Enjoy! I am missing his dance moves!
Sunday, June 30, 2024
Martha & The Vandellas "Dancing In The Street" on The Ed Sullivan Show
Enjoy! There'll be music everywhere
Anne Frank's father on his decision to publish her diary
Recommendable! Watch how the BBC host touches the precious diary with her bare hands not wearing gloves!
Renewed calls for uranium mine in Northern Territory representing about 10% of known world reserves
Unbelievable the obstructionism to uranium mining! Environmentalists get over it!
Why is Macron’s Centrism So Unpopular in France?
Very recommendable! Today, were presidential elections in France!
Overturning Chevron after 30 years: Long Live Judicial Review
Indeed a reason to rejoice!
Google Gmail annoyances
Google has made it so cumbersome to export your emails, it is absolutely ridiculous!
The web interface (i.e. mail.google.com) has no export feature at all! I believe it used to have it in the past.
You have to go the takeout.google.com website for export! Very primitive, cumbersome, and annoying! And although, I am logged into my Google account via Google Chrome browser, I have to provide my passport again to access this feature! Ridiculous!
The default setting is all (current and past) emails, trash and spam! The file was over 3 GB large! Absolute ridiculous!!!!
Apparently, there is no e.g. Python API to do this job programmatically! Incredible!
Finding The Roots Of Religion In Human Prehistory – OpEd
Recommendable! It is a short overview article.
Painted lady butterfly takes epic 2,600-mile non-stop transatlantic flight lasting 5-8 days gliding with the trade wind most of the distance
Amazing stuff! Mind boggling!
Can you even imagine a butterfly flying across the Atlantic Ocean?
"... "The butterflies could only have completed this flight using a strategy alternating between active flight, which is costly energetically, and gliding the wind," ... "We estimate that without wind, the butterflies could have flown a maximum of 780 km (485 miles) before consuming all their fat and, therefore, their energy." ..."
"Highlights
• In a world-first, an international team of scientists demonstrated that Painted Lady butterflies (Vanessa cardui) flew at least 4,200 km over the ocean from West Africa to French Guiana, South America.
• Using novel techniques, among them isotope-based geolocation, they found that the butterflies probably originated in Europe, extending this migratory flight over 7000 km.
• The butterflies made the transatlantic journey in 5 to 8 days, actively flying but aided by favorable trade winds."
From the abstract:
"The extent of aerial flows of insects circulating around the planet and their impact on ecosystems and biogeography remain enigmatic because of methodological challenges. Here we report a transatlantic crossing by Vanessa cardui butterflies spanning at least 4200 km, from West Africa to South America (French Guiana) and lasting between 5 and 8 days. Even more, we infer a likely natal origin for these individuals in Western Europe, and the journey Europe-Africa-South America could expand to 7000 km or more. This discovery was possible through an integrative approach, including coastal field surveys, wind trajectory modelling, genomics, pollen metabarcoding, ecological niche modelling, and multi-isotope geolocation of natal origins. The overall journey, which was energetically feasible only if assisted by winds, is among the longest documented for individual insects, and potentially the first verified transatlantic crossing. Our findings suggest that we may be underestimating transoceanic dispersal in insects and highlight the importance of aerial highways connecting continents by trade winds."
Non-stop flight: in a world-first, researchers map a 4,200 km transatlantic flight of the Painted Lady butterfly (original news release) This discovery and the use of next-generation molecular techniques and tools open new areas of research in insect migration in the context of climate change.
While scientists could confirm the 2,600-mile journey, they believe the butterflies might actually cover almost twice that distance
Significant autism susceptibility added to growing list of things we’ve inherited from Neanderthals
Amazing stuff! At least this seems to defeat claims that disorders like autism are of modern origin.
"We know that present-day European and Asian-derived humans have inherited between 1.5% and 4% of Neanderthal DNA, but how does that seemingly small amount of ancient genetic material impact modern physical and mental health? ...
However, genome analysis has shown that they interbred, albeit on a limited scale. ..."
However, genome analysis has shown that they interbred, albeit on a limited scale. ..."
"... Fourteen years ago, the first whole-genome sequence of the Neanderthal genome was published after scientists extracted DNA from the bones of three female Neanderthals that were discovered in a cave in Croatia. ...
Since then, scientists have associated Neanderthal DNA to several human health conditions, including autoimmune diseases, prostate cancer, Type 2 diabetes, skull morphology, depression and protection against schizophrenia. ..."
From the abstract:
"Homo sapiens and Neanderthals underwent hybridization during the Middle/Upper Paleolithic age, culminating in retention of small amounts of Neanderthal-derived DNA in the modern human genome. In the current study, we address the potential roles Neanderthal single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) may be playing in autism susceptibility in samples of black non-Hispanic, white Hispanic, and white non-Hispanic people using data from the Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research (SPARK), Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx), and 1000 Genomes (1000G) databases. We have discovered that rare variants are significantly enriched in autistic probands compared to race-matched controls. In addition, we have identified 25 rare and common SNPs that are significantly enriched in autism on different ethnic backgrounds, some of which show significant clinical associations. We have also identified other SNPs that share more specific genotype-phenotype correlations but which are not necessarily enriched in autism and yet may nevertheless play roles in comorbid phenotype expression (e.g., intellectual disability, epilepsy, and language regression). These results strongly suggest Neanderthal-derived DNA is playing a significant role in autism susceptibility across major populations in the United States."
