Incurable cancers-don’t pick and choose your Science

Over the years we’ve enjoyed bringing you good‑news cancer stories. Only a fraction of what’s available in the wider media, of course, but we try to showcase the ones that matter. And we think you will agree, gentle readers, that the overall direction of travel has been encouraging. Immunotherapy, CAR‑T, genomic sequencing — these are just a few of the leaps and bounds of the last decade. Compared with the situation in 1996, or even 1966 when tobacco was almost de rigueur, you might reasonably feel a measure of satisfaction.

Except, of course, for the truly intractable and life‑wasting tumours that still hover over all our lives. Poised and ready to strike, like a swarm of sinister angels from hell.

Our personal list might include Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC), pancreatic adenocarcinoma, glioblastoma, and certain forms of ovarian and liver cancer. This handy list from ScienceDirect offers an excellent jumping‑off point for anyone who wants to learn more. [1] At which point the Reflective Reader might conclude: “More research to be done.” And there’s the rub, as Shakespeare would have it.

For over those same ten years we have drifted into an age when Science, Research and Investigation are increasingly at a discount rather than a premium. Attacks on climate science, vaccination, and epidemiology are nothing new — but they have increased in fury and frequency, and have afforded licence to dispute the findings of any reasonable and learned experts. Recall the vitriol poured on economists who challenged the latest popular fads in constitutional or economic matters, or sociologists who advocate a more rational approach to any number of issues around crime, the family and poverty. For a broader survey of these attacks on the physical sciences in general, see this link to The Skeptical Inquirer.[2], although for the sociological and economic tropes we have alluded to you’ll have to look elsewhere.

But it is not the specific assaults on rationality that matter so much as the intellectual climate they create. Facts are selected, conclusions jumped to, and the passion is for triumph rather than knowledge. Research is a human, social phenomenon, and it is as sensitive to the social trends around it as winds are to a warming climate. Some people may feel they gain by refusing to reason. But they will pay a long price in untreatable cancers, incurable epidemics, and broken economies.

How to remind them they still have time to make a choice?

[1] The 10 deadliest cancers, and why there’s no cure | Live Science

[2] The Disturbing Attacks on Science | Skeptical Inquirer

# Triple Negative Breast Cancer # glioblastoma # CAR-T # alcohol # cannabis #health #medicine #Climate Science

More good news on designer phages-and why we think they’ll work

Last week, with the help of our doughty researchers, we published a small piece describing how Artificial Intelligence is being employed to design new generations of bacteriophages, some of which might be used to target antibiotic‑resistant bacteria (LSS 8.8.26). Hopeful, certainly — but intelligent readers will ask the old question: what’s the chance any of this will work anytime soon?

Well, you’ll be glad to know that human‑modified bacteriophages have already been in action, and successfully too, since the far‑off days of 2024. They weren’t using AI to design the phages then, merely modifying them using another LSS favourite: CRISPR‑Cas9 gene editing.

Our first trope concerns a report in The Lancet Microbe, a long but reasonably readable paper describing a safety and tolerability trial of SNIPR001 — a combination of four CRISPR–Cas‑equipped bacteriophages — in healthy human volunteers. Results were encouraging:

“SNIPR001 was safe and well tolerated in healthy participants, with signals suggesting targeted activity against E. coli, despite the absence of a statistically significant effect.”

Our second trope comes from the excellent Michael Le Page of New Scientist, who reports on the clinical use of the same SNIPR technology — not a trial in healthy volunteers, but in an actual patient. His piece, CRISPR‑armed phages help treat severe superbug infection, is unfortunately behind a paywall, but worth crossing. It tells the story of a 65‑year‑old man in California with a severe, antibiotic‑resistant E. coli infection whose condition markedly improved after receiving these engineered phages. The lesson is clear: artificially-modified phages can work.

Now, nobody is claiming miracle cures — not the authors of the paper, nor Michael, nor ourselves. But all of us, in our different ways, are pointing to extremely encouraging signs. And remember our original point: all of the above took place, before our famous AI‑designed bacteriophages have even gone into trial. What possibilities might open up when they are fully deployed?

[1] Safety, recovery, and pharmacodynamics of CRISPR–Cas therapeutic SNIPR001: a phase 1, randomised, double-blind, first-in-human, dose-escalation study – The Lancet Microbe

[2] CRISPR-armed phages help treat severe superbug infection | New Scientist

# Artificial Intelligence # bacteriophages # SNIPR001 # CRISPR‑Cas9 #antibiotic resistance #bacteria #microbiology #medicine #health

AI designed Bacteriophages: Synthetic Life-or synthetic Evolution?

