio Vivaldi Four Seasons: Winter

Enjoy! The complete concerto performed on original instruments

The greatest mathematician that never lived: Nicolas Bourbaki

Very recommendable!

Olympic silver medalist, Iranian defector dedicates medal to Israel to protest antisemitism

Good news! Powerful message coming from the Olympic Games! Hope, this courageous man will not suffer serious consequences because of his deed!

Olympic silver medalist, Iranian defector dedicates medal to Israel to protest anti-Semitism - TheBlaze An Iranian defector representing Mongolia in the Olympic Games dedicated his silver medal victory to the nation of Israel on Tuesday in a powerful protest of antisemitism.

Replicating how plants move

Recommendable! Fascinating!

"... the slow movement of a leaf as it turns towards the Sun, a plant might seem an unlikely choice given that such motion occurs at just a few microns per second. But plants can also act surprisingly quickly. They disperse seeds, for example, at tens of metres per second ...
Quite how plants make an array of movements over such varying timescales has long fascinated scientists. What’s more, lacking any of the muscles or joints found in animals, plants have to exploit other – often ingenious – methods to induce controlled, reliable motion. ...

The most striking example of a catapult is found on leptosporangiate ferns, which hold the spores on the underside of leaves in tiny spherical baskets, about 0.2 mm in diameter. Each basket, known as a “sporangium”, is ringed on one side by a series of cells arranged in a semi-circle. In summer, as the weather gets warmer and drier, water between the cells in this “annulus” starts to evaporate and it stretches out to form a straight arm, with the spores held at the tip. The arm then gets bent backwards, like a catapult primed for operation (figure 1).

At this point, so much energy is stored in the annulus that the pressure of the water falls below its vapour pressure, forming bubbles in the liquid. Known as cavitation, this process releases the stored energy and the arm swings back to its initial curved shape. ... discovered in 2012, this dramatic release of energy accelerates the seeds up to 105g, flinging them from their basket into the surrounding countryside at speeds of 10 m/s ...
A less-well-known carnivorous plant with interesting physics is the aquatic waterwheel (Aldrovanda vesiculosa). Native to Asia, Australia, Europe and Africa, it is an invasive, underwater plant that takes its name from the series of curved leaves arranged in a circle around the plant’s long, central stems. ...
Just like the Venus flytrap, the leaves have a set of trigger hairs on their surface, snapping the lobes together when an insect lands on them. And for this plant too, motion powered by hydraulics alone would not be fast enough for it to catch a meal. So to capture its prey ... the waterwheel uses the principle of “kinematic amplification”. This is where a small, controlled input motion in one part of a structure creates a larger displacement elsewhere. ...

Using an optical microscope, the upper and lower layers of cells in the Cape sundew leaf were found to have different shapes. The lower layer has elongated cells running down the length of the leaf, while the upper layer has more circular cells. When the plant is stimulated ... by an insect landing on its surface ..., the plant alters the internal pressure of its cells, which change size in response.

Much like a balloon, where the inflated shape depends a lot on its initial, deflated shape, the upper and lower cells respond differently to the pressure change, with the long cells on the bottom of the leaf extending much more than the rounder cells on the upper layer. This differential rate of growth changes the overall geometry of the leaf, which curls up around its prey like a forefinger on a hand beckoning inwards ..."

Replicating how plants move – Physics World Once studied by Charles Darwin, the Venus flytrap is perhaps the most famous plant that moves at high speed. ... researchers are still unearthing new scientific insights into plant motion, which could lead to novel, bio-inspired robotic structures

Language Diplomacy and Bilingual Ambitions in Taiwan

Amazing stuff! What an ambitious undertaking for any country! Could this also be the way to go for China?

"In November 2020, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) declared her goal to turn Taiwan into a bilingual country within 10 years. Tsai’s “Bilingual Nation by 2030” agenda is aimed at achieving a high degree of English proficiency among the Taiwanese public. Taipei’s bilingual ambitions are related to several of its diplomatic and economic goals. First, Taiwan hopes to attract more foreign investment and increase international trade opportunities. The government also sees English language capacity as a means to improve international cooperation and strengthen its ties with the global community. Taiwan’s promotion of English learning—coupled with the suggestion from the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT, 美國在台協會) that Taiwan could help replace China’s closing Confucius Institutes—could be an effective method of bolstering US-Taiwan cooperation on language instruction and exchanges.

Bilingual Nation by 2030

Taiwan’s government has highlighted several specific goals in order to achieve national bilingualism. First, English will be used to teach other non-language subjects such as math. To teach in this format, teachers will need higher levels of English fluency and more diverse vocabulary, so the government is working to organize teacher training programs. Second, the government aims to improve translations of relevant government documents and websites for foreigners and international businesses, helping to remove language barriers that could prevent some companies from establishing operations in Taiwan.

