Ones we think will run:

Intriguing insights on Multiple Sclerosis We think any research is a good thing, especially when something arrives from an unexpected direction. The terrible disease of multiple sclerosis (MS) may be linked to contracting the Epstein-Barr virus and glandular fever, according to John Ely of the Mail. Lots of unanswered questions as of yet, but fascinating nonetheless.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-10398067/Glandular-fever-biggest-cause-multiple-sclerosis.html

Plug: Even lefties should be looking at the Science page of the Mail online. There’s an eclectic mix of stories, and always great pictures. Grit your teeth and think of Bertrand Russell!

Never say Never We at LSS have long pontificated that you can never say anything conclusive about tetrapods/dinosaurs/earlyhumans/the neolthic/romans/etc etc because there is always going to be tonnes of game-changing stuff in the ground waiting to be dug up. Now someone intelligent and sober has come along to prove we were right! Nature on an imbalance in the fossil record-it’s a warning to all researchers in any discipline really.

Our understanding of the history of life on Earth is biased towards wealthier countries, warns a study of the fossil record. The analysis reveals that 97% of palaeontological data come from scientists in high- and upper-middle-income countries, such as the United States, Germany and China. “I knew it was going to be high, but I didn’t think it was going to be this high. It was astonishing,” says palaeontologist Nussaïbah Raja. The analysis also found that colonial ties shed decades ago are still affecting palaeontology. For example, one-quarter of palaeontological research in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria — former French colonies — was done by scientists based in France.Nature | 6 min read Reference: Nature Ecology & Evolution paper

A Clockwork Orange at (about) Fifty Kubrick’s Film, made in 1971, got its London release in 1972 and went Nationwide in ’73. Strange? Mannered? Relevant? Dated? Stylish? Disturbing? You will never run out of fresh opinions on a Stanley Kubrick film. Scott Tobias has far from the last word in the Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/dec/19/a-clockwork-orange-at-50-stanley-kubrick

Deforestation destroys The short-sighted and reckless destruction of rainforests is having terrible consequences. What worries us here is the long-term, thoughtful nature of the study behind this one Christopher Taylor and Douglas Parker for The Conversation

https://theconversation.com/deforestation-is-causing-more-storms-in-west-africa-finds-30-year-satellite-study-174558?

Our Final thoughts In our country, criticism of the Tories often centres on their demographic-too old, too male, too posh, run the canards. So how about a slogan to attract younger voters: VOTE CONSERVATIVE, THE PARTY THAT KNOWS HOW TO PARTY

Any takers?

#deforestation #ecology #a clockwork orange #stanley kubrick #multiple sclerosis #boris johnson #conservatives #fossils #scientific method

Summer Party? I thought we were in dry January?

Our foreign readers are curious about an alleged series of summer garden parties in No 10 Downing Street,and wanted to know what a real English garden party is like.

Who could tell them?

Not Boris Johnson, apparently. He thinks this is how people work normally.

Okay, what kind of booze do English people drink on these occasions?

Just about anything. They empty out all the flower pots and fill them with ice. Then cram in hundreds of cans of Red Stripe, Kronenbourg, and San Miguel. Or bottles of cheap rose, chardonnay and Prosecco. The latter being very important to Mr Johnson, even though he went to Eton.

How so?

He said that unless the Johnny Foreigners did exactly what we told them, we wouldn’t buy any more Prosecco after Brexit.

But people in England still drink it?

By the gallon! And everything else. At one of these alleged parties they went through the stuff so fast they had to send one poor bloke round to Tesco in The Strand with a wheelie suitcase for emergency re-supplies. It is alleged.

Surely people are allowed a tipple after work? Why all the fuss?

Because at the the time of the alleged booze-ups, Mr Johnson had enjoined the rest of us to follow the strictest, most draconian lockdown. You couldn’t even have proper funerals. Which may have irked Her Majesty the Queen, whose husband’s funeral took place on the same date as one of the more raucous Downing Street bashes. National Mourning and all that, old boy.

I see. What kind of music gets played at one of these dos?

