Recommendable!
Sunday, August 31, 2025
Joe Cocker - The Letter (Live From Mad Dogs & Englishmen)
Enjoy! Joe Cocker (1944-2014) was a little bit of a one trick pony! His awkward dance moves are unique!
Image of the day
I am not sure why Modi has joined this troika! He does not fit in there! Very regrettable!
Talk Africa: Africa remembers World War II
Very recommendable! Did well trained African soldiers returning from WWII accelerate the ouster of colonial powers? One could say WWII may have started in Africa with Mussolini invading Ethiopia in 1935. Then there was Italian Libya.
Egypt reopens Africa's sole and world's second oldest agriculture museum
Recommendable! Beyond pyramids and mummies! China donated a whole exhibition of Chinese artifacts to this museum!
How Russia and Ukraine are fighting a 'proxy war' in the Africa (Sahel, Mali) thousands of miles from Europe
Recommendable! Very clever move by the Ukraine!
Rats walk again after breakthrough spinal cord repair with 3D printed organoid scaffolds
Good news!
"... researchers developed a 3D-printed scaffold that directs stem cells to grow into functioning nerve cells, successfully restoring movement in rats with severed spinal cords. This promising technique could transform future treatment for spinal cord injuries. ..."
From the abstract:
"The transplantation of regionally specific spinal neural progenitor cells (sNPCs) has shown promise for functional restoration after spinal cord injury (SCI) by forming connections with host neural circuits.
Here, 3D-printed organoid scaffolds for transplantation using clinically relevant human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived regionally specific sNPCs is developed.
Scaffolds with microscale channels are printed, and sNPCs are subsequently printed within these channels. The scaffolds direct axonal projections along the channels and guide the cells to simulate in vivo-like conditions, leading to more effective cell maturation and the development of neuronal networks crucial for restoring function after SCI.
The scaffolds, with organoids assembled along their lengths, are transplanted into the transected spinal cords of rats. This significantly promotes the functional recovery of the rats.
At 12 weeks post-transplantation, the majority of the cells in the scaffolds differentiate into neurons and integrate into the host spinal cord tissue.
These results demonstrate their potential to create a relay system along the spinal cord and form synapses in both the rostral and caudal directions relative to the scaffold. It is envisioned that combining sNPCs, organoid assembly, and 3D printing strategies can ultimately lead to a transformative treatment approach for SCI."
Breakthrough in 3D-printed scaffolds offers hope for spinal cord injury recovery (original news release) "Currently, there is no proven way to completely reverse spinal cord injuries"
Fig. 1 Schematic of experiments.
Common painkillers like Advil and Tylenol supercharge antibiotic resistance
Bad news!
"Painkillers ... — ibuprofen and acetaminophen — may be quietly accelerating one of the world’s greatest health crises: antibiotic resistance. Researchers discovered that these drugs not only fuel bacterial resistance on their own but make it far worse when combined with antibiotics. The findings are especially troubling for aged care settings, where residents commonly take multiple medications, creating perfect conditions for resistant bacteria to thrive. ..."
"... Assessing the interaction of non-antibiotic medications, the broad-spectrum antibiotic ciprofloxacin, and Escherichia coli (E. coli) – a common bacteria that causes gut and urinary tract infections – researchers found that ibuprofen and paracetamol significantly increased bacterial mutations, making E. coli highly resistant to the antibiotic. ..."
From the abstract:
"Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a global threat to public health. While antibiotic overuse is a primary driver, emerging evidence suggests that non-antibiotic medications (NAMs) may also contribute. This concern is particularly relevant in residential aged care facilities (RACFs), where both NAMs and antibiotics are frequently used. We investigated whether nine commonly used NAMs in RACFs, including ibuprofen, diclofenac, acetaminophen, furosemide, metformin, atorvastatin, tramadol, temazepam, and pseudoephedrine at gut-relevant concentrations, enhance ciprofloxacin-induced mutagenesis in Escherichia coli. Our findings showed that ibuprofen and acetaminophen significantly increased mutation frequency and conferred high-level ciprofloxacin resistance. Whole-genome sequencing identified mutations in GyrA, MarR, and AcrR, with the latter two correlated with overexpression of AcrAB-TolC drug efflux pump. Co-exposure to two NAMs further elevated mutation rates and ciprofloxacin resistance levels. This study underscored the overlooked role of NAMs in driving AMR and highlighted the need to reassess polypharmacy risks in aged care settings."
Fig. 2: Mutation frequencies following exposure to ciprofloxacin and NAMs [non-antibiotic medications].
Cells eject waste in a newly discovered healing mechanism that could also fuel inflammation and cancer
Amazing stuff!
"Scientists have uncovered a surprising new healing mechanism in injured cells called cathartocytosis, in which cells "vomit" out their internal machinery to revert more quickly to a stem cell-like state. While this messy shortcut helps tissues regenerate faster, it also leaves behind debris that can fuel inflammation and even cancer. ..."
