We are started our downward swing to Autumn and yet the news out of DC is just as f*cked up as ever.
Local–There is a songwriters festival this weekend with performances in various eateries…..still oppressive heat….little rain….at least most of the ‘acts’ are indoors in the A/C….
Personal–My cancer treatments are getting out of hand….it is nickle and dime me into poverty…..In the next month or so I will be talking with the various doctors and making a decision.
Let’s start this off with food….
That minty-fresh stick of gum may come with a cardiovascular asterisk. A large study out of Europe has linked high levels of xylitol—a low-calorie sweetener common in gum, toothpaste, jams, yogurts, and ice cream—in the blood to a higher risk of heart attack, stroke, and death, reports the Guardian. Researchers followed more than 17,000 individuals and found that those with the highest xylitol levels were 57% more likely to experience a serious stroke or heart event or die within six years than those with the lowest levels; after 30 years, the risk for the first group was still 18% higher. The association held regardless of age, sex, weight, blood pressure, or diabetes and cholesterol status, and it appeared dose-related.
Experts stress the work is observational—meaning they can’t prove xylitol is to blame—but they say it underlines how little is known about the long-term heart effects. Gizmodo notes that, unlike some urban legends on the matter, such as claims that aspartame was originally created as ant poison, recent scientific studies like this may lend credence to suggestions that artificial sweeteners may not be completely harmless after all. They’re “consumed by people who think they are healthier than sugar and they are generally regarded as safe by regulatory agencies,” study author Marco Witkowski says in a release from the European Society of Cardiology. “Our long-term findings in the general population highlight how little we know about the cardiovascular safety of xylitol and indicate that further studies are warranted, especially as the amount of xylitol in products continues to increase.”
Since this ingredient is harmful to dogs I read contents carefully.
Remember when the big ‘trend’ was salads? Maybe it is time to rethink that choice….
The nasty Cyclospora outbreak linked to tainted lettuce may have some people temporarily steering clear of the leafy green. In a Washington Post column, Tamar Haspel makes the case that the shift should be permanent for everyone. For one thing, leafy greens such as lettuce (because they’re eaten raw) are linked to more illnesses than any other food. That risk might be worth it if lettuce, which is 95% water, packed a dynamite nutritional punch, but it doesn’t come close, argues Haspel. Another factor: Americans toss roughly as much lettuce as they consume—about 3 billion pounds a year. It’s an incredible waste considering that lettuce takes up 375,000 acres of farmland, not to mention all the water it requires and the cost of shipping it across the country.
For the record, Haspel makes clear that she actually likes lettuce. “There’s often a lettuce-based salad on my table—partly because I like it, partly because I’m hoping it’ll distract me from a second helping of the pasta with vodka cream sauce,” she writes. But, she adds, “if we’re going to try to craft a better food supply—one conducive to limiting environmental impact and improving human health—we need to give lettuce a good, hard look.” Read the full essay, in which she ponders replacing crops of lettuce with crops of far more nutritious lentils.
I probably will not stop with the lettuce for my tacos and shawarma goes well with lettuce.
Now remember the savior of mankind would be that lab grown meat?
Lab-grown meat was supposed to upend Big Ag. Instead, it’s stuck in what one researcher calls the “Trough of Disillusionment,” writes Erin Somers at Harper’s Magazine. Her piece tracks the arc from a 2013 burger that cost $330,000 to produce—hyped as a climate savior that could eventually replace cattle—to a 140-company gold rush that attracted $3 billion, spawned mammoth meatballs and sky-high projections, and then … largely stalled. Costs remain high, scaling is brutal, regulators are cautious, political opposition has grown (particularly among conservatives), and investors have pulled back hard. US bans are spreading even though cultivated meat is currently sold in only one store in the world, which happens to be in Singapore.
“The days of cultivated meat as a possible panacea for climate change are long gone,” writes Somers. “Many of the industry’s biggest players—the ones still in business, anyway—are now embracing a more modest role in our food system.” Some hope remains: Jeff Bezos’ Earth Fund, for example, gave $30 million to establish the Bezos Center for Sustainable Protein at North Carolina State University. For the story, Somers pays a visit and also tastes faux meatballs incorporating cultivated fat via Mission Barns, a partner of the center. (“Not terrible,” but it “felt like mushy cardboard in my mouth.”) At this point, it seems that lab-grown meat is destined for “a niche shelf in the refrigerated aisle, the Impossible Burger’s quirkier cousin,” she writes.
Read the full story.
