Whatever happens, learning will survive

Overwork is the curse of the Professional classes We know of Forensic Scientists, Police Officers, Teachers, Doctors and many others who have come to hate their work and leave , due to burn-out caused by overwork. Now it seems to be affecting University Academics, who should have the best time of all. Not any more, as this snippet from Nature, titled Huge Strikes at UK Universities makes clear

Thousands of academics walked out of universities in the United Kingdom this week to protest against poor pay, unmanageable workloads and cuts to their future pensions. “Before, staff were angry, now they’re like: ‘I’m done with it,’” says vascular biologist Lopa Leach. “We’re just at the end of our tether, really.” The row is likely to escalate further. On 22 February, the board that oversees the pensions scheme at the heart of the debate — the Universities Superannuation Scheme — voted to ratify proposed cuts and reject a union counterproposal.Nature | 5 min read

What is a bacterium? Classification of living systems into things like species , classes phyla and so on is one of the most powerful tools we have. Yet even some of the most profound lines, like the one between procaryotes and eucaryotes can seem a little blurred at times, as this amazing discovery Largest Bacterium ever discovered shows. Nature again

A newly discovered bacterium, Thiomargarita magnifica, challenges the definition of a microbe: its filament-like single cell is up to 2 centimetres long. T. magnifica achieves its unprecedented size by having unique cellular features: two membrane sacs. One is filled with its genetic material; the other, which is much larger, helps to keep its cellular contents pressed up against its outer cell wall so that the molecules it needs can diffuse in and out. Researchers have dubbed these sacs ‘pepins’ — inspired by the pips in fruit — and note that they blur the line between single-celled prokaryotes and eukaryotes (the group that includes humans), which pack their DNA into a nucleus.Science | 6 min read
Reference: bioRxiv preprint (not peer reviewed)

The lure of the con Everyone can fall prey to scammers. Why? This article by Meg Elkins and Robert Hoffman for the Conversation discusses why

https://theconversation.com/were-obsessed-with-shows-about-con-artists-like-inventing-anna-the-fascination-lies-in-how-easily-these-people-can-dupe-us-177535?u

Sad Dogs of Mourning A rather moving story about how our closest animal friends feel loss and grief. We have heard anecdotal evidence that cats may do this too. Nicola Davis for The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/feb/24/dogs-mourning-when-dog-in-household-dies

Well, have as good a weekend as you possibly can. Let’s hope we can all stay free

#bioology #classification #bacteria #burn-out #animals #dogs

Where were you in June 1983? come to think of it, why does it matter? Because according to our calculations it was the midway point between the end of World War 2 and what seems to be World War 3. For between the signing of the Japanese article of surrender in September 1945 and Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 the world enjoyed 77 years where there was peace somewhere, and even the hope it might continue. Numbers are fuzzy things when you work up close, but according to our calculation, the mid point would have fallen in the summer of 1983, perhaps in June. From then on, without knowing it, you were steadily moving closer to World War Three than you were to the previous conflict.

What was it like in that long-lost summer? Well Mrs Thatcher won a resounding majority of 144 in the UK General Election. James Bond starred in his thirteenth film, Octopussy. The charts were topped by the Police with their popular ditty Every breath you take (although with hindsight David Bowie‘s China Girl seems ominously prescient) And Edmund Blackadder made his debut on UK TV.

It was a brash, raucous age. Cocktails were on the way in at all levels of society. Perhaps none so captures the mood of the times as the famous Piña Colada. Everyone from Lanzarotte to Mid-Lanark ordered one, because for many it was the only name they new in that far off summer

So to bring back the spirit of those times take a cocktail shaker. To it add two measures of coconut cream, 1 measure of white rum and two measures of pineapple juice, Shake and pour to a hurricane glass an decorate with a cherry, pineapple slice and orange slice. A raise a toast to the brave people of Ukraine ,and the brave protestors in Russia. Both are attempting to resist a monstrous tyranny, and so are braver than you or we will ever know how to be.

#cocktails #ukraine #russia #1983 #soviet union #totalitarian

No one ever captured the terrible change from peace to war as well as WH Auden in 1st September 1939. The dream like feeling of a new terrifying age forming around us, while still surrounded by the comfy furniture of the old. Here he is on the day that Hitler smashed into Poland

  I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-second Street
Uncertain and afraid
As the clever hopes expire
Of a low dishonest decade:
Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
And darkened lands of the earth,
Obsessing our private lives;
The unmentionable odour of death
Offends the September night.