Since the announcement of the national bilingual policy, few updates have been reported by the national government. By contrast, some cities and counties in Taiwan—including Taipei, New Taipei, and Pingtung—have publicized their plans to enhance English-language education. These new programs generally focus on improving training for Taiwanese teachers of English and hiring native English speakers. However, the wide variety of strategies at the local level has complicated the national implementation of English learning. For instance, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) stated that English classes must be taught in at least one-third English to be considered bilingual, but many cities and counties have not specified what exactly a bilingual class entails and how it differs from current teaching methods. ..."

Source

Fliegen bald leere Flugzeuge über Europa?

Absurdes aus Europa!

Fliegen bald leere Flugzeuge über Europa? (behind paywall) Nutzt eine Airline ihre Slots an stark benutzten Flughäfen in der EU nicht zur Hälfte, verliert sie diese. Vertreter der etablierten nationalen Airlines halten diese neue Regelung der EU für realitätsfremd und drohen, leer zu fliegen.

'I Was Electrocuted Again And Again And Again': Officer Fanone Describes Horrific Attack On Jan 6

Update 7/29/2021: I had a hunch that something was wrong with this police officer. Today, Greg Kelly exposed it: This officer may have strong political views, he compared the GOP to cancer (leftist?); he was wearing an unusual uniform on that day; he has neck Tattoos (unusual for police officers); he looked like an Antifa guy. Another witness U.S. Capitol police officer during that same congressional hearing even suggested that violence should be taken to former President Trump's home. Incredible, one of the GOP members (Mr. Adam Kinzinger) of the congressional committee even cried!
By the way, we still do not know who shot Ashley Babbitt!

This Capitol Hill police officer's testimony strongly contradicts repeated claims that the January 6th protests were non violent!

He claims e.g.:

1. He was severely beaten by protesters and taken to a hospital
2. Protesters tried to steal his handgun and threatened to shoot him with his gun
3. He was tased by protesters
4. That he was not the only police officer combating with protesters

Is this police officer telling the truth? Is there any video footage to backup his claims (I believe there are thousands of surveillance cameras installed on Capitol Hill)?

Why is ITALY'S ECONOMY a DISASTER (before and after Covid)?

Recommendable! Except Mario Draghi (aka Dracula), serving as Prime Minister of Italy since 13 February 2021, is celebrated too much (read more about him: here, here, and here)!

Gap between number of men and women working in the construction industry globally remains high

Why are feminists and so called gender equality warriors are rarely ever  complaining about the persistent very high number of males working on construction sites all over the world compared to very few female workers?

Well, let dumb males do the dirty work, right! Let the finer things in life be reserved for women or so it may seem!

The reverse applies to female dominated industries like cosmetics/beauty. Why are feminists and gender equality advocates not asking for more inclusion of men to work in these industries?

It is a little known or overlooked fact that feminists and gender equality advocates care a lot about prestigious jobs like c-suite, boardrooms, professorships, research positions and the like, but little about menial jobs.

As usual politics is mostly about power, control, and money! Gender equality is no exception!

Men be aware! Men wake up fast! Your chivalry towards women is being abused! We are in the battle of the sexes!

P.S. This post's headline was inspired by Gap between number of men and women in science globally is slowly closing

The Authoritarian Moment: How the Left Weaponized America's Institutions Against Dissent

I have not read this book, but I am familiar with the author Ben Shapiro!

This book was just promoted by the Convention of States in their latest newsletter.

"The rise of authoritarianism is our country's greatest threat. Whether from Big Government, Big Tech, Big Media, or Big Education, our country's "elites" are dead-set on destroying your freedom and controlling your life. ..."

"... A small [???] number of leftists—college-educated, coastal, and uncompromising—have not just taken over the Democratic Party but our corporations, our universities, our scientific establishment, our cultural institutions. And they have used their newfound power to silence their opposition.

The authoritarian Left is aggressively insistent that everyone must conform to its values, demanding submission and conformity. The dogmatic Left is obsessed with putting people in categories and changing human nature. Everyone who opposes it must be destroyed. ..."

The Authoritarian Moment: How the Left Weaponized America's Institutions Against Dissent: Shapiro, Ben: 9780063001824: Amazon.com: Books

WHO reports progress in the fight against tobacco epidemic

The World Health Organisation with the help of such billionaires as Michael Bloomberg manufactures another global epidemic! These abhorrent  busybodies at the WHO and their many acolytes!

