TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

[Tizer]

...or this one...
`The Last of Us: Could a fungal pandemic turn us all into zombies?' LINK

[Cathy]

Well that’s something to look forward to, thanks Tize.

[plaques]

Spooky. I was just pondering how the immune system handles fungal infections of the type you normally come across. Doubt crossed my mind when I was prescribed Terbinafine: antifungal medicine in tablet form for a toe nail fungal infection. It worked but then attacked my liver.

[Stanley]

Well, that was a cheerful little interlude! Thank you very much Peter. I avoided that news report on the fungus that eats bodies yesterday on the grounds I didn't need to know. Now I'm not too sure!

[Tizer]

Perhaps the first bit put you off and you didn't read on to this different opinion...
`Dr Charissa de Bekker, a microbiologist at Utrecht University, has studied how Cordyceps creates zombified ants and says she cannot see the same ever happening in people. "Our body temperature is simply too high for most fungi to nicely settle and grow - and this is the same for this Cordyceps. "Their nervous system is simpler than ours, so it would definitely be easier to hijack the brain of an insect versus our brain, also their immune systems are very different from ours." Most species of parasitic Cordyceps have evolved over millions of years to specialise in infecting just one insect species. Most do not jump from one insect to another. "For this fungus to be able to jump from an insect to us and cause an infection is a very big leap," says Dr de Bekker.'

[Stanley]

I'm very glad to hear that Peter! I can do without killer fungus, flesh-eating bacteria and parasite worms that work their way through the body!
I remember when I was on the farm I was fascinated by the life cycle of the Warble Fly...... Have a look at THIS article and note particularly the section on infestation of humans.

[Tizer]

To quote Stanley Graham...

Well, that was a cheerful little interlude!

[Stanley]

It just demonstrates that it's a good job we aren't constantly aware of all the dangers out there!
(Now where did I read about infestations getting ingress to your system while you were having a pee?)
Anyone got any good carbuncle stories?

[Tizer]

`Quantum breakthrough could revolutionise computing' LINK
I know about quantum entanglement and action-at-a-distance but I still don't understand how a particle here can have an instant action on another one hundreds of light years away.

[Tripps]

I've been collecting batty schemes to exploit the Moon for some time now. Google trippssnipps if you can bear it.

This one Moon dustis outstandingly the finest example of the genre. Ridiculous doesn't even come close.

Still - if it reverses 'Climate Change' it's worth paying any price. (Isn't it?)

[Stanley]

I read both clips and the thing that worries me is that they both seem equally incredible. But so did home computing, now we all have a bigger computer than Colossus running our washing machine.....

[Tizer]

Note that the moon dust man was a described as a `theoretical astrophysicist'. Perhaps they should talk to a real astrophysicist.

[Stanley]

No doubt employed to do blue sky thinking......

[plaques]

The recent shooting down of 'weather balloons' by the USA reminds me of Project Mogul. A USA built listening device that sat at an altitude where sound waves would travel round the world. A long time ago but who knows with todays technology. Project Mogul

Project Mogul (sometimes referred to as Operation Mogul) was a top secret project by the US Army Air Forces involving microphones flown on high-altitude balloons, whose primary purpose was long-distance detection of sound waves generated by Soviet atomic bomb tests. The project was carried out from 1947 until early 1949. It was a classified portion of an unclassified project by New York University (NYU) atmospheric researchers.[1] The project was moderately successful, but was very expensive and was superseded by a network of seismic detectors and air sampling for fallout, which were cheaper, more reliable, and easier to deploy and operate.

[Tizer]

`Treasury takes back £1.6bn promised for science' LINK
....The Treasury move has prompted angry reactions from the research community, with the president of the Royal Society, which represents the UK's leading scientists, questioning the government's commitment to boosting research.
"The failure of all sides to secure the UK's association to the EU's research programmes has now cost UK science £1.6bn. That comes on top of the talented researchers who have left the UK in order to carry on their collaborative work. How does this sit with the Government's stated mission to have the UK as a science superpower?"

[Stanley]

I heard that on the radio Peter and couldn't believe it. It brought Oscar Wilde to mind.
"A fool is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing".

[Tizer]

Every little bit helps...
`Bath Uni scientists harness soil to generate green energy' LINK

[plaques]

Nikola Tesla was more than an ordinary genius some of his ideas were buried because the electricity was free which didn't go down too well with the coal barons.

Nikola Tesla may have died in 1943 with his dream of wireless electricity unfinished, but in the past 100 years, a number of experiments and studies prove that the genius inventor may have been on the right track in his approach of using the earth instead of wires as a medium for transmitting wireless power.

[Stanley]

Peter, every time a new discovery is made about fungus or trace element minerals or micro nutrients in the soil I reflect on the fact that we know more about space than we do about these subjects. (The same applies to the deep oceans as well....)

[Tizer]

At least the recent big meeting seems to have made some progress on protecting the `open seas'.

[Stanley]

I noted that UN resolution... How can it be translated into meaningful action? The passing of a resolution in NY doesn't, of itself, have any effect at all.

[Tizer]

Those clever Romans again...
`Riddle solved: Why was Roman concrete so durable?' Science News

[Stanley]

Interesting stuff Peter. So in effect they used quick lime direct in the mix without slaking it first. So simple!
I seem to remember also that for many years it wasn't understood how they used concrete that set under water but have forgotten the details.....
Peter, what's going on with our proposed membership of Horizon. I heard Paul Nurse saying it was essential and them a woman from government saying we couldn't do it at any price. I have lost track completely.....

[Tizer]

Horizon...
`UK’s new science superpower plan makes no mention of joining Horizon Europe' (07 Mar 2023) LINK
It's all up in the air, one minute we're getting back in, the next minute silence, almost as if Horizon doesn't exist. The best I can offer is the last two paras from that article...
Nurse said he is optimistic the UK will associate, despite the government’s failure to mention Horizon association in the new framework for research and innovation. This omission may be because Sunak did not have “enough time to consider it carefully, not least because he’s been working in the Northern Ireland protocol that makes this possible,” he said.... Nurse says Sunak is now getting direct communication about this from senior researchers. “The prime minister is a sensible person. Once he’s got that message he will want to associate […] I’m confident it will go ahead.”

Volcanic ash...The Romans made concrete that set under water by adding a kind of volcanic ash known as pozzolan because it came from Pozzuoli, on the Bay of Naples. The pozzalan contains aluminium which confers the ability to set under water. A simple description is that normal concrete is calcium silicate whereas the Roman underwater version is calcium aluminium silicate...
`Riddle solved: Why was Roman concrete so durable? (January 6, 2023) Science Daily

[Stanley]

I know I'm a simple minded bugger Peter but if partnership in Horizon is such an essential thing, how can the fact that the PM is too busy with Ireland be and excuse for not participating? That's crazy, it's either worth doing or it isn't. It sounds to me as though someone is counting the pennies and blocking any expense that isn't directly connected to government aims.
(I thought Hunt had discovered £30billion down the back of the sofa?)