Round up for this week: What’s the biggest living thing. how many quantums in an atom, lupus progress-and international relations

Fungal internet  Its not whales or trees:Some of the largest living things on our planet are actually vast networks of microscope white fungi growing beneath the ground on which  we unthinkingly tread as The Conversation explains;

Don’t expect Putin to go quietly if he loses in Ukraine    If you think current developments in the Russian Ukraine war might lead to a status quo ante bellum, think again ,as this prescient article from the Guardian makes clear

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/14/vladimir-putin-ukraine-war-borders-russian-president

Plant a tree in ‘73, plant some more in ‘74 was a Government slogan from our long distant youth But maybe trees won’t save us from climate change as well as we thought they might  as this piece  from The Guardian explains

Trees may store less planet-heating carbon than hoped, study suggests | Greenhouse gas emissions | The Guardian

A bestiary of bosons Nothing so  defeats us as the vast and baffling variety of particles ,waves and other strange things that make up the modern atom .So we welcomed this article from Nature Briefing which tries to make sense of the matter

 How many elementary particles are there?

Even if you know your fermions from your bosons, the actual number of fundamental particles — the electrons, quarks and other building blocks of physics — is still uncertain. From the 17 that feature on posters on classroom walls, “where you stop depends on your taste for complexity and mystery”, explains science writer Natalie Wolchover. “Plausible answers range from 17 to — in all seriousness — 995.5.”

Quanta | 13 min read

Lupus in remission Just before we pressed the “SEND” button, our researchers insisted that this  encouraging story about a new immunological technique which seems to be turning the tide on the debilitating disease of Lupus went in, Good for them. here’s the BBC

‘I’ve never been this good’ – revolutionary immune reset puts lupus in remission – BBC News

Quote of the week

He that hasteth with his feet sinneth.” (Proverbs 19:2)

#lupus #immunology #fungi #Russia #physics #quantum physics #vladimir putin #trees

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