Read it.

In 2002, Florida adopted a phonics based reading strategy due to Charlie Crist. Scores started to rise. Other southern states started to following suit, including Mississippi long deried as the worst in the nation.

Read it.

The USA is confronted with three epic-size problems: (1) the need for production of energy on a scale that meets the current and future needs of the nation, (2) the need to confront the climate crisis head-on by only producing renewable, green energy, that is 100% emission-free, and (3) the need to forever forestall the eruption of the Yellowstone Supervolcano. This paper offers both a provable practical, novel solution, and a thought experiment, to simultaneously solve all of the above stated problems. Through a new copper-based engineering approach on an unprecedented scale, this paper proposes a safe means to draw up the mighty energy reserve of the Yellowstone Supervolcano from within the Earth, to superheat steam for spinning turbines at sufficient speed and on a sufficient scale, in order to power the entire USA. The proposed, single, multi-redundant facility utilizes the star topology in a grid array pattern to accomplish this. Over time, bleed-off of sufficient energy could potentially forestall this Supervolcano from ever erupting again. With obvious importance to our planet and the research community alike, COMSOL simulation demonstrates and proves the solution proposed herein, to bring vast amounts of green, emission-free energy to the planet’s surface for utilization. Well over 11 Quadrillion Watt hours of electrical energy generated over the course of one full year, to meet the current and future needs of the USA is shown to be practical. Going beyond other current and past research efforts, this methodology offers tremendous benefits, potentially on a planetary scale.

North Dakoka State University.

Window condensation and other moisture problems are likely in a weatherized home without air exchangers. This is a problem for both people and the home structure. Bringing in outside air and exhausting indoor air (ventilation) dilutes or removes the indoor pollutants and moisture. The question is: How do you remove the moisture and pollutants while retaining the heated or cooled air? An air-to-air heat exchanger will solve that problem. Air exchangers transfer the thermal energy of the indoor air to incoming fresh air, allowing the moisture and pollutants to be vented but retaining the heat. This publication describes reasons to use air-to-air heat exchangers, technology of exchangers, the cost advantages of installing them and some tips on choosing a heat exchanger that is right for your home.

Freethink.

UC Davis researchers have created part-natural, part-artificial “cyborg” cells that might one day be engineered to do everything from fight cancer to clean up the environment.

Synthetic bio 101: Mother Nature is an excellent engineer — the human body alone contains about 200 types of cells, each precisely designed to serve a specific function while also working in harmony with all the other types.

When you add in all the other cells found in the 1.2 million identified species on Earth, you end up with a lot of perfect little biological machines — and a goal of synthetic biology is to put those machines to work.

One way to do this is by genetically engineering cells to have new abilities — this could mean modifying the single-celled organism E. coli to convert plastic waste into useful vanillin, or engineering cancer patients’ immune cells to recognize tumors.

Read it.

Scientists have isolated an enzyme from soil bacteria that can convert air into electricity, which they say could be developed into a renewable power source for small devices.

Read it.

Retinal degeneration: When light enters the eye, it travels to the retina, where nerve cells called “photoreceptors” convert the light into electrical signals that are eventually sent to the brain.

Genetic diseases and other health issues can damage retinal cells. This condition, called “retinal degeneration,” is one of the most common causes of vision loss worldwide, and while some treatments can slow the damage to prevent further vision loss, there’s currently no way to reverse it.

But, in addition to photoreceptors, the retina is also home to Müller cells. These cells develop from the same parent cell lines as photoreceptors, but they aren’t nerve cells — instead, they provide support to photoreceptors and other neurons in the eye.

“What’s interesting is that these Müller cells are known to reactivate and regenerate retina in fish,” said Camille Boudreau-Pinsonneault, first author of a new study out of the University of Montreal. “But in mammals, including humans, they don’t normally do so, not after injury or disease. And we don’t yet fully understand why.”

Read it.

Good news.

Read it.

Britain’s Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority said fewer than five babies have been born this way, but no further details have been released to protect the families’ identities. The news was first reported by the Guardian newspaper.

The U.K. was the first country in the world to adopt legislation in 2015 specifically regulating such methods, which help prevent women with faulty mitochondria — the energy source in a cell — from passing on to their babies defects that can result in diseases such as muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, heart problems and intellectual disabilities. About one in 200 children in Britain is born with a mitochondrial disorder.

For a woman with faulty mitochondria, scientists take the genetic material from her egg or embryo. They then transfer that into a donor egg or embryo that still has its healthy mitochondria but has had the rest of its key DNA removed. The fertilized embryo is then transferred into the womb of the mother. The genetic material from the donated egg comprises less than 1% of the child’s genetics.

Read it.

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

I understand that running over it with an SUV is equally effective.

