What do citizens prefer? A government run by mediocre, lifelong career politicians or by capable business minded individuals fairly new to elected office, and ready to implement urgent reforms?

We will find out!

But the chances are very good that the example of Argentina's President Milei and the US President Trump to sway citizens of Western countries to study these two governments and compare them with their own government or to demand similar reforms.

Germany is another basket case in point. The current political leadership (too many mediocre, lifelong career politicians) of this country is in shambles!

Arboreal decarbonization under compounding climate and economic uncertainties. Really!

Amazing stuff! Scientists discover the removal of CO2 from the air by planting trees, but it's too risky and costly! Hilarious! Looks like another piece of junk science and junk journalism!

Why do we learn and do so little about planting trees to mitigate the contrived, so called  climate crisis? The solution is too simple, too risky, too costly, and not profitable enough! 

Following excerpt reads almost like a bad joke, but it is disseminated by none other than the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS): 

"One of the most popular strategies used to remove carbon dioxide from the air is planting trees. However, not all tree-planting strategies are equally beneficial [???]; questions such as which species grow best in a given environment, which ones will thrive better in a higher–carbon dioxide world, and which ones are the most cost-effective all must be considered in decisions about which types of trees to plant. Cho et al. investigated these issues in the United Kingdom to quantify uncertainties  [???] related to climate and economic conditions and to examine how planting choices are affected by modern methods of decision-making. Despite the risks [???], tree planting can be one of the most cost-effective ways to remove carbon dioxide from the air."

From the significance and abstract:

"Significance

For many countries, large-scale tree planting is a crucial component of their decarbonization plans [only plans???]. This paper positions those decisions in the context of the substantial uncertainties surrounding both future climatic and economic conditions.

Using the United Kingdom as an example, this paper finds the following:

1) Nations can expose themselves to substantial cost risk [???] by pursuing planting strategies that ignore uncertainty.

2) Planting strategies that use portfolio approaches to diversify risk can substantially reduce exposure to downside cost extremes.

3) Portfolio approaches can mitigate some risk exposure, but significant cost risks still exist.

4) Despite this persistent risk profile [???], when compared to projected costs for alternative technologies, tree planting emerges as a highly cost-effective option for carbon dioxide removal.

Abstract

To meet decarbonization targets, nations around the globe have made ambitious commitments to expand forested land [only commitments ???].

Operationalizing these commitments requires choosing a planting strategy:

How many trees should be planted, of which species, and where?

Given those choices must be made now but have long-term consequences, such decisions are plagued by uncertainty [???].

For example, species that are well suited to present conditions may perform poorly under future climates [???], yet those future climates are themselves highly uncertain.

Using the exemplar of the United Kingdom, a nation committed to achieving net zero emissions by midcentury, we quantify key uncertainties pertaining to coevolving climate and economic conditions and examine how modern methods of decision-making under uncertainty can advise on planting choices.

Our analysis reveals that the best planting strategy assuming a “high-emissions” future is radically different to that for a future that remains on a “near-historic” path.

Planting for the former while experiencing the latter results in substantial net costs to UK society. Assimilating uncertainty into decision-making identifies planting strategies that diversify risk and significantly reduce the probability of high-cost outcomes. Importantly, our research reveals that the scope for mitigating risk through choice of planting strategy is relatively limited. Despite this persistent risk, we find that tree planting remains a highly cost-effective carbon removal solution when compared to alternative technologies, even when those alternatives are assumed to be riskless."

In Other Journals | Science

Resilient tree-planting strategies for carbon dioxide removal under compounding climate and economic uncertainties (open access)

One-year-old infants already display compositional abilities before they learn to speak

Amazing stuff!

"... In contrast to older children and adults, infants cannot yet express their thought processes, thus assessing their abilities in experimental settings typically entails observing their behavior. To evaluate their compositional abilities, [researchers] ... carried out three experiments using a well-established experimental paradigm for research with infants, which involves measuring the time they spend gazing at specific objects. ...

Infants who took part in the team's experiment were shown videos of an actress who reached for an object and then made a facial expression expressing negation (i.e., "not-face"). Interestingly, the researchers found that 12-month-old infants looked longer at the actress when she was making the "not-face," which suggests that they understood the meaning of the facial expression and thus had basic compositional abilities. ...

In their three experiments, ... gathered evidence that infants can correctly compose simple noun-verb sentences at approximately 14 months of age, can understand compositional facial expressions (i.e., a negation expressed through a facial expression) at one year of age, and can make basic mental physical transformations when they are 10 months old. Collectively, their findings suggest that compositionality can emerge before humans learn to speak, indicating it could be based on simpler processes than previously anticipated. ..."

From the abstract:

"Compositionality is a means of constructing complex objects through the transformation and combination of simpler elements. While it is common to view compositionality as inherently complex, and thus to assume that compositionality is a byproduct of advanced language expertise, we argue otherwise. We propose that, although compositionality produces complex outcomes, the underlying processes are simple and can often be reduced to the general mechanism of function application. Accordingly, we explore the origins of compositionality not only in compositional language but also, and at an earlier stage, in the development of compositional representations and thoughts in young infants. Infants correctly composed simple noun-verb sentences at 14 months, facial expressions with objects at 12 months, and mental physical transformations at 10 months. This offers evidence for function application, the essence of compositionality, in infancy—emerging well before and outside the development of compositional language."

One-year-old infants already display compositional abilities, study finds

Evidence for compositional abilities in one-year-old infants (open access)

Race mortality gap in the US narrows, except for infants. Really!

Here is more junk science and junk journalism provided by an elite university like Harvard! Contrived racial disparities everywhere! 

This is a primitive race ideology a la Nazis based on skin color and not on socioeconomic factors and other factors.

It is Black infants versus white infants! Joseph Goebbels could not have done it better! Interestingly, the authors of the research study below capitalized both black and white.

