Recommendable! An aging and shrinking population in Japan.
Why is Japan not developing robo trucks? Instead of teaching Uzbeks to speak Japanese and to drive trucks?
Friday, July 31, 2026
Uzbeks in training in Uzbekistan to boost Japan's logistics industry as truck drivers
Senior US officials detail plan to disarm Hamas, ensure Oct. 7 'never happens again'
Recommendable! However, e.g. other than Hamas armed groups/terrorists are not mentioned any more!
A long article, but not too many details.
Artificial intelligence (AI) forces a fundamental reform of primary and secondary pedagogy
Does anyone seriously doubt it?
The centuries lasting traditional setup of classrooms with teacher in front and fixed school hours is doomed!
Best of all it may allow personalized/individualized learning! Thus, each student can e.g. learn at their own pace and curiosity.
How about brain computer interfaces?
How will AI extend the human brain?
How Western news media have spread disinformation about the sudden, mass illegal immigrant invasion of two exclave cities of Spain in Morocco
Today, I became for the first time fully aware of the huge scope of what went on in Ceuta and Melilla thanks to Tichy's Einblick.
The least part of the disinformation was to suggest the event happened in Spain! It did not!
Reportedly, within 24 hours an estimated 49,000 illegal immigrants descended on Ceuta (Spanish exclave located on the Mediterranean coast of Morocco). Most of them young men from the Maghreb and other African countries.
Were there no warnings about a pending invasion? Strange!
The exclave city of Ceuta (not Casablanca) in Morocco has only a population of about 89,000. Total area 18.5 km2 (7.1 sq mi).
Numerous crimes were committed. About 19 individuals died.
What did the government of Morocco know and do about this massive invasion? Who organized this invasion?
Apparently, during a similar incident in 2021, the Spanish intelligence service concluded that Morocco used mass invasion as a political weapon against Spain.
The right of free movement in the European Union is threatened as several EU countries indicated that they will close their borders in response to this mass invasion.
61% of Germany’s chemistry PhD students consider quitting their degrees
More bad news from the banana republic of Germany! Have German chemists become oversensitive (wie Mimosen)?
"Almost two-thirds of Germany’s chemistry PhD students have considered quitting their degrees, according to new research conducted by the German Chemical Society’s Young Chemists Network (JCF) [Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker e.V.]. Respondents to a survey organised by the JCF cited mental health issues, poor supervision and high workloads among the top reasons they had considering ending their studies. 31% of respondents claim to have been victims of abuse of power. ..."
Why Putin the Terrible’s Ratings by Russians Are Falling Despite Polling Manipulation
Good news, if confirmed! Is this finally the beginning of the end of Putin the Terrible! Are the Russian citizens finally having enough of Putin the Terrible!
When will the lethargic, apathetic Russian Slav(e)s/Serfs finally get rid of their last tsar, the megalomaniac, warmonger and war criminal Putin the Terrible!
"Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approval rating is falling sharply even according to the country’s state-linked polling agencies – institutions whose figures have long been treated with caution.
The Public Opinion Foundation (FOM), which regularly conducts surveys for the Kremlin, recorded a five-percentage-point weekly drop in approval of Putin’s performance, from 71% to 66%. It was the steepest fall since Russia announced its partial mobilization in autumn 2022. ..."
English for trippers: The free fall of a fall guy
The fall guy in this case is Putin the Terrible!
Will it happen in the Fall of 2026? Hope and pray! It is long overdue that this megalomaniac and warmonger is removed from power!
Credits: The Kyiv Post Daily
Study upends decades-old map of how the brain controls movement
Amazing stuff!
Stanford University still suffers from the silly season? Only today they feature an article written back in mid June 2026!
"In brief
- A study of the long-held motor homunculus model reveals a more complex organization of the motor cortex that affects body movement control.
- Research shows areas in the motor cortex encode information for multiple body parts, suggesting broader relationships than previously understood.
- The findings could enhance brain-computer interface development for paralysis patients, enabling more versatile control with fewer implants.
..."
From the abstract:
"Understanding how the body is represented in the motor cortex is key to understanding how the brain controls movement.
Although the motor cortex has been mapped in animal models at a fine scale, characterization in humans remains primarily limited to low-resolution recording and stimulation techniques.
Here we created a comprehensive map of the human motor cortex at single-neuron resolution, spanning microelectrode array recordings from 20 arrays across 8 individuals with paralysis from spinal cord injury, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or brainstem stroke, all enrolled in brain–computer interface clinical trials.
These arrays broadly sample the crown of the precentral gyrus (PCG; thought to be composed largely of the premotor cortex (Brodmann area 6)).
We found that body parts were highly intermixed, such that the entire body was represented in all sampled locations of the PCG, although the relative strength of body parts was roughly consistent with the motor homunculus.