"When injured, cells have well-regulated responses to promote healing. These include a long-studied self-destruction process that cleans up dead and damaged cells as well as a more recently identified phenomenon that helps older cells revert to what appears to be a younger state to help grow back healthy tissue.
Now, a new study in mice ... reveals a previously unknown cellular purging process that may help injured cells revert to a stem cell-like state more rapidly. The investigators dubbed this newly discovered response cathartocytosis, taking from Greek root words that mean cellular cleansing. ...
As with many shortcuts, this one has potential downsides: According to the investigators, cathartocytosis is fast but messy, which may help shed light on how injury responses can go wrong, especially in the setting of chronic injury. For example, ongoing cathartocytosis in response to an infection is a sign of chronic inflammation and recurring cell damage that is a breeding ground for cancer. In fact, the festering mess of ejected cellular waste that results from all that cathartocytosis may also be a way to identify or track cancer, according to the researchers. ..."
From the highlights and abstract:
"Highlights
• Defining cathartocytosis, an injury-induced process cells use to downscale cellular machinery
• Three-dimensional reconstruction detailing how cells reorganize organelles during paligenosis
• Cathartocytosis and autophagy occur together in paligenosis but are mechanistically distinct
• EPG5 prevents fusion of autophagic compartments with the apical membrane after injury
Summary
Injury causes differentiated cells to undergo massive reprogramming to become proliferative and repair tissue via paligenosis.
Gastric chief cells use paligenosis to reprogram into progenitor-like spasmolytic-polypeptide-expressing metaplasia (SPEM) cells. Stage 1 of paligenosis is the downscaling of mature cell architecture via a process involving lysosomes.
Here, we notice that sulfated glycoproteins are not only digested during paligenosis but also excreted into the gland. Various genetic and pharmacological approaches show that endoplasmic reticulum membranes and secretory granule cargo are also excreted and that the process proceeds in parallel with but is mechanistically independent of autophagy.
Three-dimensional light and electron microscopy demonstrated that excretion occurs via unique, complex, multi-chambered invaginations of the apical plasma membrane. As this lysosome-independent cell cleansing process does not seem to have been priorly described, we termed it “cathartocytosis.” Cathartocytosis allows a cell to rapidly eject excess material without waiting for autophagic and lysosomal digestion, providing for efficient cellular downscaling."
Cells ‘vomit’ waste to promote healing, mouse study reveals (original news release) "Newly discovered purging process in gastric cells hints at how injury recovery can go wrong"
Cathartocytosis: Jettisoning of cellular material during reprogramming of differentiated cells (open access)
Graphical abstract
Figure 2 Focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy demonstrates apical membrane deformation and secreted vesicular material 24 h after injury
China has a different vision for AI. It might be smarter and more business focused
Serious food for thought!
"While the U.S. focuses on developing artificial general intelligence to match or surpass human thinking,
China’s leader Xi Jinping has shown little interest in AGI, instead urging the tech industry to work on practical, low-cost applications that improve efficiency and are easy to market.
The diverging visions represent a head-to-head bet with massive stakes."
Trump is shrinking the National Security Council from 400 to under 150 staff
Good news! What a bloat! Who needs so many talking heads!
"The NSC’s staff is now fewer than 150 compared with around 400 in previous administrations. The president has curtailed their role in overseeing national security decisions and instead is turning to a small circle of senior advisers. “Maybe previous administrations wanted to tell everyone everything to make them feel good, but we don’t really care if your feelings are hurt. We just need to get a job done,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Other officials and critics warn this approach has hurt—not helped—the Trump administration."
An anonymous NSC staffer. His/her non disclosed identity was covered up with a mask. 😊
Gen Z is, by a large margin, the least criminal American generation in living memory. Really!
Not so fast!
Why did this not happen already with the video game playing generation before? Were we not saying back then that teenagers and young adults were spending too much time in front of the screen.
Maybe the new generation is not so much interested in committing old fashioned crimes like burglary, robbery, or larceny-theft as the chart below suggests.
What about cyber crimes?
"One silver lining to the worrying decline in teenage socializing is a concurrent drop in the teen crime rate. Data compiled by the sociologist James Tuttle suggests that Gen Z is, by a large margin, the least criminal American generation in living memory."
The Smartphone-Induced Teen Crime Decline "Gen Z made crime rates 'crash out'"
"The correspondence between teenage socializing and crime rates is remarkable."
Rented Robots for small and medium-sized businesses
Good news!
"... Buying a robot could cost as much as $500,000, and ... wasn’t even confident that one would work. Instead, he rented a robot from Formic, a Woodridge, Ill., firm that takes care of installation, training, programming and repairs. It costs about $23 an hour, roughly the same as a human. ...
The robot rental model has the potential to transform the American industrial base by making automation accessible to small and medium-size businesses that have traditionally been slow to adopt new technology. ..."