Study implicates Neanderthal DNA in autism susceptibility (original news release)
Fig. 1: Group Comparison of SNP Frequencies and Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) Network.
Saturday, June 29, 2024
Essen: Schwere Randale vor AfD-Parteitag
Man kann diese mutigen AfD Mitglieder nur bewundern, die sich von diesen aggressiven, sogar gewaltbereiten und zutiefst antidemokratischen Randalierern nicht einschüchtern lassen. Bravo!
Renewables causing unbelievable amount of ‘environmental destruction’ for communities
Recommendable! Some very good arguments!
Just a reminder: We are in the silly season of the year
Good stories are hard to come by!
How does the English expression (silly season) compare to the German expression (Sommerloch [literally translated summer hole])? It's all Saxon to me!
Or the news are so bad that shock and silence has quickly set in (e.g. the terrible performance of the president of the U.S. in the first presidential debate of 2024). Now the whole world fully knows about the unfitness of 46th President and his nurse and longtime accomplice Jill! 😊
Devolution of power for liberty, peace and prosperity around the world
Food for thought! A brief philosophical speculation.
What if all countries of the world were dissolved and only municipal (metro, city, village) "states" existed? Unfortunately, some countries would not go along with this devolution.
Yes, it would need a lot of cooperation and coordination for large projects affecting multiple mini states to be realized.
How fast would these states adopt free trade and free movement of people etc. etc.
Are the hurdles really so large or even insurmountable that these hurdles, among other considerations, justified national states? Perhaps that was true and applied in the past, but current technology makes the prospect of much more federalism more realistic and sustainable!
Cooperative proteins help the immune system identify and attack invaders
Good news! Amazing stuff!
"... Researchers ... have now discovered a molecular mechanism that helps macrophages mount a coordinated response tailored to a specific immune challenge.
Activating macrophages requires the work of three versions of a protein complex called SWI/SNF: cBAF, ncBAF, and PBAF. Scientists already knew these variants had slightly different structures, but the new findings reveal that these differences have real functional consequences ... researchers discovered that each variant plays a distinct role in initiating macrophages’ responses to intruders and, consequently, how the immune system regulates inflammation. ...
“This is a major leap in our understanding of how immune systems respond with such a high level of specificity.” ...
“This is a major leap in our understanding of how immune systems respond with such a high level of specificity.” ...
When confronted with a bacterial threat, each of the three SWI/SNF variants regulated distinct portions of the macrophages’ DNA, producing distinct cellular responses. cBAF remodeled chromatin to promote inflammation, while ncBAF modified histones to stimulate an antiviral response. PBAF also modified histones, but the result of those modifications was less clear than cBAF or ncBAF. The three acted distinctly and cooperatively to coordinate a complicated immune response that calls on the rest of the immune system to effectively and efficiently rid the body of threats. ..."
From the highlights and abstract:
"Highlights
• Inflammatory stimulation induces changes in chromatin accessibility
• SWI/SNF complex variants are cooperatively recruited to de novo enhancers
• Functional diversity among SWI/SNF variants instructs inflammatory response
• SWI/SNF inhibition disrupts de novo enhancer activation and induced gene expression
Summary
Macrophages elicit immune responses to pathogens through induction of inflammatory genes. Here, we examined the role of three variants of the SWI/SNF nucleosome remodeling complex—cBAF, ncBAF, and PBAF—in the macrophage response to bacterial endotoxin (lipid A). All three SWI/SNF variants were prebound in macrophages and retargeted to genomic sites undergoing changes in chromatin accessibility following stimulation. Cooperative binding of all three variants associated with de novo chromatin opening and latent enhancer activation. Isolated binding of ncBAF and PBAF, in contrast, associated with activation and repression of active enhancers, respectively. Chemical and genetic perturbations of variant-specific subunits revealed pathway-specific regulation in the activation of lipid A response genes, corresponding to requirement for cBAF and ncBAF in inflammatory and interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) activation, respectively, consistent with differential engagement of SWI/SNF variants by signal-responsive transcription factors. Thus, functional diversity among SWI/SNF variants enables increased regulatory control of innate immune transcriptional programs, with potential for specific therapeutic targeting."
Collaboration between distinct SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complexes directs enhancer selection and activation of macrophage inflammatory genes (no public access)
Graphical abstract
Research uncovers kidney and brain expressed KIBRA protein that helps ensure memory formation and stabilization
Amazing stuff! When will humans have a better memory?
They say love goes through the stomach. Perhaps memory goes through the kidney? 😊
"... A study ... has uncovered a biological explanation for long-term memories. It centers on the discovery of the role of a molecule, KIBRA, that serves as a "glue" to other molecules, thereby solidifying memory formation. ..."
