INTERESTING: A new brain cell: demonstrates (again) about how little we know

Saturday, September 23, 2023

https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/new-type-brain-cell-astrocyte/

Scientists discover a new type of brain cell

  • There are hints that it could lead to new treatments for Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and other brain disorders.
  • An image of a neuron with a blue light coming out of it.
  • Most of the cells in the brain are either neurons or glial cells. The former send messages, while the latter protect the former. Astrocytes are a type of glial cell found near synapses. Researchers believe they have discovered a new type of astrocyte that actively participates in neurotransmission, making them a sort of hybrid between neurons and glial cells. 

Kristin Houser

*** begin quote ***

A new brain cell: Researchers at the Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering and the University of Lausanne believe they’ve definitively proven that some astrocytes do actively participate in neurotransmission, making them a sort of hybrid of neurons and glial cells.

According to the researchers, this third type of brain cell, which they call a “glutamatergic astrocyte,” could offer a way to treat Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other disorders of the nervous system.

“Its discovery opens up immense research prospects,” said study co-director Andrea Volterra.

*** end quote ***

Once again demonstrating how little we really know about anything.

Hope this research leads to new treatments for brain disorders before I need them.

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INTERESTING: If DJT45 rips up the “bail agreement”, then all hell would break loose

Sunday, August 27, 2023

https://dailycaller.com/2023/08/25/opinion-jd-foster-this-proves-that-trumps-prosecutors-are-playing-politics-and-it-has-nothing-to-do-with-his-charges-jd-foster/

JD FOSTER: This Proves That Trump’s Prosecutors Are Playing Politics, And It Has Nothing To Do With His Charges

  • J.D. Foster is the former chief economist at the Office of Management and Budget and former chief economist and senior vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He now resides in relative freedom in the hills of Idaho.

August 25, 2023 12:02 PM ET

*** begin quote ***

Whether you love Donald Trump and are daily festooned with MAGA paraphernalia, or despise everything about him, if you reflect on Trump’s trials you may have a real whiskey, tango, foxtrot moment.

The problem isn’t the indictments and whether they are bogus and political or sound and prudent. The lawyers and the courts will duke it out and someday we’ll know, or at least we’ll have the best answer the system can produce. No, the issue is Trump’s bail. 

*** and ***

If Trump were willing (I heard this notion so it’s not original with me), then he should change his mind and tear up the bail agreement. Show up, be arrested, and then be taken to jail. The Secret Service would immediately invoke their federal authority and force the county to empty out the jail to ensure the former President’s safety. Then watch the thousands, then tens of thousands, then more and more come to the jail to protest. Even MSNBC would be forced to cover it. 

Or, more likely, watch the Court and Willis squeak like little mice and say, never mind, Mr. Trump. See you in a few weeks. There would be plenty of embarrassment, but not for Trump.

*** end quote ***

I LOVE this idea.  

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INTERESTING: Some were raised by animals and yet survived

Sunday, August 27, 2023

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12412255/The-real-life-Mowglis-Men-women-raised-animals-wolf-pack-troop-monkeys.html

The real-life Mowglis: Men and women who were raised by animals… from a wolf pack to a troop of monkeys

  •     Men and women claim they were raised by animals in their darkest moments 
  •     They claim animals – from wolves to stray dogs – took them in as one of their own 

By Rachael Bunyan
Published: 02:16 EDT, 19 August 2023 | Updated: 04:22 EDT, 19 August 2023 

# – # – # – # – # 

Fascinating that humans survive against all odds.

Sad that they have such dismal futures.

Interesting what is shows about the need for a human family.

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INTERESTING: Didn’t anyone think about tructural fatigue from repeated trips?

Tuesday, June 27, 2023

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12228753/Underwater-survival-expert-says-materials-used-Titan-sub-tried-simply-didnt-work.html

Underwater survival expert reveals OceanGate’s biggest ‘red flags’ and says the unconventional combination of materials used to build its doomed Titan sub was NOT innovative because ‘it’s been tried and simply didn’t work’

  •     Rachel Lance, a Duke University biomedical engineer and underwater survival expert, on Thursday said OceanGate was using technology proven not to work
  •     Lance told CNN that the carbon fiber hull was already widely discredited, despite OceanGate’s CEO hyping it as innovative and safe
  •     She said some of the vessel’s design materials ‘were already large red flags to people who have worked in this field’ 

By Harriet Alexander For Dailymail.com
Published: 22:44 EDT, 23 June 2023 | Updated: 03:57 EDT, 24 June 2023 

*** begin quote ***

He also said in 2020 that the hull had ‘showed signs of cyclical fatigue’. 