We also found two speech-preferential areas with a broadly tuned, orofacial-dominant area in between them.
Throughout the PCG, movement representations of the four limbs were interlinked, with homologous movements of different limbs (for example, toe curl and hand close) having correlated representations.
These data provide evidence consistent with an intermixed, interrelated and behaviour-centred organization of the motor cortex. The resulting map also provides important targeting information for brain–computer interfaces that seek to restore motor function."
Study upends decades-old map of how the brain controls movement "New research challenging a model long taught in neuroscience textbooks could lead to more powerful brain-computer interfaces for people living with paralysis."
It’s time to revamp the motor homunculus "An update to the 89-year-old model shows that the brain’s motor cortex isn’t as neatly organized as previously thought. For almost a century, budding neuroscientists have been taught that the headband-like strip of brain tissue over our ears that controls our movements, called the motor cortex, contains an orderly map of our bodies.
Brain cells concerned with moving each body part – from the tips of our toes to the tips of our fingers – are all laid out in sequence, as well as a large zone dedicated to our fabulously expressive faces and speech muscles. That’s the textbook account, anyway."
A map of the motor cortex highlighting regions tuned more for speech-related movements (red) and arm movements (blue-green) and a particularly broadly tuned region (purple).
Fig. 1: Sampling the length of the PCG to assess whole-body movement representation.
Fig. 5: A compositional neural code throughout the PCG that links all four limbs together.
Can a faint glow from cell metabolism flag cancer or neurodegenerative disease long before symptoms appear
Recommendable! This is about a survey and a research article. This could be a breakthrough!
"Every living thing emits a faint glow from cell metabolism, and researchers now hope the ultraweak light can flag cancer or neurodegenerative disease long before symptoms appear."
"In 2025, quantum physicist Daniel Oblak and his colleagues published images of mice that made headlines around the world. The researchers put four anaesthetized mice inside a dark chamber and pointed a sensitive camera at them. It picked up a stream of photons emitted from the animals’ skin: a light signal too faint to be seen by the human eye, but visible in the camera images as a ghostly, mouse-shaped glow. ...
The idea that cells might communicate through extremely low-intensity light was first suggested in the 1920s by Russian biologist Alexander Gurwitsch ...
Biophotons are produced during aerobic metabolism, in which cells use oxygen to break down nutrients and extract energy. This mostly occurs in mitochondria. During metabolic reactions, short-lived chemicals produced from oxygen, called reactive oxygen species (ROS), generate intermediates that decompose to produce molecules in an ‘excited’ electronic state. As these relax into more stable arrangements, they can release energy in the form of photons.
A high-energy ‘singlet’ state of oxygen can emit a photon of red light as it decays, for example, whereas excited carbonyl (C=O) groups glow in the blue-green range. ..."
From the abstract:
"Biophotons are non-thermal and non-bioluminescent ultraweak photon emissions, first hypothesised by Gurwitsch as a regulatory mechanism in cell division, and then experimentally observed in living organisms.
Today, two main hypotheses explain their origin:
stochastic decay of excited molecules and coherent electromagnetic fields produced in biochemical processes.
stochastic decay of excited molecules and coherent electromagnetic fields produced in biochemical processes.
Recent interest focuses on the role of biophotons in cellular communication and disease monitoring.
This study presents the first campaign of biophoton emission measurements from cultured astrocytes and glioblastoma cells ...
The statistical analyses of the collected data revealed a clear separation between cellular signals and dark noise, confirming the high sensitivity of the apparatus. The Diffusion Entropy Analysis (DEA) was applied to the data to uncover dynamic patterns, revealing anomalous diffusion and long-range memory effects that may be related to intercellular signaling and cellular communication.
These findings support the hypothesis that biophoton emissions encode rich information beyond intensity, reflecting metabolic and pathological states.
The differences revealed by applying the Diffusion Entropy Analysis to the biophotonic signals of Astrocytes and Glioblastoma are highlighted and discussed in the paper.
This work lays the groundwork for future studies on neuronal cultures and proposes biophoton dynamics as a promising tool for non-invasive diagnostics and the study of cellular communication."
All living things emit a faint glow. Could this light be useful? "Ultra-weak ‘biophotons’ might be used to diagnose disease, or could even represent a new signalling mechanism in cells."
First Experimental Measurements of Biophotons from Astrocytes and Glioblastoma Cell Cultures (open access)
A sensitive camera picks up biophoton emissions from a mouse (alive, left; dead, right).
Figure 2. Comparison plots of biophotonic signals emitted by astrocyte (green) and glioblastoma (red) cell cultures concerning the background (dark counts in blue) performed with the LNF machine
Michigan's law DEFEATED! Therapists are free to steer kids away from trans insanity
Good news! So called gender affirming care is a dangerous euphemism in particular when applied to the medical transition of children (hint: double mastectomy or castration)!
"Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and LGBT activists in the Michigan legislature were dealt a massive defeat on Thursday after a lengthy battle over a law that threatened to ruin counselors who help gender-confused children by compassionately grounding them in reality, not affirming delusions. ..."
"... a permanent order barring Michigan from enforcing its law that punished counselors who provide compassionate talk therapy to children struggling with their biological sex. Rather than continue defending the law in court, Michigan agreed that its counseling ban is unconstitutional as applied to any licensed professional who engages in therapy that consists exclusively of talking. ...
compassionate talk therapy to children struggling with discomfort over their biological sex. These counselors help children address the underlying causes of their discomfort, alleviate their distress, and, if possible, embrace their bodies without resorting to harmful, irreversible medical interventions.
This cautious approach is supported by the best available scientific evidence and reflected in recently enacted laws in dozens of states and several European countries.
But in 2024, a new Michigan statute attempted to eradicate this life-affirming option, threatening dedicated counselors with professional ruin by revoking their licenses and imposing quarter-million-dollar fine if they refused to push children toward medical transition. ..."
Michigan drops effort to muzzle counselors who help children struggling with their biological sex "State agrees to permanent court order protecting compassionate talk therapy"
Scientists Identify New Mechanism Behind Chemotherapy Resistance in Ovarian Cancer
Good news! Cancer is history (soon)!
"... identified a new mechanism behind the chemotherapy resistance that makes ovarian cancer so lethal.
In a new study ... the researchers showed that chemotherapy triggers an inflammatory cascade that recruits immune cells into the tumor microenvironment, which ultimately function to protect the cancer from subsequent chemotherapy. Notably, this finding could improve outcomes for patients because the molecular pathway the researchers discovered has the potential to be blocked using drugs already in clinical use for other diseases. ...
The researchers also see a possible opening for combination approaches involving immune checkpoint inhibitors, which reawaken the T cells. If T cell suppression by neutrophils turns out to be a major contributor to chemoresistance, pairing checkpoint inhibitors with IL-1β-targeted therapy could offer another route to restoring chemotherapy’s effectiveness. ..."
From the abstract (This abstract is not easy to read, too much technical jargon, written for experts only!):
"Background
High-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC) of the ovary acquires chemoresistance through diverse cancer cell-intrinsic and cell-extrinsic mechanisms, culminating in treatment-refractory intraperitoneal metastasis.
Previous work suggests that chemotherapy induces immunological changes in the tumor microenvironment (TME). However, experimental evidence for how such chemotherapy-induced TME remodeling modulates the response to ongoing chemotherapy remains poorly documented in HGSC.
Methods
We analyzed paired pre-chemotherapy and post-chemotherapy HGSC bulk transcriptomic and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) datasets to identify chemotherapy-induced tumor-extrinsic factors and their cellular sources in the TME.
To test causality, we used chemoresistant, homologous recombination-proficient murine metastatic HGSC models with deficiencies in the interleukin 1 beta (IL1β) pathway (IL1β–interleukin 1 receptor type 1 (IL1R1) axis).
Flow cytometry and scRNA-seq of omental tumors were used to define cellular interactions.
Contributions of neutrophils and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) were assessed by antibody-mediated depletion and immunofluorescence.
Direct effects of IL1β and NETs on cancer cell chemosensitivity were tested in vitro. Finally, paired pre-chemotherapy and post-chemotherapy omental HGSC specimens from patients were analyzed for neutrophil infiltration and NET formation.
Results
In HGSC datasets, post-chemotherapy tumors exhibited increased IL1β expression with myeloid cells identified as the primary source.
In chemoresistant murine models, chemotherapy increased neutrophils and NETs in omentum tumors in wild-type mice. These increases were abrogated in IL1β-deficient mice, which showed a shift toward an effector-like CD8+ T-cell state and improved tumor control.
Neutrophil depletion in wild-type mice recapitulated the chemosensitive phenotype of IL1β-deficient mice.
In vitro, IL1β did not alter cancer cell-intrinsic chemosensitivity, whereas NETs reduced the chemosensitivity of cancer cells. Furthermore, scRNA-seq and flow cytometry revealed that IL1R1 was predominantly expressed by tumor-associated fibroblasts.
Consistently, IL1R1-deficient mice exhibited increased chemosensitivity, with decreased neutrophil accumulation and increased IFNγ+TNF+CD8+ T cells. Additionally, we found that chemotherapy upregulated the neutrophil chemoattractant C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 2 (CXCL2), and disruption of the IL1β–IL1R1 axis decreased CXCL2 levels in tumor-associated fibroblasts.
Finally, residual human HGSC tumors after chemotherapy showed increased neutrophils and a trend toward increased NETs.
