05 Sci-Tech

Blurb:

Earth’s magnetic field acts like a protective cocoon, shielding the planet from harmful charged particles racing in from the Sun and deep space. But over the South Atlantic, that shield has developed an unusually weak patch known as the South Atlantic Anomaly. Recent observations show that this anomaly is not only expanding but also shifting, raising concerns for satellites, spacecraft and scientific instruments that pass through the region. While everyday life on the ground remains unaffected, the anomaly’s rapid evolution is prompting NASA researchers to issue stronger warnings and step up monitoring.

Blurb:

Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Victor Davis Hanson said on Fox News Thursday evening that Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom “lost the narrative” on climate change as many people continue to distance themselves from the “green” movement.

Newsom, widely considered a frontrunner to win the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, attended the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Brazil, where he called President Donald Trump an “invasive species.” The conference kicked off Monday. Hanson said Newsom and his allies who support strict regulations to combat climate change increasingly find themselves in the minority.

“I think Gavin Newsom is a reactionary. They have lost the narrative. The world has passed them by,” Hanson told host Laura Ingraham on “The Ingraham Angle.”

Blurb:

The United States may lose its measles elimination status as soon as January, marking the sustained resurgence of a disease that had been eliminated from the country 25 years ago.

On Nov. 10, Canada lost its measles elimination status, after the Pan American Health Organization concluded that the country’s recent measles outbreaks were connected and represented ongoing transmission lasting more than 12 months. Measles is considered eliminated in a country or region only when there are no outbreaks lasting longer than a year. Thus, to maintain “elimination status,” any introductions of the disease from travel must be quashed before 12 consecutive months of spread.

Blurb:

The term “smart city” fails to fully capture the integrated data system that is the Pudong New Area of Shanghai.  Chinese authorities call it the “city brain,” a centrally controlled A.I. center that surveils and manages the city and its inhabitants.  It offers a disturbing preview of future urban governance, built on a previously unimaginable level of monitoring and control.  Since 2017, this system has linked hundreds of government databases to tens of thousands of sensors, effectively turning an entire urban district into a single, real-time data object.

Officials defend the surveillance for its tangible rewards: cleaner neighborhoods, faster emergency response, smoother traffic, and better protection for isolated seniors.  Those benefits help explain why many citizens accept the system.  But the costs are equally real.  It normalizes penetrating, constant visibility, the steady expansion of behavior-based penalties, and an infrastructure that is also used for political and social control.

Blurb:

A Washington state man is “severely ill” after contracting a strain of bird flu never seen before in humans, the New York Post reports.

The outlet claims the man was hospitalized after exhibiting symptoms such as confusion, high fever, and respiratory distress.

According to the outlet, the man was infected with H5N5, a “subtype of avian influenza carried by wild birds like ducks and geese.”

More from the New York Post:

The Washington State Department of Health described the unidentified patient as being “older” and having “underlying health conditions.”

The agency noted that the man has a “mixed backyard flock of domestic poultry” at his home in Grays Harbor County, on the southwest Pacific coast of the state.

Two of the birds recently died, the Washington Post reported.

Wild birds could also access the property, with agency officials believing that either set of birds is “most likely” the source of the virus exposure.

The man remained hospitalized as of last week while the investigation continues.

Blurb:

High up in the icy mountains of Norway, archaeologists have discovered a unique 1,500-year-old reindeer trap, alongside several mysterious wooden objects, including a decorated boat oar that seems out of place 4,600 feet (1,400 meters) above sea level.

“These are items we would never find in ordinary excavations, including a pine oar and a clothing pin made of antler,” Leif Inge Åstveit, an archaeologist at the University Museum of Bergen, said in a statement from the Vestland County Municipality. “The pin is shaped like a miniature axe — truly exceptional finds.”

Blurb:

At the 2024 International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), one competitor did so well that it would have been awarded the Silver Prize, except for one thing: it was an AI system. This was the first time AI had achieved a medal-level performance in the competition’s history. In a paper published in the journal Nature, researchers detail the technology behind this remarkable achievement.

The AI is AlphaProof, a sophisticated program developed by Google DeepMind that learns to solve complex mathematical problems. The achievement at the IMO was impressive enough, but what really makes AlphaProof special is its ability to find and correct errors. While large language models (LLMs) can solve math problems, they often can’t guarantee the accuracy of their solutions. There may be hidden flaws in their reasoning.

Blurb:

MOSCOW, November 14. /TASS/. The magnetic storm that raged on Earth for about two days has stopped, Mikhail Leus, a leading specialist at the Phobos Weather center, said on Telegram.

“The magnetic storm that raged on Earth for almost two days has stopped. It ended late last Thursday evening, and for more than six hours the geomagnetic field has been in the ‘green’ zone,” he said.

The forecaster noted that in the coming hours, there may be disturbances in the magnetosphere until the middle of the day, but they most likely will not reach the level of a magnetic storm. According to him, the disturbances will stop in the afternoon.

