Friday Night: this blog supports responsible drinking only. Here’s why

Friday night is our night to make a suggestion for you to enjoy a civilised and sophisticated mild drink, often based upon alcohol. We stress: one drink– we are not in favour of people going out and getting plastered, whammied, blotto, paralytic nor any of the other cheerful euphemisms used to describe alcoholic intoxication. There are many reasons for believing this: but here is one of them: and it may even provide a little nostalgia for those who still remember the 1960s and how difficult all that social change really was to effect.

Barbara Castle (1910-2002) was one of the most remarkable politicians in British post war public life. Feisty, intelligent, articulate and able she was appointed Minister of Transport in Harold Wilson’s reforming government in 1965. With one overarching purpose: to the end the bloody and growing carnage on the roads caused by a nation’s dual addictions to the twin pleasures of heavy drinking and fast cars. Every means of persuasion (we still remember the Tv ads) having failed to shift the public, Legislation was unavoidable . Of course. In the nine months alone prior to her Parliamentary Bill in November 1966 there were no less than 5500 deaths and 73000 injuries due to drink driving. And this gentle readers is the tiniest corner of the statistics we could have served up. So- did the Bill sail through, hailed by a grateful nation as the answer to what were becoming almost wartime casualty lists?

Er- no, not really. Opposition was immediate-and furious. Publicans claimed drinking was being criminalised, which threatened the ruin of their businesses. Motoring groups and lobbyists were equally incandescent, citing all kinds of dangers to personal Liberty (for their members, not the victims) But Castle was steadfast, backing her legislation with new scientific technology( the “breathalyser”) which could in turn define a verifiable limit (80mg alcohol in 100 ml of blood) which replaced the old subjective tests that clever lawyers had run rings around for years. And despite all the rage and obloquy, next year’s figures shouted her success:1,100 fewer road deaths and 11000 fewer injuries.

Perhaps it’s just us but sometimes we imagine that we see a certain resemblance between the opponents of drink driving laws and those equally opposed to efforts to reduce smoking, take action on climate change, and further back, to emancipate women and abolish the slave trade. Somehow the world went on and perhaps got a little better, after all those barbaric wrongs were righted. Everything in moderation is our principle: and thanks to Barbara Castle and her brave legislation, people in this country can even enjoy the pleasures of moderate drinking in driving. A far from mean achievement.

Shameless name-dropping: we had a friend who knew Barbara and her husband Ted personally, and said they were great company off duty!

[1] Barbara Castle – Wikipedia

# Barbara Castle #road traffic #drinking and driving #alcohol #accidents #pub #civil liberty # breathalyser #motoring

Round up: rooms in tombs, New cats, Cocktail problems, Vaccines, brains-and much more

Hidden chambers?We were intrigued by this piece from Naure Briefing called Hidden chambers at Tutankhamun’s tomb? But couldn’t help thinking-what if it turns out just to be an old cleaner’s cupboard with a few abandoned brooms, mops and buckets?

Researchers say they have new found evidence for the tantalizing, but controversial, idea that there are as-yet-unexplored chambers in Tutankhamun’s tomb that might hold the remains of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti. The team conducted a range of geophysical surveys, including the first use of gravitational techniques to probe the density of ground around the site, and say they strongly support the existence of a “hidden complex” of corridors and rooms predating the entombment of Tutankhamun.

Nature | 9 min read
Reference: Occasional Papers of the Amarna Royal Tombs Project paper

The pet that wasn’t (la mascota que no lo era)

We loved this story about a new species of cat recently discovered in Bolivia. Incredibly the type specimen wasn’t found in the jungle-he had been living comfortably as a pet before being handed in to the local sanctuary El País tells all

El tilcayo, primer felino salvaje descubierto en más de cien años | Ciencia | EL PAÍS

That Cocktail Conundrum No we are not referencing our regular Friday Night Cocktail Column (LSS passim), beloved though it is of many readers. Instead, we are showcasing this Conversation report on the latest findings about the fascinating neurological and psychological puzzle of the cocktail party problem, which as dogged brain research departments for decades

https://theconversation.com/neuroscience-offers-new-insights-into-how-our-brain-solves-the-cocktail-party-problem-292169?