"Americans are living longer than ever. And the disparity in overall mortality rates between Black and white Americans has narrowed since the 1950s. Among infants, however, the gap has widened, with Black infants dying at twice the rate of white infants, a new study reports. ..."

From the abstract:

"... The gaps in absolute life expectancy and age-standardized mortality between Black and White Americans decreased over the 70-year period beginning in 1950, but relative mortality in infants and children increased during this same period. ..."

Race mortality gap narrows, except for infants — Harvard Gazette "70-year study finds widening gap despite longer life expectancy for both racial groups"

Excess Mortality Rate in Black Children Since 1950 in the United States: A 70-Year Population-Based Study of Racial Inequalities (no public access)

US deploys more THAAD, Patriot batteries in Israel to bolster it's air defense systems

Good news! Israel is located in a dangerous neighborhood!

"The US has deployed two more Patriot batteries and a second THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System) battery to Israel to bolster the country's air defense systems, amid rising regional tensions, Saudi state-owned TV channel Al Arabiya reports. The US stationed the first THAAD battery in Israel several months ago, and it has already successfully intercepted several missiles fired at Israel, by the Houthi rebels in Yemen. ..."

US deploys more THAAD, Patriot batteries in Israel - report - Globes "Amid rising regional tensions the US is bolstering Israel's air defense, Saudi state-owned TV channel Al Arabiya reports."

One major Flu Strain Has Likely Gone Extinct Since 2020

Good news! They come and go! 

OMG, my next flu shot in September 2025 will not contain this strain anymore? A new strain will be added? How will my body respond? Just kidding!

Contrast this with the daily reports/alarmism of new Avian flu, Covid-19 strains and so on as if we are doomed.

"“Flu viruses spread every year and cause seasonal outbreaks. But one type, called influenza B Yamagata, may have completely disappeared…

This likely happened because COVID-19 precautions — such as social distancing, masks, and travel restrictions — sharply reduced social contact. With fewer opportunities to spread from person to person, B Yamagata couldn’t sustain transmission and eventually died out.

Regulatory health agencies like the WHO, European Medicines Agency, and US CDC have recommended removing it from flu vaccines. This could allow room for other strains to be included in seasonal flu vaccines, improving overall vaccine effectiveness.”"

A Flu Strain Has Likely Gone Extinct Since 2020 - Human Progress

Dementia is becoming less common in every generation over time in the United States and Europe

Good news! Probably due to better medical treatment options, medical diagnostics, earlier prevention and healthier lifestyles.

"The risk of developing dementia increases with age, so as the US population has grown older, dementia has become more common.

However, adjusting for age reveals an opposing trend. After analyzing long-term studies on tens of thousands of elderly Americans, a group of Duke University scientists found that, over the past 40 years, the age-specific prevalence of dementia has fallen by an astounding 67 percent.

The charts from their paper (below) show the share of the population with dementia on the vertical axis, with 5-year age groups extended chronologically on the horizontal axis.

On the left, each line represents a snapshot in time. You can see that dementia has become less common in every age group since 1984. ...

A similar trend has been documented in Europe."

Weekly Progress Roundup - by Malcolm Cochran - Doomslayer

Is Dementia Incidence Still Dropping? Birth Cohort Data Say Yes.

Dementia by generation. "Lower Every Generation? Over the last 40 years, the percentage of people at a given age who have dementia has dropped by two-thirds, hinting that incidence has gone down over time."

"Dementia by Birth Year. People born in 1945 had much less dementia at a given age range than did those born in 1895."

First-ever clinical trial of AI chatbot therapy delivers promising results to participants with a variety of psychological disorders

Good news! Healthier with AI! AI chatbots are personalizable, available at any time without appointment etc.

Note that this Therabot is still fairly primitive. It is only a text-based chatbot.

"... People in the study also reported they could trust and communicate with the system, known as Therabot, to a degree that is comparable to working with a mental health professional.

The trial consisted of 106 people from across the United States diagnosed with major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, or an eating disorder. Participants interacted with Therabot through a smartphone app by typing out responses to prompts about how they were feeling or initiating conversations when they needed to talk.

People diagnosed with depression experienced a 51% average reduction in symptoms, leading to clinically significant improvements in mood and overall well-being, the researchers report.

Participants with generalized anxiety reported an average reduction in symptoms of 31%, with many shifting from moderate to mild anxiety, or from mild anxiety to below the clinical threshold for diagnosis.

Among those at risk for eating disorders—who are traditionally more challenging to treat—Therabot users showed a 19% average reduction in concerns about body image and weight, which significantly outpaced a control group that also was part of the trial. ..."

"Researchers ... recently published the results of the first-ever clinical trial of AI therapy.

The trial involved 210 participants who were randomly assigned to a 4-week program with Therabot, a generative AI chatbot trained on a curated dataset of therapeutic conversations. ...

patients with depression, anxiety, or an eating disorder reported an average symptom reduction of 51 percent, 31 percent, and 19 percent, respectively."

"... The AI chatbot Therabot is a text-based multi-thread app that is compatible with both iOS and Android smartphones. Therabot was fine-tuned on mental health conversations created by mental health experts, including a clinical psychologist and board-certified psychiatrist, who were on the research team. Moreover, the conversations were also peer-reviewed with evidence-based modalities, which consisted mainly of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), a structured form of talk therapy. ..."

From the abstract:

"Background

Generative artificial intelligence (Gen-AI) chatbots hold promise for building highly personalized, effective mental health treatments at scale, while also addressing user engagement and retention issues common among digital therapeutics. We present a randomized controlled trial (RCT) testing an expert–fine-tuned Gen-AI–powered chatbot, Therabot, for mental health treatment.

Methods

We conducted a national, randomized controlled trial of adults (N=210) with clinically significant symptoms of major depressive disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), or at clinically high risk for feeding and eating disorders (CHR-FED). Participants were randomly assigned to a 4-week Therabot intervention (N=106) or waitlist control (WLC; N=104).