Ever attentive to our readers’ clamour for more good news on antibiotic resistance we bear yet another story on the synthesis of Artificial Intelligence with the frontiers of cellular biology to produce yet another remarkable advance. Yet we think, gentle readers, that this story may have far deeper significance for the evolution of life on this planet and who knows, several of the neighbouring ones in our Solar System, and today we will tell you why.

First the story, showcasing the work of the assiduous James Gallagher of the BBC.[1] Researchers at Stanford University[2] have used the AI systems Evo 1 and Evo 2 to design a new generation of entirely synthetic bacteriophages which have already proved effective against certain strains of E.coli. We will let our links tell the story of the ingenious Brian Hie and Samuel King and what their teams have accomplished: but regular readers will realise what a valuable new therapeutic technique this could be. Good journalist that he is, Gallager covers certain warnings too: but that is the BBC for you: balanced, nuanced and still true to its Reithian principles 100 years on.

But if you will forgive us, we think this is our opportunity to record why we think all this AI-meets-biology trope we have been covering for some years is truly significant. And it is this. For millions of years, organisms under attack-by parasites, predators, whatever- have relied on the slow, wasteful grind of Darwinian natural selection to stumble toward defence. Now, for the first time, a host species has stepped outside that blind process. With AI‑designed bacteriophages, the human brain—admittedly an organ shaped by old school evolution—is beginning to direct its own evolutionary responses by compressing what once took thousands of generations into deliberate, rapid invention. Not synthetic life, exactly, but something stranger: synthetic evolution. And, if human attempts to colonise the moon and nearby planetary systems are successful, these may be the new sorts of life forms that come to inhabit those worlds. Not sad old Darwinian selected eucaryotes like ourselves and our pet cats. Just a thought.

With thanks to Mr G Herbert and our in-house team of researchers who implored us to break our weekend embargo to bring you this story

[1]https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y3j3ngevmo

[2] AI designs a novel E. coli killer | Stanford Report

#AI #bacteriophages #genomes #health #medicine #antibiotic resistance #evolution #biology #future

Cocktails from America: The Manhattan

In Cocktail homage to the United States, until recently the greatest nation on the planet, we have chosen the Manhattan. That ne plus ultra of the 1920s when America set out to rule the world through Modernity and Finance: and the island of Manhattan was the very centre of that rule. No, not Rhapsody in Blue, not Wall Street, not Macey’s, not even the New Yorker;-we firmly showcase the Manhattan because it is the city distilled: dark, glossy, slightly dangerous, and absolutely convinced of its own importance.

Prohibition didn’t kill the Manhattan, it made it forbidden and therefore mythic. It was the one they served in a joint off Times Square where you went in with a nod and password, and the man who served it was one of those Damon Runyon types who wore a waistcoat and knew how to keep his mouth shut. Because the clientele included not just flappers, journalists, gangsters and politicians, but also more than a few cops who did not carry the principles of their Office uncomfortably into private life. So as you mix one tomorrow night, you’ll have Manhattan, maybe even the Bronx and Staten Island too: but a fleeting taste of those brief decades when Democracy and Hyperconsumption looked like they would be the future of the world. How time trumps all of our illusions!

Method Freely adapted with thanks from the Hamlyn Ultimate Cocktail Book, that Bible of Style for sophisticated readers of all lands. Put five ice cubes into a mixing glass and add one measure of sweet vermouth and three measures of rye or bourbon whiskey. Stir them well and then strain sin hielo into a chilled cocktail glass. If you must decorate, a cherry on a stick might do: but you would have got some very old fashioned looks whether you were in Queens, Broadway, or any of the other choice locations across the length and breadth of old Gotham City in its Jazz age peak.

Enjoy a pleasant weekend,

#Manhattan #cocktails #New York #Jazz Age #prohibition #damon runyon #george gershwin

Round up: Wildfires, Craniums, Parkinsons disease, and a eulogy to the humble woodlouse

Photo by Rafael Minguet Delgado on Pexels.com

Extremely scary findings’ show climate crisis is supercharging Europe’s wildfire weather Beat that for a tag! Here’s The Guardian

‘Extremely scary findings’ show climate crisis is supercharging Europe’s wildfire weather | Wildfires | The Guardian

More on the muddle in the middle One of the most fascinating areas of human evolution is the last million years , a desperately confusing period when about five types of big brained hominins were running around: but which one was the true human ancestor? Now a new cranium from Spain sheds even more dark on the lightness, as El País explains

https://elpais.com/ciencia/2026-07-30/un-enigmatico-craneo-de-hace-200000-anos-hallado-en-ciudad-real-complica-aun-mas-el-lio-en-el-medio-de-la-evolucion-humana.

