1466: Bo Jo No Mo

TM Adam, my sister works as a manager for Walmart in Kona, Hawaii. She says that with the price of fuel and inflated food prices that customers are only purchasing food stuffs and gasoline and NOT buying anything else in the store. A backlog of merchandise continues to arrive and thus the Walmart parking lot is turning into a storage area for shipping containers full of assorted merch that they don't have room for in the store. People can't afford anything else except to fill their vehicles and bellies. Maybe after we all have electric/hydrogene cars and are eating bugs we will be able to afford cheap, Chinese made crap again.

Thank you for your courage,

Sincerely, Mr Matt of the Growing Tree and Bend Soup Club.

33

I have a friend in Scotland who told me her friend took out a 45 year mortgage to buy half

ownership of her apartment. The building owner owns the other half and she still is on the hook for

fees related to the building. I think it worked out to 200 pounds a month and she claims it just

worked well in her budget. 50 year interest only mortgages are apparently a thing in Switzerland

when I was born. I believe the logic is you take out this super long loan, and by the time it is

due, Inflation has increased the value of the property by so much that it’s easy to pay off in the

future. Sorta how the government works.

Thanks for the great show.

Josef Theiler of Soviet Canuckistan

From 2022, all new vehicles sold in the EU and UK, will be fitted with Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA), which is another way of saying ’automatic speed limiters’. It will work through the use of cameras, GPS and computers to impose limits to the power output of the engine as you approach a changing speed limit.

Due to be enforced from May 2022, all new cars, vans, trucks and buses will have to be fitted with the technology, although it won’t have to be retro-fitted to older vehicles.

When the vehicle approaches an area with a speed limit, engine power will automatically be reduced, forcing the car to travel at the posted speed. It can be overridden by pressing the accelerator down fully, but this will be accompanied by audible and visual warnings.

Depending on the country where the vehicle is sold, the system might simply be advisory and will give warnings of exceeding the speed limit, whereas in other countries the system will reduce engine power to ensure you remain at the speed limit.

Link

Jouke, zo heet die 16 jarige jongen op wie geschoten is, is aangehouden omdat hij zou hebben geprobeerd op de politie in te rijden dat is poging tot doodslag, waardoor noodweer gerechtvaardigd is...niemand gelooft dit, omdat ze in de zijkant schieten van een tractor die wegrijdt...

Vervolgens het politiebureau in Leeuwarden belegerd, en de gevangenis. Hele dag, uiteindelijk weg bij het bureau, maar doorgegaan voor de gevangenis.

Rond 21.00 is hij vrijgelaten, want OM zegt geen dringende bewijzen te hebben voor de aanklacht, maar hij blijft wel verdachte.

Ondertussen velen daar roepen dat ze Fryslân wel terug gaan nemen van het koloniale bewind in Holland.

I’m sorry if I’ve sent you something about this before but, it’s the American version of what you are seeing in the Netherlands. Obviously Americans won’t be willing to give up on meat so easily but, it’s important to know that Oregon and Washington are mail in only voting states. There’s no verifiable oversight on the elections. In addition to trying to stop the slaughter or eating of any animal that didn’t die of natural causes, they have added an abolition of any type of animal husbandry. So, if you encourage animals to mate, or castrate any animal (both are necessary on farms) you will be charged with a crime and have to register as a sexual predator. Think how many farms are in proximity to a school in the state and what that means for land ownership. It’s on the ballot in the fall of 2024 but, I could swear (maybe wrong) that when they got the signatures for the measure it was originally for this fall. It’s as if they’ve decided to put it off. You’ll notice their website link is “yes on ip3” yet the current measure is “ip13” see links below

https://www.yesonip3.org/

https://oregonfb.org/ip13/

The Dutch minister who pushed the nitrogen law that grants the government the power to expropriate our farmers’ land has a brother who owns online supermarket

@picnic. Guess who invested $600 million in that company? Bill ‘fake meat’ Gates. This is what corruption looks like.

Link

It’s Sandra again.

Since you have been focusing so much on agriculture and food. I want to share with you and John a conundrum that has been bothering me for a while now.

I recently bought a field of almond trees in the Douro Valley, Portugal, where I’m originally from. Some of my millennial friends told me that I made a terrible mistake, and I’m part of the “problem”. According to them and other reports they shared with me, (Mother Jones for e.g.), to grow one almond, you need 1.1 gallons of water. (One nut = 1.1 gallons)

They also believe that almond trees are causing droughts in California, where most of the production is in the US. Hence, in the past few months, they have all switched from almond lattes to oat lattes with extra foam, and snack on dehydrated mango.

Due to the high demand, you can now walk into a supermarket in Brooklyn and get a wide variety of oat milk and overnight oats. The almond milk prices have also increased above inflation, half a gallon at its lowest price is $5.

However, this is not the case in my experience. My family has been growing almonds for centuries, and almond trees require little to almost no water during the year. The only maintenance needed is to trim and clean the field once or twice a year. The climate in our region is Mediterranean, hot and mostly dry. Similar to California.

So here’s my conundrum: Where does this idea that almonds require so much water come from???

I’ve been researching a bit, and even though I don’t have a clear answer, I think it might be somehow related to water quotas. Especially in California.

This war on almonds is also a health concern, just compare the nutritional value of oats vs almonds. And who wants to eat dehydrated mango?? It’s disgusting.

What happened to Obama’s famous breakfast of a fistful of almonds?

Finally, I think most of my friends have no clue what an almond tree looks like.

That’s it for now. I just wanted to flag this for you, because I think this type of ignorance is part of a push to change the way we eat.

Thank you for all you do.

Warm greetings from Brushwick.

Sandra

Some interesting articles on the both sides:

https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/01/almonds-nuts-crazy-stats-charts/

https://www.paesta.psu.edu/podcast/how-much-water-does-it-really-take-grow-almonds-paesta-podcast-series-episode-43

1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.

2. Guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity.

3. Unite humanity with a living new language.

4. Rule Passion — Faith — Tradition — and all things with tempered reason.

5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.

6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.

7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.

8. Balance personal rights with social duties.

9. Prize truth — beauty — love — seeking harmony with the infinite.

10. Be not a cancer on the earth — Leave room for nature — Leave room for nature.

An interesting coincidence that they exploded exactly at 04:03:33. 4+3+3+3 = 13, also 7+6 is 13.

Constructed on 3/22/1980, Skull & Bones number 322.

Bush Sr. last official year working for the CIA was 1979, GG was a pet project?

George W. Bush birthday is 7/6/1946, the day of the incident, he turned 76.

Area code where the guidestones are located in Elberton, GA is 706.

I’ll get right to the hot news. Contract negotiations are in full tilt at all the airlines (FedEx included)

United was quick to put out the first contract, and their management team was quick to pound their chests saying they were ensuring their pilots were taken good care of.

Of note in their Tentative Agreement (TA) was the issue of one (1) each Tumi suitcase. Wow, that speaks volumes. Also, United paid their pilots to stay home with Covid money from the government during the pandemic.

American came out with a contract that made United look foolish, so the United pilots union (ALPA) quickly withdrew the TA from a vote and said they were going to go back to the negotiating table.

Delta is idling on the sidelines. Waiting to see what the other 2 get, then will beat both.

While contract negotiations are in play, pilots are required by the Railroad Labor Act to fly their awarded trip. So they are doing just that, nothing more. Thus a lot of trips remain open, with no pilots to fly them.

The hottest news, from last week was a “glitch” in the trip trade system from American Airlines. Pilots can trade trips with one another with the approval of scheduling.

Last week something happened and ALL of the trips that were proffered up were essentially deleted from the pilots schedule. This means the company bought the trip back from the pilot, essentially paying them to stay home.

American immediately recognized what had happened and began placing the trips back on the pilots schedule, however, contractually, this is illegal. The union stepped in and told the company they could not do this. The company, with no choice, offered pilots 200 and in some cases 300% pay to take the trips back.

The unions stance, after exhaustive negotiations with American Management seems to be “enjoy your paid time off.”

Here is one of the many articles on the “glitch”

https://simpleflying.com/american-airlines-glitch-temporarily-left-thousands-of-scheduled-flights-without-pilots/

Here is a short response (public release) of the Unions response.

https://www.alliedpilots.org/News/ID/10302/APA-Board-of-Directors-Voting-Conference-Call

This will impact July thru early August schedules as some trips carry over into August. I would really think twice before scheduling to fly on American this summer.

Abstract

The U.S. is well below the world average in terms of the number of mass public shootings, and the global increase over time has been much bigger than for the United States.

Over the 20 years from 1998 to 2017, our list contains 2,772 attacks and at least 5,764 shooters outside the United States and 62 attacks and 66 shooters within our country. By our count, the US makes up less than 1.13% of the mass public shooters, 1.77% of their murders, and 2.19% of their attacks. All these are much less than the US’s 4.6% share of the world population. Attacks in the US are not only less frequent than other countries, they are also much less deadly on average. Out of the 101 countries where we have identified mass public shootings occurring, the United States ranks 66th in the per capita frequency of these attacks and 56th in the murder rate.

Not only have these attacks been much more common outside the US, the US’s share of these attacks has declined over time. There has been a much bigger increase over time in the number of mass shootings in the rest of the world compared to the US.

Link

Here is the latest from Shanghai:

(1) Starting on 1 July 2022 the city was OPEN ... and all government offices were open.

Restaurants were allowed to have inside dining (full capacity), malls (no air-conditioning) were open.

(2) because so many small shops and corner stores were no allowed to function, between Mid March 2022 and June 2022 (basically 16 weeks), some have never re-opened.

(3) The 1 July 2022 opening date was predicated upon a string of 14 days of "zero" Covid (meaning no positive PCR results and no one going the hospital).

(4 ) Since 1 July 2022, the new rule for internal travel, within Shanghai, is that a person must have a negative nucleic acid test within the preceding 72 hours. That is, to enter any store, hospital, market, etc., one must "show their green code."

(5) the city has set up MORE testing booths along the roads and in various neighborhoods - the testing is free. This will be the new normal. Constant throat swabs (no nasal invasions) every 2 or 3 days.

(6) in the last three days (from 4-6 July) there have been 26 "cases" in Shanghai, mostly asymptomatic, and the city has deemed neighborhoods of the "symptomatic" cases as HIGH-risk areas, and all the places where the "sick" people went are now MEDIUM risk areas. There are 72 neighborhoods now designated as medium-risk.

Many restaurants have been closed officially, and or restricted from selling alcohol, or have limited hours (remember, the virus travels at night).

Currently, I am in a low-risk (green) area, but 500 meters away is a HIGH-risk area.

(7) Multiple cities in China are now designated as High-Risk. (Suzhou, Anhui Province, about 600 km NW of Shanghai has over 220 cases).

This means, if a person leaves from one of those cities, where ever they arrive in China, they must stay at the quarantine hotel for at least 7 days (and maybe 14).

For low risk (green cities) the quarantine can be 3-5 days in a hotel, or just 1-3 days of "home quarantine" with daily pcr test results.

Best

JCJ

living the high (risk) life in Shanghai

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Thu, 07 Jul 2022 17:14

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Archived Version

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 17:13

London Scrabble members are said to be seething over the ban, which they say has resulted in "bitter spats" Competitive Scrabble players have accused games company Mattel of virtue signalling after banning a host of terms from the official score list.

More than 400 terms were banned in a bid to make the game more inclusive.

The ban targets slurs on race, sexuality and gender, making them no longer acceptable in the game's official scoring dictionary.

Competitive Scrabble player Jonathan Maitland, who once boasted about being top of the London Scrabble League, explained how unpopular the new ruling was.

A Scrabble board Mattel

A number of high scoring words have been banned Mattel

He said: "It's hard to find anyone in the Scrabble community in favour of the ban.

"That doesn't mean that we approve of any of the banned words, mind you. Among them are some vile racial slurs.

"But the words can't be un-invented: they are part of our sometimes shameful history.

"And playing them in a private word game is very different from using them in any other context."

He added in a column for The Spectator: "The previously genteel world of competitive Scrabble has become riven with hostility."

Mattel's global head of games, Ray Adler, said: "We looked at everything we were doing as a company and opportunities to be more culturally relevant.

''I've heard the argument that these are just words, but we believe they have meaning.''

He added: ''We need to modernise it.

''Can you imagine any other game where you can score points and win by using a racial epithet?

"It's long overdue.''

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Archived Version

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 17:12

written by Tom Beisner

Nothing ever changes. Thomas Jefferson was criticizing big banks at the beginning of our history'...

From the Daily Bail , a website devoted to bailout news, opinion and analysis:

Can We Party like it's 1776 and Just Start Over?Thomas Jefferson's Top 10 Quotes on Money and Banking''If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.''

''I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity under the name of funding is but swindling futurity on a large scale.'' ''Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 1816. ME 15:23

Related Post: Internal Control Assessments for Billion-Dollar Banks

''Everything predicted by the enemies of banks, in the beginning, is now coming to pass. We are to be ruined now by the deluge of bank paper. It is cruel that such revolutions in private fortunes should be at the mercy of avaricious adventurers, who, instead of employing their capital, if any they have, in manufactures, commerce, and other useful pursuits, make it an instrument to burden all the interchanges of property with their swindling profits, profits which are the price of no useful industry of theirs.'' ''Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 1814. ME 14:61

''The art and mystery of banks'... is established on the principle that 'private debts are a public blessing.' That the evidences of those private debts, called bank notes, become active capital, and aliment the whole commerce, manufactures, and agriculture of the United States. Here are a set of people, for instance, who have bestowed on us the great blessing of running in our debt about two hundred millions of dollars, without our knowing who they are, where they are, or what property they have to pay this debt when called on.''

''I own it to be my opinion, that good will arise from the destruction of our credit. I see nothing else which can restrain our disposition to luxury, and to the change of those manners which alone can preserve republican government. As it is impossible to prevent credit, the best way would be to cure its ill effects by giving an instantaneous recovery to the creditor. This would be reducing purchases on credit to purchases for ready money. A man would then see a prison painted on everything he wished, but had not ready money to pay for.'' ''Thomas Jefferson to Archibald Stuart, 1786. ME 5:259

''If the debt which the banking companies owe be a blessing to anybody, it is to themselves alone, who are realizing a solid interest of eight or ten per cent on it. As to the public, these companies have banished all our gold and silver medium, which, before their institution, we had without interest, which never could have perished in our hands, and would have been our salvation now in the hour of war; instead of which they have given us two hundred million of froth and bubble, on which we are to pay them heavy interest, until it shall vanish into air'... We are warranted, then, in affirming that this parody on the principle of 'a public debt being a public blessing,' and its mutation into the blessing of private instead of public debts, is as ridiculous as the original principle itself. In both cases, the truth is, that capital may be produced by industry, and accumulated by economy; but jugglers only will propose to create it by legerdemain tricks with paper.'' ''Thomas Jefferson to John W. Eppes, 1813. ME 13:423

Related Post: How Tax Reform Affects Community Banks

''The Bank of the United States is one of the most deadly hostilities existing, against the principles and form of our Constitution. An institution like this, penetrating by its branches every part of the Union, acting by command and in phalanx, may, in a critical moment, upset the government. I deem no government safe which is under the vassalage of any self-constituted authorities, or any other authority than that of the nation, or its regular functionaries. What an obstruction could not this bank of the United States, with all its branch banks, be in time of war! It might dictate to us the peace we should accept, or withdraw its aids. Ought we then to give further growth to an institution so powerful, so hostile?'' ''Thomas Jefferson to Albert Gallatin, 1803. ME 10:437

Regulating Banking Institutions''The principle of rotation'... in the body of [bank] directors'... breaks in upon the espirit de corps so apt to prevail in permanent bodies; it gives a chance for the public eye penetrating into the sanctuary of those proceedings and practices, which the avarice of the directors may introduce for their personal emolument, and which the resentments of excluded directors, or the honesty of those duly admitted, might betray to the public; and it gives an opportunity at the end of the year, or at other periods, of correcting a choice, which on trial, proves to have been unfortunate.'' ''Thomas Jefferson to Albert Gallatin, 1803. ME 10:437

Paper Speculation''A spirit'... of gambling in our public paper has seized on too many of our citizens, and we fear it will check our commerce, arts, manufactures, and agriculture, unless stopped.'' ''Thomas Jefferson to William Carmichael, 1791. ME 8:230

''Our public credit is good, but the abundance of paper has produced a spirit of gambling in the funds, which has laid up our ships at the wharves as too slow instruments of profit, and has even disarmed the hand of the tailor of his needle and thimble. They say the evil will cure itself. I wish it may; but I have rarely seen a gamester cured, even by the disasters of his vocation.'' ''Thomas Jefferson to Gouverneur Morris, 1791. ME 8:241

Tom Beisner is a CPA and partner at The Whitlock Co. Reach out to us for a consultation if you're in Springfield, Kansas City, or Joplin in Missouri.

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Archived Version

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 17:12

A consortium of high-profile figures from entertainment and media have invested in the clean energy startup Palmetto.

Notables including LeBron James and his business partner Maverick Carter, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Billie Eilish, Finneas O'Connell, Jimmy Iovine, Drake, and Bono have all come on board as investors via the firm Main Street Advisors. Palmetto aims to drive the adoption of renewable energy, chief among those solar power, for residential customers.

Main Street's undisclosed investment follows the company's $375 million series C raise in 2021.

''Clean energy should be accessible for everyone, not just households with expendable income,'' Carter told Variety. ''Palmetto's work to provide more affordable clean energy can have an immediate positive impact on the environment as well as families and communities across the country. Empowering people with access, information, and opportunities is something we're passionate about and always excited to get behind.''

Residential solar use is a reported $100 billion market, though only an estimated 3% of 70 million homes in the United States currently use the technology. The Main Street investment hopes to help convert homeowners curious about solar (and all that star power won't hurt). Part of the platform's sales pitch is the ability to give homeowners a cost-benefit analysis for going solar in a matter of minutes, as well as offer numbers on carbon footprint offset.

''Our mission is to democratize clean energy and fundamentally alter the trajectory of climate change. The key to the clean energy revolution is to educate people and bring awareness to the issues and solutions,'' said Chris Kemper, Palmetto chairman, founder, and CEO. ''We've been at this for over a decade and honestly, I can't think of better partners to help us share our company's mission and message that clean energy is a choice for everyone.''

Kemper founded Palmetto after years working with the world's leading organizations on climate change. He has aligned stakeholders including policymakers, investors, business leaders, financiers and consumers in his call for a New Utility Revolution, and a shared mission of leading the world into a clean energy future.

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Archived Version

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 17:11

ISTANBUL (AP) '-- Annual inflation in Turkey hit 78.62% in June, the highest rate since 1998, according to official data released Monday.

The Turkish Statistical Institute, or TurkStat, released the monthly figures as Turkey is experiencing a deepening cost-of-living crisis. Consumer prices rose by 4.95% on a monthly basis, the institute reported.

While many countries are seeing rising consumer prices, critics blame Turkey's problems on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's economic policies.

The Turkish leader insists that high borrowing costs cause inflation '-- a position that contradicts established economic thinking '-- and advocats lowering interest rates to boost growth and exports.

Turkey's central bank had cut rates by 5 percentage points since September, to 14%, before pausing the cuts in January. The Turkish lira lost 44% of its value against the U.S. dollar last year.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which led to a surge in gas, oil and grain prices, has compounded the situation in import-reliant Turkey.

The sharpest increases in annual prices were in the transportation sector, at 123.37%, followed by food and non-alcoholic drinks prices at 93.93%, according to official data.

TurkStat's figures have been questioned by economists, who allege the agency is subject to political pressure. The dismissals and resignations of senior TurkStat officials in recent months have added to claims of government interference.

The Inflation Research Group, which is made up of independent economists, on Monday said Turkey's true level of annual inflation for June was 175.55%.

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Archived Version

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 17:09

Europe | Denmark's Leader Apologizes for Botched Mink Cull During Pandemic https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/01/world/europe/denmark-mink-report-covid.htmlThe comments by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen came after a report called the government's decision in 2020 to kill some 17 million mink over coronavirus fears illegal.

A site near Holstebro, Denmark, where the government was disposing of dead mink in November 2020. Credit... Morten Stricker/Ritzau Scanpix, via Agence France-Presse '-- Getty Images When Denmark ordered the culling of its entire population of mink in late 2020 over fears that a mutated version of the coronavirus that had infected mink could diminish the effectiveness of vaccines, millions of animals were killed and farmers were left reeling by a financial burden that Danish taxpayers ultimately will shoulder.

On Friday, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark apologized to the country's mink farmers after a damning report released this week blamed top officials for mishandling the cull and said that she had misled the public '-- the latest twist in a fiasco that has undermined the government's popularity.

''I know you lost your life's work, and I am truly sorry for the frustration and grief it has caused,'' Ms. Frederiksen said, adding that the government would be taking seriously criticism of its handling of the situation.

But she maintained that the decision to cull the mink was ''necessary'' and rebutted calls for a legal investigation. ''We had a responsibility for the health of the entire world,'' she said, adding that officials had not misled the public over the issue.

The decision to cull the mink was made when the coronavirus was found to have leaped to humans from the animals in some cases. Worried that a mutated version of the virus transmitted among mink could make coronavirus vaccines less effective for people, the government ordered the culling of some 17 million animals, a significant blow to a country that was until then the world's top producer of mink pelts, commonly used for luxury coats.

Outbreaks in mink populations, and the subsequent slaughtering of the animals, had emerged in other countries, but the scale of the killing was far higher in Denmark. The Danish military was called in to help about 1,100 mink farmers slaughter their animals. Making matters worse, many of the animals were not buried properly and had to be exhumed from mass graves and incinerated.

The cull, which resulted in the loss of 5,000 jobs and effectively halted the industry at the time, was met with a public backlash, forcing the resignation of one minister. Some right-wing lawmakers accused Ms. Frederiksen of using the pandemic to end mink farming in the country and called for her resignation.

Image Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has apologized to the country's mink farmers: ''I know you lost your life's work, and I am truly sorry for the frustration and grief it has caused.'' Credit... Olafur Steinar Gestsson/Ritzau Scanpix, via Agence France-Presse '-- Getty Images A 1,649-page report, published on Thursday by a parliamentary commission that investigated what has been dubbed ''minkgate'' in Denmark for over a year, called the cull order illegal and accused several government officials of acting ''reprehensibly,'' including some in Ms. Frederiksen's office who it said could be held legally liable for misconduct.

The report found that Ms. Frederiksen was ''grossly misleading'' and breached ''truth and legality,'' when she announced in November 2020 that all mink, infected or not, should be culled. But the commission said it was unable to assess whether Ms. Frederiksen had committed ''gross negligence'' because she has said she was unaware that she had overstepped her authority.

Ms. Frederiksen testified last year in front of the commission that she became aware of the fact that the government did not have the legal powers to kill noninfected animals only days after she announced the decision to cull the mink.

It was not immediately clear what the political consequences of the report would be. Ms. Frederiksen said she did not intend to resign and rejected calls for a legal investigation, saying that the government had been transparent about the issue.

''The government has at no time tried to hide or cover up this mistake,'' she said. ''On the contrary, we have put it all out there.''

A decision of how to proceed on the issue will be left up to Parliament, she said.

Some supporters of Ms. Frederiksen's center-left government in Parliament said they would not call for a legal investigation. Many of her conservative opponents want an investigation, and they have been scathing about the government's handling of the affair.

''It's a big show with five ministers trying to save themselves,'' said Soren Pape Poulsen, a leader of the Conservative People's Party, according to the Danish broadcaster DR.

If Danish lawmakers proceed with a legal investigation, Ms. Frederiksen could face impeachment.