Conclusions
We demonstrate that chemotherapy-induced IL1β-dependent neutrophil accumulation drives chemoresistance in HGSC. This study provides experimental evidence that chemotherapy-induced inflammation contributes to chemoresistance and highlights the potential of targeting this pathway to overcome chemoresistance in HGSC."
Fig. 4 T-cell suppression and NETs may contribute to the IL1β-neutrophil-induced chemoresistance.
Brewery owner in Wisconsin who offered free beer when Trump dies says his alcohol permit has been REVOKED by state authority
Headline of the day! This advertisement/commercial was not so successful!
When Trump Derangement Syndrome has serious consequences! 😊
Apparently, this brewer is not in trouble for the first time!
"Wisconsin’s Department of Revenue Alcohol Enforcement Agents illegally seized $25K worth of beer from both of our Minocqua and Madison taprooms last June."
An ancient civilization of 1-3 millions once flourished in the Amazonia
Amazing stuff!
"The first hint that sprawling ancient populations once occupied the Amazon rainforest in Brazil was found through the most mundane of happenstances. More than 20 years ago, geographer Alceu Ranzi, now at the University of Acre, sat on the right side of a plane flying over the ocean of green. Looking down, he saw a perfect circle inscribed on the ground, an unnatural shape produced only, he felt certain, by humans. He was right.
Decades of subsequent research ... have slowly revealed remnants of peoples that occupied even the forest’s most remote areas. ... what archaeologists call earthworks—a type of architecture carved into the landscape. Now, using a laser-based form of radar known as lidar, researchers suggest ancient Amazonians were widespread in territories previously considered uninhabited. ...
The area surveyed by the researchers cuts through Acre and Amazonas, two northern Brazilian states that border Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia. Although scientists already knew there were earthworks in the region, the new study delineated the western and northern borders of the geoglyph-building society, which researchers had previously named Aquiry. Far away from any major rivers, which historically sustained thriving populations, the scientists did not expect the Aquiry to reach such high numbers. ...
The team identified most of the earthworks in the new study as geoglyphs, ditches made in the ground that form geometric shapes including squares and circles, as well as more complex shapes such as pentagrams and octagons. Some are even more sophisticated, combining, for example, circles inside a perfect square. ..."
From the abstract:
"Numerous geometric earthworks have been found in southwestern Amazonia, evidence of a monument-building precolonial civilization. This knowledge has contributed to the discussion about the deep history and the precolonial urbanism of Amazonia, its sociocultural contexts and its environmental legacy.
Estimates of the geographical extent and population size of the forest civilization have remained weak, because the detection of earthworks has been almost exclusively limited to deforested areas where vegetation does not completely hide the structures.
Here we used canopy-penetrating LiDAR data over 4,430 km of flight to define the geographical distribution and quantity of earthworks in this region better. On the basis of both existing data and our LiDAR documentation, we show that this cultural area alone contains as many earthworks as previously estimated for the whole of Amazonia.
We also propose that the total human population of the area in 100–300 ad was 1.25–3 million people.
If similar results are found elsewhere in Amazonia, the total precolonial population density and its effect on the current Amazonian soil and forest structure, biodiversity and even some modelling of the global climate should be re-evaluated."
Odd shapes hidden in dense Amazon rainforest reveal sprawling ancient civilization "Newly found earthworks suggest about 3 million people might have lived in just about 3% of the forest’s entire area"
An aerial shot shows a square-shaped geoglyph in Acre, a state at Brazil’s northern border
Lidar uses infrared light to uncover the shapes hidden underneath dense tree canopies.
Fig. 2: Diverse earthwork types with their topographical contexts.
Fig. 1: Map of the study area.
2D quantum memory device reaches single-electron limit of information storage
Amazing stuff!
"... a design strategy for making individual-electron states easier to discern at room temperature ..."
From the editor's summary and abstract:
"Editor’s summary
Realizing stable and distinguishable quantum memory at the single-electron level has long been challenged by increased parasitic gate-channel fringe capacitance, which substantially lowers the threshold voltage shift (ΔVth) caused by stored electrons as device dimensions are scaled down.
Using atomically thin two-dimensional materials and edge-contacted metal electrodes, Liu et al. designed a coplanar drain channel source structure that enabled a nonvolatile ΔVth of 0.5 volts at room temperature. Their work demonstrates the ability to control single-electron quantum behavior, offering promising prospects for nanoscale memory device engineering. ...
Abstract
The ultimate goal of information storage is single-electron memory.
Quantum mechanics predicts that two distinguishable quantum states can be realized by confining a single electron within an ultrasmall space.
However, scaling down such devices paradoxically amplifies fringe capacitance effects, which hinders the experimental observation of single-electron memory.
We report a two-dimensional single-electron memory device based on a coplanar drain-channel-source structure that suppressed fringe capacitance, exhibiting a nonvolatile threshold voltage shift of 0.5 volts after the change of a single electron.
