50 truly offensive adverts (you have been warned)

“What is intelligence?” We have sometimes pondered that question here, but it begs a question: “what is stupidity?” One possible answer is to be so confident of the assumptions of your own group that you discount those of others altogether. Effectively saying they have no worth. It can happen in all classes and at all educational levels. There’s no fool like an over-educated one, in our experience. But our examples today are chosen from a different field.

Nothing reveals the deep inner psychological fixations, obsessions and and assumptions of a society as well as advertising does. Especially those of the power groups to whom they’re selling. The excellent site we bring you day, called Canvas Art Rocks [1] have put together a collection of poster/press ads that are so very crass, offensive and in some cases potentially dangerous that is a tribute to the way their researchers held their noses. However-these ads are not really that old, and we are certain that senior readers will have seen something like them in the colour magazines of the nineteen seventies.

So, hold on to your seat and prepare your sick bag to enter a world of folksy old doctors selling tobacco. Of women depicted as stupid and inferior , so that they can be turned into sex objects. Of cheerful racism. And scariest of all to us, the gleeful promotion of firearms. It’s easy to laugh now. But remember-many of your fellow citizens had their minds formed in the era of these ads, and the culture they floated upon. And what unconscious assumptions do YOU make, gentle reader, as you smile indulgently at the follies of the past? The biggest fool of all is the one who knows, and knows best.

[1]https://www.canvasartrocks.com/blogs/posts/102141062-51-shocking-vintage-adverts-that-would-get-banned-today

#advert #mores #racism #sexism #tobacco #collective unconscious

Goodbye CRISPR and epigenetic medicine. Two genuinely exciting developments in one day

Far in the future when the current crop of elections in France, the UK, Iran and the USA are lost in the dusty pages of history books, people will remember this sunny weekend . For it was when Nature Briefings published not one but two stories (count ’em!) about learning and technologies which will still be shaping the lives of those yet unborn. And you read about them here, gentle reader!

Epigenetic Advance From one time Cinderella to starring role, the science of Epigenetics(all that stuff hanging around DNA but isn’t your honest to goodness genome)[1] has started to come of age. Proof of this lies in the fact that it’s starting to become the basis of real cures, in this case for Prion-based diseases “Epigenome Editor” blocks bad proteins

A molecular-editing tool that’s small enough to be delivered to the brain shows promise for warding off prion diseases, a rare but deadly group of neurodegenerative disorders. The system — known as coupled histone tail for autoinhibition release of methyltransferase (CHARM) — changes the ‘epigenome’, a collection of chemical tags that are attached to DNA and that affect gene activity. In mice, CHARM silenced the gene that produces the disease-causing proteins in most neurons across the brain without altering the gene sequence. This system is the first step towards developing a safe and effective ‘one and done’ treatment for reducing the levels of harmful proteins that cause prion disease, says bioengineer Madelynn Whittaker.Nature | 5 min read
Reference: Science paper

Goodbye CRISPR, welcome Bridge RNA Remember how this blog used to wax lyrical about CRISPR back in the ancient days of 2022? Well, there’s a new kid on the block “Jumping Gene” enzyme edits genomes

A technique that harnesses ‘jumping genes’ — mobile genetic sequences naturally found in bacteria that can cut, copy and paste themselves into genomes — could hold the key to redesigning DNA at will. Guided by an RNA molecule called a ‘bridge’ RNA or ‘seekRNA’, the system has been shown to edit genes in a bacterium and in test-tube reactions, but it is still unclear whether it can be adapted to work in human cells. If it can, it could be revolutionary, owing to its small size and its ability to make genetic changes that are thousands of bases long — much larger than is practical with the CRISPR — without breaking DNA.Nature | 6 min read
Reference: Nature paper 1, Nature paper 2 & Nature Communications paper

You’re a funny old species, aren’t you? When you use your inherent qualities of curiosity and intelligence you can achieve things like this. The rest of the time you divide yourselves into imaginary groups and spread destruction, holding yourselves back by centuries from a better life. Will someone pray tell us why you do it?

