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Senolytics are an emerging class of drugs designed to target zombie-like cells that have stopped dividing and build up in the body as we age, and the past few years have seen some exciting discoveries that demonstrate their potential. Adding another to the list are Mayo Clinic researchers, who have shown that these drugs can protect against aging and its related diseases, by acting on a protein long associated with longevity.

The zombie-like cells involved in this research are known as senescent cells, and their accumulation during aging is associated with a range of diseases. Recent studies have shown that using senolytics to clear them out could serve as new and effective treatments for dementia and diabetes, and also improve health and lifespan more broadly.

A chemical recently dsicovered in grape seeds, Procyanidin C1, has this effect. Grapeseed extract can be purchased commercially as a nutritional supplement.

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Your DNA holds the blueprint to build your body, but it’s a living document: Adjustments to the design can be made by epigenetic marks. Cataloguing these marks and how they work is important for understanding biology and genetics—and coming up with therapies to address diseases and disorders.

In humans and our fellow eukaryotes, two principal epigenetic marks are known. But a team from the University of Chicago-affiliated Marine Biological Laboratory has discovered a third, novel epigenetic mark—one formerly known only in bacteria—in small freshwater animals called bdelloid rotifers.

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Take whatever action you deem appropriate.

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Americans became richer and more multicultural in the years between 2016 and 2020, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

In the span of these years, ??which were marked by Donald Trump’s presidency, the American Community Survey (ACS) reports that the median household income across the U.S. increased to $64,994, compared to about $58,844 reported between 2011 and 2015.

Such an increase was reported by 48 states and the District of Columbia, while the median household income didn’t change in Wyoming and Puerto Rico.

Here Are All The Latest News And Developments From The Ukraine War: March 14

Ex-KGB agent weighs in on ‘bizarre’ Putin photos (CNN)

Why Putin Is Hell-Bent on Capturing Ukraine’s Nuclear Reactors (Daily Beast)

Russia Shows Off New Melitopol Mayor After Kidnapping Elected Mayor (Daily Beast)

Russia has requested military and economic assistance from China, US officials say (CNN)

How magicians are fighting Putin

The dark heart of Russia

Populists are losing this war

Ukraine: On the Fault Line Between East and West

Data Points From Russian Intel

“Media Isn’t Warning You” That US Careening Towards Food Crisis 

Security Guarantees, Real and Imagined

Russia’s war is a global cancer

Russia labels Meta an ‘extremist’ organization, bans Instagram

The Frictionless Souls Addicted to the Cause

The curious case of Russia’s missing Air Force

Withdrawal Symptoms: Employees & The Russia Exodus

World Wildlife Fund Won’t Let Chapters Denounce Russia

How to Tell Russians from Ukrainians, by Steve Sailer

Ukraine Using Thiel-Backed Clearview AI Facial Recognition During Russia Invasion

WARPLANES: Small Wonders

Mapping and Seizing the Oligarchs’ Assets

The cost of war

War: Bigger Inflation & Recession Shocks, Rate-Hikes Are Smaller

Will China come to Putin’s rescue?

Smartphones in Ukraine playing crucial role, from live video to escaping the country

Zelensky To Address US Congress In Wednesday Virtual Session

Russia May Ban Wheat, Rye, Barley And Corn Exports Until June 30

India considers buying discounted Russian oil, commodities

Germany decides to buy F-35, in major reversal of announced plans  Gee, I wonder why?

China Amplifies Russian Claims About Secretive US Bio-Weapons Research In Ukraine

UN Chief In ‘Bone-Chilling’ Statement: Nuclear War Back “Within Realm Of Possibility” Over Ukraine

Russia to Seize Hundreds of Leased Airliners

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Don’t ever say we don’t have useful stuff here.

Take whatever action you deem appropriate.

An expert on Stalin discusses Putin, Russia, and the West.

Putin’s prewar moves against U.S. tech giants laid groundwork for crackdown on free expression

Russian agents threaten Google, Apple representatives with prison time: report

Ukraine war: UK households offered £350 a month for hosting refugees (BBC)

Putin’s reported arrest of Russian intel official shows frustration with progress of Ukraine invasion: expert

In Putin’s Russia, ‘fake news’ now means real news

India Is Mulling Rupee-Ruble Payments System For Trade With Russia

Why Sanctions Don’t Work, And Why They Mostly Hurt Ordinary People

Stoltenberg Says Ukraine’s NATO Membership Was Never “Imminent” Or “On The Agenda”

Was China Betting on Russian Defeat All Along?