Oh, varies. Papa’s got a new pig bag by Pigbag. Bubbling Hot by Pato Banton and Ranking Roger. Born Slippy NUXX by Underworld. Do the Hucklebuck by Coast 2 Coast. Dragostea by O Zone………..anything bright and cheerful, that you can dance to, goes down well. Just like on the quads when they were all at Oxford. It is alleged.

So no mood of national grief and austerity in No 10?

Au contraire! They did their own DJ-ing, or so it is said. Presumably to save taxpayers’ money. Which would not have impressed Mr Johnson anyway as he either a) wasn’t present b) didn’t realise they were parties c) has launched an enquiry to find out if he was there and if they alleged parties were indeed parties, or just people working intensely at their desks

Things to avoid saying at summer parties “How’s the new wall paper coming along then?” “I think Dominic needs another drink” “here’s a health unto Her Majesty”

#boris johnson #conservative party #downing street #lockdown #covid-19

To our myriad readers and followers: earlier today we published an earnest and heartfelt blog celebrating one hundred years of insulin, and the benefits it has bought to sufferers from diabetes. Although we stand by our sentiments as expressed, we admit we got one tiny detail wrong. The date. As some of you may have noticed it is now 2022, not 2021. Also the window cleaner was coming today and we forgot that too. We went off for our constitutional walk leaving our wife to deal with the man and pay the bill. Both events are true, and both have happened on this same fateful day. Rather painful day, actually.

Unlike some, we shall make no excuses and there will be no cover ups. We were wrong. It was President Richard Milhous Nixon who declared “there can be no whitewash at the White House.” So it shall be here. If we find ourselves in Downing Street at a party, for example, we shall tell you. (of course we shall make very sure it is not a business meeting ) Once again please accept our apologies.

We hope you will continue to read our blog, and the wonderful stories we hope to offer you in the coming months. These include:

Battle Of Hastings 1067 and the triumph of King Harold

Why the Black Death of 1359 was just a bad case of flu

Why eating too much paella was bad for the Spanish Armada in 1589

The amazing year 1721 and why we celebrate it four hundred years on

What film was Mr Lincoln really watching when he got shot in 1866?

How we know JS Bach wrote the music for Calamity Jane

The unexpected defeat of Manchester United by Southampton in the 1976 Cup Final was the work of Trotskyist saboteurs

The unexpected defeat of Liverpool by Manchester United in the 1977 Cup Final was the work of Trotskyist saboteurs

How we know Stendhal wrote the lyrics for Calamity Jane

The defeat of Manchester United by Arsenal in the 1979 Cup Final was not unexpected-but could still have been the work of Trotskyist saboteurs

How covid-19 is caused by eating too many sherbert lemons

So-stay with us. It will all be here in 2021.

Thanks to Mrs J Lee of London for pointing out the basis for this articles

#sorry #apologies # whoops

Before 1921, a diagnosis of Type-1 diabetes was a sentence of death. That’s worth repeating. Death. How many diabetics do you know who now lead normal, happy productive lives, thanks to the work of the scientists who developed it and the companies who still produce it so diligently today?

To celebrate this achievement we’re linking to that marvellous charity Diabetes UK (bet there’s someone like this in your country) Their timeline not only tells the story of the breakthrough, but also offers some insights into the scientific method. which not only gave us usable insulin but also the computer which you are reading this on.[1]

Build your team Insulin was the product of collaboration between Banting, Best and Macleod, initially You can do science on your own, but the lone mind is all too likely to fall into delusion and error. Darwin, Newton and Einstein were quick to note their dues to others.

Prepare for a slog After months of planning, laboratory experiments started in May 2021. They lasted a long time. Those who read the internet and call it “research” take note

First results are just that The first real positives did not come until November, and even then the team were quick to recognise these were relatively small. Humility is a great virtue, and the best minds know that they have more of it than most people.

Canada is an interesting place Back in the last century we were plagued by those who opined “Canada-best place in the world to live, but nothing has ever happened there!” After insulin, we beg to differ.

Extend your team After the initial success the original team brought in James Collip to help with purification, production and quality

Mass production This didn’t occur until 1922, after thorough testing and quality control.

Peer recognition The success of the team was so very obvious, and the relief of human sorrow so patently undeniable that they were awarded their Nobels in 1923, way ahead of the ten to fifteen year gap most scientists can expect.