The Foundry.

Education choice is on the march.

So far this year, four states have enacted education choice policies that will be available to all K-12 students. Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, and Utah have now joined Arizona and West Virginia in making every child eligible for education savings accounts (ESAs) or ESA-like policies that allow families to choose the learning environments that align with their values and work best for their children.

The education choice movement has already made more progress this year than ever before—and the year is far from over. Late last week, three state legislatures gave final approval to bills that would create new education choice policies or significantly expand existing ones.

Read it.

As they do.

Check it out.

I don’t let politics determine whom I buy from, but for those who do, this is an ‘alternative to Amazon’ that appears to shun Wokery in all its forms.

NewsMax.

An experimental mRNA cancer vaccine developed by Moderna Inc and Merck & Co cut the risk of death or recurrence of the most deadly skin cancer by 44% compared with Merck’s immunotherapy Keytruda alone, U.S. researchers reported at a medical meeting on Sunday.

The findings suggest that adding a personalized cancer vaccine based on mRNA technology to Keytruda, which revs up the immune response, could prolong the time patients have without recurrence or death, said Dr. Jeffrey Weber of the NYU Langone Perlmutter Cancer Center, who presented the findings.

Good news.

Read it.

Amogy, a startup founded by four MIT grads, has unveiled an ammonia-powered semi truck that can be refueled in just eight minutes — giving it a significant advantage over battery-powered alternatives.

It’s developed a system that “cracks” the ammonia compound into nitrogen and hydrogen. The hydrogen is then run through a fuel cell to generate electricity, just like it would in a typical hydrogen vehicle.

Read it.

Yeah, Tesla’s always got ‘big plans’. Let’s see an actual product–that doesn’t blow up.

Fortune.

Like cancer vaccines, cancer blood panels aren’t some far-flung, futuristic goal. Multi-cancer early detection tests, known as MCEDs, are a thing—right now. Today. Google the phrase and you’ll find multiple products available for purchase. You can have one at your door in mere days.

It’s a concept that has promise, experts say. “The technology is advancing truly at a rapid pace,” Karen Knudsen, CEO of the American Cancer Society, tells Fortune. “I think all of us in the oncology world think that the next frontier is liquid biopsy”—another term for MCED.

National Geographic.

A Harvard-affiliated Canadian company is making a liquid fuel that is carbon neutral, and they hope the economics will be in their favor.

Good luck with that.

Read it.

Infarm, a Germany-based vertical farming company, announced its harvest in November. Spokesperson Pádraic Flood credits Infarm’s success with its focus on optimizing the growth environment and crop cycle time.

The experiment showcases what’s possible not just for growers looking to move their cereal crop indoors, but for global food security in general. Growing these staple crops indoors, in regions previously unable to support them, could benefit millions of people.

However, there are challenges when shifting from produce to grain.

If vertical farming is ever going to be anything other than a hobby, it needs to be able to grow the staple grains–wheat. rice, maize, barley, and rye–in a cost-effective manner.

Anything else is just recreational.

Check it out.

A team of glaciologists from the University of California Irvine (UCI) made public the most accurate portrayal of the land underneath Antarctica’s ice sheet yet. In outlining these never before seen contours of the land, the team also shed light on which regions of the continent will be more vulnerable to future climate warming. The new topographical map of Antarctica, BedMachine, and the related findings, were published in the journal Nature Geoscience, and were highly anticipated by the global cryosphere and environmental science communities. BedMachine Antarctica is also available to the public through the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado.

Read it.

French startup Meropy has developed an agricultural robot that autonomously inspects crops from both above and below, saving farmers time and money.

Read it.

“We just have to demonstrate that he will not take power if he does run, making sure he—under legitimate efforts of our Constitution—does not become the next president again,” Joe Biden said of Donald Trump in an often overlooked remark just a few months ago.

Read it.

Finland’s prime minister, Sanna Marin, has lost her battle to stay in power after her centre-left Social Democratic party (SDP) was narrowly beaten into third place in a cliffhanger election by its conservative and far-right rivals.

With all of the votes counted on Sunday, the right-wing National Coalition party (NCP) won 20.8% of the vote, with the populist, nation-first Finns party scoring 20.1%. Marin’s SDP took 19.9% of the vote. Voter turnout was 71.9%.

Read it.

Color me hopeful, but we have heard about a new kind of paint that holds the potential to cut airline fuel usage and make our homes and communities cooler. How? Well, some of the brightest and most beautiful colors in nature can only be replicated using heavy metals and chemicals. And those paints absorb infrared radiation, making objects covered in them much hotter. But Debashis Chanda, a nanoscience researcher with the University of Central Florida, has created a way to mimic nature’s way of reflecting colors without absorbing heat. It’s the same way a rainbow is created after it rains. Chanda’s research looks at why structural colors, as they’re called, may be the future of paint, and how altering the way light is reflected off surfaces could help cool a rapidly warming environment.