"... In a study using laboratory mice, the scientists focused on the role of KIBRA, or kidney and brain expressed protein, the human genetic variants of which are associated with both good and poor memory. They focused on KIBRA’s interactions with other molecules crucial to memory formation—in this case, protein kinase Mzeta (PKMzeta). This enzyme is the most crucial molecule for strengthening normal mammalian synapses that is known, but it degrades after a few days.
Their experiments reveal that KIBRA is the “missing link” in long-term memories, serving as a “persistent synaptic tag,” or glue, that sticks to strong synapses and to PKMzeta while also avoiding weak synapses. ..."
From the abstract:
"How can short-lived molecules selectively maintain the potentiation of activated synapses to sustain long-term memory? Here, we find kidney and brain expressed adaptor protein (KIBRA), a postsynaptic scaffolding protein genetically linked to human memory performance, complexes with protein kinase Mzeta (PKMζ), anchoring the kinase’s potentiating action to maintain late-phase long-term potentiation (late-LTP) at activated synapses. Two structurally distinct antagonists of KIBRA-PKMζ dimerization disrupt established late-LTP and long-term spatial memory, yet neither measurably affects basal synaptic transmission. Neither antagonist affects PKMζ-independent LTP or memory that are maintained by compensating PKCs in ζ-knockout mice; thus, both agents require PKMζ for their effect. KIBRA-PKMζ complexes maintain 1-month-old memory despite PKMζ turnover. Therefore, it is not PKMζ alone, nor KIBRA alone, but the continual interaction between the two that maintains late-LTP and long-term memory."
How Do Our Memories Last a Lifetime? New Study Offers a Biological Explanation (original news release) Ground-breaking research uncovers “molecular glue” that helps ensure memory formation and stabilization
Fig. 1. Strong synaptic stimulation facilitates formation of persistent KIBRA-PKMζ complexes in late-LTP maintenance.
Memories are stored by the interaction of two proteins: a structural protein, KIBRA (green), that acts as a persistent synaptic tag, and a synapse-strengthening enzyme, protein kinase Mzeta (red). Drugs that disrupt the memory-perpetuating interaction (other colors) erase pre-established long-term and remote memories.
Unveiling Telo-seq: A breakthrough in telomere research on aging and cancer
Good news!
"Scientists at the Salk Institute have developed a groundbreaking tool called Telo-seq, designed to revolutionize the study of telomeres in aging and disease. Compared to existing methods, which struggle to sequence whole telomeres and can only measure their average length across all chromosomes, the new technique allows researchers to determine the entire sequence and precise length of telomeres on each individual chromosome. ...
Using this technique, the researchers have described numerous features of telomere biology that had not been accessible to scientists before. So far, they’ve observed that within individual human samples, each chromosome arm can have different telomere lengths, and these telomeres can vary significantly in their shortening rates. These dynamics vary in different tissues and cell types within the same person ...
Using this technique, the researchers have described numerous features of telomere biology that had not been accessible to scientists before. So far, they’ve observed that within individual human samples, each chromosome arm can have different telomere lengths, and these telomeres can vary significantly in their shortening rates. These dynamics vary in different tissues and cell types within the same person ...
Telo-seq can also improve our understanding of telomere-driven diseases. Many telomeropathies involve stem cells that run out of telomere length and lose their ability to divide into new, functional cells. This can lead to hair loss, immune disorders, or certain cancers. Telo-seq will allow scientists to investigate whether these diseases are inherited within families or associated with individual chromosomes, in order to develop more targeted interventions.
While telomere shortening can have devastating effects on a cell’s lifespan, the opposite scenario can be equally damaging. When telomere repair mechanisms are overactivated, cells can enter an “immortal” state and divide indefinitely, leading to cancer. ...
"With Telo-seq, we can quickly determine whether a cancer is telomerase-positive or ALT-positive," ... "This is critical because ALT-positive cancers are often more aggressive and require different treatment approaches than telomerase-positive cancers. In this sense, Telo-seq could be used as a quick and reliable diagnostic tool to identify cancer types and guide more personalized treatment plans.” ..."
"... demonstrated that the length of telomeres – the caps at the ends of chromosomes -- are determined at birth and that human health is profoundly affected by it, highlighting the utility of telomere profiling as a potentially powerful area of investigation for preventative health and drug discovery efforts. ..."
From the abstract:
"Telomeres are the protective nucleoprotein structures at the end of linear eukaryotic chromosomes. Telomeres’ repetitive nature and length have traditionally challenged the precise assessment of the composition and length of individual human telomeres. Here, we present Telo-seq to resolve bulk, chromosome arm-specific and allele-specific human telomere lengths using Oxford Nanopore Technologies’ native long-read sequencing. Telo-seq resolves telomere shortening in five population doubling increments and reveals intrasample, chromosome arm-specific, allele-specific telomere length heterogeneity. Telo-seq can reliably discriminate between telomerase- and ALT-positive cancer cell lines. Thus, Telo-seq is a tool to study telomere biology during development, aging, and cancer at unprecedented resolution."