Climate: the debate heats up The question is not whether climate change caused the heatwave, but how much hotter and more dangerous heatwaves have become because greenhouse gases, primarily from burning fossil fuels, have accumulated in the atmosphere. Another thought provoking one from The Conversation

https://theconversation.com/was-this-heatwave-caused-by-climate-change-were-asking-the-wrong-question-288637?utm_medium=email&utm_cam

Lets hear it for the humble woodlouse Definitely one of the most valued and useful members of our garden’s flora, these industrious little animals have a surprisingly long pedigree, Nice gentle article from the Guardian

‘They are such neat, busy little folk’: the unexpected superpowers of the common woodlouse | Insects | The Guardian

More on digestion and disease It was New Scientist who first pointed us in this direction to be fair. But five years on the whole intriguing question of the relationship between the gut and the brain is now firmly on the agenda. However, today we showcase this excellent Technology Networks article which discusses it from a Parkinson’s therapies point of view

https://www.technologynetworks.com/immunology/articles/parkinsons-link-to-the-gutbrain-axis-presents-new-treatment-options-414048?spl=f28e4747276f437485

Where is the next pandemic coming from? The great Spanish biologist Ana Fernández-Sesma discusses hantavirus ebola respiratory viruses, vaccinations and much more in this wide ranging interview from El País

Ana Fernández-Sesma, bióloga: “Hay muchos chulitos que van de antivacunas, pero sí se inmunizan, y se lo callan” | Ciencia | EL PAÍS

Quote of the Week

“A fool despiseth wisdom and instruction.” — Proverbs 1:7

#climate change #vaccination #parkinsons disease #woodlouse #human evolution

Carbon Brief: What a website for all things Global Warming!

Readers, contributors, even our downtrodden staff, we apologise wholly and unreservedly for not telling you before about Carbon Brief. Because what a website it is, ladies and gentlemen! For here you will find everything you need in what is rapidly becoming the only issue of our soi-disant times, clear and present climate breakdown due to human induced global warming. But do not despair For Carbon Brief [1] has in depth coverage of climate science, policy, newsletters analysis and a handy Fact Check custom made to refute all the hot air opinions you’ll hear in the Dog and Duck this weekend. Has Mr Trump got it entirely 100% right about the IPCC? Can you think of nine myths about oil in the North Sea? What is really keeping UK energy prices so high (if you’re a mum with a family you might find that last one especially poignant) Answers to these and many more canards are to be found in this excellent section of the website. But of course there is much, much more.

Dear ladies and gentlemen, once more we can only apologise. For we have tried our best, our level best here on Climate change. But to be frank, compared to this lot we “am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal”, as St Paul memorably observed in his notable e mail to the Corinthians. From now on we honestly and humbly advise you to check out Carbon Brief wherever and whenever you need facts and balanced reason on the whole catastrophic matter. Teachers in particular might find swarms of subjects for lesson plans. Those enduring social visits from cantankerous relatives, or who have to deal with the opinions of elderly neighbours over the garden fence will find even more. We will end with an even more relevant extract from that same e mail from theat same wily old scribe from Damascus:

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” That’s 1 Corinthians 13:12, to you and me.

Even if you’re not a Corinthian, click on Carbon Brief now. What are you waiting for?

[1] Home – Carbon Brief

#carbon brief #global warming #climate change #fossil fuels #coal #oil #ecological collapse

Fascinating new mitochondrial discovery may help reverse ageing (one day)

It’s not the new stuff that comes up, it’s the unexpected stuff that gets us out of bed in the mornings. So when someone publishes an article like the one we’re showcasing today [1] Metabolic Signal From Dysfunctional Mitochondria Linked to Aging from the excellent Technology Networks website we sit up and take notice. Not only does the story drag the humble mitochondria[2] into the middle of the ageing process, it straddles the whole complex frontiers of genetics, epigenetics and cell physiology, long-loved favourites of ours, as veteran readers will recall.

