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Battery, solar, and wind projects are getting killed in record numbers:
This year has been rough for climate technology: Companies have canceled, downsized, or shut down at least 16 large-scale projects worth $8 billion in total in the first quarter of 2025, according to a new report.
That's far more cancellations than have typically occurred in recent years, according to a new report from E2, a nonpartisan policy group. The trend is due to a variety of reasons, including drastically revised federal policies.
In recent months, the White House has worked to claw back federal investments, including some of those promised under the Inflation Reduction Act. New tariffs on imported goods, including those from China (which dominates supply chains for batteries and other energy technologies), are also contributing to the precarious environment. And demand for some technologies, like EVs, is lagging behind expectations.
E2, which has been tracking new investments in manufacturing and large-scale energy projects, is now expanding its regular reports to include project cancellations, shutdowns, and downsizings as well. From August 2022 to the end of 2024, 18 projects were canceled, closed, or downsized, according to E2's data. The first three months of 2025 have already seen 16 projects canceled.
[...] Some turnover is normal, and there have been a lot of projects announced since the Inflation Reduction Act was passed in 2022—so there are more in the pipeline to potentially be canceled, Turner says. So many battery and EV projects were announced that supply would have exceeded demand "even in a best-case scenario," Turner says. So some of the project cancellations are a result of right-sizing, or getting supply and demand in sync.
Other projects are still moving forward, with hundreds of manufacturing facilities under construction or operational. But it's not as many as we'd see in a more stable policy landscape, Turner says.
The cancellations include a factory in Georgia from Aspen Aerogels, which received a $670 million loan commitment from the US Department of Energy in October. The facility would have made materials that can help prevent or slow fires in battery packs. In a February earnings call, executives said the company plans to focus on an existing Rhode Island facility and projects in other countries, including China and Mexico. Aspen Aerogels didn't respond to a request for further comment.
Hundreds of projects that have been announced in just the last few years are under construction or operational despite the wave of cancellations. But it is an early sign of growing uncertainty for climate technology.
"You're seeing a business environment that's just unsure what's next and is hesitant to commit one way or another," Timberlake says.
I just saw this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMwjKyAPR34, explaining how the end of the world is coming in 2028 or so. I work for the department of redundancy department, so here's a summary:
Investors are throwing a lot of money into AI research. State-level investors, in many cases, are interested in surveillance and efficient warfare. Many experts are saying that humans cannot control a machine more intelligent than themselves. Experts have also outlined a number of "AGI success" scenarios which end with human extinction. The video provides a relatively simple suggestion to circumvent the problem: keep "AI" simple for now, by keeping three properties always separate: "autonomy", "generality" and "intelligence". The video then ends encouraging the spreading of the word, and putting pressure on the EU to act on this (since it seems that the US and China are going to ignore the warnings).
In a recent journal entry by AnonTechie https://soylentnews.org/~AnonTechie/journal/19211 [note: I am not AnonTechie] other experts say that we're not on the right path to general AI. I asked there "but why try to make AGI in the first place?". And it's still not clear to me: what advantage does humanity get from "building AGI"? I can certainly see the money that Google, Amazon and Facebook are making from improving their advertisement stuff, and I can certainly see the benefits of improved medical diagnosis, universal translation, and a bunch of other clearly defined use-cases. But why do we need 1 algorithmic/hardware entity that can do everything? Why are the citizens of democracies allowing their governments to put money into "AGI"?
For what it's worth, humanity has recent experience with exponential growth (covid), and warnings of a catastrophic future ignored by governments and populations (climate change). We also have experience with a catastrophic future that was avoided (ozone layer survives and it's recovering because of actions taken in the 1980s). In democracies, at least nominally, power is evenly divided between people through the universal vote. How can we convince voters that the rate of progress in AI research is out of control?
In the case of ITER (hard theory), the LHC (hard theory and high precision) or LIGO (high precision) there is a human community which can ultimately explain every nut and bolt.
In the case of AI we do not have that: if we ask why the zeros and ones are arranged in a certain way, humanity as a whole cannot answer. So why are we doing this?
Yes, it's fun to watch disaster movies and identify with the ones who are picking up the pieces at the end. Given that people play the lottery every day, I have little hope for a rational answer... but why would anyone want to be part of a disaster movie in the first place? Even if we succeed in building non-violent AGI: why would it suddenly be ok to own slaves? Because if a machine can pass the Turing test, I personally see it as valuable as any human.
Many of you will recall last week I made a plea for submissions as the subs queue was all but empty. One of our regular contributors did us proud and provided about a dozen stories, some of which you have already seen. But, unusually, they were all connected by a single topic - the gut microbiome.
Several of you have made comments that you are aware of the strong link between the microbiome and various medical problems and issues. Rather than drag all the other stories out gradually, I have created a mashup of the remaining stories.
There are quite a few..... Thanks c0lo!
Gut microbiome could delay onset of type 1 diabetes:
Researchers at The University of Queensland have found improving the function of the gut microbiome may delay the onset of type 1 diabetes (T1D).
Professor Emma Hamilton-Williams, from the Frazer Institutesaid 21 individuals with T1D were given an oral biotherapy containing short chain fatty acids (SCFA), which are metabolites usually produced by gut bacteria during the fermentation of dietary fibre.
"Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune illness, and we know there is something different about the gut microbiome and gut barrier function that we think changes the immune response in individuals with the disease," Professor Hamilton-Williams said.
"We've learned that it is possible to change the microbiome in individuals with T1D, and when we have done that, we have seen changes in the gut barrier function.
"Then when we further tested that microbiome by transferring it into mice, it delayed the onset of diabetes."
Short chain fatty acids are one of the cornerstone beneficial functions of the gut's community of microorganisms, which play essential roles in digestion, immunity and overall health.
"There have been other approaches to restoring short chain fatty acids, like giving probiotic bacteria or capsules, but they haven't really worked," Professor Hamilton-Williams said.
"This has been the first time in T1D studies where researchers have managed to increase short chain fatty acids in individuals."
