Recommendable. Concerning. MAD, MADDER ... (Hint: MAD = Mutually Assured Destruction)
Tuesday, October 31, 2023
US Wants to Bulk Buy Japanese Fish to Counter China Ban with Palki Sharma
Recommendable. Sometimes politics gets to be really fishy! 😊
Why Israel Has Gone Missing from China's Maps provided by Baidu and Alibaba with Palki Sharma
Very recommendable! Hilarious! Antisemitism in China? This is what communists do best!
Why Aldi Is America’s Fastest Growing Grocery Store
Recommendable! Aldi has been a household name for several decades in Germany. I wonder whether Aldi also sells German beer like Trader Joe's, which even sells my hometown beer. 😊
Quantum computer startup first to break 1,000-qubit milestone leaving IBM in the dust
Good news! Could this be a critical breakthrough?
"... Now, Atom Computing has announced the most advanced quantum computing platform to date, boasting an impressive 1,180 qubits. That’s a huge leap over the previous most powerful quantum computer – IBM’s Osprey, with 433 qubits. ...
Atom claims that its quantum computer excels in other measures too. Earlier this year the company demonstrated mid-circuit measurement – where the quantum state of desired qubits can be probed without disturbing neighboring qubits. The computer also apparently boasts coherence times – a measure of how long qubits can store information – of 40 seconds. By comparison, the Osprey tops out at around 80 microseconds. ..."
"Fault-tolerant quantum computers that can overcome errors during computations and deliver accurate results will require hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of physical qubits along with other key capabilities, including:
- Long coherence times. The company has achieved record coherence times by demonstrating its qubits can store quantum information for 40 seconds.
- Mid-circuit measurement. Atom demonstrated the ability to measure the quantum state of specific qubits during computation and detect certain types of errors without disturbing other qubits.
- High fidelities. Being able to control qubits consistently and accurately to reduce the number of errors that occur during a computation.
- Error correction. The ability to correct errors in real time.
- Logical qubits. Implementing algorithms and controls to combine large numbers of physical qubits into a “logical qubit” designed to yield correct results even when errors occur. ..."
Quantum startup Atom Computing first to exceed 1,000 qubits Systems to be available in 2024, on path to fault-tolerant quantum computing this decade
Mouse embryos successfully grown in space for the first time
Are we getting ready to colonize other planets or the moon? Or are we getting closer to an extended multi generational space Odyssey?
Happy proliferation in space with minimal risks of overpopulation! (Caution: Satire)
"Highlights
• Mouse 2-cell embryos can develop into blastocysts under microgravity
• Gravity did not affect initial differentiation of mammalian embryos
• Mammals can thrive in space
Summary
Mammalian embryos differentiate into the inner cell mass (ICM) and trophectoderm at the 8–16 cell stage. The ICM forms a single cluster that develops into a single fetus. However, the factors that determine differentiation and single cluster formation are unknown. Here we investigated whether embryos could develop normally without gravity. As the embryos cannot be handled by an untrained astronaut, a new device was developed for this purpose. Using this device, two-cell frozen mouse embryos launched to the International Space Station were thawed and cultured by the astronauts under microgravity for 4 days. The embryos cultured under microgravity conditions developed into blastocysts with normal cell numbers, ICM, trophectoderm, and gene expression profiles similar to those cultured under artificial-1 g control on the International Space Station and ground-1 g control, which clearly demonstrated that gravity had no significant effect on the blastocyst formation and initial differentiation of mammalian embryos."
Effect of microgravity on mammalian embryo development evaluated at the International Space Station (open access)
Graphical abstract
The Reformation of Money: Bitcoin’s Whitepaper And Its Parallels To Martin Luther
Bold claims! Will the citizens of the world be able to privatize money? One global currency?
Certainly food for thought!
"... That’s right, I am talking about Whitepaper Day. It was 15 years ago today that one of the most important documents ever written was released to the world. The importance of this document is akin to Martin Luther, who published his 95 Theses in Wittenberg, Germany, on October 31, 1517.
Satoshi Nakamoto must have been a student of history because there is little chance this was a coincidence and Satoshi must have understood the significance of publishing the Whitepaper on this day. The parallels between the Whitepaper and the 95 Theses simply can’t be ignored. ..."
China's flying supercar company unveils surprising new hybrid-electric vehicles
Is a flying car going to land near you anytime soon? How about refueling mid-air?
This vehicle comes with parachutes too!
Advisory: This article is based on company promotion.
"China's AeroHT is making rapid progress with its eVTOL flying cars, and it's now shown two fascinating new concepts – a six-wheel-drive hybrid-electric "aircraft carrier" van, and a new version of the flying supercar, with a fully concealed airframe. ..."
Russia, a Chinese cargo ship and the sabotage of subsea cables in the Baltic Sea
Recommendable! This article stresses again how vulnerable are our dependence on submarine telecommunication cables criss crossing our oceans are.
Investigating these incidences seems to be extremely difficult and challenging!
California increasingly shutting off wind, solar farms due to lack of power lines and mismatch between generation and demand
Wind and solar power are the greatest scam of our time!
"California’s buildout of wind and solar farms is exceeding the ability of its grid to handle all the electricity during periods of high production and low demand.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Monday that curtailments, which is when wind and solar farms are deliberately shut down, increased to peak levels in 2023. ...
These curtailments, for example, typically reach their peak in spring, when the weather is mild and demand on the grid is low. ..."
Fridays for Hamas (Antisemitismus bei Klimaaktivisten)
Schlagzeile des Tages! Trifft genau!
Researchers identify key genes in the development of the primate brain and what makes primate brains different from other species
Amazing stuff!