And talking of brains Did you know you have not one, but two, at least genetically speaking. Well that’s what these latest findings, as reported by the Mail, seem to suggest:

Now that’s what you call mind-blowing! The human brain is TWO separate organs, scientists reveal | Daily Mail Online

Don’t you forget about me More cats! We had a one who seemed to have made this Simple minds song his leitmotif at mealtimes, both ours and his own. But cats have a much bigger memory span than that according to the BBC.

https://www.countryfile.com/animals/pets/do-cats-forget-us-when-were-on-holiday?utm_id=97758_v0_s00_e0_

Keep those vaccine rates up

Bangladesh has lost 900 children to measles, reports The Conversation. Why? Regular readers will not be surprised to learn its because the vaccination programme for this dangerous disease has slipped

https://theconversation.com/bangladesh-has-lost-900-children-to-measles-a-warning-to-other-countries-where-vaccine-rates-have-slipped-292288?utm_campaign=

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

George Santayana

#tutankhamun #egyptology #archaeology #cat #zoology #genetics #neurology #artificail intelligence #vaccines #bangladesh

Owen Jones on why everything has gone wrong for the West (And why we think it proves this blog right)

In 1994 Wayne Merry was a Senior Political Officer at the US Embassy in Moscow. Those were heady days for the US and the West in general. The terrifying hydra of Soviet Communism had recently been slain. The world was open to free markets, hypercapitalism and democracy; the Good Side had won. It was the end of History-or so it seemed. Merry thought differently. In between distributing cash to starving Russians in the streets, he observed that the Russian economy was incapable of sustaining the radical reforms prescribed for it by self-confident western Experts. That the idea of Democracy was already in serious trouble, and that extremists and strongmen who could restore order to the utter chaos were already on the rise. Instead of being heeded, he was made persona non grata, his cable buried until 2024. Though we suspect it made interesting reading in Ukraine upon its final release.

Such is the tale told by Owen Jones in his Guardian article The West is in Freefall…… [1] which we heartily recommend you to read. Not because it is so utterly hard hitting and trenchant ( it is both) but because we think it has something to say about the intellectual blindness and moral complacency which allowed the triumphant position of 1991 to be transformed into the catastrophic mess of today. We don’t always agree with Owen Jones, gentle readers: but this time he is most certainly on to something. And we agree with his diagnosis: the central sins of our rulers were the ancient ones of Pride and Greed. Here are two devastating, almost killer quotes

Russia had to move towards “our way of doing things,” said Strobe Talbott, President Bill Clinton’s main Russia adviser. If that sounded like “an obnoxious confirmation of our doctrine of exceptionalism”, his answer was simple: “Well, tough. That’s us; that’s the US. We are exceptional.”

Western economies were not starved of wealth: they were increasingly organised to extract it rather than invest it. As the economist Mariana Mazzucato told me, 80% of British finance now flows back into finance, insurance and real estate. Western economies became increasingly good at rewarding ownership, but increasingly bad at building the productive foundations on which prosperity depends.

We are sure Owen’s forthcoming book will have many more examples and supporting evidence [2]

And our take? We know you like us to riff on showcased articles, independently of what their author has stated. It is this: Owen goes a long way to diagnose the root causes of our disgrace. But diagnoses are much easier than prescriptions. It has to be noted that just about every system of organising human societies eventually comes up with failures as lamentable as those of the Washington consensus and hyper financialisation. And that many of the problems we face today-climate change, re-location of industrial production , mass migrations- are as much as result of technological change as of any one political system. Which implies that the world is so small and interconnected that a single unitary world authority is now both essential and feasible. But you have read that many time s here before.

