Read it.

Just in case you were wondering. I know I was.

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For airliners, cargo ships, nuclear power plants and other critical technologies, strength and durability are essential. This is why many contain a remarkably strong and corrosion-resistant alloy called 17-4 precipitation hardening (PH) stainless steel. Now, for the first time ever, 17-4 PH steel can be consistently 3D-printed while retaining its favorable characteristics.

A team of researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Argonne National Laboratory has identified particular 17-4 steel compositions that, when printed, match the properties of the conventionally manufactured version. The researchers’ strategy, described in the journal Additive Manufacturing, is based on high-speed data about the printing process they obtained using high-energy X-rays from a particle accelerator.

New Atlas.

These strangely-shaped twisted-toroid propellers look like a revolutionary (sorry) advance for the aviation and marine sectors. Radically quieter than traditional propellers in both air and water, they’re also showing some huge efficiency gains.

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Researchers have developed a possible way to keep colonies of Staphylococcus aureus — the bacteria behind MRSA — in check without doing damage to the beneficial microbes living in our gut microbiome. Such a therapy could help reduce the risk of infection while maintaining the delicate ecosystem inside our digestive tract.

Their technique uses a digested probiotic of Bacillus subtilis, a beneficial bacteria. When taken orally, the B. subtilis successfully and safely reduced S. aureus colonies in both the gut and nose in a phase 2 clinical trial.

“The probiotic we use does not ‘kill’ S. aureus, but it specifically and strongly diminishes its capacity to colonize,” Michael Otto, a senior investigator at the National Institute of Allergic and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) who led the study, said.

“We think we can target the ‘bad’ S. aureus while leaving the composition of the microbiota [the organisms living in the microbiome] intact.”

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This study presents a class of magnetoactive phase transitional matter (MPTM). MPTMs exhibit a combination of high mechanical strength, high load capacity, fast locomotion, excellent controllability, and robust morphological adaptability. This unique combination of properties is enabled by the reversible transition of MPTMs between rigid and fluidic states through alternating magnetic field heating and ambient cooling. To illustrate the unique capabilities of MPTMs, we demonstrate smart soldering machines to manipulate and solder electronic components to create a functional circuit. We also use MPTMs as universal screws to assemble parts in hard-to-reach space and as a capsule machine for removing foreign objects or delivering drugs in a model stomach. MPTMs are promising for future applications in flexible electronics, healthcare, and robotics that depend on dynamic shape reconfigurability and repair.

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Didn’t know these guys were even a thing any more.

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For decades, a family of crystals has stumped physicists with its baffling ability to superconduct — that is, carry an electric current without any resistance — at far warmer temperatures than other materials.

Now, an experiment years in the making has directly visualized superconductivity on the atomic scale in one of these crystals, finally revealing the cause of the phenomenon to nearly everyone’s satisfaction. Electrons appear to nudge each other into a frictionless flow in a manner first suggested by a venerable theory nearly as old as the mystery itself.

Minister: Germany won’t block Poland giving Ukraine tanks (Associated Press)

What Western armour gives Ukraine in the next round of the war (The Economist)

Russia Holds Drills Focused On “Repelling Air Attacks” On Moscow

Russia’s Lavrov: Conflict With West ‘Almost a Real War’  Yeah, it’s kinda close.

AIR WEAPONS: Switchblade 600 In Lithuania

SURFACE FORCES : Prefab Constellation-Class

Poland Signals Intent to Send Leopard Tanks to Ukraine

China’s Tax-Deductible Operation to Influence American Students

Ships With No Purpose

Report: US Weapons Industry Unprepared for China Conflict (Newsmax)

U.S. Weapons Industry Unprepared for a China Conflict, Report Says (WSJ)

Read it.

If, of course, that’s what you want to do.

Personally, I find my $500 50″ Roku sitting on my mantel perfectly adequate.

SciTechDaily.

Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and IBM Research have created a virtual library of thousands of “command sentences” for cells using machine learning. These “sentences” are based on combinations of “words” that direct engineered immune cells to find and continuously eliminate cancer cells.

This research, which was recently published in the journal Science, is the first time that advanced computational techniques have been applied to a field that has traditionally progressed through trial-and-error experimentation and the use of pre-existing molecules rather than synthetic ones to engineer cells.

The advance allows scientists to predict which elements – natural or synthesized – they should include in a cell to give it the precise behaviors required to respond effectively to complex diseases.