"The development of the brain requires an elaborate, tightly organized chain of events that are jumpstarted by neural stem cells, which give rise to increasingly specialized cells that carry out all brain functions. But what molecular events occur during this process that account for differences in the brains of primates and mice?
In a new study, ... researchers tracked changes created by neural stem cells in the brains of macaque monkeys and humans ... revealed the molecular origins of the developmental differences that distinguish primates from mice.
Among the key differences they observed was increased activation of GALP (Galanin-like peptide) ...
the presence of GALP helped spur proliferation of neural stem cells in the primate brains, the researchers said. No such GALP-generated activity was found in the mouse brain.
“The finding suggests that GALP may play a role in the increased size and complexity of the primate brain across evolution,” ..."
"During early telencephalic development, intricate processes of regional patterning and neural stem cell (NSC) fate specification take place. However, our understanding of these processes in primates, including both conserved and species-specific features, remains limited. Here, we profiled 761,529 single-cell transcriptomes from multiple regions of the prenatal macaque telencephalon. We deciphered the molecular programs of the early organizing centers and their cross-talk with NSCs, revealing primate-biased galanin-like peptide (GALP) signaling in the anteroventral telencephalon. Regional transcriptomic variations were observed along the frontotemporal axis during early stages of neocortical NSC progression and in neurons and astrocytes. Additionally, we found that genes associated with neuropsychiatric disorders and brain cancer risk might play critical roles in the early telencephalic organizers and during NSC progression."
Molecular programs of regional specification and neural stem cell fate progression in macaque telencephalon (open access)
Regionalization of macaque telencephalon.
Fig. 1. Cell atlas of macaque telencephalon.
PragerU: Ulysses S. Grant: The General Who Saved the Union
Very recommendable! This Prager University video is definitely too short!
Remember: The American Civil War was totally unnecessary and unconstitutional. It was not about ending slavery, but preventing secession.
Monday, October 30, 2023
Police statewide were warned about the alleged Maine mass shooter weeks before he massacred 18 people
As happens too often warning signs are ignored or not taken serious enough! That needs to change! Sometimes it would be very advisable to confiscate the weapons as a precaution and err on the side of caution.
There were apparently multiple credible warnings about the individual before the mass shootings occurred.
In this case: "New York State Police officers were reportedly called on July 16 to West Point by his superior officers regarding his behavior and threats he had made against other reservists. As a result of the NYSP intervention, he underwent two weeks of mental health evaluation at the Kelly Army Community Hospital at the U.S. Military Academy. ...
"If in fact the suspect was hospitalized for two weeks for mental illness, that should have triggered the yellow-flag law and he should have been separated from his weapons," said U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), reported Connecticut Public."
UAW Strike Ends with Higher Wages, Better Benefits for Auto Workers. Really!
Maybe with more robots and fewer jobs too!
Could be what is also called a Pyrrhic Victory! A few get to keep their jobs.
Tree rings reveal evidence of most powerful solar storm on record
We still know shockingly little about the sun!
What if the sun and its variable solar activity is the main cause of climate change on earth and not the harmless, life essential atmospheric trace gas CO2?
"... Our Sun is capable of some truly terrifying outbursts – and now scientists have discovered evidence of its biggest tantrum on record. Tree rings dating back around 14,000 years contain a radiocarbon spike twice as powerful as the previous biggest known solar storm. ...
In 1859, Earth was struck by the strongest solar storm in modern history. It was reported that aurora could be seen almost all the way to the equator – but it wasn’t all good news, as the spike also shorted out communications systems and even sparked fires in some telegraph stations. Now known as the Carrington Event, if a similar storm was to hit Earth today it could fry GPS satellites and knock out large sections of the power grid. ...
Scientists have since discovered several other examples, called Miyake events, within the last 15,000 years. These are found by searching for sharp spikes of radiocarbons in tree rings, or for measurements of elements like beryllium in ice cores. ...
Scientists have since discovered several other examples, called Miyake events, within the last 15,000 years. These are found by searching for sharp spikes of radiocarbons in tree rings, or for measurements of elements like beryllium in ice cores. ...
Now, scientists have found evidence of the most powerful solar storm on record – as much as 10 times more powerful than the Carrington event, and twice as strong as the previous record-holder, which blasted Earth in the year 774 CE. In the rings of ancient, partially fossilized trees in the French Alps, the team discovered an unprecedented radiocarbon spike dating back 14,300 years ago. ..."
"... Nine such extreme solar storms – known as Miyake Events – have now been identified as having occurred over the last 15,000 years. The most recent confirmed Miyake Events occurred in 993 AD and 774 AD. This newly-identified 14,300-year-old storm is, however, the largest that has ever been found – roughly twice the size of these two.
The exact nature of these Miyake Events remains very poorly understood as they have never been directly observed instrumentally. They highlight that we still have much to learn about the behaviour of the Sun and the dangers it poses to society on Earth. We do not know what causes such extreme solar storms to occur, how frequently they might occur, or if we can somehow predict them. ..."
"We present new 14C results measured on subfossil Scots Pines recovered in the eroded banks of the Drouzet watercourse in the Southern French Alps. About 400 new 14C ages have been analysed on 15 trees sampled at annual resolution. The resulting Δ14C record exhibits an abrupt spike occurring in a single year at 14 300–14 299 cal yr BP and a century-long event between 14 and 13.9 cal kyr BP. In order to identify the causes of these events, we compare the Drouzet Δ14C record with simulations of Δ14C based on the 10Be record in Greenland ice used as an input of a carbon cycle model. The correspondence with 10Be anomalies allows us to propose the 14.3 cal kyr BP event as a solar energetic particle event. By contrast, the 14 cal kyr BP event lasted about a century and is most probably a common Maunder-type solar minimum linked to the modulation of galactic cosmic particles by the heliomagnetic field. We also discuss and speculate about the synchroneity and the possible causes of the 14 cal kyr BP event with the brief cold phase called Older Dryas, which separates the Bølling and Allerød millennium-long warm phases of the Late Glacial period."