Lawmakers last year approved a move that allowed mink farmers in Denmark's already troubled industry to seek up to $3 billion in compensation. As of last month, 1,245 mink companies have applied for compensation after shutting down their businesses, according to government figures. Only 15 have applied for a financial package that would help them continue farming mink after the lifting of the farming ban.

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Thu, 07 Jul 2022 17:07

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Thu, 07 Jul 2022 17:02

Mohammad Barkindo, a Nigerian politician and secretary-general of oil producer group OPEC, died at the age of 63, just days before he was set to finish his term at the organization.

The head of Nigeria's National Petroleum Corp., Mele Kyari, announced the news in a tweet Wednesday, which was later confirmed by OPEC.

"We lost our esteemed Dr Muhammad Sanusi Barkindo," a tweet early Wednesday morning from his verified Twitter handle read.

"He died at about 11pm yesterday 5th July 2022. Certainly a great loss to his immediate family, the NNPC, our country Nigeria, the OPEC and the global energy community. Burial arrangements will be announced shortly."

The cause of death has not been announced.

Barkindo's unexpected death came as a shock to members of the oil and gas world, many of whom describe him as a giant in the industry.

His career spanned over four decades and included work at Nigeria's National Petroleum Corp., Duke Oil, Nigeria's Foreign Ministry and Energy Ministry, as well as OPEC.

Since taking the helm as secretary-general of OPEC in 2016, Barkindo oversaw tumultuous times for the oil producer group, which witnessed volatile markets rocked by historic events including the Covid-19 pandemic, the creation of the OPEC+ alliance with Russia and other non-OPEC states, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

While the organization lost two members, Qatar and Ecuador, during that time, Barkindo is nonetheless credited with guiding unity among the group's members in an effort to stabilize global oil markets.

Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, secretary general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Aaron M. Sprecher | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Barkindo's death comes at a time of volatile energy markets, global inflation, growing climate risks, and continued fallout from the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war. Geopolitical conflicts and sanctions have led to much tighter oil supplies, pushing prices to multiyear highs amid fears of a global recession.

Barkindo had just been awarded a distinguished fellowship at the Atlantic Council, set to begin upon the completion of his term at OPEC on July 31.

Atlantic Council CEO Frederick Kempe had previously described Barkindo as having "unparalleled expertise on oil markets, security, and governance" and "a deep understanding of geopolitics in a volatile world."

In a statement included in the council's July 1 announcement of the new fellowship, Barkindo had said, "I am deeply honored to have been recognized as a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council ... I look forward to contributing to the organization's work on a plethora of energy-related issues, at a time when the world's eyes are focused on both short- and long-term energy market outlooks."

'-- CNBC's Emma Graham contributed to this article.

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Archived Version

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 16:56

New research suggests that two areas of the brain work together in response to serotonin to promote the ability to wait patiently and practice impulse control. This finding may aid the development of targeted treatments for individuals who are less able to suppress impulsive and impatient behavior.

As the saying goes, ''Patience is considered a virtue.'' However, for some people, this attribute is challenging to manage, causing issues with relationships, employment, finances, and educational pursuits.

Well-documented research already exists on the relationship between serotonin '-- a neurochemical responsible for feelings of well-being '-- and social and emotional behaviors, including impulsivity.

For instance, one study on mice, which the Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York State Psychiatric Institute conducted, showed a possible link between a lack of serotonin receptors in the brain and impulsive behavior.

As experts do not fully understand the neurological process for regulating patience and impulse control, the researchers behind the new study aimed to look into how serotonin acts on specific regions of the brain to regulate the ability to wait for a desired reward.

The Neural Computation Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) ran the study, which appears in the journal Science Advances.

In the study, the researchers focused on three regions of the brain: a brain structure called the nucleus accumbens (NAc), regions of the frontal lobe called the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC).

The team chose these brain areas because research shows that damage to them leads to an increase in impulsive behaviors.

''Impulse behaviors are intrinsically linked to patience -'-- the more impulsive an individual is, the less patient '-- so these brain areas were prime candidates.''

'' study co-author Dr. Katsuhiko Miyazaki

In a 2018 study appearing in the journal Nature Communications, this same team of scientists investigated what role the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN), a part of the brain that contains serotonin-releasing neurons, has in promoting a mouse's ability to wait patiently.

They found a causal relationship between the action that serotonin has on this brain region and patience for anticipated rewards.

To take their previous research a few steps further, the research team used mice genetically engineered to have specialized proteins that release serotonin on exposure to photostimulation.

After training the mice to poke their nose inside a hole and wait for a food item, the animals underwent surgery in which researchers implanted an optic fiber into the DRN part of the brain.

After dividing the rodents into groups, the researchers then inserted optic fibers in either the NAc, the OFC, or the mPFC parts of the brain. Doing this allowed them to observe how each area responded to serotonin stimulation.

After the rodents recovered from the implantation surgery, researchers put 75% of the animals through the waiting task once again while activating a serotonin release through a light stimulation procedure. They presented food to the mice in both fixed and fluctuating time frames.

The remaining 25% of the mice went into an omission group that received no rewards or serotonin stimulation.

When the research team activated serotonergic neurons in the DRN, the mice displayed improved patience when waiting for future food rewards. Stimulating the OFC was almost as effective as stimulating the DRN in promoting more prolonged waiting. However, triggering the NAc had no effect on the animals' waiting time.

Interestingly, stimulating the mPFC enhanced the rodents' ability to wait but only when they did not know the food's arrival time. These results suggest that serotonin in the mPFC affects the animal's ability to evaluate the time required to wait for a reward, while the neurochemical's presence in the OFC assists in their overall assessment of a delayed reward situation.

The study authors say that the serotonin mostly enhanced the animals' waiting time if they were confident that the reward would eventually appear but were not sure exactly when it would come. Dr. Miyazaki explains:

''This confirmed the idea that these two brain areas are calculating the probability of a reward independently from each other and that these independent calculations are then combined to ultimately determine how long the mice will wait.''

According to the authors, further studies could ''clarify how neural responses during waiting for delayed rewards in the OFC and mPFC are modulated by serotonin release.''

This research could reveal more data on how serotonin affects regions of the brain, leading to the development of new drug treatments.

The team plans to use mice engineered to model depression to investigate further and hopefully identify other areas of the brain that this mood-stabilizing neurochemical affects.

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Thu, 07 Jul 2022 16:48

Dallas Mavericks fans are getting burned by the bankruptcy of ill-fated crypto brokerage Voyager Digital '-- and they're lashing out at the NBA team's owner Mark Cuban for luring them to invest in the company.

Voyager declared Chapter 11 late Tuesday, citing chaos in the crypto markets. The major crypto player had paid high interest rates on crypto deposits and got crunched as it sought to lend out tokens at even higher rates. Most account holders will be hard-pressed to get back their money, according to reports.

''Shame on Mark for partnering with them,'' one Mavericks fan posted on Reddit, referring to the team's billionaire owner and longtime ''Shark Tank'' investor.

''Thank you Mr. Cuban. Getting your fans to trust unstable exchanges. Brilliant,'' another user fumed sarcastically.

''Another Cuban special,'' a third wrote.

Mark Cuban's Mavericks on Oct. 28 of last year announced a five-year partnership with Voyager and its CEO Steve Ehrlich, above. Dallas Mavericks Voyager declared Chapter 11 late Tuesday, citing chaos in the crypto markets. Dallas MavericksCuban didn't immediately respond to questions from The Post on Wednesday, including whether the Mavs are now a Voyager creditor with claims in bankruptcy court.

The Mavericks on Oct. 28 of last year announced a five-year partnership with Voyager giving fans a $100 reward to trade crypto on Voyager for a limited time if they deposited $100 and traded just $10. At the time, Cuban said the Voyager partnership would make cryptocurrency more accessible.

''We're going to come up with new ways to introduce Mavs fans to cryptocurrency and help them understand it,'' Cuban said at the time. ''You know, there's a lot of hype, there's a lot of discussion, but most people don't understand the fundamentals behind it.''

Cuban had even staged a press conference that day with Voyager CEO Steve Ehrlich, where newly signed New York Knick Jalen Brunson, then a Maverick, asked, ''If this is my first time getting into crypto, what are some key things I need to know?''

''Shame on Mark for partnering with them,'' one Mavericks fan posted on Reddit. Dallas Mavericks''Yeah, you're spending your money, so always be careful,'' Cuban responded at the time. ''But the other thing, look, there's investments, things like Shiba Inu and Dogecoin, those aren't investments. But Voyager '... this is a good way to learn and it's something you can do on your smart phone. You can start getting into this and saving your money and that's just a unique opportunity.''

Voyager's stock rose 9.5 percent on Oct. 28 to around $17 per share. On Wednesday, it was trading at 26 cents.

Large crypto exchanges binged on sponsorship deals in 2021 in an effort to woo sports fans, many of whom were flush with cash in a tight labor market, fresh on the heels of generous government stimulus from the pandemic. Now, as The Post reported exclusively, crypto firms are ditching sports deals.

Most Voyager account holders will be hard-pressed to get back their money. Dallas Mavericks''These struggles with crypto sponsors will lead all clubs to re-examine their sponsors risk-profiles, particularly for new industry categories,'' Rick Allen, CEO of sports streaming consultant firm ViewLift told The Post.

''I'd expect teams and leagues to recheck their deals, especially for sponsors in crypto currencies, gambling, NFTs and other new categories where the lack of actual loss data made risk underwriting more speculative,'' Allen added.

In a Fortune article just last month, Cuban said there will be winners and losers in crypto.

''In stocks and crypto, you will see companies that were sustained by cheap, easy money '-- but didn't have valid business prospects '-- will disappear,'' Cuban said. ''Like [Warren] Buffett says, 'When the tide goes out, you get to see who is swimming naked.'''

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Archived Version

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 16:04

Coming soon to a country near you? by Harry Fisher , onAugust 11, 2021, 20:00The European Union and the UK have agreed that Automatic Speed Limiters will be mandatory on all new vehicles sold from 2022. Now, this isn't happening in the US as yet, but if it is successful in Europe in reducing road casualties, then expect every other country in the world to look closely at the technology. There's no indication as yet that it will be fitted to motorcycles, but how far is that away?

Your Vehicle Could Start Limiting How Fast You DriveCould The Joy of the Open Road Soon Be Curtailed?

OK, before you all start panicking, this is happening in the UK and European Union. However, if it is successful in reducing road fatalities, then expect governments the world over to look closely at the technology with a view to introducing it as mandatory.

From 2022, all new vehicles sold in the EU and UK, will be fitted with Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA), which is another way of saying 'automatic speed limiters'. It will work through the use of cameras, GPS and computers to impose limits to the power output of the engine as you approach a changing speed limit.

Due to be enforced from May 2022, all new cars, vans, trucks and buses will have to be fitted with the technology, although it won't have to be retro-fitted to older vehicles.

When the vehicle approaches an area with a speed limit, engine power will automatically be reduced, forcing the car to travel at the posted speed. It can be overridden by pressing the accelerator down fully, but this will be accompanied by audible and visual warnings.

Depending on the country where the vehicle is sold, the system might simply be advisory and will give warnings of exceeding the speed limit, whereas in other countries the system will reduce engine power to ensure you remain at the speed limit.

If It Says 120, You Will Do 120!

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) state that a 'full on/off switch' for the limiter should be included, but only to ''aid public acceptance of introduction''. Reading between the lines, that means that such an option won't be permitted forever; at some point, we won't be able to turn it off at all.

Given that the technology is designed to protect vulnerable road users and motorcyclists fall into that category, motorcycles are exempt from the tech for the time being. However, that doesn't mean that bikes will escape indefinitely from the legislation. Just because the tech has not been fully developed yet for motorcycles, doesn't mean that someone, somewhere isn't working on it.

Even more worrying is the announcement that the European Transport Safety Council is mandating data loggers, lane assist, autonomous emergency braking and driver fatigue systems as well. The latter three are logical and understandable, but the 'data logger' bit is scary. What it means is that, if you're breaking the speed limit and the vehicle is telling you to slow down and you ignore it, the authorities will be able to access the data logger to give evidence against you in the event of an accident.

George Orwell must be lying in his grave saying, 'I told you so!'

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Archived Version

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 15:54

Niemand raakte gewond. Een trekker is door een kogel geraakt. Drie mensen zijn opgepakt.

Het gebeurde bij een oprit naar de A32. Omdat een agent heeft geschoten, volgt een onderzoek van de Rijksrecherche.

Op sociale media gaan beelden en filmpjes rond. Ook wordt een kogelgat in een tractor getoond. Op een van de filmpjes is te zien dat agenten ogenschijnlijk met getrokken wapens op de weg staan als een tractor met aanhanger langs een blokkade van de politie rijdt. Dan zijn er op het filmpje schoten te horen. Er is daarop niet te zien dat er op agenten wordt ingereden.

Het artikel gaat verder onder de video.

'Agenten grijpen nooit 'zomaar' naar het vuurwapen'Op Twitter vragen mensen zich af of de politie niet te snel heeft geschoten. Maarten Brink van politiebond ACP zegt de beelden online te hebben gezien, maar geeft aan dat het onduidelijk is wat eraan voorafging. Volgens hem grijpen agenten 'žnooit zomaar'' naar het vuurwapen. 'žHet pistool is het zwaarste middel.''

Iemand die vraagtekens zet bij het handelen van de politie is strafrechtadvocaat Christian Flokstra. 'žHet filmpje roept vragen op over de noodzaak tot schieten en dus zal goed onderzoek moeten volgen'', schrijft hij op Twitter. 'žWaar ik nu bang voor ben is dat de Tweede Kamer gaat debatteren over een filmpje van 35 seconden.''

Boerenactiegroep Agractie heeft op zijn Facebookpagina de beelden gedeeld. 'žEn nog steeds weigeren te praten minister Van der Wal... Moeten er eerst doden vallen?'', luidt een van de bijschriften. Ook stelt Agractie dat het voorval heel anders had kunnen aflopen als de kogel meer naar links of naar rechts was afgevuurd. 'žZijn #boeren staatsgevaarlijke criminelen ofzo?'', vraagt de boerenactiegroep zich af. 'žEn vanaf nu? Politiebureaus blokkeren?''

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Thu, 07 Jul 2022 15:52

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Thu, 07 Jul 2022 15:21

Strange New "2014" Addition to the Georgia Guidestones - The Vigilant Citizenhttp://vigilantcitizen.com/sinistersites/new-strange-2014-addition-georgia-guidestones/ ArchivedArchive.org...Latest News, Sinister Sites | 90 commentsA new block on which is inscribed ''2014'' was recently added to the Georgia

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Georgia Guidestones - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediahttp://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Guidestones ArchivedArchive.orgTue, 23 Sep 2014 16:39 The Georgia

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Ultimate Proof: Covid-19 Was Planned to Usher in the New World Orderhttps://humansarefree.com/2020/09/proof-covid-19-planned-new-world-order.html ArchivedArchive.org...JOHN COLEMAN, CIA INTELLIGENCE OFFICER Maintain humanity under 500,000,000In 1980 a granite monument was erected in Georgia, called the

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Ultimate Proof: Covid-19 Was Planned To Usher In The New World Order |http://tapnewswire.com/2020/09/ultimate-proof-covid-19-was-planned-to-usher-in-the-new-world-order/ ArchivedArchive.org...JOHN COLEMAN, CIA INTELLIGENCE OFFICER Maintain Humanity Under 500,000,000In 1980 a granite monument was erected in Georgia, called the

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Thu, 07 Jul 2022 14:51

HomeNewsScience & Astronomy The ATLAS detector (A Toroidal LHC Apparatus) is one of the LHC's general-purpose detectors. (Image credit: xenotar via Getty Images)Ready, steady, go: the race to discover new physics returns today as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is re-ignited, firing heavy ion particles into one another at 99.99% the speed of light to recreate a state of primordial matter not seen since just after the Big Bang.

The Large Hadron Collider is the world's longest and most powerful particle accelerator, firing beams of subatomic particles around a 17-mile-long (27 kilometers) loop beneath the ground near Geneva, on the French-Swiss border. Since the LHC originally came online in 2010, its experiments have produced 3,000 scientific papers, with a range of findings including the most famous one of all: the discovery of the Higgs boson.

"It's really true to say that we have been making discoveries on a weekly basis," Chris Parkes, a spokesperson for the LHCb experiment, said at a press conference at the end of June.

Related: 10 years after the discovery of the Higgs boson, physicists still can't get enough of the 'God particle'

New technology The particle accelerator has spent the last three-and-a-half years receiving vital technological upgrades that will enable it to smash beams of particles with record energy of 6.8 trillion electronvolts (TeV) in collisions that will total an unprecedented 13.6 TeV. This is 4.6% higher than where it left off in October 2018.

An increased rate of particle collisions, improved ability to collect more data than ever before, and brand new experiments will pave the way for researchers to conduct science beyond the Higgs boson and, perhaps, even beyond the current Standard Model of particle physics.

In 2020 a new device, the Linear Accelerator (Linac) 4, was installed in the LHC. Rather than injecting protons into the system as before, Linac 4 will boost negatively charged hydrogen ions, which are protons accompanied by two electrons. As the ions move through Linac 4 the electrons are stripped away to leave just the protons, and interweaving these ions allows tighter bunches of protons to be formed. This results in narrower beams of protons being fired through the collider, increasing the rate of collisions.

A depiction of a proton-proton collision observed by the LHCb experiment. A new trigger system using artificial intelligence will be able to better choose which collisions to record. (Image credit: CERN/Saverio Mariani) (opens in new tab) Perhaps the most important technological upgrade, however, is the system that triggers the experiments in the LHC to begin gathering data.

With scientific research now firmly in the era of big data, how to discern which data is worth recording and analyzing becomes an even bigger issue. "We have 14 million beam crossings per second," Parkes said. Each beam crossing sees bundles of particles crash into each other.

Previously, picking out the useful information from all those collisions was left to conventional hardware and the intuition of human researchers, resulting in only 10% of collisions inside the LHC being recorded. The new trigger system utilizes machine learning to more quickly analyze the situation and be more efficient at what data to collect for later analysis. This upgrade will, for example, see the LHCb triple its sampling rate, while the ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) instrument will increase its number of recorded events by a factor of 50.

"This is clearly a big deal," Luciano Musa, an ALICE spokesperson, said at the press conference.

The giant ALICE experiment is back in action this summer. (Image credit: CERN/Maximilien Brice) (opens in new tab) New experiments While there is still work to be done learning about the Higgs boson, the LHC is equipped to do much more besides that.

"We have this ambition of putting the Higgs boson into a broader context, and that simply can't be summarized in one or two questions," Gian Guidice, head of CERN's theoretical physics department, said during the press conference. "So we have a very wide program that addresses many questions in particle physics."

Two new detectors installed during the LHC's recent shutdown are FASER, the Forward Search Experiment, and SND, the Scattering and Neutrino Detector. FASER will search for light and weakly interacting particles, including neutrinos and possible dark matter, while SND will focus on neutrinos exclusively.

Neutrinos are elusive, ghost-like particles that barely interact with anything else around them '-- a bar of lead a light-year thick would only stop half the neutrinos passing through it '-- and trillions of them are passing harmlessly through your body each and every second. Given this, and despite scientists knowing that the collisions inside the LHC should regularly produce neutrinos, no neutrino created in a particle accelerator has ever been detected (the neutrinos observed by previous neutrino detectors mostly come from the sun). However, this is set to change, with FASER and SND expected to detect nearly 7,000 neutrino events between them over the next four years.

On the face of it, FASER and SND don't look like neutrino detectors. These tend to be enormous, such as the stainless steel tank of the Super Kamiokande detector in Japan that holds 50,000 metric tons of pure water, or the IceCube neutrino observatory at the South Pole, which has sensors placed in 0.6 cubic miles (one cubic kilometer) of ice beneath the surface. Instead, FASER is just 5 feet (1.5 meters) in length, and SND is only a little larger at 8 feet (2.4 meters). Rather than enormous volumes of fluid or ice, they feature simple tungsten detectors and films of emulsion, not dissimilar to old photographic film.

FASER and SND are able to get away with being so small because "the LHC produces a huge number of neutrinos, so you need less mass in the detector to get some of them to interact, and the neutrinos produced in the LHC's collisions are extremely high energy, and the probability of interaction goes up with energy," Jamie Boyd, a spokesperson for FASER, told Space.com.

FASER is located 1,500 feet (480 meters) downstream of the ATLAS experiment, in disused tunnels that were once part of the LHC's predecessor, the Large Electron-Positron Collider. The FASER and SND experiments are complementary '-- FASER is bang on the beamline, while SND is at an angle. This way, they are able to detect neutrinos of different energies coming from different particle collisions. Most neutrinos will pass unnoticed through the two experiments, but a small number will interact with the atoms in the dense tungsten layers, causing the neutrinos to decay and produce daughter particles that leave tracks in the emulsion called vertices that point back to the position of the interaction. Every three or four months the emulsion film is removed and sent to a laboratory in Japan for inspection. Already, a small prototype has detected neutrino candidates, but the prototype was too small to be able to confirm the measurements.

"The main result that we are looking for is what we call the cross-section," Boyd said. "This describes how, as a function of their energy, the three types of neutrino '-- electron, muon and tau neutrinos '-- interact."

These different types, or 'flavors', of neutrino, are able to oscillate into one another as they travel across large distances. For example, a neutrino might start out as a muon neutrino before oscillating into an electron neutrino. In the LHC, the distance between the neutrino detectors and the source of the collisions in the LHC is too small to expect any oscillations to take place unless there is a new particle involved.

"If we did see more electron neutrinos and less muon neutrinos than we expect, then that could indicate that there is an additional type of neutrino, called a sterile neutrino, that is causing these oscillations to take place," Boyd said. For now, sterile neutrinos remain hypothetical, and finding evidence for them would be a major discovery.

New theories

The Future Circular Collider will dwarf the Large Hadron Collider. (Image credit: CERN/Panagiotis Charitos) (opens in new tab) Speaking of discoveries, while the LHC was powered down for its most recent upgrades, data analysis from the old Tevatron particle accelerator at Fermilab in the U.S. that shut down in 2011 has turned up a tantalizing hint of physics operating beyond the Standard Model. Specifically, the Tevatron found evidence that the W boson particle, which is involved in mediating the weak force that governs radioactivity, could be more massive than the Standard Model predicts. Meanwhile, there have been curious readings from the LHC and the Tevatron of the behavior of electrons and muons that, if true, could defy predictions of the Standard Model. The onus is now on the LHC to investigate further.

However, scientists at the LHC are not willing to jump to conclusions about this or any other discrepancy from the Standard Model. Instead, they prefer to remain agnostic when it comes to various theories about what the LHC is observing, to avoid biasing the results.

"We are not running after theory," Fabiola Gianotti, the Director-General of CERN, said in the press conference. "I think our goal is to understand how nature works at the most fundamental level. Our goal is not to look for particular theories."

Chris Parkes is optimistic that the LHC can get to the bottom of these discrepancies, one way or the other. "We very much expect that from the new data that we collect, we can really probe these interesting hints that we have, and see whether they show any violations of the Standard Model," he said.

There's no rush. Following this new four-year observation run by the LHC, there will be another shutdown for further upgrades that will result in what's being referred to as the High Luminosity LHC. This will begin operating in about 2029, detecting more than 15 million Higgs bosons per year from collision energies of 14 TeV. Beyond the LHC, plans are afoot for a brand new accelerator at CERN called the Future Circular Collider (FCC), which will be powerful enough to reach energies of 100 TeV when it begins work around 2040. The FCC would be far larger than the LHC, with a tunnel 62 miles (100 km) long, although the concept has recently courted controversy with some physicists claiming that its possible $100 billion price tag would not be worth the benefits of building it and that the money could be more wisely spent on smaller, more focused projects.