The next Russian civil war is already under way. (Center for European Policy Analysis)

Bafflement after battle

Rescue Hopes Fade in Ukraine’s Dnipro Apartment Complex, Dozens Feared Dead  Don’t build high-rise apartments in a war zone.

U.S. begins expanded training of Ukrainian forces for large-scale combat (Washington Post)

AIR DEFENSE: Supercharged Spyder

Cargo Ship Carrying Ukraine Peas Refloated After Running Aground In Bosphorus Strait

Ukraine prepares for new offensive as Russia and Belarus begin joint drills (NBC)

UK to send Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, Rishi Sunak confirms (BBC)

Ukrainian Army Still Uses Soviet Era Tanks (CNN)

Soledar May Be ‘Bargaining Tool’ in Wagner Chief’s Push for Authority: ISW (Newsweek)

Russia’s Wagner mercenaries lead bloody battle in Ukraine’s east (CBS)

Rifts in Russian military command seen amid Ukraine fighting (Associated Press)

Interview: U.S. General Ben Hodges On Russia’s Lack Of A ‘Coherent Plan’ (Radio Free Europe)

Why Biden Is Wrong About North Korea (Newsweek)

Detailed Report Exposes CIA-Backed ‘Zero Units’ In Afghanistan

As Russians Steal Ukraine’s Art, They Attack Its Identity, Too (N.Y. Times)

Iraqi PM Backs Indefinite US Troop Presence in Country

ARTILLERY: Truck-Mounted 120mm Mortar

British Govt Set to Ship ‘Game-Changer’ Apache Helicopters to Ukraine

Read it.

We have the technology.

The Hill.

Maybe it’s something about the Hippocratic oath: Doctors, nurses and pharmacists rate highest for honesty and ethics among 18 common professions in the latest version of a long-running Gallup poll.

And maybe it’s something about the sanctity of the dinner hour: Telemarketers rate lowest in the Gallup ethics survey, followed by members of Congress and sellers of cars.

I think that the Pandemic Panic may have impacted the medical profession a bit. Just a bit.

Read it.

Greenhouse gases and plastic waste are two of the biggest environmental problems the world faces today. A new reactor from Cambridge is designed to tackle both at once, converting CO2 and used plastic bottles into useful materials, powered entirely by sunlight.

Read it.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a Republican, signed seven executive orders to decrease the size of her state’s government, combat “indoctrination” and critical race theory in schools, and remove the term “Latinx” from government documents.

During her inaugural address Tuesday, Sanders pledged to sign an executive order “preventing the political indoctrination of Arkansas’ schoolchildren.”

“As long as I am governor,” she said, “our schools will focus on the skills our children need to get ahead in the modern world—not brainwashing our children with a left-wing political agenda.”

Patriot Missiles Paired With Naval Vertical Launchers Pitched By Lockheed

North Korea’s nuclear escalation, explained (Vox)

Pentagon awards $40M ‘Vampire’ contract for Ukraine’s drone defenses (Defense News)

Russian Officials Throw a Tantrum After U.S. Diplomat Calls Putin ‘Small Man’ (Daily Beast)

Russian artillery fire down nearly 75%, US officials say, in latest sign of struggles for Moscow (CNN)

Top Marine General In Japan Bluntly Describes US Is “Setting The Theatre” For Future War With China  My, what a surprise.

Putin Deploys the Nuke-Capable ‘Sledgehammer’ to Ukraine

Turkey Is Sending Cold War-Era Cluster Bombs to Ukraine (Foreign Policy)

US to Increase Number of Anti-ship Missiles in Japan

War In Ukraine: Hunting For The Mega Trade

Oxfam Report: US, UK Supplied Arms, Killed Civilians in Yemen

BBC.

Consumer groups have for years been calling on companies to allow their customers to be able to fix everything from smartphones to tractors.

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) and Deere & Co. signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Sunday.

“It addresses a long-running issue for farmers and ranchers when it comes to accessing tools, information and resources, while protecting John Deere’s intellectual property rights and ensuring equipment safety,” AFBF President Zippy Duvall said.

Under the agreement, equipment owners and independent technicians will not be allowed to “divulge trade secrets” or “override safety features or emissions controls or to adjust Agricultural Equipment power levels.”

(How would you like to have a name like ‘Zippy’?) The main problem was the working through Deere it took forever to get service, and when the harvest is waiting because you can’t get a company rep to service your machine, that’s Not Good.