The world today is plagued by the postings of cranks and conspiracists. They have a variety of obsessions, but two things in common. The first an utter inability to distinguish between fact and opinion. The second, an ignorance of the rules of logic and critical thinking, which are available at one click of a mouse [2] The way to get back at these people is not to waste time on them, but to contribute to the work of scientists, doctors and honest seekers after truth, such as Banting and Best. In honour of what they did, and the suffering they have saved, please look seriously at the Diabetes UK website, or the one you have in your own country.

[1] https://www.diabetes.org.uk/research/research-impact/insulin

[2] https://www.teachthought.com/critical-thinking/bertrand-russells-10-rules-of-critical-thinking/#:~:text=Bertrand%20Russell%27s%2010%20Essential%20Rules%20Of%20Critical%20Thinking,do%20the%20opinions%20will%20suppress%20you.%20More%20items

#diabetes #insulin #banting and best #conspiracies #fake news #science denial #health #medicines #canada

“If you want to know the answer to anything, ask a teenager.” Such were the wise words of a sometime contributor to this blog. By which she meant that older persons are more aware of the complexities, and tend to go for questions rather than over-simplified answers.

Which is why we find ourselves confronting two apparently irreconcilable stories today. More lightning in the High Arctic. less everywhere else. At least in 2020 anyway. Let’s start with less. According to Will Sullivan of ABC News,[1] there seemed to be a lot less lightning around in 2020. Interestingly, he puts this down to Covid-19. As economic activity dropped off, so there were less aerosols produced, which in turn led to less electrical storms, as Will explains in a remarkably clear passage. Yet over at the Guardian, Leonie Chao-Fong is concerned by a dramatic rise in lightning strikes above latitude 80⁰ N. Her experts attribute this to the rise in humidity as the artic sea melts. The graph which accompanies the article is truly jaw-dropping.[2]

What are the readers of LSS to make of this? Firstly, the clear and tight link between our activities down here and what goes on up in the atmosphere. An object lesson indeed for the crash-bang-wallop-let’s have GDP at all costs school. Even the most committed denialist can’t deny this. Secondly, what will be the runaway effect of more wildfires in the arctic? Less trees, less carbon captured. More methane, more global warming. It’s that stark. And so what happens next as economic activity picks up after Covid-19?

^{with thanks to Peter Seymour}

[1]https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/lightning-covid-lockdowns/story?id=82143368

[2]https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/07/lightning-high-arctic-rise-scientists-worried

#climate change #global warming #lightning #arctic #melting

Well, we think they’re more than run of the mill!

Fuel prices If we had been really serious about renewables around 2015, we wouldn’t be in this mess now. As Michael Bradshaw explains in The Conversation. Tell them that in Kazahkstan.

https://theconversation.com/energy-prices-are-unlikely-to-fall-in-2022-or-beyond-not-until-major-importers-get-serious-about-green-transition-174437

Antibiotics and a virus, yet? You should never waste antibiotics on viral diseases, or so we have been told. But there is intriguing evidence of an Egyptian study which may give pause for thought. Mostafa Rateb for the Conversation explains all:

https://theconversation.com/covid-is-caused-by-a-virus-so-why-are-researchers-treating-it-with-antibiotics-171897

Lessons from the Theranos debacle That most admirable of publications, Nature, points out that the only salvage from this mess will be to learn lessons. Here’s how, they think:

Elizabeth Holmes has been found guilty of fraud against investors in her blood-testing company, Theranos. Holmes was acquitted on charges related to defrauding patients. Theranos claimed it could run more than 200 health tests on just a few drops of blood taken from a finger prick — but the claims were exaggerated. The story has become a cautionary tale for blood-diagnostics companies and scientists with entrepreneurial interests. In particular, it reminds executives at start-up firms to share their data early on, and participate in some kind of peer-review process, say experts.Nature | 5 min read

Understanding the unjabbed John Harris is one of the most thoughtful, listening journalists of the last ten years. He still thinks it would be crass to sanction vaccine rejectos, wahtever we think of them. Here’s why:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/02/understanding-not-judgement-unjabbed-uk-vaccination-gap