Interesting Engineering.

esearchers from Tel Aviv University and the Israel Institute for Biological Research developed the world’s first messenger mRNA-based single-dose vaccine that is 100 percent effective against a lethal bacteria.

Published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances, the study suggests that this paves the way for developing more vaccines for bacterial diseases, including diseases caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The study, conducted on mice, demonstrated that all vaccinated animals were fully protected against the bacteria that causes the plague.

This is HUGE.

Read it.

Caltech engineers have made a significant breakthrough in the field of nano- and micro-architected materials by creating a novel material composed of multiple interconnected microscale knots.

Compared to structurally identical but unknotted materials, the presence of knots in this new material significantly enhances its toughness by enabling it to absorb more energy and deform more before returning to its original shape without any damage. These new knotted materials may find applications in biomedicine as well as in aerospace applications due to their durability, possible biocompatibility, and extreme deformability.

Read it.

God, I certainly hope so.

Read it.

In a historic step, four Nordic countries announced the combining of their fighter jet fleets under one operational command on Friday, March 24th, creating Europe’s most formidable fighter fleet after Russia’s.

Read it.

A “treasure map” has led researchers to one of the largest meteorites ever found in Antarctica — and more than 300,000 other space rocks could be waiting to be discovered on the icy continent.

We have the technology.

NewsMax.

The longest-serving Democrat in the Louisiana state Legislature, Francis Thompson, has changed parties, giving Republicans a 70-vote supermajority that allows the GOP to override a veto by the state’s Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, Newsweek reported over the weekend.

Read it. And watch the video.

Robotics are helping make minimally invasive surgeries even less invasive. Case in point: single-port robotic surgery, a relatively new type of approach where a robotic system controlled by a human surgeon executes the procedure by making only one incision into the patient.

Although still relatively uncommon, single-port surgery has been gaining momentum in recent years. The benefits are noticeable. Compared to traditional surgery, single-port surgery might leave patients with shorter recovery times, less scarring, and overall better outcomes.

Amazing stuff. Knowledge advances, but comes with a price: All of this equipment is really really expensive.

Read it.

I’ll bet you didn’t know that.

MQ-9 Reaper Is Capable Of Defending Itself With Air-To-Air Missiles  Wouldn’t that be fun.

Ukraine Situation Report: Poland Could Give Ukraine MiG-29s “Within Four To Six Weeks”

Top Democrat Warns Putin Against Unintended Escalation After Black Sea Spat (Newsweek)

Space Force chief warns: China, Russia deploying space weapons to attack U.S. satellites, forces

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba: Russia must be removed from the United Nations Security Council (The Hill) That’s not going to happen.

8 More Churches Zelensky Is Banning In Ukraine

Read it.

Emergency preparedness is serious business but not all of our endeavors need to take on the gravity of life and death. This is a fun list, and while the suggestions are solid, it is by no means a list that covers everything you need to be prepared.

Read it.

No word on whether it will give you super powers.

Interesting Engineering.

Researchers at the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) performed a breakthrough experiment in which they observed time reflections of electromagnetic signals in a tailored metamaterial.

The scientists, who published their findings in a paper in Nature Physics, were able to successfully cause time reversal as well as frequency conversion of broadband electromagnetic waves in their experiments.

Read it.

When it comes to assigning dates to military campaigns described in the Bible, the parameters of the debate take on almost biblical proportions. Exactly when did the Amalekites wage war against the Hebrews in the wilderness? Did Joshua fight the Battle of Jericho in 1500 B.C. or in 1400 B.C. — or at all?

Such uncertainty exists, in part, because the radiocarbon analysis that scientists use to date organic remains is less accurate for certain epochs. And, in part, because archaeologists often disagree over what the timelines for different narratives should be. But a new technique, which makes use of consistently reliable geomagnetic data, allows scientists to study the history of the Levant with greater confidence.

Ukraine Situation Report: Leopard 1 Tanks Will Arrive This Spring

Russian-Iranian Deal For Su-35s Finalized, State Media Reports

Poland’s New FA-50 Light Fighter Emerges

UK: Russian Advance in Bakhmut Could Come With Heavy Losses

US Winged Smart Bombs Are Now Operational In Ukraine

New Iron Curtain Strengthened: Poland Fortifies Belarus Border

Heading Off Chinese Dominance: Australia To Buy U.S.-Made Submarines

NAVAL AIR: Turkish Carrier Aircraft

Russian Advance Stalls in Ukraine’s Bakhmut, Think Tank Says

SHOCKER! TikTok Whistleblower Confirms CCP-Tied Platform’s Data Abuse

Read it.