Among other things, the WHO advocates raising taxes on tobacco products. Would this not incentivize governments to allow more tobacco use to generate more revenues and get hooked on these higher revenues? It is a fact that in particular low income people are  hit hardest with higher taxes on tobacco consumption! Do not higher taxes on tobacco promote more illicit tobacco products sold by criminals on the black market? In conclusion, raising taxes on tobacco products is one of the stupidest measures!

"More than four times as many people are now covered by at least one WHO-recommended  tobacco control measure as compared with 2007. The six MPOWER measures are monitoring tobacco use and preventive measures; protecting people from tobacco smoke; offering help to quit; warning about the dangers of tobacco; enforcing bans on advertising, promotion and sponsorship; and raising taxes on tobacco. ...
However, progress has not been even across all MPOWER measures. Some measures like raising tobacco taxes have been slow to move and 49 countries remain without any MPOWER measures adopted. ...
Michael R. Bloomberg, WHO Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases and Injuries and founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies, said “More than 1 billion people around the world still smoke. And as cigarette sales have fallen, tobacco companies have been aggressively marketing new products – like e-cigarettes and heated-tobacco products – and lobbied governments to limit their regulation. Their goal is simple: to hook another generation on nicotine. We can’t let that happen.” ..."

WHO reports progress in the fight against tobacco epidemic Highlights threats posed by new nicotine and tobacco products. Many countries are making progress in the fight against tobacco, but a new World Health Organization report shows some are not addressing emerging nicotine and tobacco products and failing to regulate them.

First commercial direct flights from Israel land in Morocco

Good news! The decades log Arab countries boycott of Israel is hopefully finally coming to an end!

Blessed are the peacemakers!

Why are there so many Israelis of Moroccan descent? The massive Jewish expulsion from Arab countries between 1948-1970s, which caused about 850,000 Jews to leave Arab countries for Israel.

"... Israir and El Al flights from Tel Aviv landed in Marrakesh on Sunday, Agence France Presse reported. The debut flights to Morocco are an outcome of the normalization agreements [Abraham Accords] between Israel and four Arab states.

Israir is planning three flights a week to Marrakesh, the agency quoted the airline’s officials as saying, and El Al five flights a week, to Marrakesh and Casablanca.

Israelis, many of Moroccan descent, have routinely traveled to Morocco since the relaxation of restrictions in the 1990s, but via third countries.  ..."

First commercial direct flights from Israel land in Morocco - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Merkel und die CDU - Szenen einer seltsamen Ehe

Warum die CDU diese bestenfalls mittelmäßige Kanzlerin solange gestützt hat bleibt ein grosses Rätsel! Warum sich Helmut Kohl so verguckt hat ist sehr bedauerlich und schwer begreifbar!

Diese SED Kanzlerin hat so viele schwere Fehler im Laufe der 16 Jahre begangen (siehe meine Abrechnung mit Merkel).

Merkel und die CDU - Szenen einer seltsamen Ehe | Cicero Online (behind paywall) Seit drei Jahrzehnten ist Angela Merkel in der CDU. Niemandem sonst ist es gelungen, der Union derart den eigenen Stempel aufzudrücken. Dennoch hat die Kanzlerin zuletzt beiläufig in der Bundespressekonferenz gesagt, die Partei stehe ihr lediglich „nahe“ – nicht anders herum.

Former U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D, CA) assaulted, robbed in broad daylight in Oakland, CA

Good news! When a (former) top Democratic Party politician gets a taste of the effects of the Democratic Party's reckless soft on crime policies including defunding the police! 

Occasionally, taking pleasure at someone else's misfortune is social equity! The irony is rich!

Former Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer assaulted, robbed in broad daylight in Oakland amid soaring crime in the Bay Area - TheBlaze

Youssou Ndour - Bukki Yi - Clip Officiel

Enjoy! I have attended one or two concerts of the Etoile de Dakar with Youssou Ndour in my home town Frankfurt am Main, Germany in the 1980s or so. 

Erik the Red: The Saga of Viking Greenland

Recommendable! Ever wondered why Greenland is actually called Greenland, which is today a snow and ice covered, largely uninhabited island? Well during the Medieval Warm Period (ca. 950 - 1250 AD) it was so warm that Greenland was a lush green paradise for agriculture that attracted the Vikings to settle there for several hundred years.

The Metis Of Senegal: Art, Culture And Power From Colonial Times

Very recommendable! E.g. watch the old lady throw away her crutch so she could dance with the others in the public square.

The Cultural Riches of Islam with Waldemar Januszczak

Very recommendable! Travel to Taj Mahal, Damascus, Isfahan, Kairo, Samarkand, Istanbul, Djenné (Mali) ...

How the Normans changed the history of Europe

Very recommendable!

The coronavirus cuts cells' cilia, which may help it invade the lungs

Recommendable!