We take this from poets.org The full poem can be found by clicking this link to their superb site

https://poets.org/poem/september-1-1939

1939 is not really so very long ago. Older readers will remember their parents’ stories of that war. The same issues are are stake now. Victory was won because we were happy to cast aside our old pleasures, habits and beliefs. If the dictator wins they are gone anyway, because in a dictatorship no one else can ever have free title to anything except for the dictator. So let things boil down to essentials, and be happy with them, because they are yours.

And, just like 1939, there is one question. When there are so many urgent problems in the world, and so many opportunities to make things better, why did Vladimir Putin chose to do this?

#russia #putin #ukraine #war #wh auden #poets.org #fredom #democracy #dictatorship #hitler

As we write these lines we are still technically at peace. By the time you read them, we may all be at war. Once again the world has blundered into a terrible quagmire of mutual misunderstanding, hatred and potential destruction .

We at LSS still hope there will be time to draw back. Hope that each side will try to understand the other’s case. To do this, we must try to understand how we got here. And one valiant effort is that of Catherine Belton in Putin’s People. Catherine makes a genuine effort to understand Putin and his associates, their fears of the modern world, their genuine love for the old Soviet Union and Mother Russia. We may disagree with their analyses: but both Putin and Russian ideology are historical facts, and must be responded to accordingly, as the author makes clear.

The superb Anne Applebaum gives an excellent review below, for The Atlantic [1] (oh marvellous publication!) But we also list the book itself, as no text is probably more relevant to our current dire state.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/09/catherine-belton-putins-people/614212/

Belton, Catherine: Putin’s People: How the KGB took back Russia and then Took on the West William Collins 2020

#vladimir putin #salisbury poisoning #skripal #flightmh17 #gulag #georgian republic #syria #donald trump #fakenews #cyberwar #kleptocracy #oligarchs #russia #joseph stalin #kgb

No play by William Shakespeare is more famous than Romeo and Juliet. Even those who are not fans of Shakespeare will pick up on its famous line “wherefore art thou, Romeo?”. Its classic tale of star-crossed lovers has been played thousands of times and has been remade into musicals, ballets and films. No doubt about it, a great play.

Except there’s one huge elephant in the room. Juliet is thirteen, as her father Capulet makes clear “My Child is yet a stranger in the world: she hath not seen the change of fourteen years“

Now we at LSS have always shared the popular animadversion to paedophilia. Sex with drastically underaged persons is psychologically and physically wrong. We know personally of Police Officers who have broken down after working on units charged with investigating this crime. So what must be the consequences for its victims? Capulet himself gives the game away : Let two more summers wither in their pride, ere we may think her ripe to be a bride

We support every effort to either hide or normalise paedophilia , wherever it is found. There’s no getting around Romeo and Juliet: someone has sex with a thirteen-year old girl. That will used as licence by someone else, somewhere, for highly unsavoury purposes.

Apologists will say that they did things differently in former times. The history of European Royalty is littered with examples of child brides and arranged marriages. Shakespeare’s text preserves these customs in fossilised form. Maybe so. But the fact that we also do things differently means that certain works of art and texts are no longer considered wholesome. The Taming of the Shrew is rarely performed, because of its attitude to women. Certain novellas by Joseph Conrad are no longer mentionable in polite society, nor on family-friendly blogs like this one. Statues, paintings and even certain works of music are now removed, noisily or otherwise, because they depict our ancestors behaving in ways of which we no longer approve. By this logic, should Romeo and Juliet join the same canon? We at LSS don’t know the answer. But we have every right to ask the question.

#shakespeare #romeo and juliet #paedophilia #joseph conrad #the taming of the shrew #censorship #text #feminism #racism

The courage of Harry Parker can never be in doubt. Badly wounded in Afghanistan while on military service, he mastered the use of prosthetic limbs and can walk again, even lead an active life with his family. Yet he is a thinker too. For his book about his experiences, Hybrid Humans raises profound questions about what the use of really advanced prosthetics may one day imply.

Fittingly, the review article by David Robson for The Guardian [1] is more like a hybrid collaboration by both men. For us the key sentence is

_{he compares the experience to that of Gregor Samsa, the subject of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis – “the strangeness of not being who you used to be, turned into something that sets you apart from those around you”.}

Like all profound changes, the idea of human-machine hybrids started very small and at the margins. There were attempts at minor prosthetics as far back as Egyptian times. The only change has been incremental. Twentieth century folk knew artificial hearts and kidneys. Now we talk about artificial eyes and exoskeletons. And by the fifties, who knows-will there be brain implants that give you an instant new language?