Co-senior author Dr Eliana Mariño, from Monash University, said by analysing the unique profiles of small molecules or metabolites in individuals with T1D, the study uncovered new ways to measure and potentially manipulate the pathways that influence immune function.
"These findings suggest microbiome interventions could stop Type 1 Diabetes in its tracks to potentially delay, or even prevent T1D, giving patients a chance to stay healthier for longer and increase their lifespan," Dr Eliana Mariño said.
Journal Reference:
Tillett, Bree J., Dwiyanto, Jacky, Secombe, Kate R., et al. SCFA biotherapy delays diabetes in humanized gnotobiotic mice by remodeling mucosal homeostasis and metabolome [open], Nature Communications (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-58319-y)
How gut microbiota could unlock new treatments for influenza - Thailand Medical News:
Influenza is a common but potentially deadly virus that infects millions of people worldwide every year. While vaccines and antiviral drugs offer some protection, they often have limited effectiveness due to viral mutations and drug resistance. Now, researchers are exploring a novel approach: the relationship between gut microbiota and influenza. This Influenza News report highlights the key findings of a recent study that delves into how gut bacteria and their metabolites can influence influenza outcomes and offer new therapeutic targets. The research, conducted by scientists from Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine-China and Hubei University of Chinese Medicine-China, sheds light on the gut's potential to protect against influenza through various mechanisms.
Gut Microbiota: The Hidden Key to Health
Gut microbiota refers to the trillions of microorganisms that live inside our digestive tract. These bacteria are essential for breaking down food, regulating our immune system, and maintaining overall health. Recent research has shown that gut bacteria also play a role in respiratory infections, including influenza. Specifically, changes in gut bacteria can influence how well the body fights off the flu virus, making this an area of great interest for new therapies.
Gut-Lung Axis: The Cross-Talk Between the Gut and Lungs
Scientists have long understood that the gut and lungs communicate with each other through a system known as the "gut-lung axis." When the body is infected with the flu, not only do the lungs suffer, but the gut's microbiota can also be disrupted. The study revealed that individuals with a healthy balance of gut bacteria tend to have better outcomes when fighting influenza. Conversely, those with imbalanced gut microbiota, whether due to illness or antibiotic use, are more susceptible to severe flu symptoms.
The Role of Short-Chain Fatty Acids (SCFAs)
One of the primary ways the gut microbiota influences influenza outcomes is through the production of metabolites, particularly short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). SCFAs like acetate, propionate, and butyrate are produced when gut bacteria break down dietary fiber. These compounds have been shown to boost the immune response and reduce inflammation in both the gut and lungs. In the context of influenza, SCFAs can enhance the body's ability to fight off the virus by promoting the growth of beneficial gut bacteria and strengthening the immune system.
The study findings indicate that flu-infected mice had lower levels of SCFAs compared to healthy mice. When SCFAs were supplemented, the mice showed improved survival rates and reduced lung inflammation. This suggests that increasing SCFA levels could be a potential therapeutic strategy for treating influenza.
Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT): A Promising Therapy
Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), the process of transferring stool from a healthy donor to the intestines of a patient, is emerging as a promising treatment for various diseases, including influenza. The researchers found that FMT could restore the balance of gut bacteria in flu-infected mice, leading to reduced lung inflammation and faster recovery. FMT helps increase the population of beneficial bacteria like Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, which are known to support immune function and fight off infections.
Interestingly, the study also showed that FMT could reverse the negative effects of antibiotics, which often disrupt gut bacteria and weaken the immune response. By restoring healthy gut microbiota, FMT has the potential to be a complementary therapy for individuals suffering from severe influenza.
Probiotics and Prebiotics: Strengthening the Immune System
In addition to FMT, the study explored the use of probiotics and prebiotics to regulate gut bacteria and improve flu outcomes. Probiotics, such as Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, are beneficial bacteria that can be taken as supplements to enhance gut health. Prebiotics, on the other hand, are non-digestible fibers that serve as food for these beneficial bacteria, promoting their growth.
The researchers found that supplementing flu-infected mice with probiotics significantly reduced lung inflammation and viral load. This supports the idea that probiotics can help strengthen the immune system and improve the body's ability to fight off the flu virus.
Traditional Chinese Medicine and Gut Health
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has long recognized the importance of gut health in maintaining overall well-being. The study revealed that certain TCM herbs, such as Houttuynia cordata, could regulate gut microbiota and enhance immune function. These herbs were found to increase the population of beneficial gut bacteria while reducing harmful bacteria, leading to better flu outcomes.
TCM also promotes the production of SCFAs, which, as previously mentioned, play a crucial role in fighting influenza. By incorporating TCM into treatment plans, healthcare providers may be able to offer a more holistic approach to flu prevention and treatment.
The Future of Influenza Treatment: Gut Microbiota as a Target
The study highlights the potential of gut microbiota as a therapeutic target for influenza. By regulating gut bacteria and their metabolites, it may be possible to improve flu outcomes and reduce the severity of the disease. While more research is needed to fully understand the mechanisms involved, the findings provide a promising new direction for influenza treatment.
Future studies should focus on identifying specific strains of bacteria and metabolites that have the most significant impact on flu outcomes. Additionally, researchers should explore the potential of combining FMT, probiotics, and TCM to create a comprehensive treatment plan for influenza.
The study findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal: Heliyon.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844024136924
Gut Microbes Control the Body's Thermostat - Neuroscience News:
What's considered normal body temperature varies from person to person, yet overall, the average basal temperature of the human body has decreased since the 1860s for unknown reasons. A study points to the gut microbiome as a potential regulator of body temperature, both in health and during life-threatening infections.
The study, led by Robert Dickson, M.D., and his colleagues at U-M Medical School, used health record data from patients hospitalized with sepsis and mouse experiments to examine the interplay between the mix of bacteria residing in the gut, temperature fluctuation, and health outcomes.
Sepsis, the body's response to a life-threatening infection, can cause drastic changes in body temperature, the trajectory of which is linked to mortality.