Figure 10. Δ14C records of Drouzet, Italian and German pines placed on the new chronology compared with our Δ14C simulations with the 12-box model forced with the normalized GRIP 10Be flux (brown curve) and normalized 10Be concentration record (dashed purple curve). ...
How Old Are Your Eyes? New 'Clock' Could Reveal Disease Risk
Amazing stuff! About the connection between diseases and aging. Single cell analysis could have huge potential in other areas as well!
"... The team, led by researchers ... adapted a technique used for analyzing eye fluid. Almost 6,000 proteins detected in the fluid could be traced back to the eye's cells, 26 of which were collectively linked to eye aging.
This was done through an artificial intelligence system trained on the eye fluid of 46 healthy patients, where ages could be cross-referenced. In further tests, the AI was able to predict someone's age from their eye fluid (give or take a few years). ..."
"... “This is one of the best connections ever made that suggests disease triggers accelerated aging,” ..."
"Highlights
• Trace the cellular origin of >5,900 proteins in locally enriched fluid compartments
• Assess disease states at cellular resolution in non-regenerative organs in living humans
• AI proteomic clocks reveal accelerated cell aging in non-age-related diseases
• Molecular dysfunction of retinal cells during brain disease
Summary
Single-cell analysis in living humans is essential for understanding disease mechanisms, but it is impractical in non-regenerative organs, such as the eye and brain, because tissue biopsies would cause serious damage. We resolve this problem by integrating proteomics of liquid biopsies with single-cell transcriptomics from all known ocular cell types to trace the cellular origin of 5,953 proteins detected in the aqueous humor. We identified hundreds of cell-specific protein markers, including for individual retinal cell types. Surprisingly, our results reveal that retinal degeneration occurs in Parkinson’s disease, and the cells driving diabetic retinopathy switch with disease stage. Finally, we developed artificial intelligence (AI) models to assess individual cellular aging and found that many eye diseases not associated with chronological age undergo accelerated molecular aging of disease-specific cell types. Our approach, which can be applied to other organ systems, has the potential to transform molecular diagnostics and prognostics while uncovering new cellular disease and aging mechanisms."
Stanford Medicine researchers build an eye ‘aging clock’ that could lead to treatments for ocular diseases Stanford Medicine researchers clock the age of cells to find new therapy targets.
Graphical abstract
Famous Thomas Paine Quotes
I am a great fan of Thomas Paine. Not least is my blog named after one of his famous publications. I will amend these quotes as time goes by.
'The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.''
"THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. ..."
"Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one. The trade of governing has always been monopolized by the most ignorant and the most rascally individuals of mankind."
"The landholder, the farmer, the manufacturer, the merchant, the tradesman, and every occupation prospers by the aid which each receives from the other, and from the whole. Common interest regulates their concerns, and forms their laws; and the laws which common usage ordains, have a greater influence than the laws of government. In fine, society performs for itself almost everything that is ascribed to government."
New study identifies common abnormal physical features in babies born to mothers who used fentanyl
Very sad!
"Babies born to mothers who used fentanyl during pregnancy displayed similar facial and musculoskeletal abnormalities that suggest the emergence of a novel syndrome, according to research published in the journal Genetics in Medicine Open. ..."
"A novel syndrome was suspected in individuals sharing short stature, microcephaly, distinctive facial features, and congenital anomalies. We enrolled 6 patients in an institutional review board approved study and evaluated medical history, findings, facial photographs, and test results across this original cohort. Four additional cases with similar findings were contributed by clinicians from outside institutions, bringing the number of reported cases to 10 and supporting the existence of this novel syndrome.
The 6 individuals enrolled into the institutional review board approved study shared microcephaly, short stature, and distinctive facial features. Congenital malformations included cleft palate, talipes equinovarus or rocker bottom feet, and chordee or hypospadias. Short, broad thumbs, single palmar crease, and mild 2,3 toe syndactyly were present. A hypoplastic corpus callosum was noted in 3 of 5 with appropriate evaluation. Their growth and physical findings were suggestive of Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome. Biochemical studies shortly after delivery indicated abnormalities in the cholesterol metabolism pathway that subsequently resolved. No shared genomic or genetic cause was identified. All individuals were born after a pregnancy complicated by prenatal exposure to nonprescription opioids, particularly fentanyl, suggesting fentanyl as a teratogen.
Prenatal fentanyl exposure possibly interfered with cholesterol metabolism, giving rise to findings resembling Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome. This novel syndrome is clinically recognizable. Four additional cases contributed clinically shared similar findings, increasing the number of cases to 10 and supporting a novel syndrome associated with prenatal fentanyl exposure. Assessment of Shepard and Bradford Hill criteria could be consistent with fentanyl as teratogen, though caution is necessary before assigning causality and data replication is needed."
Figure 1Facial photographs of Individuals 1-6 (A-F) as used in the GestaltMatcher analysis. Below each image are a lateral facial view, a hand, and a foot photo of the respective individual.
Google vignette annoyance
Freaks me out every time when this pops up! What an harassment!
Who came up with this lousy idea!