Recommendable! This is a strong reminder that the "cilia move in synchronized waves to push mucus out of the airway and into the throat." is a primitive and not very effective mechanism to prevent pathogens to enter the lungs. We urgently need better ways to protect human lungs!

"... SARS-CoV-2 replication leads to a rapid loss of the ciliary layer, characterized at the ultrastructural level by axoneme loss and misorientation of remaining basal bodies. Downregulation of the master regulator of ciliogenesis Foxj1 occurs prior to extensive cilia loss, implicating this transcription factor in the dedifferentiation of ciliated cells. Motile cilia function is compromised by SARS-CoV-2 infection, as measured in a mucociliary clearance assay. Epithelial defense mechanisms, including basal cell mobilization and interferon-lambda induction, ramp up only after the initiation of cilia damage. ..."

The coronavirus cuts cells' cilia, which may help it invade the lungs | Science News Trimming the structures prevents mucus from moving the invaders out toward the throat

SARS-CoV-2 infection induces the dedifferentiation of multiciliated cells and impairs mucociliary clearance (open access)

A small-molecule activator of the unfolded protein response eradicates human breast tumors in mice

Good news! Cancer is history!

"Estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer is the most common type of breast cancer and, in its metastatic form, is currently incurable. In a new study, Boudreau et al. describe a compound, ErSO, that can activate the unfolded protein response, resulting in necrosis of human breast cancer cell lines in vitro. In vivo, this treatment induced complete regression of cell line and patient-derived orthotopic and metastatic breast cancer xenografts in mice. The authors showed that this treatment was well tolerated in mice, rats, and dogs and could provide a new avenue of intervention for this deadly disease."

"... we report the discovery of a compound, called ErSO, that activates the anticipatory unfolded protein response (a-UPR) and induces rapid and selective necrosis of ERα-positive breast cancer cell lines in vitro. We then tested ErSO in vivo in several preclinical orthotopic and metastasis mouse models carrying different xenografts of human breast cancer lines or patient-derived breast tumors. In multiple orthotopic models, ErSO treatment given either orally or intraperitoneally for 14 to 21 days induced tumor regression without recurrence. In a cell line tail vein metastasis model, ErSO was also effective at inducing regression of most lung, bone, and liver metastases. ..."

A small-molecule activator of the unfolded protein response eradicates human breast tumors in mice | Science Translational Medicine (no public access)

“Magic-angle” trilayer graphene may be a rare, magnet-proof superconductor

Amazing stuff! Why is superconductivity at room temperature so elusive? Why do politicians spend/waste so much money on so called renewable energy (solar, wind) instead of on superconductivity at room temperature research!

"MIT physicists have observed signs of a rare type of superconductivity [spin triplet superconductivity] in a material called magic-angle twisted trilayer graphene. In a study appearing today in Nature, the researchers report that the material exhibits superconductivity at surprisingly high magnetic fields of up to 10 Tesla, which is three times higher than what the material is predicted to endure if it were a conventional superconductor. ...
“Regular quantum computing is super fragile,” ... " ... About 20 years ago, theorists proposed a type of topological superconductivity that, if realized in any material, could [enable] a quantum computer where states responsible for computation are very robust. ..."

" ... Most experimentally known superconductors have spin-singlet Cooper pairs; these include metals (such as lead and niobium) that demonstrate conventional superconductivity, and cuprates (layered copper oxide compounds) that exhibit unconventional superconductivity. Writing in Nature, Cao et al.1 report evidence for unconventional superconductivity associated with spin-triplet Cooper pairs.
Two-dimensional spin-triplet superconductors have attracted widespread attention because many of them are predicted to host exotic zero-energy excitations called Majorana zero modes. A well-studied example of such a superconductor is a 2D chiral p-wave superconductor2. This system breaks time-reversal symmetry (its physical properties would change if the direction of time were reversed), and Majorana zero modes are expected to exist in the cores of vortices (threads of magnetic flux) when a magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the system. Majorana zero modes are promising candidates for topological qubits — the building blocks of a type of ‘fault-tolerant’ quantum computation known as topological quantum computation3,4. Therefore, given that most known spin-triplet superconductors are 3D, experimentally established 2D spin-triplet superconductors are much desired. ..."

“Magic-angle” trilayer graphene may be a rare, magnet-proof superconductor | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology New findings might help inform the design of more powerful MRI machines or robust quantum computers.

Superconductivity in a graphene system survives a strong magnetic field (open access) A material system known as magic-angle twisted trilayer graphene exhibits superconductivity. The observation that this superconductivity persists under a strong magnetic field could lead to advances in quantum computation.

Scientists Discover "Gorditas" and Other Novel Brain Cell Types

Amazing stuff! One would wish billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, and Elon Musk would invest more money in brain research instead of space race trips! There is still so much to discover regarding our brains!