The idea of a gradual fusion of humans and their technologies was mooted by Arthur C Clarke in his novel 2001: A space odyssey. The same ideas are eagerly discussed by the Transhuman movement, to which we link below.[2] New ideas are often scary, and understandably so. The potential power of AI and quantum computing seems irresistible. Might the wise course be to merge ourselves with the new, transforming into beings possessed of immeasurable powers and opportunities?

[1]https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/feb/21/hybrid-humans-by-harry-parker-review-man-and-machine-in-harmony

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

#artificial limbs #artificial intelligence #transhumans #prosthetics #implants

Multiple sclerosis. A terrible wasting disease that not only ruins the lives of sufferers, but often those of families and loved ones who must care for them. Up to now the causes of this and several other neurological disorders have been pretty obscure, which is why we have been following recent progress(LSS 15/17 1 2022) with the guidance of our erudite correspondent Gaynor Lynch. Now there is even more reinforcement for what Gaynor, and we have been saying, in the shape of a piece from Nature Briefings. As Gaynor so presciently observed, the role of the Epstein-Barr virus is implicated as a possible cause. The immunological response to the virus may, tragically, be the root of the neurodegeneration. The first extract from Nature is as usual, but you may struggle with the link onwards-sorry. We will paste it below, then indulge in a little speculation, for those who may be interested.

Researchers who study multiple sclerosis (MS) are split into two main camps: most see autoimmunity as the driving factor for the illness, but a minority invoke viral culprits. Last month, a study of a large group of people followed over many years found that infection with the Epstein-Barr virus increased the likelihood of developing MS by more than 32-fold. But this associative connection lacked a causal, disease-triggering link. Now, evidence might settle the debate through a compromise solution, writes neurobiologist Hartmut Wekerle. Antibodies that attack the Epstein–Barr virus also recognize GlialCAM, a protein that is in glial cells in the brain.Nature | 9 min read
This News & Views article is exclusively available to readers with subscriber access to Nature. Click here for help getting logged in with your institution’s subscription.

Now for the speculation. The following has nothing to do with Gaynor, Nature or any formal scientific research that we know of. And no, we have not been drinking. But because we are an independent blog, not beholden to any paymaster or institution, we are able to indulge ourselves in the delicious pleasure of unsubstantiated guesswork and speculation.(it won’t be very often!)

If the above research is true, then viruses can affect the nervous system. Specifically the ganglions and neural sheaths which play such a key role in reliable transmission of messages in that nervous system. We know that sufferers from other mental disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression also experience episodes of erratic and impaired neurological function. Is it time to start looking for a virus here as well?

#neurological disorders #virus #multiple sclerosis #schizophrenia

_{We apologise for presenting a longer blog than usual. But as this will be the last for several days, we hope our accustomed brevity will balance this particular prolixity for once!}

People deny facts! People cannot reason! People are thick, stupid, xenophobic, bigoted,  submissive to Fox News, the Daily Mail…….  So run the agonised shrieks of many who call themselves progressives, educated, enlightened, or whatever  vain label they have applied in  response to the advances of populism in so many countries since 2008. And still can’t understand why it keeps winning.

Because the facts seemed to be on our side. So did reason, which is merely a way of organising facts into logical groups.  It was the way were trained.  In the tradition that dates back to Ancient Greece, nurtured in the schools of Medieval Europe and on via the Enlightenment to the present day.   It works like this.  Smallpox is a disease (check statement for veracity) Smallpox vaccine prevents the disease(check statement for veracity). Other vaccines may cure other diseases (check statement for veracity)  Conclusion: vaccines are a good thing So why all the objections? Why the seeming inability to use language and logic in the way we do? One clue to the answer goes like this.

Many people use words, but these words are not what they really mean.   We suspect many speakers are actually expressing deep emotional problems welling up from unhappy inner selves.  Such a person may develop an obsession about the Gold Standard for example. Yet they cannot know about the Gold Standard, for how can any of us who have not studied economics? And this is true for any one of us from Professors of Quantum Physics to retired garage hands. Most racists, anti-vaxxers and climate deniers we have met have no education in biology, medicine or meteorology. Of course there may be exceptions, it’s just that we have not met them yet.