Researchers have long known that the body slowly accumulates large populations of zombie cells, which pump out cocktails of inflammatory molecules leading to frailty, cardiovascular disease, cancer and other ailments. ( at this point the parallel with societies accumulating large populations of ageing citizens pumping out ill informed and socially damaging opinions into the body politic occurred to us, but it won’t go in the blog). Instead of removing these cells, the researchers asked, would it be possible to switch off their damaging signals? It was known that damaged mitochondia leaked DNA and RNA into cells, setting off an inflammatory response. Now detailed investigation has uncovered the key signalling mechanism, the epigenetic switch, that turns on the whole process. And it turns out to be our old friend Acetyl CoA, that standby of the biochemical textbooks of our youth. To quote the article

the researchers discovered that senescent cells increase production of acetyl-CoA, a molecule generated through mitochondrial metabolism. Acetyl-CoA enables epigenetic modifications – chemical changes that regulate whether genes are switched on or off without altering the DNA sequence itself. These modifications make inflammatory genes more accessible, allowing them to be robustly expressed.

See what we mean about straddling three fields at once? Theres good therapeutic news too in the form of a transporter molecule that goes by the snappy name of SLC25A1. Blocking this may slow down the whole process, or so the researchers hope.

Our takeaways? First, thanks to our researchers for discovering the excellent Technology networks A click on their website revealed a cornucopia of learned articles, links, communities and much else. We will be visiting them again. Secondly: epigenetics, epigenetics, epigenetics. [3] Thirdly, you never know what you don’t know, and this whole area of mitochondria in ageing has been a bit of revelation to us. We can only conclude that the more you learn, the more you discover. Or is it the other way round?

[1]Metabolic Signal From Dysfunctional Mitochondria Linked to Aging | Technology Networks

[2]Mitochondria – Wikipedia

[3]Carey, Nessa. The Epigenetics Revolution: How Modern Biology Is Rewriting Our Understanding of Genetics, Disease, and Inheritance. London: Icon Books, 2012.

#genetics #epigenetics #cell biology #mitochndria #ageing #biochemistry #health #medicine

Will Quantum sensing be bigger than Quantum Computing?

At LSS we’re a pretty eclectic kind of blog. So when we think we’ve got into a rut -too much on Antibiotics, Anthropoid Ape Men, or the deeds of Mr Trump- we like to spin the wheel so that you, gentle readers, may be the first to become au fait in yet another exciting area of cutting-edge human endeavour. And today we have chosen Quantum Sensing, that quiet shy sister of the much louder Quantum Computing, which might just turn out to be the Cinderella who scooped the ball. [1]

So what is Quantum sensing? The scientific miracle that crept up on us while everyone was busy arguing about quantum computing. Instead of trying to build impossible machines, quantum sensing takes the strange behaviour of atoms, photons and spins and uses it to measure the world with a delicacy classical physics simply can’t reach.

What’s the step change? A quantum sensor doesn’t rely on bulk electronics or brute force; it relies on superposition, entanglement and other quantum states that are inherently more precise. The result is a new class of instruments that can detect the faintest magnetic fields, the tiniest vibrations, and the most subtle changes in gravity — a kind of scientific eyesight that feels almost unfair in its sharpness.

What makes quantum sensing genuinely new? Classical sensors, like rulers, are always fighting noise: thermal noise, electronic noise, environmental noise. Quantum sensors sidestep those constraints by using states of matter that are the limit — the smallest possible unit of information, the most stable possible oscillation, the purest possible signal.

Hang on-are people actually using this stuff, now, in like, August 2026? Yup: the kit is suddenly appearing in many fields: mapping quantum materials, stabilising next‑generation clocks, imaging nanoscale structures, and even probing biological systems without damaging them. It’s not an incremental upgrade; it’s a shift in what measurement science can do, when the mood takes it. [2] [3]

Why have you showcased it? because it represents science at its most elegant. Quantum sensing isn’t about building bigger machines or consuming more power; it’s about learning to see the world with new eyes. Many of the sensors themselves are tiny jewels of engineering — diamonds with engineered defects, single trapped ions, levitated nanoparticles — each one a reminder that progress sometimes comes from finesse rather than force. In a year dominated by loud technologies, quantum sensing is the quiet triumph: a discipline that turns the universe’s weirdness into clarity, and shows how much beauty there is in simply measuring the world more truthfully.

Can I buy one in my local hardware store? A: Not quite yet. Quantum sensors are still the domain of research labs, national metrology institutes and a few very specialised companies. For now, your local hardware shop will continue to offer the trusty tape measure, the spirit level and the laser rangefinder — all perfectly good tools until quantum sensing makes its way into everyday kit. Think of it as the future arriving in slow, elegant steps rather than on the shelves of B&Q.