Work published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine in 2019 has demonstrated that hospitalized patients with sepsis vary widely in their temperature responses, and this variation predicts their survival.
"There's a reason that temperature is a vital sign," said Kale Bongers M.D. Ph.D., a clinical instructor in the Department of Internal Medicine and lead author of the study. "It's both easily measured and tells us important information about the body's inflammatory and metabolic state."
Yet the causes of this temperature variation, both in sepsis and in health, have remained unknown.
"We know that temperature response is important in sepsis, because it strongly predicts who lives and who dies," said Dickson. "But we don't know what drives this variation and whether it can modified to help patients."
To try to understand the cause of this variation, the team analyzed rectal swabs from 116 patients admitted to the hospital. The patients' gut microbiota varied widely, confirming that it is a potential source of variation.
"Arguably, our patients have more variation in their microbiota than they do in their own genetics," said Bongers. "Any two patients are more than 99% identical in their own genomes, while they may have literally 0% overlap in their gut bacteria."
[...] Further research is needed to understand whether targeting the microbiome to modulate body temperature could help alter the outcome for patients with sepsis.
Journal Reference:
DOI: https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/10.1164/rccm.202201-0161OC
Gut-brain link may affect behavior in children with autism:
An imbalance in the microbiome disrupts neurotransmitter production and may manifest as social difficulties and repetitive behaviors.
A new USC study suggests that gut imbalances in children with autism may create an imbalance of metabolites in the digestive system — ultimately disrupting neurotransmitter production and influencing behavioral symptoms.
The research, published Monday in Nature Communications, adds to a growing body of science implicating the "gut-brain" axis in autism. The discovery raises the possibility of new treatment avenues. It's an example of how research at USC, and other universities, drives innovation and leads to discoveries that improve lives.
"We demonstrated that gut metabolites impact the brain, and the brain, in turn, affects behavior. Essentially, the brain acts as the intermediary between gut health and autism-related behaviors," said first author Lisa Aziz-Zadeh, a professor at the Brain and Creativity Institute at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. "Previous studies highlighted differences in gut microbiomes and brain structures in autism, but our research connects the dots."
The gut-brain connection is not as far-fetched as it might seem. From an evolutionary perspective, the gut was likely the first "brain," explained Aziz-Zadeh, who also is a professor at USC Dornsife's Department of Psychology and the USC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy.
In fact, most of the neurons from the gut send signals to the brain; there are actually more neurons in the gut than in the spinal cord. About 90% of the neural signals between the gut and brain travel from the gut to the brain, while only 10% go in the opposite direction.
This constant communication explains why we talk about "gut instinct" or "feeling it in your gut." Many emotions are processed through gut-related mechanisms, a concept known as interoception — the perception of internal bodily sensations.
For the study, researchers collected behavioral data, brain imaging data and stool samples from 43 children with autism and 41 neurotypical children aged 8-17. From the stool samples, they analyzed metabolites produced by gut bacteria that break down food in the digestive system.
The researchers then correlated these metabolites with brain differences observed in children with autism and their behavioral characteristics. They homed in on the "tryptophan pathway" by which tryptophan, an amino acid found in many foods, is broken down into several metabolites, including serotonin.
Serotonin is crucial for emotional processing, social interaction, learning and other brain functions. Since much of the body's serotonin originates in the gut microbiome, changes in gut health can influence serotonin production.
"We know that children with autism have brain differences — certain parts of their brain are either less active or more active compared to typically developing children," Aziz-Zadeh said. "We also know they often experience gastrointestinal issues, such as constipation, stomach pain and other digestive problems. Additionally, autism is associated with various symptoms, including repetitive behaviors and social difficulties."
Sofronia Ringold, a doctoral student at the Brain and Creativity Institute who worked on the study, said she was excited by the possibility of interventions that might target the gut and influence neural activity and behavior "while also hopefully alleviating some of the symptoms that are the most uncomfortable for them."
In addition to Aziz-Zadeh and Ringold, other authors of the study are Aditya Jayashankar, Emily Kilroy, Ravi Bhatt and Christiana Butera, of USC; and Jonathan Jacobs, Skylar Tanartkit, Swapna Joshi, Mirella Dapretto, Jennifer Labus and Emeran Mayer, all of UCLA.
The research was supported by a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD079432) and a grant from the Department of Defense's Idea Development Award (AR170062).
Journal Reference:
Aziz-Zadeh, Lisa, Ringold, Sofronia M., Jayashankar, Aditya, et al. Relationships between brain activity, tryptophan-related gut metabolites, and autism symptomatology [open], Nature Communications (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-58459-1)
Gut bacteria turn bile acids into allies against cancer:
Bacteria naturally present in the human intestine, known as the gut microbiota, can transform cholesterol-derived bile acids into powerful metabolites that strengthen anti-cancer immunity by blocking androgen signaling, according to a preclinical study led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The study was published on April 15 in Cell.
"I was very surprised by our findings. As far as I know, no one has previously discovered molecules like these bile acids that can interact with the androgen receptor in this way," said co-senior author Dr. Chun-Jun Guo, an associate professor of immunology in medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and a scientist at the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Weill Cornell Medicine. Dr. Wen-Bing Jin, formerly a postdoctoral associate, and Dr. Leyi Xiao, a current postdoctoral associate in Dr. Guo's lab, are the co-first authors of the study.
Dr. David Artis, director of the Jill Roberts Institute and the Friedman Center for Nutrition and Inflammation and the Michael Kors Professor in Immunology, and Dr. Nicholas Collins, assistant professor of immunology in medicine, both at Weill Cornell Medicine, are co-senior authors of the study.
Primary bile acids are produced by the liver and released into the gut, where diverse groups of bacteria work together to modify their chemical structures. Researchers suspected these gut microbial modifications could affect how bile acids function and interact with human signaling pathways. To test this idea, the investigators set out to explore the full extent of bacterial modifications to bile acids and understand how these changes affect their biological roles.
