Category Archives: Post Human

It's always exciting every time a new console generation comes around, and this time is no different. This year marks the release of both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, and despite the ongoing pandemic disrupting workflow, the two systems are still set for release during the holiday season of 2020. That means there will also need to be a lineup of new games, as some of Sony's major upcoming games are still coming to the PS4 and could skip the PS5, at least at launch, and it's unclear if they're getting PS5 upgrades at all. Sony said in May that it plans to announce the launch lineup for PS5 "soon." After its recent live event, it's still unclear which games will launch alongside Sony's next-generation console this holiday. However, we do know how the console will look. We also know you'll have the choice of a console with a disc drive or without, with the systems otherwise being identical.

As a whole, Sony's PS5 features some exciting new technology, including an SSD that dramatically improves load times, among other elements that promise to improve the fidelity of games. There is also a new DualSense controller that uses haptic feedback to help connect you with games at a deeper level. It's all very exciting, and some of the technology is even beyond what high-end PC systems can do. The technology is being backed up with impressive software, including Epic Games' Unreal Engine 5. This new engine was demonstrated in May 2020 and features new lighting and geometry systems that can make games look more realistic than ever before.

In this post we're rounding up all the confirmed PlayStation 5 games, and also denoting the titles that we think, or are assumed to, release on the next-generation system. This list covers the new games that will be released on PlayStation 5. The console will automatically play the "overwhelming majority" the PS4 games you may already own, since it is backward compatible with that console. However, new first-party PS5 games are going to be exclusive to the system rather than get a cross-generational release so as to make full use of the new hardware.

If you're curious about what Microsoft has to offer on its end of the next-generation console race, then be sure to check out our Xbox Series X game roundup after you're done with the PS5 list below.

You can check out all of the confirmed, and presumed, PS5 titles below. We'll continue to update this post in the days, weeks, and months ahead as new and more titles get announced.

Ubisoft's next big Assassin's Creed game takes us back to the Viking era. Assassin's Creed Valhalla is due to release as a launch title for the PS5. You play as Eivor--either a man or a woman--and your travels will take you across a variety of locations and landscapes. For the first time, dual-wielding comes to Assassin's Creed, allowing you to tear up your enemies with a newfound ferocity with axes and even shields if you like. There is a lot more to know about Assassin's Creed Valhalla, so check out GameSpot's extended coverage to learn more.

Release Date: PS5 launch title.

Astro's Playroom appears to be a sequel or spin-off to the critically acclaimed Astro Bot: Rescue Mission. JapanStudio is developing the game, and while the original Astro Bot was a VR title, the reveal did not show a VR set-up. The reveal was opened with "Press the PS Button" screen, hinting the game makes use of the DualSense controller's functionality. Similar to the Playroom augmented reality mini-game collection on PS4, Astro's Playroom will come preloaded on PS5.

Release Date: PS5 launch title.

Bugsnax is an adventure game from Octodad developers Young Horses. It's set in a vibrant fantastical world filled with talking anthropomorphic animals, as well as insects that look like real-life food, hence Bugsnax. Get it?

Release Date: TBA

Remedy Entertainment's critically acclaimed third-person shooter, Control, is heading to PS5. However, when it'll release remains unclear. Regardless, it'll be nice to see how the game's visuals and performance fairs on next-generation consoles due the difficulties it had on current-generation at launch.

Release Date: TBA

Deathloop is the latest game from Arkane Studios, a developer known for their work on the Dishonored series. Set on a mysterious island, it tells the mind-bending story of Colt and Julianna, who are stuck in a loop that repeats each time one dies. As Colt, you're trying to stay alive on the island of Black Reef while everyone's out to kill you, including a player-controlled Julianna that can invade your game. So far, the game looks pretty similar to Dishonored in that there are various firearms, blades, and powers you can use to get the jump on or directly engage enemies. It will come to PS5 as a timed-exclusive.

Release Date: TBA

For a while, we all wondered what Sony-affiliated developer Bluepoint Games was going to do next. After its work on the fantastic Shadow of the Colossus remaster on PS4, the studio teased that it was working on another remake. In the months that followed, new speculation and rumors stated the next project was a remake of the cult-favorite Demon's Souls--the origin point of FromSoftware's work on the massively popular Soulsborne genre.

