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We believe that the reason people turn to strange irrational conspiracy theories and extreme, emotional political beliefs is because of their despair. Readers of LSS will never succumb to despair, because we know that, as long as humans can think, there is still hope for solutions. Thinking is all about asking the right questions. And one of the most powerful questions is “what will happen when I do this?”

People who ask that question can achieve remarkable things. We at LSS love a good, quirky example of human intelligence. Two have come up today, both of which we link to agency reports via The Guardian**: but all the media have them this morning. Probably via the same PRs and agencies! The first is the cooperation between NASA and Nokia to put a 4G network on the moon before the astronauts have landed. Which means they can post images of themselves on Facebook, play games and presumably order take away meals. We hope there will be no sexting!

Meanwhile 200 million miles away, the no less marvellous spacecraft Osiris Rex has brushed the asteroid Bennu to scoop the biggest haul of rock since Apollo. It is is now hurrying back to Earth. Imagine if you brought back a highly intelligent person from the past-perhaps Jane Austen or Goethe-and told them that we could do that. Well, the ones of us who still think, anyway

And the other side? They gather in bellicose rallies full of flags and guns. But they always use technology created by someone else. And we have ask-if you can’t think of new technology, how can we trust you to think clearly about anything else?

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/oct/20/talking-on-the-moon-nasa-and-nokia-to-install-4g-on-lunar-surface

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/oct/21/nasa-osiris-rex-spacecraft-lands-on-asteroid-bennu-in-mission-to collect-dust

#NASA #osiris-rex #nokia #4g #moon #asteroid #bennu

courtesy of pixabay

The death of Samuel Paty offers a pause for deep, deep reflection. We at LSS don’t do solemn or serious, and the whole matter is beautifully covered by Charles Hadji in the Conversation. But we have seen the education system from both sides. It’s been around for thousands of years, and on the whole, it has served humanity well. The general agreement is that learners and teachers agree not to kill each other. Our only other general observation is that countries with good education systems seem to prosper economically, as China, South Korea and Germany learned long ago.

Say what you like about what happened after 1792, the ideals of the French Revolution were very important indeed. Along with the Constitution of the United States, they come as close as you can get to a mission statement for the modern world, and Charles addresses this very nicely. Both were products of the Enlightenment, whose founding father was the ultimate multicultural cosmopolitan, Baruch Spinoza. We’ll leave you with this extract from Charles’ first rate article-but do read the lot-it’s worth it. We may have to fight to defend these values one day.

 “No one can renounce the freedom to judge and opine as he wishes”, as Spinoza pointed out in his Theological-Political Treatise. “In a free state it is possible for everyone to think what he wants and to say what he thinks”.

However, this in no way gives the “right to act by one’s own decree”. When it comes to actions, the law of the Republic prevails and is imposed on all, even the most zealous servants of a religion.

It is this freedom of thought that the teachers of the Republic must promote and defend – and that was intended to be destroyed in the assassination of Samuel Paty.

https://theconversation.com/teachers-in-france-on-the-front-line-of-defending-the-values-of-the-republic-148363?ut

If you’re blogging or just posting, look at the fantastic site of pixabay for images

https://pixabay.com/

#samuelpaty #frenchrepublic #secularism #enlightenment #education #terrorism

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Recent events in France *recall one of the oldest dilemmas for liberals, socialists, Christians and even rather moderate progressives like Whigs. A laudable sympathy for the underdog, a desire to address genuine injustices shades all too easily into an unconditional admiration for the moral virtues of the oppressed-and often their artistic ones too. Yet even people at the rough end of society are still people. They too will have the same petty jealousies, tantrums and lusts as the rest of us. Even the poor beat their wives. How far does an individual’s need to murder his enemies depend on his belonging to an out group, to opposition to a supposed Hegemon-or to his own moral shortcomings. What will he do if he suddenly becomes the Hegemon?