That is all still in the future. In the here and now, the LHC still has Higgs bosons to create, neutrinos to detect, new particles to be found and theories to be put to the test. What new discoveries will we be talking about in four years' time?

Follow Keith Cooper on Twitter @21stCenturySETI. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) and on Facebook (opens in new tab) .

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Keith Cooper is a freelance science journalist and editor in the United Kingdom, and has a degree in physics and astrophysics from the University of Manchester. He's the author of "The Contact Paradox: Challenging Our Assumptions in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence" (Bloomsbury Sigma, 2020) and has written articles on astronomy, space, physics and astrobiology for a multitude of magazines and websites.

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Thu, 07 Jul 2022 14:08

AbstractThe U.S. is well below the world average in terms of the number of mass public shootings, and the global increase over time has been much bigger than for the United States.Over the 20 years from 1998 to 2017, our list contains 2,772 attacks and at least 5,764 shooters outside the United States and 62 attacks and 66 shooters within our country. By our count, the US makes up less than 1.13% of the mass public shooters, 1.77% of their murders, and 2.19% of their attacks. All these are much less than the US's 4.6% share of the world population. Attacks in the US are not only less frequent than other countries, they are also much less deadly on average. Out of the 101 countries where we have identified mass public shootings occurring, the United States ranks 66th in the per capita frequency of these attacks and 56th in the murder rate.

Not only have these attacks been much more common outside the US, the US's share of these attacks has declined over time. There has been a much bigger increase over time in the number of mass shootings in the rest of the world compared to the US.

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Thu, 07 Jul 2022 14:02

Capilano HoneyAustralia's food security is under threat with an almost unstoppable outbreak of varroa mites in Newcastle (NSW) and the surrounding regions which could cost Australia $billions.

Most Australians at this point would not realise what damage the varroa mite can do. But in 2000 in New Zealand, a varroa mite outbreak led to 90% of bees being killed which almost destroyed the industry. And if that were to happen in Australia it would cause $billion in damage to Australia's agriculture industry which relies on bees for pollination.

I interviewed Simon Mulvany, who runs the Save the Bees Australia Facebook page and the Bee the Cure website, on Monday (4/7/22) in the below video and discussed the key issues surrounding the varroa mite outbreak.

One of the issues is where did the outbreak come from. The government is suggesting it likely came from international ships at the Port of Newcastle. But Ben Brown is one of the beekeepers who has been ordered to destroy his bees, even though they are apparently clear of the varroa mite, and his father Trevor Brown was convicted of illegally importing queen bees.

The exact date of the conviction and crime is uncertain as The Daily Liberal, a Dubbo paper, says it was first reported in 2001 and updated in 2012. They report:

The entry of exotic bee diseases into Australia would have far wider implications than destroying the honey industry, according to a local apiarist.

A number of agricultural industries, especially legumes, would be left high and dry without bees, Warren Jones said yesterday.

He was commenting after the peak bee industry body slammed what it believed was a lenient punishment given to a Mendooran beekeeper who risked wiping out Australia's $2 billion honey industry with the insect equivalent of foot-and-mouth disease.

Terry Brown was sentenced to 200 hours community service and fined $1000 after attempting to smuggle eight Italian queen bees concealed in pens into the country.

''If someone brought foot-and-mouth disease (to Australia) would they get a $1000 fine and 200 hours community service?'' questioned Mr Jones, who is involved in honey production and pollination. (Click here to read more)

Interestingly, there are reports today that foot-and-mouth disease is a major problem in Indonesia and has spread to Bali which is the closest it has ever been to Australia and the government is worried tourists might bring it home with them. (Click here to read more)

The ABC is reporting that the varroa mite outbreak has now spread:

The deadly parasite that has affected honey bee populations has been detected hundreds of kilometres from initial sites in Newcastle, with a new emergency zone in north-west New South Wales.

The varroa mite has been detected in Narrabri, with the NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) linking it to previously known cases in Newcastle.

Acting Chief Plant Protection Officer Chris Anderson said the affected honey bee hives were stored for several months next to an already affected hive in Newcastle before being moved to Narrabri. (Click here to read more)

From what is written on Facebook, Ben Brown has been ordered to kill all the bees in his 2000 bee hives and destroy his equipment so he is taking a huge hit and I do not suggest he has been involved in importing bees. But given his father, Trevor Brown, has a conviction for illegally importing bees that is an avenue that the government should be investigating as a possible source of the varroa mite outbreak.

The varroa mite issue and its fallout is something I will continue to monitor as regular readers know I have covered bees, honey and food fraud etc for over 5 years and they all involve government failure and/or corruption. I will do further reports on either this website and/or on my YouTube channel and Facebook page so make sure you follow them all.

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Archived Version

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 13:57

TED/Screenshot Theranos, the blood-testing company founded by Elizabeth Holmes and valued at $9 billion dollars, received FDA clearance today for its herpes test,

the company announced.

The approval marks an important step for Theranos, which has come under fire for operating in secret, releasing few details about the way their tests '-- which use a small amount of blood from a finger-prick '-- actually work.

The FDA's decision is about more than just this one test, the company says. It "provides independent validation of Theranos' patented finger stick and ... blood testing technology and the groundbreaking Theranos System upon which the [herpes] test is run," Theranos noted in its release.

The company has always maintained that while it resisted publication in peer-reviewed journals in order to protect its proprietary information, it would seek out clearance from the FDA to prove to the public that their tests were effective.

"The FDA, which is the ultimate arbiter of safety and efficacy '-- of high quality tests that are proven to work '-- is the gold standard, and Theranos wants its tests to be the best and safest for its patients," the company told us in April. "We have called for an unprecedented level of review with the FDA, something we are not obligated to do. We've been submitting all of our tests to them and are committed to continuing to do so."

To receive clearance for the herpes test, which costs $9.07, Theranos submitted data from 818 subjects and said in its release that their test's results "demonstrated 100% agreement with the results provided by CDC."

Here's one of the already-operating Theranos centers in Palo Alto. Steve Jurvetson/Flickr In some ways, the test's success shouldn't be a surprise. Based on what we can deduce from the scant technical information that Holmes has shared, Theranos' technology isn't necessarily such a departure from what's already been proven, though they have likely made significant improvements.

In the FDA's letter to Theranos, which was provided to Business Insider, the agency noted that "the device is substantially equivalent" to existing technology. "You may, therefore, market the device," it said.

As Business Insider's Kevin Loria wrote in April: "Theranos may have taken the latest existing technology and tweaked and refined it into a unified system that's more streamlined and more elegant than any existing system, creating a disruptive lab business."

Theranos Chairman, CEO and Founder Elizabeth Holmes (L) and TechCrunch Writer and Moderator Jonathan Shieber speak onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt at Pier 48 on September 8, 2014 in San Francisco, California. Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch Still, as recently as June, the lack of public details about the company's technology prompted a highly skeptical editorial: A clinical biochemist argued in a journal that Theranos' "claims of superiority over current systems and practices are speculative, at best."

Yet applying for FDA clearance on such tests remains voluntary (though that rule that might change soon). That means Theranos went above and beyond to validate their tests '-- or at least one of them '-- something that might help to beat back the steady stream of critics . The technology still has not been subjected to formal peer review, and the details of how it works remain secret. But the FDA approval is an important step towards validating the company's technology '-- and Holmes' multibillion-dollar idea.

This story has been updated to clarify information and provide additional context.

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Archived Version

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 13:41

A new review article penned by a trio of researchers suggests insects do have the capacity to experience pain. The article summarizes the latest behavioral and molecular science before concluding the potential of pain states in insects could have ethical implications for current farming and research practices.

The new article first clarifies the important distinction between what is called nociception, and the negative subjective experience of pain. Nociception was defined more than a century ago as a way of separating the physiological process of sensing damaging stimuli from the subjective felt experience of pain.

Nociception is often accompanied by feelings of pain in humans and animals. However, in more simple organisms it is difficult to infer whether a simple nociceptive reflex is felt like pain. All insects have been found to display nociceptive responses. If you heat up the floor in an enclosure containing a fruit fly, for example, that fly will quickly move away from the hot surface. This is an example of nocifensive behavior, proving insects do respond to damaging stimuli.

But how do we distinguish a simple reflex from a more complex pain experience? Here, the new article refers to a concept called ''descending order of nociception''.

This concept refers to a kind of higher level of nervous system activity where an organism can adjust its nociceptive processing depending on a given situation. Speaking to Newsweek, lead author on the study Matilda Gibbons said the ability to turn down a nociceptive reflex and alter one's behavior is a useful sign an organism has the ability to subjectively experience pain.

"One hallmark of human pain perception is that it can be modulated by nerve signals from the brain," Gibbons noted. "Soldiers are sometimes oblivious to serious injuries in the battlefield since the body's own opiates suppress the nociceptive signal. You can also consciously 'grit your teeth' and bear the pain, in case such 'heroic' behavior earns you a reward or prestige. We thus asked if the insect brain contains the nerve mechanisms that would make the experience of a pain-like perception plausible, rather than just basic nociception."

After outlining a number of insect behaviors that clearly demonstrate nociceptive dampening processes, the new article presents several pieces of research to explain the molecular mechanisms at work. Unlike mammals, insects do not have any genes that code for opioid receptors. So other neurochemical mechanisms must be at play. A number of neuropeptides are hypothesized as possible nociception modulators in insects. These include drosulfakinin, allatostatin-C, and leucokinin, all molecules found to influence insect behavior.

The review suggests the presence of descending nociception controls in insects makes it plausible to consider they experience some sensation of pain. Certain behaviors known to be mediated by descending nociceptive controls, and used to quantify pain in animals such as mice, are seen in insects. Reduced feeding patterns in mice, for example, are often used as an indicator of pain, and insects have also been seen to display reduced responses to food stimuli following nociceptive experiences.

Ultimately, the review gestures toward a radical revision of how insects are treated in both farming and research contexts. Co-author on the article Sajedeh Sarlak said it is crucial more research is done to understand these nociceptive processes in insects as mass production of these organisms for food is rapidly increasing around the world.

'''...the ethical implications have so far not been considered, in part because many decision-makers' view is that there are none to consider for insects," Sarlak noted to Newsweek. "We need to understand: are insects capable of the experiences of pain and suffering, to ensure that the ethical mistakes of conventional battery livestock farming are not repeated."

The new article encapsulates a growing body of research that may cause many governments to reevaluate animal welfare policies. Last year the UK government added a number of invertebrates to its animal welfare protections following an independent review.

The eight criteria the report developed to evaluate sentience in a given animalThe review presented eight criteria by which animal sentience can be established. Here, sentience was defined as the capacity to feel emotions such as distress, and the review ultimately concluded crabs, octopuses, and lobsters should all be considered sentient with the welfare protections that affords.

The new article was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B (preprint link here).

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Archived Version

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 13:37

36 References3 Citing ArticlesRelated ArticlesAbstract BackgroundThe protection conferred by natural immunity, vaccination, and both against symptomatic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection with the BA.1 or BA.2 sublineages of the omicron (B.1.1.529) variant is unclear.

MethodsWe conducted a national, matched, test-negative, case''control study in Qatar from December 23, 2021, through February 21, 2022, to evaluate the effectiveness of vaccination with BNT162b2 (Pfizer''BioNTech) or mRNA-1273 (Moderna), natural immunity due to previous infection with variants other than omicron, and hybrid immunity (previous infection and vaccination) against symptomatic omicron infection and against severe, critical, or fatal coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

ResultsThe effectiveness of previous infection alone against symptomatic BA.2 infection was 46.1% (95% confidence interval [CI], 39.5 to 51.9). The effectiveness of vaccination with two doses of BNT162b2 and no previous infection was negligible (''1.1%; 95% CI, ''7.1 to 4.6), but nearly all persons had received their second dose more than 6 months earlier. The effectiveness of three doses of BNT162b2 and no previous infection was 52.2% (95% CI, 48.1 to 55.9). The effectiveness of previous infection and two doses of BNT162b2 was 55.1% (95% CI, 50.9 to 58.9), and the effectiveness of previous infection and three doses of BNT162b2 was 77.3% (95% CI, 72.4 to 81.4). Previous infection alone, BNT162b2 vaccination alone, and hybrid immunity all showed strong effectiveness (>70%) against severe, critical, or fatal Covid-19 due to BA.2 infection. Similar results were observed in analyses of effectiveness against BA.1 infection and of vaccination with mRNA-1273.

ConclusionsNo discernable differences in protection against symptomatic BA.1 and BA.2 infection were seen with previous infection, vaccination, and hybrid immunity. Vaccination enhanced protection among persons who had had a previous infection. Hybrid immunity resulting from previous infection and recent booster vaccination conferred the strongest protection. (Funded by Weill Cornell Medicine''Qatar and others.)

IntroductionQatar endured a wave of the omicron (B.1.1.529) variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)1 that started on December 19, 2021, and peaked in mid-January 2022.2-4 The wave was first dominated by the BA.1 subvariant, but within a few days after the onset of the wave, the BA.2 subvariant predominated (Fig. S1 in the Supplementary Appendix, available with the full text of this article at NEJM.org). Although BA.1 and BA.2 remain classified as subvariants of omicron, considerable genetic distance exists between them.5 The protection against these subvariants provided by previous immunity '-- and whether immunity is induced by previous infection, vaccination, or a hybrid of both '-- remains to be established.

With the use of data from December 23, 2021, through February 21, 2022, we investigated the protection conferred by previous infection from variants other than omicron, vaccination with two or three doses of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines BNT162b2 (Pfizer''BioNTech)6 or mRNA-1273 (Moderna),7 and hybrid immunity (previous infection and vaccination). Effectiveness against symptomatic BA.1 infection, symptomatic BA.2 infection, and any symptomatic omicron infection was assessed. Protection against any severe (acute-care hospitalization),8 critical (hospitalization in an intensive care unit),8 or fatal9 case of Covid-19 due to BA.1, BA.2, or any omicron infection was also assessed.

Methods Study Population and Data SourcesThe study was conducted in the resident population of Qatar. We analyzed information from the national, federated databases regarding Covid-19 vaccination, laboratory testing, hospitalization, and death. These data were retrieved from the integrated nationwide digital-health information platform. The databases included all SARS-CoV-2''related data and associated demographic information since the start of the pandemic. These databases include, with no missing information, results of all polymerase-chain-reaction (PCR) testing and, more recently, rapid antigen testing conducted at health care facilities on or after January 5, 2022.

All PCR testing (but not rapid antigen testing) performed in Qatar is classified on the basis of symptoms and the reason for testing. Of all the PCR tests conducted during this study, 19.2% were performed because of clinical symptoms. Qatar has an unusually young, diverse population '-- only 9% of its residents are 50 years of age or older, and 89% are expatriates from more than 150 countries.10 Qatar launched its Covid-19 vaccination program in December 2020 with the BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 vaccines.11 Further descriptions of the study population and the national databases have been reported previously.4,10-15

Study DesignThe study assessed the effectiveness of previous infection, vaccination with BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273, and hybrid immunity (previous infection and vaccination) against symptomatic infection with BA.1, BA.2, and any omicron infection.2,15-18 We used a test-negative, case''control design, in which effectiveness estimates were derived by comparing the odds of previous infection or vaccination or both among case participants (persons with a positive PCR test) with that among controls (PCR-negative persons).2,15-18 We also assessed effectiveness against any severe, critical, or fatal case of Covid-19.

To estimate the effectiveness against symptomatic infection, we exactly matched cases and controls that were identified from December 23, 2021, through February 21, 2022. Case participants and controls were matched in a 1:1 ratio according to sex, 10-year age group, nationality, and calendar week of PCR test. Matching was performed to control for known differences in the risk of SARS-CoV-2 exposure in Qatar.10,19,20 Matching according to these factors was previously shown to provide adequate control of differences in the risk of SARS-CoV-2 exposure in studies of different designs, all of which involved control groups, such as test-negative, case''control studies.11,12,15,21,22 To assess effectiveness against any severe, critical, or fatal case of Covid-19, we used a 1:5 matching ratio to improve the statistical precision of the estimates.

Only the first PCR-positive test that was identified for an individual participant during the study period was included, but all PCR-negative tests were included. Controls included persons with no record of a PCR-positive test during the study period. Only PCR tests conducted because of clinical symptoms were used in the analyses.

SARS-CoV-2 reinfection is conventionally defined as a documented infection that occurs at least 90 days after an earlier infection, to avoid misclassification of prolonged PCR positivity as reinfection if a shorter time interval is used.2,23 Previous infection was therefore defined as a PCR-positive test that occurred at least 90 days before the PCR test used in the study. Tests for persons who had PCR-positive tests that occurred within 90 days before the PCR test used in the study were excluded. Accordingly, previous infections in this study were considered to be due to variants other than omicron, since they occurred before the omicron wave in Qatar.2-4

PCR tests for persons who received vaccines other than BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273 and tests for persons who received mixed vaccines were excluded from the analyses. Tests that occurred within 14 days after a second dose or 7 days after a third dose of vaccine were excluded. These inclusion and exclusion criteria were implemented to allow for build-up of immunity after vaccination4,14 and to minimize different types of potential bias, as informed by earlier analyses in the same population.12,22 Every control that met the inclusion criteria and that could be matched to a case was included in the analyses.

We compared five groups with the group that had no previous infection and no vaccination. The five groups were characterized by type of exposure: previous infection and no vaccination, two-dose vaccination and no previous infection, two-dose vaccination and previous infection, three-dose vaccination and no previous infection, and three-dose vaccination and previous infection. The groups were defined on the basis of the status of previous immunologic events (previous infection or vaccination) at the time of the PCR test.

Classification of severe,8 critical,8 and fatal9 Covid-19 cases followed World Health Organization guidelines, and assessments were made by trained medical personnel with the use of individual chart reviews as part of a national protocol applied to hospitalized patients with Covid-19. Details regarding Covid-19 severity, criticality, and fatality classification are provided in Section S1 in the Supplementary Appendix.

Laboratory Methods and Subvariant AscertainmentThe large omicron wave in Qatar started on December 19, 2021, and peaked in mid-January 2022.2-4 A total of 315 random SARS-CoV-2''positive specimens collected from December 19, 2021, through January 22, 2022, underwent viral whole-genome sequencing on a GridION sequencing device (Nanopore Technologies). Of these specimens, 300 (95.2%) were confirmed to be omicron infections and 15 (4.8%) to be delta (or B.1.617.2)1 infections.2-4 Of the 286 omicron infections with confirmed subvariant status, 68 (23.8%) were BA.1 and 218 (76.2%) were BA.2.

We used the TaqPath COVID-19 Combo Kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific), which tests for the spike (S) gene of SARS-CoV-2 and the 69-70del mutation in the S gene,24 to identify BA.1 and BA.2 infections. An S-gene target failure was used as a proxy for BA.1 infection, and a non''S-gene target failure was used as a proxy for BA.2 infection. Additional details regarding laboratory methods for real-time reverse-transcriptase''quantitative PCR testing are provided in Section S2.

OversightThis retrospective study was approved by the institutional review boards at Hamad Medical Corporation and Weill Cornell Medicine''Qatar, with a waiver of informed consent. The reporting of this study follows the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guidelines (Table S1). The funders of the study had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or writing of the manuscript. All the authors contributed to data collection and acquisition, discussion and interpretation of the results, and the writing of the manuscript. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Statistical AnalysisAlthough all records of PCR testing were examined for selection of cases and controls, only matched samples were analyzed. Cases and controls were described with the use of frequency distributions and measures of central tendency and compared with the use of standardized mean differences. The standardized mean difference was defined as the difference between the mean value of a covariate in one group and the corresponding mean value of a covariate in the other group, divided by the pooled standard deviation, with values of less than 0.1 indicating adequate matching.25

Odds ratios, which compared the odds of previous infection or vaccination or both among cases with that among controls, and associated 95% confidence intervals were derived with the use of conditional logistic regression. This analytic approach, which also incorporated matching according to calendar week of PCR test, minimizes potential bias due to variation in epidemic phase16,26 and roll-out of vaccination during the study period.16,26 Confidence intervals were not adjusted for multiplicity and therefore should not be used to infer definitive differences among exposure groups. Interactions were not investigated. Effectiveness and associated 95% confidence intervals were calculated as 1 minus the odds ratio of previous infection or vaccination or both among cases as compared with controls.16,17 The reference group for all estimates included persons with no previous infection and no vaccination.

An additional analysis was conducted to investigate the effects of previous infection, two-dose vaccination, and three-dose vaccination as a function of time since the immunologic event (previous infection or vaccination). This analysis used the same approach as the primary analysis, but with stratification according to time since the most recent immunologic event.

A person was considered to have had a previous positive test if that test was positive by PCR assay. A sensitivity analysis of effectiveness against any symptomatic omicron infection was conducted, but with previous positive testing being based on positive PCR as well as positive rapid antigen tests, to investigate whether exclusion of rapid antigen''positive tests could have biased our estimates. Statistical analyses were performed with the use of Stata/SE software, version 17.0 (StataCorp).

Results Study PopulationFrom December 23, 2020 (the date that vaccination began in Qatar), through February 21, 2022 (the end of the study), 1,306,862 persons received at least two doses of BNT162b2, and 341,438 of these received a third (booster) dose. The median date of the first dose was May 3, 2021, the median date of the second dose was May 24, 2021, and the median date of the third dose was December 25, 2021. The median interval between the first and second doses was 21 days (interquartile range, 21 to 22), and between the second and third doses was 251 days (interquartile range, 233 to 274). The narrow interquartile range between the first and second doses reflects strict adherence to national policy.

During the study period, 893,671 persons received two doses of mRNA-1273, and 135,050 of these received a third dose. The median date of the first dose was May 28, 2021, the median date of the second dose was June 27, 2021, and the median date of the third dose was January 12, 2022. The median interval between the first and second doses was 28 days (interquartile range, 28 to 30), and between the second and third doses was 236 days (interquartile range, 213 to 260).

Table 1.

Table 1. Characteristics of the Matched Case Participants and Controls According to Omicron Infection in the BNT162b2 Analysis. The study was based on the total population of Qatar; therefore, the population is representative of the internationally diverse, but young and predominantly male, population of the country (Table S2). Figure S2 shows the process for selecting the populations for the analysis of BNT162b2, and Table 1 shows the characteristics of these populations. Figure S3 shows the process for selecting the populations for the analysis of mRNA-1273, and Table S4 shows the characteristics of these populations.

Effectiveness of Previous Infection and BNT162b2 Vaccination against BA.1 Infection Figure 1. Figure 1. Effectiveness of Previous Infection, Vaccination with BNT162b2, and Hybrid Immunity against Symptomatic Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 Infection and against Severe, Critical, or Fatal Covid-19. ð'¸ bars indicate 95% confidence intervals. Covid-19 denotes coronavirus disease 2019.

Table 2. Table 2. Effectiveness of Previous Infection, Vaccination with BNT162b2, and Hybrid Immunity against Symptomatic Omicron Infections and against Severe, Critical, or Fatal Covid-19. The effectiveness of previous infection and no vaccination against symptomatic BA.1 infection was 50.2% (95% confidence interval [CI], 38.1 to 59.9) (Figure 1A and Table 2 ). The median interval between the previous infection and the PCR test used in the study was 324.5 days (range, 91 to 643; interquartile range, 274 to 497).

The effectiveness of two doses of BNT162b2 and no previous infection was negligible (''4.9%; 95% CI, ''16.4 to 5.4). The median interval between the second dose and the PCR test used in the study was 268 days (range, 15 to 394; interquartile range, 211 to 293). The effectiveness of three doses and no previous infection was 59.6% (95% CI, 52.9 to 65.3). The median interval between the third dose and the PCR test used in the study was 42 days (range, 7 to 291; interquartile range, 28 to 62).