UPDATE: John Deere vows to open up its tractor tech, but right-to-repair backers have doubts (NPR)

‘Sea Sparrow’ Missiles Compared to Ukraine’s Current Air Defense Options (Newsweek)

On Energy, Putin’s Back Is Against the Wall | Opinion (Newsweek)

United States, South Korea to partner on advanced air mobility development (Reuters)

Sweden says cannot fulfil Turkey’s demands for NATO application (Al Jezeera)

New England grapples with sky-high electricity rates as Ukraine war squeezes gas supply (The Hill) Lie down with virtue-signaling progressives, get up with shortages.

U.S. ‘Top of the Line’ Weapon Will Help Change the War: Ukraine Ambassador (Newsweek)

Ukraine bolsters defences in east as Russia sends waves of attacks (Reuters)

SUBMARINES: Borei SSBNs Keep Coming

Russia’s Wagner group ramping up operations outside of Ukraine, U.S. warns (Politico)

‘We Are Facing The Entire NATO In Ukraine’: Kremlin Says, As UK Mulls Battle Tanks

Abramovich Moved $4 Billion to Children Weeks Before Ukraine Invasion I guess he could feel the fingers diving into his pockets.

Read it.

A team at Ohio University carried out a series of simulations showing how coal can be converted to valuable—and carbon-neutral—materials like graphite and carbon nanotubes.

Using the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center’s Bridges-2 system, the researchers simulated coal and graphite in computer software and recreated the coal-to-graphite conversion virtually. Generations of scientists know that, at least in theory, it is possible to convert coal to graphite if the fossil fuel is put under enough pressure at a high enough temperature.

Superman is never around when you really need him.

Read it.

“The landscape of refrigerants is an unsolved problem,” says mechanical engineer Drew Lilley, from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. “No one has successfully developed an alternative solution that makes stuff cold, works efficiently, is safe, and doesn’t hurt the environment.”

“We think the ionocaloric cycle has the potential to meet all those goals if realized appropriately.”

So they haven’t invented it yet, they just have a theory that they might (and might not) turn into a viable product. But that’s as much truth as one can expect from the media these days….

New York Times.

Republicans plan to create a special subcommittee, led by a Trump ally, with a mandate to scrutinize open criminal investigations and classified intelligence.

Democrats are about to discover that what goes around comes around.

Read it.

Thank you, minimum wage laws.

Thank you, Union label.

Quite frankly, I thought that they already were–every KrispyKreme donut I’ve ever seen looks as it if has been injection-molded out of plastic. They might taste that way, too, for all I know; I don’t eat them, not being able to get past their looks.

Read it.

Professor Kyong-Tai Kim and Ph.D. candidate Kyung Won Jo, from the Department of Life Sciences at the Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH), have found that the gossypetin in hibiscus activates microglia, the immune cells in the brain. Their research also showed that these microglia can scavenge amyloid-beta in the brain to improve cognitive function in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease.

 

New York Post.

Fortunately, there are ways to find out who’s calling you from an unknown or blocked number. We put together this helpful guide on finding an unknown caller number. (If you’ve ever found yourself asking, “What does unknown caller mean?” or “How to block unknown calls on iPhone?” we’ll explain that, too.) Prevent spam and scam callers from being anonymous with a few of these tricks, starting with a few simple tracing techniques.

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The company’s first product is an over-the-counter device with an app that measures blood pressure without a cuff or calibration. It’s still waiting for FDA clearance, but Valencell’s technology is already found in other products, such as those from Samsung, Bose, Huawei, Sony, and others.

Read it.

Some have criticized the new highly automated restaurant, arguing that McDonald’s is opting to install expensive automation systems to replace employees.

Well, duh. Thank you, minimum wage laws. Thank you, Union label.

Read it.

Equium has developed a new thermo-acoustic heat pump core that reportedly produces 3 kW to 4 kW of heat for every kilowatt of power it consumes. It says the refrigerant-free device could generate domestic hot water at temperatures of up to 80 C.

Europe’s big question: What a diminished Russia will do next

Russian Military Officer Says He Has ‘Favorable View’ of Nuclear Weapon Use (Newsweek)

What if Ukraine had kept its nuclear weapons? (Responsible Statecraft)

Forced to fight your own people: How Russia is weaponizing passports (Politico)

More Blasts Hit Kyiv Early Monday

INTELLIGENCE: Russian Illegals In Europe

AIR DEFENSE: Unexpected Electronic Side Effects Escalate

The High Cost Of Blowing Up The World: Ukraine & The 2023 NDAA

Ukraine Says It Killed Hundreds of Russians in Donetsk Missile Strike

Russia and China Strengthen Ties

Huge Death Toll After US-Supplied Himars Leveled Russian Barracks In Donetsk, Possibly Hundreds Killed  Well, that’s what it’s for.