Nanopore sequencing of telomere length unlocks new insights into age-related degeneration, cancer and disease prevention
High resolution long-read telomere sequencing reveals dynamic mechanisms in aging and cancer (open access)
Fig. 2: Telo-seq resolves telomere shortening.
Fig. 4: Telomeres shorten with age.
Shapeshifting organism uses curved crease origami to extend to 30 times its body length
Amazing stuff!
"For the first time, two researchers ... have observed the intricate folding and unfolding of “cellular origami”. Through detailed observations ... discovered helical pleats in the membrane of a single-celled protist, which enable the organism to reversibly extend to over 30 times its own body length. ... the mechanism could inspire a new generation of advanced micro-robots. ..."
From the editor's summary and abstract:
"Editor’s summary
Morphological changes in cellular shape have been studied in the context of cell division, movement through confined spaces, or functionality such as the beating of a heart or digestion within the gut. ... explored the mechanisms that allow for the rapid hyperextension seen in the predatory ciliate Lacrymaria olor, which can extend a neck-like feeding apparatus up to 1.2 millimeters in less than 30 seconds ... Using a combination of live imaging, confocal, and transmission electron microscopy, the authors identified a curved crease origami structure in the subcellular components that enables the rapid shape changes. ...
Structured Abstract
INTRODUCTION
Single-celled protists display a remarkable diversity of forms and accomplish a wide range of functions, including hunting live prey in dynamic environments. Lacrymaria olor, a predatory ciliate, hunts its prey by launching a necklike proboscis that can reversibly extend more than 30 times its original body length in <30 s and perform this task repeatably (more than 20,000 times in its life cycle). Such large-scale morphodynamics—an ability to shapeshift in real time—can be quantified by the large strain and strain rate seen in a single cell. Fundamental limits of morphodynamics and how geometry encodes behavior in single cells remain largely unknown.
RATIONALE
Protists display remarkable strategies to thrive in almost all ecological niches in our planet, from the deep sea to our river streams. Although the relationship between form and function is the bedrock of biological studies, we still have a poor understanding when it comes to explaining the explosive morphological diversity of protists. By applying a lens of geometry, we explored the link between form and function in an iconic, shapeshifting protist, L. olor, which is known to capture prey through the dynamics of an ultralong necklike proboscis. With the advent of various cutting-edge imaging tools, we mapped subcellular components such as the cortical cytoskeleton and membrane architecture of this cell caught in various morphological states, including a contracted and an extended state. Because geometry is scale free, the essential features of the coupled cytoskeletal-membrane architecture can be captured in a scaled-up physical origami model. In this work, we demonstrate how topological singularities in this geometry can control physical transformation of a cell. The deployment of a necklike protrusion through cellular scale origami is one of the largest strain and extension rates observed in a single cell.
RESULTS
We compared largest known strain and strain rates in single-cell morphodynamics and identified L. olor as an outlier. With high-resolution imaging, we discovered that this linear extension is supported by a helical architecture of the cortical cytoskeleton composed of microtubule bands layered in multiple layers forming membrane pleats. This particular geometry stores both membrane and microtubule filaments necessary for rapid deployment of a long proboscis, forming a curved crease origami. The sharp transition between the folded and unfolded state in this curved crease cellular origami is controlled by the presence of two topological singularities: a “d-cone” (developable cone) and a “twist singularity” of the microtubule band. We also built a scaled-up model of this origami to reveal how the coupled dynamics of d-cone and twist traversal leads to the nonaffine nature (spooling) of this deployable origami. Our work reveals how topological singularities can be used by a cell to control deployment of subcellular components and unravels the embodied nature of control of behavior through geometry in this ciliate.
CONCLUSION
As recent studies continue to highlight important ecological roles of protists, it has become critical to understand the origins of complex behavior in these remarkable single cells. Much effort has been put on mapping the genetic diversity of these cells, but we still know very little about the morphological (geometrical) diversity and its function in protists at large. By mapping the subcellular geometry of the cytoskeleton of L. olor, we uncovered geometrical control of extreme morphing behavior in a single cell. As a living example of a microtubule-patterned curved crease origami, our deeper understanding of this structure opens new doors for synthesis of cytoskeleton-based bioengineered materials with transformable characteristics such as deployability. Our work also provides direct inspiration for deployable microrobotics and light-weight space architecture. The blueprints we have been looking for to bring agency and embedded control in microrobotics might be hidden in plain sight in the geometrical diversity of protists."
The first example of cellular origami (original news release) Combining a deep curiosity and “recreational biology,” Stanford researchers have discovered how a simple cell produces remarkably complex behavior, all without a nervous system. It’s origami, they say.
Curved crease origami and topological singularities enable hyperextensibility of L. olor (no public access)
Curved crease origami and topological singularities at a cellular scale enable hyper-extensibility of Lacrymaria olor (preprint, open access)
Long-distance predator The remarkable protist Lacrymaria olor with its “neck” extended and retracted.
Fig. 1 Hyper extensible single cells with large strain and strain rates.
Liebeserklärung an die deutsche Sprache
Empfehlenswert! Habe aber den sehr langen Artikel nicht zu ende gelesen.