WLC participants received no app access during the study period but gained access after its conclusion (8 weeks).

Participants were stratified into one of three groups based on mental health screening results: those with clinically significant symptoms of MDD, GAD, or CHR-FED.

Primary outcomes were symptom changes from baseline to postintervention (4 weeks) and to follow-up (8 weeks).

Secondary outcomes included user engagement, acceptability, and therapeutic alliance (i.e., the collaborative patient and therapist relationship).

Cumulative-link mixed models examined differential changes. Cohen’s d effect sizes were unbounded and calculated based on the log-odds ratio, representing differential change between groups.

Results

Therabot users showed significantly greater reductions in symptoms of

MDD (mean changes: −6.13 [standard deviation {SD}=6.12] vs. −2.63 [6.03] at 4 weeks; −7.93 [5.97] vs. −4.22 [5.94] at 8 weeks; d=0.845–0.903),

GAD (mean changes: −2.32 [3.55] vs. −0.13 [4.00] at 4 weeks; −3.18 [3.59] vs. −1.11 [4.00] at 8 weeks; d=0.794–0.840), and 

CHR-FED (mean changes: −9.83 [14.37] vs. −1.66 [14.29] at 4 weeks; −10.23 [14.70] vs. −3.70 [14.65] at 8 weeks; d=0.627–0.819) relative to controls at postintervention and follow-up.

Therabot was well utilized (average use >6 hours), and participants rated the therapeutic alliance as comparable to that of human therapists.

Conclusions

This is the first RCT demonstrating the effectiveness of a fully Gen-AI therapy chatbot for treating clinical-level mental health symptoms.

The results were promising for MDD, GAD, and CHR-FED symptoms. Therabot was well utilized and received high user ratings.

Fine-tuned Gen-AI chatbots offer a feasible approach to delivering personalized mental health interventions at scale, although further research with larger clinical samples is needed to confirm their effectiveness and generalizability. ..."

Weekly Progress Roundup - by Malcolm Cochran - Doomslayer

First Therapy Chatbot Trial Yields Mental Health Benefits "Study participants likened Dartmouth’s AI-powered “Therabot” to working with a therapist."

Mental Health Crisis? There’s an App for That (this article contains some information about Therabot itself)

Study Finds AI Chatbot Can Improve Mental Health "AI chatbot therapy helps those with anxiety, depression, and eating disorders."

Randomized Trial of a Generative AI Chatbot for Mental Health Treatment (no public access)

How to take yourself less seriously

Common, seriously! Don't kid yourself! This joke was on me! 😊

Unfortunately, the article does not explain the difference between self-deprecating humor and self-flagellation. I suppose, an elite university like Harvard assumes you already know.

"There are many categories of humor. Self-deprecating humor is its own category. ...

[the author of the article] use laughter and humor when treating people struggling with depression and anxiety. Self-deprecating humor can be useful in a clinical setting. ...

it is taking yourself, or the situation that you’re in, less seriously. People who tend to use self-deprecating humor effectively are quite humble and self-aware. These are people who see themselves for who they are, for better or worse, and they have come to accept that. ...

It’s interesting to note that self-deprecating humor tends to be more common in individualistic cultures, while collective cultures often make fun of others. Western cultures put more emphasis on relatability and approachability; being able to have people relate to you by signaling flaws and vulnerabilities sends the message that everybody has struggles and we are all in this together. Cultures that are more collective tend to poke fun at one another because there’s a different sense of community. ..."

How to take yourself less seriously — Harvard Gazette "Clinical psychologist draws line between self-deprecating humor (with its health, social benefits) and self-flagellatio."

A breakthrough moment: Researchers discover new class of antibiotics

Good news! With machine learning & AI we will discover many more new classes of Antibiotics!

The antimicrobial resistance (AMR) alarmism and hysteria is over!

"The last time a new class of antibiotics reached the market was nearly three decades ago — but that could soon change ...

A team ... has identified a strong candidate to challenge even some of the most drug-resistant bacteria on the planet: a new class of antibiotics called lariocidin. ...

team found that the new molecule, a lasso peptide, holds great promise as an early drug lead because it attacks bacteria in a way that’s different from other antibiotics. Lariocidin binds directly to a bacterium’s protein synthesis machinery in a completely new way, inhibiting its ability to grow and survive. ...

Lariocidin is produced by a type of bacteria called Paenibacillus, which the researchers retrieved from a soil sample collected from a ... backyard.  ..."

From the abstract:

"Lasso peptides (biologically active molecules with a distinct structurally constrained knotted fold) are natural products that belong to the class of ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides. Lasso peptides act on several bacterial targets, but none have been reported to inhibit the ribosome, one of the main targets of antibiotics in the bacterial cell. 

Here we report the identification and characterization of the lasso peptide antibiotic lariocidin and its internally cyclized derivative lariocidin B, produced by Paenibacillus sp. M2, which has broad-spectrum activity against a range of bacterial pathogens. We show that lariocidins inhibit bacterial growth by binding to the ribosome and interfering with protein synthesis.

Structural, genetic and biochemical data show that lariocidins bind at a unique site in the small ribosomal subunit, where they interact with the 16S ribosomal RNA and aminoacyl-tRNA, inhibiting translocation and inducing miscoding.

Lariocidin is unaffected by common resistance mechanisms, has a low propensity for generating spontaneous resistance, shows no toxicity to human cells, and has potent in vivo activity in a mouse model of Acinetobacter baumannii infection.

Our identification of ribosome-targeting lasso peptides uncovers new routes towards the discovery of alternative protein-synthesis inhibitors and offers a novel chemical scaffold for the development of much-needed antibacterial drugs."