Analysts Predict 1 Million Bpd Drop in Russian Crude Output

SciTech Daily.

Leprosy, a chronic infectious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae, is one of the oldest and most persistent diseases in the world. However, new surprising research suggests that the bacteria that cause leprosy may also have the ability to stimulate the growth and regeneration of the liver in adult animals without causing damage or scarring. Scientists have discovered that parasites associated with leprosy can reprogram cells to increase the size of the liver.

Science Alert.

Guessing the color of the coat of a gray wolf seems like a no-brainer. But the canines, whose habitats are spread across North America and Eurasia, aren’t always actually gray.

On the North American continent, specifically, the farther south you go, the more wolves there are with dark, black-hued coats. The phenomenon was unexplained for a long time, but now scientists have determined that the culprit is one of the biggest drivers of natural selection: disease.

Science Alert.

Wood wide webs – incredible networks of fungi and plant roots that span entire forests – act as highways for nutrient deliveries as well as wires for transferring information between plants via electrical and chemical signals. These connections help strengthen a forest as a whole, by distributing resources from nutrient poor to nutrient rich areas of the network. They also allow plants to warn each other of predators and even help protect them from drought.

In exchange for these services, plants pay their fungi allies with some of the hydrocarbons they produce using photosynthesis.

But Monotropastrum betrays this mutualistic relationship by stealing all its nutrients from the fungi, offering no photosynthetic products to the network in return – making them part of a very selective mycoheterotrophic club.

SciTech Daily.

An adhesive that can stimulate muscles to stretch and contract has been developed – and it has the potential to prevent and enable recovery from muscle atrophy.

Muscles can become weak and waste away due to a lack of exercise, such as when a limb is immobilized in a cast, or gradually as people age. This condition, known as muscle atrophy, can also occur as a result of neurological disorders like ALS and MS, or as a response to certain diseases including cancer and diabetes.

Mechanotherapy, a type of therapy that uses manual or mechanical techniques, is believed to have the potential to aid in tissue repair. Massage, which uses compressive stimulation to relax muscles, is the most well-known form of mechanotherapy, however, it is not clear whether stretching and contracting muscles through external means can also be effective as a treatment. There have been two major obstacles to studying this possibility: a lack of mechanical systems that can evenly apply stretching and contraction forces to muscles along their entire length, and the inefficient delivery of these mechanical stimuli to the surface and deeper layers of muscle tissue.

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Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have engineered molecules that act like “cellular glue,” allowing them to direct in precise fashion how cells bond with each other. The discovery represents a major step toward building tissues and organs, a long-sought goal of regenerative medicine.

Adhesive molecules are found naturally throughout the body, holding its tens of trillions of cells together in highly organized patterns. They form structures, create neuronal circuits, and guide immune cells to their targets. Adhesion also facilitates communication between cells to keep the body functioning as a self-regulating whole.

Ukraine Situation Report: Kyiv Struggling To Keep Captured Weapons In The Fight

Taiwan Extends Mandatory Military Service Due To Chinese Invasion Threat

Putin’s Disgruntled Troops Intensify Battle Between Key Allies (Newsweek)

Noted Crimean Activist Afanasyev Dies Fighting Russian Troops In Ukraine (Radio Free Europe)

New sanctions starting to bite Russia’s economy as Moscow admits deficit impact (CNBC)

Ukraine Wants UN-Backed Peace Deal With Russia, But On One Condition: Officials

Special Forces Insider: The CIA Is Directing Sabotage Attacks In Russian Territory

Russia Dismisses “Smokescreen” Kyiv Offer Of February Peace Talks

The Democrats Are Now The War Party

Russia Intensifies Attacks on Liberated Kherson, Eastern Ukraine

(Another) Putin Critic ‘Falls’ Out Of Window, Dies  They ought to be more careful.

Russia, China Hold Naval Drills, Practice Submarine Capture

SEA TRANSPORTATION: Modernized Multi-Scam Oil Smuggling

Drunk Russian Soldier Beats His Commander to Death (Daily Beast) Nah, I don’t believe that one.

Read it.

Mississippi could become the nation’s 10th state to eliminate its personal income tax, with Republican Gov. Tate Reeves and House Speaker Philip Gunn (R-Clinton) backing differing plans to do away with the levy when lawmakers convene their 2023 session on Jan. 3.