Turkey's Erdogan Calls Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu a "Terrorist" and more
Welcome to gerontocracy! Erdogan (age 69) is becoming more and more unhinged.
That he visited this pro Palestine rally is bad enough, but what he said there is unacceptable!
Turkey is a NATO member. Maybe its membership ought to be suspended for as long as Erdogan is president.
Palestinians break into aid warehouse for 'basic survival items'
Tells you what kind of people they are! Some are cowardly killers committing massacres on unarmed civilians, other are thieves stealing food from their neighbors and preventing a fair distribution of the food etc.
Sunday, October 29, 2023
Superatomic semiconductor establish a path to ballistic room-temperature semiconductors
Amazing stuff! Will this be just a scientific curiosity or ...
"... Unlike in typical materials, where energy particles scatter upon meeting phonons, in Re6Se8Cl2, they bind together. This union forms unique quasiparticles, known as acoustic exciton-polarons. These aren’t just your everyday particles; they can move without scattering, potentially heralding faster and more efficient devices.
Not only did the quasiparticles zip through Re6Se8Cl2 at speeds double that of electrons in silicon, but they also covered vast distances. And instead of electricity, these quasiparticles were controlled by light, which means that devices based on this setup could theoretically cycle at the femtosecond scale — six orders of magnitude faster than the nanosecond achievable in current Gigahertz chips. All of this is achievable at room temperature ..."
"... Rather than scattering when they come into contact with phonons, excitons in Re6Se8Cl2 actually bind with phonons to create new quasiparticles called acoustic exciton-polarons. Although polarons are found in many materials, those in Re6Se8Cl2 have a special property: they are capable of ballistic, or scatter-free, flow. This ballistic behavior could mean faster and more efficient devices one day. ...
“In terms of energy transport, Re6Se8Cl2 is the best semiconductor that we know of, at least so far,” ...
Superatoms are clusters of atoms bound together that behave like one big atom, but with different properties than the elements used to build them. ..."
Superatoms are clusters of atoms bound together that behave like one big atom, but with different properties than the elements used to build them. ..."
From the editor's summary and abstract:
"Editor’s summary
Energy carriers inside materials encounter resistance from sources such as impurities and lattice vibrations. Extending the mean free path, the distance between the collisions that the carriers experience, is important for applications. ... achieved this goal in the van der Waals semiconductor Re6Se8Cl2. The researchers used light to create excitons (pairs of holes and electrons) and then imaged their transport. The particles propagated quasiballistically over several micrometers at room temperature. This unusually robust transport could be attributed to the binding of excitons to an acoustic lattice deformation. ...
Abstract
The transport of energy and information in semiconductors is limited by scattering between electronic carriers and lattice phonons, resulting in diffusive and lossy transport that curtails all semiconductor technologies. Using Re6Se8Cl2, a van der Waals (vdW) superatomic semiconductor, we demonstrate the formation of acoustic exciton-polarons, an electronic quasiparticle shielded from phonon scattering. We directly imaged polaron transport in Re6Se8Cl2 at room temperature, revealing quasi-ballistic, wavelike propagation sustained for a nanosecond and several micrometers. Shielded polaron transport leads to electronic energy propagation lengths orders of magnitude greater than in other vdW semiconductors, exceeding even silicon over a nanosecond. We propose that, counterintuitively, quasi-flat electronic bands and strong exciton–acoustic phonon coupling are together responsible for the transport properties of Re6Se8Cl2, establishing a path to ballistic room-temperature semiconductors."
A Superatomic Semiconductor Sets a Speed Record Columbia chemists discover ballistic flow in a quantum material. The finding could help overcome shortcomings in semiconductors.
On the early evolution of neurons
Amazing stuff!
"Free-living marine placozoans are considered the simplest animals on Earth. Their bodies resemble a disk and consist of six to nine cell types. They move by ciliary beating, consume food particles through engulfment, and reproduce by fission. However, ... have shown that these tiny, unassuming creatures may hold the secret to the evolution of the complex nervous systems of higher animals. Placozoans do not have neurons; instead, the collective behavior of their cells is controlled by neuropeptides secreted by peptidergic cells. Detailed investigation of these cells revealed unexpected diversity in cell types and functional specificities. More surprisingly, these cells expressed many of the genes found in evolved nervous systems and differentiate from stem cells through a pathway that resembles neurogenesis in higher animals."
From the highlights and abstract:
"Highlights
• Comparative single-cell genomics reveals cell type diversity in the phylum Placozoa
• Fourteen placozoan peptidergic cell types expressing neuronal genes
• Post-translationally modified neuropeptides define elaborate cell signaling network
• Peptidergic progenitors with neurogenesis-like differentiation from epithelial cells
Summary
The assembly of the neuronal and other major cell type programs occurred early in animal evolution. We can reconstruct this process by studying non-bilaterians like placozoans. These small disc-shaped animals not only have nine morphologically described cell types and no neurons but also show coordinated behaviors triggered by peptide-secreting cells. We investigated possible neuronal affinities of these peptidergic cells using phylogenetics, chromatin profiling, and comparative single-cell genomics in four placozoans. We found conserved cell type expression programs across placozoans, including populations of transdifferentiating and cycling cells, suggestive of active cell type homeostasis. We also uncovered fourteen peptidergic cell types expressing neuronal-associated components like the pre-synaptic scaffold that derive from progenitor cells with neurogenesis signatures. In contrast, earlier-branching animals like sponges and ctenophores lacked this conserved expression. Our findings indicate that key neuronal developmental and effector gene modules evolved before the advent of cnidarian/bilaterian neurons in the context of paracrine cell signaling."