The First Evidence of a Take-off in Solar in Africa
Good news!
"... However, South Africa and Egypt are currently the only countries with installed solar capacity measured in gigawatts, rather than megawatts. That could be about to change.
The first evidence of a take-off in solar in Africa is now here:
- The last 12 months saw a big rise in Africa’s solar panel imports. Imports from China rose 60% in the last 12 months to 15,032 MW. Over the last two years, the imports of solar panels outside of South Africa have nearly tripled from 3,734 MW to 11,248 MW.
- The rise happened across Africa. 20 countries set a new record for the imports of solar panels in the 12 months to June 2025. 25 countries imported at least 100 MW, up from 15 countries 12 months before.
..."
Scientists find new quantum behavior in unusual superconducting material
Amazing stuff!
"Researchers ... have discovered direct evidence of active flat electronic bands in a kagome superconductor. ...
It focuses the chromium-based kagome metal CsCr₃Sb₅, which becomes superconducting under pressure. ..."
"... Kagome metals, characterized by their two-dimensional lattices of corner-sharing triangles, have recently been predicted to host compact molecular orbitals, or standing-wave patterns of electrons that could potentially facilitate unconventional superconductivity and novel magnetic orders that can be made active by electron correlation effects. In most materials, these flat bands remain too far from active energy levels to have any significant impact; however, in CsCr₃Sb₅, they are actively involved and directly influence the material's properties. ...
"By identifying active flat bands, we've demonstrated a direct connection between lattice geometry and emergent quantum states," ..."
From the abstract:
"In the quest for topology- and correlation-driven quantum states, kagome lattice materials have garnered significant interest for their band structures, featuring flat bands (FBs) from the quantum destructive interference of the electronic wavefunction.
Tuning an FB to the chemical potential could induce electronic instabilities and emergent orders. Despite extensive studies, direct evidence of FBs tuned to the chemical potential and their role in emergent orders in bulk materials remains lacking.
Using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, resonant inelastic X-ray scattering, and density functional theory, we show that the low-energy structure of the Cr-based kagome metal superconductor CsCr3Sb5 is dominated by FBs at the Fermi level.
We also observe low-energy magnetic excitations evolving across the low-temperature transition, largely consistent with the FB shift. Our results suggest that the low-temperature order contains a magnetic origin and that the kagome FBs may play a role in the emergence of this order."
A strange quantum effect could power future electronics (original news release)
Fig. 2: Electronic structure of CsCr3Sb5.
Neuroimmune implant offers new hope for severe rheumatoid arthritis
Good news! The device looks a little bit large for a neck implant in my opinion.
"The first-ever neuroimmune modulation implant has been approved for people with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who haven't found relief with traditional medications. It's a potentially life-changing technology that can zap pain by delivering one-minute electrical pulses to the vagus nerve – a key neural pathway that regulates inflammation. ...
The tiny device takes the form of a miniature neurostimulator enclosed in a ceramic and titanium case. It is implanted in the left side of the neck via a minimally invasive outpatient procedure, under anesthetic.
It then delivers electrical stimulation to the vagus nerve once a day for up to a decade, activating the innate anti-inflammatory and immune-restorative pathways to block the dysfunctional signaling that causes the pain. Patients use a digital platform that tailors pulse dosage to their needs, and it can be recharged wirelessly once a week via a collar-like neckband. ..."
Arizona lawmakers demand answers on surge of prison homicides and safety issues
Bad news! Leniency on violent offenders in prison may have consequences.
"At least nine inmates have been killed in 2025. Meanwhile, assaults on both staff and inmates are rising. ...
“Staff level assaults have almost doubled, and from year to year, from 2023 to 2024 to 2025,” Payne told The Center Square. “Assaults on inmates has more than doubled, almost tripled.” ...
policies they say allowed high-risk offenders to be reassigned to less restrictive custody levels. ...
“Moving violent offenders into less secure settings has put staff and inmates in danger, and the results are tragic.” ...
there were approximately 1,300 prisoners in maximum custody when Thornell [Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry Director] took over. Seven months later, Payne put that number at 257. ..."
Saturday, August 30, 2025
The Unpopular Truth About Electric Vehicles | Mark P. Mills
Very recommendable! $30,000 in subsidies, only about 10% savings in fossil fuel use ...
A moment you cannot miss! PM Modi welcomed in China with a special Vande Mataram performance!
Very nice! The musicians appear to be Chinese/Asian women
Palestinian leaders DENIED visas to attend UN, Rubio cites terror links
I think, this is a good idea! Bravo Marco Rubio! The Palestinians urgently need new and better leaders than e.g. the 89 year old lifelong terrorist Mahmoud Abbas!
Rechte Frauenfront: Weiblich, jung, rechtsextrem
Empfehlenswert! Der Spiegel war aber etwas dämlich in seinen Versuchen rechte Frauen zu interviewen.