A breakthrough moment: Researchers discover new class of antibiotics

A breakthrough moment: McMaster researchers discover new class of antibiotics (original news release)

A broad-spectrum lasso peptide antibiotic targeting the bacterial ribosome (no public access)

A Broad Spectrum Lasso Peptide Antibiotic Targeting the Bacterial Ribosome (ResearchGate, open access)

[Caption not available]

Marine Le Pen was at the heart of an embezzlement scheme directing five million Euros to her inner circle

So maybe this politician is a criminal and not a political victim as portrayed by so many!

I blogged here about her conviction!

"A review of court documents, email and testimony from her trial shows how the French far-right leader was at the center of a system to create phony contracts that directed the equivalent of $4.8 million in EU funding to her inner circle and officials of her party."

The Wall Street Journal What's news

Marine Le Pen was at the heart of a system to create phony contracts directing millions in EU funding to her inner circle and party officials

China wanted to negotiate with Trump. Instead, it’s preparing for another trade war. Really!

What exactly did the Communist Party of China want to negotiate about? What were the terms and/or conditions China was asking for?

Wall Street Journal appears to be spreading a rumor or some narrative akin to Trump Derangement Syndrome!

I blogged here yesterday about my speculation that Xi Jinping may lose his job over Trump tariffs.

"Beijing had been cautiously optimistic in the Trump administration’s first days, but with the latest tariff action, its hope for dialogue has been dashed. The lack of communication between the two sides shows no signs of letting up. What lies ahead is likely to be a cycle of tariff retaliation, making it hard to even start negotiations in the near term."

Apparently, the WSJ confused negotiation and probing:

"Beijing spent the first months of President Trump’s second term trying—and failing—to figure out the new administration’s approach to China. Officials hoping to build lines of communication with Washington had no luck. ..."

The Wall Street Journal What's news

China Wanted to Negotiate With Trump. Now It’s Arming for Another Trade War. "Communication between Washington and Beijing is at a standstill, raising the prospects of a long cycle of tariff retaliation. ‘Trump and Xi are locked in a paradox of pressure and pride [???].’"

‘Hands Off!’ protesters rally against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Really!

Maybe many of them fired federal employees? The legacy media, as usual, will not investigate!

The reported numbers of participants are most likely exaggerated! See below how hard e.g. CNN tried to inflate the numbers.

According to CNN: "Millions of people [???] took part in protests against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk across all 50 states and globally on Saturday, organized by a pro-democracy movement [???] in response to what they call a “hostile takeover” and attack on American rights and freedoms. 

Over 1,400 “Hands Off!” mass-action protests were held at state capitols, federal buildings, congressional offices, Social Security’s headquarters, parks and city halls throughout the entire country – anywhere “we can make sure they hear us,” organizers said. “Hands Off!” demands “an end to this billionaire power grab.” ..."

‘Hands Off!’ protesters rally against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk | CNN

Queen - Somebody To Love (Official Video)

Enjoy!

Girls with Guns: The female-only Kurdish militia fighting for freedom in Syria

Recommendable! They won e.g. battles against Islamist terrorists. Islamist terrorists would rather kill themselves than being killed by a Kurdish woman.

Caveat: I did not watch the whole video.

How 200-year-old whaling logs are helping scientists track climate change. Really!

About 1840-1850, the Little Ice Age ended! This is junk science and junk journalism!

Teddy Pendergrass & Stephanie Mills ‘Feel The Fire’

Enjoy!

China-Africa economic ties: A new chapter

Very recommendable and concerning! China is active in almost every country of Africa. Very impressive! Are the Western countries late to the party?

Deutsche KI-Drohnen jagen Putins Militär in der Ukraine

Putin der Schreckliche tobt wahrscheinlich, dass deutsche KI Drohnen dem russischen Militär schwere Verluste zufügt! Dank ihres in der Endphase KI gesteuerten Zielanflugs können diese Drohnen nicht mehr durch elektronische Störungen abgelenkt werden.

Die US Demokraten sind wieder da. Wirklich!

Wieweit ist eigentlich die einstmals liberal, konservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (eine meiner früher beliebten Zeitungen meiner Geburtsstadt) nach weit links abgerückt? Hier ist ein schönes Beispiel dafür!

Typisch Bananenrepublik D!

Und wer ist der verantwortliche Herausgeber, der so einen Trottel von Journalistin einstellt und nach Washington DC anstelle von z.B. Groenland entsendet? Das ist fast schon gemeingefährlich die Leser so zu düpieren zum Thema USA!

Sie sind wieder da "Die Demokraten lagen nach Trumps Wahlsieg am Boden. Doch jetzt rappeln sie sich auf – und organisieren Protest gegen Trump und seinen Berater Musk. Vorneweg: Bernie Sanders und Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez."

Was fuer ein Quatsch produziert von der in Washington DC arbeitenden Journalistin Sofia Dreisbach!

Sofia Dreisbach. Hübsch, jung und sehr naiv und ahnungslos!

17 Houston billionaires make Forbes list of world's wealthiest people

Amazing stuff! Mind boggling!

Houston, we have a problem! Too many billionaires! Just kidding! 😊

On the list of countries by number of billionaires (2024), the city of Houston would rank no. 25 together with Malaysia. Let this sink in for a moment!

17 Houston billionaires make Forbes list of world's wealthiest people

Wieder mal ging die AfD nahe Erasmus Stiftung leer aus was öffentliche Zuschüsse für parteinahe Stiftungen angeht

Immer noch zweierlei Maß in der Bananenrepublik D.!

Und die FDP hat bei diesem faulen Schächern wohl lange mitgemacht! Wer braucht so eine Partei noch!

Wieviele Jahre wurde diese eklatante Benachteiligung der AfD schon durchgeführt?

"... So viel Geld erhalten die anderen Stiftungen:

In der 20. Legislaturperiode (bis Februar 2025) erhielten die anderen Stiftungen in nur dreieinhalb Jahren:

– die SPD-nahe Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung rund 1,4 Milliarden Euro

– die CDU-nahe Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung rund 870 Millionen Euro

– die Grünen-nahe Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung rund 430 Millionen Euro

– die FDP-nahe Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung rund 330 Millionen Euro

– die Linken-nahe Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung rund 320 Millionen Euro

– die CSU-nahe Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung rund 260 Millionen Euro

Nur die AfD-nahe Desiderius-Erasmus-Stiftung ging wieder leer aus! ..."