Carbon fiber is prone to delamination, the process whereby a material fractures into layers while put under pressure.

Cameron said: ‘The way it fails is it delaminates. You have to have a hull, a pressure hull, made out of a contiguous material like steel, or like titanium, which is the proven standard.’

*** end quote *** 

When I first heard about the disastrous failure and that they had been running “tours” since 2021, I immediately wondered how they were dealing with “material fatigue”.   Anyone, who has unbent and recent a paperclip know that suddenly the clip just fails breaking apart.  When dealing with the tremendous pressure (i.e., the weight of the water above you pressing down), the material must flex every time it goes down and back up.  

Surprising it didn’t fail sooner.

Requiescat In Pacem.

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INTERESTING: Goodhart’s Law — never ehard of it

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

https://builtin.com/data-science/goodharts-law

How to Mind Goodhart’s Law and Avoid Unintended Consequences

  • One of the first steps to solving a problem — data science or otherwise — is determining the right metrics to gauge success. Choose wisely.

Written by Will Koehrsen
Published on Oct. 19, 2021

*** begin quote ***

What Is Goodhart’s Law?

Goodhart’s Law is expressed simply as: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” In other words, when we set one specific goal, people will tend to optimize for that objective regardless of the consequences. This leads to problems when we neglect other equally important aspects of a situation. 

*** end quote ***

Hmmm, I never fell into that trap.

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INTERESTING: Stop the presses on history books; time just got pushed back by a few thousand years

Monday, May 22, 2023

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/7000-year-old-road-uncovered-in-croatia-paved-in-stone-a-sensational-find/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_medium=weekly_mailout&utm_source=16-05-2023

7,000-year-old Road Uncovered in Croatia is Paved in Stone–A ‘Sensational Find’
By Andy Corbley – May 12, 2023 

*** begin quote ***

But Korcula road, featuring sophisticated stone-stacking and some sort of material to encase the stones in their positions, was made around 1,000 years before Ur and Eridu, to an epoch where agriculture and animal domestication were still developing or state-of-the-art technologies.

*** end quote ***

It really is amazing how little we “know” about “history”.  It is almost like routinely “we” find new evidence that proves just how wrong we were. 

What can you trust as “facts”?

The answer is “not much”.

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INTERESTING: Will this change how crime scenes are investigated?

Sunday, May 21, 2023

https://theconversation.com/you-shed-dna-everywhere-you-go-trace-samples-in-the-water-sand-and-air-are-enough-to-identify-who-you-are-raising-ethical-questions-about-privacy-205557?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email&utm_placement=newsletter

You shed DNA everywhere you go – trace samples in the water, sand and air are enough to identify who you are, raising ethical questions about privacy
Published: May 15, 2023 11.01am EDT
Jenny Whilde  — Adjunct Research Scientist in Marine Bioscience, University of Florida
Jessica Alice Farrell  —  Postdoctoral associate, University of Florida

*** begin quote ***

Ethical implications of collecting human eDNA

Our team dubs inadvertent retrieval of human DNA from environmental samples “human genetic bycatch.” We’re calling for deeper discussion about how to ethically handle human environmental DNA.

Human eDNA could present significant advances to research in fields as diverse as conservation, epidemiology, forensics and farming. If handled correctly, human eDNA could help archaeologists track down undiscovered ancient human settlements, allow biologists to monitor cancer mutations in a given population or provide law enforcement agencies useful forensic information.

However, there are also myriad ethical implications relating to the inadvertent or deliberate collection and analysis of human genetic bycatch. Identifiable information can be extracted from eDNA, and accessing this level of detail about individuals or populations comes with responsibilities relating to consent and confidentiality.

*** end quote ***

Some one I know LOVES “crime” shows.  Often, DNA can “hang” a crime on a criminal several decades after the event.  Recently, we have been seeing some “solved” by “forensic genealogy”.  The DNA from a crime scene can be linked to a family and, by diligent police work, the criminal is identified, tried, and convicted.

