Daily Archives: October 15, 2021

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In coming weeks, Chinese authorities say they plan to run tests on thousands and thousands of blood samples from Wuhan, the original epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are up to 200,000 blood samples stored at the Wuhan Blood Center dating back to 2019, potentially giving officials access to a sort of real-time historical archive that could help reveal how the first coronavirus outbreaks began and spread, officials at Chinas National Health Commission told CNN. The samples, which were previously identified as potentially being crucial evidence by the World Health Organizations probe into China, have not yet been tested or examined.

Why the wait? Chinese authorities say that they were waiting for the end of a two-year grace period during which the blood samples could have become evidence in any lawsuits related to their donors or the donations themselves, according to CNN. Now that were almost at the two-year anniversary of the first COVID-19 cases, officials have started to prepare for the tests so that they can start as soon as possible.

This provides the closest in the world weve seen of real-time samples to help us understand the timing of the outbreak event, Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow for global health Yanzhong Huang told CNN.

If researchers are lucky, the blood samples will show when antibodies against the coronavirus first started to appear, which would serve as a proxy for when and where the pandemic began. But the biggest question, unfortunately, is whether Chinese authorities will handle the research with their usual level of secrecy or if transparent reports will make it to the outside world.

The blood absolutely will contain vital clues, Columbia University epidemiologist Maureen Miller told CNN, but that wont make a difference if no one else gets to access them.

No one will believe any results that China reports unless there are qualified observers at the very least, she added.

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Chinese Authorities Are Testing Thousands of Blood Samples From Wuhan - Futurism

A team of scientists at Londons Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) has tested a new drug cocktail that they say has eradicated previously untreatable tumors in some terminally ill head and neck cancer patients.

Giving patients two immunotherapy drugs, nivolumab and ipilimumab, seemed to shrink tumors in patients with advanced stages of cancer, The Guardian reports. Some of the patients walked away virtually cancer-free, and the study participants typically survived three months longer than those who were treated with more conventional chemotherapy, hinting at the prospect of cancer treatments that could save or at least help people who would today be out of options.

When I was told about the trial, I didnt hesitate to join what did I have to lose? one study participant named Barry Ambrose, who had previously been told that his throat cancer was incurable because it had spread to his lungs, told The Guardian. It turned out to be a lifeline.

The new treatment completely cleared the cancer from his throat after eight weeks, and subsequent chemotherapy and surgery got the cancer out of his lungs as well.

Although I had to make biweekly trips from Suffolk to the hospital for the treatment, I had virtually no side-effects and was able to carry on as normal doing the things I love: sailing, cycling, and spending time with my family, Ambrose added.

However, the drug cocktails fate as a future clinical treatment is hazy, at best. The phase III clinical trial failed to achieve statistical significance across all patients. Thats the go-to measurement clinical scientists use to determine whether or not the treatment actually had an effect or if any supposed benefits happened by pure chance.

Failing to reach that benchmark means researchers cant be sure that it was actually the new drug cocktail that eradicated those tumors. But calculations of that sort are less important to the patients, several of whom told The Guardian that the treatment gave them a new lease on life.

Despite the lack of statistical significance, these results are clinically meaningful, ICR professor of biological cancer therapies Kevin Harrington, the oncologist who led the research trial, told The Guardian. We will need to do longer follow-up to see whether we can demonstrate a survival benefit across all patients in the trial.

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New Treatment Eradicated Tumors in Terminally Ill Cancer Patients - Futurism

It was an awkward moment.

As soon as famed Star Trek actor William Shatner clambered out of Blue Origins New Shepard capsule, as seen on Blue Origins live stream today, he was clearly overcome, visibly shaken by the experience of seeing the Earth whip by.

Shatner, alongside three other passengers, reached an apogee of over 66 miles during todays launch,narrowly crossing the boundary of space, at least depending on who you ask.

But when he tried to tell the companys co-founder, Jeff Bezos, about the profound experience, things got weird.

As Shatner tried to wax poetic about the experience, Bezos listened for a few moments, but then turned away from a displeased-looking Shatner to focus on something more pressing: champagne.

Give me a champagne bottle, Bezos said, gesturing to nearby staff and interrupting Shatner. I want one.

Here, the billionaire continued, popping the bottle and spraying Blue Origin employees with it as Shatner looked on, appearing nonplussed. You want a little of this?