In Moscow, McDonald’s packs up, radio falls silent and the brain drain begins

The Art of Monetary War

“Logistical Challenges, Mounting Casualties, and Sustained Ukrainian Counterattacks”, But Don’t Get Cocky

Finnish govt agency warns of unusual aircraft GPS interference

U.N. Warns Russia’s War In Ukraine Could Spike Global Food Prices By 22%  And the U.N. has always been right in the past.

Kotkin on Russia and the West

Early Lessons from the War in Ukraine.

Italian Police Seize World’s Largest Sailing Yacht From Russian Oligarch

Telegram Cooperates with FSB (Rus)

Russians Kill American Journalist in Ukraine  I understand the impulse.

Ukraine, Russian Negotiators Say “Significant Progress” Made In Ceasefire Talks, Expect Signed Deal In “Next Few Days”

What the Russian Invasion Has Done to Ukraine

Putin Warns Attempts To Prevent Russian Exports Of Fertilizers, Oil, Gas Will Have ‘Serious Consequences’

Yuan Deposits Soar At Russian Banks After SWIFT Cut-Off

Russia Seeking China’s Military Help In Ukraine, US “Sources” Say In Afternoon Of Media Leaks

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Walgreens and other retailers have swapped out the clear fridge and freezer doors at thousands of stores, instead adding opaque doors with iPad-like screens showing what’s inside. Some customers really, really aren’t into it.

The screens, which were developed by the startup Cooler Screens, use a system of motion sensors and cameras to display what’s inside the doors — as well as product information, prices, deals and, most appealing to brands, paid advertisements. The tech provides stores with an additional revenue stream and a way to modernize the shopping experience.

But for customers who just want to peek into the freezer and grab their ice cream, Walgreens risks angering them by solving a problem that shoppers didn’t know existed.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is not a progressive value.

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Whatever one thinks of nuclear energy, the process results in tons of radioactive, toxic waste no one quite knows what to do with. As a result, it’s tucked away as safely as possible in underground storage areas where it’s meant to remain a long, long time: The worst of it, uranium 235 and plutonium 239, have a half life of 24,000 years. That’s the reason eyebrows were raised in Europe — where more countries depend on nuclear energy than anywhere else — when physicist Gérard Mourou mentioned in his wide-ranging Nobel acceptance speech that lasers could cut the lifespan of nuclear waste from “a million years to 30 minutes,” as he put it in a followup interview with The Conversation.

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Two of the first people treated with CAR-T-cell cancer therapies are still in remission 12 years on.

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Large blocks of genes conserved through hundreds of millions of years of evolution hint at how the first animal chromosomes came to be.

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A team of researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently announced in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that they had engineered a new rubber-like solid substance that has surprising qualities. It can absorb and release very large quantities of energy. And it is programmable. Taken together, this new material holds great promise for a very wide array of applications, from enabling robots to have more power without using additional energy, to new helmets and protective materials that can dissipate energy much more quickly.

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Using a novel polymerization process, MIT chemical engineers have created a new material that is stronger than steel and as light as plastic, and can be easily manufactured in large quantities.

The new material is a two-dimensional polymer that self-assembles into sheets, unlike all other polymers, which form one-dimensional, spaghetti-like chains. Until now, scientists had believed it was impossible to induce polymers to form 2D sheets.

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It was a mere two weeks ago that optimism for world powers reaching a restored nuclear deal in Vienna was at its highest, with especially European officials declaring a deal was imminent and within sight. But it now appears the at this point two week long war in Ukraine has upended that prior optimism as talks fall apart at the very moment it was thought they were at their conclusion.

“World powers and Iran suspended their efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear accord, reigniting a crisis that’s set to roil already surging oil markets and potentially plunge the energy-exporting Persian Gulf into a new cycle of violence,” Bloomberg begins of its latest reporting on Friday. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell confirmed what he dubbed a “pause” in negotiations with a tweet, due to “external factors”.

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The U.S. aims to cut its greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 as part of its commitment to tackling climate change, but might be lacking the critical minerals needed to achieve its goals.

The American green economy will rely on renewable sources of energy like wind and solar, along with the electrification of transportation. However, local production of the raw materials necessary to produce these technologies, including solar panels, wind turbines, and electric vehicles, is lacking. Understandably, this has raised concerns in Washington.

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The University of Georgia announced a new invasive bright yellow, blue-black, and red spider is preparing to spread from Georgia “through most of the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S.” this spring. The spider is the size of a child’s hand and will parachute through the air and travel by wind.

Large and scary-looking Joro spiders, potentially millions of them, are expected to use their silk to carry them up and down the East Coast as early as May in a technique called “ballooning,” according to UGA Today, a publication by the University of Georgia.