Rundbrief Nr. 32 – 31. März 2025: Zur Verfassungsgerichtsent- scheidung vom 27.3.2025 – Erasmus Stiftung

Luigi Einaudi, der Ludwig Erhard Italiens und Vorkämpfern eines vereinten Europas

Empfehlenswert!

"Als sich 1947 eine Reihe von liberalen Intellektuellen am Fuße des Mont Pélerin trafen, war man noch ein Häuflein von Idealisten, die nach den Schrecken des Zweiten Weltkriegs und des globalen Totalitarismus einen Weg in die Freiheit suchen. Schon bald darauf stießen aber zwei Personen hinzu, die durch die Umstände in bedeutsame politische Ämter gespült worden waren. Beide waren von herausragender Bedeutung für den Aufbau eines freiheitlichen Gemein- und Staatswesens in den beiden Ländern, die den Faschismus hervorgebracht und groß gemacht hatten. In Deutschland war das Ludwig Erhard und in Italien Luigi Einaudi (1874-1961).

Einaudi war im ersten Viertel des 20. Jahrhunderts ein typischer öffentlicher Intellektueller. Der zunächst noch pragmatische Sozialist lehrte Finanzwissenschaften in Turin und Mailand, schrieb für renommierte Zeitungen und wurde 1919 in den italienischen Senat berufen. So sehr er sich schrittweise dem Sozialismus abwandte, umso deutlicher noch positionierte er sich gegen den aufkommenden Faschismus.

Nach dem Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs wurde er Gouverneur der italienischen Zentralbank und Abgeordneter in der verfassungsgebenden Versammlung. 1948 wurde er zum italienischen Staatspräsidenten gewählt.

Wie viele aus der Gründergeneration der Mont Pélerin Society war Einaudi durch den Horror des Totalitarismus zu einem erheblichen Staatskeptiker geworden. Mit großer Leidenschaft kämpfte er publizistisch und in der Gestaltung des neuen italienischen Staates dafür, diesem Gebilde möglichst enge Grenzen zu setzen.

Er gehörte aus dieser Überzeugung heraus auch zu den großen Vorkämpfern eines vereinten Europas. Und das in einer Weise, die gerade in unserer Zeit wieder wegweisend sein könnte: Ein schrankenloser Binnenmarkt sollte für Wohlstand und Frieden sorgen.

Dezentralismus, Wettbewerb und Subsidiarität sollten leitende Prinzipien aller staatlichen Organisationen sein. Und eine starke gemeinsame Verteidigung sollte Europa auf Augenhöhe mit den amerikanischen Verbündeten bringen, während es sich vor allem der kommunistischen Bedrohung mit Wucht entgegenstellen könne. Hätte man sich an die Grundsätze Einaudis gehalten, stünde Europa heute anders da. Für eine Orientierung in diesen Zeiten sollten wir uns vielleicht auch einmal dem begeisterten Hobbywinzer aus dem Piemont zuwenden."

Neue Prometheus-Studie - Mileis Reformen - Tech-Milliardäre - Merz als Bettvorleger - Luigi Einaudi

Luigi Einaudi and his wife Ida Pellegrini

Immune cells have unexpected role in fighting pain, but only in female mice

Amazing stuff!

A case of sex discrimination in nature! I will call my attorney!😊 Just kidding!

"Unlike the combative immune cells that protect us from pathogens, regulatory T cells (Tregs) are nurturers. They salve inflammation, promote healing of injured tissue, and rein in immune attacks to curb self-inflicted damage.

Now, a study of mice ... suggests some Tregs also act on nerve cells to quell a specific type of pain—but only in females. Why only female rodents seem to benefit remains unclear, but researchers hope they might someday enlist these Tregs to address pain conditions, many of which disproportionately affect women. ..."

From the editor's summary and abstract:

"Editor’s summary

Regulatory T (Treg) cells play a well-defined role in restraining inflammatory immune responses. Midavaine et al. found that depleting Treg cells specifically localized to the meninges of the central nervous system (mTreg cells) increased the responses of female, but not male, mice to mechanical pain stimuli.

These mTreg cells were a source of enkephalin, an endogenous opioid peptide, within the cerebrospinal fluid.

In the context of nerve injury, the enkephalin associated with mTreg cells could decrease pain sensing by activating the δ-opioid receptor expressed by a subset of nociceptive neurons involved in mechanical pain sensing.

Injecting the cytokine interleukin-2 (IL-2) into the spinal fluid increased mTreg cell numbers and decreased mechanical pain sensing in female mice after nerve injury. The analgesic effect of IL-2 in female mice could be prevented by blocking female sex hormones. ...

Abstract

T cells have emerged as orchestrators of pain amplification, but the mechanism by which T cells control pain processing is unresolved.

We found that regulatory T cells (Treg cells) could inhibit nociception through a mechanism that was not dependent on their ability to regulate immune activation and tissue repair.

Site-specific depletion or expansion of meningeal Treg cells (mTreg cells) in mice led to female-specific and sex hormone–dependent modulation of mechanical sensitivity. Specifically, mTreg cells produced the endogenous opioid enkephalin that exerted an antinociceptive action through the delta opioid receptor expressed by MrgprD+ sensory neurons.

Although enkephalin restrains nociceptive processing, it was dispensable for Treg cell–mediated immunosuppression.

Thus, our findings uncovered a sexually dimorphic immunological circuit that restrains nociception, establishing Treg cells as sentinels of pain homeostasis."

Immune cells have unexpected role in fighting pain | Science | AAAS "Inflammation-suppressing regulatory T cells reduce pain in female mice by targeting nerve cells"

[I was unable to find an original news release for this discovery!]