It turns out that gut bacteria have remarkable potential to transform bile acids. "We discovered more than fifty different bile acid molecules modified by the microbiota—many of which had never been identified before," said Dr. Guo, who is also the Halvorsen Family Research Scholar in Metabolic Health at Weill Cornell Medicine.
These newly uncovered structures could open the door to new biological insights-particularly in how they interact with human receptors that sense bile acids. Given that bile acids share the same steroid backbone as sex hormones like testosterone and estrogen, the structural resemblance raised an intriguing question for the researchers: could these microbially modified bile acids also interact with sex hormone receptors in the body? "It seemed like a wild idea at the time," Dr. Guo said.
Surprisingly, the answer appears to be yes. When the investigators tested the 56 altered bile acids that they discovered, they found one that antagonizes the androgen receptor — a molecule that interacts with sex hormones to regulate many aspects of human development. When they tested an additional 44 microbiota-modified bile acids that had previously been characterized, the team found three more that act similarly. This unexpected finding raised exciting new questions for the team: which specific cells were affected by the altered bile acids—and what biological functions these modified molecules might influence.
In addition to its role in development, the androgen receptor is also found in certain immune cells, including CD8 T cells. Previous studies have shown that blocking this receptor can enhance the ability of these immune cells to fight tumors. The investigators wondered whether the bile acids could replicate this effect by binding to and inactivating the androgen receptor. To test the idea, they treated mice with bladder cancer using these compounds—and observed a potent anti-tumor response. Further analysis revealed that the modified bile acids specifically boosted the activity of T cells—the immune cells best equipped to kill cancer.
Our results suggest that these altered bile acids help shrink tumors by enhancing T cells' ability to survive within the tumor and destroy cancer cells."
Journal Reference: DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.02.029
Gut Microbiome Pattern Predicts Future Heart Attack Risk in Coronary Heart Disease Patients
Gut microbiome pattern predicts future heart attack risk in coronary heart disease patients:
Scientists have identified a gut microbiota profile that can help forecast future cardiovascular events in patients with heart disease, paving the way for more personalized treatment and early interventions.
Study: A microbiota pattern associated with cardiovascular events in secondary prevention: the CORDIOPREV study. Image Credit: Shutterstock AI Generator / Shutterstock.com
A recent study published in the European Heart Journal identifies a gut microbiota pattern that can predict the risk of new adverse cardiovascular events in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD).
Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of mortality worldwide. Despite recent therapeutic advancements, the secondary prevention of new events in cardiovascular disease patients remains challenging. In fact, current evidence indicates that one in every three patients with cardiovascular disease suffers a new major adverse cardiovascular event, which subsequently increases their risk of mortality.
Several studies have reported that the gut microbiota is intricately involved in the onset of atherosclerosis, a pathological condition associated with coronary heart disease (CHD), cerebrovascular disease, and peripheral artery disease. More specifically, intestinal barrier disruption can lead to the translocation of gut microbiota-derived lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and low-grade systemic inflammation, both of which contribute to the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis.
The potential involvement of the gut microbiota in cardiovascular disease makes it a promising therapeutic target, as well as a potential biomarker to predict the risk of new cardiovascular events. To this end, the researchers in the current study were interested in identifying specific gut microbiota patterns that could predict the risk of developing new adverse cardiovascular events in patients with established coronary heart disease (CHD).
The current study was part of the CORDIOPREV study, an ongoing randomized controlled trial involving 1,002 CHD patients who experienced their last coronary event over six months before enrollment. Data from 679 CHD patients in the CORDIOPREV study, with available gut microbiota data, were analyzed.
CHD patients with a recent history of adverse cardiovascular events were more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes, as well as have higher waist circumference, blood glucose, glycated hemoglobin, and blood pressure measurements than CHD patients who did not recently experience an adverse cardiovascular event.
Ten bacterial taxa were associated with the risk of new major adverse cardiovascular events, with equal representation among taxa that were positively and inversely associated with the future incidence of major events. By combining the baseline abundance of these bacterial taxa with the associated risk, the researchers generated an intestinal microbiota-based risk score. Given this association, the researchers suggest that this specific gut microbiota profile can be used in clinical practice to identify patients with coronary heart disease who are at higher risk of developing new adverse cardiovascular events.
A total of 375 healthy individuals without cardiovascular disease were also included in the study as controls. As compared to healthy controls, CHD patients exhibited significant differences in alpha- and beta-diversity of their gut microbiota.
A higher abundance of the Lactobacillus genus was observed in patients who recently experienced major adverse cardiovascular events as compared to CHD patients without this history. This bacterial genus has previously been detected in the blood microbiome of patients with myocardial infarction who suffered major adverse events.
Increased levels of Escherichia coprostanoligenes was also reported in patients suffering with new major events. E. coprostanoligenes is involved in the production of trimethylamine, a precursor of trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) that has been implicated in the development of atherosclerosis.
Increased LPS levels were associated with new major adverse cardiovascular events, thus suggesting that CHD patients with a leaky gut are more likely to suffer cardiovascular events in the future.
The intestinal microbiota-based risk score was less effective in distinguishing between non-major adverse cardiovascular events and non-cardiovascular disease in patients without cardiovascular disease. This low discriminative resolution was due to the fact that the score was initially designed to assess the association between the gut microbiome profile and the incidence of major adverse events in conditions where cardiovascular disease-related alterations in the gut microbiota are already present.
The study findings suggest that a specific gut microbiota profile may be useful in predicting the risk of new major cardiovascular events in CHD patients. The future clinical application of this strategy has the potential to enhance treatment efficacy for these patients through targeted therapies, such as intensifying lipid-lowering treatment, promoting physical exercise, or modifying the intestinal microbiota.