[1] The west is in freefall – and the worst part is that we were warned, but chose not to listen | Owen Jones | The Guardian

[2]Owen has a new book out on October 1^st The Fall of the West: How They Really Lost It. We shall buy it. We hope you will too!

#russia #usa #hypercapitalism #free markets #democracy #social democracy #owen jones #maria Mazzucato #financialisation

CAR‑T gets a serious rival — and that’s good news

Long‑serving LSS readers will know the admiration we’ve expressed for CAR‑T therapy (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T‑cells) and the extraordinary advances it has brought to cancer treatment. So it was a genuine surprise this morning when our researchers stumbled upon a credible alternative approach — spotted first via the excellent science feed of Hashem Al‑Ghaili.

The substance in question is GTB‑5550, a tri‑specific natural‑killer‑cell engager developed by GT Biopharma. According to Al‑Ghaili’s summary, GTB‑5550 anchors to a specific protein on the cancer cell, binds to an activating receptor on the patient’s natural‑killer (NK) cells to form an immunological bridge, and delivers an immune‑signalling protein that drives those NK cells to multiply and sustain their attack.

The underlying science is real and verifiable: GT Biopharma has FDA clearance for Phase 1 trials, and the National Cancer Institute lists an active study in advanced solid tumours. Readers can consult the company’s announcement at [3].

What caught our eye, however, was Al‑Ghaili’s shrewd observation that this line of attack offers a potential alternative — or at least a practicable complement — to the often intricate and labour‑intensive CAR‑T process. LSS has always championed redundant capacity over just‑in‑time efficiency: think bacteriophages alongside antibiotics, quantum computing alongside AI, and now, perhaps, NK‑cell engagers alongside CAR‑T.

We just didn’t expect CAR‑T to acquire a rival quite so soon.

[1] CAR T cell – Wikipedia

[2] https://www.facebook.com/ScienceNaturePage/posts/pfbid0YtDt88h5ryQi482butNALJQQ2parbD1YsQsFRUdZp

[3] GT Biopharma, Inc. (2026). GT Biopharma Announces Potential New Indication for GTB-5550, a B7-H3-Targeted Natural Killer (NK) Cell Engager, for Multiple Myeloma. GlobeNewswire.

# Hashem Al‑Ghaili #CAR-T #GTB 5550 #cancer #immunology #medicine #health #GT Biopharma #FDA

What might happen if Yellowstone Blows up-and memories of an older blog

A few years ago, at the height of the COVID pandemic, we published a short series of blogs on the other existential threats awaiting the human species once that particular plague had abated.(LSS 23 4 20) Among them was the possibility of a deadly, planet‑altering supervolcano eruption from the Yellowstone Caldera in north‑western USA — a volcanic system whose last explosion was truly colossal.

Today we showcase an article from The Conversation by Ilan Kelman and Matthew Blackett — and what an excellent piece it is, gentle readers![1] It unfolds almost like a disaster film: the early seismic murmurs; the migrating earthquake swarms; the panicked, imperfect evacuations; and finally the eruption itself — immense plumes of superheated gas and ash, pyroclastic devastation, buried cities, and the long, grinding collapse of transport, agriculture, and infrastructure across North America and far beyond. Scientists, it turns out, can write vividly when the need calls.

And our thoughts? First, the caldera is vast — 55 to 70 kilometres across, depending on how you measure it. It has certainly blown before, though that was 631 000 years ago when the humans alive at the time had no power grids, no global food networks, and no supply chains to shatter. Today’s world is far more fragile.

Second, some scientists still assert that there is no immediate probability of an eruption — Yellowstone currently sits at a normal alert level; that at least is the official view.[2]

But geological processes never cease. Even the USGS admits that the widely cited “1 in 10,000 chance per century” rests on statistically weak arithmetic, drawn from only two intervals between three ancient eruptions. And yes — we do recall those unsettling tremors and uplift episodes around 2013–14, even if they ultimately amounted to nothing. The point remains: Yellowstone is not a dead system. It is a sleeping one.