Bertrand Russell was thinking about this as long ago as the nineteen thirties. In his essay The Superior Virtue of the Oppressed he demolishes the pretensions and delusions of those who in Lord Sugar‘s immortal phrase, “get the violin out”. We are pleased to note that our hyperlink for you comes from another WordPress blog, called Critica. Our plug is unconditional.

We at LSS are all for removing social injustices and creating a society where everyone has more equal access to things like health and education. We think it makes things more prosperous and long-lasting for everyone. We also think it fatuous to replace one set of oppressors with another, just because we felt sorry for the second lot.

https://criticathink.wordpress.com/2018/04/11/the-superior-virtue-of-the-oppressed-bertrand-russell/#:~:text=The%20Superior%20Virtue%20of%20the%20Oppressed%20by%20Bertrand,forms%2C%20none%20of%20which%20has%20any%20rational%20basis.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-54589241

#bertrandrussell #culturalhegemon #samuelpaty #womensrights #freedomofspeech

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We can and should change our lifestyles to combat global warming, but everyone knows it will take time. Meanwhile, there’s an awful lot of carbon sloshing around in the atmosphere, heating us up, turning our coasts into sea and our land into deserts. And according to Nature, there is hope-rewilding. Here’s what they say

Restoring a third of the areas most degraded by humans and preserving remaining natural ecosystems would prevent 70% of projected extinctions of mammals, birds and amphibians. It would also sequester around 465 gigatonnes of CO₂ — almost half of the total atmospheric CO₂ increase since the Industrial Revolution. Researchers scoured detailed land-use and cover maps of the globe to pinpoint the places where rewilding would have most impact and be most cost-effective. “We were surprised by the magnitude of what we found – the huge difference that restoration can make,” says environmental scientist Bernardo Strassburg. Done properly, rewilding can even go hand in hand with increased agricultural productivity, says Strassburg.The Guardian | 5 min read
Reference: Nature paper

The point is that it can be done. And in a way that will restore our most beautiful habitats-not just forests but also savannahs, wetlands and moors. Let’s take an idea from the United States. It has always been our belief that the great cultural legacy of the USA will be its conception and development of National Parks, It is a gift to the world every bit as valuable as French Gothic Cathedrals or Italian Renaissance Art. If readers will pardon the pun-take a leaf out of the Americans’ book.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/14/re-wild-to-mitigate-the-climate-crisis-urge-leading-scientis

#carboncapture #rewild #globalwarming #carbondioxide

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It’s a sad fact that progress in one area throws up unexpected problems somewhere else.  Such is the case with Forensic Scientists and Super Absorbent Polymers (SAPs). Invented in the 1960s, SAPs are just brilliant at soaking up and holding onto organic fluids of all kinds. Concrete protection, sewage, waterproofing cables, there wasn’t anywhere they couldn’t go or do. In things like nappies and sanitary products they were a godsend. And that’s where the problem started for Forensic Scientists.

As fans of modern crime dramas will know, DNA technology has been the biggest breakthrough in Forensic Science for a hundred years. It allows reliable convictions from tiny samples, and the construction of enormous databases, both of which have facilitated the solution of horrible crimes like murder, rape and sexual assaults. The trouble is that some of the best evidence may be lying on products containing SAPs. And they just won’t give up organic products, especially things like semen. Existing techniques were able to wash semen from the upper layers of SAP containing items, but that was all.

Now Dr Anna Marie O’Connor and Professor Joy Watts of the University of Portsmouth have developed a new technique called SAPSWash which allows the recovery of sufficient spermatozoa to provide completely reliable DNA profiles from things containing SAPs.  By experimenting with solutions of calcium chloride (CaCl₂) the scientists have been able to get down into the deep SAP gel where the majority of evidence was absorbed.  They consistently extracted enough DNA Material for all standard practice. And for an age of tight budgets, the authors claim: “The SAPSWash method has delivered an efficient, cost effective process which could be relatively easily implemented into current, mainstream forensic laboratory practices, using standard, inexpensive consumables.”

The implications are not just for police and forensic investigators however. Victims will know that another step has been taken towards safe and reliable convictions. Intending criminals, take note.