Journal Reference:
DOI: https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/advance-article/doi/10.1093/eurheartj/ehaf181/8108156
DOI: https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/eurheartj/ehaf181/8108156?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false
DOI: https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/advance-article/doi/10.1093/eurheartj/ehaf181/8108156
DOI: https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/advance-article/doi/10.1093/eurheartj/ehaf181/8108156People Eating a Mixed Diet With Animal Foods Share Gut Bacteria With Vegans and Vegetarians, a New S
A new study sheds light on the most beneficial diet for your gut – and it may have to do with the food quality and diversity you consume
Journal Reference:
DOI: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19490976.2023.2258565See also:
Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2 Original Submission #3 Original Submission #4 Original Submission #5 Original Submission #6 Original Submission #7
Ideal for everyone who likes to throw a few swear words into their sentences:
If you're like me and you have a bit of an uncontrollable potty mouth, Microsoft has got you covered with its latest Windows 11 feature. The software maker is changing the way its profanity filter for voice typing works on Windows 11 soon, so you can disable the filter and let all your nasty swear words be free like nature intended.
Microsoft has started testing this change in the Dev and Beta Channel with Windows Insiders, by adding a new toggle inside voice typing's settings interface that lets you either filter profanity and replace it with asterisks or have it type out your profanity like any other words. I'm personally ****ing excited about this one, because voice typing currently filters out profanity with the incorrect amount of asterisks, which makes me swear even more.
[...] These features are all being tested with Windows Insiders, and I'd expect to see them appear for Windows 11 users in the coming months.
- https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=showheadline&story=19984
The Fedora distribution has defaulted to running the GNOME and Plasma desktop sessions on Wayland for a release or two.
A new proposal suggests Fedora may remove the GNOME X11 session option from the distribution entirely, dropping GNOME X11 from the package repositories. "Remove the GNOME X11 packages from the Fedora repositories. All users of the GNOME X11 session will be migrated to the GNOME Wayland session." While this change has not been implemented yet, it is likely to happen as GNOME 50 is expected to drop X11 support, making GNOME a Wayland-only desktop environment.
9-mile-thick layer of solid diamonds may lurk beneath Mercury's surface, study hints:
Mercury may have a thick layer of diamonds hundreds of miles below its surface, a new study shows. The findings, published June 14 in the journal Nature Communications, may help solve mysteries about the planet's composition and peculiar magnetic field.
Mercury is filled with mysteries. For one, it has a magnetic field. Although it's much weaker than Earth's, the magnetism is unexpected because the planet is tiny and appears to be geologically inactive. Mercury also has unusually dark surface patches that NASA's Messenger mission identified as graphite, a form of carbon.
That latter feature is what sparked the curiosity of Yanhao Lin, a staff scientist at the Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research in Beijing and co-author of the study. Mercury's extremely high carbon content "made me realize that something special probably happened within its interior," he said in a statement.
Despite Mercury's oddities, scientists suspect it probably formed the way other terrestrial planets did: from the cooling of a hot magma ocean. In Mercury's case, this ocean was likely rich in carbon and silicate. First, metals coagulated within it, forming a central core, while the remaining magma crystallized into the planet's middle mantle and outer crust.
For years, researchers thought the mantle's temperature and pressure were just high enough for carbon to form graphite, which, being lighter than the mantle, floated to the surface. But a 2019 study suggested that Mercury's mantle may be 80 miles (50 kilometers) deeper than previously thought. That would considerably ramp up the pressure and temperature at the boundary between the core and the mantle, creating conditions where the carbon could crystallize into diamond.
"We believe that diamond could have been formed by two processes," studyo co-author Olivier Namur, an associate professor at KU Leuven, told Live Science's sister site Space.com. "First is the crystallization of the magma ocean, but this process likely contributed to forming only a very thin diamond layer at the core/mantle interface. Secondly, and most importantly, the crystallization of the metal core of Mercury."
To investigate these possibilities, a team of Belgian and Chinese researchers, including Lin, whipped up chemical soups that included iron, silica and carbon. Such mixtures, similar in composition to certain kinds of meteorites, are thought to mimic the infant Mercury's magma ocean. The researchers also swamped these soups with varying amounts of iron sulfide; they figured the magma ocean contained loads of sulfur, as Mercury's present-day surface is also sulfur-rich.
Using a multiple-anvil press, the team subjected the chemical mixtures to crushing pressures of 7 gigapascals — roughly 70,000 times the pressure of Earth's atmosphere at sea level — and temperatures of up to 3,578 degrees Fahrenheit (1,970 degrees Celsius). These extreme conditions simulate those deep within Mercury.
In addition, the researchers used computer models to get more precise measurements of the pressure and temperature at Mercury's core-mantle boundary, besides simulating the physical conditions under which graphite or diamond would be stable. Such computer models, according to Lin, tell us about the fundamental structures of a planet's interior.
The experiments showed that minerals such as olivine likely formed in the mantle — a finding that was consistent with previous studies. However, the team also discovered that adding sulfur to the chemical brew caused it to solidify only at much higher temperatures. Such conditions are more favorable for forming diamonds. Indeed, the team's computer simulations showed that, under these revised conditions, diamonds may have crystallized when Mercury's inner core solidified. Because it was less dense than the core, it then floated up to the core-mantle boundary. The calculations also showed that the diamonds, if present, form a layer with an average thickness of about 9 miles (15 km).
Mining these gems isn't exactly feasible, however. Apart from the planet's extreme temperatures, the diamonds are way too deep — about 300 miles (485 km) below the surface — to be extracted.
But the gemstones are important for a different reason: They may be responsible for Mercury's magnetic field. The diamonds may help transfer heat between the core and the mantle, which would create temperature differences and cause liquid iron to swirl, thereby creating a magnetic field, Lin explained.
The results could also help to explain how carbon-rich exoplanets evolve. "The processes that led to the formation of a diamond layer on Mercury might also have occurred on other planets, potentially leaving similar signatures," Lin said.
More clues may come from BepiColombo, a joint mission of the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Launched in 2018, the spacecraft is scheduled to begin orbiting Mercury in 2025.
Editor's note: This article was updated on Aug. 1, 2024 to include new quotes from the authors. The original article was published July 18.