Graphical abstract
Low-calorie sugar breakthrough could make allulose a household name
Good news!
"... One such substitute, allulose, is around 70% as sweet as sucrose, but contains just 10% of the calories and has even been shown to improve blood glucose levels and help in weight loss in people with type 2 diabetes. ...
Allulose – which is also known as D-psicose – is considered a rare sugar as it only exists naturally in minute amounts in a few plant foods, such as wheat, figs and raisins. When extracted, it has the texture and mouthfeel of sucrose, it has just 0.4 calories per gram, compared to four calories per gram in sucrose. And because it's a monosaccharide, or a single molecule of sugar, it undergoes a very different process in the body. Around 70% is absorbed by the small intestine and leaves the body via urine within 24 hours. The rest will exit the body ... through the large intestine, within about 48 hours. ...
The team ... edited the [E. coli] microorganism’s metabolic processes, so when the cells were fed glucose, they converted it to allulose. It immediately resulted in yields of 62% (and, importantly, a purity level in excess of 95%). ..."
From the abstract:
"Due to the rampant rise in obesity and diabetes, consumers are desperately seeking for ways to reduce their sugar intake, but to date there are no options that are both accessible and without sacrifice of palatability. One of the most promising new ingredients in the food system as a non-nutritive sugar substitute with near perfect palatability is D-psicose. D-psicose is currently produced using an in vitro enzymatic isomerization of D-fructose, resulting in low yield and purity, and therefore requiring substantial downstream processing to obtain a high purity product. This has made adoption of D-psicose into products limited and results in significantly higher per unit costs, reducing accessibility to those most in need. Here, we found that Escherichia coli natively possesses a thermodynamically favorable pathway to produce D-psicose from D-glucose through a series of phosphorylation-epimerization-dephosphorylation steps. To increase carbon flux towards D-psicose production, we introduced a series of genetic modifications to pathway enzymes, central carbon metabolism, and competing metabolic pathways. In an attempt to maximize both cellular viability and D-psicose production, we implemented methods for the dynamic regulation of key genes including clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats inhibition (CRISPRi) and stationary-phase promoters. The engineered strains achieved complete consumption of D-glucose and production of D-psicose, at a titer of 15.3 g L-1, productivity of 2 g L-1 h-1, and yield of 62% under test tube conditions. These results demonstrate the viability of whole-cell catalysis as a sustainable alternative to in vitro enzymatic synthesis for the accessible production of D-psicose."
Fig. 1: Strategies for the biosynthesis of D-psicose.
Wind power companies losing billions, prompting fears a federal bailout could be coming
Very recommendable!
Wind and solar power is the greatest scam of our time!
Saturday, October 28, 2023
Why are Jews Targeted? The Origins of Antisemitism with Palki Sharma
Recommendable! Most of it is well known. Don't miss Pope John Paul II and his great reconciliation between the Christianity and Judaism.
Combating the ‘Crisis of Black Deaths’ in America. Really!
Alarmism and hysteria! Propaganda and demagoguery! Racialize everything!
This white vs. black skin color comparison is disgusting racist junk science! It is socioeconomic circumstances and behavioral differences etc. that matter not skin color you dummies! That also the Journal of the American Medical Association is involved in this is troubling!
"The numbers remain staggering and stubborn: Over the past 20 years, Black Americans have suffered 1.63 million excess deaths compared to white Americans.
Racism and discrimination in the health sector drive such entrenched inequity, say experts who convened at the STAT Summit in Boston last week to trade ideas about advancing health equity in the U.S. ..."
"Conclusions and relevance Over a recent 22-year period, the Black population in the US experienced more than 1.63 million excess deaths and more than 80 million excess years of life lost when compared with the White population. After a period of progress in reducing disparities, improvements stalled, and differences between the Black population and the White population worsened in 2020."
New superconducting single-photon camera with 400,000 pixels can spot the Universe's dimmest lights or the brain's faintest signals
Amazing stuff! This could be huge!
Do not expect this type of camera to come to your smartphone anytime soon. 😊
"... The NIST camera is made up of grids of ultrathin electrical wires, cooled to near absolute zero, in which current moves with no resistance until a wire is struck by a photon. In these superconducting-nanowire cameras, the energy imparted by even a single photon can be detected because it shuts down the superconductivity at a particular location (pixel) on the grid. Combining all the locations and intensities of all the photons makes up an image. ..."
From the abstract:
"For the past 50 years, superconducting detectors have offered exceptional sensitivity and speed for detecting faint electromagnetic signals in a wide range of applications. These detectors operate at very low temperatures and generate a minimum of excess noise, making them ideal for testing the non-local nature of reality, investigating dark matter, mapping the early universe and performing quantum computation and communication. Despite their appealing properties, however, there are at present no large-scale superconducting cameras—even the largest demonstrations have never exceeded 20,000 pixels. This is especially true for superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs). These detectors have been demonstrated with system detection efficiencies of 98.0% (ref. 19), sub-3-ps timing jitter, sensitivity from the ultraviolet to the mid-infrared and microhertz dark-count rates, but have never achieved an array size larger than a kilopixel. Here we report on the development of a 400,000-pixel SNSPD camera, a factor of 400 improvement over the state of the art. The array spanned an area of 4 × 2.5 mm with 5 × 5-μm resolution, reached unity quantum efficiency at wavelengths of 370 nm and 635 nm, counted at a rate of 1.1 × 105 counts per second (cps) and had a dark-count rate of 1.0 × 10−4 cps per detector (corresponding to 0.13 cps over the whole array). The imaging area contains no ancillary circuitry and the architecture is scalable well beyond the present demonstration, paving the way for large-format superconducting cameras with near-unity detection efficiencies across a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum."