Anonymous hacks Russian TV, plays Ukraine war footage

Australia to invest $38B to surge troop strength by 30 percent

Two Russian Generals Reported Killed as Ukraine Invasion Becomes ‘Clusterf**k’

UK Says It’s A Criminal Offense For Any Russian Plane To Enter Airspace As Private Jets Get Seized

Watch: US Intel Officials Warn Putin Could Nuke A Ukrainian City

Burkina Faso: Another Coup Led by U.S.-Trained Soldier

CBS Recounts Cruel U.S. Policy Stranding Ukrainian American (Skimps on Biden)

Jaromir Jagr Uses Hockey Game To Raise Funds For Ukrainian Refugees

Ukraine Bans Wheat & Grain Exports Vital To Global Food Supply, Citing Citizens Under Siege

Trudeau Hints Canada Ready to Replace Russian Fossil Fuel Imports  For a price, of course.

Patriot Missile Batteries Dispatched To Poland Amid Fears Of “Stray” Russian Missiles

Next US defense budget will get a boost due to Ukraine invasion: Pentagon comptroller

Victoria Nuland: Ukraine Has “Biological Research Facilities,” Worried Russia May Seize Them

China’s Xi Objects To Russian Sanctions In Summit With France And Germany

Russian invasion raises new danger of Chinese attack on Taiwan

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Poland says it will accept planes with “corresponding operational capabilities” in return for giving the US it’s MiG-29s to transfer to Ukraine. The problem is, no one seemed to have told the Americans about this plan.

Hey, we’ll trade you our junky old MiGs for some shiny new F-35s….

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In response to my post from last night, our Hungarian correspondent László sends his observations on the war in Ukraine.

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“The authorities of the Republic of Poland, after consultations between the President and the Government, are ready to deploy – immediately and free of charge – all their MIG-29 jets to the Rammstein Air Base and place them at the disposal of the Government of the United States of America,” it said.

Why don’t they just do it directly? Poland shares a border with Ukraine; all they have to do is fly the jets there.

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One of the especially promising therapies to appear in the realm of anti-aging research involves a set of molecules known as Yamanaka factors, which scientists have deployed to rejuvenate aging cells, trigger muscle regeneration and tackle glaucoma. New research at the Salk Institute has sought to build on these short-term and specific use cases by demonstrating how these molecules can reverse signs of aging in middle-aged and elderly mice, with no evidence of health problems following the extended treatment.

 

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And well it might.

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Can’t say that I blame them.

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With newsflow out of Ukraine having become a firehose, with market moving headlines firing every minute, traders can be forgiven if they have just given up following the narrative. To help out, here is a snapshot of all the latest market-moving news out of Ukraine over the weekend and overnight, courtesy of Newsquawk.

UPDATE: Evacuation route out of Mariupol was mined, Red Cross says

UPDATE: UK Dock Workers Refuse To Unload Russian Ships Over Invasion Of Ukraine

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I’d say that our deadliest enemy is stupid people, not mosquitoes, but I’ll concede that mosquitoes are probably in the top ten.

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Industrial scale carbon-negative production of two commodity chemicals has been achieved for the first time using a genetically modified bacterium that can turn waste carbon dioxide into acetone and isopropanol. The work, which offers a blueprint for making other chemicals, holds promise for a more sustainable, renewable and environmentally-friendly chemical industry as the world strives to shift from fossil fuels to a circular carbon economy.

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Swedish hypercar maker Koenigsegg has long been a home for novel engineering, and that’s evident in its new electric motor. Developed for the Gemera four-seater, this electric motor, dubbed the Quark, is a tiny powerhouse. In a package that weighs just 63 pounds, the Quark develops 335 hp and 443 lb-ft of torque. For scale, that’s a 330-mL energy drink in the pictures seen throughout.

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Astron Aerospace has introduced the Omega 1, a revolutionary engine with a wild design.

The Omega 1, which is designed to work with a variety of fuels, is compact and powerful with the goal to produce very low or no emissions. It lacks an offset crankshaft, reciprocating pistons, and eccentric shaft, just like a Wankel rotary engine. However, the Omega 1’s design circumvents at least one issue with Wankel engines – exhausts gas overlap.

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If it works.

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Sometimes the old ways are best.

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If biological ageing can be slowed, halted or rewound, are the machine-learning algorithms the best way to measure it? Some experts are unconvinced.

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Nerves in a healthy spine transmit signals from the brain to the legs. But after an injury to the spine, those signals are weak or nonexistent. The muscles in the legs may be healthy enough to walk, but without the brain signaling them to move, they remain immobile.

The new implant can help patients walk again by acting as a signal booster. A computer carried by the patient triggers the electrical impulses.