Journal Reference: DOI: 10.1029%2F2018GL081135
The XKCD cartoon 'PhD Timeline' ( https://xkcd.com/3081/ ) with its rollover, protests.
Energy labelling and ecodesign requirements will apply to these products from June 2025:
Ecodesign requirements will apply to smartphones, feature phones, cordless phones and slate tablets placed on the EU market from 20 June 2025 onwards. Energy Labelling requirements will apply from the same date for smartphones and slate tablets. These rules do not apply to tablet computers, to products with flexible main display (roll-up), and to smartphones for high security communication.
The regulations focus on measures to extend product lifetime (reparability, upgradability, battery life). The increase in average lifetime, e.g. from 3.0 to 4.1 years for a mid-range smartphone, implies a decrease in annual sales, with the same stock.
[...] The ecodesign requirements will include:
• resistance to accidental drops or scratches and protection from dust and water
• sufficiently durable batteries which can withstand at least 800 charge and discharge cycles while retaining at least 80% of their initial capacity
• rules on disassembly and repair, including obligations for producers to make critical spare parts available within 5-10 working days, and for 7 years after the end of sales of the product model on the EU market
• availability of operating system upgrades for longer periods (at least 5 years from the date of the end of placement on the market of the last unit of a product model)
• non-discriminatory access for professional repairers to any software or firmware needed for the replacementSmartphones and tablets will have to display information on their energy efficiency, battery longevity, protection from dust and water and resistance to accidental drops. This is also the first time that a product placed on the EU market will be required to display a repairability score.
This energy label will help EU consumers make more informed and sustainable purchasing choices and encourage sustainable consumption.
[...] For further information, see:
• The new Ecodesign measures explained (European Commission)
• About the energy label and Ecodesign – Energy savings (European Commission).
An example of a consumer label is shown
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
In its second asteroid encounter, NASA's Lucy spacecraft obtained a close look at a uniquely shaped fragment of an asteroid that formed about 150 million years ago. The spacecraft has begun returning images that were collected as it flew approximately 600 miles (960 km) from the asteroid Donaldjohanson on April 20, 2025.
The asteroid was previously observed to have large brightness variations over a 10-day period, so some of Lucy team members' expectations were confirmed when the first images showed what appeared to be an elongated contact binary (an object formed when two smaller bodies collide). However, the team was surprised by the odd shape of the narrow neck connecting the two lobes, which looks like two nested ice cream cones.
"Asteroid Donaldjohanson has strikingly complicated geology," says Hal Levison, principal investigator for Lucy at Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado. "As we study the complex structures in detail, they will reveal important information about the building blocks and collisional processes that formed the planets in our Solar System."
From a preliminary analysis of the first available images collected by the spacecraft's L'LORRI imager, the asteroid appears to be larger than originally estimated, about 5 miles (8 km) long and 2 miles (3.5 km) wide at the widest point. In this first set of high-resolution images returned from the spacecraft, the full asteroid is not visible as the asteroid is larger than the imager's field of view. It will take up to a week for the team to downlink the remainder of the encounter data from the spacecraft; this dataset will give a more complete picture of the asteroid's overall shape.
Like Lucy's first asteroid flyby target, Dinkinesh, Donaldjohanson is not a primary science target of the Lucy mission. As planned, the Dinkinesh flyby was a system's test for the mission, while this encounter was a full dress rehearsal, in which the team conducted a series of dense observations to maximize data collection. Data collected by Lucy's other scientific instruments, the L'Ralph color imager and infrared spectrometer and the L'TES thermal infrared spectrometer, will be retrieved and analyzed over the next few weeks.
The Lucy spacecraft will spend most of the remainder of 2025 travelling through the main asteroid belt. Lucy will encounter the mission's first main target, the Jupiter Trojan asteroid Eurybates, in August 2027.
Mathematician, cryptologist, and computer scientist, Daniel J Bernstein has written a detailed blog post about the McEliece cryptosystem. Specifically he covers what Classic McEliece does , how the parameter sets were selected, its small ciphertexts, what NIST says about ISO standardization. what NIST says about deployment, a note about one performance number, a second note about FrodoKEM, and finally what NIST says about security.
Once upon a time, NIST started working on standardizing post-quantum cryptography, and announced that "The goal of this process is to select a number of acceptable candidate cryptosystems for standardization".
By now NIST has quite a few standards for post-quantum signatures. It has already standardized Dilithium (ML-DSA), LMS, SPHINCS+ (SLH-DSA), and XMSS. It said in 2022 that it will also standardize Falcon (FN-DSA) "because its small bandwidth may be necessary in certain applications". It is evaluating more options for post-quantum signatures, such as small-signature large-key options. Evidently NIST will end up with at least six post-quantum signature standards.
For post-quantum encryption, NIST's offerings are much more sparse. NIST has just one standard, namely Kyber (ML-KEM). It said in March 2025 that it also plans to standardize HQC; supposedly the patent on HQC won't be an issue because of an upcoming FRAND license; but an April 2025 posting regarding design flaws in HQC prompted an HQC team announcement that HQC would be modified. Doesn't look like HQC is ready for usage yet.
Wait. What about the increasingly widely deployed McEliece cryptosystem?
Previously:
(2025) NIST Selects HQC as Fifth Algorithm for Post-Quantum Encryption
(2024) Here's the Paper No One Read Before Declaring the Demise of Modern Cryptography
(2023) Signal Adds Quantum-resistant Encryption to its E2EE Messaging Protocol
(2023) NIST Releases Draft Post-Quantum Encryption Document
... and many more.
Kennedy promises exhaustive studies to identify any environmental factors that may cause autism:
Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. warned that children in the U.S. are being diagnosed with autism at an "alarming rate," promising on Wednesday to conduct exhaustive studies to identify any environmental factors that may cause the developmental disorder.
His call comes the day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report that found an estimated 1 in 31 U.S. children have autism, a marked increase from 2020.
Autism experts applaud efforts to further understand the condition, but say the number of reported cases began to balloon as the definition of the condition expanded to include mild cases.