Many on the Left are quick to shut down opinions with which they disagree. “No platform for these words!” is the earnest cry. But what if the words you are hearing are not what the speaker is really feeling and is really concerned with?. Dare we suggest you are missing something?   Many people carry a lifetime of frustrations, traumas, festering resentments, isolations and unrequited desires. It’s almost inevitable that these will be projected onto others-outgroups, perceived elites, those who are more prosperous or coping better. Its only human and natural to look for confirmation you are right. It takes a lifetime of training, and usually several degrees, to realise the intelligent response is to look for confirmation that you are wrong.

Yet this seething mass of emotion is raw data about society and politics. And our enemies were quicker to see the opportunity it presented -and used it.  Time now for our side to learn  as well. To listen. Only then will the real causes of our woes be addressed.

#populism #reason #logic #fact #alternative fact #racism #xenophobia #nostalgia #climate science denial #anti vaxxers

Just before we all plunge into yet another stupid, senseless war, let’s take a last look back at the real problems. Because whoever survives will have to confront them. And biggest on the list is Nature‘s report of a growing surge in global methane emissions, Remember methane has a warming potential at least 28 time greater than carbon dioxide. Why do we tremble? Well, first of all we’ll let you read Nature’s report Methane is spiking dangerously fast. We strongly urge you to click on the links

As global methane concentrations soar to nearly triple preindustrial levels, some researchers fear that global warming itself is behind the rapid rise. Data released in January by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show that atmospheric methane has raced past 1,900 parts per billion. The growth of methane emissions began a rapid and mysterious uptick around 2007. The spike has caused many researchers to worry that global warming is creating a feedback mechanism that will cause ever more methane to be released, making it even harder to rein in rising temperatures. The grim milestone underscores the importance of a pledge made at last year’s COP26 climate summit to curb emissions of the greenhouse gas, which is at least 28 times as potent as CO₂ We have underlined the key message, and here is the link to the main paper:

Nature | 5 min read

Why does this keep us awake at night? Because of the immense quantities of methane trapped in the Siberian permafrost for one thing. Perhaps if Mr Putin addressed that, rather than the Ukraine, he might perform more of a service to his own subjects as well as citizens of the wider world. Secondly the immense amount of methane clathrates littering the ocean floor. Their methane content is only a few degrees from being released. Suddenly. If that happened the runaway warming would be terminal. Now, do we all really want to still deny how serious this is?

#global warming #climate change #permafrost #vladimir putin #methane #feedback

Things we have hoped for since our youth that may be coming true

Hope For Energy Forget our earlier testy blogs about nuclear fusion. There’s real hope that working reactors may be really possible. Here’s Nature

An experimental reactor in the United Kingdom has generated the highest-ever sustained energy from nuclear fusion, the process that powers the Sun. The Joint European Torus (JET) produced 59 megajoules of energy over a fusion ‘pulse’ of five seconds. JET’s success suggests that a follow-up project that uses the same technology and fuel mix — the ambitious US$22-billion ITER, scheduled to begin fusion experiments in 2025 — should eventually be able to achieve the ultimate goal: generating more energy than is put in.Nature | 5 min read

Helping the disabled to walk When we were young, a spinal injury was a sentence to life in a wheel chair. Still so? Read below

Three people once paralysed by complete spinal-cord injuries can walk, swim, pedal a bicycle and even paddle canoes, thanks to a device that stimulates neurons in their spinal cords. It is the first implant specifically designed to control movement by mimicking the signals the lower body usually receives from the brain and upper spinal cord. Each participant recovered some level of movement within one day of activating the implant, such as walking on a treadmill while their weight was supported.Nature | 5 min read
Reference: Nature Medicine paper

Hope for the hungry Imagine if everyone in Africa could at last get some sort of decent meal, the way we do in European Countries, Maybe imaginative uses of crops will help, as Nadia Radzman describes in The Conversation

https://theconversation.com/how-forgotten-beans-could-help-fight-malnutrition-in-africa-176857?

Hope For Michael Gove All of the above were developed by experts. People of whom British Minister Michael Gove famously said “I think the people of this country have had enough of experts… from organisations with acronyms saying they know what is best and consistently getting it wrong. (Sky news 3 June 2016)

So where’s the hope? That we will learn to stop listening to people like Michael Gove.

#fusion #spina; implants #world hunger #michael gove