NIST Team Develops Highest-Resolution Single-Photon Superconducting Camera Having more pixels could advance everything from biomedical imaging to astronomical observations.
A superconducting nanowire single-photon camera with 400,000 pixels (no public access)
Scientists Unveil World-First Experimental Cocaine Addiction Vaccine
Good news!
Here is the brand new Wikipedia entry on this vaccine! Created only a few days ago. "Calixcoca is an experimental vaccine for cocaine and crack cocaine in development since 2015 by the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) in Brazil."
"... Dubbed "Calixcoca," the test vaccine, which has shown promising results in trials on animals, triggers an immune response that blocks cocaine and crack from reaching the brain, which researchers hope will help users break the cycle of addiction. ...
The vaccine works by triggering patients' immune systems to produce antibodies that bind to cocaine molecules in the bloodstream, making them too large to pass into the brain's mesolimbic system, or "reward center," where the drug normally stimulates high levels of pleasure-inducing dopamine. ..."
China to tighten its state secrets law in biggest revision in a decade
When will the Chinese people get rid of over 70 years of communist party rule! The world would be a much better place without the CPC!
"All state employees with access to classified information will be banned from travelling overseas without prior approval – and even for a period after they leave the job or retire – under a draft revision of China’s state secrets law.
A dozen new clauses have been added to the Law on Guarding State Secrets in the revision, the details of which were made public on Wednesday.
The revision – the first in a decade – expands the depth and reach of the law’s coverage, ranging from education, technology and internet use to military facilities. The sweeping changes come as Beijing is locked in an intelligence war with the US and its allies and reflects that national security remains a top policy priority for the leadership. ..."
What a ridiculously outdated emblem
Canada, Where Euthanasia Is Cheaper Than Health Care
Legalized euthanasia is a very controversial subject!
As a classical liberal I am for individuals to be able to make a voluntary decision about taking their lives or not. However, the slippery slope can not be ignored.
Take for example so called physician-assisted suicide. This is an oxymoron! Doctors are supposed to do no harm. That is what their Hippocratic oath says.
The article is e.g. making the point whether the obvious failures of the Canadian healthcare system (e.g. long wait times) contributes to increased death wishes.
"Canada’s euthanasia regime, which is set to expand in March 2024 when people with no more than a mental illness or a drug addiction will be given access to assisted suicide.
Tragically, since bans on the practice were lifted in 2016, over 30,000 Canadians have been euthanized—a number that is sure to balloon if Canada’s culture of death prevails. ..."
China’s YMTC makes world’s most advanced memory chip in ‘surprise technology leap’
Competition is good. More competition is better! Or was ist industrial espionage?
"Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC), China’s leading memory chip producer, has manufactured the “world’s most advanced” 3D NAND memory chip known to be in a consumer device in a “surprise technology leap”, according to a report by TechInsights. ..."
"TechInsights has discovered the world's most advanced 3D NAND memory chip in a consumer device, and in a surprise technology leap, it comes from YMTC – China’s top 3D NAND manufacturer. 3D NAND memory is an essential component for high-performance computing (HPC) such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning. 3D NAND memory represents the bleeding edge of memory chip design, and is critical for high-performance, high-bandwidth computing such as AI. This is the first quad-level cell (QLC) 3D NAND die with more than two hundred active word lines that TechInsights has seen. ..."
YMTC memory chip, found in a solid-state drive, shows firm has continued to develop advanced technology despite being hampered by sanctions
Utah’s empty parking lots could see future drone, air taxi takeoffs
Turning city parking lots into airports! Why driving when you can fly!
"The Utah Department of Transportation’s Aeronautics Division has issued its Legislature-requested report on “advanced air mobility,” which gives a rough outline for the rollout of “vertiports” across the state.
“Vertiports” are vertical take-off and landing facilities. The report presents data from the Wasatch Front Regional Council on underutilized parking lots, including those at large shopping centers that could be repurposed for vertiports “simply by rearranging paint and lighting.” ..."
Criminal complaint lodged in Manila (Philippines) against Myanmar junta by a group of citizens from Myanmar
Recommendable! "The group says seeking prosecution overseas is the only way they can get justice for their loved ones. Their lawyers say a 2009 law in the Philippines that promotes human rights obligates the country to prosecute war crimes committed elsewhere under the principle of universal jurisdiction."
Friday, October 27, 2023
Why Egypt Can’t Afford Its $58B New Capital City
Recommendable! A Pharao is still building pyramids in Egypt!
Simple blood test can help diagnose bipolar disorder and differentiate from major depressive disorder
Good news! Amazing stuff! This is probably still early stage research!
"... The researchers say the blood test on its own could diagnose up to 30% of patients with bipolar disorder, but that it is even more effective when combined with a digital mental health assessment.
Incorporating biomarker testing could help physicians differentiate between major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder, which have overlapping symptoms but require different pharmacological treatments. ...
Bipolar disorder affects approximately one percent of the population – as many as 80 million people worldwide – but for nearly 40% of patients, it is misdiagnosed as major depressive disorder. ..."
From the key points and abstract:
"Key Points
Question Can bipolar disorder (BD) be distinguished from major depressive disorder (MDD) during episodes of low mood by profiling biomarkers in patient dried blood spots (DBSs)?
Findings In this diagnostic study including 241 patients, patients with depressive symptoms with misdiagnosed BD showed a distinct profile of DBS metabolites compared with patients with depressive symptoms with MDD, which correlated with lifetime manic symptoms. Incorporating biomarker measurements into diagnostic models significantly improved predictive performance in scenarios when symptom data were limited and at uncertain diagnostic thresholds.