[1]https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/nessa-carey/epigenetics-revolution/9781848312920?msclkid=f5800b66adbb110d62696d196c3d84a0&utm_source=bing&utm_m

#medicine #epigenetics #genetics #prions #gene editing

Yes, it really is Climate Change this time

Every so often we still meet some tap-room philosopher in the bar of the Dog and Duck who trots out the old line “Wurl, no one’s never PRUVED dis bad wevva is dahn ter cloimit chainge, ‘av dey?” We talk about droughts in Africa or floods in America; and the ancient 33 player arm comes out, drops into some pre-recorded groove: and the old song plays again. You can’t blame them really. The other side may be terrible at science, but they sure know how to run a media campaign, and they quickly fill the empty notebooks and studios of busy journalists before the careful, reasoned opinions of scientists have even been sketched out.

World Weather Attribution [1] is now trying to remedy this aching void. Run by a group of experts in disciplines like meteorology and physics, they carry out studies of extreme weather events, and try to tease out how the likelihood of each being caused by global warming, and what the extra impact of human activity was in each case. Unlike their well-funded opponents their work is peer-reviewed and carried out by people with professional training. They have built an impressive portfolio of rigorous case studies and try to build links with journalists who might want to build a balanced investigation of these complicated issues.

We hope their work is not too late. We fear it may be. If an organisation like this had been around at the time of the vaccine controversies, many lives might have been saved. If similar organisations could inform the arguments on migration, many more might be saved in future. We hope that, by visiting their pages, you will wish them well too.

[1]https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/

#climate change #global warming #weather event #drought #flood #disinformation

Time to Tax the Billionaires?

Imagine that every country was so prosperous that there was little need for migration. That the climate crisis was fixed, with wind turbines and electric cars in every land you visited. New drugs for every conceivable illness were not just freely available, but there were active substitutes for each of them waiting in laboratories. There were no hungry children at all, and everyone in the world had an old age pension. Would about $250 billion* a year about cover it?

That’s what could be obtained if there was a single world effort to fairly tax the planet’s 3000 or so billionaires, according to a report by Gabriel Zuchman, helpfully written up for us by Larry Elliott of the Guardian [1] At the moment this gilded class pays about 0.3% of their income in tax, which compared to most of us is nugatory indeed. But we’ll let Larry’s article cover the details-(you must read it), and instead riff on a theme of our own. The case for tax is not moral, nor Marxist nor religious, nor based on Natural Justice . It’s actually historical, and its about survival

The 18th century, or Enlightenment, or whatever, was full of learned economists who preached the gospel of lower taxes as the source of the wealth of their nations. The country that really put this in to practice was Imperial China, then the world’s largest economy. But the western barbarians-nations like England, Portugal and so on, kept their taxes high, despite all the domestic preaching. The result? Huge fleets and armies, able to dismember poor China’s attenuated defences, and open them to the enlightened benefits of trade. The chief result of which was a mass opium addiction. The moral? You need taxes if you are going to survive. remember that next time you read a bit of propaganda from a billionaire think tank or news outlet.

*in these pages billion=10⁹

[1]https://www.theguardian.com/news/article/2024/jun/25/international-scheme-to-tax-billionaires-wealth-technically-feasible-study-finds

#china #opium war #tax #billionaire #G20 #Gabriel Zuchman

Pancreatic Cancer-the brave ladies who offered hope

Escaping the concrete canyons of Croydon recently, we took a short break in the Sussex town of Worthing. (Which has been compared to Nice in Provence ; but only by people who have never been to Nice). While strolling along the Promenade at Worthing, we ran into a group, mainly comprising ladies, who were dressed in a variety of outre costume, including those of Pink Panthers and Star Wars Galactic Warriors. It turned out to be one of those happy occasions when we learned, not something new, but when something which we were dimly aware of was moved sharply up our agenda . For they were campaigning to gather money for the rising disease of Pancreatic Cancer. [1] And this is what we learned (overseas readers- we bet the UK is pretty representative of your jurisdiction too)

The pancreas is a vital organ, standing at the crossroads of both your digestive and endocrine system. So getting cancer in it is a pretty bad state of affairs. There are several types of this cancer. But last year, overall, saw 10 500 new cases in the UK. Actually, its among the 10 most common forms of cancer in these islands. The risk factors? You guessed it. Being overweight., smoking and diabetes are among the highest. All the features of a civilisation focussed too much on quick-fix marketing, and not enough on quality of life. If you want to drill down, here’s another link from the Charity Pancreatic Cancer UK. [2]

So these ladies, and the charity which they represent means that, even if your family is struck with this terrible affliction, you will not be alone. And, as we parted from the ladies, we closed on a moment of hope. For Pancreatic Cancer UK works closely with the other cancer charities in this country. And we agreed how useful it was to set up laboratories with ethe money raised. Who knows what other discoveries could be made with all those scientists and all that kit? Apparently these ladies intend to run the whole of the seafront down there, and back again. Good luck to them, we say. And thanks.

