https://t.co/M6b8CPluiw
This study reveals a newly-discovered way that some bacteria can reproduce their DNA. It has always been assumed that DNA is generated from a template, i.e. a string of DNA that gets replicated.
This study reveals DNA that is produced not from prior DNA, but from a protein that has somehow encoded the sequence of DNA needed within its 3-dimensional structure.
I suspect origin-of-life researchers will claim that this takes care of the long-standing chicken-or-the-egg problem that has plagued the field for decades: DNA is necessary for life, but the existence of DNA requires multiple proteins acting in concert to produce it, and the existence of those proteins requires DNA that codes for it.
The fact that this study reports on protein coding for DNA doesn't answer that problem. It simply pushes the mystery of where the information came from in the first place from DNA to the protein:
How on earth would a protein come to be that folded itself up into a shape that encoded a functional string of nucleotides, one that itself encoded a different set of multiple functional proteins?
I have no doubt that evolutionary biologists will bring out that old canard 'with enough time anything is possible...'
https://t.co/v4fREkT9aL
This just might be the dumbest study I've ever seen (I'm sure it isn't, actually, but saying "dumbest I can recall" just doesn't have the same dramatic effect). I have read the Methods a few times and think there must be something I'm missing.
When I read the abstract it seemed odd. Higher consumption of natural food colorings like beta-carotene, lutein, and curcumin were significantly associated with the development of type II diabetes (TTDM). That didn't make sense, so I read the study to see how it was that they controlled for the food itself.
I mean, you only consume high quantities of food coloring if you are eating higher quantities of food. And which kind of food are you eating more of? The kind that adds colorings to it, i.e. processed to some extent (anywhere from minimally to ultra processed).
Obviously eating a highly processed breakfast cereal with added curcumin as a coloring is not the same as eating a minimally-processed breakfast sausage with curcumin as an added coloring.
How in the world would it be possible to differentiate the impact of consuming a natural food coloring and consuming the food that the coloring is added to? This study purports to do that, but it does so by converting food into its constituent nutrients, e.g. grams of fiber, carbs, sodium, protein, etc.
Using those nutrient quantities as a proxy for describing the actual food eaten is like using the amount of different colors used as a proxy for describing various Jackson Pollock paintings.
There is published evidence that three of the natural food colorings found in this study to increase the risk of TTDM (curcumin, lutein, and beta-carotene) actually reduce the risk of TTDM when eaten or taken as supplements. Apparently the authors of this study didn't think to check that literature, nor did the reviewers who let it get through peer review.
I think the institution of science uses junk research like this in the same way that the mainstream media uses junk information. It serves to muddy the water so people can never really be sure what is accurate and what is rubbish.
https://t.co/CiNf6nF91c
It happens regularly. I learn about some hormone or molecule - activin in this case - that I've never heard of, but I learn that it performs a wide range of really important functions in the body.
Activin seems to be elevated when things are going downhill: chronic kidney disease, heart failure, cancer wasting (cachexia), that kind of stuff.
The linked study describes a new kind of immune cell that is like a bomb when exposed to activin. The cell explodes and levels everything in its immediate area. I picture it sort of like a losing and retreating army that blows up equipment and supplies as it goes so it isn't left behind for the enemy to take over.
Something like that. Anyway, a hormone I had never heard of and a cell type that was previously unknown. Somethin' new every day...
https://t.co/dIaPm6VXUD
It is difficult to imagine the lack of imagination behind the suggestion that we need more global coordination to control epidemics rather than less, given the complete travesty that was C19.
"These developments threaten to seriously impact the WHO Pandemic Agreement presented at the World Health Assembly on the 20th May 2025, which aims to strengthen international coordination for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response, including commitments to data sharing and more equitable access to vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics."
https://t.co/tWnCJPsWO0
Advocates of evolutionary theory will often claim that it is as scientifically established and validated as the hard sciences like chemistry or physics. Neil deGrasse Tyson, who for some bizarre reason is considered to have an opinion worth asking about, famously said, "The theory of evolution, like the theory of gravity, is a scientific fact."
It is a moronic statement. Where will a mass weighing X kg and launched at velocity Y at angle Z arch back and hit the ground? Calculations based on gravity can tell us precisely.
Will lemurs, after some millions of years, evolve to sport a set of wings on their backs? Will toads evolve into having an elongated snout like an allegator and a spread of tail feathers like a peacock?
There is not a single sentence in all the writing about "evolutionary theory" that can rule either of these scenarios out. Advocates of the theory of evolution are like weathermen who can only observe what the weather was yesterday. They make up a story about why it must have been that way, and call that a scientific explanation.
If, as the linked article notes, these all-female fish completely defy evolutionary expectations, I look forward to gravity also behaving is completely unexpected ways.
https://t.co/WRZ1sfdcdv
I've tried my hardest and I just can't think of a single thing that could go wrong with an experiment like this. I mean, clearly bats have been yearning for millennia to get vaxxed.
https://t.co/HDpxSZUz8a
Gravity, the strength of which is captured by the variable G, is fascinating. I mean, we all intuitively understand its effects, but those who study it still can't tell us what it is and what causes it.
Yes, Einstein created a model to explain how it effects masses (you are held to the earth by curved spacetime, whatever that means). But having a mathematical model to describe it is not the same thing as understanding what it is.