Der Autor Gerald Ehegartner (Der Nachname ist etwa denglish? Vorsicht Witz!)
Friday, June 28, 2024
Ottawa imposes new sanctions on 7 'extremist ' Israeli settlers. Really!
This is how the Prime Minister of Canada makes news! Ludicrous! This current Prime Minister is such joke! Son of a famous PM!
NATO's tiny but mighty frontline economies, the Baltic countries
Very recommendable! You have to admire the courage of these, three small countries in the shadow of the Russian bear!
Germany Now Demands New Citizens to Accept Israel's Right to Exist. Really!
Is this true? I did not have the time to investigate this, but other news outlets have reported this too. This seems to be odd, but not for a banana republic!
The German constitution of 1949 is sufficient to deal with antisemitism etc. But government needs to enforce the law rigorously! That is what is lacking! E.g. deportation should be part of it if necessary!
Forbes: Trump’s 10 Biggest Billionaire Donors
Strange, Forbes did not say anything about billionaire donors for the 46th President or Democratic Party candidates in general. Basically, all shown billionaires were unfamiliar to me. According to Google search, there are over 750 billionaires in the U.S. And there are over 7.4 million millionaires in the U.S. So what was the point?
China PLA Purge: Two Former Defence Ministers Sacked
Very recommendable! How many PLA purges has Xi Jinping conducted since he came to office? A lot! How combat ready is the PLA?
Google Scholar annoyances
Again, Google Scholar has recently become very aggressive and nasty about asking a user to show that the user is not a robot!
This approach by GS is absolutely moronic!
I had not used GS in several hours, but upon my new request I was shown the usual screen. Yesterday too, I was shown this screen!
Best of all I am logged in with my long time Google account. Plus, I have a personal library articles saved with Google Scholar.
Ursula Von der Leyen nominated to stay on in top EU job. Really!
Bad news for Europe! How stupid! Only Hungary's Orban voted against!
Can they not find anybody better!
"EU leaders have nominated current European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen for a second five-year term in the bloc's top job at a summit in Brussels.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas was picked as the EU's next foreign affairs chief and former Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa was chosen as the next chairman of EU summits. ..."
16 left-wing Nobel prize-winning economists have signed a petition declaring that if Donald Trump is elected there will be Risks to the U.S. Economy
What a joke! Or is it desperation? So pathetic!
Not even all living Nobel Prize winners, irrespective of discipline, can safe the 46th President!
Verbatim:
"Sixteen Nobel Economists Sign Letter About Risks to the U.S. Economy of a Second Trump Presidency
We the undersigned are deeply concerned about the risks of a second Trump administration for the U.S. economy.
Among the most important determinants of economic success are the rule of law and economic and political certainty. For a country like the U.S., which is embedded in deep relationships with other countries, conforming to international norms and having normal and stable relationships with other countries is also an imperative. Donald Trump and the vagaries of his actions and policies threaten this stability and the U.S.’s standing in the world.
While each of us has different views on the particulars of various economic policies, we all agree that Joe Biden’s economic agenda is vastly superior to Donald Trump’s. In his first four years as President, Joe Biden signed into law major investments in the U.S. economy, including in infrastructure, domestic manufacturing, and climate. Together, these investments are likely to increase productivity and economic growth while lowering long-term inflationary pressures and facilitating the clean energy transition.
During Joe Biden’s presidency we have also seen a remarkably strong and equitable labor market recovery—enabled by his pandemic stimulus. An additional four years of Joe Biden’s presidency would allow him to continue supporting an inclusive U.S. economic recovery.
Many Americans are concerned about inflation, which has come down remarkably fast. There is rightly a worry that Donald Trump will reignite this inflation, with his fiscally irresponsible budgets. Nonpartisan researchers, including at Evercore, Allianz, Oxford Economics, and the Peterson Institute, predict that if Donald Trump successfully enacts his agenda, it will increase inflation.
The outcome of this election will have economic repercussions for years, and possibly decades, to come. We believe that a second Trump term would have a negative impact on the U.S.’s economic standing in the world and a destabilizing effect on the U.S.’s domestic economy.
Signed,
George A. Akerlof (2001)
Sir Angus Deaton (2015)
Claudia Goldin (2023)
Sir Oliver Hart (2016)
Eric S. Maskin (2007)
Daniel L. McFadden (2000)
Paul R. Milgrom (2020)
Roger B. Myerson (2007)
Edmund S. Phelps (2006)
Paul M. Romer (2018)
Alvin E. Roth (2012)
William F. Sharpe (1990)
Robert J. Shiller (2013)
Christopher A. Sims (2011)
Joseph E. Stiglitz (2001)
Robert B. Wilson (2020)"
EvolutionaryScale Introduces ESM3: A Frontier Multimodal Generative Language Model that Reasons Over the Sequence, Structure, and Function of Proteins
Amazing stuff! I am not sure this claim of simulating 500 million years of evolution holds up.