There are now 3 US Senate races in November 2026
In Ohio (D), Michigan (D) and now in Iowa (R)!
"119th Congress (2025–2027)
Majority Party: Republicans (53 seats)
Minority Party: Democrats (45 seats)
Other Parties: 2 Independents
Total Seats: 100"
Electron 'spin' loss in spintronics key to ultra-low power computing
Good news!
"Scientists have found a way to improve the efficiency of spintronic devices which are a key foundation of next-generation computing such as ultra-low-power memory and neuromorphic chips.
The newly-discovered physical phenomenon allows magnetic materials to spontaneously change the direction of their internal magnetisation by harnessing the loss of electron ‘spin’ as a natural source of energy. ...
In the new method, current flows directly into the magnetic material instead. This causes spin to escape in one direction only, which acts on the magnetic material causing it to switch its magnetic orientation. ..."
"... A team of researchers has identified a new physical phenomenon that allows magnetic materials to spontaneously switch their internal magnetization direction without external stimuli. Magnetic materials are key to the next generation of information processing devices that store information or perform computations by changing the direction of their internal magnetization. For example, if the magnetization direction is upward, it is recognized as '1', and if it is downward, it is recognized as '0', and data can be stored or computed. ..."
From the abstract:
"Efficient control of magnetization in ferromagnets is crucial for high-performance spintronic devices. Magnons offer a promising route to achieve this objective with reduced Joule heating and minimized power consumption. While most research focuses on optimizing magnon transport with minimal dissipation, we present an unconventional approach that exploits magnon dissipation for magnetization control, rather than mitigating it.
By combining a single ferromagnetic metal with an antiferromagnetic insulator that breaks symmetry in spin transport across the layers while preserving the symmetry in charge transport, we realize considerable spin-orbit torques comparable to those found in non-magnetic metals, enough for magnetization switching.
Our systematic experiments and comprehensive analysis confirm that our findings are a result of magnonic spin dissipation, rather than external spin sources. These results provide insights into the experimentally challenging field of intrinsic spin currents in ferromagnets, and open up possibilities for developing energy-efficient devices based on magnon dissipation."
"Turning spin loss into energy", developing a key technology for ultra-low power next-generation information devices "Natural loss of 'spin' harnessed as a source of energy, a new principle developed"
Fig. 1: SAM transfer in HM/FM/Insulator and AFI/FM metal/Insulator. (Left, a conventional spintronic device structure. Right, the new method proposed in the study.)
Image of the day
Robot police cars in China. Reportedly, these robot cars are equipped with a gun. Source. Note, it has been well known that humanoid robots have been used in China as police cops for years.
English for trippers: A grisly grizzly
How sizzling! Brown not gris (grey)! Known in Latin as Ursus arctos horribilis!
Scientists debut a new foundational atlas of the plant life cycle
Good news!
"... researchers have now established the first genetic atlas to span the entire Arabidopsis life cycle. The new atlas—created using detailed single-cell and spatial transcriptomics—captures the gene expression patterns of 400,000 cells within multiple developmental stages as Arabidopsis grows from a single seed to a mature plant. The publicly available resource will be hugely informative to future studies of different plant cell types and developmental stages, and how they respond to stress and environmental stimuli. ..."
From the abstract:
"Arabidopsis has been pivotal in uncovering fundamental principles of plant biology, yet a comprehensive, high-resolution understanding of its cellular identities throughout the entire life cycle remains incomplete.
Here we present a single-nucleus and spatial transcriptomic atlas spanning ten developmental stages, encompassing over 400,000 nuclei from all organ systems and tissues—from seeds to developing siliques. Leveraging paired single-nucleus and spatial transcriptomic datasets, we annotate 75% of identified cell clusters, revealing striking molecular diversity in cell types and states across development.
Our integrated approach identified conserved transcriptional signatures among recurrent cell types, organ-specific heterogeneity and previously uncharacterized cell-type-specific markers validated spatially.
Moreover, we uncover dynamic transcriptional programs governing secondary metabolite production and differential growth patterns, exemplified by detailed spatial profiling of the compact yet complex apical hook structure; this profiling revealed transient cellular states linked to developmental progression and hormonal regulation, highlighting the hidden complexity underlying plant morphogenesis.
Functional validation of genes uniquely expressed within specific cell contexts confirmed their essential developmental roles, underscoring the predictive power of our atlas.
Collectively, this comprehensive resource provides an invaluable foundation for exploring cellular differentiation, environmental responses and genetic perturbations at high resolution, advancing our understanding of plant biology."
Fig. 1: A spatially resolved transcriptional atlas of the Arabidopsis life cycle.
Scientists arrive at minimal, viable plant genomes through large chromosomal deletions
Amazing stuff!
"... Ancient events in plant evolution have left behind large, duplicated regions in their genomes.
... scientists found that deleting these large blocks of DNA can still lead to normal plants.