Meningeal regulatory T cells inhibit nociception in female mice (no public access)

Regulatory T cells (pink) in membranes near the mouse spinal cord send pain-suppressing signals to nerves.

Uniquely human language capacity found in wild bonobos apes

Amazing stuff! This could be strong hint that animals are much more capable of communication than previously thought!

Wow, this field research was conducted in the long time war torn Democratic Republic of Congo!

"... A bonobo dictionary

In a first step, the researchers applied a method developed by linguists to quantify the meaning of human words. “This allowed us to create a bonobo dictionary of sorts – a complete list of bonobo calls and their meaning,” says Mélissa Berthet, a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology of UZH and lead researcher of the study. “This represents an important step towards understanding the communication of other species, as it is the first time that we have determined the meaning of calls across the whole vocal repertoire of an animal.”

Compositionality is not unique to humans

After determining the meaning of single bonobo vocalizations, the researchers then moved on to investigating call combinations, using another approach borrowed from linguistics. “With our approach, we were able to quantify how the meaning of bonobo single calls and call combinations relate to each other,” ... The researchers found numerous call combinations whose meaning was related to the meaning of their single parts, a key hallmark of compositionality.  Furthermore, some of the call combinations bore a striking resemblance to the more complex nontrivial compositional structures in human language. “This suggests that the capacity to combine call types in complex ways is not as unique to humans as we once thought,” ..."

"After determining the meaning of single bonobo vocalizations, the researchers then moved on to investigating call combinations, using another approach borrowed from linguistics. “With our approach, we were able to quantify how the meaning of bonobo single calls and call combinations relate to each other,” says Simon Townsend, UZH Professor and senior author of the study. The researchers found numerous call combinations whose meaning was related to the meaning of their single parts, a key hallmark of compositionality.  Furthermore, some of the call combinations bore a striking resemblance to the more complex nontrivial compositional structures in human language. “This suggests that the capacity to combine call types in complex ways is not as unique to humans as we once thought,” ... "

From the editor's summary and abstract:

"Editor’s summary

One hallmark of human language is the combination of elements into larger meaningful structures, a pattern referred to as compositionality. Compositionality can be trivial, in which the two parts are added together to give meaning, or nontrivial, in which the meaning in one part modifies the meaning in the other. Recent research has found the presence of trivial compositionality across a number of species, but it has been argued that nontrivial compositionality is unique to humans. 

Berthet et al. used a large dataset of bonobo vocalizations in conjunction with a distributional semantics approach and found that not only did they display compositionality, but three of the four types were nontrivial. ...

Abstract

Compositionality, the capacity to combine meaningful elements into larger meaningful structures, is a hallmark of human language. Compositionality can be trivial (the combination’s meaning is the sum of the meaning of its parts) or nontrivial (one element modifies the meaning of the other element).

Recent studies have suggested that animals lack nontrivial compositionality, representing a key discontinuity with language.

In this work, using methods borrowed from distributional semantics, we investigated compositionality in wild bonobos and found that not only does each call type of their repertoire occur in at least one compositional combination, but three of these compositional combinations also exhibit nontrivial compositionality.

These findings suggest that compositionality is a prominent feature of the bonobo vocal system, revealing stronger parallels with human language than previously thought."

‘Uniquely human’ language capacity found in bonobos | Science | AAAS "In a first, researchers have seen a nonhuman animal combine different calls to make new meanings"

Bonobos Combine Calls in Similar Ways to Human Language (original news release) "Bonobos – our closest living relatives – create complex and meaningful combinations of calls resembling the word combinations of humans. This study ... challenges long-held assumptions about what makes human communication unique and suggests that key aspects of language are evolutionary ancient."

Extensive compositionality in the vocal system of bonobos (open access)

The Thinker by Auguste Rodin 😊

Geoengineering could fight climate change—if the public can be convinced. Really!

Keep mad scientists away from messing with our earth and atmosphere!

Once more, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is promoting junk science!

Plant some trees if you are worried about the life essential trace gas CO2 in the atmosphere!

Keep in mind: Global warming is a hoax and climate change is a religion! It is being used as a pretext by Big Government and the elite to interfere with our lives. It is among the greatest scams and scandals of at least the last 30 years!

"... in April 2024, a story about a controversial experiment ... Researchers from Washington state were trialing a machine that looked like a big snow cannon, which they hoped could one day be used to brighten clouds to reflect more of the Sun’s rays. They’d been spraying tiny salt particles into the air over the San Francisco Bay. ...

The story revealed that the researchers had kept the test a secret to limit protests. ...

a suite of new geoengineering tools—many still in the earliest stages of development—that aim to modify the atmosphere or the ocean in order to fight climate change. Some of these tools are designed to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, a step that, along with drastic emissions cuts, scientists agree will be essential for limiting global warming to 1.5°C. Others—such as cloud brightening—don’t counter the drivers of climate change, but aim to limit warming, protecting vulnerable ecosystems such as coral reefs.

One thing these technologies have in common, however, is that they’re at risk of being stopped before they can even be tested in the field. ..."

Geoengineering could fight climate change—if the public can be convinced | Science | AAAS "Geoengineering could be crucial in the fight against climate change. But first scientists need to learn how to talk to the public about it"

The hidden power of marathon Senate speeches: What history tells us about Cory Booker’s 25-hour oration. Really!

What a ridiculous glowing headline from a nutty political science professor at a state university about this fool Cory Booker! 😊

Cory Booker is about in the same class as Mistress Kamala! Both are very similar! Both produce word salads!

See also my blog post here about this absurd filibuster!

The hidden power of marathon Senate speeches: What history tells us about Cory Booker’s 25-hour oration

80 years after Auschwitz, kosher food will be sold in its town of Oświęcim near the infamous concentration camp

Good news! Time heals all wounds! A small, but significant event!