One day, the forces that once blew its roof off will coincide again. When that day dawns is unknowable. But if Kelman and Blackett’s scenario is even half right, perhaps it is better not to be around to witness the consequences.

[1]https://theconversation.com/end-of-humanity-blow-by-blow-account-of-what-would-happen-if-the-yellowstone-supervolcano-erupted-now-288649?utm_campaign

[2] Yellowstone Caldera – Wikipedia

#yellowstone #caldera #volcano #eruption #civilisational collapse #geology #climate #agriculture #ilan kelman #matthew blackett #USGS #earthquake

New therapy for ALS: Medical RNA comes of age

One of the things about reading Nature Briefing: they always seem put you au fait with the cutting-edge medical techniques, and the science that drives them, a little way ahead of the mainstream. Which is why we are showcasing their story First for Gene Targeting RNA therapy, not just because it’s interesting in itself, but because it is a beautiful illustration of the progress in RNA based medicine, even since we started this humble little blog six years ago. First, here’s their snippet

An RNA therapy for rare forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has shown promising results in the first person to receive it. He experienced improved symptoms and continued to work as a physician a year after starting treatment. Antisense oligonucleotide therapy uses short strands of genetic material to target RNA produced by a faulty gene called CHCHD10. Roughly 5–10% of people with ALS have a known genetic mutation, and antisense oligonucleotide therapies could someday benefit them and others with neurodegenerative diseases caused by rare mutations.

Nature | 7 min read

Now, we admit CHCHD10 is a rare mutation, apparently occurring in less than one per cent of ALS cases. There are many other genes involved among the different types of ALS, and, who knows, maybe some epigenetic and environmental factors as well. But to raise that is to be like a man who has won the lottery complaining that the prize didn’t come gift wrapped in Harvey Nicholls wrapping paper. Because, gentle readers-this is a start and a magnificent one. Better still, it’s part of a much bigger story of RNA based medicine advancing on many fronts. Readers will recall how the sudden arrival of RNA vaccines suddenly lifted the world from its COVID-19 based Slough of Despond in 2021. But astute readers will recall that even before COVID, RNA‑based drugs were quietly succeeding: briefly, we will cite Patisiran , ansiRNA therapy for hereditary amyloidosis;Nusinersen — antisense therapy for spinal muscular atrophy; and Givosiran, and inclisiran — RNA drugs for metabolic and cardiovascular conditions; and then let you go off to do your own reading. Yet this in turn is but part of an even bigger picture, a new frontier if you like, of therapies which we hope might deliver RNA constructs to reduce toxic proteins in motor neurons, use antisense or siRNA to knock down mutant SOD1, C9orf72, or other ALS‑linked genes, and even exploit improved delivery systems (lipid nanoparticles, viral vectors) that can finally reach neural tissue. But time will answer many of these questions

And our takeaway? It’s our usual . Using science, and its simple but effective tools of evidence and reason will always make you feel better. So if you start tinkering with basic research and its funding, you do so at your peril.

#RNA #RNA therapy #ALS #medicine #health #COVID 19 # # CHCHD10 #gene therapy #neurodegenerative diseases

Friday Night: What did James Bond REALLY Drink? David Leigh has all the answers

Say the words “James” and “Bond” in that order, and the world thinks of an elegant upper middle class Englishman sipping a vodka martini in the casino of an exclusive hotel. He’s very image of suave sophistication concealing deadly menace, so much so that the words “shaken, not stirred” have become associated with the Brand, a bit like the chimpanzees in the old PG Tips adverts.