[1]https://www.pancreaticcancer.org.uk/information/just-diagnosed-with-pancreatic-cancer/what-is-pancreatic-cancer/

[2]https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0424/0949/2641/files/221123PC01_PCUK_What_is_Pancreatic_Cancer_Factsheet_Updates_Web.pdf?v=1670945787

#pancreatic cancer #cancer #research #health #medicine #charity

Offshore wind: a rare success for the Tories

Bertrand Russell always counselled : “don’t be so keen to diss the other guy. Much of the time you will be less right, and he less wrong, than you imagine.” That is the rough gist of what he said and we have alluded to it before in these pages. Nowhere have we seen the doctrine better echoed than in an article by Professor Rebecca Willis (Guardian 20 June 2024).[1]For when historians come to write the history of the Government first elected in 2010, they will do well to consult her piece.

Professor Willis is clear: the UK is the number two superpower in turbine energy generation. Second only in fact to the Peoples’ Republic of China, a somewhat larger political entity. How was this done? Rebecca tells us:

growth in offshore wind can be traced back to a 2014 decision to establish a new support mechanism for low-carbon generation. ……..;.;. it guarantees a set price for units of electricity. If the market price falls below the set price, the generator receives a top-up payment. If the market price rises above the set price, the generator pays back the difference.

It essentially stabilises the market and provides certainty for power generators, making it worth their while to invest for the long term. As a result of this and similar policies, the cost of offshore wind in Europe has fallen by 60% over the past decade, to become a cheap source of electricity.

They had a plan. They aligned it with economics. The result was not only a boost for manufacturing, but a strategic success , as was shown when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and gas prices skyrocketed. But even this far sighted achievement was badly compromised, as Rebecca explains:

But then Tory politicians began to listen to siren voices from a small but powerful anti-net-zero lobby, funded by dark money from fossil-fuel companies

Now certain oily politicians are pushing back on net zero itself, as if ignoring reality will somehow make it all more bearable. And they are full of venom to towards those who disagree. Our view at LSS is that of Russell. You can’t like everyone; but try to be polite. You never know from what corner salvation is going to come. Even the Conservative Party.

[1]https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/20/tories-green-legacy-labour-government-climate-green-energy-uk-offshore-wind

#wind turbines #oil money #net zero #renewables #climate change #global warming

Processed Foods: Reader Feedback

Photo by Anna Tukhfatullina Food Photographer/Stylist on Pexels.com

Today we reproduce the comment of our regular reader Ms Gaynor Lynch, on our recent piece about processed foods. Many thanks to her for taking the time to contact us:

Ultra-processed foods are bad for you – full stop. They are highly addictive and affect your brain chemistry so that you crave them more. Emerging research suggests ultra processed foods are particularly bad for not just the gut but the heart and brain as well, with mood and cognition badly affected.

Professor Tim Spectre is the go expert on the gut https://zoe.com/post/tim-spector-gut-tips,

There is an excellent excellent article in National Geographic on brain health but there is a pay wall. It may be available through your library service.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/premium/article/ultra-processed-foods-damage-brain-depression-anxiety-cognitive-decline#:~:text=Although%20many%20ultra-processed%20foods%E2%80%94soda%2C%20candy%2C%20energy%20bars%2C%20fruit-flavored,brain%2C%20with%20mood%20and%20cognition%20taking%20a%20hit.

Abstract of research article in the journal Neurology on associations between ultra-processed food consumption and adverse brain health outcomes. Free, paywall to full article.

https://www.neurology.org/doi/10.1212/WNL.0000000000209432

We at LSS think that this whole issue is only going to grow in the next few years and welcome the thoughts of any other readers who might care to join the debate

#nutrition #obesity #food #diet #sustainability #health #heart

Are Ultra-Processed foods bad for your immune system? The Conversation thinks they might be

Go on any diet course these days (we’ve been on many) and the chances are that your course leader will inveigh against the dangers of processed foods[1] You know, those ones that saved us all so much time in the 1980s and 1990s, when it was essential to answer your e-mails and plan a talk over a delicious microwaved chicken korma. Well, processed foods comprise a lot more than just quick ready meals.And, l like a lot of labour-saving devices, they’re not all bad if used in moderation. Trouble comes when we all go too far. And our old friends The Conversation have an intriguing take on that. [2] Look at this extract frpm their article by Sam White and Phillipe Wilson

[there is] growing evidence that ultra-processed foods may affect how our immune system works. This may explain why some studies have linked ultra-processed foods with inflammatory bowel disease and potentially autoimmune diseases.