The findings demonstrate that large chromosomal deletions are a viable strategy in plant genetic engineering, which could now accelerate the development of streamlined, minimal plant genomes—a major goal in industries looking to create new plant-based biotechnologies. ...
The researchers used CRISPR-Cas9 to delete four large, duplicated blocks in Arabidopsis thaliana, a model plant commonly used in plant biology research. The deletions were then verified using whole-genome sequencing, which revealed minimal off-target effects. ..."
From the significance and abstract:
"Significance
Plant genomes are shaped by ancient polyploidy events, leaving behind extensive duplicated regions whose biological roles remain largely uncharacterized.
In this study, we demonstrate that targeted deletion of large, retained syntenic blocks in Arabidopsis thaliana results in viable plants, some with distinct phenotypes and widespread transcriptomic changes.
These findings challenge the assumption that such regions are essential and highlight the potential redundancy or modularity within plant genomes. Our approach of removing entire duplicated blocks offers a powerful strategy to functionally dissect conserved genomic regions, investigate gene linkage and dosage effects, and accelerate the development of streamlined, minimal plant genomes. This work establishes a scalable framework for genome engineering with broad implications for plant biology, synthetic genomics, and biotechnology.
Abstract
Plant genomes have undergone multiple rounds of whole-genome duplication (WGD) throughout their evolutionary history. As a result, many species, including Arabidopsis thaliana, retain duplicated genomic segments, or syntenic regions, which harbor large numbers of paralogous genes preserved from these ancient WGD events.
We deleted four large, duplicated blocks, ranging from ~115 kb to ~684 kb using Staphylococcus aureus Cas9 to explore the effects of knocking out these blocks in Arabidopsis.
Large deletions like these remain rare, especially in small and gene-dense plant genomes. Deletions were subsequently verified using whole-genome sequencing, which revealed minimal off-target effects.
The number of deleted genes ranged from 16 to 60, and transposable elements ranged from 4 to 112 among the four deleted blocks.
Two deletion lines showed distinct phenotypes resulting from the loss of many genes, while two others displayed no obvious defects, including for flowering time or hypocotyl elongation.
Moreover, RNA-sequencing revealed that expression compensation, where deletions of paralogous genes lead to the upregulation of intact paralogues, was not a general response to the deleted regions under the conditions tested.
Thus, it is possible to obtain viable plants when deleting large fragments that may be redundant or that contain nonessential genes.
These results demonstrate that large chromosomal deletions can be used as a tool for genome engineering approaches, such as genome minimization in plants and allele replacement using homology-directed repair and other precision editing methods. Targeted deletions of large chromosome fragments will be a valuable tool for research and biotechnology applications."
Fig. 4 Generation of deletion lines (deletions of retained duplicate regions or nonlethal genomic segments) and their applications.
Trump employs rarely used legal maneuver to Cut $5 billion in foreign aid spending before fiscal year ends
Good news! Once more, it confirms that President Trump is very serious about reducing federal spending!
"The White House plans to cancel nearly $5 billion in congressionally approved foreign aid in a rare “pocket rescission,” a legally complex maneuver that hasn’t been used in 48 years.
The federal rescissions process allows the president to make a request to Congress to cancel already-approved funding within 45 days. Congress did this for the administration last month to rescind funding for public broadcasting.
However, a pocket rescission skirts that 45-day window and avoids giving Congress a say by coming so close to the end of a fiscal year that lawmakers don’t have time to weigh in. The fiscal year ends on Sept. 30."
The first hotline between the White House and the Kremlin was established in 1963
How often has this hotline prevented potentially dangerous situations to get out of hand?
It was installed after the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Why was the Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) military doctrine during and after the Cold War so successful?
The hotline between the White House and Beijing was only established in 2007.
Google wrote about the history of this hotline: "...
First Bilateral Agreement:
The hotline was the first bilateral agreement between the U.S. and the Soviet Union aimed at addressing nuclear dangers.
Evolution of the System
- 1963: The initial system was a full-time duplex wire telegraph circuit, with backup radiotelegraph circuits, connecting Washington and Moscow.
- 1986: The original system was upgraded with the implementation of fax machines.
- 2008: The system was further modernized to a secure computer link, exchanging messages via email.
- Significance and Usage
Crisis Management:
The hotline was used during several international conflicts, including the 1967 Six-Day War and the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, to prevent misunderstandings and clarify intentions.
..."
According to Wikipedia, the hotline was used during:
"1963: Assassination of President Kennedy
1967: Six Day War
1968: Apollo 8 mission progress
1971: War between India and Pakistan
1973: Yom Kippur War
1974: Turkish Invasion of Cyprus
1979: Soviet–Afghan War
1981: Threat of Soviet Invasion of Poland
1982: Israeli Invasion of Lebanon
1991: Gulf War
2001: The 9/11 attacks
2003: Aftermath of Iraq War"
"On this day in 1963, John F. Kennedy became the first U.S. president to have a direct text/teletype line, famously called the “hotline,” connecting him to the Kremlin in Moscow."