Two intriguing quantum behaviors have also been verified regarding the programming voltage.
Additionally, we have predicted and observed a distinctive quantum memory effect: A quantum state is cut off by density of states scissors."
Robust single-electron memory with quantum states manipulation (no public access)
Room-temperature 2D single-electron memory device
Very rare, transmissible cancer in a lake fish observed
Amazing stuff! Cancer is history (soon)!
"The mystery disease that’s been plaguing the brown bullhead catfish (Ameiurus nebulosus) in a lake straddling the Canada–US border has been identified as a type of transmissible cancer — a phenomenon rarely seen in the animal kingdom.
Surveys have suggested that the disease, a type of melanoma that manifests as inky black skin lesions, affects around one-third of the lake’s catfish population. But it appears in both young and old individuals, suggesting that it might not cause a rapid death."
"Researchers have discovered a contagious cancer in catfish — just the fourth example of tumour cells that spread naturally from one animal to another. ...
The skin lesions, a form of melanoma, are inky black and sometimes crusty, with some fish displaying “tumours on top of tumours”, and can spread to the brain, liver and other organs ... But the health effects are unclear, because the tumours appear in young and old mature fish. “We don’t have evidence of a huge age cliff that suggests it’s killing the fish,” ... "
"... In fact, the first documented observation of the catfish cancer may be from Massachusetts, in the journals of Henry David Thoreau.
In July of 1852, Thoreau was on the Concord River and wrote, “one of these large pouts [catfish] had a very large velvet-black spot, which included the right pectoral fin; a kind of disease I have often observed on them.”
Six years later, Thoreau again wrote in his journal: “I see a pout this afternoon in the Assabet”—a tributary of the Concord River— “lying on the bottom, near the shore, evidently diseased. He permits the boat to come within two feet of him. Nearly half the head, from the snout backward diagonally, is covered with an inky-black kind of leprosy, like a crustaceous lichen.” ..."
From the abstract:
"Since 2012, brown bullhead catfish (Ameiurus nebulosus) in a lake that spans Vermont, USA, and Quebec, Canada, have shown a high rate of melanomas, suggesting a causal contaminant or contagion.
We tested the hypothesis that this affliction represents a clonally transmissible cancer, a rare phenomenon in which cancer cells themselves spread between individuals, behaving more like parasites than conventional tumours.
Whole-genome sequencing of tumour and matched non-tumour host tissues revealed that tumour mitochondrial and nuclear genomes are more closely related to each other than to their hosts or unaffected fish.
Hundreds of thousands of genetic variants are shared among tumour samples but are absent from host fish, vastly exceeding levels seen in conventional cancers. These findings indicate that melanoma in these brown bullheads represents the fourth documented type of naturally occurring transmissible cancer in animals, after dogs, Tasmanian devils and several bivalve species. This raises important questions about the cancer’s origin, the mode of transmission and the long-term impact on fish populations."
Rare contagious cancer discovered in wild catfish "Transmissible tumours have been found in only a few types of animal, but there might be many more out there."
More Like Parasites Than Tumors: Vermont Scientists Discover Transmissible Cancer in Catfish (original news release)
Fig. 1: Brown bullhead sampling, example melanistic lesions and hypotheses of tumorigenesis.
How Inherited genetic differences set the stage for cancer progression investigated by repeated, controlled experiments
Amazing stuff! Cancer is history (soon)!
"Whether mice respond to environmental exposures by developing mutations and cancers strongly depends on their genetic makeup at birth.
Researchers bred four strains of mice with different levels of genetic susceptibility to liver cancer and then exposed them to the same carcinogen. The rate and progression of liver cancer was strongly influenced by the animals’ genetic background. The research might help explain why some people develop cancer when exposed to carcinogens such as cigarette smoke while others don’t."
"... In a study in mice, researchers found that genetic ancestry directly influences how cancer-causing mutations behave and how the resulting cancers grow and interact within the body.
Uncovering why and how cancer behaves in different people is crucial to support the use of personalised medicine, which aims to tailor treatment to a specific patient for better outcomes, experts say. ...
Controlled experiment
To understand the role of genetics, researchers from the universities of Edinburgh, Cambridge, Heidelberg and Yale recreated cancer development under controlled conditions.
Using four genetically distinct groups of mice, representing levels of genetic variation similar to those seen in human populations, the team exposed each group to the same DNA-damaging chemical comparable to those found in some processed meats.
They then tracked how tumours developed in remarkable detail, analysing whole genomes, gene activity, and tumour structure.
Despite identical exposure, the cancers that emerged followed strikingly different paths depending on genetic background. ..."