At last, a cocktail bar in space! Followers of this blog’s cocktail column (LSS passim) will slaver at the thought of a real bar in outer space. As the poor old ISS creaks to the end of its working life, commercial replacements offer exciting vistas. Here’s Ryan Morrison for the Mail:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10304067/Stunning-concept-images-reveal-commercial-space-stations-future.html

#space stations #antibiotics #covid-19 #sars-Cov-2 virus #fuels #energy #crisis #renewables #climate change

And so it is…….every year has a must have an “it” colour. According to the cognoscenti, this year it’s periwinkle blue. [1] To us, the humble periwinkle (Vinca minor) is just another garden flower, useful no doubt in the right bed or pot. But whose purply blue shade will dominate the catwalks, dress design workshops, accessories, Prime Ministerial drawing rooms and the covers of every magazine in vogue in ’22. Unless something goes wrong in the Ukraine and we all end up in khaki, that is.

So to celebrate the choice of the Fashion Industry, our cocktails are designed to let bring the best out of your clothes, by either matching or contrasting this year’s shade de mode, according to the science of colour matching.

Matches We found it hard to get the precise shade of the periwinkle. But here’s two nice blue ones which are near as dammit, and have the advantage that we haven’t covered them before.

Drunken Mermaid We can’t do better than recommend a website called I am Baker [2] which lays out la vida y milagros, as the Spanish say, of this cocktail at considerable length. Basically it’s a mix of Blue Curacao, vodka, syrup and lime juice over ice which should give you a good blue tint.

China Blue [3] This one might suddenly turn topical! A glance at the superb Diffords Guide website will reveal the precise recipe, but basically you’re mixing lychee liqueur, blue curacao, grapefruit juice and lemon juice. Warning: could get lost next to Carrie Jonson’s latest handbag-if there were any social events in Downing Street, that is!

Contrasts If you can’t match, contrast. According to the experts the best contrast to periwinkle blue is a strong brash orange. So, following our redoubtable Ultimate Cocktail Book from Hamlyn, we recommend the Luigi. Put three ice cubes in a mixing glass. Add one measure of fresh orange juice, 1 of dry vermouth.0.5 measures of Cointreau, 1 measure of grenadine and 2 of clear gin. Stir and por mix into a standard cocktail glass, sans ice and decorate with a slice of orange. Honestly, we’ve really tried this, a lot, and it’s delicious.

other ideas: Harvey Wallbanger, stormy weather, gin tropical.

So now you can sip your cocktail while relaxing in the sure knowledge that you are matched to twenties fashion to the highest degree. Until next year, that is.

[1] https://www.goodnet.org/articles/color-year-2022-bluepurple-periwinkle

[2] https://iambaker.net/drunken-mermaid/

[3] https://www.diffordsguide.com/cocktails/recipe/419/china-blue-cocktail

About a year ago, we published a little blog (LSS 21 1 21) in which we at least considered the theory of Professor Avi Loeb that the object Oumuamua, more commonly by its everyday name of I/2017/U1, was in fact an alien spacecraft, or a fragment of one. We even opined that, if so, it could be a Good Thing as the threat from it might prevent the warring tribes of nations and football supporters from knocking six bells out of one another for a while.

No such luck. For two scientists called Steven Desch and Alan Jackson of Arizona State University have made a pretty convincing case that the thing was natural. It seems to be a chunk of frozen nitrogen, which is common in the bitterly cold regions of our own solar system, and so must be among the Oort clouds and Kuiper belts of our neighbouring stars. Here’s a link below[1].

For us, as ever, the key point is to keep an open mind and consider both sides, a la Bertrand Russell. We always felt that as Oumuamua was the first ever interstellar object, it would be an error to draw vast conclusions until we had seen a few more. But Professor Loeb is an erudite man and if you still want his side of the story, we reference his book [2]. Reference, not plug, notice. Because when we read it we felt it contained a little too much information about Professor Avi Loeb and his life and times, and a little too little about Oumuamua and his findings. Well, it is quite a small object for a very large book.

So it’s back to the petty jealousies of many football supporters, [3]dictators and peasant types, all knocking six bells out of each other and making the world a far worse place as they do it. Only the imminent threat of real aliens might convince them of the tininess of this planet, and their own tiny minds at the same time.