"... The results suggest new roles for glial cells, best known for providing support to neurons, and could prompt a better understanding of how brains remain plastic into adulthood, when the vast majority of neurons no longer undergo cell division.... Most mammalian brain cells, be they neurons or glia, are generated during embryonic development, and reservoirs of stem cells become largely, if not entirely, dormant in adulthood. The small trickle of activity that is left can help the brain respond to change, sometimes by generating new neurons to help with learning or by producing cells in response to injury or disease.
One pool exists in the brains of adult humans and mice, in an area called the ventricular-subventricular zone (V-SVZ). The walls of the two lateral ventricles, cavities filled with cerebrospinal fluid, are lined with stem cells, and along these walls, the cells have a regional identity—where a stem cell lies on the wall dictates what it differentiates into ..."

"Quiescent [dormant] neural stem cells (NSCs) in the adult mouse ventricular-subventricular zone (V-SVZ) undergo activation to generate neurons and some glia. Here we show that platelet-derived growth factor receptor beta (PDGFRβ) is expressed by adult V-SVZ NSCs that generate olfactory bulb interneurons and glia. Selective deletion of PDGFRβ in adult V-SVZ NSCs leads to their release from quiescence, uncovering gliogenic domains for different glial cell types. These domains are also recruited upon injury. We identify an intraventricular oligodendrocyte progenitor derived from NSCs inside the brain ventricles that contacts supraependymal axons."

Scientists Discover "Gorditas" and Other Novel Brain Cell Types | The Scientist Magazine® A pool of neural stem cells that ordinarily lies dormant in the brains of adult mice spawns two types of never-before-documented glial cells when artificially reactivated, potentially pointing to a novel mechanism of brain plasticity.

Release of stem cells from quiescence reveals gliogenic domains in the adult mouse brain (no public access)

What will China do if its interests in Africa are threatened by Michael Rubin

Recommendable, but a bit disappointing! This time, Michael Rubin only scratched the surface of this subject!

"Over the past 20 years, China has almost completely displaced the United States as the primary trading partner for countries in Africa. Nairobi roads sport billboards for new Chinese projects. To sit in the Addis Ababa airport, one of the continent’s top hubs, is to see flights almost entirely filled with Chinese businessmen departing for places like Djibouti, Juba, or N’Djamena.

Djibouti itself is especially important for China. It is strategic today for the same reasons it was in the late-nineteenth century when the French established it as a coaling station as France sought to be a global power. China’s political and economic investment in the port has been heavy. Not only does Djibouti now host China’s first overseas naval base but Beijing apparently also sees Djibouti as its gateway to East Africa and the Sahel.

In 2016, China inaugurated the Djibouti to Addis Ababa railroad, providing landlocked Ethiopia an outlet. ... Beijing’s ambitions likely remain high, however. Ethiopia may be a poor country, but it is still the continent’s seventh-largest economy. Between 2010 and 2019, its economy boomed, growing on average 9.4 percent per year. It is also resource-rich in terms of agriculture, minerals, and natural gas. ...
the Tigray Defense Forces [Ethiopia] have entered the neighboring province of Afar. Should the offensive continue against the backdrop of the ENDF’s [government forces] collapse, the Tigrayan force could, if the offensive continues, both disrupt the new Chinese rail project connecting Awash in Afar to Woldia in Amhara and cut the railway link between Addis Ababa and Djibouti that also passes through Awash. ..."

What will China do if its interests in Africa are threatened? | American Enterprise Institute - AEI

David & Goliath: A Biblical Battle

Very recommendable!

Blocking bacteria’s self-poisoning mechanism weakens their antibiotic resistance

Recommendable! Good news! Sounds a bit nutty!

"... ‘Bacteria appear to use controlled self-poisoning with H2S to slow down their metabolism, preventing the antibiotics from using the bacteria’s energy production system to kill them,’ ..."

"... In one defense mechanism, tolerant bacteria, also called “persisters,” stop multiplying (proliferating), reducing their energy use (metabolism) to survive antibiotic treatment, but resuming growth when the treatment ends. Persisters are particularly abundant in biofilms, bacterial colonies that live in tough polymeric matrices, which further prevent their eradication. ...
In their prior work, the NYU Langone research team showed that H2S production is deployed against antibiotics by a wide variety of bacterial species, including two increasingly antibiotic-resistant pathogens prevalent in hospital-borne infections: Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. S. aureus is gram-positive, while Pseudomonas aeruginosa is gram-negative, with the differing organizations of their outer layers demonstrating that H2S production protects pathogens across the bacterial kingdom. Remarkably, the research team found that both species rely on the same enzyme, cystathionine γ-lyase (CSE), for the bulk of H2S production. Blocking its action would represent then a way to remove an important defense against antibiotics, but available CSE inhibitors have a low potency against bacterial CSE and a high probability of causing side effects in human tissue ..."