"Autism destroys families," Kennedy said. "More importantly, it destroys our greatest resource, which is our children. These are children who should not be suffering like this."
Kennedy described autism as a "preventable disease," although researchers and scientists have identified genetic factors that are associated with it. Autism is not considered a disease, but a complex disorder that affects the brain. Cases range widely in severity, with symptoms that can include delays in language, learning, and social or emotional skills. Some autistic traits can go unnoticed well into adulthood.
Those who have spent decades researching autism have found no single cause. Besides genetics, scientists have identified various possible factors, including the age of a child's father, the mother's weight, and whether she had diabetes or was exposed to certain chemicals.
[...] The Autism Science Foundation said Kennedy's emphasis on environmental factors contradicted the findings in the CDC's report.
"This report is the most convincing evidence yet that changes in factors like access to services and de-stigmatization of (autism spectrum disorders) are leading to the increases in prevalence," said Autism Science Foundation Chief Science Officer Dr. Alycia Halladay.
NIH autism study will pull from private medical records:
The National Institutes of Health will begin collecting Americans' private health records as part of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s controversial plan to discover a cause and a cure for autism. NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya told a panel of experts about the plan this week.
The NIH plans to gather information from a wide range of private sources, including pharmacy chains, hospitals and wearable devices with health sensors, like smartwatches.
"The idea of the platform is that the existing data resources are often fragmented and difficult to obtain. The NIH itself will often pay multiple times for the same data resource," Bhattacharya told the panel, according to The Guardian. "Even data resources that are within the federal government are difficult to obtain."
[...] Sara Geoghegan, senior counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said the decision to gather private medical data in this way was a shocking departure from the norm and questioned how NIH planned to protect the information it gained.
"I am almost mind blown here," Geoghegan said.
"I do think that there can be permissible uses of data for medical research when they are properly scoped and when they have strong and robust safeguards in place to protect personal privacy and personal information. I am very concerned about this type of database that collects information from commercial sources," she said.
[...] Andrew Crawford, senior counsel for the Center for Democracy and Technology's Privacy and Data Project, expressed similar concerns.
"This just strikes me as another example of how the administration is really violating long-standing privacy norms," Crawford said.
"We've seen, for example with DOGE, this just seems like another example and another instance where elements of the federal government are going to be accessing and linking some of the most sensitive personal information out there for government purposes that aren't very clearly defined or kind of unknown," he continued, referencing Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.
There, staffers have been granted unprecedented access to Americans' sensitive personal data, including Social Security databases.
PALO ALTO, California–An international team of scientists and crew on board Schmidt Ocean Institute's research vessel Falkor (too) was the first to film the colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) in its natural environment. The 30-centimeter juvenile squid (nearly one foot long) was captured on video at a depth of 600 meters (1968 feet) by the Institute's remotely operated vehicle (ROV) SuBastian. The sighting occurred on March 9 on an expedition near the South Sandwich Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. This year is the 100-year anniversary of the identification and formal naming of the colossal squid, a member of the glass squid family (Cranchiidae).
Additionally, on January 25 a team on the previous Falkor (too) expedition filmed the first confirmed footage of the glacial glass squid (Galiteuthis glacialis) in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica. G. glacialis is another glass squid species that has never been seen alive in its natural environment before.
The 35-day expedition that captured the footage of the colossal squid was an Ocean Census flagship expedition searching for new marine life – a collaboration between Schmidt Ocean Institute, the Nippon Foundation-Nekton Ocean Census, and GoSouth, a joint project between the University of Plymouth (UK), GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research (Germany), and the British Antarctic Survey."It's exciting to see the first in situ footage of a juvenile colossal and humbling to think that they have no idea that humans exist," said Dr. Kat Bolstad of the Auckland University of Technology, one of the independent scientific experts the team consulted to verify the footage. "For 100 years, we have mainly encountered them as prey remains in whale and seabird stomachs and as predators of harvested toothfish."
Colossal squid are estimated to grow up to seven meters (23 feet) in length and can weigh as much as 500 kilograms (1100 lbs), making them the heaviest invertebrate on the planet. Little is known about the colossal squid's life cycle, but eventually, they lose the see-through appearance of the juveniles. Dying adults have previously been filmed by fishermen, but have never been seen alive at depth.
Dr. Aaron Evans, another independent expert on the glass squid family, also confirmed the footage of both squids. Bolstad and Evans said one of the most distinguishing characteristics of colossal squid is the presence of hooks on the middle of their eight arms, which help differentiate them from G. glacialis. Otherwise juvenile colossal squid and G. glacialis are similar, with transparent bodies and sharp hooks at the end of their two longer tentacles.
[...] "The first sighting of two different squids on back-to-back expeditions is remarkable and shows how little we have seen of the magnificent inhabitants of the Southern Ocean," said Schmidt Ocean Institute's executive director, Dr. Jyotika Virmani. "Fortunately, we caught enough high-resolution imagery of these creatures to allow the global experts, who were not on the vessel, to identify both species."
SparkFun Electronics, known for open source designs and software libraries, has an article covering the history of time keeping, from the earliest archeological evidence like sundials and water clocks, through mechanical clocks, to the latest standards like Cesium-133 atomic clocks.
Atomic clocks function by measuring the precise frequency of microwaves needed to induce a particular energy state transition in atoms. The most common type of atomic clock today uses cesium atoms, specifically the transition between two energy states in the cesium-133 atom.
Cesium-133 is perfect for this application for a few reasons. It has one free electron in it's outermost energy level, which means it can be excited by a very specific and very regular frequency. It can also be vaporized at low temperatures, which is needed for the interior of the clock to work properly.
When cesium-133 atoms are exposed to microwaves of a very precise and consistent frequency, they undergo a predictable change in energy levels. The state of the atoms is detected inside the clock, and whether or not they are excited tells the clock if the microwave frequency is correct.
In simpler terms, atomic clocks do not actually count seconds, they create them. In the case of cesium atomic clocks, this frequency is exactly 9,192,631,770 cycles per second - a resonant frequency of cesium-133. This precise measurement is so reliable that in 1967, the International System of Units (SI) redefined the second based on this property of cesium-133.