From the abstract:
"Human cancers are heterogeneous. Dissecting how germline genetic variation and environmental factors shape tumour evolution using human datasets is limited by inherent diversity in genetic backgrounds and environmental exposures.
Here, to overcome these limitations, we re-ran early tumour evolution hundreds of times in diverged inbred mouse strains, generating matched histology and whole-genome and transcriptome sequences.
The sex, environment and carcinogenic exposures were all controlled, and the study design allowed us to capture genetic variation comparable with that observed across human populations while exploiting the nested hierarchical structure of strain–litter–animal–tumour relationships.
Our analyses reveal that epistatic interactions between genetic background and acquired somatic mutations result in population-specific disease progression, including choice of driver mutations, occurrence of whole-genome duplication and subclonal selection dynamics that mirror both cancer susceptibility and tumour growth rate.
Even modest genetic divergence, comparable with that found across human ancestry groups, can strikingly alter selection pressures during cancer development to shape both cancer risk and the trajectory of tumour evolution."
Background genetics and new mutations interact to direct cancer evolution (behind paywall) "Rerunning tumour evolution in mice shows how cancer develops after DNA damage and reveals that background genetics and acquired mutations interact to shape genome stability and selection. This provides experimental evidence that genetic ancestry has an important role in setting the trajectory of cancer evolution."
New clues to long-standing cancer mystery (original news release) "Inherited genetic differences play a crucial role in determining how cancers develop and evolve after DNA damage, a major international study suggests."
Study reveals why DNA damage from smoking and UV rays may cause cancer in some people but not others (original news release) "Scientists have found the first direct evidence of the powerful role our genetic makeup plays in influencing our risk of cancer, with inherited genes interacting with acquired genetic mutations to shape how tumours evolve."
Fig. 1: Cancer susceptibility and mutagenesis are shaped by germline genetic variation.
AI Companies Are Purchasing and Destroying Millions of Used Books for Training Data. Really!
Sounds more like a conspiracy theory! The company accused of it denies it!
This piece of sensationalism is junk journalism! It was repeated all over in different media outlets!
What about books stored in public and private libraries? They will still be around. Most of these books are most likely not rare!
Just look at the headline of the supposedly originating article (see second link from the bottom) suggests a almost laughable motive and it is behind paywall!
"Tom’s Hardware reports that an investigation has revealed that AI companies are reportedly engaging in large-scale purchases of secondhand books to feed their language models, with the physical books subsequently being destroyed after scanning. The practice involves using middlemen to secretly acquire the books, potentially to avoid the controversy that has surrounded AI companies’ use of copyrighted material. ..."
AI Companies Are Buying Tons of Old Books Because They're Free of AI Slop (behind paywall) "ISBNdb, a company that sources printed books for AI companies to turn into training data, tells clients “the optics problem is real.”"
ISBNdb "The facts: ISBNdb has never purchased, scanned, or destroyed a book - for AI training or anything else. We don't train AI models, and we never have. The page was up to explore demand for a service we never brought to life. We've taken it down."
Ancient DNA confirms historical accounts of how smallpox got to the Americas. Really!
Again the AAAS gets caught spreading stereotypes or biases!
By repeating a narrative it does not become a truth! Or as Oscar Wilde once said: "The truth is rarely pure and never simple" quoted from Oscar Wilde's 1895 play The Importance of Earnest.
It also appears that the researchers were biased. Why would they enter the year 1492 CE as the start dated for the sequenced ancient genomes in their abstract (see below)? The arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas? Is this a pretense of exactness or demagoguery?
This research is based only on two individuals found in one cemetery in Chile! This study also involves some serious estimation work on the evolution of the virus. Was this properly validated?
Maybe the Europeans of 16th and 17th century did not think that smallpox was so contagious anymore. Very likely, these Europeans did not understand that the indigenous population might be more vulnerable to this virus.
What diseases were spread from indigenous people to the early arriving Europeans?
"The primary and practically sole major disease widely accepted by historians and scientists to have passed from the Americas (including South America) back to early European arrivals is syphilis (specifically non-venereal or venereal treponemal variants that adapted into the European syphilis epidemic of the 1490s)." (Google Search)
Syphilis in the 16th century was significantly severe, disfiguring, and frequently deadly. (Google Search)
Or why did not other, more contagious diseases evolve in South America or the American continent before the arrival of Europeans?
"Sometime around the turn of the 17th century, two people died in northern Chile. Their disease-ravaged bodies were bundled in layers of textiles, buried in an Indigenous cemetery, and naturally mummified by the desert environment. Now, scientists have identified their killer: smallpox. The virus’ genome found in their bones and described today in Science represents the first molecular evidence of the disease in the colonial Americas, confirming historical accounts of the disease arriving with European contact and eventually killing millions of Indigenous inhabitants. ...
surprising hints that the smallpox virus’ evolution might have slowed down between the 16th and 18th centuries ...
the Chilean strain differed from modern smallpox, but thinks it was likely less virulent. ...