Shatner,in contrast, seemed profoundly affected by the once-in-a-lifetime experience, and refused a swig from Bezos bottle.

It was a brief and bizarre clash of wavelengths and priorities that encapsulated what Bezos seems to be after: building a profitable space empire, with more emphasis on glitz and glamor than the philosophical implications of space travel.

To Bezos credit, he did take a couple of minutes to listen to Shatner wax poetic about life and death after hosing down his lackeys with bubbly.

It was so moving, a shaken Shatner told Bezos. This experience is something unbelievable, adding that every human on Earth should be able to have the same.

To see the blue color go whip by, he added. This comforter of blue we have around us Then youre looking into black ugliness. Theres mother of Earth and comfort, and then there is death. Is that what death is?

Bezos stared at him almost incredulously. At one point, he muttered: Its so beautiful.

No, I mean your words, he clarified.

Shatner seemed genuinely moved by the experience, even if Bezos was in party mode.

I hope I never recover from this, he told Bezos. I dont want to lose it. Its so much larger than me and life.

More on the launch: William Shatner Takes Blue Origin Joyride, as Scandals Plague Company

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William Shatner Tried to Tell Jeff Bezos About the Glory of Spaceflight, But Bezos Interrupted Him to Spray Staff With Champagne - Futurism

"Can we get away from breathing as a way to keep our brains going?"Deep Breath

Thanks to some biological tinkering, a team of scientists found a way to keep tadpoles alive, even after taking away their ability to breathe.

The Ludwig Maximilians University researchers injected photosynthetic algae into the tadpoles, creating a symbiotic relationship between amphibian and microbe that keeps the amphibians alive without any environmental oxygen, The Scientist reports. Its an odd experiment that could have important medical value keeping someone alive when a stroke cuts off their brains oxygen supply, for example but its also a fascinating step forward in biological experimentation in its own right.

In order to test their new hybrid, the researchers starved the tadpoles of oxygen until their brains shut down completely. Then, they shined a light onto the water tank, activating the algae and causing it to produce oxygen. Once they did so, the tadpoles brains became active again, indicating that the algae were successfully keeping their new host alive, according to research published in the journal iScience on Wednesday.

Gettysburg College biologist Ryan Kerney, who didnt contribute to the new study, told The Scientist that researchers, himself included, have been trying to create artificial symbiotic relationships with algae, with the goal of changing or improving animal physiology, for about a decade.

He added that there are still many unknowns, a troubling lack of regulations over the niche scientific field, and risks associated with harmful algae.

But the potential implications are also just fascinating to speculate about, Kerney added. Can we get away from breathing as a way to keep our brains going?

READ MORE: Scientists Use Photosynthesis to Power an Animals Brain [The Scientist]

More on oxygen: In the Distant Future, All Earths Creatures May Asphyxiate From Lack of Oxygen

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Scientists Create Creature That Doesn't Need to Breathe - Futurism

In the endless battle to improve productivity, instead of trying to move faster, consider slowing down.

The relentless pace of work received some attention pre-pandemic, mainly among younger workers, but nearing two years of remote employment during Covid, the discussion is now a major one within leadership circles and across the labor force.

A record number of workers left their jobs in August, 4.3 million people, according to the Labor Department. The number of job openings remains at a record high level as employers struggle to find enough job seekers to meet demand.

Burnout and exhaustion have risen among workers and corporate leadership is concerned about it.

"People are dropping out of the workforce and they are changing the nature of their jobs. You can see that adaptation," billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio said at this week's CNBC @Work Summit.

"Our people after 18 months are fatigued," said Bank of America global strategy leader Cathy Bessant.

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Futurist April Rinne, author of "Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change" says the fast-paced sprint mentality is part of the problem and it should be thought of in terms of the risks it introduces in decision making and innovation.

"The biggest risk we run here is that when you're running ever faster, you run the risk of running straight past life," Rinne told CNBC's Jane Wells at the CNBC@Work Summit. "We need to learn how to slow down our pace," she said, not be lazy, "but run at a pace that is sustainable for life."

Because the world, according to the futurist, is not going to slow down. "The pace of change today is faster than it's ever been, and yet it's likely to never be this slow again," Rinne said. "However fast you are running today, the faster you will be running tomorrow, and next week, and next year."

The linear script we have been taught for life is study, work, retire, but it is a mistake to think that always equal success, Rinne says. It is a one-way mentality that often leads to quick, and not necessarily wise, decisions. "When you slow down, you learn to see more and identify some blind spots, you see things that you couldn't see when you were constantly going ever faster," she said.