Our lives depended on it. ITT Intelex Teletype L015, as displayed in the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum.
Karl Heinrich Ulrichs' 200. Geburtstag
Mir war Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (1825-1895) nicht bekannt!
"Der erste freiwillig geoutete Urning, einer der ersten Vorkämpfer der rechtlichen Gleichstellung von Homosexuellen, ein Jurist und Sexualforscher der ersten Stunde wäre gestern 200 Jahre alt geworden. Geboren am 28. August 1825, studierte Karl Heinrich Ulrichs in Göttingen Theologie und Jura, in Berlin Geschichte.
Schon damals war er recht offen homosexuell und litt unter Repressionen. Den Staatsdienst in Hildesheim musste er deswegen verlassen, einige Jahre später wurde ihm auch der Anwaltsberuf verboten. Danach verdiente er seinen Lebensunterhalt unter anderem als Journalist und veröffentlichte Bücher über seine Forschungen zum Rätsel der mannmännlichen Liebe, eine der beiden Formen des Uranismus – so nannte Ulrichs Homosexualität. Ein schwuler Mann war demnach ein Urning, nach der Göttin Urania, eine lesbische Frau eine Urninde. ...
Als liberaler Verfechter der Gleichstellung aller Sexualpräferenzen forderte er sogar bereits die Anerkennung der urnischen Ehe und wollte einen Urnings-Bund gründen, um die Rechte von Homosexuellen zu verteidigen. Schon 1867 forderte er in einer Rede vor dem deutschen Juristentag, damals wie heute kein Hort des Progressiven, die Straffreiheit gleichgeschlechtlicher sexueller Handlungen. Die fünfhundert anwesenden Juristen waren davon nicht angetan. ..."
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Bitcoin Magazine on X: "JUST IN: Eric Trump says, “There is no question #Bitcoin hits a million dollars.” Really!
Unfortunately, it appears the Trump clan has not learnt very much from the shady dealings of the Biden clan! Or the Trump clan learnt the wrong thing, I am afraid!
Maybe President Trump needs to have a serious talk with his son while he is President of the US!
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(511x0:513x2)/eric-trump-a-1024-ea4926df2299477396da2de9a060d4ea.jpg)
On Do What? Teaching Vision-Language-Action Models to Reject the Impossible
An interesting attempt!
Caveat: I did not read this paper. It is very short with only 9 pages total.
From the abstract:
"Recently, Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models have demonstrated strong performance on a range of robotic tasks. These models rely on multimodal inputs, with language instructions playing a crucial role -- not only in predicting actions, but also in robustly interpreting user intent, even when the requests are impossible to fulfill.
In this work, we investigate how VLAs can recognize, interpret, and respond to false-premise instructions: natural language commands that reference objects or conditions absent from the environment. We propose Instruct-Verify-and-Act (IVA), a unified framework that
(i) detects when an instruction cannot be executed due to a false premise,
(ii) engages in language-based clarification or correction, and
(iii) grounds plausible alternatives in perception and action.
Towards this end, we construct a large-scale instruction tuning setup with structured language prompts and train a VLA model capable of handling both accurate and erroneous requests. Our approach leverages a contextually augmented, semi-synthetic dataset containing paired positive and false-premise instructions, enabling robust detection and natural language correction. Our experiments show that IVA improves false premise detection accuracy by 97.56% over baselines, while increasing successful responses in false-premise scenarios by 50.78%."
Friday, August 29, 2025
The Romantics That Revolutionized Our Understanding Of The Mind with Simon Schama
Very recommendable! Covers Victor Hugo, Thomas de Quincey, Clara & Richard Schuhmann and others. How opium was discovered for mind exploration and literature. The first psychoanalysis and more.
Goodbye cashiers in Japan: Popular chain opens unmanned stores by Don Quichote
The store seems to be a little bit small, more like a convenience store!
The latest mass shooter was actually critical of being transgender
Was it his mother that pushed him towards being transgender?
How China Began A Quiet Outreach to India Amid Trump Tariffs with Palki Sharma
Very serious stuff! Rapprochement between India and China. A new dragon-elephant tango?
"Make in India, Make For The World": PM Modi's Pitch to Japanese Investors with Palki Sharma
Good news! This could be huge! "Modi and Japanese PM Shigeru Ishiba called it a partnership to “shape the Asian century”."
Openly gay CDC director used term 'pregnant people' and other ideological terms in his resignation letter
Good riddance Demetre Daskalakis! Maybe this possibly extreme, activist ideologue was a bit too much anyway to be a director at the CDC!
Apparently, his entire professional career is narrowly focused on HIV/AIDS and men's sexual health. Maybe a little too narrow for the CDC!
"... He said during his time at the CDC, he was a trusted voice for the LGBTQ community and the administration has been "reckless" in how it has been running the agency. ..."