The effectiveness of hybrid immunity (previous infection and two doses of BNT162b2) was 51.7% (95% CI, 43.5 to 58.7), which was similar to the effectiveness of previous infection alone. The effectiveness of previous infection and three doses of BNT162b2 was the highest, at 74.4% (95% CI, 63.4 to 82.2).

Previous infection, vaccination, and hybrid immunity all showed strong effectiveness (>90%) against severe, critical, or fatal Covid-19 due to BA.1 infection, but some of the 95% confidence intervals were wide because of small case numbers (Figure 1B and Table 2 ). The severity of BA.1 infections was low, and only 0.3% (95% CI, 0.2 to 0.4) of infections progressed to severe, critical, or fatal Covid-19.

Effectiveness of Previous Infection and BNT162b2 Vaccination against BA.2 InfectionThe effectiveness of previous infection and no vaccination against symptomatic BA.2 infection was 46.1% (95% CI, 39.5 to 51.9) (Figure 1C and Table 2 ). The median interval between the previous infection and the PCR test used in the study was 319 days (range, 90 to 662; interquartile range, 275 to 499).

The effectiveness of two doses of BNT162b2 and no previous infection was negligible (''1.1%; 95% CI, ''7.1 to 4.6). The median interval between the second dose and the PCR test used in the study was 270 days (range, 14 to 399; interquartile range, 213 to 296). The effectiveness of three doses of BNT162b2 and no previous infection was 52.2% (95% CI, 48.1 to 55.9). The median interval between the third dose and the PCR test used in the study was 43 days (range, 7 to 322; interquartile range, 26 to 65).

The effectiveness of previous infection and two doses of BNT162b2 was 55.1% (95% CI, 50.9 to 58.9), which is similar to the effectiveness of previous infection alone. The effectiveness of previous infection and three doses of BNT162b2 was the highest, at 77.3% (95% CI, 72.4 to 81.4).

Previous infection, vaccination, and hybrid immunity all showed strong effectiveness (>70%) against severe, critical, or fatal Covid-19 due to BA.2, but some of the 95% confidence intervals were wide because of small case numbers (Figure 1D and Table 2 ). The severity of BA.2 infections was low, and only 0.3% (95% CI, 0.2 to 0.3) of infections progressed to severe, critical, or fatal Covid-19.

Effectiveness of Previous Infection and BNT162b2 Vaccination against Any Omicron Infection Figure 2. Figure 2. Effectiveness of Previous Infection, Vaccination with BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273, and Hybrid Immunity against Any Symptomatic Omicron Infection and against Severe, Critical, or Fatal Covid-19. ð'¸ bars indicate 95% confidence intervals.

The effectiveness of previous infection, BNT162b2 vaccination, and hybrid immunity against any symptomatic omicron infection showed similar patterns to those against BA.1 and BA.2 (Figure 2A and Table 2 ). The effectiveness against severe, critical, or fatal Covid-19 due to any omicron infection also showed similar patterns to those against these outcomes due to BA.1 and BA.2 (Figure 2B and Table 2 ).

Figure 3.

Figure 3. Effectiveness of Previous Infection, Vaccination, and Hybrid Immunity against Any Symptomatic Omicron Infection According to Time since Previous Infection or Vaccination. ð'¸ bars indicate 95% confidence intervals.

The analysis of the effectiveness of previous infection, two-dose vaccination, and three-dose vaccination as a function of time since the immunologic event (previous infection or vaccination) showed rapidly waning vaccine protection after the second and third doses but slowly waning protection from previous infection (Figure 3 ). A sensitivity analysis in which previous positive testing included both PCR-positive and rapid antigen''positive results showed similar findings to those of the main analyses, which indicates that exclusion of previous rapid antigen''positive tests may not have biased our estimates (Table S3).

Effectiveness of Previous Infection and mRNA-1273 Vaccination against BA.1, BA.2, and Any Omicron Infection Figure 4. Figure 4. Effectiveness of Previous Infection, Vaccination with mRNA-1273, and Hybrid Immunity against Symptomatic Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 Infection and against Severe, Critical, or Fatal Covid-19. ð'¸ bars indicate 95% confidence intervals.

The effectiveness of previous infection, vaccination, and hybrid immunity in the analysis of mRNA-1273 showed similar patterns to those of the analysis of BNT162b2 (Figure 2 and Figure 4 ). Additional information is provided in Table S5.

DiscussionPrevious infection with a variant other than omicron was associated with an approximately 50% reduced risk of infection. No difference in the protection of previous infection against BA.1 and BA.2 was discernable. Two-dose vaccination and no previous infection had negligible effectiveness against BA.1 and BA.2, but most persons received their second dose more than 8 months earlier. These findings are explained by the short-lived protection of primary-series vaccination against omicron infections3,27 and the more durable protection from natural infection,2,28 as confirmed by the additional analysis of protection as a function of time after previous infection or vaccination (Figure 3 ).

Booster vaccination was associated with an approximately 60% reduced risk of infection. No difference in the protection of booster vaccination against BA.1 and BA.2 was discernable. However, most persons received their third dose less than 45 days earlier, perhaps explaining the relatively high effectiveness.3

The protection conferred by hybrid immunity of previous infection and two-dose vaccination was similar to that of previous infection alone, at approximately 50%, which suggests that this protection originated from the previous infection and not from vaccination. This finding is also explained by the short-lived protection of primary-series vaccination against omicron infections.3,27

However, the highest effectiveness was seen with hybrid immunity from previous infection and recent booster vaccination (approximately 80%). This finding provides evidence for the benefit of vaccination, even for persons with a previous infection. Strikingly, this protection is what one would expect if previous infection and booster vaccination each acted independently. Because previous infection reduced the risk of infection by 50% and booster vaccination reduced it by 60%, the reduction in the risk of infection for both combined, if they acted fully independently, would be 1''(1''0.5)—(1''0.6)=0.8, which is an 80% reduction, just as observed. Although this effect needs to be further investigated, this finding may suggest that the combined effect of these two forms of immunity against omicron infection reflects neither synergy nor redundancy of the individual biologic effects of each.

Even though the five forms of immunity investigated showed large differences in protection against symptomatic infection that ranged from 0 to 80%, they all showed strong protection against Covid-19''related hospitalization and death, at an effectiveness of more than 70%. This suggests that any form of previous immunity, whether induced by previous infection or vaccination, is associated with strong and durable protection against Covid-19''related hospitalization and death. Notably, there was no evidence for a difference in severity between BA.1 and BA.2 infections in the study samples.

No notable differences were observed between the effects of BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 vaccination. The results confirmed other findings that we reported recently, including a protection of approximately 50% for previous infection against reinfection with BA.1,2 a protection of approximately 50% for mRNA boosters as compared with primary series,4 and the finding that mRNA vaccines have negligible effectiveness against omicron infection 6 or more months after the second dose.3

This study has limitations. Ascertainment of BA.1 and BA.2 infections was based on proxy criteria, but this method of ascertainment is well established.24,29,30 Some omicron infections may have been misclassified delta infections, but the incidence of delta was limited during the study period (Section S2). Ascertainment of BA.1 and BA.2 infections was not possible for a minority of infections. However, this may not have biased our results, since both infections with and without BA.1 or BA.2 ascertainment had a similar distribution among exposure categories (Table S6).

Although matching was performed according to sex, age, and nationality, matching was not possible for other factors, such as coexisting conditions. However, matching according to these factors provided demonstrable control of bias in our earlier studies.11,12,15,21,22 The analysis of effectiveness according to time since the most recent immunologic event is possibly at higher risk than the primary analysis for bias because of confounding, since persons who were vaccinated earliest were more likely to have coexisting conditions or to work in high-risk occupations. Effectiveness was assessed with the use of an observational, test-negative, case''control design rather than a design in which cohorts of individual persons were followed up. However, the cohort study design applied earlier to the same population yielded findings similar to those of the test-negative design.14,15,31 Moreover, our recent study of the effectiveness of boosters relative to primary series used a cohort study design and generated results consistent with the results reported here.4

Nonetheless, one cannot rule out the possibility that in real-world data, bias could arise in unexpected ways or from unknown sources, such as subtle differences or changes in test-seeking behavior. For example, with the large omicron wave, use of rapid antigen testing was expanded to supplement PCR testing in Qatar starting on January 5, 2022, and especially so for some of the routine testing such as post-travel testing. However, rapid antigen testing was broadly implemented and probably did not differentially affect PCR testing to introduce bias, as supported by the sensitivity analysis (Table S3) and the minimal differences between PCR and rapid antigen tests according to exposure category (Table S7). With the small proportion of the population of Qatar being 50 years of age or older,10 our findings may not be generalizable to other countries in which elderly citizens constitute a larger proportion of the population.

Notwithstanding these limitations, findings were consistent with those of other studies of vaccine effectiveness against omicron infection (BA.1 or BA.2 subvariants were not specified).27,32-36 Moreover, with the mass scale of PCR testing in Qatar,12 the likelihood of bias is perhaps minimized. Extensive sensitivity and additional analyses were conducted to investigate effects of potential bias in our earlier studies that used similar methods. These included different adjustments and controls in the analysis and different study inclusion and exclusion criteria to investigate whether effectiveness estimates could have been biased.12,22 These analyses showed consistent findings.2,3,12,17,22

No notable differences were observed in the effectiveness against BA.1 and BA.2 of previous infection, vaccination, and hybrid immunity. Protection from previous infection with variants other than omicron against reinfection was moderate and durable, but protection of primary-series vaccination against infection was negligible by 6 months after the second dose. Recent booster vaccination had moderate effectiveness, whereas hybrid immunity from previous infection and recent booster vaccination conferred the strongest protection against infection, at approximately 80%. All five forms of immunity were associated with strong and durable protection against Covid-19''related hospitalization and death.

Funding and Disclosures Supported by the Biomedical Research Program and the Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Biomathematics Research Core at Weill Cornell Medicine''Qatar; the Ministry of Public Health; Hamad Medical Corporation; and Sidra Medicine. The Qatar Genome Program and the Qatar University Biomedical Research Center provided the reagents needed for the viral genome sequencing.

Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article at NEJM.org.

This article was published on June 15, 2022, at NEJM.org.

We thank the many dedicated persons at Hamad Medical Corporation, the Ministry of Public Health, the Primary Health Care Corporation, Qatar Biobank, Sidra Medicine, and Weill Cornell Medicine''Qatar for their diligent efforts and contributions to make this study possible.

Author AffiliationsFrom the Infectious Disease Epidemiology Group and the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Disease Epidemiology Analytics on HIV/AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Infections, and Viral Hepatitis, Weill Cornell Medicine''Qatar, Cornell University, Education City (H.N.A., H.C., L.J.A.-R.), the Mathematics Program, Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Physics, College of Arts and Sciences (H.H.A.), the Biomedical Research Center (H.M.Y., H.A.A.-K., M.K.S., P.C., G.K.N.), and the Departments of Biomedical Science (H.M.Y., H.A.A.-K., M.K.S., G.K.N.) and Public Health (H.F.A.-R., L.J.A.-R.), College of Health Sciences, QU Health, Qatar University, the Department of Pathology, Sidra Medicine (P.T., M.R.H.), Hamad Medical Corporation (P.C., Z.A.-K., E.A.-K., A.J., A.H.K., A.N.L., R.M.S., A.A.B., A.A.-K.), Primary Health Care Corporation (M.G.A.-K.), and the Ministry of Public Health (H.E.A.-R., M.H.A.-T., R.B.) '-- all in Doha, Qatar; the Departments of Population Health Sciences (H.N.A., H.C., A.A.B., L.J.A.-R.) and Medicine (A.A.B.), Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, New York; and the Wellcome''Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine, Queens University, Belfast, United Kingdom (P.C.).

Dr. Chemaitelly can be contacted at [email protected] or at Weill Cornell Medicine''Qatar, P.O. Box 24144, Qatar Foundation, Education City, Doha, Qatar. Dr. Abu-Raddad can be contacted at [email protected] or at Weill Cornell Medicine''Qatar, P.O. Box 24144, Qatar Foundation, Education City, Doha, Qatar.

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Citing Articles (3)10.1056/NEJMoa2203965-t1

Table 1. Characteristics of the Matched Case Participants and Controls According to Omicron Infection in the BNT162b2 Analysis.*

CharacteristicOmicron BA.1 InfectionOmicron BA.2 InfectionAny Omicron InfectionCase Participants(N=6264)Controls(N=6264)SMDCase Participants(N=20,693)Controls(N=20,693)SMDCase Participants(N=25,288)Controls(N=25,288)SMDMedian age (IQR) '-- yr32 (22''42)32 (22''42)0.00' 33 (21''43)33 (21''43)0.00' 32 (20''42)32 (20''42)0.00' Age group '-- no. (%)<20 yr1394 (22.3)1394 (22.3)0.004,742 (22.9)4,742 (22.9)0.006,185 (24.5)6,185 (24.5)0.0020''29 yr1207 (19.3)1207 (19.3)3,873 (18.7)3,873 (18.7)4,776 (18.9)4,776 (18.9)30''39 yr1759 (28.1)1759 (28.1)5,581 (27.0)5,581 (27.0)6,675 (26.4)6,675 (26.4)40''49 yr944 (15.1)944 (15.1)2,982 (14.4)2,982 (14.4)3,620 (14.3)3,620 (14.3)50''59 yr610 (9.7)610 (9.7)2,191 (10.6)2,191 (10.6)2,493 (9.9)2,493 (9.9)60''69 yr251 (4.0)251 (4.0)915 (4.4)915 (4.4)1,053 (4.2)1,053 (4.2)'‰¥70 yr99 (1.6)99 (1.6)409 (2.0)409 (2.0)486 (1.9)486 (1.9)Sex '-- no. (%)Male3003 (47.9)3003 (47.9)0.0011,191 (54.1)11,191 (54.1)0.0013,596 (53.8)13,596 (53.8)0.00Female3261 (52.1)3261 (52.1)9,502 (45.9)9,502 (45.9)11,692 (46.2)11,692 (46.2)Nationality '-- no. (%)'Bangladeshi88 (1.4)88 (1.4)0.00452 (2.2)452 (2.2)0.00558 (2.2)558 (2.2)0.00Egyptian378 (6.0)378 (6.0)1,209 (5.8)1,209 (5.8)1,443 (5.7)1,443 (5.7)Filipino690 (11.0)690 (11.0)1,922 (9.3)1,922 (9.3)2,365 (9.4)2,365 (9.4)Indian677 (10.8)677 (10.8)2,503 (12.1)2,503 (12.1)3,093 (12.2)3,093 (12.2)Nepalese57 (0.9)57 (0.9)282 (1.4)282 (1.4)312 (1.2)312 (1.2)Pakistani131 (2.1)131 (2.1)653 (3.2)653 (3.2)753 (3.0)753 (3.0)Qatari2453 (39.2)2453 (39.2)8,011 (38.7)8,011 (38.7)9,572 (37.9)9,572 (37.9)Sri Lankan58 (0.9)58 (0.9)258 (1.2)258 (1.2)287 (1.1)287 (1.1)Sudanese310 (4.9)310 (4.9)910 (4.4)910 (4.4)1,098 (4.3)1,098 (4.3)Other§1422 (22.7)1422 (22.7)4,493 (21.7)4,493 (21.7)5,807 (23.0)5,807 (23.0)Calendar week of PCR test '-- no. (%)Dec. 23''29, 20211145 (18.3)1145 (18.3)0.002,494 (12.1)2,494 (12.1)0.005,748 (22.7)5,748 (22.7)0.00Dec. 30, 2021''Jan. 5, 20223570 (57.0)3570 (57.0)11,136 (53.8)11,136 (53.8)11,677 (46.2)11,677 (46.2)Jan. 6''12, 2022999 (15.9)999 (15.9)3,940 (19.0)3,940 (19.0)4,040 (16.0)4,040 (16.0)Jan. 13''19, 2022310 (4.9)310 (4.9)1,752 (8.5)1,752 (8.5)1,954 (7.7)1,954 (7.7)Jan. 20''26, 202294 (1.5)94 (1.5)698 (3.4)698 (3.4)886 (3.5)886 (3.5)Jan. 27''Feb. 2, 202272 (1.1)72 (1.1)393 (1.9)393 (1.9)520 (2.1)520 (2.1)Feb. 3''9, 202238 (0.6)38 (0.6)138 (0.7)138 (0.7)233 (0.9)233 (0.9)Feb. 10''16, 202227 (0.4)27 (0.4)107 (0.5)107 (0.5)163 (0.6)163 (0.6)Feb. 17''20, 20229 (0.1)9 (0.1)35 (0.2)35 (0.2)67 (0.3)67 (0.3) 10.1056/NEJMoa2203965-t2

Table 2. Effectiveness of Previous Infection, Vaccination with BNT162b2, and Hybrid Immunity against Symptomatic Omicron Infections and against Severe, Critical, or Fatal Covid-19.*

Infection and Immune StatusCase Participants with Symptomatic Infection (PCR-Positive)' Controls (PCR-Negative)' Effectiveness against Symptomatic Infection (95% CI)Case Participants with Severe, Critical, or Fatal Covid-19'Controls (PCR- Negative)'Effectiveness against Severe, Critical, or Fatal Covid-19 (95% CI)ExposedUnexposed§ExposedUnexposed§ExposedUnexposed§ExposedUnexposed§numberpercentnumberpercentBA.1 infectionPrevious infection and no vaccination1491738255153650.2 (38.1 to 59.9)012611100.0 (15.1 to 100.0)¶Two doses and no previous infection3,44917382,7621536''4.9 (''16.4 to 5.4)512391196.8 (71.1 to 99.6)Two doses and previous infection4021738688153651.7 (43.5 to 58.7)11281196.2 (37.7 to 99.8)Three doses and no previous infection4791738892153659.6 (52.9 to 65.3)212201197.5 (71.7 to 99.8)Three doses and previous infection471738131153674.4 (63.4 to 82.2)012711100.0 (30.6 to 100.0)¶BA.2 infectionPrevious infection and no vaccination5656051895537246.1 (39.5 to 51.9)343175073.4 (0.2 to 92.9)Two doses and no previous infection10,88060518,8465372''1.1 (''7.1 to 4.6)41431685076.8 (58.0 to 87.1)Two doses and previous infection1,16060512,108537255.1 (50.9 to 58.9)143415097.8 (82.6 to 99.7)Three doses and no previous infection1,88460512,983537252.2 (48.1 to 55.9)343985098.2 (91.9 to 99.6)Three doses and previous infection1536051489537277.3 (72.4 to 81.4)0432350100.0 (82.6 to 100.0)¶Any omicron infectionPrevious infection and no vaccination63778371,113690450.8 (45.4 to 55.7)41002413971.6 (15.7 to 90.4)Two doses and no previous infection13,033783710,6006904''0.2 (''5.5 to 4.9)6310032013973.5 (60.5 to 82.2)Two doses and previous infection1,36078372,501690455.5 (51.8 to 59.0)31007913994.3 (81.3 to 98.3)Three doses and no previous infection2,23478373,586690454.0 (50.4 to 57.3)1210016413992.5 (84.4 to 96.3)Three doses and previous infection1877837584690476.3 (71.7 to 80.1)010047139100.0 (91.8 to 100.0)¶

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Thu, 07 Jul 2022 13:36

Posting ''online insults'' will be punishable by up to a year in prison time in Japan starting Thursday, when a new law passed earlier this summer will go into effect.

People convicted of online insults can also be fined up to 300,000 yen (just over $2,200). Previously, the punishment was fewer than 30 days in prison and up to 10,000 yen ($75).

The law will be reexamined in three years to determine if it's impacting freedom of expression '-- a concern raised by critics of the bill. Proponents said it was necessary to slow cyberbullying in the country.

But there aren't clear definitions of what counts as an insult, Seiho Cho, a criminal lawyer in Japan, told CNN after the law passed. The law says an insult means demeaning someone without a specific fact about them '-- as opposed to defamation, which it classifies as demeaning someone while pointing to a specific fact about them. ''At the moment, even if someone calls the leader of Japan an idiot, then maybe under the revised law that could be classed as an insult,'' Cho said.

Japanese officials pushed a crackdown on cyberbullying after the death by suicide of reality television star Hana Kimura, who was subject to online abuse. Her mother pushed for more anti-cyberbullying policies after her death. Some research shows a relationship between suicidal behaviors and cyberbullying, though most research has been done on children and adolescents.

The United Kingdom also has laws criminalizing ''grossly offensive'' public messages, and people have been arrested and fined for tweets. The language in its policies is also ambiguous, and courts decide what counts as ''grossly'' offensive on a case-by-case basis.

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Thu, 07 Jul 2022 13:36

Conservative radio show host Lourdes Ubieta quit her job ahead of her Miami station potentially being bought by a group backed by George Soros. Facebook/Lourdes UbietaA popular conservative radio host has quit her high-profile Miami gig ahead of the anticipated purchase of her station by a George Soros-backed liberal group, according to a report.

Cuban-American Lourdes Ubieta, who hosted a show on Miami's Radio Mambi, said she rejected a lucrative deal to stay on at the station.

''I would never cut a deal with these people,'' she told Fox News. ''Never, never, never.''

Radio Mambi has long been associated with Miami's sizable Cuban exile population and has maintained a right-leaning anti-Communist bent.

But Ubieta, who will move to another station, said she expects the outlet to change drastically under new ownership.

The $60 million deal to purchase 18 Spanish-language stations across the country is pending FCC approval.

Stephanie Valencia, a former Obama administration staffer, and Jess Morales Rocketto, who worked with Hillary Clinton's' presidential campaign, told Axios recently that their new Spanish-language radio conglomerate will reach a third of all Hispanics living in America.

The primary backer for the acquisition of Radio Mambi is Lakestar Finance '-- which is affiliated with Soros Fund Management. Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty ImagesThe venture's primary financial backer is Lakestar Finance, ''an investment entity affiliated with Soros Fund Management,'' Axios reported.

Actress Eva Longoria is also signing on to the project.

Ubieta said she was offered a deal to remain with Radio Mambi but declined the payday.

''They told me that I will receive half the money as soon as they get the FCC approval and then the rest of the money when Soros people take over,'' she said. ''I don't want to be part of the deal. I'm not going to sign the papers and I quit.''

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' team released a series of ads criticizing the takeover, arguing that the new ownership group would seek to spread disinformation.

Representatives for the new venture, Latino Media Network, have countered that they intend to ''empower'' Hispanic listeners and broaden their influence.

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Thu, 07 Jul 2022 13:35

An Uvalde police officer armed with a rifle requested to shoot Salvador Ramos outside Robb Elementary School on May 24 just before the 18-year-old gunman launched the massacre, it was revealed on Wednesday.

The officer's supervisor either did not hear the request or responded too late to open fire on Ramos, allowing the shooter to enter the building where he killed 19 children and two teachers, according to the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center.

The incident was among the biggest missed opportunities to stop or kill the Uvalde gunman before he entered the school, according to a report by a Texas law enforcement group.

''The officer turned to get confirmation from his supervisor and when he turned back to address the suspect, (the gunman) had already entered the west hallway unabated,'' said the report.

About 32 seconds after the officer failed to shoot, the gunman made his way into classroom 111.

''Immediately, children's screams could be heard along with numerous gunshots in the classroom,'' said the report.

An Uvalde police officer reportedly requested permission to kill elementary school shooter Salvador Ramos before the massacre started. REUTERS/Marco Bello According to the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center, the officer's supervisor either didn't hear the request or responded too late to stop Ramos. Photo by ALLISON DINNER/AFP via Getty ImagesAnother missed opportunity came when a Uvalde school district police officer headed to the school in response to a gunman. The officer drove right by the rifle-carrying Ramos because he was driving at a high rate of speed, the report says.