"... Researchers from Evolutionary Scale PBC, Arc Institute, and the University of California have developed ESM3, an advanced generative language model for proteins. ESM3 can simulate evolutionary processes to create functional proteins vastly different from known ones. It integrates sequence, structure, and function to generate proteins following complex prompts. Notably, ESM3 generated a new fluorescent protein, esmGFP, which is 58% different from any known fluorescent proteins—a degree of difference comparable to 500 million years of natural evolution. This breakthrough demonstrates ESM3’s potential in protein engineering, offering creative solutions to biological challenges. ..."
Simulating 500 million years of evolution with a language model (their research paper does not yet appear to be published yet including preprint)
Thursday, June 27, 2024
Joe Biden assisted off stage by wife Jill after trainwreck debate against Trump
What was his longtime partner in crime and accomplice Jill Biden doing on stage? Still four months to election!
Hillary Rodham Clinton: Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University since 2023. Really!
What a hilarious and rotten joke! I just learnt about it!
Daily multivitamin supplements don't help you live longer, but shorter, study shows. Really!
What a disappointment! All that money wasted on multivitamins! (Caution: satire)
Is it just a money making business?
The study was only over 20 years! What about the following years?
I believe, the question about the benefits and disadvantages of multivitamin supplements has been researched now for several decades! How many more studies will be undertaken on the subject of nutritional supplements?
The study may have been prejudiced/biased by the belief in "Micronutrients come most healthfully from food sources".
Is not the more relevant question whether these supplements help to live healthier?
From the abstract (a very long one):
"With as many as 1 in 3 US adults using multivitamin supplements, the question as to whether these supplements reduce mortality is an important public health issue. Drawing on 3 large cohorts including 390 124 participants and more than 20 years of follow-up data, the study by Loftfield and colleagues investigated the association between multivitamin use and mortality, while carefully controlling for potential confounders. Confirming the mostly negative results of prior studies, multivitamin supplementation was not associated with a mortality benefit. On the contrary, mortality risk was 4% higher among multivitamin users, compared with nonusers, in the initial years of follow-up (multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.02-1.07).1
Observations supporting the essential roles of micronutrients began centuries ago. Sailors were cured of scurvy with lime juice, which turned out to be a source of vitamin C. Beri-beri was shown to be preventable by the use of whole-grain rice, which contained a compound, now known to be thiamine, that was lost when brown rice was milled to white rice. In 1912, based on research on B vitamins, Polish biochemist Casimir Funk condensed the term vital amines to vitamines. While these essential nutrients were in foods, multivitamin supplements soon began to be offered for sale as delivery vehicles for micronutrients. ...
Not captured in mortality data, however, are potential benefits that do not affect longevity in cohorts of older adults. Supplementation with beta carotene, vitamins C and E, and zinc is associated with slowing the progression of age-related macular degeneration. In older individuals, multivitamin supplementation is associated with improved memory and slowed cognitive decline. Multivitamins may help offset deficiencies following bariatric surgery. Commercial products including vitamins B12 and D are a convenient source of nutrients for which many people come up short. Folate supplementation in pregnancy prevents neural tube defects in infants.
Mortality analyses also miss important risks. Although food sources of beta carotene are associated with reduced cancer risk, supplemental beta carotene was found in 2 large, randomized clinical trials in at-risk individuals (smokers and asbestos workers) to increase risk of lung cancer. Multivitamins containing vitamin K may reduce the efficacy of warfarin. The inclusion of iron in a supplement, while below the tolerable upper level, adds to that consumed in foods, increasing the risk of iron overload, which is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and dementia. Similar concerns may apply to copper supplementation. Calcium and zinc may reduce the absorption of certain antibiotics. Vitamin E in pills does not reflect the full range of tocopherols and tocotrienols found in foods. These findings make a case for obtaining vitamins from food sources, rather than supplements, to the extent possible.
Refocusing nutrition interventions on food, rather than supplements, may provide the mortality benefits that multivitamins cannot deliver. Vegetables, fruits, legumes, and cereal grains are staples in areas of remarkable longevity, known as Blue Zones—Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica; the island of Ikaria, Greece; and Loma Linda, California. In the Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study, increased intake of vegetables and fruits was associated with reduced mortality, with maximum benefit observed for intakes at 5 fruit or vegetable servings per day, while substitution of plant protein in place of animal protein was also associated with reduced mortality. A healthful dietary pattern delivers micronutrients while also providing healthful macronutrients and fiber and limiting consumption of saturated fat and cholesterol.
Considerable evidence now shows that, apart from the aforementioned roles for vitamin supplementation, there is little health rationale for the use of multivitamin supplements. Micronutrients come most healthfully from food sources. When supplementation is required, it can often be limited to the micronutrients in question."
The Limited Value of Multivitamin Supplements (open access)
CRISPR-based genetic technique eradicates malaria mosquitoes with over 99% efficiency
Good news!
Why don't we try to completely eradicate bloodsuckers? What are bloodsuckers good for?