That’s because most of us are familiar with the films, which are a long way from the books, many of which date back to the 1950s. The real James Bond was an eclectic drinker, as David Leigh explains in this excellently written article for the James Bond Dossier website [1] called, naturally enough, What does James Bond Drink? And the truth is :anything he can get. Because as David explains, the original , on paper only, Bond was jetting round a world where globalisation was barely nascent. So if you went to Japan you drunk Sake,in Turkey, Raki, in the Balkans Slivovitz. And so it goes:David details the entire social activities of this famous character in delightful detail.

But we’d like to add our own take by discussing why Bond was like that. We think we discerned it at the beginning of Goldfinger where Bond is sitting in an airport lounge downing whiskies and smoking like an old diesel as he tries to de-stress after having killed someone on active service. Musing on life and death as he waits for his flight. We actually knew quite a few men like this. Because the Bond books appeared in the 1950s when most of the male readers would have strong memories of killing and being killed in World War 2 There are even hints in one volume that the literary Bond may just have been old enough to catch active service at the very end of the war.(Ian Fleming was on active service in Intelligence for the duration) Many who had escaped physical wound nevertheless carried what we now call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.(PTSD) There was no term for it then; and anyway to visit a doctor would have been widely regarded as Cissy, and lacking in moral fibre. You just got on with it. Or self-medicated, brooding deeply night after night on whisky and full strength cigarettes , while god knows what phantoms flitted before their eyes. One of the reasons the Bond franchise has been so successful is that the books are actually jolly good writing. We think they have captured 1950s Man very well. Sad actually, isn’t it?

What does James Bond drink?

#film #cocktail #james bond #ian fleming #writing #books whisky #cigarrettes #stress #war

Round up: Ancient Antibiotics, Brand new Buddies, Cars in Crisis-and is Artificial Intelligence already out of Date?

Photo by Duu0161an Cvetanoviu0107 on Pexels.com

Adversity makes for unusual bedfellows

Not so long ago both the EU and Canada were loyal satellites of the USA. No more so, enjoining them to undertake some radical new steps, as both the BBC and El País describe:

Carney eyes ‘unique alliance’ with EU as trade war with US intensifies – BBC News

Todo menos la membresía: la UE y Canadá negocian acuerdos estratégicos para reforzar su relación en la ‘era Trump’ | Internacional | EL PAÍS

Ancient bacteria found in cave resistant to 10 types of antibiotics

The bacteria in question were found in a cave in the Apuseni mountains in Romania and seem to be about 5000 years old. One possible explanation is that they had been exposed to a compound very like our modern antibiotics. Intriguing though, for a blog of our nature. Our link is to the Independent, via the excellent MSN website.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/science/microbiology/ancient-bacteria-found-in-cave-resistant-to-10-types-of-antibiotics/ar-AA1WvrnK?ctsrc=dgst&ocid=edgntpruby&pc=H

Abominable snowfall threatens Indian economy

The costs of doing nothing about global warming may soon exceed the costs of doing nothing here’s another example, this time from the BBC.

Nepal floods: The Himalayas are melting faster – and India’s economy is ‘at risk’ – BBC News

Brainy Computers

Move over AI-here comes Neuromorphic computing, which is more closely based on the way our brains work. The Conversation explains all;

https://theconversation.com/your-brain-runs-on-20-watts-could-brain-inspired-computing-do-the-same-292048?utm_campaign=the-daily-39558&utm_content=the-d

Men in cars in crisis

What is petromasculinity? George Monbiot identifies a new expression of the deep crisis of masculinity especially among poorer males For anyone who thinks our current troubles are better explained by psychology than economics, this Guardian article is well worth a read

Driving that’s too fast, too dangerous and utterly lawless: why do we tolerate this petro-masculinity? | George Monbiot | The Guardian

Dementia switch?

Much good work has already been done to elucidate the cause of this disease. Now this fascinating article from the Independent looks at a chemical switch which might be at the root of it.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/alzheimers-disease-root-cause-discovery-b3050905.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawUYip9wZG9mBWV4d

Quote of the week

O, that a man might know/ The end of this day’s business ere it come!”