The law enforcement response to the school shooting has been criticized and is under investigation by multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Justice Department. Much of the blame has been assigned to the school district police chief, Pete Arredondo, who was the incident commander.

The lead investigator into the shooting, the Texas Department of Public Safety, has said much of the responsibility falls on Arredondo for delaying officers over an hour to enter the classroom with dying teachers and students.

Ramos approaching Robb Elementary school with a gun. Elsa G Ruiz/Facebook Uvalde school district police chief Pete Arredondo has received blame for the police department's slow response to the shooting. Mikala Compton/USA TODAY NETWORK via REUTERS''The only thing stopping a hallway of dedicated officers from entering room 111 and 112 was the on-scene commander who decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children,'' Texas DPS Director Steve McCraw told a special Texas Senate committee about Arrendondo last month.

Arredondo denies that he was the incident commander, although the law enforcement largely disagrees with him. Arredondo has been placed on administrative leave by the school district and recently resigned from the Uvalde City Council after refusing to show up at any public meetings since the shooting and pressure from residents to resign.

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Thu, 07 Jul 2022 13:28

The mysterious Georgia Guidestones have been bulldozed after sustaining significant damage in an apparent bomb attack. Residents reported hearing a thunderous explosion near their location around 4am on Wednesday.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) told reporters that preliminary information suggests someone used an explosive device to damage the pillars.

:: Keep up with the latest in the investigation at The Independent's live blog

The Elbert County Sheriff's Office is working with the GBI to investigate the attack on the structure.

The GBI released CCTV footage showing a car driving near the monument just after the explosion.

The guidestones '-- sometimes called America's Stonehenge for their appearance after being erected in 1980 '-- consist of six granite slabs, with an inscription carved in eight different languages across the slabs.

The inscriptions contain guidelines '-- hence guidestones '-- for pursuing human progress.

Those recommendations include items like "maintain humanity under 500m in perpetual balance with nature" and "unite humanity with a living new language."

Residents who live near the statue said they felt and heard an explosion near the stones' location at around 4am.

Chris Kubas, Executive Vice President of the Elberton Granite Association, said that the stones had suffered defacement in the past, but that Wednesday's bombing far surpassed any previous damage it had sustained.

The guidestones were opened in 1980 and were commissioned by a "small group of loyal Americans" through a man who used a pseudonym.

The owners of Elberton Granite Finishing Company, which was commissioned to build the slabs, said the man claimed the monument was meant to act as a compass, calendar and clock that could withstand catastrophic events.

The company claims it tried to discourage the man from pursuing the project by offering a comically inflated price for the project, but were surprised to find the individual accepted the quote.

The monument has become the focal point of conservative conspiracy theories over the last years, with allegations that the message on the slabs are instructions for the coming "new world order."

Kandiss Taylor, a far-right conspiracy theorist who ran in the state's Republican gubernatorial primary against incumbent Brian Kemp, made the destruction of the guidestones a central pillar of her campaign.

In a glossy campaign video, she announced her "executive order 10," which would see the monument demolished.

Throughout the video she nods to other conservative talking points and conspiracy theories.

The video starts with a reference to a Covid-19 vaccine conspiracy, with Ms Taylor saying "over four million people got injected with something that took only nine months to create. Ask yourself why."

It then moves onto demonic human sacrifice.

"Human sacrifice was a form of demonic worship, we're still doing it in present day by killing our unborn," she says, while a graphic about the number of abortions performed worldwide splashes across the screen. "It's the same demons, the same sacrifice, the same sin, it's just a different time."

Then she shifts focus to the "new world order" and the insinuation that the Georgia Guidestones are a message from the demon-worshipping elite who secretly rule the world as to their plans.

"The new world order is here and they told us it was coming," she says.

Shortly after news broke that the stones had been damaged, rather than denouncing the destruction of private property by a protester '-- which is standard for most Republicans '-- she suggested that God struck down one of the stones.

Her video was posted to Twitter just two months before the explosion.

HBO's John Olliver, host of Last Week Tonight, lampooned Ms Taylor and her bizarre stance agaisnt furries and the Georgia Guidestones, noting that her fixation on the monument was the lynchpin of her campaign.

''That was the closing argument of her campaign,'' Mr Oliver said. ''Raising the obvious question: Hey, Kandiss Taylor, what the f*** are you talking about?''

Infamous conspiracy theorist Alex Jones also responded to the bombing, saying he enjoyed it on ''an animal level,'' but utlimately disagreed with the attack.

''We need that evil edifice there as a confession letter led by a consortium of eugenicists,'' he said.

Ms Taylor was crushed in the Georgia Republican primary in May. Mr Kemp won more than 70 per cent of the vote, with former Senator David Perdue coming in second with around 22 per cent. Ms Taylor earned only 3 per cent of the state's vote.

Despite the severity of her loss, she took a page from the MAGA playbook and claimed that "cheaters" rigged the election against her.

''I want y'all to know that I do not concede,'' Ms Taylor said in a video posted to social media. ''I do not. And if the people who did this and cheated are watching, I do not concede.''

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell later vowed to investigate the loss.

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Thu, 07 Jul 2022 13:16

On the 4th of July, Mexican President Andr(C)s Manuel L"pez Obrador declared that, if Wikileaks journalist Julian Assange is convicted in the United States, the Statue of Liberty should be dismantled, reports the Mexico Daily Post.

Assange is currently imprisoned by the United Kingdom pending an extradition to the United States on charges under the U.S. Espionage Act. Those charges spring from his receipt and publishing of vast troves of classified American government documents. Among many other embarrassing disclosures, the files revealed previously undisclosed civilian casualties of the war in Iraq.

On Friday, Assange appealed the UK government's extradition decision to the High Court. PEN International, a global association of writers, condemned the U.S government's conduct in the case:

"Julian Assange's prosecution raises profound concerns about freedom of the press. Invoking the Espionage Act for practices that include receiving and publishing classified information sends a dangerous signal to journalists and publishers worldwide."

Speaking at a press conference at the National Palace, L"pez Obrador called for the "most important press in the world"'--including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and Mexico's El Pais'--to "convene a meeting...to exhort, request, call, so that a pardon be granted to Assange."

He continued:

''If they don't do it, they will be tarnished and we will have to start the campaign that, if they take him to the US, and sentence him to the maximum sentence [to] die in prison, they will have to dismantle the Statue of Liberty that the French delivered...because it is no longer a symbol of freedom."

L"pez Obrador pledged to make his own personal appeal. ''I want to state that I am going to ask President Biden to address this matter. I am aware that it goes against the severe hardliners that exist in the United States as in all countries, but humanism must also prevail,'' he said.

He has previously indicated his willingness to grant Assange humanitarian asylum and Mexican citizenship.

It's not the first time L"pez Obrador has invoked the Statue of Liberty in criticizing political conditions in the United States.

Referring to social media firms de-platforming then-sitting U.S. president Donald Trump in January 2021, he said, "I don't know if you've noticed that since they took these decisions, the Statue of Liberty in New York is turning green with anger, because it doesn't want to become an empty symbol.''

A consistent Western gadfly, in June L"pez Obrador condemned NATO's "immoral" proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. ''How easy it is to say, 'Here, I'll send you this much money for weapons.' Couldn't the war in Ukraine have been avoided? Of course it could...'I'll supply the weapons, and you supply the dead.' It is immoral.''

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Thu, 07 Jul 2022 13:03

IntroductionIn December 2020, the Government of Canada announced its Strengthened Climate Plan, ''A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy.'' It includes a number of measures affecting the agriculture sector, with a goal to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and increase carbon sequestration. This discussion paper addresses one of these measures: a national target to reduce absolute levels of GHG emissions arising from fertilizer application by 30% below 2020 levels by 2030.

AbbreviationsBMPBeneficial management practiceKgKilogramsMhaMillion hectaresMt CO2eMegatonnes (million tonnes) of carbon dioxide equivalentNNitrogenN20Nitrous oxideBackgroundAgriculture was responsible for approximately 10% of Canada's GHG emissions in 2019, or 73 Mt CO2, which come from three main sources: enteric fermentation (24Mt), crop production (24Mt) , and on-farm fuel use (14Mt) (National Inventory Report, 2021.) Based on current data for 2019, emissions from synthetic fertilizers accounted for 12.75 Mt. While many players in the agriculture sector are already working to improve nutrient management and reduce emissions associated with crop production, fertilizers are responsible for a growing share of overall agricultural emissions.

The Government of Canada recognizes the important work farmers do as stewards of the land, and 2021 demonstrated the extraordinary challenges farmers face on the front lines of climate change. Extreme weather events are projected to become more severe and costly for the agricultural sector in the coming decades. The need to act is urgent. The Green Agricultural Plan (The Plan), currently under development, will provide an integrated and coordinated approach to addressing agri-environmental issues in the sector, including climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience, water, biodiversity and soil health. It is highlighted in the Strengthened Climate Plan as a means to support the agriculture sector's actions on climate change and other environmental priorities towards 2030 and 2050.

The Plan will respond to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food's 2021 Mandate Letter to increase support to farmers to develop and adopt agricultural management practices to reduce emissions, store carbon in healthy soil and enhance resiliency, triple funding for clean tech on farms, including for renewable energy, precision agriculture and energy efficiency, and work with farmers and stakeholders to reduce methane and fertilizer emissions in the agricultural sector.

The Plan will help also inform sector-based activities to contribute to national GHG emission reduction targets under the Emission Reduction Plan led by ECCC, through the targets and solutions identified under the climate mitigation issue area. Overall the Plan would support the sustainable growth of the agriculture sector while improving environmental performance and strengthening Canada's food system.

In November 2021, Canadian agricultural ministers released the Guelph Statement, highlighting the need to tackle climate change and reduce GHG emissions to ensure the vitality of the sector. Environmental protection will position producers to seize economic opportunities and grow sustainably.

The fertilizer emission target is ambitious, but achievable. It is intended to build upon the sector's work to date, and increase adoption of region- and farm-specific approaches that will reverse the trend of rising emissions arising from fertilizer use while maintaining the sector's competitiveness and Canada's reputation as a top producer and exporter of quality crops. To a large extent, the required technologies and practices already exist. It is now a question of how to increase their use, identify and address any challenges or shortcomings, and ensure that farmers have the knowledge and support required to do so. This consultation is a key part of the Government of Canada's efforts to develop a collaborative approach to meet this target.

In March 2021, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) launched a series of informal, targeted engagement sessions to seek early feedback from the agriculture sector, including commodity and grower associations, provinces, and industry organizations. These sessions informed this discussion paper, the current phase of consultation, and engagement plans. A summary of what was heard during these sessions can be found in Annex A.

This second phase of the engagement process will seek feedback from farmers, provinces, territories, Indigenous peoples, local authorities, the private sector, non-government organizations, and the public. Section Three of this paper describes how you can provide input, which will inform policy development and the Government's next steps to reduce emissions arising from fertilizer use in Canadian agriculture.

Agriculture is a shared responsibility between Canada's federal, provincial, and territorial governments, all of which work together to support Canadian farmers through agricultural policy frameworks (the current is the Canadian Agricultural Partnership 2018 '' 2023). The Government of Canada is committed to working with all partners and stakeholders to develop an approach to meet this target and build upon work already underway in the agriculture sector and beyond.

The Case for ActionThe consequences of climate change are being felt right now here in Canada and around the planet. The science is clear that existing efforts are not enough to avoid catastrophic effects and that more needs to be done to address climate change, and on a faster timeline. The recently published Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C found that to keep global warming below 1.5°C, net human caused emissions of CO2 need to fall globally by about 45% below 2010 levels by 2030 and reach net-zero around 2050.

Climate change is already intensifying the water cycle, resulting in more intense rainfall and flooding in some regions with more intense droughts in other regions. Extreme weather and an ongoing global pandemic underline why 2022 is a crucial year for climate action and ensuring international collaboration in the fight against climate change. It also points to the need for clear and decisive action here at home, where all Canadians and all sectors of the economy are being called upon to do their part to reduce emissions and build climate resiliency.

Since the release of Canada's Strengthened Climate Plan, the Government of Canada has moved swiftly to implement its key aspects in order to create jobs, grow the economy and protect the planet. In April 2021, in line with its obligations under the Paris Agreement, the Government of Canada announced a new GHG emissions reduction target of 40-45% below 2005 levels by 2030. This target, along with other developments such as the passage of the Canadian Net Zero Emissions Accountability Act, which enshrines in legislation Canada's commitment to achieve net-zero emissions across the Canadian economy by 2050, highlights the need to reduce absolute GHG emissions across all economic sectors, including agriculture.

Objectives of the National Target for Fertilizer EmissionsThe defining challenge for Canadian agriculture in the 21st century will be to reduce absolute GHG emissions, and ultimately reach net-zero emissions by 2050, while finding ways to increase yields and economic growth '' all while feeding a growing global population.

The fertilizer target's objective is to contribute to lower GHG emissions from the agriculture sector, building on and leveraging public and private programs and initiatives. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to meeting the target. Canada's agriculture sector stretches from coast to coast, and varies by crop, soil, and region However, technology and practices that can meet this target do exist, and more solutions continue to be developed through additional research. One of the challenges is understanding how best to support farmers in implementing these practices on a broader scale.

By developing a national approach, drawing on a range of policy measures based on existing knowledge and practices and new and emerging research, this target will build on the innovation, expertise, dedication, and ingenuity of Canada's farmers and private sector enterprises to improve nutrient management and reduce emissions while maintaining and improving the quality and yields Canadian agriculture is known for around the world.

The target applies to both direct (following fertilizer application) and indirect (from nitrogen leached from fields and volatilized to the atmosphere as ammonia) emissions from the application of fertilizer. It does not address emissions associated with the manufacturing of fertilizers, but it does recognize the potential for emissions reductions resulting from the use of new and novel fertilizer products. The reduction target is set relative to 2020 levels, which will be published as part of Canada's 2022 National Inventory Report (NIR) on Greenhouse Gas Sources and Sinks in Canada. Based on current data for 2019, in which emissions from synthetic fertilizers accounted for 12.75 Mt CO2e, the fertilizer target is anticipated to translate to a reduction of approximately 4Mt of CO2e.

Improvements are regularly made to Canada's official GHG accounting methodology, reflecting ongoing improvement of scientific understanding and data sources. Updated methodology for cropland emissions has been peer-reviewed and will be formally applied in Canada's next NIR, due for release in April 2022. While these updates may impact the exact number of Mts required to meet the fertilizer emissions target, the purpose of this paper is to discuss how to reduce those emissions and remains relevant despite potential minor fluctuations.

In order to achieve a concrete reduction in overall emissions, the target is established relative to absolute emissions rather than emissions intensity. The Government of Canada has been clear that the objective of the national target for fertilizers is to reduce emissions, and that the primary method to achieve this is not to establish a mandatory reduction in fertilizer use that isn't linked to improved efficiency and maintaining or improving yields. Rather, the goal is to maximize efficiency, optimize fertilizer use, encourage innovation, and to work collaboratively with the agriculture sector, partners and stakeholders in identifying opportunities that will allow us to successfully reach this target.

Fertilizers and Agriculture ProductionFertilizers are an essential input for Canada's agricultural crops. They have helped drive increases in Canadian crop yields over time, in the process leading to increased grain sales and exports, record farm gate receipts, and prosperity for Canada's farm families. However, the application of nitrogen (N) fertilizer in particular results in nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 265 to 298 Footnote 1 times that of carbon dioxide (CO2) over a 100-year period.

Furthermore, as N can take various forms as it cycles through the air, soil, and water, any unused N (not taken up by the growing plant) can be released into the broader environment with unintended consequences for water and biodiversity. In addition to N2O, N can volatilize from soils as ammonia, which can be harmful for biodiversity and travel extensive distances and react with particulate matter to cause smog. It can also take the form of nitrate, which is a highly soluble form that can move easily into waterways and groundwater.

Given the essential role of N fertilizer in Canadian agriculture, actions to achieve emissions reductions will focus on improving nitrogen management and optimizing fertilizer use, and not on a mandatory reduction in the use of fertilizers. For example, practices such as the use of enhanced efficiency fertilizers, minimizing Fall application and/or broadcasting of fertilizers, increased use of pulses in crop rotations, and annual soil testing can improve nitrogen use efficiency and reduce emissions. Solutions exist that will allow us to meet this target through innovative and collaborative approaches, building on the leadership already exhibited by farmers, including through voluntary implementation of Fertilizer Canada's 4R approach. Through this engagement process we want to hear from you about how we can expand the use and scale of measures that will achieve the complementary objectives of optimized fertilizer use, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and maintained or improved yields.

A Snapshot of Current EmissionsBetween 2005 and 2019, fertilizer use increased by 71% in Canada, primarily driven by growing fertilizer sales in Western Canada (BC, AB, SK, and MB). Over the same period, N2O emissions from fertilizer application in Canada increased by 64%, with direct and indirect emissions associated with synthetic fertilizer N2O emissions in 2019 at 12.75Mt CO2e (National Inventory Report, 2021).

Figure 1 shows total (direct and indirect) Footnote 2 N2O emissions resulting from synthetic fertilizer application between 2005 and 2019. While there has been some inter-year variation, the trend is one of increasing emissions over time, and is directly correlated to the amount of fertilizer applied.

Figure 1: Direct and indirect emissions from synthetic fertilizer application, 2005 to 2019 (NIR 2021)Description of above image Figure 1: Direct and indirect emissions from synthetic fertilizer, 2005 to 2019 20052006200720082009Indirect emissions (leaching and volatization) (Mt CO2e)*1.4054511.404861.6959781.6959781.684187Direct emissions (Mt CO2e)6.8937056.8733827.8332718.1824518.227483Amount of synthetic fertilizer applied (tonnes)1,539,4501,539,9451,756,0001,913,0001,878,000 20102011201220132014Indirect emissions (leaching and volatization) (Mt CO2e)*1.7062421.7658642.0031362.1547772.1114Direct emissions (Mt CO2e)8.36188.6455219.76512410.4342810.25529Amount of synthetic fertilizer applied (tonnes)1,924,0002,009,0002,311,0002,505,0002,471,000 20152016201720182019Indirect emissions (leaching and volatization) (Mt CO2e)*2.1862562.1768032.0279832.2241132.194472Direct emissions (Mt CO2e)10.5668310.579199.74702810.7675110.5636Amount of synthetic fertilizer applied (tonnes)2,588,0002,556,0002,411,0002,641,0002,640,000Increased N2O emissions on cropland are driven by the combined effect of a continued increase in area under annual crop production (e.g., conversion of pasture to land for annual crop production), an increase in the area under fertilizer intensive crops, and an increase in soil degradation which has contributed to carbon (C) and N losses from soils. The area under more fertilizer-intensive crops such as canola and corn has expanded considerably since 2001, while the area of some crops requiring lower fertilizer rates, such as wheat, barley, oats and tame hay has decreased (Figure 2 below).

As well, the intensity of N2O emissions per hectare has nearly doubled since 1981. This is a result of increased fertilizer application rates coupled with only a minimal expansion of the total Canadian agricultural area. This intensification of production, supported through increased fertilizer use and improvements in breeding and pest and disease control, has resulted in higher yields on a per area basis.

Figure 2: Changes in field crop area between 2001 and 2021Description of above image 20012006201120162021Canola3,826,8005,283,3007,684,7008,410,9009,096,700Corn for grain1,294,2001,093,1001,291,6001,452,2001,413,100Total wheat10,950,5009,852,2008,726,2009,624,8009,492,600Barley4,700,2003,689,9002,666,4002,701,8003,357,000Oats1,907,4002,063,5001,312,9001,232,3001,385,100Tame hay7,663,4008,237,0006,984,8005,882,6005,180,300Regional VariationsFertilizer induced emissions are not spatially or temporally uniform across Canadian agricultural landscapes. The seasonal pattern of N2O emissions reflects the interaction between soil temperature, soil water and nitrate availability. Drier regions of the Prairies have much lower N2O losses than the moister regions of Eastern Canada. N2O emissions per hectare are greater in Eastern Canada as a result of the wetter climate and greater N application rates. However, the much larger land area in the Prairies vs. Eastern Canada results in greater total N fertilizer application in the Prairies and thus the total emissions are much higher in this region.

It is important to note that the strategies required to achieve the 30% N2O emission reduction objective will vary across the country as the emissions reduction potential is impacted by biophysical factors (soil type, soil humidity, climate), crop types, and climate change impacts. Footnote 3

Figure 3 illustrates the differences between the fertilizer induced emissions patterns across the country, showing N2O emissions per hectare in 2018. The intensity of fertilizer emissions (emissions per ha) is higher east of Saskatchewan, indicating that more fertilizer is applied per hectare, resulting in more direct emissions on a per-acre basis. In addition, wetter conditions in the East result in more direct and indirect emissions.

Figure 3: Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions per hectare (2018)Description of above imageFigure 3: Nitrous oxide emissions per hectare

Map of Canada showing the differences between the fertilizer induced emissions patterns across the country, showing kilograms of N2O emissions per hectare in 2018. The intensity of fertilizer emissions (emissions per ha) is higher east of Saskatchewan, indicating that more fertilizer is applied per hectare, resulting in more direct emissions on a per-acre basis. In addition, wetter conditions in the East result in more direct and indirect emissions. Figures range from 0 to over 2.0 KG of N2O-N /hectare. The highest concentrations are located in pockets of Western Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.

International ComparisonCanada accounts for approximately 1% of global agricultural emissions. However, available data show that Canadian cereal production likely has one of the highest levels of emissions intensity (i.e. amount of GHGs emitted per unit of product) amongst major exporting countries, as seen in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Emissions Intensity for Cereal Crops, 2005-2017 Footnote 4Description of above image Figure 4: Average Emissions Intensity for Cereal Crops (excluding rice), 2005-2017 RegionEmissions Intensity(Kg of CO2 per Kg of product)Australia0.227575Brazil0.196146Canada0.249892France0.121315Mexico0.186938Russia0.139192Ukraine0.141346USA0.208846EU0.187469OECD0.207062Source: Food and Agriculture Organization Emissions Intensity DatabaseWhile the figures in the chart above reflect an average over 2005 to 2017, according to the FAO's Emissions Intensity Database, Canada's emission intensity (kg of CO2e per kg of product) for cereals has risen from 0.22 in 2005 to 0.26 in 2017 (the most recent year for which data is available). Canada's emission intensity for cereals in 2017 is higher than those reported for the United States (0.21), the European Union (0.19) and the OECD (0.20) for the same year. However, it is important to note that the figures in the chart above do not control for variation in the composition of cereal production across countries.

Other jurisdictions have also prioritized reducing emissions associated with fertilizer application and are taking different approaches to achieve this objective. The European Union has introduced an absolute emissions reduction target, and aims to achieve it through a 20% reduction of fertilizer use compared to 2020. It is expected the EU will present an Integrated Nutrient Management Action Plan in 2022 to outline measures to achieve this goal. In addition, New Zealand has introduced a target for all greenhouse gases '' except for biogenic methane from agriculture and waste '' to reach net zero by 2050. A number of measures have been proposed to achieve these reductions, such as on-farm emissions pricing systems, carbon border adjustment mechanisms, and sustainable nutrient management.

Economic ImplicationsFrom an economic perspective, fertilizer plays a fundamental role for both individual farms and Canadian agriculture as a whole. Fertilizers and related services are a key input cost that farmers must account for every growing season. They are also an essential determinant in crop yields, and therefore influence a farm's balance sheet both in terms of expenditures and revenues. Farmers weigh these factors (among others, such as time) when deciding how and when to apply fertilizer '' and how much of it to apply.