Hunting and habitat loss drove many large mammals in Europe close to extinction. New data shows us that many of the continent’s mammal populations are flourishing again.

As John Hodgman famously said, “I am a friend to all the creatures of the earth, when I am not eating them or wearing them.”

Read it.

In this substack essay by Naomi Wolf, she apologizes to conservatives and Trump-supporters for having believed the Democrat/MSM January 6th narrative.

Read it.

I’d live there.

Read it.

Room-temperature sodium-sulfur (RT Na-S) batteries are a promising alternative for renewable energy storage. They rely on chemical reactions between a sulfur cathode and a sodium anode to store and deploy electrical energy, and they use low-cost materials, which can even be easily extracted from saltwater.

 

Read it.

The mean age was 56 years (SD, 10), and 58% were women. Compared with the HCLF diet, participants on the LCHF diet had greater improvements in hemoglobin A_1c (mean difference in change, ?6.1 mmol/mol [95% CI, ?9.2 to ?3.0 mmol/mol] or ?0.59% [CI, ?0.87% to ?0.30%]) and lost more weight (mean difference in change, ?3.8 kg [CI, ?6.2 to ?1.4 kg]). Both groups had higher high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and lower triglycerides at 6 months.

Read it. 

WD-40.

An atomic-scale experiment all but settles the origin of the strong form of superconductivity seen in cuprate crystals, confirming a 35-year-old theory.

Read it.

I’ll bet you didn’t know that.

Recovering from surgery.

Will return as soon as I can.

Check it out.

Just, you know, in case it should come up.

Ukraine Situation Report: Kyiv’s Modern Tank Corps Begins To Take Shape

F-22 Shoots Down Chinese Spy Balloon Off Carolinas With Missile

US downs Chinese balloon, drawing a threat from China (Associated Press)

Kremlin-Linked Group Arranged Payments to European Politicians to Support Russia’s Annexation of Crimea (OCCRP)

Here’s how spy balloons work (CNN)

LEADERSHIP: Mistrust And Diversification

Ukraine Situation Report: Kyiv Officially Getting Long-Range Rocket-Boosted Bomb

China rushes to cap damage over suspected spy balloon as Blinken delays trip (Washington Post)

Putin’s Men Fear ‘Minced Meat’ Fate in New Offensive (Daily Beast)

How Russia dodges oil sanctions on an industrial scale (The Economist)

Ukraine dispels the myth of American decline (The Hill)

Enter the hunter satellites preparing for space war (Ars Technica)

Report: Russia to Use Hypersonic Missile During ‘War Games’

It’s 2023. Why are militaries still using spy balloons? (Politico) Well, they’re cheap….

Canada Reports ‘Potential Second Incident’ With Massive Chinese Balloon

High-Flying Balloon Seen as Part of Broader Chinese Spy Program (Bloomberg)

NYT Claims Russian Troop Deaths Nearing 200K, Far Surpassing All Prior Estimates

Secret CCP Overseas Police Station In NYC Closed After Reported FBI Raid

How and when will the Ukraine war end?

INFORMATION WARFARE: Righteous Misinformation

EU To Train 30,000 Ukrainian Troops As Kiev’s Losses Mount

179 Soldiers Freed In Significant Ukraine-Russia Prisoner Swap

Read it.

I posted last month about the Greater Idaho movement, which aims to move the border of Oregon to the west, allowing rural Oregonian counties to join Idaho, with which they are culturally and politically compatible. Initially there would be eleven counties that would switch from Oregon to Idaho, while others would be added later, possibly including several from northern California, and giving Idaho a Pacific coastline.

A bill to begin the consultation process with Oregon was formally introduced in the Idaho legislature earlier this week.

Read it.

You’re probably familiar with the four main blood types—A, B, O, and AB. But this isn’t the only blood classification system. There are many ways of grouping red blood cells based on differences in the sugars or proteins that coat their surface, known as antigens. The grouping systems run concurrently, so your blood can be classified in each—it might, for instance, be type O in the ABO system, positive (rather than negative) under the Rhesus system, and so on.

Thanks to differences in antigens, if someone receives incompatible blood from a donor, for example, the recipient’s immune system may detect those antigens as foreign and react against them. This can be highly dangerous, and is why donated blood needs to be a suitable match if someone is having a transfusion.

On average, one new blood classification system has been described by researchers each year during the past decade. These newer systems tend to involve blood types that are mind-bogglingly rare but, for those touched by them, just knowing that they have such blood could be lifesaving. This is the story of how scientists unraveled the mystery of the latest blood system—and why it matters.

Like most modern ‘journalism’, you have to wade through a tear-jerking anecdote before you get to the actual reporting.