We on this blog have been tracking stories which link the digestive tract and immune system for some years. So it’s nice to see some real scientists really opening up this field. But there is a deeper lesson for us here, and it’s from economics, not science. Because economists of the classical school, or at least those who swallow their undergraduate textbooks, whole, always asseverate the a pure free market is the quickest way to achieve the optimum benefit. Well, processed foods are certainly free market. They have developed at breakneck speed, and certainly give the people what they want. The question is: how much do they need it? And at what cost does it come?

[1]https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/how-to-eat-a-balanced-diet/what-are-processed-foods/

[2]https://theconversation.com/ultra-processed-foods-heres-how-they-may-affect-the-way-the-immune-system-functions-231884?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest

diet #food #microbiome# gut #immune system

ZeroAvia keeps on rising

Commercial aviation is one of the greatest facilitators of human progress . It moves people and goods across oceans, mountains and jungles, breaking down barriers and holding the distant promise of a single united world free of war. But it’s no good at all if it pollutes the atmosphere and melts the last remaining strongholds of ice, drowning most of the world’s cities and farmlands in the process.

ZeroAvia seem to have the dilemma neatly in hand. We’ve already covered their new power plants and commercial plans before here (LSS Passim) Set against the general gloom, they’re a story of hope unfolding. So today we bring you a selected pieces of their latest news (there are many). And the reason we chose it is because it shows that, while their hopes are soaring in the clouds, their practices are firmly grounded in the solid world of developing partnerships, agreements and working in general with the vast ecosystem of unglamorous, hardworking people who actually get things done.

Working in partnership with Airbus, they’ve started a thoughtful programme in collaboration with Canada’s three largest airports. . To carefully consider the feasibility and impact of hydrogen and net zero aviation in the medium turn. None of the showy” we-can -do- it- all -now” promises of populist politicians. To quote the company:

this is the first time that a feasibility study of this magnitude has taken place in Canada to pioneer hydrogen for aviation, with the three airports. It reflects the partners’ shared ambition to use their respective expertise to support the decarbonisation of the aviation industry (ICAO, ATAG and IATA) and to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Before you ask, we have no commercial or equity relationship with ZeroAvia whatsoever. Nor Airbus. And none at all with Canadian airports (we’d struggle to locate these ones on a map) But we would like to keep flying. We would like to bring you stories of hope. So we’ll continue to cover ZeroAvia in the fervent belief that someone, somewhere, is really really doing something.

#ZeroAvia #Airbus #Canada #netzero #decarbonisation#aviation #hydrogen

Noctilucent Clouds, the high beauty of the summer sunset

Photo by Karolina Kaboompics on Pexels.com

Go out on a clear summer evening, just after the sun has set completely. Face west and look up. High above the dark line of the trees and buildings, to where the rays still light up the twilight sky. Can you see faint clouds spread out as a kind of ethereal glow? If so, they are noctilucent clouds. You are looking into the mesosphere, that vast region between 15 and 70 km above the earth. Hardly anyone goes there except a few intrepid balloonists, jet pilots and astronauts on their way through. It’s incredibly cold, and emptier than the poles, the mountains of Central Asia and the depths of the Pacific. Noctilucent clouds are just about the only visible thing up there, and so, as its high summer ,we thought we’d collect a few pieces to let you enjoy them.

Stuart Clark has a nice general piece for the Guardian [1] and for background we have linked to the inimitable Wikipedia[2] Which comes with a warning. The clouds seem never to have been observed before about 1885, which may suggest some link or other to growing pollution.[3]

People pay big money to visit the vast and the remote, and endure terrible problems with the food and the plumbing as they do so. But here we offer you the chance to stand in awe to glimpse something bigger, vaster and even more remote. And it’s all for free.

Once again, we advise you to wait until well after sunset and not to look directly at the solar disc in any circumstances whatsoever

[1]https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/jun/17/starwatch-noctilucent-clouds-are-a-great-summer-spectacle

[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctilucent_cloud

[3]https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jun/06/is-human-pollution-causing-clouds-to-form-near-the-edge-of-space

#noctilucent cloud #mesosphere #atmosphere #pollution #night sky