The World Mocks… As It Should.

Faience Star Amulet

Egypt, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Amenhotep III, ca. 1390–1353 B.C. 

Excavated at the Palace of Amenhotep III, Malqata, Thebes, Upper Egypt, MMA excavations, 1911–12.   H. 1.7 cm (11/16 in)

 Source: Met Museum 

Clovis wasn’t qualified, but worse may be yet to come

Why is Grassley still supporting Clovis despite evidence, acknowledged by his attorney, of Clovis' e-mail urging Papadopoulos' trip to Russia?

“Come on, folks. Let’s be honest. Clovis has zero scientific credentials for the chief scientist post to begin with. The former professor and right-wing radio host who has a doctorate in public administration is already a USDA staffer, but the investigative news site ProPublica could find no evidence he ever even took a graduate-level course in science. He believes human contributions to climate change are a hoax.

The chief scientist, who advises the government on scientific issues, has long been some leader in biochemistry, medicine, food nutrition, and ecosystem ecology. But Clovis has said the USDA under Trump would focus mostly on slashing regulations.“

Keep fighting back: climatetruth.org/standup

Massive whale faces extinction with just 100 breeding females remaining

Despite legal protection, North Atlantic right whales keep getting struck accidentally by fishing boats and entangled in gear.

For decades, whaling ships targeted right whales. Now that they’re protected, they are still victims of human activity, and it may be too late to save them. The WWF says that their population shows no sign of recovery.

More good news from this nightmare in which we are living…

Trump Poised to Shrink Two National Monuments

Trump is expected to eliminate nearly 85 percent of Bear Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah, cutting more than 1 million acres from its current boundaries. He’s also set to halve the nearly 1.9-million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (E&E News PM, Nov. 30).

The move is being praised by Republicans who have long argued that the Antiquities Act—the 1906 law that allows presidents to set aside public land—is being used unlawfully to lock up tracts of federal land. On the other side, Democratic allies have vowed to take any monument reductions to court.

Scientists who have studied the region, especially Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, say redrawing its boundaries could be detrimental to scientific research and discoveries.

“The monument has been demonstrably a very, very important scientific laboratory to learning and understanding on many realms,” said Mike Scott, a retired U.S. Geological Survey researcher.

Scott and his colleagues have spent time in Grand Staircase-Escalante studying how different management policies and activities on rangelands—there are many different kinds across the ecologically diverse monument—affect the health of those ecosystems. Rangeland activities include anything from how grazing affects soil quality to the health of different soil types.

As climate change brings warmer, drier conditions, understanding how to keep soils and grassland ecosystems healthy in arid landscapes is crucial to avoid desertification, Scott said. Grand Staircase-Escalante has been “a really critical living laboratory,” he said.

Mallorca Nature Timelapse 1 by  Marcos Molina

Louis C.K. admits sexual misconduct allegations are true - BBC News

New imaging study reveals how saturated fatty acids damage cells

In our increasingly health-conscious society, a new fad diet seems to pop up every few years. Atkins, Zone, Ketogenic, Vegetarian, Vegan, South Beach, Raw - with so many choices and scientific evidence to back each, it's hard to know what's healthy and what's not. One message, however, has remained throughout: saturated fats are bad.

A new Columbia University study reveals why.

While doctors, nutritionists and researchers have known for a long time that saturated fats contribute to some of the leading causes of death in the United States, they haven’t been able to determine how or why excess saturated fats, such as those released from lard, are toxic to cells and cause a wide variety of lipid-related diseases, while unsaturated fats, such as those from fish and olive oil, can be protective.

To find answers, Columbia researchers developed a new microscopy technique that allows for the direct tracking of fatty acids after they’ve been absorbed into living cells. The technique involves replacing hydrogen atoms on fatty acids with their isotope, deuterium, without changing their physicochemical properties and behavior like traditional strategies do. By making the switch, all molecules made from fatty acids can be observed inside living cells by an advanced imaging technique called stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy.

What the researchers found using this technique could have significant impact on both the understanding and treatment of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Published online December 1st in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the team reports that the cellular process of building the cell membrane from saturated fatty acids results in patches of hardened membrane in which molecules are “frozen.” Under healthy conditions, this membrane should be flexible and the molecules fluidic.

“The behavior of saturated fatty acids once they’ve entered cells contributes to major and often deadly diseases,” Min said. “Visualizing how fatty acids are contributing to lipid metabolic disease gives us the direct physical information we need to begin looking for effective ways to treat them. Perhaps, for example, we can find a way to block the toxic lipid accumulation. We’re excited. This finding has the potential to really impact public health, especially for lipid related diseases.”

Yihui Shen et al, Metabolic activity induces membrane phase separation in endoplasmic reticulum, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2017). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1712555114