"... Here we report an effective antimicrobial strategy targeting the bacterial hydrogen sulfide (H2S)–mediated defense system. We identified cystathionine γ-lyase (CSE) as the primary generator of H2S in two major human pathogens, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and discovered small molecules that inhibit bacterial CSE. These inhibitors potentiate bactericidal antibiotics against both pathogens in vitro and in mouse models of infection. CSE inhibitors also suppress bacterial tolerance, disrupting biofilm formation and substantially reducing the number of persister bacteria that survive antibiotic treatment. Our results establish bacterial H2S as a multifunctional defense factor and CSE as a drug target for versatile antibiotic enhancers. ..."

Blocking bacteria’s self-poisoning mechanism weakens their antibiotic resistance | Research | Chemistry World Blocking a hydrogen sulfide defence mechanism appears to make bacteria more vulnerable to antibiotics – a finding that could offer a new way to tackle antimicrobial resistance.

Researchers Discover Critical Role of Hydrogen Sulfide in Ability of Bacteria to Survive Antibiotics

Inhibitors of bacterial H2S biogenesis targeting antibiotic resistance and tolerance

Hydrogel medical electrodes that flow to fit the body

Recommendable!

"... Inspired by the unique physical properties of living human tissues, a team of scientists from Harvard’s Wyss Institute and John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) has created flexible, metal-free electrode arrays that snugly conform to the body’s myriad shapes, from the deep creases of the brain to the fibrous nerves of the heart. This close embrace allows electrical impulses to be recorded and stimulated with lower required voltages, enables their use in hard-to-reach areas of the body, and minimizes the risk of damage to delicate organs. ..."

"... Our arrays intimately conform to the convoluted surface of the heart or brain cortex and offer promising bioengineering applications for recording and stimulation."

Electrodes that flow to fit the body New metal-free hydrogel electrodes flex to fit the body’s many shapes, avoiding damage to organs

Viscoelastic surface electrode arrays to interface with viscoelastic tissues (no public access)

U.S. Senate Panel Votes to Require Women to Register for Draft

Bravo! This move is long overdue! Feminists and women's rights activists etc. prefer and enjoy the benefits of being equal to men, but when it comes to the duties that men historically have been assigned to not so much!

I believe, there were very few feminists who have advocated that women should also participate in military service like men. Most of these feminists are probably obscure and forgotten.

"After a lengthy closed-door review of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2022, the Senate Armed Services Committee approved language in the bill that would require young women to register for the draft.

According to a summary the NDAA released Thursday, it highlights the change, saying the new bill is amending “the Military Selective Service Act to require the registration of women for Selective Service.” ..."

Senate Panel Votes to Require Women to Register for Draft (behind paywall)

Wie die Europaeische Zentralbank die Schulden der Mitgliedsstaaten finanziert

Die Schuldenunion! Auf Pump lebt es sich gut! Mal sehn wie diese unverantwortliche Schuldenmacherei ausgeht! Viele Bürger der EU werden diesen Aufkauf von Staatsschulden durch die EZB wahrscheinlich gar nicht bemerken!

"Bereits Ende 2020 hielt die EZB rund 21 Prozent der Schulden im Euroraum. Im Corona-Jahr wurden die Staatsanleihekäufe noch einmal verstärkt. So erwarb die EZB im Jahr 2020 österreichische Papiere in Höhe von rund 80 Prozent der Neuverschuldung, wie eine Berechnung der Agenda Austria zeigt.

In manchen Ländern wurde von der EZB sogar mehr angekauft als die jeweiligen Staaten an Neuverschuldung 2020 aufgenommen hatten. „Das ist deshalb möglich, da die Zentralbank auch die Schulden der vergangenen Jahre kaufen kann. Somit kann die Höhe der neu aufgekauften Schulden in einem Jahr höher als die tatsächliche Neuverschuldung ausfallen“ ... "

Grafik: Wie die EZB Staaten finanziert

Trump Ally Tom Barrack Freed on $250 Million Bond in Foreign-Agent Case

This is very dangerous stuff! If non-politician individuals choose to get involved in a U.S. president's administration, but have to fear they will by hunted and persecuted by the next administration!

This hunt for President Trump administration officials is dangerous! Every individual will think twice to join a U.S. administration! This will clearly bias those, who will be coming forward and who will be selected. 

This almost requires a federal law to protect former non-career U.S. administration officials.

When will Hunter Biden be finally prosecuted?