Julius Caesar, Act V, Scene 1

#European Union #Canada #antibiotic resistance # Neuromorphic computing #petromasculinity #cliamte change #global warming #india #dementia

Fascinating Asgard Archaea: is this why you are made of cells and not something else?

One of the most fascinating questions in biology is how multicellular life — all plants, fungi and animals — first arose. Single‑celled organisms had been around for thousands of millions of years, at least from about 3.5 billion years ago, just ~1 billion years after the Earth formed at 4.5 billion years. Bacteria and archaea were already present over 4 billion years ago, quietly running the planet’s chemistry long before anything with limbs or leaves appeared. There are hints of multicellular organisms at around 1.4 billion years – red algae are a possible candidate- but that’s still quite late considering the time available. The brutal truth is that wasn’t until about 600 million years ago that truly multicellular organisms begin to show up in the rocks. How, why and when the Great Organising took place is a mystery still buried deep in time.

One possible clue lies in the kingdom of the archaea — those bacteria‑like beings that are not actually bacteria. A particular branch, the Asgard archaea, may hold the key to how complex cells — and eventually multicellular life — emerged. Today’s Nature Briefing has a short, elegant piece called Meet the Parents on the latest findings, and it offers some intriguing hints about how a bunch of free swimming cells learned to co-operate and thereby sparked the great leap to complexity. Is there a lesson for today in there somewhere perhaps?

Microorganisms from which all complex life might be descended — the Asgard archaea — were discovered in 2015 from DNA in sediments plucked from the bottom of the North Atlantic. Since then, researchers have been painstakingly culturing these exotic organisms and finding lots of surprises along the way.Nature | 11 min read

#Bacteria #archaea #multicellular #unicellular #evolution #biology #precambrian #asgard #biology #complaxity #signalling #red algae #procaryote #eucaryote

Why is the Ozone hole suddenly getting bigger again?

Our showcase today is an article by Shivali Best of the Mail, who reports that this September has seen a disquietingly fast opening of the ozone “hole” over the Antarctic. [1] It’s disturbing for two reasons. One, obviously: the ozone layer is what protects us all from ultra-violet radiation, which would otherwise cause skin cancers and many other inconvenient forms of disease. Secondly, closing the hole in the ozone layer since is one of the few successful examples of collective action we can point to . So what’s going on?

Shivali adduces two statements which art first sight seem to contradict each other. Firstly, the sudden depletion of ozone is probably due to a sudden cooling at high altitude over the extreme Antarctic. The increase in stratospheric clouds begins to thin the ozone which overlies them, by processes which you can read about in the article. The second, quite rightly, is that August 2026 was the hottest month ever recorded. To quote Shivali

The average temperature last month was 16.96°C….. even higher than the previous record holder, July 2023, which had an average temperature of 16.95°C …..

So: is it getting hotter, or colder? Depends where. Essentially, greenhouse gases heat up the Troposphere, that thick dense lower layer of the atmosphere where we all live. This actually acts like a blanket, wrapping in the heat on the surface, while stopping it rising up into the stratosphere. The result is a cooling at higher altitudes-which would exactly cause the Ozone effects which have been observed.[2] [3]

Somewhere this week some of you will meet a strongly opinionated person who has skimmed the headlines, absorbed them uncritically, bounded to conclusions, and declared to you: “ De Antartic is gettin’ cooler, mate! That PROVES there’s no such fing as global warmin!” Now you know why they’re wrong.

[1]The ozone hole has burst open: Analysis reveals how the opening over Antarctica has ‘increased sharply’ this month – and is set to get even bigger | Daily Mail Online

[2]Chabrillat et al. (2025), Modelling stratospheric composition for the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service Geoscientific Model Development (Copernicus Publications

[3]WMO Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion (2022

#global warming #ozone layer #stratosphere #troposphere #cliamte change #fossil fuels #antarctic #ocean