"Eighty years after Auschwitz was liberated from the Nazis, Jews who make a pilgrimage there can eat kosher food.

A mile from the concentration camp, visitors will be able to buy packaged, shelf-stable kosher meals for the first time at the Auschwitz Jewish Center — now a museum and the only surviving synagogue in Oświęcim, the Polish town renamed Auschwitz by the Nazis. ..."

80 years after Auschwitz, kosher food will be sold in its town of Oświęcim - Jewish Telegraphic Agency "The Auschwitz Jewish Center is now selling packaged kosher food, in a move both practical and symbolic."

The Auschwitz Jewish Center in Oswiecm, Poland receives about 1% of the 2.3 million visitors who come to the former death camp each year.

Global oil prices sink to lowest level in three years after Trump tariffs

This might drive some sweat on Putin the Terrible's face especially if the oil price continues to drop!

"The combination of the tariffs and the Saudi-led response dropped Brent crude oil prices down to just $65.58 a barrel."

Global oil prices sink to lowest level in three years after Trump tariffs | Just The News

Will China's Xi Jinping lose his job over Trump tariffs?

He is now 71 years old and in power since 2012.

Certainly, the trade tariffs imposed on China by President Trump while China is suffering from a prolonged recession (the economic growth engine is sputtering) is an opportunity for reshuffling the government in Beijing.

I suspect, he is not able to manage the current economic situation of China very well and he does not know how to deal with the dealmaker President Trump.

Apparently, lately there are also more purges than usual going in the communist party and military at the highest level.

In the best case scenario, the Communist Party of China loses power and China becomes a democracy.

Wind farms in the sea - Opportunity or risk for nature?

No matter whether these windmills are built on land or in the sea, they are mass killers of animals and insects and they spoil nature!

Gwynne Shotwell's SpaceX Success: How She Forged A Billion-Dollar Fortune

Very recommendable!

The Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil (Official Video) [4K]

Enjoy! Pleased to meet you! What's my name! The Beatles were in the audience.

Saudi Arabia displays technology transformation and is becoming a technology and venture capital hub

Very recommendable! Impressive! The last thing Saudi Arabia needs are Islamist terrorists! When will Saudi Arabia join the Abraham Accords? Together with Israel, Saudi Arabia could transform the entire Middle East.

Hamas Quietly Lowers Reported Number of Civilian Deaths in Gaza

Recommendable! It is absolutely disgusting and appalling that Western media so often repeat these obviously ridiculous numbers of civilian casualties provided by Hamas officials!

Chinese mountain to get escalators for ‘painless climbing experience’

Why not install an escalator to the summit of Mount Everest? I could be inclined to elevate up there. 😊

How China Came to Dominate Global Shipbuilding over the US, Japan, and South Korea

Very recommendable!

Victor Davis Hanson: Donald Trump’s Trade Parity ‘Golden Age’ Explained

Recommendable!

Mexican Billionaire Carlos Slim Is Biggest Winner Amid Tariff Rout

There are always winners and losers!

"As stocks tanked following news of President Trump’s new tariffs, Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Helu got billions richer."

How much richer did Mexico's President Scheinbaum get?

What is the $682 Billion LIVE Shopping Craze? with Palki Sharma

Recommendable! This way of shopping was never for me!

The rise and fall of South Korea’s Yoon Suk-yeol

Very recommendable!

Modi in Sri Lanka, Eyes "Landmark" Defence Deal with Palki Sharma

Good news! Very recommendable! A superpower rivalry over this island is unfolding!

Google DeepMind slows down publication of machine learning & AI research

Bad news! It appears competion over ML & AI is getting tougher! Who will suffer?

I can personally testify that Google has published many excellent research papers over the years. Many of them were cutting edge and well written!

"Current and former DeepMind researchers say that the company has introduced a tougher vetting process and more bureaucracy to make it harder to publish new AI and machine learning studies, especially if the results or methods might tip information to Google’s competitors. One new policy includes a six month embargo on research related to the company’s strategic AI priorities. This represents a significant shift for both the AI research community and for Google, whose public research has long been seen as essential in kickstarting the AI boom."

Sam Altman reveals details on OpenAI’s first LLM with open weights since GPT-2

DeepMind slows down research releases to keep competitive edge in AI race (behind paywall)

US Senators Chuck Grassley (R) and Maria Cantwell (D) introduce bill to reassert congressional power on tariffs

Will the US Congress in a bipartisan action be able retake control over trade tariffs?

This will be interesting to follow!

President Trump certainly has a point to expose the many significant non-tariff trade protectionism implemented by many countries around the world that has evolved over time and have undermined real free trade.

Hopefully, at the end (within the coming 4 years and when the dust settles) we will have more global free trade again than before Trump's imposition of the trade tariffs. That would be a great outcome.

"... The Trade Review Act of 2025 was co-sponsored by Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Democrat Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington state and imposed a time limit on tariffs before they needed approval from Congress to continue.

"Any duty on an article imported into the United States shall remain in effect for a period of not more than 60 days, unless there is enacted into law a joint resolution of approval with respect to the duty," read the legislation. ...

Grassley's office released a statement about trade powers made by the senator in 2019.

“Congress should take back some of this delegation of its Constitutional authority and rebalance trade powers between the two branches in a responsible way that doesn’t impede a president’s ability to protect America’s national security,” he said at the time. ..."

Republican Chuck Grassley and Democrat Maria Cantwell introduce bill to reassert congressional power on tariffs | Blaze Media

English for trippers: Shrewd is not lewd

Hew to the crew.

Trump fires national security officials, reportedly at urging of far Right Jew and Islamophobe, Laura Loomer. Really!

I did not know there were far right American Jews. I thought there were only leftist and orthodox Jews! Just kidding!

Is she maybe also antisemitic? Just wondering! 😊

What is even more surprising: Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Jerusalem Post have almost the same headline. Plus, both used the same photo of Laura Loomer (not the one below though).