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With all the frightening things that are happening in the world right now, we thought we would focus on something truly magical: Namely, fungi. Last summer, we wrote about the use of psilocybin to treat depression in The Growth of the Psychedelic Industry. While an effective treatment for something that causes so much pain to so many is awfully exciting, it turns out that mushrooms are good for a whole lot more. Aside from aiding mental health, those tasty little pizza toppers are being used to create environmentally safe packaging and construction products, consumer goods, and even cleaning up one of the biggest messes humans have ever made.

Now, we aren’t saying that we’ll be getting a shipment of MeUndies inside a portobello mushroom, but rather what can be done with mycelium, which is the root structure of mushrooms. It consists of a network of branching, interconnected fine threads which can be grown into any shape and has no size limit. The Armillaria ostoyae mycelial network in Oregon occupies around 2,400 acres or roughly 1,665 football fields and is the world’s largest known organism.

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The Russians reportedly have launched multiple assassination attempts against Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. So far none has succeeded.

Movie of the Week: The Hitman’s Bodyguard, with Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds.  Highly recommended.

Check it out.

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I like the fact that they can do that sort of thing pretty easily these days.

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If and when they work. I’m not holding my breath.

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Too bad it’s going to be an electric car. Otherwise I’d be tempted to buy one. Even a hybrid would tempt me, but a totally electric car is not in my future.

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Replacing them with titanium would be pretty cool, but probably too expensive.

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Amazon.com Inc said on Wednesday it plans to close all 68 of its brick-and-mortar bookstores, pop ups and shops carrying toys and home goods in the United States and United Kingdom, ending some of its longest-running retail experiments.

Guess the Pandemic Panic underlined how vulnerable to political meddling brick-and-mortar operations increasingly are.

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Can a pair of unique spectacles banish nearsightedness without surgical intervention? Japan’s Kubota Pharmaceutical Holdings says its wearable device can do just that, and it plans to start releasing the product in Asia, where many people grapple with myopia.

The device, which the company calls Kubota Glasses or smart glasses, is still being tested. It projects an image from the lens of the unit onto the wearer’s retina to correct the refractive error that causes nearsightedness. Wearing the device 60 to 90 minutes a day corrects myopia according to the Japanese company.

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The motorist, 26-year-old Jose Angel Hernandez, is alleged to have shouted at a couple cycling to get off the road as he drove his vehicle at a woman, apparently on purpose.

The man she was riding with then opened fire on the driver –carrying a concealed weapon is permitted in Texas under licence, although even that requirement will be scrapped from 1 September.

A police officer at the scene was reported as saying: “He was in fear of his life, and he was trying to defend himself.”d

Don’t mess with Texans.

In a Blue State, she’d be dead and he’d be injured.

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Vellum is still a healthy industry, says Paul Wright of William Cowley Parchment Makers in a small workshop just outside Milton Keynes. The market has shifted from monks to megayachts (vellum makes a lovely sofa). But his company is the last vellum maker left in Britain. The lack of competition is good for Mr Wright but bad for the craft in general.

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As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, the name Maxar has suddenly taken on more significance with detailed eye-in-the-sky images of military movements on the ground being passed to media – including a 40-mile convoy headed for Kyiv. But what is Maxar, and where did it come from?

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Australian researchers have developed a smart and super-efficient new way of capturing carbon dioxide and converting it to solid carbon, to help advance the decarbonisation of heavy industries.

…

The “bubble column” method starts with liquid metal being heated to about 100-120C.

Carbon dioxide is injected into the liquid metal, with the gas bubbles rising up just like bubbles in a champagne glass.

As the bubbles move through the liquid metal, the gas molecule splits up to form flakes of solid carbon, with the reaction taking just a split second.

“It’s the extraordinary speed of the chemical reaction we have achieved that makes our technology commercially viable, where so many alternative approaches have struggled,” Chiang said.

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Sandra Kim, a resident of Loudoun County, Virginia, started homeschooling her three children in the summer of 2020.

She doesn’t necessarily have a problem with public schools, Kim says, but realized her children—Yenna Elizabeth, now 13, Emily, 10, and Teddy, 8—could do more.

The Virginia mother’s second grader, Teddy, now is doing higher-level math and her fourth grader, Emily, is writing essays, which normally wouldn’t have happened until sixth grade.

“Homeschoolers also do really well in college because they learn executive functioning skills from being at home,” Kim says.

In other words, factory-model government schools (Thank you, Prussia!) aren’t the best choice for your kids.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order raising the alert status of Russia’s massive nuclear forces this week in the midst of an invasion of neighboring Ukraine is presenting a test of a 2012 agreement that calls on China to provide a nuclear deterrent umbrella for Kyiv.

I’ll bet you didn’t know that.

Lockheed produces the Javelin anti-tank missile.