[1] https://phys.org/news/2021-03-scientists-extra-solar-oumuamua.html#:~:text=I

[2] Avi Loeb: Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth Houghton Miffin Harcourt 2021

[3] https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/jul/12/absolute-bedlam-how-ticketless-fans-stormed-wembley

astrobiology #extreterrestrial #alien #search for life #seti #space #astronomy

Further proof of our utter unfitness to write this blog, nay, anything at all-comes in the shape of a little You Tube Video called How Marlboro Changed the Face of Advertising Forever. For it makes LSS and its belief in Reason and a Whiggish sort of progress look so hopelessly misguided that you wonder how humanity could ever have progressed from caves.

Before we throw you this gem of despair, gentle readers, a brief summary. Back in the 1950s there was growing evidence that smoking tobacco was highly dangerous, and many of the companies that sold it began to panic big time. Not so the heroes at Marlboro! Taking a 1%-of-the-market product which had been targeted mainly at women, they quickly turned it into the fourth largest brand in the world, all in the space of a year. How? By targeting men via a chap called the Marlboro Cowboy. Who apparently embodied the manly values of roughness, ruggedness and freedom. Well, with all those stallions hanging out in long shot, who wouldn’t get the message? Marlboro had realised one vital fact about human nature-most people don’t care about research. They buy a packet of cigarettes to be cool. Lifestyle, they call it.

And so it goes today with advertising, illegal drugs, fashion, fast foods, tabloid newspapers and many a political campaign. We, who live by facts and reason, are never going to break through. And so, for this New Year of 2022, we set you a task, gentle readers-what are our options?

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=how+marlboro+changed+advertising+forever&&view=detail&mid=3E9393DA149F4524BBBB3E9393DA14

For thoughts on where all this might end we suggest the 2006 film Idiocracy from Mike Judge and Etan Cohen. This IMDB link should suffice

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/

What is the sure sign of a decadent nation? One that is steadily losing territories and markets, while obsessing over the glories and rituals of the past. Another? The growth of a vast ecology of lawyers and propagandists devoted to shoring up the causes of that decline. What are the consequences? When the inefficiencies become unsustainable, a collapse into a murderous nihilistic revolution, whose consequences last for generations. Ask any of the inmates of Russia, Iran, or Venezuela.

As go nations, so go individuals. No heir will possess the hunger and aggression for risk of the dynasty’s founder. For an heir, the smart move, as Michael Corleone would say, is stay cautious, preserving all that is, rather than risking it in adventures. Admirable, no doubt; but not the qualities to win new markets, or prevail in negotiations. Once the energetic merchants and sailors who had built the Italian Republics like Venice and Genoa passed on to their heirs, those states quickly declined from world powers to tourist attractions. In England, the system of inherited power and wealth has produced leaders like Cameron and Johnson. If men like these reach the top, it is because they have not had far to climb. Compare them with Margaret Thatcher who, born far from the networks of privilege was forced to weigh every decision, and make it count. And ask yourself who was by far the better Prime Minister. By its very existence inheritance is inimical to the meritocracy which capitalism promises.

Opponents of Inheritance Tax argue; “why should I be taxed twice on the money I have earned.” But it is the heirs who pay the tax, not them. A sure sign of a narcissistic father is that he cannot separate himself psychologically from his children. Healthy parents have no interest in the private financial arrangements of their offspring. The best inheritance to give a child is a good education, health and the promise of a society in which there is a low chance of being murdered by a stranger. All the evidence suggests[1] that this is best achieved in high tax equal societies like Japan or the Scandinavian countries.

A real capitalist society offers the true promises of efficiency and meritocracy. The bravest and most able, ruthlessly sieved in the schools of learning and decision, rise by their efforts to the best houses and incomes and so on. A strong inheritance tax would keep it that way.[2] Patriots of all sorts ought to applaud.

[1] Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson The Spirit Level Allen Lane 2009

[2] Thomas Piketty Capital in the 21st Century Editions de Seuil 2014

#inheritance tax #inequality #margaret thatcher #david cameron #boris johnson #russian revolution #iranian revolution #wealth