Adjusting to new work practices goes beyond the flexibility, and the hybrid model, now being embraced by organizational leaders. It involves facing the reality of change and adapting to it, a flux mindset, as Rinne defines it: "A flux mindset is the ability to see all change as an opportunity to learn, grow and improve."

The pace of change today is faster than it's ever been, and yet it's likely to never be this slow again.

April Rinne, Author of Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change

Over the last 19 months, nothing has seemed normal and as a society we have had to adapt to many types of change, and Rinne says changes will continue to surge as we adapt to new routines and ways of living.

"The future holds more change, including more of the kinds of changes that we don't control," she said.

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Why you will need to slow down to succeed in a world about to move even faster: Futurist April Rinne - CNBC

Even if they launch it just a few months before impact.Last Hurrah

Nuking an incoming asteroid as a last-ditch effort to save the planet has long captivated the imaginations of real-life experts and filmmakers alike. But many astronomers have maintained that it would never work, saying we should come up with other ideas instead.

But new research may show that those naysayers are wrong, Gizmodo reports, because computer simulations indicate that a last-minute nuclear strike actually has a good chance at saving the planet after all. Thats good news, as most other viable strategies require years, or perhaps even decades, of planning.

Previous research and simulations suggested that in order for the nuclear option to work, the missile would need to strike and shatter an incoming asteroid decades in advance. Otherwise, the fragments might still continue on their trajectory to Earth, turning one cataclysmic impact into myriad slightly-less-cataclysmic impacts. But that may not be the case, according to new research published in the journal Acta Astronautica that suggests detonating an asteroid even mere months before impact would keep nearly all the fragments from hitting us.

Simply stated, for a 100-meter object thats projected to hit Earth, if we employ a robust nuclear disruption technique by at least one month before impact, we can prevent 99 percent or more of the impacting mass from hitting the Earth, Johns Hopkins University physicist Patrick King, who completed the study as his PhD thesis at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, told Gizmodo.

A 100-meter asteroid would only need to be nuked two months before impact, though that number would climb as the asteroid gets bigger. Still, thats a huge improvement over past projections, giving us a glimmer of hope in the event that we spot a killer asteroid a little bit later than wed like.

READ MORE: A Last-Minute Nuke to Shatter an Incoming Asteroid Could Actually Work, Study Suggests [Gizmodo]

More on asteroid defense: Scientist: If Asteroids Threaten Earth, We Should Blow Them Up With Missiles

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Scientists Admit That Yeah, Nuking an Asteroid Might Actually Work - Futurism

Scientists seem to have found a pleasant side effect of taking psychedelic drugs: a reduced risk of developing heart disease and diabetes.

A team of scientists identified the unexpected trend after poring over ten years worth of data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, finding that respondents who said theyve tried psychedelics at least once in their lives had a reduced risk of developing either condition over the previous year, according to a study published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.

Specifically, the team looked at the records of 375,000 survey respondents and found that only 2.3 percent of those whod ever taken DMT, ayahuasca, LSD, mescaline, peyote, or psilocybin were diagnosed with heart disease or diabetes in the previous year. Thats drastically lower than the 4.5 percent diagnosis rate among people whod never taken any of those drugs.

The findings suggest that lifetime classic psychedelic use is associated with lower odds of having had heart disease or diabetes in the past year, lead study author and Oxford sociologist Otto Simonsson told PsyPost.

One possibility: since moderate psychedelic use is associated with a long-term sense of increased peace and well-being, maybe some people who have dabbled in it experience less heart stress during the years and decades afterward.

None of that t necessarily means that you should go and gobble up some shrooms in the name of your cardiometabolic health,but it does hint at an interesting correlation between psychedelics and medicine that ought to be teased out with further study.

The direction of causality remains unknown, Simonsson told PsyPost. Future trials with double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled designs are needed to establish whether classic psychedelic use may reduce the risk of cardiometabolic diseases and, if so, through which mechanisms.

Still, its an encouraging finding that can be thrown on top of the pile of other therapeutic benefits associated with psychedelics use that scientists seem to have uncovered. And with this seeming correlation in hand, scientists may now be able to conduct more clinical research to see if the drugs actually do improve heart health.

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LSD and Shrooms Linked to Lower Heart Disease and Diabetes Risk - Futurism