“A period of a relatively calm geomagnetic field will last at least until the end of this week,” Leus said.

Blurb:

In a finding that could change how scientists understand the spread of life’s ingredients across space, astronomers have detected large organic molecules frozen in ice around a forming star called ST6 in a galaxy beyond the Milky Way.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), the research team identified five carbon-based compounds in the Large Magellanic Cloud, our closest neighboring galaxy. The study, led by University of Maryland and NASA scientist Marta Sewilo, was published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters on October 20, 2025.

Blurb:

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has just given a huge boost to California’s plan to continue building one of the most expansive digital verification regimes in the country.

The appeals court refused to rehear NetChoice v. Bonta, leaving in place a ruling that allows California to advance a system critics warn could become a statewide online digital ID requirement.

The court’s decision keeps intact most of Senate Bill 976, the Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act.

The bill was signed by Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom in September 2024.

The law forces social media companies to implement “age assurance” systems to determine whether users are adults or minors.

Blurb:

The idea that our universe might be nothing more than an elaborate computer simulation has been a favorite theme in science fiction for decades. Yet new research from UBC Okanagan suggests that not only is this concept implausible — it is mathematically impossible.

Dr. Mir Faizal, an Adjunct Professor at UBC Okanagan’s Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science, and his collaborators, Drs. Lawrence M. Krauss, Arshid Shabir, and Francesco Marino, have shown that the underlying fabric of reality operates in a way no computer could ever replicate.

Their study, published in the Journal of Holography Applications in Physics, doesn’t just dispute the idea of a simulated universe like The Matrix. It goes further, demonstrating that the cosmos itself is built upon a kind of understanding that lies outside the reach of any algorithm.

Blurb:

Memory problems may not be an unavoidable part of getting older. New findings from Virginia Tech reveal that age-related memory loss stems from specific molecular changes in the brain, and that fine-tuning these processes can help restore memory function.

In two complementary studies, Timothy Jarome, an associate professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ School of Animal Sciences, and his graduate students used advanced gene-editing tools to target these molecular changes and improve memory performance in older rats. Rats are commonly used as models for understanding how memory declines with age.

“Memory loss affects more than a third of people over 70, and it’s a major risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease,” said Jarome, who also serves in the School of Neuroscience. “This work shows that memory decline is linked to specific molecular changes that can be targeted and studied. If we can understand what’s driving it at the molecular level, we can start to understand what goes wrong in dementia and eventually use that knowledge to guide new approaches to treatment.”

Blurb:

The heads of state of about 50 countries are expected in the Amazonian city of Belem for a summit on Thursday and Friday, before the annual UN Conference of Parties (COP) climate negotiations that open next week. Almost every nation is participating aside from the United States, with President Donald Trump having branded climate science a “con job”.
from www.france24.com

Blurb:

Limited COVID surveillance data are hampering vaccination and health strategies, researchers say

SARS-CoV-2 infections have been rising in the past month — global cases increased by more than 19,000 last month compared with the previous month, according to data posted on the World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 dashboard.

But the real number of infections is much higher than that, researchers say, because countries are less focused on collecting data on the infection now than they were during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Surveillance is happening but it’s at a much lower level than it used to be. We don’t have a complete picture of virus circulation of the variants that are out there,” says Maria Van Kerkhove, interim director of the department of epidemic and pandemic management at the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland. “I think there’s a collective amnesia right now about COVID-19,” she adds.

Blurb:

President Donald Trump clearly has the climate cultists and green grifters among his top targets during his very busy second term, which began with his signing an executive order in January to halt new or renewed offshore wind leases.

Now it looks like the plug is going to be pulled from a massive offshore East Coast wind farm project.

Back in September, I reported that federal regulators were moving to revoke approval of SouthCoast Wind’s construction and operations plan, the final major permit required before offshore turbine installation. The project, located about 23 miles south of Nantucket, was slated to build up to 141 turbines supposedly capable of powering roughly 840,000 homes in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

A federal judge has now ruled that the Trump administration may proceed with revoking federal permits for the project.

The Trump administration signaled its intent to reconsider the permit in September, claiming that the Environmental Impact Statement for the project may have “understated or obfuscated impacts” that would possibly result in noncompliance with the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

District Court for the District of Columbia judge Tanya Chutkan, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, ruled in favor of the White House Tuesday, saying that the project developers would not suffer from “immediate and significant hardship” if the administration proceeded with the reconsideration.

Blurb:

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS or drones) represent the future of warfare. They are already the Ukraine War’s preeminent weapon system, striking targets near the fighting front or Ukrainian and Russian cities far behind the lines. Counter-drone systems are evolving in response, but defending against drones’ multiple forms, capabilities, and missions requires a layered approach as flexible as the drones themselves.