Why does gravity have the strength that it does? No one knows. Like the mass of an electron, gravity's strength cannot be calculated from first principles. Just like Newton did way back when, the best we can do is measure its strength and write down the answer.
In reading this article and how the various attempts to measure the strength of G end up deviating from each other by some hundredths of a percentage point, I wonder if, like the speed of light, the strength actually does vary. It is the strength of gravity itself, and not the experimental setup, that accounts for the variations between experiments.
https://t.co/bUVqoOtHpR
I have long thought it odd that, given how abnormal and misbehaving and genetically mutated cancer cells are, they don't consistently produce any unique molecules that spill into the blood that would allow them to be detected with a blood test. There are a few labs that claim to have such a test, but I'm completely underwhelmed by their self-reported sensitivities and specificities, the two golden pillars of a diagnostic test.
Maybe there is a legit blood test on the horizon for pancreatic cancer, which would be a pretty fantastic one to start with.
"This study is among the first demonstrating a combined threshold of DNA and protein levels that can distinguish pancreatic cancer from its precursor IPMN lesions."
https://t.co/1iSfcyvJUL
Lp(a) is a molecule that hangs out on LDL ("bad") cholesterol. It is, to a large extent, what makes bad cholesterol bad. If I had a family history of heart disease, was over age 30, or had gotten any of those C19 shots, I'd be testing this. Just saying.
https://t.co/g9aO9wEdVx
Gosh, I wonder what putting the world on lockdown for several months might do.
"Constant physical proximity can also amplify conflict, mistrust and social withdrawal."
https://t.co/2MYdPOpYJt
Remember, shortly after the shots were rolled out for kids, there were reports of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C)? Well, for some reason they just couldn't figure out what factors were associated with it happening.
"Second, the dataset lacked granular data on treatment regimens, laboratory values, vaccination status, timing of therapy, and specific causes of death, precluding adjustment for potential confounders."
https://t.co/SCf0ZcK6JP
It's difficult to even imagine the frame of mind that could provoke this response - even *now* - to this kind of event:
“Over the past 24 hours, we have seen increasingly hostile rhetoric surrounding this situation, including hateful language, online attacks, threats to our business and harassment directed at our staff who had no involvement in this,” Recess posted to Facebook.
https://t.co/FiHH5eUmeg
I still get articles in my news feed every day about young people either diagnosed with cancer or who die suddenly. The gov't is hoping that the statute of limitations is over for the shots to get the blame.
https://t.co/lVe6ImuG3v
You all probably don't remember way back when RFK Jr was writing books pointing out how urgent it was to get the mRNA shots off the market because they were bioweapons injuring and killing millions.
But sure, don't hurt beagles. I'm down with that.
Question: does it have any meaningful positive impact for people currently banking in corporate banks to shift their funds to local credit unions? If so, could you and the informed/influential people you know organize a national "Credit Unionize" day or week or month?
I suspect millions of people are banking in what I would call legacy banks: banks they started with maybe decades ago and they simply haven't made the effort to transition. With some clear talking points about how it helps to secure their money (if it does) and would kidney punch the financial oligarchs (if it does), maybe a non-trivial number of people would finally make the move.
If credit unions are no better than the rest of the system I welcome being schooled about that.
https://t.co/QBNT8uzFLa
I have finally gotten my therapeutic diet app up and running. Anyone is welcome to take the (very extensive!) symptom survey. Upon submitting your answers it will spit out the top three (out of about two dozen possible) therapeutic diets that are most indicated for you based upon your symptom constellation (and several other factors it takes into account).
There is a free report with the top three diets and some information about how to implement. There is also a $30 upgrade that gives you much more info such as links to resources, recommended nutrients that support the specific diets, and more.
There is also a very robust practitioner portal that allows nutrition-focused practitioners, once subscribed to the system, to get very comprehensive reports on their clients who take the survey. If you are or are working with such a practitioner, consider passing the URL along to let them take a look.
https://t.co/SC5jnysiQm
This article is a case series of patients presenting to a hospital in China with acute limb ischemia, i.e. one of their arms or legs was "dying" because blood flow to it was cut off by a clot.
D-dimer, a blood test that indicates the amount of blood clot formation, should be under 0.5mcg/L. One of the patients in this study had a d-dimer level of 86,450mcg/L.
They are blaming the excess clotting in these patients on C19, but it also says that all patients described in this article "had received at least two or three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine."
Whether these cases of massive clotting were triggered by C19 or by the shots, we can say this with certainty: whoever designed that that bioweapon that is the spike protein did a bang-up job.
https://t.co/7sX0CSCz2b
It's just so sad that there's no practical way to implement such a cheap and accessible treatment strategy at the primary care level.
"Results: In the fully adjusted model, higher fiber intake was inversely associated with depression severity (OR 0.89 per 1 SD increase, 95% CI 0.80-0.97, p = 0.012). Participants in the highest intake quartile had 40% lower odds of greater severity compared with the lowest quartile (ptrend < 0.001)."
https://t.co/s3YRIbgW8P
Ok, so Salmonella is transmitted basically by touching the birds (fecal-oral route). Poop dust on the wings, you touch that then touch your eye, the rest is gastrointestinal history. But a simultaneous outbreak in *backyard* (not industrial) poultry across 13 states simultaneously?
Color me sus.