From about 1950 through to 1990 nuke waste was dumped in the Atlantic….the news is not good….
We humans are great at making things, but historically we’ve not been very good at finding sensible ways to get rid of them. Case in point: 200,000 barrels of radioactive waste dumped in the Atlantic Ocean between 1950 and 1990.
We used to think that deep-sea disposal was a fine idea for ditching low-level radioactive waste because – the theory went – it would sit in the barrels long enough to lose its potency. However, by 1975 the potential harms raised enough concern that the London Convention was brought into force to protect the marine environment.
This convention limited radioactive dumping until eventually it was ruled out altogether. The only problem was by then we’d already been doing it for decades.
To keep track of the impact this caused, scientists have been returning to the site in the north-east Atlantic to monitor the barrels and the surrounding environment. In May of this year, the Nodssum project, led by the French National Centre for Scientific Research, set off to investigate if and how the barrels are affecting deep-sea ecosystems.
Around 30 scientists were on board the Pourquoi Pas?, and helped complete 20 crewed dives on board Nautile (part of the French Oceanographic Fleet) to depths of over 4,700 meters (15,420 feet).
Their findings weren’t good, but they also weren’t terrible.
https://www.iflscience.com/200000-barrels-of-radioactive-waste-were-dumped-in-the-atlantic-decades-later-were-finally-learning-what-happens-when-they-leak-84512
A new nanomaterial that is all the talk….
A team of researchers at the Institute of Micro and Nanotechnology (IMN-CNM, CSIC) has developed a nanomaterial capable of cooling sun-exposed surfaces without using electricity, an alternative that could ease the growing energy bill for cooling, which already accounts for nearly 20% of global electricity consumption.
The research, led by the Functional Nanoscale Devices for Energy (FINDER) group and published in the journal Nanophotonics, is based on daytime passive radiative cooling, a technique that exploits a peculiarity of the Earth’s atmosphere: there is a band in the infrared spectrum, between 8 and 13 micrometres, through which heat escapes directly into space without being trapped.
A material that emits well in that window and also reflects solar radiation can end up colder than the surrounding air, with no plug or compressor involved.
https://www.euronews.com/next/2026/08/17/new-spanish-nanomaterial-cools-surfaces-by-up-to-129c-without-electricity
I have not forgotten the health news….this is for anyone that may have had a joint replacement….
New findings by a team of researchers from the US and Australia have complicated an ongoing debate over whether a total joint arthroplasty may increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
Although their analysis of around 700 autopsied brain samples found strong evidence that material from a joint replacement can migrate into neurological tissue and increase the load of proteins associated with the disease, the scientists found no evidence that it impacted brain function.
This is good news for anybody who has implants or is in the process of receiving one. However, the researchers argue that the potential for small bits of metallic debris to impact cognitive health can’t be ruled out.
https://newatlas.com/brain/alzheimers-dementia/particles-joint-replacement-enter-brain/
That vaccine for shingles may have another benefit….
Shingles is best known for causing a painful skin rash, but the infection can sometimes have effects beyond the skin and nerves.
New research suggests that a newer shingles vaccine may also be linked to a lower risk of several major heart and blood vessel problems in older adults.
Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, the same virus that causes chickenpox. After a person recovers from chickenpox, the virus can remain inactive inside nerve cells for decades and later become active again, causing shingles.
The risk rises with age because the immune system becomes less able to keep the virus under control. Shingles can cause severe pain, and some people continue to experience nerve pain for months or even years after the rash disappears.
Vaccination can greatly reduce the risk of shingles. An older vaccine called Zostavax was introduced in 2006, but it has since been replaced in many countries by Shingrix, a newer recombinant vaccine that provides stronger protection.
This Vaccine May Prevent Heart Attacks, Heart Failure, Strokes
Finally scientist have discovered a massive amount of water underground….
It feels like there have been staggering science stories emerging every other day recently, all of which have blown our tiny little minds.
First, there was the discovery of a terrifying black hole pointing right at us, then there was a huge hole found in the sun and a missing continent found after going missing for 375 years.
Now, people are only just realising that there’s a massive ocean hidden under the Earth’s crust.
It turns out there’s a huge supply of water 400 miles underground stored in rock known as ‘ringwoodite’.
https://www.indy100.com/science-tech/ocean-beneath-earth-crust-ringwoodite-2677795577
I am not exactly sure how this will effect the world on the surface but I think that is good news…..and you?
That is all I have for this Saturday….I hope everyone has a great day and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