For copyright reasons, we can’t hyperlink to Anna-Marie’s paper this time. But here is the reference if you want to look for yourselves. The Science Direct portal is always a good link to papers on all topics.

A-M.O’Connor J.E.M.Watts  The development of a rapid and reliable method (SAPSWash): For the extraction and recovery of spermatozoa from superabsorbent polymer containing products Forensic Science International Volume 316, November 2020, 110501

We would like to offer our thanks to Dr O’Connor and Professor Watts for their help and and advice with this, the first story where LSS actually breaks news. You read this news first at LSS.

#forensicscience #dna #sapswash #universityof portsmouth #crimescene #rape #sexualassault #SAP

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It’s still Nobel season, when the brightest brains in humanity get their awards. For readers of LSS, it’s like the Oscars, the Grammys and BBC Sports Personality of the year all rolled into one. So far, we’ve seen lots of biologists and chemists. Now It’s time for the Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences. Past winner include Paul Krugman, FA Hayek and Milton Friedman, so the winners have to be quite bright. This year it’s Robert Wilson and Paul Milgrom of Stanford University, for their work on Auction Theory.

The following piece by Philip Ball of Nature is pretty complimentary

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02904-2?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=6b3b78efc9-briefing-dy-20201013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9dfd39373-6b3b78efc9-45255642

while Robin Mason in the Conversation thinks that Wilson and Milgrom’s insights could even drive down carbon emissions.

https://theconversation.com/nobel-economics-prize-wilson-and-milgroms-insights-into-auctions-could-drive-down-carbon-emissions-148019?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20October%2014%202020%20-%201757817033&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20October%2014%202020%20-%201757817033+CID_5e7917acc128e6a336ab94f923009567&utm_source=campaign_monitor_uk&utm_term=Nobel%20economics%20prize%20Wilson%20and%20Milgroms%20insights%20into%20auctions%20could%20drive%20down%20carbon%20emissions

However… Hats off to Caroline Benack, a PhD student at Duke University, also in the Conversation who holds a dissenting view. Caroline asseverates that economists aren’t like “real” scientists at all. You can read her view below. We find her a little hard to follow, but judge for yourself.

https://theconversation.com/economists-are-more-like-storytellers-than-scientists-dont-let-the-nobel-for-economic-s

We at LSS applaud hard thought and hard work anywhere and everywhere. Heavens, they even give a Nobel Prize for Peace-and you can’t measure that. Let human curiosity flourish, provided it is accompanied by thinking, rigorous definition and a search for evidence.

#nobelprizeforeconomicsciences #wilsonamdmilgrom #nature #theconversation

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We at LSS are determined that all sides of arguments shall be represented. Even if we cannot agree, we will at least signpost you to the other side. It’s what Bertrand Russell would have wanted, as we have explained ad nauseam.

So here, via The Conversation, is a piece by Paul Braterman about the work of the Reverend John MacArthur of the Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California. The Reverend MacArthur is a keen denier of the reality of climate change. Here his scientific views are assessed by Braterman. Meanwhile attentive readers will have enough information to get to the Reverend MacArthur’s sites if they wish.

It is not that we at LSS are enemies of people of faith. We may wonder why, if faith is a guide on scientific matters, so many Christians are divided on them. We welcome the honest opinions and comments of people of faith on all matters, even scientific ones like global warming. Our doubts begin when they begin to question the integrity of the scientific process itself. A literal reading of Bible scripture is all very well. But it could become vulnerable in time to questions of authorship, translation and consistency. And if those questions are asked of scientists, they have every right to ask them in turn.

read://https_theconversation.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheconversation.com%2Fgod-intended-it-as-a-disposable-planet-meet-the-us-pastor-preaching-climate-change-denial-147712%3F

#climatechange #climatechangedenial #globalwarming #biblicalstudies

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The Unites States of America has four percent of the world’s population; but has suffered 22% of world deaths. That’s quite a policy failure for a nation that used to boast that it was “the Shining City on the Hill” and was the website host of “The American Dream”. What has gone wrong?