Depending on the crop, the farm location, local weather, soil type, and other farm specific characteristics, more targeted fertilizer use and other practices have the potential to both reduce costs and increase yields. Furthermore, avoiding the application of fertilizer at times or locations where it is not required by crops may not only reduce input costs, but can also result in long-term improvements in soil health and water quality. In other cases, depending on the characteristics of the individual farm, the economic costs of adopting different fertilizers or fertilizer management practices may outweigh any potential yield increase.

The potential economic impacts of applying different beneficial management practices (BMPs) are expected to span a wide range and may result in either net costs or net benefits to farmers. For example, a recent study prepared for Farmers for Climate Solutions Footnote 5 has estimated that the use of enhanced efficiency fertilizer in Prairies for wheat would cost approximately $74 per hectare on average. On the other hand, the same study estimates that the same measure for corn in the Prairies can actually increase revenues by $20 per hectare on average. Of course, the particular situation of any given farm are such that average cost and benefit estimates may not appropriately reflect the true impacts for a particular producer.

There is no single universally applicable path for reducing emissions from fertilizer. A tailored approach will therefore be necessary in order to reduce emissions most cost-effectively. In addition, there remains a high degree of uncertainty and complexity resulting from incomplete data and also a large number of variables related to different crop types, regional variations, fluctuations in growing conditions from one season to the next, and various other factors. Data will need to be developed more fully as part of ongoing and future efforts to meet the emissions reduction target. Work is ongoing at AAFC to better measure both the GHG mitigation potential and the economic costs and benefits associated with different BMPs at the level of individual farms.

Practices to Reduce Fertilizer EmissionsDuring the first phase of consultations, stakeholders identified a number of opportunities to improve nutrient management and reduce emissions associated with fertilizer application. These can broadly be categorized as those related to the principles of Fertilizer Canada's 4R Nutrient Stewardship and related BMPs, and those that do not fall under the 4R approach. Given its prominence in the sector, 4R is discussed separately here although there are potential areas of overlap.

Background on 4R Nutrient StewardshipThe 4R Nutrient Stewardship approach, developed by Fertilizer Canada, was raised by a large number of stakeholders during the first phase of consultations as a pathway for achieving emissions reductions. This approach is designed to promote sustainable use of fertilizer in crop production and can reduce GHG emissions by focusing on the ''4 Rs'' of fertilizer application:

Right source matches the fertilizer type to crop needs. This encompasses the use of synthetic versus organic fertilizers, as well as fertilizers with different nutrient compositions and different formats (liquid, granular, seed-banded, slow release, manure etc.) and products that include additives such as nitrification and urease inhibitors;Right rate matches the amount of fertilizer to crop needs. This entails only applying what can be taken up by the crop over the course of the growing season. This recommendation can include precision application technologies (including those that address in-field variability), and the use of soil tests to make nutrient management decisions accounting for existing soil nutrient levels;Right time means nutrients are available when crops need them. This could include practices such as split application (applying at seeding as well as later at critical crop growth stages) or avoiding applying fertilizer in the fall when there is a higher risk of loss through spring runoff; and,Right place means nutrients are placed where crops can use them. This recommendation includes practices such as banding whereby the fertilizer is applied in concentrated strips; side dressing whereby fertilizers are placed in a row adjacent to the crop, or seed-placed, where fertilizers are placed in the same furrow as the seed. This includes practices such as broadcasting where possible, whereby nutrients are spread on the surface of the soil (or growing crop) and which can lead to inefficiencies and losses to the broader environment.The 4R approach focuses on a number of best practices that are customized to address the climatic, soil, cropping and operational conditions of each farm. Examples include regular soil testing, timing fertilizer application to minimize emissions, and the use of enhanced efficiency fertilizers. Qualified specialists, such as Certified Crop Advisors, help develop management plans for sustainable fertilizer application. These can take the form of basic, intermediate, and advanced levels of 4R Nutrient Stewardship, depending on the approach adopted by any particular farmer.

There is widespread recognition that the principles underlying the 4R practices can reduce emissions from N fertilizer. Existing data from Fertilizer Canada and the 4R Research Network indicate that the implementation of a 4R program can reduce fertilizer-related emissions while maintaining and/or improving crop yields, with suggestions that the widespread adoption of 4R in Western Canada could reduce emissions by 2 to 3 megatonnes '' or 50 to 75% of the Government's emission reduction target.

Preliminary scientific assessments by AAFC confirm that the widespread adoption of some practices associated with 4R could lead to large-scale emissions reductions. For example, analysis indicates that the use of enhanced efficiency fertilizers containing both nitrification and urease inhibitors could reduce emissions by 15 to 35%, translating to approximately 2.4 Mt per year, and split applying fertilizer (at seeding and later in the growing season) could provide 15-35% reductions over regular N fertilizer practices. Additionally, according to Fertilizer Canada's 2019 Survey, about 20% of canola producers in AB and SK, and 44% of canola producers in Manitoba that participated in the survey indicated that they applied fertilizer in the fall of the previous year. While it is acknowledged that fall application can be a time-saving practice, it also entails higher risks of losses from flooding and run-off events in spring, resulting in greater environmental impacts. Further details on AAFC's scientific assessments of potential emission reductions can be found in Annex B.

There is also support in Canada's agriculture sector for the 4R approach. Provincial governments in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island have established relationships or programs via various agreements or memoranda of cooperation with Fertilizer Canada to promote 4R. Various industry organizations also support the initiative with some setting targets to utilize 4R management practices. As well, during the first phase of consultation, producers and stakeholders repeatedly emphasized the importance of 4R Nutrient Stewardship and associated efforts to increase its adoption.

Despite high levels of awareness, there are opportunities to enhance 4R implementation and uptake. Surveys indicate that while many farmers are aware of the 4R concept, only some (approximately 25%) have worked with a 4R Designated or certified agronomist, and that less than 10% of farmers indicated that they have a formal 4R plan of any kind in place (Source: Fertilizer Canada Fertilizer Use Survey, 2019). Furthermore, a lack of publically accessible data regarding fertilizer sales and use was raised by some stakeholders as an obstacle to better monitoring, reporting, decision making, and awareness. Overall, while adoption of at least some 4R practices exists in most regions across the country, in order to maximize emissions reductions it will be necessary to aim for more widespread adoption at higher performance levels.

Other Opportunities to Reduce EmissionsIn addition to the principles outlined in 4R Nutrient Stewardship, stakeholders have identified a number of other opportunities that can help contribute to improving nitrogen management and reducing associated GHG emissions. For example, the practice of replacing synthetic fertilizer with manures, compost, or digestate has the potential to reduce emissions by 10-20%. Enhanced conservation management practices, including improved drainage design and conservation tillage, have an emissions reduction potential of up to 30% with increased adoption. Additional examples of potential opportunities can be found in Annex B.

Opportunities have also been suggested related to the manufacture and sale of fertilizers, such as introducing a maximum guarantee for nitrogen content in synthetic fertilizer (as opposed to the current minimum guarantee), as well as consideration of a sales quota for enhanced efficiency fertilizers which improve nutrient use efficiency, such as those containing nitrification and/or urease inhibitors. There may also be opportunities for innovation around fertilizer production including the use of green ammonia to reduce life-cycle emissions.

While existing initiatives are moving the needle on emissions reductions in the agriculture sector, more needs to be done to meet Canada's emissions reduction target. Moreover, more sustainable fertilizer practices can help create new market opportunities, meet shifting consumer demands for agricultural products, and enhance the health of the soil over the longer-term.

Discussion IssuesThis section focuses on relevant discussion issues as identified during the first phase of the consultation process, which identified possible opportunities and challenges related to the emissions target. Each discussion issue is accompanied by a short background and a set of questions. Where applicable, potential opportunities are highlighted to help guide discussion. Throughout, there is recognition of the shared responsibility for fertilizer management in Canada, and the important roles to be played by provinces, territories, Indigenous governments, municipal governments, and others.

Issue 1: Developing a Strategic Approach to meeting the Fertilizer Emissions TargetBackground - Issue 1 As outlined above, for many emissions-reducing practices, the knowledge and awareness exists in the sector already and there is an achievable, but ambitious, pathway to enhancing the efficiency of fertilizer use while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other impacts of N on the environment. However, the key challenge is to increase adoption rates while recognizing that the application of practices must be tailored to the regional and other specificities of individual farms. In addition, it is important to recognize that, because current fertilizer practices have been working for farmers in terms of yield and return on investment, changing practices to reduce environmental impacts can be seen as risky at the farm level in the short-term.

During the first phase of the consultation process, producers, partners and stakeholders highlighted a variety of challenges and barriers which can prevent the widespread uptake of practices to reduce emissions. Many of these were related to upfront investments of both time and money that would be required to implement new technologies and strategies to reduce emissions. There were also comments related to complexity, awareness of solutions, access to objective advice, and availability of data, among others.

Federal and provincial governments already have a number of programs available to support producers in adopting more efficient nutrient management practices. For example:

Under the Agriculture Climate Solutions On-Farm Climate Action Fund, the federal government has made $200 million available to support adoption of beneficial management practices on-farm, including a focus on nutrient management;Under the Agriculture Climate Solutions Living Labs Program, a national network of living laboratories is being established to support demonstration and knowledge transfer regarding beneficial practices that are tailored to regional realities; andUnder the Canadian Agriculture Partnership, federal and provincial governments invest in key priorities, including supporting provincial programs to offer access to Environmental Farm Plans and financial support to adopt new beneficial management practices.In order to ensure the success of Canada's emissions reduction target it is important that any future policies contain measures that are accessible to the sector and translate into actual emissions reductions. Moreover, more sustainable fertilizer practices can help create new market opportunities, meet shifting consumer demands for agricultural products, and enhance the health of the soil over the longer-term. The Government of Canada is interested in hearing your views on existing barriers to adoption and how these can be overcome.

Discussion Questions - Issue 1 What are the biggest barriers to the adoption of practices that reduce emissions from fertilizer application and how can these best be overcome?What steps can be taken to increase adoption of practices or the use of new, enhanced efficiency fertilizer products that hold the potential to reduce emissions from fertilizer application?In addition to existing programs, how can governments best work with industry and producers to mobilize increased adoption of emissions-reducing practices? What are the appropriate roles for the agriculture sector, governments and other partners and stakeholders in meeting this target?Issue 2: Data, Reporting, and MeasurementBackground - Issue 2 During the first phase of the consultation process, stakeholders frequently raised issues related to data collection and reporting, as well as how emissions reductions will be measured and accounted for. Many stakeholders felt that a number of data gaps exist in the measurement and reporting of fertilizer-related emissions, including in the National Inventory Report (NIR) methodology, and that publically-available, high quality data on fertilizer use are not always widely available.

In particular, stakeholders were concerned that the current NIR methodology may not fully account for emission reductions achieved as part of the target. This is due in part to the current methodology's approach to measurement of emissions, and challenges with obtaining and measuring data at the individual farm level. While improvements in NIR reporting on N2O are underway and expected to be implemented in time for publication in 2022, these improvements do not yet capture on-farm activity related to fertilizer application practices due to a lack of data at this scale.

Moving forward, the Government of Canada is open to reviewing these methodologies and data sources in partnership with stakeholders, to ensure the accurate measurement of on-farm emissions reductions. This could include further engagement, such as the launch of a formal government-industry working group or third party monitor, to better understand the impacts of on-farm BMPs at a working level and improve data quality, transparency and accessibility regarding existing fertilizer usage and practices. However, challenges in this regard can include establishing reliable and internationally-acceptable measures, availability of tools to accurately reflect individual practices, and the potential for increased reporting burden for farms.

Discussion Questions - Issue 2 How can important data on the changes in emissions from fertilizer application be more consistently and comprehensively collected, analyzed and reported?What would be the most effective way for Government and industry to work in partnership to collect and make public detailed fertilizer use and 4R-related data to better understand areas where there has been success, or opportunities for improvement?What considerations need to be taken into account to ensure better and more accurate reporting of farm-level data while minimizing the reporting burden at the individual farm level?Issue 3: Innovation and Transformation OpportunitiesBackground - Issue 3 In thinking about a long term vision and plan for Canadian agriculture, it is important to consider how technology can continue to support transformation in the sector. For example, the emergence of non-synthetic alternatives and greater uptake of precision agriculture supported by increasing access to rural broadband over the coming years have the potential to maximize emissions reductions beyond the 2030 target.

During the first phase of consultation, stakeholders highlighted the need to incentivize and support the adoption of new technology to achieve Canada's national targets. AAFC has already implemented programs, such as the Agricultural Clean Technology Program, to support research and adoption of new technologies. However, this consultation process provides another opportunity to consider what emerging technologies have the highest potential to support emissions reductions to achieve both our 2030 and 2050 targets, and how the Government and industry can help support wide-spread adoption.

Discussion Questions - Issue 3 What is the best way for governments and industry to support the emergence of new and innovative solutions to address climate goals, such as emissions reductions?Are there opportunities not listed in this discussion document that you think should be considered as potential pathways for achieving the emissions reduction target for both 2030 and 2050?Conclusion and Next StepsThis Discussion Paper presents key issues for consideration in how to improve nutrient management in order to meet the Government of Canada's target to reduce N2O emissions associated with fertilizer application by 30% below 2020 levels by 2030. Broad input from provinces, territories, Indigenous peoples, producers, stakeholders, and the public is being sought.

You are invited to submit input in the official language of your choice by: August 31, 2022. Questions included throughout the document can be used as a guide, but these questions should not limit your feedback. Including rationale and support for your views will assist decision-making on a way forward to meet this target. You can share your feedback online via SimpleSurvey until August 31, 2022. Please submit additional comments to: aafc.fertilizer-engrais.aac@agr.gc.ca

The feedback collected during the current public consultation will be used by the Government of Canada to inform next steps in the development and implementation of a strategy to reduce emissions and improve nutrient management in Canadian agriculture.

AnnexesAnnex A: What We Heard Phase OneOver the course of the informal engagement sessions that took place in Spring 2021, AAFC engaged virtually with the provinces and territories and 22 agriculture producer and commodity associations. The Department also received written feedback from 12 stakeholders comprising a mix of provincial and national agriculture organizations and provinces. The feedback received from agriculture stakeholders to date can be categorized under eight main themes:

1 / 2) Concerns on the impact on yield and export growth / absolute emissions vs. emission intensity: Several agriculture commodity and producer associations noted concerns that the fertilizer emissions reduction target could result in a decrease in crop yields. They questioned setting a target based on absolute emissions vs emission intensity which appears to be in direct conflict with the Government of Canada's export growth target of $75 billion worth of agriculture and agri-food commodities by 2025.3) Barriers to the adoption of sustainable practices and technologies: Stakeholders identified the cost and availability of technology as a key barrier to the adoption of sustainable practices. For example, lack of rural availability of broadband and limited access to impartial agronomists and precision agriculture technology were raised as obstacles to accurately determining fertilizer needs and using fertilizer more sustainably.4) A need to incentivize producers to adopt new practices through programs and/or funding: Given stakeholders indicated the target could hinder production and would likely require additional resources, incentives, financial safety nets, and funding to adopt new BMPs were recommended in order to incentivize farmers, encourage adoption of new practices and mitigate financial risk.5) A need to reflect Canada's diverse geography and farming practices: In light of Canada's diverse geography and crops, stakeholders underlined the importance of adopting a regional approach, including data needs, when assessing tools needed to meet the emission reduction target.6) The importance of communication in order to increase the likelihood of farmer acceptance of the target: It was suggested that a communications campaign targeting farmers focus on the economic and environmental benefits of efficient fertilizer uses, including through case studies. Efforts should be made to educate the public on the role of fertilizers and how they fit within the government emission reduction strategy.7) Challenges surrounding the development and participation in voluntary agreements: Stakeholder suggested agreements be complementary with other federal agricultural initiatives and aligned with existing practices, such as 4R.8) A lack of reliable data to accurately measure fertilizer emissions: Stakeholders regarded the need to address the lack of benchmark data, fertilizer-use data, and emissions data in order to accurately measure actual emissions and progress.Annex B: Potential practices for meeting the target and the potential barriers to adoption and solutions to increase uptakeAny practice that can optimize plant uptake of N and Phosphorus (P) or prevent losses to the environment can be considered as a nutrient management BMP. Nutrient management is an essential step in optimizing crop yield and quality, and key to managing environmental consequences. This entails applying the right type of nutrient sources, such as fertilizer, manure, legumes or compost in the right amount, in the right place and at the right time.

The following table, developed as a result of an in-depth analysis by scientists from AAFC's Science and Technology Branch, shows the potential for various practices to reduce fertilizer-related emissions, broken down by theme (Rate, Timing, Placement and Source/Type), but also includes other practices such as conservation tillage and enhanced drainage that contribute to the reduction of nitrous oxide emissions.

The highest potential emission reductions can be gained from the use of enhanced efficiency fertilizers with urease and nitrification inhibitors, and current adoption of these technologies is very low across the country. The practice of split application/side dress is also very strongly recommended, particularly where a rate adjustment can be informed by soil tests and/or crop sensors. A further strong recommendation would be the cessation of the practice of fall application. Fall-applied fertilizer is still quite popular on the Prairies. According to Fertilizer Canada's 2019 Survey, about 20% of canola producers in AB and SK, and 44% of canola producers in Manitoba that participated in the survey indicated that they applied fertilizer in the fall of the previous year. While it is acknowledged that fall application can be a time-saving practice, it also entails higher risks of losses from flooding and run-off events in spring, resulting in greater environmental impacts.

Table 2: Near term (by 2030) implementation of BMPs to reduce N2O emissions from fertilizer application in Canada BMPRegional applicabilityCurrent adoption levelPotential new area (Mha)Potential emissions reductionTotal emission reduction based on 100% adoption (Mt CO2e /yr)Confidence levelFeasibility of adoptionRateSoil N test annual for spring fertilizer applicationAll regionslow5.75-15%0.23highmedium/ highAccounting for N in previous legume cropAll regionsmedium/ high4.910-20%0.63mediumhighTimeApplying N in the spring compared to the fallMainly westhigh3.35-15%0.12mediumhighFertigation (injection of fertilizers with irrigation)Mainly westlow0.315-25%0.02mediummediumSplit application/ sidedress with rate adjustment based on sensorsMainly eastmedium1.915-35%0.65highmediumPlacementApply in bands/injection accompanied by reduced rateAll regionshigh-west medium-east3.05-15%0.24highmedium/ highSourceEnhanced efficiency fertilizers, inhibitors or slow releaseAll regionsvery low18.115-35%2.35highmediumReplace inorganic fertilizer with manures, compost, or digestateAll regionslow1.410-20%0.15mediumhighConservation managementConservation tillageAll regionshigh-west medium-east1.65-15%0.15mediumhighImproved drainage designMainly eastmedium / high -east0.610-30%0.13lowmediumOtherIncreasing legumes in rotationsMainly westlow1.515-25%0.1mediumlow/ mediumCaveatsWhile this science-based perspective is based on conservative estimates, significant uncertainties remain which suggest that, even if BMPs are as successful as anticipated and are fully adopted, the cumulative reduction at a provincial level (for example) may be less than the estimated potential.

Estimates are based on experiments (small plots, research conditions) and may not be realized in every region or every condition at real scale.In some cases, some practices have led to substantive emission reductions under specific conditions, while reversals (increases in emissions) were noted under different research conditions.A number of the BMPs mentioned in this report are not currently captured in the National Inventory Report methods due to lack of farm activity data. Effort is needed to gather this data to capture the extent to which practices have changed from 2005 to present and to incorporate these practices into the inventory methodology.Estimates are relative, meaning they assume a comparison between standard and enhanced practices (BMPs). However, some or even many of these practices are already in use, therefore limiting the potential for further reductions. For example:Considerable effort on the Prairies to move farmers to the 4R approachMost farmers in the Prairies are already using conservation or no tillageThere is a reasonable (but variable) acreage of pulse crops already in placeFootnotesFootnote 1Canada's National Inventory Reporting, like the GHG reporting of other countries, uses the IPCC 4th Assessment Report global warming potential (GWP) value of 298, and the IPCC 5th Assessment Report uses a GWP value of 265.

Return to footnote 1 referrer

Footnote 2N2O emissions from agricultural soils consist of direct and indirect emissions. N2O emissions from anthropogenic nitrogen inputs occur both directly from the soils to which the nitrogen is added and indirectly. Changes in crop rotations and management practices, such as summerfallow, tillage and irrigation, affect direct N2O emissions by altering the mineralization rates of organic nitrogen, nitrification and denitrification. Indirect emissions occur through two pathways: (1) the volatilization of nitrogen from inorganic fertilizer and manure applied to fields as NH3 and NOx and its subsequent deposition off-site; and (2) the leaching and runoff of inorganic fertilizer, manure and crop residue N (source: ECCC, 2019. National Inventory Report).

Return to footnote 2 referrer

Footnote 3Many studies have shown that N2O emissions will increase in the future due to increased organic carbon decomposition and denitrification under higher temperature, given the same crops and management.

Return to footnote 3 referrer

Footnote 4Because the FAO draws on data from many countries there may be consistency issues in measurement methods. Thus, measures and rankings should be seen as indicative of Canada's relative performance internationally and should not be considered definitive. Data courtesy of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). FAOSTAT '' Emissions Intensity data.

Return to footnote 4 referrer

Footnote 5Agricultural Economic Analysis prepared for Farmers for Climate Solutions (FCS) in February 2021.

Return to footnote 5 referrer

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Thu, 07 Jul 2022 12:56

Nuclear Power

"It's an outrageous outcome to label gas and nuclear as green," responds Greenpeace Ronald Bailey | 7.6.2022 3:35 PM

(Kupec Petr/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom)

Nuclear power and natural gas are "green" and "climate-friendly" sources of electricity generation, sensibly voted a majority of the European Union's Parliament today. This resolution means that investors in energy projects can classify their investments in nuclear and natural gas projects as environmentally sustainable under the the European Union's new taxonomy regulations.

The vote was immediately denounced by a variety of environmental activists. For example, Swedish teenage climate scold Greta Thunberg tweeted, "The European Parliament just voted to label fossil gas as 'green' energy. This will delay a desperately needed real sustainable transition." Similarly, Greenpeace's E.U. sustainable finance campaigner Ariadna Rodrigo in a statement declared, "It's dirty politics and it's an outrageous outcome to label gas and nuclear as green." She vowed that her group "will fight this in the courts."

First, let's consider natural gas. Global known reserves of natural gas would last nearly 50 years at current rates of consumption. Burning natural gas to generate electricity emits about half of the carbon dioxide that coal does. This is why many environmental activist groups a little more than a decade ago hailed natural gas as "the bridge to the clean energy future."

In fact, the mostly market-driven switch from coal to natural gas to generate electricity in the U.S. has served as a bridge to a cleaner energy future. The replacement in the U.S. of coal-fired power plants by those fueled by natural gas is responsible for a 32 percent reduction since 2005 in carbon dioxide emissions from that sector. Overall, annual U.S. carbon dioxide emissions have fallen by around 23 percent since 2005. Despite the undeniable role that the switch from coal to natural gas has played in significantly reducing U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, many environmental activists now perplexingly denounce natural gas as a "bridge to nowhere."

Of course, Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has massively disrupted global markets for natural gas. However, the international credit rating agency Fitch Ratings projects that the global average price of natural gas will decline significantly over the next couple of years.

What about nuclear power? The fact that splitting atoms to generate electricity produces no greenhouse gas emissions should be enough to establish nuclear power as a "climate-friendly" energy technology. Last week, the International Energy Agency released a report arguing that global nuclear power capacity needs to double from 413 gigawatts now to 812 gigawatts by 2050 in order to meet greenhouse gas emissions targets set in international agreements addressing the problem of man-made climate change. Meanwhile, in response to pressure from environmental activists, Germany is going in the opposite direction, shutting down perfectly good nuclear power plants while firing up electricity generation fueled by coal.