"Eugenics [???] plays prominently in the rhetoric being generated and is derivative of a legacy ...
The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning. My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud. I am resigning because of the cowardice of a leader that cannot admit that HIS and his minions’ words over decades created an environment where violence like this can occur. I reject his and his colleagues’ thoughts and prayers, and advise they direct those to people that they have not actively harmed. ...
I must also cite the recklessness of the administration in their efforts to erase transgender populations [???], cease critical domestic and international HIV programming, and terminate key research to support equity [???] as part of my decision. ..."
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser 'greatly appreciates' fed assistance in crime crackdown by President Trump
Good news! Maybe the lady has some common sense unlike so many other Dimocrats!
She definitely knows how to change her hairstyle very often! Check out her photo gallery on Google!
Official photo of Muriel Browser
Defense Secretary Hegseth says Chinese nationals can't work as coders on DoD cloud systems. Really!
Does this mean there were Chinese coders working for the DoD before? Incredible! How stupid and naive is that!
"... “It blows my mind that I’m even saying these things — it's such common sense — that we ever allowed it to happen," he said in a video posted to the social media platform, X. "That’s why we’re attacking it so hard. We expect vendors doing business with the Department of Defense to put U.S. national security ahead of profit maximization." ..."
Pete Hegseth and his wife Jennifer Rauchet
Houthi PM, defense officials likely killed in IDF strike on Sanaa, Yemen earlier this week
Wow! How involved were these government officials with terrorism?
"The IAF on Thursday attacked a group of top Houthi military officials in Sanaa who were watching the Houthi leader give a nationally televised speech.
Public broadcaster KAN, citing Yemeni media, reported that Houthi Prime Minister Ghalib al-Rahawi was killed in the attack. Yemen's Al-Jumhuriya channel reported that al-Rahwi was in an apartment alongside several colleagues when he was killed.
It is likely that the Houthis' Defense Minister, Mohammad Nasser al-Athifi, and Chief of Staff, Mohammad Abd al-Karim al-Ghamari, were killed in the attack. ..."
A fire ball rises from the site of a previous Israeli air strike in Sanaa, Yemen August 24, 2025.
Minneapolis church shooter’s mom hires criminal defense attorney, refuses to speak to police
How guilty is the mother of the mass shooter? I suspect a lot!
She is reported to have worked as a secretary at that school for five years until her retirement in 2021.
Apparently, it was the mother who applied for her son's name change in 2019 (Source).
The mass shooter graduated from his targeted school in 2017.
More than 500 mammoth and more discovered at one site in Mexico
Amazing stuff!
"When excavators dug into the Santa Lucía military base north of Mexico City to build a new international airport, ... they cracked open one of the biggest paleontological jackpots ever found in the country. Tusks, skulls, and bones emerged by the thousands: camels, horses, saber-toothed cats, and even a lone human. But the true treasure were the mammoths—more than 500 Columbian mammoths, the giant cousins of the woolly species, had been preserved in the mud of an ancient lake.
Normally, we picture mammoths stomping through the Siberian tundra. These, however, were tropical beasts living high on the Mexican plateau. Against the odds, scientists managed to extract DNA from 61 of their teeth—the first genetic data ever recovered from mammoths that lived this far south. The results, published yesterday in Science, show that Mexican mammoths formed their own lineage, genetically distinct from northern herds.
Their genes suggest that their adaptability—eating not just grasses but shrubs and trees—helped them resist climate swings. But by about 11,000 years ago, these giants had vanished ..."
"... By 2022, ... team had amassed more than 50,000 Pleistocene bones from just 3700 hectares. Among them are at least 500 mammoths, 200 camels, 70 horses, 15 giant ground sloths, as well as the remains of dire wolves, saber-toothed cats, bison, armadillos, birds, freshwater snails—and one human skeleton. ..."
From the abstract:
"Paleogenomic studies suggest that Mammuthus columbi derives from an ancient hybridization between Mammuthus primigenius and Mammuthus trogontherii. While its habitat spanned from North to Central America, available genetic data are limited to temperate regions, leaving gaps in knowledge of the species’ demographic history on the continent.
In this study, we generated 61 capture-enriched M. columbi mitogenomes from the Basin of Mexico, in Central Mexico. Our analysis reveals that these mitogenomes belong to a mitochondrial lineage distinct from other North American mammoths. These divergent mitogenomes suggest a deep population structure in their ancestors, and challenge prior assumptions based on geographically restricted samples. Our findings underscore the importance of wider spatial sampling to reconstruct mammoths’ evolutionary history and demonstrate the feasibility of studying megafauna from tropical latitudes."
Columbian mammoth mitogenomes from Mexico uncover the species’ complex evolutionary history (open access)
Fig. 1. Sampling sites of the specimens analyzed in this study.
There was a time when the US government built beautiful homes for working-class Americans to deal with a housing shortage. Really!