According to political scientists Amir Bhaghurpour and Ali Nouri, writing in Scientific American. the USA has suffered badly from misinformation being dumped into the internet with the same effect on public health as toxins dumped into a river. Just as in the nineteenth century, when governments finally had to stir to counter the worst effects of industrial pollution, now they must act against the most toxic consequences of information pollution. And the authors set out ways that it can be done. We won’t spoil their piece, which we link via Nature Briefings. Essentially the problem is that officials and scientists are bound by the laws of reason and evidence. so it takes tome to put together a rational argument. The other side have long since made their shout, influenced minds and gone on to the next falsehood. It’s a technique perfected by Dr Goebbels of Nazi Germany fame long ago

The rational community has to find ways of engaging in real time. And this is not just about Covid 19. There are arguments to be had on extinction, global warming, social justice and vaccination which are every bit as important, and must be won. Survival depends on it.

Here’s Nature Briefings. You have to subscribe to them-amazing, and run by nice people!

Countering the “misinformation infodemic” surrounding COVID-19 is key to stopping the virus’s rampant progress through the United States, write molecular biologist Ali Nouri and political scientist Amir Bagherpour of the Federation of American Scientists. They offer recommendations including a coordinated campaign of social-media influencers and more spontaneous two-way chat between public-health officials and the people they need to reach.Scientific American | 5 min read

#misinformation #pollution #evidence #covid19 #coronavirus

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Language teachers have always known: make it visual, make it useful, and they’ll want to learn.

So, gentle readers do you want to know how progress is going on Covid-19 vaccines? What are the types of vaccine? How they work? And how far they have got? It’s all in the attached article by Artur Galocha in El Pais.

We think that the graphics and visuals are so good that most people will understand what’s happening. You could use your translator. But here’s a bit of fun. Try this glossary and see if you can work out a bit of what he’s saying for yourself. Are all the words really that different? Try looking for words you know in English, especially nouns. Maybe you’re better at languages than you thought you were!

Spanish	English
En	in
qué	Which, what
fase	phase
está	Is
cada	Each
vacuna	Vaccine
Tiempo	Time
22	22
Eficaz	efficiency

https://elpais.com/ciencia/2020-10-10/en-que-fase-esta-cada-vacuna.html

#covid19 #vaccine #trials #phase3 #sars-cov-2 #coronavirus

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Recent discussions of Britain’s future after Brexit have sometimes included a CANZUK trope. The idea is to revive part of the old British Empire by uniting Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand in a single customs union, trading and political block. There seems to be little enthusiasm for including other formal imperial countries such as Nigeria, India, Pakistan and Kenya.

However, it may be hard to keep such countries out. In a recent article in Pocketworthy, Brian Gallagher looks at how Indian billionaire Gautam Adani used his vast resources to” capture the hearts and minds of Queenslanders” so that his companies could exploit its coal reserves. Gallagher goes on to show how the manipulative techniques of the very rich can be understood in terms of game theory, and how inequality itself distorts the whole political and economic process away from optimal outcomes.

We at LSS understand how CANZUK might appeal to many people, particularly those of an Imperialist or nostalgist bent. It was an idea sometimes floated in the Empire’s heyday. The historian Corelli Barnett dissected the idea rather thoroughly in The Collapse of British Power. The main problem then was strategic: if you create a valuable trading bloc, you have to be prepared to defend it. The strategic problems of defending such a scattered group were difficult enough in the nineteen twenties, when the Royal Navy was powerful and Britain still had a manufacturing base. How much more difficult will they be in the twenties of our century?

We thank Mr Peter Seymour of Hertfordshire for the idea for this piece

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/how-inequality-imperils-cooperation?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB

Barnett, Corelli The Collapse of British Power Alan Sutton 1984 see especially pp 166-173 et seq

#CANZUK #Brexit #inequality #queensland #maxplanckinstitute #gametheory