Some SciFi shows have said that forensic evidence can be tampered with  — even DNA.

Now with this article, maybe the air, dirt, or whatever at a crime scene can be captured and cataloged.

One of the crime shows had the police trailing a suspect to get his DNA from a discarded cigarette butt or a water bottle.  Maybe now, just test the air in the interrogation room might be all that is needed.

Shades of 1984.

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INTERESTING: The NFL schedule is like horse race handicapping

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

https://www.insidehook.com/daily_brief/sports/nfl-schedule-four-teams-out-primetime

Sports | May 12, 2023 12:12 pm

NFL Schedule Predicts That These Four Teams Will Stink

  • Only four of the league’s 32 teams are not scheduled for a primetime game
  • The NFL doesn’t think Atlanta QB Desmond Ridder is ready for primetime.

By Evan Bleier @itishowitis

*** begin quote ***

The release of the full NFL schedule on Thursday night revealed that the league is planning to have three editions of Monday Night Football that will feature two games being played simultaneously in primetime. It’s an interesting strategy and will force fans to choose between Saints-Panthers and Browns-Steelers in Week 2, Eagles-Buccaneers and Rams-Bengals in Week 3 and Titans-Dolphins and Packers-Giants in Week 14. 

*** end quote ***

As I have said many times, the schedule determines the fates of teams.  It’s not a random draw; in a sense, it’s like horse race handicapping.  Hard to repeat when the table is tilted against you.  That make some teams’ records interesting.

Word to the wise, don’t bet against the handicapper or on anything that talks.

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INTERESTING: Never heard of “chimerism’ before

Monday, April 10, 2023

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11939177/I-married-cousin-jaw-dropping-family-secrets-exposed-DNA-tests.html

The most JAW-DROPPING family secrets exposed by at-home DNA tests – from an only child who discovered he had 30 siblings to woman whose dad was swapped a birth

  •     Two in ten Americans have taken mail-order DNA tests, according to YouGov
  •     Many are taking to social media to reveal their jaw-dropping family secrets such as that they have 30 siblings or even married a cousin 
  •     Here Dailymail.com takes a look at the dark side of the trend as millions of Americans discover they’re not quite who they thought they were  

By Helena Kelly For Dailymail.Com
Published: 12:49 EDT, 9 April 2023 | Updated: 12:53 EDT, 9 April 2023 

*** begin quote ***

‘Rare condition meant I wasn’t related to the children I birthed’

Single mother Lydia Fairchild was 26, unemployed and looking for state support in 2002 when she was asked to take a DNA test to prove her family was all related.

But the results suggested Fairchild had no genetic link to the two children she had birthed – prompting alarm from social services.

‘I knew that I carried them, and I knew that I delivered them. There was no doubt in my mind,’ Fairchild, from Washington, said at the time.

She gave birth for a third time and again DNA tests said she was not related to the newborn – despite carrying it for nine months.

It later transpired the mismatch was due to an ultra-rare condition called ‘chimerism.’

It meant she had technically been a twin in the womb but the other embryo died early on meaning she ‘absorbed’ her sibling’s cells.

The condition meant she had two cell lines – with only one matching that of her children.

Her case was relayed in the 2006 documentary ‘The twin inside me.’

*** end quote ***

Why would this poor woman have to “prove” that her children were “hers” to the Gooferment?

This sounds like the identical twins dilemma that TV and Movies like to dramatize.

Makes these DNA “quite revealing”; not always for the better.

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INTERESTING: History is unreliable; the further back in history we go, the more unreliable it is

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

https://bullionmax.com/blog/news/gold-past-present-future?&utm_campaign=campaign%3A+2023-02-26-weeklybulletin+%2863f52e64bdd59f001de41acb%29&utm_medium=email&utm_source=omnisend&omnisendContactID=63557c12377bc800196f0944

 bullionmax.com
The Past, Present and Future of Gold
Posted on February 16, 2023

*** begin quote ***

A few things about history have to be said before delving deep into it. We’ll avoid Napoleon’s quote and instead say that history should be taken with a grain of salt. And we generally have a worse idea of what transpired the further we go back, especially when talking centuries.

*** end quote ***

This really casts doubt on everything we think we “know” as history.  What is a metric for the degradation in “history”?  Is it 1% per year or 5%?  Or does it vary with the topic being remembered?

Argh!

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