From the significance and abstract:
"Significance
Controlling the primary African malaria vector, Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes, is crucial for reducing malaria transmission. Conventional methods relying on insecticides are losing effectiveness. The sterile insect technique (SIT) has successfully eradicated pests, but implementing it for A. gambiae is hindered by technological gaps. Our precision-guided SIT (pgSIT) uses CRISPR to induce male sterilization and female elimination for use in SIT. Through engineered Cas9 and gRNA strains, we achieve over 99.5% male sterility and over 99.9% female lethality. Genetically sterilized males display longevity, induce population suppression, and, according to models, can eliminate wild A. gambiae populations. This finding enhances the malaria genetic biocontrol toolkit, allowing scalable, confined suppression in the species.
Abstract
Controlling the principal African malaria vector, the mosquito Anopheles gambiae, is considered essential to curtail malaria transmission. However, existing vector control technologies rely on insecticides, which are becoming increasingly ineffective. Sterile insect technique (SIT) is a powerful suppression approach that has successfully eradicated a number of insect pests, yet the A. gambiae toolkit lacks the requisite technologies for its implementation. SIT relies on iterative mass releases of nonbiting, nondriving, sterile males which seek out and mate with monandrous wild females. Once mated, females are permanently sterilized due to mating-induced refractoriness, which results in population suppression of the subsequent generation. However, sterilization by traditional methods renders males unfit, making the creation of precise genetic sterilization methods imperative. Here, we introduce a vector control technology termed precision-guided sterile insect technique (pgSIT), in A. gambiae for inducible, programmed male sterilization and female elimination for wide-scale use in SIT campaigns. Using a binary CRISPR strategy, we cross separate engineered Cas9 and gRNA strains to disrupt male-fertility and female-essential genes, yielding >99.5% male sterility and >99.9% female lethality in hybrid progeny. We demonstrate that these genetically sterilized males have good longevity, are able to induce sustained population suppression in cage trials, and are predicted to eliminate wild A. gambiae populations using mathematical models, making them ideal candidates for release. This work provides a valuable addition to the malaria genetic biocontrol toolkit, enabling scalable SIT-like confinable, species-specific, and safe suppression in the species."
Fig. 1 Homozygous pgSIT gRNA females crossed to Cas9 males produce nearly exclusively sterile male F1 offspring.
English for trippers: Pets & vets
Can it be shortened any further please! 😊 Any bets?
Pets are for petting! Vets are for vetting!
Wet pets smell!
Who has a bat as a pet?
I am not going to watch the first and possibly last presidential debate tonight
What a waste of time!
I have seen, read and heard enough of the lifelong, pathological and serial liar and senile, demented, and corrupt 46th President!
Why is the 46th President still not impeached!
Recent Trends in Canada's Youth Employment
Is this really concerning or does it just reflect more and longer formal schooling of young people? I believe these trends are similar across other Western countries and have been reported for decades.
How accurate are the statistics? I am afraid as far as youth employment is concerned the blind spots maybe huge. E.g. youth employment spells are maybe short, they may occur in family related businesses etc. etc.
"... Extensive evidence shows that delayed and weak attachment to the workforce for young Canadians, both in the short- and long-term trends, can create lifelong scarring on labour market outcomes. These trends are concerning and should be the subject of additional monitoring and research going forward."
Google Translate adds support for 110 languages, representing 614 million speakers
Amazing stuff! The Tower of Babel reincarnated! Anyone can talk to anyone in any language!
The Google blog post forgot to mention how many of the goal of 1,000 languages their translation service now supports!
"Google said today that it is adding support for 110 languages to its translation service. The company has used its PaLM 2 AI model to power translations.
These languages include Afar, Cantonese, Manx, Nko, Punjabi (Shahmukhi), Tamazight (Amazigh) and Tok Pisin. The company said the newly added languages represent over 614 million speakers or roughly 8% of the world’s population.
Google noted that these languages are in different stages of usage. While some of them have 100 million speakers, some of them don’t have any active speakers — but people are working to preserve those languages. ..."
110 new languages are coming to Google Translate (original announcement) We’re using AI to add 110 new languages to Google Translate, including Cantonese, NKo and Tamazight.
US charges Russian civilian for allegedly helping GRU spies target Ukrainian government systems with data-destroying malware
Was this done in preparation of the Russian invasion of the Ukraine in early 2022?
Putin the Terrible at work!
"The Department of Justice has charged a Russian civilian with conspiracy to destroy Ukrainian government computer systems as part of a widespread hacking effort by Russia ahead of its illegal invasion of Ukraine.
U.S. prosecutors in Maryland said Wednesday that Amin Stigal, 22, is wanted for helping to set up servers used by Russian government hackers that were used to launch destructive cyberattacks on Ukraine government ministries in January 2022, a month before the Kremlin ordered tanks and troops to cross Ukraine’s borders.
The cyberattack campaign, known as “WhisperGate,” relied on so-called wiper malware that masqueraded as ransomware but deliberately and irreversibly scrambled the data on infected devices. ...
Stigal is also accused of helping the hackers working for Russia’s military intelligence unit — known as the GRU — to target allies of Ukraine, including the United States, according to the indictment against Stigal that was unsealed on Wednesday. ..."
Many More Bacteria Produce Greenhouse Gases than Previously Thought
We all should be long dead if you believe the hype and hysteria of Global Warming and Climate Change religion!