Meaning Metabolomic profiling of patient DBS samples has the potential to improve the differential diagnosis of mood disorders in clinically relevant scenarios.
Abstract
Importance Bipolar disorder (BD) is frequently misdiagnosed as major depressive disorder (MDD) because of overlapping symptoms and the lack of objective diagnostic tools.
Objective To identify a reproducible metabolomic biomarker signature in patient dried blood spots (DBSs) that differentiates BD from MDD during depressive episodes and assess its added value when combined with self-reported patient information.
Design, Setting, and Participants This diagnostic analysis used samples and data from the Delta study, conducted in the UK between April 27, 2018, and February 6, 2020. The primary objective was to identify BD in patients with a recent (within the past 5 years) diagnosis of MDD and current depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire–9 score of 5 or more). Participants were recruited online through voluntary response sampling. The analysis was carried out between February 2022 and July 2023.
Main Outcomes and Measures Patient data were collected using a purpose-built online questionnaire (n = 635 questions). DBS metabolites (n = 630) were analyzed using a targeted mass spectrometry–based platform. Mood disorder diagnoses were established using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview.
Results Of 241 patients in the discovery cohort, 170 (70.5%) were female; 67 (27.8%) were subsequently diagnosed with BD and 174 (72.2%) were confirmed as having MDD; and the mean (SD) age was 28.1 (7.1) years. Of 30 participants in the validation cohort, 16 (53%) were female; 9 (30%) were diagnosed with BD and 21 (70%) with MDD; and the mean (SD) age was 25.4 (6.3) years. DBS metabolite levels were assessed in 241 patients with depressive symptoms with a recent diagnosis of MDD, of whom 67 were subsequently diagnosed with BD by the Composite International Diagnostic Interview and 174 were confirmed as having MDD. The identified 17-biomarker panel provided a mean (SD) cross-validated area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.71 (SD, 0.12; P < .001), with ceramide d18:0/24:1 emerging as the strongest biomarker. Combining biomarker data with patient-reported information significantly enhanced diagnostic performance of models based on extensive demographic data, PHQ-9 scores, and the outcomes from the Mood Disorder Questionnaire. The identified biomarkers were correlated primarily with lifetime manic symptoms and were validated in a separate group of patients who received a new clinical diagnosis of MDD (n = 21) or BD (n = 9) during the study’s 1-year follow-up period, with a mean (SD) AUROC of 0.73 (0.06; P < .001).
Conclusions and Relevance This study provides a proof of concept for developing an accessible biomarker test to facilitate the differential diagnosis of BD and MDD and highlights the potential involvement of ceramides in the pathophysiological mechanisms of mood disorders."
Abortion restrictions in Russia spark outrage as the country takes a conservative turn
This seems to be a bit ironic! What about the outrage about the war of aggression against the Ukraine? This is probably inflated news by AP!
Under communist rule abortion was a substitute for lack of contraceptives!
I can understand that Putin the Terrible wants to ban abortion: Given the massive losses of Russian soldiers in the Russo-Ukraine war and the large number of young Russian men who deserted to foreign countries to evade the draft.
"Despite its last-minute scheduling, the meeting at a bookstore in Russia’s westernmost city of Kaliningrad still drew about 60 people, with many outraged by a lawmaker’s efforts to ban abortions in local private clinics. ...
Although abortion is still legal and widely available in Russia, recent attempts to restrict it have touched a nerve across the increasingly conservative country. Activists are urging supporters to make official complaints, circulating online petitions and even staging small protests. ...
In the Soviet Union, abortion laws meant that some women had the procedure multiple times due to difficulties in obtaining contraceptives. ..."
Domestic cats have 276 facial expressions
Meow! Amazing stuff! How did they figure this out!
"... What’s more, the team found, we humans might be to thank: Our feline friends may have evolved this range of sneers, smiles, and grimaces over the course of their 10,000-year history with us. ...
... discovered a total of 276 distinct facial expressions made toward other cats—not so far removed from the 357 produced by chimpanzees, ... and well more than many had thought cats capable of. Each expression combined about four of 26 unique facial movements, including parted lips, jaw drops, dilated or constricted pupils, blinks and half blinks, pulled lip corners, nose licks, protracted or retracted whiskers, and/or various ear positions. By comparison, humans have 44 unique facial movements, although researchers are still working out how many different expressions they combine into ... Dogs have 27 facial movements, but again, their total number of expressions isn’t known. ..."
From August to June, ... video recorded 194 minutes of cats’ facial expressions, specifically those aimed at other cats, after the café had closed for the day. Then ... coded all their facial muscle movements—excluding any related to breathing, chewing, yawning, and the like.
From the abstract:
"Lately, there has been a growing interest in studying domestic cat facial signals, but most of this research has centered on signals produced during human-cat interactions or pain. The available research on intraspecific facial signaling with domesticated cats has largely focused on non-affiliative social interactions. However, the transition to intraspecific sociality through domestication could have resulted in a greater reliance on affiliative facial signals that aid with social bonding. Our study aimed to document the various facial signals that cats produce during affiliative and non-affiliative intraspecific interactions. Given the close relationship between the physical form and social function of mammalian facial signals, we predicted that affiliative and non-affiliative facial signals would have noticeable differences in their physical morphology. We observed the behavior of 53 adult domestic shorthair cats at CatCafé Lounge in Los Angeles, CA. Using Facial Action Coding Systems designed for cats, we compared the complexity and compositionality of facial signals produced in affiliative and non-affiliative contexts. To measure complexity and compositionality, we examined the number and types of facial muscle movements (AUs) observed in each signal. We found that compositionality, rather than complexity, was significantly associated with the social function of intraspecific facial signals. Our findings indicate that domestication likely had a significant impact on the development of intraspecific facial signaling repertoires in cats."