Similar 2023 proposals to erase immediately, or phase-out, state income taxes are also expected to be filed in West Virginia, Arkansas, Iowa, Georgia, North Dakota, Utah, and, perhaps, Wisconsin.

The Economist.

Whatever the economic weather, the sun always seemed to shine on Silicon Valley. America’s five largest technology companies—Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Meta—saw their revenues and profits grow at five times the rate of American gdp in the decade to 2021. Tech’s ability to thrive as others struggled seemed to be confirmed during covid-19 lockdowns, when firms in the Valley posted record earnings even as much of the economy crumpled.

In 2022 tech’s luck ran out.

Read it.

Thank you, minimum wage laws.

Thank you, Union label.

Thank you, progressive activists everywhere.

Read it.

Just in case you were wondering. I know I was.

Read it.

After posting a record-breaking $250 million bond, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is under house arrest at his mom and dad’s $4 million Palo Alto, Calif., home.

Read it.

Cue enviro-Nazis losing their shit.

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On January 1, 2023, copyrighted works from 1927 will enter the US public domain.?1? They will be free for all to copy, share, and build upon. These include Virginia Woolf’s To The Lighthouse and the final Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, the German science-fiction film Metropolis and Alfred Hitchcock’s first thriller, compositions by Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller, and a novelty song about ice cream. Please note that this site is only about US law; the copyright terms in other countries are different.

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A commercial airship firm, LTA Research, is building two new airships. Pathfinder one was completed in October 2022 and successfully flight tested. This airship is 120 meters long, can lift 28 tons, including up to 14 personnel and cargo. Cruising speed is 110 kilometers an hour and unrefueled range is over 4,500 kilometers. The larger 180-meter-long Pathfinder 3 is under construction and will be ready in 2023. Because of the low speed and small cargo carrying capacity, the intended mission; delivering aid to natural disaster victims in remote locations, is limited.

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The study authors created customizable wood in their lab from the cells of a flowering plant known as Zinnia elegans, popularly referred to as common zinnia. They claimed their novel approach allowed them to bio-print wooden pieces of any shape and size. This means that if you need a wooden table, you can directly produce a wooden table from the cells.

So no deforestation and no wastage, like what happens in the case of traditional furniture. This was achieved by treating common zinnia cells first with a liquid medium and then with a gel solution. The latter comprised hormones and nutrients.

We have the technology,–allegedly. Let’s see whether it will scale.

Read it.

Take whatever action you deem appropriate.

Read it.

If, of course, that’s what you want to do.

Defense & National Security — US plans expansion of training of Ukrainian troops (The Hill)

Russia Vs Ukraine War Update | U.S. To Expand Combat Training For Ukrainian Troops (CNN)

Russia’s ‘Second World War’ Military Tactics Leaving Troops Vulnerable—U.K. (Newsweek)

EU Agrees To 9th Russia Sanctions Package After Fierce Division On Food & Fertilizer

Russia to Double Intercontinental Missile Tests in 2023

Russian Troops in Crimea Battered by Ukrainian Drones

NY Times Columnist’s Bizarre Journey From Iraq Peacenik to Ukraine Warmonger

Read it.

Playing through the greenery and litter of a mini forest’s undergrowth for just one month may be enough to change a child’s immune system, according to an experiment in Finland.

When daycare workers rolled out a lawn, planted forest undergrowth (such as dwarf heather and blueberries), and allowed children to care for crops in planter boxes, the diversity of microbes in the guts and on the skin of the young kids appeared healthier in a very short space of time.

Send your kids to Finland. You’ll be glad you did.

Read it.

A new cancer vaccine from Moderna is showing breakthrough results in preventing recurrences of melanoma, and could ward off other types of cancer as well, the Wall Street Journal reported.

In a mid-stage clinical trial involving post-surgery patients, the vaccine was paired with Keytruda, an immunotherapy manufactured by Merck. The risk of relapse or death by skin cancer was lowered by 44% from the use of Keytruda alone.

Read it.

The party season is in full swing, but nothing kills that festive cheer quicker than a prolonged and painful hangover.

However, a US pharmacist has shared the hangover “cure” she swears is “100 per cent effective” – and those who have put it to the test agree.

Ari, a licenced doctor in LA, revealed she takes vitamin B complex, magnesium and a folic acid supplement alongside an electrolyte drink, claiming it is “single-handedly the most effective way” to beat those awful morning after symptoms.

Describing the concoction as an “oral version of an IV fluid bag”, Ari said it helps ease symptoms of dehydration and replenishes electrolytes.