"Mr. Barrack, who was arrested in Los Angeles Tuesday, was ordered to appear in federal court in Brooklyn on Monday, when he will be arraigned on charges of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements during a 2019 interview with federal law-enforcement agents. ... A spokesperson for Mr. Barrack has said he isn’t guilty of the charges.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Donahue agreed to the 74-year-old Mr. Barrack’s release on several conditions, including a $250 million bond with $5 million in cash deposited and held in the trust account of Paul Hastings LLP, his attorney’s law firm. Mr. Barrack, who didn’t appear in court in Los Angeles Friday, also had to surrender his passport and agree to location monitoring. ..."

 

Trump Ally Tom Barrack Freed on $250 Million Bond in Foreign-Agent Case - WSJ (behind paywall) The real-estate investor and former Trump adviser will appear in federal court Monday on charges that he acted as a U.A.E. foreign agent and lied to federal investigators

Exclusive video of armed smugglers at the border on Tucker Carlson Tonight

And all this insanity of mass illegal immigration thanks to a demented and senile 46th president of the United States

Scientific publishers expedite retroactive name changes for transgender authors

Oh, this will be fun! (Caution: Irony)! Does this mean all the references listed in research papers need to be retroactively corrected as well?

Some researchers seek other ways to fame and glory than pursuing to advance scientific knowledge!

Here is my blog post regarding the circus of LGBTQ.

The pragmatic and realistic solution to the name change of a researcher, who became transgender, is to apply his/her new name only to papers going forward. 

"In an effort to expand inclusivity for transgender researchers, some scientific publishers and societies worldwide have adopted policies that allow rapid and discreet author name changes to be made on digital editions of published works. These include research articles, conference papers, books and book chapters. ..."

Scientific publishers expedite name changes for authors Safety and equity concerns prompt some journals and scientific societies to hasten use of new names on transgender authors’ works.

Changing a name without forfeiting credit A group of US national laboratories, publishers, journals and other organizations is making it easier for researchers to update their names on past publications.

Klimaschutz-Wahn ohne Sinn und Verstand

Sehr empfehlenswert!

Howard Hughes Medical Institute: Mentoring, Diversity and Inclusion Are Top Priority for 50 New Gilliam Fellows

I am not sure what the late Howard Hughes thinks about this perversion! Is this another case of violation of original donor intent? Quite possible!

When leftist ideology invades and pervades outstanding scientific research!

"... They come from 38 schools across the country. Their research spans the life sciences, from plant biology to evolution. And they represent the largest group of fellows selected in the Gilliam Program’s history.

Today, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) announces 50 new Gilliam fellowships awarded to graduate students conducting outstanding research in their respective scientific fields and their advisers, who are committed to building a more inclusive scientific ecosystem. For up to three years, each adviser-student pair will receive an annual award totaling $50,000. ..."

Mentoring and Inclusion Are Top Priority for 50 New Gilliam Fellows and Their Advisers | HHMI The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has selected the 2021 class of Gilliam adviser-student pairs as part of a program to advance diversity and inclusion in science.

Hochwasser: Rasch handeln und aus der Katastrophe lernen. Wirklich?

Empfehlenswert!

Bereits im Jahr 2002 wurde u.a. folgendes zur Verbesserung des Katastrophenschutzes von einer Kommission empfohlen:

1. "Die Verantwortung für Deiche, Talsperren, Rückhaltebecken und Gewässerpflege sollten in einer Hand gebündelt werden. Die Zuständigkeit für Hochwasserwarnungen muss an einer Stelle zusammenlaufen, alle Katastrophenschutzbehörden und Gemeinden für Hochwasserwarnungen müssen immer erreichbar sein."
2. "Die große Zahl katastrophenschutzrechtlicher Verwaltungsvorschriften erschwert den Überblick über die geregelte Materie. Die Detailhaftigkeit der Regelungen ist eigenverantwortlichem und situationsbezogenem Handeln nicht förderlich"

Was ist daraufhin geschehen, wahrscheinlich wenig bis zur jüngsten Flutkatastrophe, wie sie nur alle paar Jahrzehnte vorkommen.

Hochwasser: Rasch handeln und aus der Katastrophe lernen - Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Nach dem verheerenden Hochwasser ist rasches und unbürokratisches Handeln das Gebot der Stunde. Gleichzeitig stellt sich die Frage, was aus der Katastrophe gelernt werden kann. Anhaltspunkte dafür bieten die Erfahrungen aus dem Jahr 2002.

How Magnetism Shapes The Universe

Very recommendable! 

The effect of Religion on the Brain

Recommendable! Incredible, this type of research is still extremely nascent despite of several decades of research! There is little doubt in my mind that serious, prolonged religiosity/spirituality affects the brain probably mostly positive. I bet, more will be discovered as time goes on!