Feline Faces: Unraveling the Social Function of Domestic Cat Facial Signals (no public access)
This was the laboratory for this research!
Evidence of menopause in wild chimps upends ideas around human evolution
Amazing stuff!
"Other than a few species of whale, humans are the only mammals that consistently demonstrate the unusual phenomenon of menopause. Most animals maintain their reproductive ability for the vast majority of their lifespan. Humans are big outliers, with females often spending up to 50% of their life in a postreproductive state. ...
The findings reveal a community of female chimpanzees in Uganda display both hormonal and demographic signs of menopause, living for up to 20 years in a postreproductive state. ...
The findings reveal a community of female chimpanzees in Uganda display both hormonal and demographic signs of menopause, living for up to 20 years in a postreproductive state. ...
However, female chimpanzees are known to live apart from their offspring, dispersing to new groups as they get older. So the grandmother hypothesis offers no clues as to why the trait of menopause has evolved in this chimpanzee community. ..."
From the abstract:
"Structured Abstract
INTRODUCTION
It is not obvious why selection should favor menopause or the continued survival of individuals that can no longer reproduce. Among mammals, substantial numbers of post-reproductive females living under natural conditions in the wild have only been observed in humans and a few whale species. The rarity of this trait makes it both interesting and difficult to study. Data from our close primate relatives are especially valuable for the reconstruction and causal modeling of human life history evolution. In this study, we combined demographic and hormonal data to investigate post-reproductive life spans and their underlying physiological mechanisms in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii), who, along with bonobos, are humans’ closest living relatives.
RATIONALE
We examined the mortality and fertility rates of 185 female chimpanzees in the Ngogo community of wild chimpanzees in Kibale National Park, Uganda, from 21 years of observation (1995–2016). We calculated the demographic measure PrR (post-reproductive representation), representing the fraction of adult life spent in a post-reproductive state. Human menopause, the nonpathological and permanent cessation of ovarian function resulting from the depletion of ovarian follicles, is reflected in increasing levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) and decreasing levels of ovarian steroid hormones (estrogens and progestins). To assess whether Ngogo females undergo humanlike menopause, we analyzed age-associated trends in five hormones measured in 560 urine samples from 66 females of varying reproductive status and age (range: 14 to 67 years).
RESULTS
As in other chimpanzee populations and humans, fertility declined after age 30, and no births were observed after age 50. Unlike other chimpanzee populations, but as in humans, it was not unusual for Ngogo females to live past the age of 50 (N = 16 females). The observed PrR value was 0.195, indicating that a female who reached adulthood (age 14) was post-reproductive for about one-fifth of her adult life, around half as long as human hunter-gatherers. Hormonal measures show that Ngogo females experience a reproductive transition similar to that of humans, characterized by increasing levels of FSH and LH and declining levels of estrogens and progestins as they undergo menopause.
CONCLUSION
Menopause ends reproduction around the age of 50 in both humans and wild chimpanzees. Substantial PrR has not been previously observed in any wild primate population, chimpanzees included. One explanation for this discrepancy is that substantial PrR could be a temporary response to unusually favorable ecological conditions at Ngogo, including low levels of predation, high food availability, and successful between-group competition. A second possibility is that substantial PrR is an evolved, species-typical trait in chimpanzees, which has not been observed elsewhere owing to recent negative human impacts, especially disease epidemics. The grandmother hypothesis suggests that older females could evolve to live past their reproductive years to help increase their daughters’ fertility or their grandoffsprings’ survival. This is unlikely to apply to chimpanzees, whose aged females generally live apart from their daughters, as daughters leave their natal groups at adulthood. In the context of female-biased dispersal, a more relevant theory may be the reproductive conflict hypothesis, which highlights the fact that after migrating into a new group, females become increasingly related to other group members as they age and face competition with younger females for limited breeding opportunities. The oldest females might stop reproducing in order to limit the inclusive fitness costs of that competition. The grandmother and reproductive conflict hypotheses are not mutually exclusive alternatives, and both may be required to explain why all human societies have higher PrR than documented here for chimpanzees."
Menopause in chimpanzees Signs of menopause in wild chimpanzees provide insights into human evolution
Female chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) from the Ngogo community in Uganda can live for decades after losing the ability to reproduce.
Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI’s chief scientist, on his hopes and fears for the future of AI
Ilya Sutskever is one of the top researchers in the machine learning & AI field.
I am not as pessimistic as he is. No we actually don't want to stop any emerging superintelligence. Why would humans be so stupid!
If history is any guide, humans have managed any new technologies quite well over time. Why would it be so different this time?
I think, humans are about to transcend natural evolution! We will develop a form of life that goes far beyond what nature had to offer over billions of years of trial and error in a much faster way. God is smiling!
"Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI’s cofounder and chief scientist, is no longer focusing on building the next generation of his company’s flagship generative AI models. Instead his new priority is to figure out how to stop an artificial superintelligence (a hypothetical future technology he sees coming with the foresight of a true believer) from going rogue.
A lot of what Sutskever says is wild. But not nearly as wild as it would have sounded just one or two years ago. He thinks ChatGPT just might be conscious (if you squint). He thinks the world needs to wake up to the true power of the technology his company and others are racing to create.
He is certain that machines will one day be as smart as humans. "
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