Previously:
(2024) RIP: Inventor of NTP Protocol, That Keeps Time on Billions of Devices, Dies at Age 85
(2022) The New Yorker on NTP Software Maintenance
(2015) OpenNTPD 5.7p1 Released
(2014) What Time Is It? Time for Multiple NTP Vulnerabilities!
Study provides explanation for one bacterium's link to mental health:
It's become increasingly clear that the gut microbiome can affect human health, including mental health. Which bacterial species influence the development of disease and how they do so, however, is only just starting to be unraveled.
For instance, some studies have found compelling links between one species of gut bacteria, Morganella morganii, and major depressive disorder. But until now no one could tell whether this bacterium somehow helps drive the disorder, the disorder alters the microbiome, or something else is at play.
Harvard Medical School researchers have now pinpointed a biologic mechanism that strengthens the evidence that M. morganii influences brain health and provides a plausible explanation for how it does so.
The findings, published Jan. 16 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, implicate an inflammation-stimulating molecule and offer a new target that could be useful for diagnosing or treating certain cases of the disorder. They also provide a roadmap for probing how other members of the gut microbiome influence human health and behavior.
"There is a story out there linking the gut microbiome with depression, and this study takes it one step further, toward a real understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind the link," said senior author Jon Clardy, the Christopher T. Walsh, PhD Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS.
The study reveals that an environmental contaminant known as diethanolamine, or DEA, sometimes takes the place of a sugar alcohol in a molecule that M. morganii makes in the gut.
This abnormal molecule then activates an immune response that the normal molecule does not, stimulating the release of inflammatory proteins called cytokines, particularly interleukin-6 (IL-6), the team found.
[...] DEA is used in industrial, agricultural, and consumer products.
"We knew that micropollutants can be incorporated into fatty molecules in the body, but we didn't know how this occurs or what happens next," Clardy said. "DEA's metabolism into an immune signal was completely unexpected."
The team proposes that DEA could be added to the growing list of biomarkers used to detect some cases of major depressive disorder.
The study also strengthens arguments that major depressive disorder, or a subset of cases, could be considered an autoinflammatory or autoimmune disease and be successfully treated with immune modulator drugs, Clardy said.
Journal Reference: DOI: 10.1021/jacs.4c15158
The story itself is interesting as quantum messaging over existing networks dramatically reduces costs, but I wanted to compare how different sources report the story.
The story caught my eye on phys.org where you get a short but reasonable summary with pictures. Maybe phys.org used AI to generate this summary?
scienmag.com has a longer summary with more detail and commentary on why the story is significant.
The original story is reported in Nature, with more detail and dense technical language.
First off we have phys.org: Quantum messages travel 254 km using existing infrastructure for the first time
Quantum messages sent across a 254-km telecom network in Germany represent the first known report of coherent quantum communications using existing commercial telecommunication infrastructure.
The demonstration, reported in Nature this week, suggests that quantum communications can be achieved in real-world conditions.
Quantum networks have the potential to enable secure communications, such as a quantum internet; quantum key distribution is one example of a theoretically secure communication technique.
Exploiting the coherence of light waves (their potential to interact predictably) can extend the range of quantum communications, but scalability has been limited by the need for specialized equipment, such as cryogenic coolers.
An approach that enables the distribution of quantum information through optical fiber cables, without the need for cryogenic cooling, is described by Mirko Pittaluga and colleagues.
Their system uses a coherence-based twin-field quantum key distribution, which facilitates the distribution of secure information over long distances.
The quantum communications network was deployed over three telecommunication data centers in Germany (Frankfurt, Kehl and Kirchfeld), connected by 254 km of commercial optical fiber—a new record distance for real-world and practical quantum key distribution, according to the authors.
This demonstration indicates that advanced quantum communications protocols that exploit the coherence of light can be made to work over existing telecom infrastructure."
Next we have https://scienmag.com/quantum-communication-achieves-long-distance-telecom-integration/ which is too long to quote in full - first para reads:
In the rapidly evolving domain of quantum communications, the ability to maintain optical coherence over long distances has emerged as a vital ingredient for constructing the quantum internet of the future. Recent groundbreaking work by Pittaluga and colleagues marks a significant leap forward in this area, demonstrating coherent quantum communication over an unprecedented 254-kilometer span of deployed commercial fiber optic infrastructure connecting Frankfurt and Kehl in Germany. This achievement not only sets a new benchmark for distance in quantum key distribution (QKD) but also showcases the potential for integrating advanced quantum protocols within existing telecommunications frameworks without reliance on bulky cryogenic technology.
And finally the Nature abstract: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08801-w
Recent advances in quantum communications have underscored the crucial role of optical coherence in developing quantum networks. This resource, which is fundamental to the phase-based architecture of the quantum internet, has enabled the only successful demonstrations of multi-node quantum networks and substantially extended the range of quantum key distribution (QKD). However, the scalability of coherence-based quantum protocols remains uncertain owing to the specialized hardware required, such as ultra-stable optical cavities and cryogenic photon detectors. Here we implement the coherence-based twin-field QKD protocol over a 254-kilometre commercial telecom network spanning between Frankfurt and Kehl, Germany, achieving encryption key distribution at 110 bits per second. Our results are enabled by a scalable approach to optical coherence distribution, supported by a practical system architecture and non-cryogenic single-photon detection aided by off-band phase stabilization. Our results demonstrate repeater-like quantum communication in an operational network setting, doubling the distance for practical real-world QKD implementations without cryogenic cooling. In addition, to our knowledge, we realized one of the largest QKD networks featuring measurement-device-independent properties. Our research aligns the requirements of coherence-based quantum communication with the capabilities of existing telecommunication infrastructure, which is likely to be useful to the future of high-performance quantum networks, including the implementation of advanced quantum communication protocols, quantum repeaters, quantum sensing networks and distributed quantum computing.