"... However, unlike carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide is not long lived in the atmosphere ...
"Nitrous oxide is a much more difficult greenhouse gas to monitor than carbon dioxide, but with this research we now know there are way more sources producing nitrous oxide than previously thought," says Woody Fischer, Professor of Geobiology and senior investigator on the new study. ..."
"Nitrous oxide is a much more difficult greenhouse gas to monitor than carbon dioxide, but with this research we now know there are way more sources producing nitrous oxide than previously thought," says Woody Fischer, Professor of Geobiology and senior investigator on the new study. ..."
From the significance and abstract:
"Significance
With the advent of culture-independent techniques for studying environmental microbes, our knowledge of their diversity has exploded, uncovering unique organisms, pathways, and proteins carrying out important processes in the biosphere. Novel biochemical reactions are often proposed based on sequence data, but experimental validation is difficult and rare. In this work, we used environmental sequence data to find enzymes that produce the greenhouse gas N2O from NO and validated our hypothesis with experiments. These new enzymes likely contribute to global N2O fluxes and expand the breadth of nitrogen cycling. We also demonstrated that these enzymes evolved multiple times from oxygen reductases, indicating that the evolutionary histories of aerobic respiration and denitrification—and more broadly the oxygen and nitrogen cycles—are tightly connected.
Abstract
Nitrous oxide is a potent greenhouse gas whose production is catalyzed by nitric oxide reductase (NOR) members of the heme-copper oxidoreductase (HCO) enzyme superfamily. We identified several previously uncharacterized HCO families, four of which (eNOR, sNOR, gNOR, and nNOR) appear to perform NO reduction. These families have novel active-site structures and several have conserved proton channels, suggesting that they might be able to couple NO reduction to energy conservation. We isolated and biochemically characterized a member of the eNOR family from the bacterium Rhodothermus marinus and found that it performs NO reduction. These recently identified NORs exhibited broad phylogenetic and environmental distributions, greatly expanding the diversity of microbes in nature capable of NO reduction. Phylogenetic analyses further demonstrated that NORs evolved multiple times independently from oxygen reductases, supporting the view that complete denitrification evolved after aerobic respiration."
Diversity and evolution of nitric oxide reduction in bacteria and archaea (no public access)
Ein Mädchen übernachtet bei seiner Freundin und wird von deren Vater vergewaltigt. Später stellt sich heraus: Er hat sich auch an seiner Tochter vergangen
Das ist leider ein allzu bekanntes Muster: Weibliche Opfer von Vergewaltigungen helfen dem Vergewaltiger zu neuen Opfern. Dieses Beispiel scheint besonders krass!
Nur 5 Jahre Haft????
Bones reveal first evidence of Down syndrome in Neanderthals discovered in Spain
Amazing stuff! How much is wishful thinking though?
"More than 146,000 years ago, Neanderthals hunted birds and other game during short stays at a Spanish cave called Cova Negra. Anthropologists studying the bones they left behind came across one that stood out: a part of the skull that contains the inner ear bones just a few centimeters long, from a child who lived to about age 6.
The bone displays a handful of tiny anomalies most commonly found in people with Down syndrome today. The child likely had this condition and had hearing loss, scientists report today in Science Advances—the oldest known example of the condition. If confirmed, the finding would add to the evidence that our close cousins cared for vulnerable members of their communities. ..."
From the abstract:
"Caregiving for disabled individuals among Neanderthals has been known for a long time, and there is a debate about the implications of this behavior. Some authors believe that caregiving took place between individuals able to reciprocate the favor, while others argue that caregiving was produced by a feeling of compassion related to other highly adaptive prosocial behaviors. The study of children with severe pathologies is particularly interesting, as children have a very limited possibility to reciprocate the assistance. We present the case of a Neanderthal child who suffered from a congenital pathology of the inner ear, probably debilitating, and associated with Down syndrome. This child would have required care for at least 6 years, likely necessitating other group members to assist the mother in childcare"
Fig. 2. 3D model of the inner ear of CN-46700.
Liberty Lost: The Rise and Demise of Voluntary Association in America Since Its Founding
Could be interesting reading! Food for thought!
"Voluntary associations are thousands of years old, but Americans once embraced them like no other society has before, or since. Voluntary associations allow people, even members of disfranchised groups, to "vote" on worthy causes and institutions with their donation dollars and volunteer hours. Unfortunately, Americans have long since forgotten that the best way to palliate most economic and social problems is not formal government, the instruments of which are too often cruel or crude, but voluntary civil society. Maybe this book can help return this country to the truer, participatory, and voluntary form of democracy that it once knew."
Auschwitz display of 3,000 murdered children's shoes returns after undergoing preservation process for one year
Pure evil! Horror! Incomprehensible! Never forget what cruelties humans can do to each other!
"Over 3,000 of the approximately 8,000 shoes belonging to children murdered in Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz have returned to display at the site of the memorial museum following an extensive preservation process, the Auschwitz Memorial, Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, and International March of the Living announced on Thursday. ..."
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