More evidence that President Woodrow Wilson was a terrible socialist who exploited World War I together with the US Congress!
"In 1918, as World War I intensified overseas, the U.S. government embarked on a radical experiment: It quietly became the nation’s largest housing developer, designing and constructing more than 80 new communities across 26 states in just two years.
These weren’t hastily erected barracks or rows of identical homes. They were thoughtfully designed neighborhoods, complete with parks, schools, shops and sewer systems.
In just two years, this federal initiative provided housing for almost 100,000 people. ...
Government mobilization
When the U.S. declared war against Germany in April 1917, federal authorities immediately realized that ship, vehicle and arms manufacturing would be at the heart of the war effort. To meet demand, there needed to be sufficient worker housing near shipyards, munitions plants and steel factories.
So on May 16, 1918, Congress authorized President Woodrow Wilson to provide housing and infrastructure for industrial workers vital to national defense. By July, it had appropriated US$100 million – approximately $2.3 billion today – for the effort, with Secretary of Labor William B. Wilson tasked with overseeing it via the U.S. Housing Corporation. ..."
The U.S. Housing Corporation built nearly 300 homes in Bremerton, Wash., during World War I.
New therapy offers broad antiviral protection
Amazing stuff!
"... in the immune systems of a few dozen people scattered across the globe. ... they carried something extraordinary, an invisible shield against every virus nature could throw at them. ...
This strange biological twist first caught ... About 15 years ago, while investigating a genetic mutation that made patients more vulnerable to bacterial infections, he stumbled upon something unexpected. The mutation caused a deficiency in a molecule called ISG15, an immune regulator. That alone was intriguing. ... the kind of inflammation these patients carried.
"The type of inflammation they had was antiviral" ..."
"For a few dozen people in the world, the downside of living with a rare immune condition comes with a surprising superpower—the ability to fight off all viruses. ..."
From the editor's summary and abstract:
"Editor’s summary
The type I interferon (IFN-I) response is a conserved cascade of signaling and gene expression that, among other functions, confers protection of cells from viral infection. After resolution of infection, the response is tamped down by regulators such as IFN-I–stimulated gene 15 (ISG15).
Cells from individuals lacking ISG15 are able to control viral infections in vitro as a consequence of maintaining a low-grade IFN-I response. Inspired by this observation, Akalu et al. identified a set of 10 ISGs that mimicked what is observed in cells from individuals lacking ISG15, with the idea that these 10 ISGs could serve as a broad-spectrum antiviral. The authors found that the 10 ISGs enabled control of multiple viral infections in vitro and lessened disease severity of SARS-CoV-2 when prophylactically administered as mRNAs to mice. Although limited delivery of the mRNAs may have restricted efficacy, as discussed by the authors, these data lay the foundation for development of a broad-spectrum antiviral prophylactic. ...
Abstract
Type I interferons (IFN-Is) are cytokines with potent antiviral and inflammatory capacities. IFN-I signaling drives the expression of thousands of IFN-I–stimulated genes (ISGs), whose aggregate function results in the control of viral infections. A few of these ISGs are tasked with negatively regulating the IFN-I response to prevent overt inflammation.
ISG15 is a negative regulator whose absence leads to persistent, low-grade elevation of ISG expression and concurrent, often self-resolving, mild autoinflammation. The limited breadth and low-grade persistence of ISGs expressed in ISG15 deficiency are sufficient to confer broad-spectrum antiviral resistance.
Inspired by the antiviral state of humans with ISG15 deficiency, we identified a nominal collection of 10 ISGs that recapitulated the broad antiviral potential of the IFN-I system, which typically induces the expression of thousands of ISGs. The expression of this 10-ISG collection in an IFN-I–nonresponsive cell line increased cellular resistance to Zika virus, vesicular stomatitis virus, and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
A lipid nanoparticle–encapsulated messenger RNA (mRNA) formulation of this 10-ISG collection reduced influenza A virus plaque size in samples collected from infected mice when given prophylactically.
Moreover, when used collectively and delivered prophylactically, the 10-ISG collection was able to protect hamsters against a lethal SARS-CoV-2 challenge, in contrast with the lack of efficacy when mRNAs were delivered individually. These findings suggest that these 10 ISGs have potential as a broad-spectrum antiviral prophylactic."
One Universal Antiviral to Rule Them All? (original news release) "Taking inspiration from a rare mutation that makes people impervious to viral diseases, a Columbia researcher is developing a therapy that could bestow this superpower on the rest of us"
An mRNA-based broad-spectrum antiviral inspired by ISG15 deficiency protects against viral infections in vitro and in vivo (no public access)
Broad-spectrum RNA antiviral inspired by ISG15-/- deficiency (preprint, open access)
Fig 1 ISG15 deficiency inspires the identification of a nominal collection of 10 ISGs with broad-spectrum antiviral potential.
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