Trump fires national security officials, reportedly at urging of far Right Jew, Laura Loomer

Trump fires national security officials, reportedly at urging of Laura Loomer, far-right Jewish ‘Islamophobe’ "One of the officials fired was David Feith — a senior director for technology and national security who is Jewish."

A portrait of the far Right Jew and Islamophobe, Laura Loomer. She must be the devil incarnate? 😊

Trump moves to keep TikTok running for another 75 days as sale negotiations lag

At least President Trump (a businessman) shows some flexibility when necessary! 😊 

Do all the all the lunatics, who claim he is a dictator, duly notice? 😊

Trump moves to keep TikTok running for another 75 days as sale negotiations lag | Just The News "Trump insisted his administration had made great progress on a deal to keep the social media app running in the U.S., but that it needed more time to finalize it."

Study reveals how alcohol abuse damages cognition long-term or permanently. Female rats do better than male rats

Good news! This has been researched for several decades and we still discover more!

Alcohol is a poison! Prohibition or severe supply restrictions are not a solution! Abstinence, the earlier, the better!

"For the first time, researchers demonstrated in an animal how heavy alcohol use leads to long-term behavioral issues by damaging brain circuits critical for decision-making.

Rats exposed to high amounts of alcohol exhibited poor decision-making during a complex task even after a monthslong withdrawal period. Key areas of their brains had undergone dramatic functional changes compared to healthy rats. ...

Previous experiments in animals weren't comparable to humans with alcohol use disorder because the animals didn't demonstrate deficits in rapid decision-making. The team believes this was because tasks in earlier experiments were too easy. ...

The team linked the behavioral difficulties to dramatic functional transformations in the dorsomedial striatum, a part of the brain critical for decision-making. The alcohol had damaged neural circuits causing alcohol-exposed rats to process information less effectively. ..."

From the abstract:

"Value-based decision-making relies on the striatum, where neural plasticity can be altered by chronic ethanol (EtOH) exposure, but the effects of such plasticity on striatal neural dynamics during decision-making remain unclear.

This study investigated the long-term impacts of EtOH on reward-driven decision-making and striatal neurocomputations in male and female rats using a dynamic probabilistic reversal learning task.

Following a prolonged withdrawal period, EtOH-exposed male rats exhibited deficits in adaptability and exploratory behavior, with aberrant outcome-driven value updating that heightened preference for chosen action. These behavioral changes were linked to altered neural activity in the dorsomedial striatum (DMS), where EtOH increased outcome-related encoding and decreased choice-related encoding.

In contrast, female rats showed minimal behavioral changes with distinct EtOH-evoked alterations of neural activity, revealing significant sex differences in the impact of chronic EtOH.

Our findings underscore the impact of chronic EtOH exposure on adaptive decision-making, revealing enduring changes in neurocomputational processes in the striatum underlying cognitive deficits that differ by sex."

Study reveals how alcohol abuse damages cognition | Hub "Months after withdrawal, brain activity during decision-making remained impaired in rats"

Chronic ethanol exposure produces sex-dependent impairments in value computations in the striatum (open access)

Fig. 1. EtOH-exposed rats exhibit a distinct behavioral pattern in the dynaPRL task.

Unstable Protein Variants found in the Domainome Linked to Many Human genetic Diseases

Good news! This research was already published in early January 2025, but it was apparently not covered by popular science articles and newsletters until now.

"Every human is born with 50 to 100 genetic variants that were not present in their parents. ...

Genetic variants that change a protein’s amino acid sequence, producing protein variants, cause a third of all known human genetic diseases. Yet, scientists know very little about how most of these single nucleotide mutations affect protein function. ..."

"... Most genetic changes that swap one amino acid for another cause disease by making the protein less stable, according to the largest study of human protein variants to date. Unstable proteins are more likely to misfold and degrade, causing them to stop working or accumulate in harmful amounts inside cells.

The study  ... helps explain why minimal changes in the human genome, also known as missense variants, can cause disease at the molecular level. ...

discovered that protein instability is one of the main drivers of inherited cataract formation, and also contributes to some neurological, developmental, and muscle conditions.

The team analysed 563,534 variants, including 621 that are known to cause disease, and catalogued their impact on proteins. Three in five, or 61 per cent, of these variants caused a detectable decrease in protein stability, highlighting the possibility of developing therapies aimed at stabilising proteins. Instability was even higher in recessive conditions, where copies of a gene from both parents are necessary to cause disease. ..."

From the abstract:

"Missense variants that change the amino acid sequences of proteins cause one-third of human genetic diseases. Tens of millions of missense variants exist in the current human population, and the vast majority of these have unknown functional consequences.

Here we present a large-scale experimental analysis of human missense variants across many different proteins. Using DNA synthesis and cellular selection experiments we quantify the effect of more than 500,000 variants on the abundance of more than 500 human protein domains.

This dataset reveals that 60% of pathogenic missense variants reduce protein stability. The contribution of stability to protein fitness varies across proteins and diseases and is particularly important in recessive disorders. We combine stability measurements with protein language models to annotate functional sites across proteins.

Mutational effects on stability are largely conserved in homologous domains, enabling accurate stability prediction across entire protein families using energy models. Our data demonstrate the feasibility of assaying human protein variants at scale and provides a large consistent reference dataset for clinical variant interpretation and training and benchmarking of computational methods."

Unstable Protein Variants Linked to Many Human Diseases | The Scientist "The Human Domainome 1—the largest library of human protein variants—reveals the cause of certain genetic disorders, paving the way for personalized medicines."

Human ‘Domainome’ reveals root cause of inherited conditions (original news release) "The largest catalogue of human protein variants to date has revealed that protein destabilisation is the main driver of inherited genetic conditions and paves the way for precision medicine and AI-driven treatments."

Site-saturation mutagenesis of 500 human protein domains (open access)

Fig. 1: Mutating the human Domainome.

Fig. 4: The contribution of protein destabilization to genetic disease.