The last defensive layer is the individual soldier faced with defending his and his comrades’ lives. Infantrymen cannot affect larger, long-range drones. But smaller, short-range First Person View (FPV) drones confront soldiers every day with deadly results. Estimates credit drones with inflicting up to 80 percent of all combat casualties in Ukraine.

Blurb:

Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of a ritual-based site that may have been built long before the rise of Maya rulers

Finding the oldest Maya site ever documented was only the beginning of archaeologist Takeshi Inomata’s discoveries. After locating the Aguada Fénix site buried in the jungle of southern Mexico in 2017, Inomata and his team began digging downward and uncovered a massive cross-shaped pit.

Inside the pit were pigments of blue azurite to the north, green malachite to the east and yellow ochre to the south, as well as marine shells interspersed with axe-shaped clay offerings to the west, says Inomata, a researcher at the University of Arizona. Later the team realized that the cross-shaped pit was aligned with giant canals that extended toward the four cardinal directions.

The cross and the canals, Inomata says, form a cosmogram—a monumental map of the universe etched into the landscape. Cosmograms were used by Mesoamerican civilizations to represent their understanding and cultural relationship with the cosmos. Inomata says that his and his colleagues’ findings, published on Wednesday in Science Advances, challenge long-held assumptions about the social order of the ancient Maya and the reasons behind their architectural achievements.

Blurb:

Ever-evolving research is steadily turning science fiction into science fact. Neural implants —tiny devices that read or stimulate brain activity —have already entered human trials, showing what’s possible when technology and neuroscience intersect. While early results prove the concept works, the race is now on to make these systems smaller, safer, and more reliable.

Developers and philanthropists alike have ambitious goals: from controlling computers and prosthetics with nothing but thought to restoring movement after paralysis and monitoring neurological disorders in real time.

Now, researchers from Cornell University have taken a major step forward. They’ve created a neural implant smaller than a grain of salt that can wirelessly transmit signals from inside the brain. Their results, published in Nature Electronics, show that this tiny implant emitted clean, uninterrupted data in healthy mice for more than a year.

Blurb:

COLUMBUS, OH — A new bill introduced in the Ohio Senate aims to align state law with what could become a major shift in federal firearms policy. Senate Bill 303, sponsored by Sen. Terry Johnson and backed by the Buckeye Firearms Association (BFA), would allow adults ages 18 to 20 to legally purchase handguns from federally licensed firearms dealers (FFLs).

Under current federal law, licensed dealers are prohibited from selling handguns to individuals under the age of 21. However, a growing number of legal challenges argue that this restriction is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court may soon weigh in, and Ohio lawmakers are preparing in advance.

“Sen. Johnson’s bill will not change federal law,” said BFA Executive Director Dean Rieck. “But it will prepare Ohio for the coming Supreme Court challenge to change the law regarding handgun purchases for those 18 to 20 years old.”

Blurb:

Detailed map of the genome one pixel per nucleotide. Credit: Radcliffe Department of Medicine

Scientists from Oxford’s Radcliffe Department of Medicine have achieved the most detailed view yet of how DNA folds and functions inside living cells, revealing the physical structures that control when and how genes are switched on.

Using a new technique called MCC ultra, the team mapped the human genome down to a single base pair, unlocking how genes are controlled, or, how the body decides which genes to turn on or off at the right time, in the right cells. This breakthrough gives scientists a powerful new way to understand how genetic differences lead to disease and opens up fresh routes for drug discovery.

“For the first time, we can see how the genome’s control switches are physically arranged inside cells, said Professor James Davies, lead author of the study published in the journal Cell titled “Mapping chromatin structure at base-pair resolution unveils a unified model of cis-regulatory element interactions.”

Blurb:

The United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act was meant to keep children safe. Instead, it is keeping the public uninformed. Within days of the law taking effect in late July 2025, X (formerly Twitter) started hiding videos of Israel’s atrocities in Gaza from UK timelines behind content warnings and age barriers. A law sold as safeguarding has become one of the most effective censorship tools Britain has ever built. What is unfolding is no accident. It is the result of legislation that weaponises child-protection rhetoric to normalise censorship, identity verification and online surveillance.

The roots of Britain’s online censorship crisis go back almost a decade, to MindGeek, now rebranded as Aylo, the scandal-ridden company behind Pornhub. This tax-dodging, exploitative porn empire worked closely with the UK government to develop an age-verification system called AgeID, a plan that would have effectively handed Aylo a monopoly over legal adult content by making smaller competitors pay or perish. Public backlash killed AgeID in 2019, but the idea survived. Once one democracy entertained the notion that access to online content should be gated by identity checks, the precedent was set. The Digital Economy Act 2017 laid the groundwork, and the Online Safety Act 2023 made it law. Today, several European Union states, including France and Germany, are exploring similar legislation, each cloaked in the same rhetoric of “protecting children”. This is not conspiracy; it is the natural convergence of corporate capture and state control, wrapped in the moral language of child safety.