However: Most advances in science-and the human condition- ultimately come from advances in measurement. We think this might be one such

[1] Quantum sensor – Wikipedia

[2]Quantum sensors for biomedical applications | Nature Reviews Physics

[3] Quantum Imaging and Sensing – Recent articles and discoveries | Springer Nature Link

#quantum sensor #quantum computer #nanoscale #physics #biology #technology #measurement

Sea side dangers? Why Statistics is the true masterclass in critical thinking

Does living by the seaside make you ill? Today, we’re showcasing some excellent reporting by Shaun Wooller of the Mail because it’s a perfect example of how to interpret statistics, and more importantly, how not to interpret them. And to strike a personal note: we think the discipline of statistics might give us a way out of the muddle the world has got itself into by relying on emotion, unreason and by inveterately jumping to conclusions. But first to Shaun’s article [1]

He quotes huge, statistically robust studies made by the impeccable University College London. Who find, unarguably, that if you live in one of Britain’s seaside towns you are going to have a 21% higher chance of developing chronic health conditions such as diabetes, cancer and depression. At first this seems counterintuitive: surely all those views and sea air are good for you? What dreadful maritime factor is at play? Should our seaside towns be evacuated at once? Fortunately, Shaun has the answer on hand: look at the samples. If you do that you find that A all the younger people tend to move away from such towns and B so do the affluent. Leaving behind a population of elderly, poorer residents who are, ipso facto, more likely to suffer from these ailments anyway. Which leads us to our own conclusion: sea air may be good for you :but statistics are much, much better

Long standing readers will recall our piece about the dangers of Ice Cream (LSS 23 4 20) in which we covered the irrefutably demonstrable fact that as ice cream sales increase, so does the chance of death by drowning. From which the hysterical and the ignorant might conclude that ice cream represents a clear and present danger to our young. Taking no cognisance of the fact that ice cream sales increase in warm weather, when more people go wild swimming in lakes rivers and oceans, massively increasing the drowning statistics for that week.How about banning lakes and rivers instead?

As Shaun shows us, as Professor Spiegelhalter does even more so in his excellent work {2] the discipline of statistics is a master class in critical thinking. It reminds us that, while many observations produce patterns, finding the cause of these is much more tricky. That the base rate is all important and that every sample made will necessarily be imperfect. Above all that all learning has limits, and what those limits may be. In a world on fire, where warring tribes now clash daily those may turn out to be very important lessons indeed.

[1]The UK regions where you’re more likely to get cancer, diabetes AND depression – it’s bad news for coastal areas | Daily Mail Online

[2]Spiegelhalter, David. The Art of Statistics: Learning from Data. London: Pelican (Penguin Books), 2019.

#statistics #health #epidemiology #medicine #survey #sample #cancer #diabetes #poverty #age

CRISPR contra Cancer

One of our longest running tropes has been the exciting new CRISPR Cas 9 gene editing technologies (LSS passim) Not just for the medical advances it offers, but because it’s a classic example of where those few in numbers but big on brains make a real difference, while the majority fight each other over the colours of their football shirts or whatever. Now Nature Briefings, that imprescindable go-to for all anxious to learn the latest in Science, has come up with a new step forward; Cancer Treatment CRISPR enzyme acts as DNA shredder. Read this:

An unusual CRISPR enzyme can cause cancer cells to self-destruct by shredding their DNA. The protein — Cas12a2, a variant of the usual Cas protein found in CRISPR systems — can be ‘trained’ to recognize a specific RNA sequence made by cancer cells. Once the enzyme finds its partner, it begins to slash the cell’s genome to pieces. Researchers hope that this seek-and-destroy approach could be used to kill tumours that express mutant proteins that have been difficult to target using conventional medicines. “This is basically a programmable chemotherapy,” says molecular biologist Yang Liu. Nature | 6 min read
Reference: Nature paper 1 & paper 2

What Cas12a2 really shows is how fast the CRISPR story has accelerated. In 2022, we were still marvelling that gene editing worked at all; today, the tools have become programmable therapies, capable of hunting down diseased cells with rules we write. CRISPR has gone from a clever molecular trick to a platform — one that keeps unfolding new possibilities with unnerving speed. If the early years were about proving the concept, this next phase is about deploying it, and Cas12a2 is a reminder that the frontier is no longer theoretical. Science haters everywhere take note: one day you’ll need us.

#molecular biology #cancer #CRISPR #gene editing # medicine #health