The ecomodernist Breakthrough Institute has just released a new study setting out various scenarios of how the development and deployment of advanced nuclear reactors in the U.S. could unfold over the next 30 years. In the optimistic scenario, U.S. nuclear power generation capacity would rise from 95 gigawatts from conventional nuclear plants today to as much as 470 gigawatts generated by advanced reactors in 2050. Expanding nuclear power production would both help smooth out the intermittency of wind and solar generation and further cut climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

Disclosure: I have had the pleasure of attending several Breakthrough Dialogues and participating in discussions where I made the case that supporters of free markets are natural ecomodernists.

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Thu, 07 Jul 2022 12:55

O n Friday, June 24, the United States Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, the 1973 court ruling that for decades protected abortion rights throughout the country. Soon thereafter, protesters took to the streets en masse. Meanwhile, numerous researchers declared via social media that they will either try to leave or decline to accept job offers in the 30 US states where abortion is currently or may soon be illegal.

For example, prominent University of Utah neuroscientist Bryan Jones posted Friday evening that ''As of tomorrow, I am on the open market. A well funded, internationally successful scientist is accepting offers from academia and industry in order to leave the state of Utah, taking my team of neuroscientists if they chose to leave with me. I will not endanger my team.''

A post-Roe ''brain drain?"That tweet went viral, garnering hundreds of supportive responses and prompting other researchers to make similar vows. Jennifer Fouquier, a computational bioscience graduate student at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, tweeted about an exchange with a recruiter who'd reached out to encourage her to apply to a job in Texas. Fouquier ultimately declined, noting that the lack of reproductive rights offered by the state would make it unsafe for her. ''There were people that said I was using my privilege to avoid these places, but I feel like it would have been more privileged to not say anything,'' Fouquier tells The Scientist. ''I was trying to do my best to take a stand to support people in these areas because I don't feel like the Roe v. Wade reversal is the right decision.''

Fouquier, who emphasizes that she speaks for herself and not her lab or institution, adds that in her personal network, many other women have expressed similar sentiments. ''It's just been really difficult seeing all of my friends realize that they have less opportunities now because they don't feel comfortable relocating to these places,'' she says. Ultimately, she predicts that a ''brain drain,'' or a mass exodus of academics from states where abortion is banned, is likely to occur in the coming years'--a sentiment shared by many of those who replied to her and Jones's tweets. Similarly, in a recent Twitter poll conducted by The Scientist, 70 percent of the 41 respondents said that abortion bans would affect their decision to work in a particular state.

''I feel like there's going to be a huge decrease in talented individuals applying to academic and [industry] positions in those areas'' where abortion is illegal, Fouquier says. Not only does that mean fewer opportunities, but ''it will also make the opportunities in the locations we feel safe in more competitive. So overall, it's going to create challenges on both sides'--less opportunity and more competition, which is just going to set women back even further.''

See ''Gender Gap in Research Output Widens During Pandemic''Indeed, University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison researcher David Shaffer tells The Scientist he worries that he and others at his university will struggle to recruit faculty and students, as a Wisconsin state law from 1849 that bars abortion is now in effect.

Before Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that required all US states to recognize same-sex marriages, Shaffer says that some applicants to UW-Madison would ask about domestic partnership policies when determining whether or not the university and the area would be a good fit for them. ''I don't see why this would be dramatically different,'' he says.

Shaffer recently tweeted something similar to Jones, indicating that he was also open to being poached. He tells The Scientist that while he was partially tweeting in jest to indicate his ''thorough displeasure'' with the ruling, he would seriously consider leaving: ''Part of it was a really legitimate concern about my ability to do the work I do here, because of a concern regarding who we'll get as faculty and who we'll get as students,'' he says, adding that if abortion were banned in Wisconsin back when he accepted his current job, he might have reconsidered his decision. ''I can't imagine that I would show up at a place and not be concerned about access to medical care,'' Shaffer adds. ''It's as simple as that.''

Adjusting to a post-Roe worldIt's unclear how many scientists will follow through with their stated plans to leave and avoid abortion-banning states or to leave the country altogether, and it may take years for the effects to emerge in enrollment and hiring data. Many may find such declarations impossible or infeasible to act upon. Amanda Meshey, a cancer biology graduate student at the University of South Florida who tweeted in 2019 that she would leave the country if Roe v. Wade was overturned, tells The Scientist over email that, despite the great personal risk she now feels, she and her husband don't have the financial freedom to pack up and leave. Additionally, she says that doing so would mean abandoning both of their PhDs altogether.

''We are both first generation graduate students, so this journey means a lot to both of us and having to give that up would be heartbreaking,'' Meshey writes. ''That being said, we are both actively seeking opportunities outside of the US for after we complete our PhDs.''

An editorial published in Nature following the Supreme Court's decision suggests that research institutions in areas where abortion and reproductive care are banned ought to take four steps to address the safety and wellbeing of their students and staff: provide support to those directly affected by the decision; ensure the continuation of research into reproductive health; continue to offer comprehensive medical education for physicians, including the teaching of abortion procedures; and advocate for evidence-based abortion policy, as many institutions, including Fouquier's, have done in the days since the ruling.

See ''Trump Administration Halts Acquisition of Fetal Tissue for Research''However, Fouquier says there's not much that universities in states where abortion is banned can do to entice her or others who feel the way she does. ''They can claim to provide support for women who might need these healthcare services out of state, but the reality is an emergency abortion is an emergency abortion, and nothing that they can do will truly provide safety for women in these states,'' she says. ''Trying to entice women with high salaries to try to go to these places is bordering on unethical when you know that it can affect our safety.''

As she looks ahead to future job searches, Fouquier says she'll be ''doing more research about the states that I'm willing to relocate to'''--but she suspects that won't be enough to ensure her sense of safety. ''It's also frustrating that we have to try to think about where our rights will be in the future in the states that are currently safe. Do I have to do research on the next politicians in these states? Is that now my responsibility?''

Meshey says that she'd like to see efforts on the part of universities and research institutes ''to educate the public about the [life-]saving healthcare that abortions provide, and I want to see action to restore rights to people with uteruses, so that our existence isn't distilled down to being an incubator.''

She adds, ''I don't really know how much power universities have to skirt [the] legislature, but providing resources, supporting and upholding the privacy of individuals with uteruses when they seek help, and figuring out a way to push back would be an excellent start.''

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Thu, 07 Jul 2022 12:51

Posted by Kane on July 6, 2022 5:24 pmNEWS JUNKIES -- CHECK OUT OUR HOMEPAGE

The Haitian Covid MiracleHaiti did not vaccinate its citizens. Their current vaccination rate is 1.4% of the population.

Haiti has not been effected by covid while the countries who did vaccinate the majority of their populations are struggling, and telling their citizens they need repeated injections. pic.twitter.com/23cBJBKqb7

'-- Frank Grimes Jr. (@FrankGrimes_Jr) July 5, 2022

Years ago the ministry of health recommended that everyone take Chloroquine to help prevent malaria. Huge disparity in covid nos between Haiti and the Dominican Republic in 2020 https://t.co/5BZflzbOS8 pic.twitter.com/cJMzBz3PHl

'-- Denise Nicleary (@DNicleary) July 5, 2022

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Thu, 07 Jul 2022 12:42

| July 07, 2022 07:56 AM

B ritish Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned on Thursday morning. Johnson says he will remain as Prime Minister until a Conservative Party leadership election can be concluded over the next two months.

Johnson had faced rapidly increasing pressure to resign following new suggestions that he had misled the public. This week's controversy follows public furor over repeated parties held at the Prime Minister's No. 10 Downing Street office and residence during Britain's COVID lockdowns.

Johnson's early denials of those parties were deconstructed when photographs were later published showing his attendance at them. The new reports this week were the nail in the coffin. They moved Conservative Party Members of Parliament and many of Johnson's own ministers to believe that he no longer retained the nation's confidence. Conservative MPs have also been alarmed by increasingly negative opinion polls suggesting that the Party would suffer a major defeat were a new election called.

Still, because of the Conservative Party's parliamentary majority, its next leader will automatically become Prime Minister without needing to call a general election. Who might that leader be?

Most likely, one the following eight options.

Liz Truss The Foreign Secretary (equivalent to the U.S. Secretary of State), Truss has earned praise for her management of Britain's response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. She has also taken a resolute stand against Russian finance in London, helping to pare back more than a decade of related Conservative Party cronyism. Close to Johnson but with an independent political identity, Truss might offer the Conservatives a means to unify their anti and pro Johnson blocs.

Penny Mordaunt A pro-Brexit voice liked by Conservative members, Mordaunt had a three month tenure as defense secretary in 2019. She currently serves as Trade Minister.

Ben Wallace The defense secretary, Wallace is a former Army officer. Like Truss, Wallace has earned praise for his supervision of the delivery of British weapons to Ukraine. Less of a public facing politician than some of the other candidates, Wallace has respect across the Conservative Party but evokes little excitement from any particular bloc. He would be another unity candidate. Party members might also see Wallace as a way to signal a clear transition from the chaotic personality driven Johnson era. Interestingly, Wallace's support for providing Ukraine with more advanced weapons would likely make for some uncomfortable conversations with the more risk averse Biden White House.

Rishi Sunak Sunak resigned as Chancellor of the Exchequer (Britain's more powerful equivalent of the Treasury Minister) this week in protest at Johnson's leadership. Viewed as a hard worker and rising star in a Party not known for its youth, Sunak might be a strong candidate to lead the Party into the next election (which must be held by the end of January 2025). Still, Sunak has faced recent criticism over his family's tax avoidance.

Sajid Javid Another former Chancellor, Javid has long sought the top job.

Nadhim Zahawi A refugee from Iraq who moved to Britain as a child, Zahawi replaced Sunak as Chancellor this week. He is a composed public speaker to the right of the party who would allow the Conservatives to advance their favored mantra of aspiration.

Tom Tugendhat Tugendhat has long and publicly opposed Johnson, portraying him as a dishonest and unreliable leader. A former Army officer known for his passionate speeches on matters including the withdrawal from Afghanistan and the need to support Ukraine, Tugendhat would give the Conservatives a means of earning support from independent voters. But would Johnson loyalists support him?

Suella Braverman A relatively junior parliamentarian, Braverman announced her candidacy on Wednesday evening. While liked by some other younger Conservative MPs, Braverman is unlikely to find much support from the party at large.

Regardless, a leadership contest is underway. While he has been forced out of office in ignominy, Johnson's securing of Brexit will earn him an assured place in the history books.

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Wed, 06 Jul 2022 15:25

New research suggests that two areas of the brain work together in response to serotonin to promote the ability to wait patiently and practice impulse control. This finding may aid the development of targeted treatments for individuals who are less able to suppress impulsive and impatient behavior.

As the saying goes, ''Patience is considered a virtue.'' However, for some people, this attribute is challenging to manage, causing issues with relationships, employment, finances, and educational pursuits.

Well-documented research already exists on the relationship between serotonin '-- a neurochemical responsible for feelings of well-being '-- and social and emotional behaviors, including impulsivity.

For instance, one study on mice, which the Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York State Psychiatric Institute conducted, showed a possible link between a lack of serotonin receptors in the brain and impulsive behavior.

As experts do not fully understand the neurological process for regulating patience and impulse control, the researchers behind the new study aimed to look into how serotonin acts on specific regions of the brain to regulate the ability to wait for a desired reward.

The Neural Computation Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) ran the study, which appears in the journal Science Advances.

In the study, the researchers focused on three regions of the brain: a brain structure called the nucleus accumbens (NAc), regions of the frontal lobe called the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC).

The team chose these brain areas because research shows that damage to them leads to an increase in impulsive behaviors.

''Impulse behaviors are intrinsically linked to patience -'-- the more impulsive an individual is, the less patient '-- so these brain areas were prime candidates.''

'' study co-author Dr. Katsuhiko Miyazaki

In a 2018 study appearing in the journal Nature Communications, this same team of scientists investigated what role the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN), a part of the brain that contains serotonin-releasing neurons, has in promoting a mouse's ability to wait patiently.

They found a causal relationship between the action that serotonin has on this brain region and patience for anticipated rewards.

To take their previous research a few steps further, the research team used mice genetically engineered to have specialized proteins that release serotonin on exposure to photostimulation.

After training the mice to poke their nose inside a hole and wait for a food item, the animals underwent surgery in which researchers implanted an optic fiber into the DRN part of the brain.

After dividing the rodents into groups, the researchers then inserted optic fibers in either the NAc, the OFC, or the mPFC parts of the brain. Doing this allowed them to observe how each area responded to serotonin stimulation.

After the rodents recovered from the implantation surgery, researchers put 75% of the animals through the waiting task once again while activating a serotonin release through a light stimulation procedure. They presented food to the mice in both fixed and fluctuating time frames.

The remaining 25% of the mice went into an omission group that received no rewards or serotonin stimulation.

When the research team activated serotonergic neurons in the DRN, the mice displayed improved patience when waiting for future food rewards. Stimulating the OFC was almost as effective as stimulating the DRN in promoting more prolonged waiting. However, triggering the NAc had no effect on the animals' waiting time.

Interestingly, stimulating the mPFC enhanced the rodents' ability to wait but only when they did not know the food's arrival time. These results suggest that serotonin in the mPFC affects the animal's ability to evaluate the time required to wait for a reward, while the neurochemical's presence in the OFC assists in their overall assessment of a delayed reward situation.

The study authors say that the serotonin mostly enhanced the animals' waiting time if they were confident that the reward would eventually appear but were not sure exactly when it would come. Dr. Miyazaki explains:

''This confirmed the idea that these two brain areas are calculating the probability of a reward independently from each other and that these independent calculations are then combined to ultimately determine how long the mice will wait.''

According to the authors, further studies could ''clarify how neural responses during waiting for delayed rewards in the OFC and mPFC are modulated by serotonin release.''

This research could reveal more data on how serotonin affects regions of the brain, leading to the development of new drug treatments.

The team plans to use mice engineered to model depression to investigate further and hopefully identify other areas of the brain that this mood-stabilizing neurochemical affects.

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Wed, 06 Jul 2022 12:55

- Of the 17 known rare elements, the country will produce 10 from the new field, Energy Minister says

home > T¼rkiye 02.07.2022 09:44

T¼rkiye uncovered the world's second-largest rare earth element reserve in the Beylikova district of Eskisehir in central Anatolia, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Donmez revealed on Friday.

The reserve is estimated to hold reserves of 694 million tons, second only to China, which currently has the largest rare element field with reserves of 800 million tons.

Rare earth elements are used in fields such as aviation, defense, the space industry and biomedicine.

Donmez confirmed that as the field is extremely close to the surface, it will be less costly to extract elements.

'Of the 17 known rare elements, we will be able to produce 10 here,' he said.

Additionally, the new reserve will allow the processing of about 570,000 tons of ore annually.

He also declared that 250 tons of thorium will be produced, an element used as fuel in the nuclear industry.

The discovery will allow local production of rare elements that will primarily be used in the country's industrial sectors but also for export.

'We will have the opportunity to export more than we need abroad,' he stated.

Reporting by Ä°smail Ozdemir and Deniz Acik

Writing by Zeynep Beyza Kilic

Anadolu Agency

energy@aa.com.tr

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Wed, 06 Jul 2022 03:35

T wo years ago scarcely anyone in mainstream finance had heard of Sam Bankman-Fried, or ftx, the cryptocurrency exchange he launched in 2019. Both gained greater prominence, first as the crypto craze reached fever pitch and then as crypto fell to Earth. Mr Bankman-Fried (widely known as sbf) has lately been at the centre of attempts to rescue beleaguered firms. To some observers, the role calls to mind the rescue missions organised by John Pierpont Morgan and America's other banking scions in the early 20th century. The comparison is surprisingly instructive.

The recent slump has left destruction in its wake. Some crypto-lending firms, notably Celsius, have collapsed; some stablecoins, like terra, have been obliterated. At least one crypto hedge fund, Three Arrows Capital, has gone bust. Estimates of sbf's personal wealth have tumbled, too, from $26bn just over three months ago to nearer $8bn now. Nonetheless, his companies (ftx and Alameda, a trading firm) seem to be the great survivors of the recent chaos. ftx had kept employee numbers relatively low; sbf has said the exchange is still profitable. Well-timed funding rounds early this year saw its global and American arms raising $400m each. That has enabled sbf to help others in need. In June Voyager Digital, a broker, secured loans worth $485m from Alameda. BlockFi, another trader, has received a revolving line of credit from ftx's American arm.

To some this harks back to America's banking panic of 1907. The economy was in recession; towards the end of that year the thinly capitalised Knickerbocker Trust Company, one of America's largest financial firms at the time, collapsed. J.P. Morgan went on to orchestrate a series of private rescues with other financiers, offering deposits in the tens of millions of dollars to various banks in order to prevent runs. Those actions are usually credited with preventing a deeper, more damaging crisis. No other trusts went under.

At first glance, then, the comparison is a flattering one for sbf. But 1907 was not the Morgan family's only attempt at a big bail-out. When the Wall Street crash struck in 1929, J.P. Morgan junior, like his father, sought to bring together a gang of plutocrats to stem the tide. Several bankers and brokers pledged to buy $125m in stocks, equivalent to around 0.1% of America's gdp at the time (which would be about $27bn today). The plan failed miserably. The purchases perhaps pushed out the stockmarket's collapse by a few days, but did not prevent it imploding. The Dow Jones Industrial Average index of stocks fell by around 35% between early September 1929 and the end of the year. By its nadir in 1932, it was almost 90% lower.

Historians are divided over why one intervention worked but not the other. Perhaps the panic in 1929 was too far gone for private purchases to make a difference, for instance. Other research suggests that the success of 1907 may have been overplayed, and that it was action by the Bank of France to calm domestic markets that spilled over to America and halted the mayhem. The debate suggests that identifying sbf's role in quelling chaos today may be just as hard. The rout could simply continue; conversely, what might look like a success for sbf may in fact reflect something else.

A cynic might point out that sbf might be striking deals with other crypto firms not because he wants to save the industry from collapse, but because he has spotted an opportunity to snap up some of his competitors' operations for pennies on the dollar. On July 1st Zac Prince, BlockFi's chief executive, said that the firm's credit line from ftx had been increased to $400m, and included an option to acquire BlockFi for up to $240m. That looks like a bargain compared with the valuation of $5bn that BlockFi was reportedly seeking during a fundraising round last year.

Even if sbf is not attempting to save crypto, though, history remains relevant. The banking panic of 1907 was a proximate reason for the creation of the Federal Reserve and the beginnings of the progressive taxation of income in America, as well as a big expansion of antitrust law. Instead of being hailed as a hero Morgan senior became the focal point for concerns that power was excessively concentrated in the hands of a small number of financiers.

Now, too, there is a possibility that chaos leads to more stringent oversight, particularly if the volatility in digital assets spills over to other markets, galvanising regulators. Boosters may see a J.P. Morgan in Sam Bankman-Fried and ftx. They might come to regret needing one.

Read more from Buttonwood, our columnist on financial markets:What past market crashes have looked like (Jun 30th)How attractively are shares now priced? (Jun 25th)Is trading on America's stockmarket fair? (Jun 16th)

For more expert analysis of the biggest stories in economics, business and markets, sign up to Money Talks, our weekly newsletter.

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Banken Mathijs Rotteveel 4 juli 18:45 Gratis proberen Maak eenvoudig een account aan E-mailadres Gebruik een geldig e-mail adres, bv uwnaam@voorbeeld.nl

OF Bekijk onze abonnementen

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Tue, 05 Jul 2022 12:51

Vice President Kamala Harris was interviewed by Keke Palmer in New Orleans, Louisana over the weekend as part of Essence Festival, but the bright lights and official backdrop behind the two women couldn't distract from one problem: Louisiana was misspelled on the official signage.

Watching @KekePalmer interview @vp @kamalaharris at @essencefest. pic.twitter.com/JipJlzjkwy

'-- rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) July 2, 2022Yep, whether it was Essence Fest or the West Wing that had final approval over the backdrop, the typo went unnoticed by everyone...until it was too late. There, as Harris and Palmer talked about the state of the country (more on that later), was LOUSIANA in giant letters over the vice president like the midterms loom over her party.

I am participating in a fireside conversation with @KekePalmer at ESSENCE Festival of Culture on the most critical issues facing Black women, including the fight for reproductive rights. Tune in. https://t.co/3Gr6T5ocPx

'-- Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) July 2, 2022Here's the thing '-- any time a president or vice president speaks at an event, there's an insane amount of control over what is on stage with the principal, including which flags, how many, what size they are, where the podium, backdrop, chairs, water, prompter, and every other thing on stage might be. Anyone who's staffed an event like this knows to check, then check again, and check one more time for good measure. Those checks are usually done both by the West Wing staff and the hosting organization. But Harris' advance team either didn't notice the typo or didn't have time to fix it. It's yet another moment that seems straight out of HBO's 'VEEP' but is actually just the everyday reality for one of the most bumbling administrations in recent memory.

When it came to her answers and remarks, Harris didn't do much to convince the audience or Americans that she and President Biden have a handle on things either. Not once was inflation mentioned by Harris, and when gas prices did come up in conversation, Palmer referenced a meme about trying to "make gas at home" to which Harris said "don't do that" followed by her typically ill-timed laugh. To Biden and Harris, apparently gutting American energy independence and sending gas prices soaring to all-time highs as part of their "transition" to alternative energy is a laughing matter.

Harris also said she was "outraged" by the Supreme Court's ruling in Dobbs, and repeated the claim that the Supreme Court "for the first time in the history of our nation, took a constitutional right that had been recognized and took it from the women of America." The vice president then claimed that Roe was a guaranteed right, which is also untrue.

And, in her closing remarks, Harris again retreated to her common but no less strange quip that "I eat no for breakfast."

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Mon, 04 Jul 2022 16:29

The Large Hadron Collider is ready to once again start delivering proton collisions to experiments, this time at an unprecedented energy of 13.6 TeV, marking the start of the accelerator's third run of data taking for physics

A new period of data taking begins on Tuesday, 5 July for the experiments at the world's most powerful particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), after more than three years of upgrade and maintenance work. Beams have already been circulating in CERN's accelerator complex since April, with the LHC machine and its injectors being recommissioned to operate with new higher-intensity beams and increased energy. Now, the LHC operators are ready to announce ''stable beams'', the condition allowing the experiments to switch on all their subsystems and begin taking the data that will be used for physics analysis. The LHC will run around the clock for close to four years at a record energy of 13.6 trillion electronvolts (TeV), providing greater precision and discovery potential than ever before.

''We will be focusing the proton beams at the interaction points to less than 10 micron beam size, to increase the collision rate. Compared to Run 1, in which the Higgs was discovered with 12 inverse femtobarns, now in Run 3 we will be delivering 280 inverse femtobarns1. This is a significant increase, paving the way for new discoveries,'' says Director for Accelerators and Technology Mike Lamont.

The four big LHC experiments have performed major upgrades to their data readout and selection systems, with new detector systems and computing infrastructure. The changes will allow them to collect significantly larger data samples, with data of higher quality than in previous runs. The ATLAS and CMS detectors expect to record more collisions during Run 3 than in the two previous runs combined. The LHCb experiment underwent a complete revamp and looks to increase its data taking rate by a factor of ten, while ALICE is aiming at a staggering fifty-fold increase in the number of recorded collisions.

With the increased data samples and higher collision energy, Run 3 will further expand the already very diverse LHC physics programme. Scientists at the experiments will probe the nature of the Higgs boson with unprecedented precision and in new channels. They may observe previously inaccessible processes, and will be able to improve the measurement precision of numerous known processes addressing fundamental questions, such as the origin of the matter''antimatter asymmetry in the universe. Scientists will study the properties of matter under extreme temperature and density, and will also be searching for candidates for dark matter and for other new phenomena, either through direct searches or '' indirectly '' through precise measurements of properties of known particles.