"... For decades, researchers have observed that some patients with temporal lobe epilepsy experienced hyper-religiosity—religious beliefs so intense that they can interrupt daily functioning. ...
The nascent field [neurotheology, neurospirituality] so far is characterized by disparate findings that are rarely replicated and difficult to reconcile into a cohesive hypothesis. Last year, one group used MRI to measure anatomical differences among individuals at three different regions of the brain—including areas in the temporal lobe implicated in hyper-religiosity after epilepsy surgeries—that they thought might process religious experiences. After questioning 211 individuals about their religiosity and spirituality and scanning their brains, the researchers found no differences in gray matter volume between those who said they were religious and those who said they weren’t. That team did not specifically look at the periaqueductal gray. ...
Other inconsistencies also plague the literature. Researchers define “spirituality” and “religiosity” differently in each study, for example. “Most of these studies have been based on a single measure,” says Connie Svob, a neuropsychiatrist in Weissman’s lab. Some might ask participants how important religion is to them, while others ask how often they pray or if they consider themselves religious people. ...
One of the major findings ... was that participants who believed in the importance of religion had less cortical thinning—a reduction in the volume of neuronal tissue in specific areas of the brain that’s considered a hallmark of depression risk—than did those who said they didn’t. ...

... recruited 88 patients who were scheduled to undergo neurosurgery to remove brain tumors. Both before and after the surgeries, the participants filled out surveys that asked about religiosity and spirituality. After their surgeries, 30 patients said their religiosity and spirituality decreased, while 29 said it increased, and another 29 didn’t experience any change. 

The researchers compared their answers to the sections of the brain the patients had had removed and found that patients whose spirituality changed in either direction had a portion of the brain removed that connected to the PAG [Periaqueductal gray]. “The finding that the network they identified is centered on the PAG is a bit surprising, as that region is not usually flagged in neuroimaging studies on spirituality,” ..."

Religion on the Brain | The Scientist Magazine® Researchers in a small but growing field search for neural correlates of religiosity and spirituality.

Individual cell’s energy metabolism caught on camera for the first time

Amazing stuff!

"The new technology combines fluorescence resonance energy transfer (Fret) between two light-sensitive molecules with machine learning ...
Glucose is a vital energy source for almost all cell types, but the process of glycolysis in cancer often goes wrong. This can contribute to the diseased state of a malignant cell, supporting its ability to move, grow and divide. By pairing Fret technology with a new machine learning algorithm, [researchers] team were able to obtain images of glycolysis at a previously unachievable resolution, showing exactly which parts of the cell were using glucose in real time. ..."

"Single-cell motility is spatially heterogeneous and driven by metabolic energy. Directly linking cell motility to cell metabolism is technically challenging but biologically important. Here, we use single-cell metabolic imaging to measure glycolysis in individual endothelial cells with genetically encoded biosensors capable of deciphering metabolic heterogeneity at subcellular resolution. ..."

Individual cell’s energy metabolism caught on camera for the first time | Research | Chemistry World High-resolution images of human metabolism have been caught on camera for the first time thanks to a new technique that can track glucose metabolism in a single cell. Tracking glucose could provide insights and even new therapies to treat cancer – a disease which often disrupts cellular metabolism.

Single-cell metabolic imaging reveals a SLC2A3-dependent glycolytic burst in motile endothelial cells (no public access)

Does POLAND want to create its own EUROPEAN UNION? The THREE SEAS initiative

Recommendable! Very interesting development within the EU!

Die Hochwasserkatastrophe zeigt einen weiteren Teil der Staatsverwahrlosung

Empfehlenswert! Unkontrollierte massenweise Einwanderung, die unsinnige Energiewende, und der kostspielige Aufbau der maroden, ehemaligen DDR etc. haben tiefe Spuren hinterlassen. Dazu kommt noch die lange Amtsdauer der unfähigen SED Kanzlerin Merkel (Mein Gott hat sich Helmut Kohl in dieser Frau verguckt)!

Die Hochwasserkatastrophe zeigt einen weiteren Teil der Staatsverwahrlosung Nach der Modernisierung der Infrastruktur, vor allem der des Verkehrs im "Beitrittsgebiet", verrottet die komplette Infrastruktur des Landes, wird alles auf Verschleiss gefahren. Dass der Katastrophenschutz versagt hat, liegt auch an der Schönwetter-Mentalität des Zeitgeists.

Prager University: Soft on crime begets more Crime

Very recommendable! 40 million Americans live now in jurisdictions where prosecutors apply their soft on crime policies! 

Churches being burned in Canada as Trudeau looks on

Very disturbing! Like Kristallnacht!