Archaeologists had previously described some of the mummies as having skin lesions, which they attributed to arsenic exposure. But smallpox could also leave such lesions. ...
Evolutionarily, the Chilean strain sits between pox viruses circulating during the Viking age and a virus isolated by Poinar’s team from a Lithuanian child mummy who died between 1643 and 1665 C.E. It likely diverged from other smallpox lineages around 1296 C.E., and went extinct before the early 20th century.
By estimating how long it would take for the strain’s hallmark genetic variants to evolve and combining that with radiocarbon dates from one of the mummy’s hairs, the scientists deduced that the outbreak in northern Chile occurred between 1492 and 1631 C.E."
"... Smallpox was one of the deadliest diseases introduced to the Americas during European colonization. The rapid spread of the disease across North, Central, and South America is estimated to have resulted in the deaths of three to four million people, particularly among Indigenous populations with no prior immunity. ...
Bruno González and colleagues identified ancient smallpox virus DNA in two mummified Indigenous Inca-Early Colonial-era individuals recovered from northern Chile, who lived between 1492-1631 CE."
Caveat: I did not read the research article.
From the editor's summary and abstract:
"Editor’s summary
Smallpox was introduced to the Caribbean by European colonialists before quickly spreading south. Romero González et al. sequenced ancient smallpox genomes from two likely Incan individuals from Chile dated between about 1492 and 1631 CE. Skin lesions on these mummified remains were previously attributed to arsenic exposure, but they are also consistent with smallpox infection.
Phylogenetic analyses suggested that this smallpox strain was most closely related to ancient European lineages that went extinct before the 20th century. These represent the earliest smallpox genomes found in the Americas and help set a timeline for gene loss during the evolution of this deadly virus. ...
Abstract
Smallpox was a major driver of population collapse in the Americas after European contact, yet the genetic identity of the causal strains remains unknown.
Here, we report the first ancient smallpox genomes in the Americas, dating to approximately 1492–1631 common era (CE), recovered from two Inca-Colonial individuals in northern Chile.
These genomes form a now-extinct lineage that diverged around 1296 CE, after the splitting of early medieval European strains but before the emergence of modern variola lineages, providing direct molecular evidence for smallpox introduction through European colonization.
We further identify a constant tempo of gene inactivation until the late 16th century, followed by a phase of constraint and a subsequent rebound in substitution rates, linking variola virus evolution to major shifts in human demography and epidemiology."
How some lung cancer tumors hijack the nervous system
Good news! Cancer is history (soon)!
"Highlights
- Cachexia, a syndrome marked by unwanted weight loss, sickness, and loss of appetite that accompanies and amplifies chronic illness, affects roughly half of all cancer patients and is responsible for a quarter of all cancer deaths
- ... discovers that some lung cancer tumors can induce cachexia by communicating directly with the brain using a lipid signaling molecule—hijacking the nervous system and impacting behavior
- Findings suggest that tumors affect the peripheral nervous system and dietary changes could be used to treat cachexia and improve outcomes in lung cancer patients
...
According to the Cleveland Clinic, a quarter of cancer deaths can be attributed to one source: cachexia. ...
The researchers found that a common genetic subset of lung cancer is more prone to cachexia and that tumors from this subtype talk to the brain through sensory neurons in the lung.
Silencing these sensory nerves to disrupt the tumor-to-brain connection reduced cachexia, as did blocking the production of the lipid signaling molecule prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) through dietary changes. ..."
From the abstract of the perspective:
"Cachexia—a progressive loss of body mass despite adequate nutrition—is one of the most devastating consequences of cancer.
However, its causes are incompletely understood. Increased energy expenditure can contribute to cachexia, but “sickness behaviors,” such as loss of appetite (anorexia), fatigue, reduced activity, and malaise, also often play a part.
Several tumor-derived inflammatory molecules act on the brain and peripheral tissues to promote cachexia in some contexts , but targeting these factors has not yet led to effective cachexia treatments.
On page 90 of this issue, Cross et al. report that mouse lung tumors bearing mutations in serine/threonine kinase 11 (Stk11, also known as Lkb1) activate vagal sensory neurons through local inflammatory lipid signaling.
Notably, a high-fat diet intensifies these sensory nerve signals from the tumor to modulate the brain circuits that control feeding behavior. This mechanism promotes anorexia and cachexia."
From the editor's summary and the abstract:
"Editor’s summary
Cancer cachexia is a complex metabolic syndrome marked by reduced appetite, weight loss, and muscle wasting. Cross et al. report that a subset of Lkb1-mutant lung cancers is prone to cachexia ... When mice were fed a high-calorie, high-fat diet, reduced appetite and weight loss were observed, which was associated with reduced appetite sensing to the brain.
Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) is a lipid-signaling molecule produced by tumors that increases when animals consume fat.
The authors found that PGE2 acts locally in the lung to drive decreased weight and appetite.
Blocking either PGE2 production or silencing sensory nerves reduced cachexia, suggesting that the peripheral nervous system may represent a therapeutic target. The observations further suggest that tumors can trigger cachexia through local nerve signaling, as opposed to only circulating factors. ...
Abstract
Sickness behaviors are common in cancer-associated cachexia and affect up to half of lung cancer patients.
We demonstrate that among the most common cancer mutations, loss of liver kinase B1 (Lkb1) promotes the development of cachexia in preclinical models of lung cancer.
In an effort to improve caloric intake with an obesogenic high-fat diet, we paradoxically observed worsened cachexia-associated sickness.
We found that local production of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), rather than circulating factors, promotes sickness and that genetic, dietary, and pharmacological inhibition of tumor-derived PGE2 suppresses sickness and cachexia.
Notably, we demonstrate that lung sensory neuron abrogation prevents PGE2-dependent cachexia.
Our study establishes localized tumor-derived signals to sensory neurons, rather than circulating factors, as drivers of cachexia and highlights a previously unknown role of the peripheral nervous system in cancer cachexia."
Local signals, systemic decline (Perspective, no public access) "A high-fat diet affects tumor-to-nerve signaling and promotes cachexia in mice"
China has 6 of world’s 10 most innovative humanoid robot startups: report
"China is widening its lead over the United States in the race to develop humanoid robots, with Chinese firms accounting for six of the world’s 10 most innovative start-ups in the sector, according to a new report tracking global patent data, as Washington moves to restrict imports of robots, including those made in China. ..."
"China has become one of the most active policy drivers, moving from innovation support toward standardization, testing, and real-world deployment. Recent government activity includes dedicated standardization work for humanoid robots and embodied intelligence, as well as initiatives focused on validating robots in industrial, service, and special-purpose environments.
China is not the only country putting humanoid robotics on the strategic agenda.
South Korea has launched the K-Humanoid Alliance, a government-backed initiative that brings together industry, academia, and research organizations with the ambition of becoming a global leader in humanoid robots by 2030.
Other countries, including Japan and the United Kingdom, are also addressing humanoids or adjacent robotics fields through broader robotics strategies, technology assessments, and deployment programs. ...
The list of most innovative robotics startups was dominated by Chinese-based players, which accounted for six of the ten companies on the list, including
Fourier (#1),
Agibot (#2),
LimX Dynamics (#3),
Pudu Robotics (#4),
Unitree Robotics (#5), and
Leju Robotics (#9).
Other top innovators on the list included Agile Robotics (#7), based in Munich, Germany, and three US-based startups, Figure AI (#6) from San Jose, California; Apptronik (#8) from Austin, Texas; and Agility Robotics (#10) from Salem, Oregon. ..."
Humanoid Robotics: What Patent Data Reveals About the Companies Shaping the Field (a very long blog post by LexisNexis) "A viral video of humanoid robots dancing during Chinese New Year celebrations captured the world’s imagination. It was more than a spectacle. It showed how quickly humanoid robotics is moving from research labs and industrial settings into public life, cultural moments, and everyday environments."
Thursday, July 30, 2026
Why Saudi Arabia's MBS Wants Red Sea Coalition Against Iran Proxy Houthis
Good news! Yes, Saudi Arabia ought to become more proactive fighting terrorism and the warmongers in Iran!
10 Indians Who Changed the World (But Almost Nobody Knows Their Names)
Very recommendable! I recognized three of them like Bose, Raman and a third one.
President Trump announces Board of Peace reached deal for Hamas disarmament in Gaza
Good news! Bravo! Blessed are the peacemakers!
Are the people living in the Gaza Strip finally ready to leave terrorism behind and form a civil society based on the rule of law?
"The Board of Peace reached an agreement for the complete disarmament of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza, US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday night in a post to Truth Social.
"Today, the Board of Peace reached a HISTORIC agreement for the COMPLETE DISARMAMENT of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza. This is a monumental step toward lasting PEACE and SECURITY," Trump wrote.
He added that the agreement marks a "critical step towards Gaza finally being governed by a new Palestinian government that will work closely with the Board of Peace to help the Palestinian people." ..."
Microsoft’s $450 billion one-day gain in market capitalization was the largest by any U.S. business, ever.
Wow! I wish I was a stockholder!
What will the Gates Foundation do now? However, after the divorce etc. it appears the former Bill Gates & Melinda Gates Foundation/Trust sold all Microsoft shares by the first quarter of 2026.
"The company’s stock surged 16% after its earnings quelled concerns that investments on data centers, chips and more would outpace the company’s ability to generate cash. ..."
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