''We're looking forward to measurements of the Higgs boson decay to second-generation particles such as muons. This would be an entirely new result in the Higgs boson saga, confirming for the first time that second-generation particles also get mass through the Higgs mechanism,'' says CERN theorist Michelangelo Mangano.

''We will measure the strengths of the Higgs boson interactions with matter and force particles to unprecedented precision, and we will further our searches for Higgs boson decays to dark matter particles as well as searches for additional Higgs bosons,'' says Andreas Hoecker, spokesperson of the ATLAS collaboration. ''It is not at all clear whether the Higgs mechanism realised in nature is the minimal one featuring only a single Higgs particle.''

A closely watched topic will be the studies of a class of rare processes in which an unexpected difference (lepton flavour asymmetry) between electrons and their cousin particles, muons, was studied by the LHCb experiment in the data from previous LHC runs. ''Data acquired during Run 3 with our brand new detector will allow us to improve the precision by a factor of two and to confirm or exclude possible deviations from lepton flavour universality,'' says Chris Parkes, spokesperson of the LHCb collaboration. Theories explaining the anomalies observed by LHCb typically also predict new effects in different processes. These will be the target of specific studies performed by ATLAS and CMS. ''This complementary approach is essential; if we're able to confirm new effects in this way it will be a major discovery in particle physics,'' says Luca Malgeri, spokesperson of the CMS collaboration.

The heavy-ion collision programme will allow the investigation of quark''gluon plasma (QGP) '' a state of matter that existed in the first 10 microseconds after the Big Bang '' with unprecedented accuracy. ''We expect to be moving from a phase where we observed many interesting properties of the quark''gluon plasma to a phase in which we precisely quantify those properties and connect them to the dynamics of its constituents,'' says Luciano Musa, spokesperson of the ALICE collaboration. In addition to the main lead''lead runs, a short period with oxygen collisions will be included for the first time, with the goal of exploring the emergence of QGP-like effects in small colliding systems.

The smallest experiments at the LHC '' TOTEM, LHCf, MoEDAL, with its entirely new subdetector MAPP, and the recently installed FASER and SND@LHC '' are also poised to explore phenomena within and beyond the Standard Model, from magnetic monopoles to neutrinos and cosmic rays.

A new physics season is starting, with a broad and promising scientific programme in store. The launch of LHC Run 3 will be streamed live on CERN's social media channels and high-quality Eurovision satellite link starting at 4.00 p.m. (CEST) on 5 July. Live commentary from the CERN Control Centre, available in five languages (English, French, German, Italian and Spanish), will walk the viewers through the operation stages that take proton beams from injection into the LHC to collisions for physics at the four interaction points where the experiments are located. A live Q&A session with experts from the accelerators and experiments will conclude the live stream.

Further information

To follow the live stream on EBU satellite, you will need to create an account. The event will be accessible here.

Pictures of the day will be added here.

Run 3 background information can be found here.

1 An inverse femtobarn is a measure of the number of collisions or the amount of data collected. One inverse femtobarn corresponds to approximately 100 trillion (100 x 1012) proton''proton collisions.

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Mon, 04 Jul 2022 16:24

Test tubes are seen in front of displayed Pfizer and Biontech logos in this illustration taken, May 21, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comWorking on T-cell enhancing shots, pan-coronavirus shotsBioNTech adds antibiotics work to infectious disease effortsJune 29 (Reuters) - Germany's BioNTech (22UAy.DE), Pfizer's (PFE.N) partner in COVID-19 vaccines, said the two companies would start tests on humans of next-generation shots that protect against a wide variety of coronaviruses in the second half of the year.

Their experimental work on shots that go beyond the current approach include T-cell-enhancing shots, designed to primarily protect against severe disease if the virus becomes more dangerous, and pan-coronavirus shots that protect against the broader family of viruses and its mutations.

In presentation slides posted on BioNTech's website for its investor day, the German biotech firm said its aim was to "provide durable variant protection".

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comThe two partners, makers of the Western world's most widely used COVID-19 shot, are currently discussing with regulators enhanced versions of their established shot to better protect against the Omicron variant and its sublineages. read more

The virus' persistent mutation into new variants that more easily evade vaccine protection, as well as waning human immune memory, have added urgency to the search by companies, governments and health bodies for more reliable tools of protection.

As part of a push to further boost its infectious disease business, BioNTech said it was independently working on precision antibiotics that kill superbugs that have grown resistant to currently available anti-infectives.

BioNTech, which did not say when trials could begin, is leaning on the technology of PhagoMed, which it acquired in October last year.

The Vienna-based antibiotics developer has done work on enzymes, made by bacteria-killing viruses, that break through the bacterial cell wall.

Drug-resistant infections are on the rise, driven by antibiotic overuse and leaks into the environment in antibiotics production.

Public health researchers put the combined number of people dying per year from antibiotic-resistant infections in the United States and the European Union at close to 70,000. read more

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAdditional reporting by Patricia Weiss; Editing by Alison Williams

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Mon, 04 Jul 2022 09:40

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos speaks during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain, November 2, 2021. Paul Ellis/Pool via REUTERS

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comJuly 3 (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) founder Jeff Bezos renewed his spat with the White House over the weekend, as the world's third-richest person criticized President Joe Biden for calling on companies running gasoline stations to lower their prices.

In a tweet on Saturday, Biden said, "this is a time of war and global peril," and demanded the companies lower gasoline prices, which have soared to about $5 a gallon in many parts of the country.

"Bring down the price you are charging at the pump to reflect the cost you're paying for the product. And do it now," the president said.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comBezos soon after wrote on Twitter: "Ouch. Inflation is far too important a problem for the White House to keep making statements like this. It's either straight ahead misdirection or a deep misunderstanding of basic market dynamics."

On Sunday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre rejected the criticism from Bezos, arguing that oil prices had dropped by about $15 a barrel in the past month while prices at the pump had "barely" fallen.

"But I guess it's not surprising that you think oil and gas companies using market power to reap record profits at the expense of the American people is the way our economy is supposed to work," she wrote on Twitter.

Bezos has locked horns with Biden's administration in the past. In May, he accused Biden of misleading the public and blamed his administration for a spike in inflation. read more

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Paul Simao

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Alexis p. Gumbeaux : '...@CNN'(C) '...@MSNBC'(C) '...@newsmax'(C) '...@FoxNews'(C) '...@seanhannity'(C) '...@joerogan'(C) '...@benshapiro'(C) '...@Teddy2748'(C) '...@KGroskreutz'(C) '...'... https://t.co/r3mNrrIg7o

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AllFallDown : @apgumbeaux @CNN @MSNBC @newsmax @FoxNews @seanhannity @joerogan @benshapiro @Teddy2748 @KGroskreutz'... https://t.co/nL8Z5r0ucG

Thu Jul 07 16:25:03 +0000 2022

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Australians vs. The Agenda î¨ : NSW Chief Health Officer Dr. Kerry Chant in her finest of form'...#auspol https://t.co/oJkiyrib3o

Tue Jul 05 05:13:45 +0000 2022

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True North : "We will never be fully vaccinated against Covid-19." Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says Canadians need to be'... https://t.co/WaNeYCtXoa

Mon Jul 04 13:18:29 +0000 2022

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Jennifer Arcuri : ''I can't imagine what will happen when babies start dying. It's going to be horrendous.'' -Ed Dowd #2xMRNA'... https://t.co/a7iDBCpTL5

Mon Jul 04 16:54:39 +0000 2022

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Thu, 07 Jul 2022 16:35

RNC Research : Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren: ''We need to put a stop'' to crisis pregnancy centers ''right now.'' https://t.co/PzhBe21AGk

Wed Jul 06 15:39:04 +0000 2022

Patrick Norton : @RNCResearch These Mutilation and Medical, Scientific or Biological Experiments on widows and orphans of war were s'... https://t.co/6wyCwvk7Vp

Thu Jul 07 16:34:40 +0000 2022

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An explosion Wednesday at the mysterious Georgia Guidestones in Elberton, Georgia has caused significant damage to the stones. MOST RECENT INFORMATION/VIDEO HERE(Video below shows the scene about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday) The preliminary information indicates that someone detonated an explosive device at around 4 a.m. on Wednesday, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations. GBI officials said officials with the Elbert County Sheriff's Office found the explosion destroyed a large portion of the structure. The Elbert County Sheriff's Office asked the GBI to assist with the investigation. The guidestones sit on a site 7 miles north of Elberton on Georgia Highway 77 and are often referred to as an American Stonehenge. (Read more below) Christopher Kubas, Executive Vice President of the Elberton Granite Association, said the organization has a role in the maintenance and preservation of the Guidestones. ''The capstone piece has been damaged and I'm sure the other three wings, and the center support probably have damage to them as well,'' Kubas said. ''Each one of those wings is 16 feet 4 inches tall. It's 1.7 inches thick and it's 6'6 wide. They weigh about 42,000 pounds each.''Kubas said there were 24/7 surveillance cameras installed on the site a few years ago after incidents of vandalism."The stones have messages on them," Kubas said. "You know, guides for humanity. Some people find them offensive. Some people don't. Over the years we've had messages spray painted on the Guidestones."WYFF News 4 is working to obtain the footage.Kubas said the site has always been a major tourist attraction."I've met people from Australia, from China, from all over the world here at these Guidestones," Kubas said. "We probably have an excess of 20,000 visitors a year here."Locals said they couldn't believe it when they heard the news. "I bring my kids here occasionally. Been back a million times. Never thought I'd see like this," Lee Robinson said.Some said they heard the explosion early that morning. "I heard it. I probably live 3 or 4 miles out of town so I did hear it at my house. My power did flicker for a few minutes so I'm not sure if it was because of the explosion or what. I did hear it," Sara Beth Bowen said.Rebekah Brooks was driving past the Guidestones on her way into town and ran into her cousin who is a first responder. "I kind of rolled my window down and yelled at him and he was like something has happened to the Guidestones," Brooks said. Residents said the landmark help put the town on the map. "It was a landmark. You see every day, it's something you go past, you've come to know it and feel like it's a part of you. Now it's not there anymore. It's kind of sad," Said Robinson. The site has also been a ground for controversy related to religion and what the Guidestones may or may not symbolize.Sky 4 flew over the site about 11:40 a.m. and saw one of the stones destroyed and another one damaged. Chris Smith said he took the picture above about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday. He said he lives about a mile behind the guidestones and didn't hear anything unusual.However, some people who live a little closer said they heard and felt an explosion at about 4 a.m. The viewer who took the pictures above said she lives about 5 miles away and heard a bang at 4 a.m. She said she went back to bed and when she woke up, she saw a Facebook post about an incident at the guidestones and drove by. One person posted on social media that they heard a boom that shook the house around 4 a.m. Another post said they heard what they thought was thunder at 4 a.m. and it shook the house. What are the Georgia Guidestones?The following is posted on ExploreGeorgia.org: "The Georgia Guidestones, Elberton's most unusual set of granite monoliths, poses a mystery for the numerous visitors who visit the site seven miles north of Elberton on Georgia Highway 77. Known as America's Stonehenge, this 19-foot high monument displays a 10-part message espousing the conservation of mankind and future generations in 12 languages. The Guidestones also serve as an astronomical calendar, and every day at noon the sun shines through a narrow hole in the structure and illuminates the day's date on an engraving. The names of four ancient languages are inscribed on the sides near the top: Babylonian cuneiform, Classical Greek, Sanskrit, and Egyptian Hieroglyphics. The Guidestones are mysterious in origin, for no one knows the identity of a group of sponsors who provided its specifications."More info on the granite stones at New Georgia Encyclopedia.Read the English translation of what was written on the stones at the Elbert County Chamber website.

ELBERTON, Ga. '--An explosion Wednesday at the mysterious Georgia Guidestones in Elberton, Georgia has caused significant damage to the stones.

MOST RECENT INFORMATION/VIDEO HERE

(Video below shows the scene about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday)

The preliminary information indicates that someone detonated an explosive device at around 4 a.m. on Wednesday, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations.

GBI officials said officials with the Elbert County Sheriff's Office found the explosion destroyed a large portion of the structure.

The Elbert County Sheriff's Office asked the GBI to assist with the investigation.

The guidestones sit on a site 7 miles north of Elberton on Georgia Highway 77 and are often referred to as an American Stonehenge. (Read more below)

Christopher Kubas, Executive Vice President of the Elberton Granite Association, said the organization has a role in the maintenance and preservation of the Guidestones.

''The capstone piece has been damaged and I'm sure the other three wings, and the center support probably have damage to them as well,'' Kubas said. ''Each one of those wings is 16 feet 4 inches tall. It's 1.7 inches thick and it's 6'6 wide. They weigh about 42,000 pounds each.''

Kubas said there were 24/7 surveillance cameras installed on the site a few years ago after incidents of vandalism.

"The stones have messages on them," Kubas said. "You know, guides for humanity. Some people find them offensive. Some people don't. Over the years we've had messages spray painted on the Guidestones."

WYFF News 4 is working to obtain the footage.

Kubas said the site has always been a major tourist attraction.

"I've met people from Australia, from China, from all over the world here at these Guidestones," Kubas said. "We probably have an excess of 20,000 visitors a year here."

Locals said they couldn't believe it when they heard the news.

"I bring my kids here occasionally. Been back a million times. Never thought I'd see like this," Lee Robinson said.

Some said they heard the explosion early that morning.

"I heard it. I probably live 3 or 4 miles out of town so I did hear it at my house. My power did flicker for a few minutes so I'm not sure if it was because of the explosion or what. I did hear it," Sara Beth Bowen said.

Rebekah Brooks was driving past the Guidestones on her way into town and ran into her cousin who is a first responder.

"I kind of rolled my window down and yelled at him and he was like something has happened to the Guidestones," Brooks said.

Residents said the landmark help put the town on the map.

"It was a landmark. You see every day, it's something you go past, you've come to know it and feel like it's a part of you. Now it's not there anymore. It's kind of sad," Said Robinson.

The site has also been a ground for controversy related to religion and what the Guidestones may or may not symbolize.

Sky 4 flew over the site about 11:40 a.m. and saw one of the stones destroyed and another one damaged.

Chris Smith said he took the picture above about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday.

He said he lives about a mile behind the guidestones and didn't hear anything unusual.

However, some people who live a little closer said they heard and felt an explosion at about 4 a.m.

The viewer who took the pictures above said she lives about 5 miles away and heard a bang at 4 a.m. She said she went back to bed and when she woke up, she saw a Facebook post about an incident at the guidestones and drove by.

One person posted on social media that they heard a boom that shook the house around 4 a.m.

Another post said they heard what they thought was thunder at 4 a.m. and it shook the house.

What are the Georgia Guidestones?The following is posted on ExploreGeorgia.org: "The Georgia Guidestones, Elberton's most unusual set of granite monoliths, poses a mystery for the numerous visitors who visit the site seven miles north of Elberton on Georgia Highway 77. Known as America's Stonehenge, this 19-foot high monument displays a 10-part message espousing the conservation of mankind and future generations in 12 languages. The Guidestones also serve as an astronomical calendar, and every day at noon the sun shines through a narrow hole in the structure and illuminates the day's date on an engraving. The names of four ancient languages are inscribed on the sides near the top: Babylonian cuneiform, Classical Greek, Sanskrit, and Egyptian Hieroglyphics. The Guidestones are mysterious in origin, for no one knows the identity of a group of sponsors who provided its specifications."

More info on the granite stones at New Georgia Encyclopedia.

Read the English translation of what was written on the stones at the Elbert County Chamber website.

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Alex Thompson : ''I urge all you living in Florida to join the fight''This appears to be the ad Newsom is running on Fox News in Fl'... https://t.co/aOl7EAE1ir

Sun Jul 03 15:03:59 +0000 2022

Jaynee dee : @AlexThomp And the FREEDOM to be violent and get away with it.

Thu Jul 07 15:23:03 +0000 2022

Bringdanoize : @AlexThomp https://t.co/hzt5q2NUpC

Thu Jul 07 13:55:38 +0000 2022

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ð'½ð'§ð'®ð'–ð'£ ð'‹ð'–ð'¨ð'¨ð'žð'›ð'žð'ªð'ð'š : During a press conference at a Brampton shipping company today, a Red FM reporter shared concerns with the DPM from'... https://t.co/3a4a8TUiOy

Tue Jul 05 22:28:14 +0000 2022

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Thu Jul 07 14:35:22 +0000 2022

Excitable : @BryanPassifiume Your taxes are crippling the average working class. Can't you see this? You just want taxes, as yo'... https://t.co/TevE6zORWM

Thu Jul 07 14:34:16 +0000 2022

Excitable : @BryanPassifiume She is quite simply not honest or just very blind as to what is happenning to the country. It's al'... https://t.co/0gGH9eLvjl

Thu Jul 07 14:30:06 +0000 2022

James : @BryanPassifiume I mean'... instead of enabling price gouging'... I would prefer an email reminder ðŸ…

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Thu Jul 07 13:53:55 +0000 2022

Ron Willson : @BryanPassifiume What are you saying?

Thu Jul 07 13:15:51 +0000 2022

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Wed, 06 Jul 2022 14:31

Do Liberals and Conservatives Think Differently? Do Liberals and Conservatives Have Different Brains?We know liberals and conservatives think differently, however science suggests differences not only in thinking process, but in brain structure as well.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]

Below we look at the many studies that have looked at the neurological, psychological, and biological differences between people with different political ideologies and moral compasses.

Keep in mind these are peer-reviewed studies (typically with less than 100 participants each), so while the science is notable enough to be published, more studying needs to be done, and nothing is written in stone. Also, keep in mind that what is true for a group on average is not necessarily true for an individual. Also, keep in mind humans are complex and can hold a variety of stances on a given issue and those stances can evolve over time. Simply put, when looking at the data below we want to consider it as interesting neurological and social science that gives us insight to populations, not gospel truth that tells us about specific individuals.

How Are Conservative And Liberal Brains Different?. This video looks at this study: Differences in negativity bias underlie variations in political ideology. This study focuses on psychological differences, the video and studies below looks at biological factors like brain size and genes.With the above noted, and while noting that the research done is far from absolute evidence, some studies have found biological and psychological differences between people who identify as American-Conservatives (''right'' / Republicans) and American-Liberals (''left'' / Democrats). These differences include a difference in the size of brain regions, differences in genes, differences in thinking styles, and importantly differences in morality and ethics.[10]

How Genes Determine Your Political Views. This video looks at Genopolitics from a centered perspective. Check out this video from the Manhattan Institute on the same subject.Physiological DifferencesImportantly, one study of 90 healthy volunteers, showed biological differences include an enlarged anterior cingulate cortex in liberals and an increased right amygdala size in conservatives.

With the above highlighted, takeaways of a 2011 study specifically include:

Political liberalism and conservatism were correlated with brain structureLiberalism was associated with the gray matter volume of the anterior cingulate cortexConservatism was associated with an increased right amygdala sizeResults offer possible accounts for cognitive styles of liberals and conservativesIn very simple terms this suggests:

Conservative brains are more active in declarative and episodic fact-based memory and negative emotions like fear.Liberal brains are more active in terms of emotional awareness and empathy.The implications of these differences are further explained here and in the videos below. Another study here used different methods and looked at different research, but concluded the same general thing regarding character traits.

Liberal vs. Conservative: A Neuroscientific Analysis with Gail Saltz. This Big Think video explains some of the most recent research on the brain and political leanings. This is the ''academic liberal'' perspective. This video looks at this study (the one we note above on the biological differences) Political Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults.FACT: Liberals and conservatives don't just have different ways of seeing the world, their brains usually looked different under an MRI. It seems that using just brain imaging alone one can guess whether a person is liberal or conservative with about a 60- 70% accuracy (see the Political Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults study for exact figures).

What don't we know? We don't know what biological differences are in the brains of those who consider themselves independent, and we don't know if this is nature or nurture (if people are born this way, or if using a thinking type enlarges part of the brain).

Red brain, blue brain '-- the neurobiology of political values | Hannah Holmes | TEDxDirigo. One last TEDx video on the subject due to the science being young.Moral DifferencesAnother study explained in the video below, looked at moral differences between liberals and conservatives. The study looked at five moral factors: purity, in-group, authority, fairness, and harm, and consistently saw those who considered themselves conservative to care more about authority, a tigh-knit in-group, or tended to favor tradition and purity. See the video for details.

The moral roots of liberals and conservatives '' Jonathan Haidt. This video looks at the moral differences between liberals and conservatives. TIP: When we say liberals and conservatives we generally are talking about the American meanings of these terms (which is important as ''liberal'' has a unique meaning in modern America). The studies noted on this page are based on how people identify themselves. So ''liberal'' is modern Democrat (social-liberal) and ''conservative'' is modern Republican (libertarian-conservative-social conservative). With that said, each study is different and each individual understands the parties and political leanings in a different way. See the basics of the political parties, our model of the left-right spectrum, or our history of liberalism (which is also the history of conservatism).

How Morals Influence If You're Liberal Or Conservative. Another look at how left-wing-brain right-wing-brain (in terms of politics) affect morality? How does it relate to biological differences? This video takes a look.Other DifferencesThe above studies and other peer-reviewed studies that look at political ideology, thought process, and brain structure listed in the citations below don't suggest one type of brain is better than the other, but they do seem to suggest that the old ''right brain, left brain'' adage has some weight to it. The studies show that liberals and conservatives favor a type of thinking, not that liberals and conservatives had completely opposite views. For instance, a conservative may be more likely to favor their in-group and view it as traditional, while a liberal might be more likely to think of their in-group as having new experiences.

The simple takeaway: If you want to convince a liberal of conservative views or a conservative of liberal views, then you need to step in their shoes and talk to them from their perspective. For example, a conservative might not respond to emotion-based arguments, while a liberal might not respond to arguments based on fear of ''out-groups.'' At the same time, one should keep in mind that each person isn't different and we shouldn't expect a member of a group will have all the qualities of a group or that a given person might not in practice have a complex mix of left and right qualities. Thus, also we should think about not just how to treat individuals, but how we can express our points and communicate with large political groups on the left and right (where population differences would be more likely to express themselves.)

See Here's What Science Says About the Brains of Democrats and Republicans or Differences in Conservative and Liberal Brains '' 2016 for more in-depth looks at left-brain-right-brain studies in regards to politics.[11]

The Genetics of Politics | Liberals vs. Conservatives | Gene Wars [P2]. This is the same science from a ''conservative libertarian'' perspective. This video also talks about other genetic aspects of political leanings, including r/K selection theory (which also correlates to ''left'' and ''right.''TIP: Neither you nor your uncle is actually ''crazy'' based strictly on your political views. Rather, each is taking a rational view based on their hardwiring and soft-wiring. We must learn to respect and understand each other's arguments and why certain issues are important to others. That means respecting individuals on their own merit and as part of the groups they indentify with (more than what we indentify them as).

The Science of Political Orientation. Let's end with a lecture from Berkley Center.Conservatives and liberals don't just have differences in thinking, they seem to have biological and genetic differences too.

Arrogating all the studies on this page, i'm left with the conclusion that we are hardwired to be left or right, and ''soft-wired'' from our families, friends, cultures, and media. Our neuroplasticity plays a role, shaping us, but it seems we have power over the process.

The obvious and simple takeaway is that to be effective you must be able to use your ''left-wing'' and ''right-wing'' brain, you must use your liberal empathy to step into the shoes of a conservative, and you must use your conservative flight or fight and fact-based thinking to understand why liberal-style empathy is important.

It seems the left and right both hold a key to the puzzle, sure it is tempting to fight, but a little bit of peace, love, and understanding might just yield better fruit.

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Tue, 05 Jul 2022 19:22