If the possibility of a Demon's Souls remake thrilled the core of your being, then know that you can now allow that excitement to finally burst, as it's now officially confirmed: Bluepoint Games is remaking Demon's Souls. With overhauled visuals built from the ground up for PS5, consider this upcoming remake as Sony's redemption for refusing to publish Demon's Souls all those years ago.

Release Date: TBA

Destruction Allstars is a competitive action-sports game that has teams of six go head-to-head in vehicular combat, destroying each other's rides. Just because your car explodes, doesn't mean it's over, as you can then sprint around the arena in an attempt to beat the other on-foot racers.

Release Date: TBA

The next entry in the off-road racing series, Dirt 5 promises to be "bolder and braver than ever before." Very little is known at this stage, but developer Codemasters is promising to deliver "new features" and "new innovations" where every race is unique. Veteran voice actors Troy Baker and Nolan North are contributing to the game's career mode.

Release Date: TBA

Bungie's shared-world shooter, Destiny 2, is headed to the PlayStation 5. However, that's all that's been confirmed so far--there is no word yet on a release date or any details on how the game will leverage the power of next-generation consoles.

Release Date: TBA

Part of the appeal of Fortnite is that any modern device you might own can play the game. As such, Epic will bring Fortnite to PS5. It just makes sense. Releasing on more powerful hardware should be beneficial for the game, as the battle royale title--which puts 100 players on a single, gigantic map at once--benefits from more horsepower. However, Epic did not provide any details on how Fortnite will benefit from PS5's capabilities.

Epic confirmed that Fortnite will support cross-progression with the next-gen systems, so your account, items, and progress will carry over to PS5. The company also reiterated that Fortnite will continue to support cross-play between all platforms, including the next-gen consoles. Lastly, the company announced that it will migrate Fortnite on next-gen consoles to the Unreal Engine 5 in the middle of 2021.

Release Date: PS5 launch title

You need a javascript enabled browser to watch videos.

GhostWire: Tokyo Gameplay Trailer | Sony PS5 Reveal Event

Size:640 360480 270

Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?

Sign up or Sign in now!

Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos.

This video has an invalid file format.

Sorry, but you can't access this content!

JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031Year2020201920182017201620152014201320122011201020092008200720062005200420032002200120001999199819971996199519941993199219911990198919881987198619851984198319821981198019791978197719761975197419731972197119701969196819671966196519641963196219611960195919581957195619551954195319521951195019491948194719461945194419431942194119401939193819371936193519341933193219311930192919281927192619251924192319221921192019191918191719161915191419131912191119101909190819071906190519041903190219011900

By clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

enter

Ghostwire: Tokyo is the latest project from famed developer Shinji Mikami and his studio Tango Gameworks. It's a psychological horror first-person action-adventure game set in Tokyo, where people start mysteriously disappearing, and your objective is to figure out why. The debut gameplay showed off fighting spirits with a combination of melee and magic attacks. There were also glimpses of otherworldly demonic creatures occupying Tokyo disguised as salarymen. As the hero, you can see and adequately fight against these threats. It will come to PS5 as a timed-exclusive.

Release Date: TBA

Counterplay Games is working with Borderlands studio Gearbox to release a fantasy action-RPG called Godfall as a console exclusive for PlayStation 5. Described as a "looter-slasher," the game focuses on fighting foes and collecting loot. It has support for single-player and co-op where you can join groups of up to three players to take on the more dangerous challenges.

Release Date: TBA

Goodbye Volcano High is a narrative-focused game with a 2D-cartoon visual style that tells a coming-of-age story with anthropomorphic animals. The brief glimpse introduced what appears to be the main cast of characters, who seem to be gathering together to burn a mysterious journal. All the while, high school drama ensues!

Release Date: TBA 2021

Considering how successful Grand Theft Auto Online still is for Rockstar Games, it makes sense we'd see it transition over to next-generation consoles. Coming in the second half of 2021, the standalone version of GTA Online will be free for PS5 users for the first three months of its release. Grand Theft Auto V is also coming to the next-gen console in 2021. According to the brief trailer showcased at the start of the presentation, both will be expanded and enhanced.

Release Date: TBA 2021

It wouldn't be a new console generation without a new Gran Turismo game. What was showcased was a quick glimpse of the driving in the new Gran Turismo 7, but if the game's anything like previous entries, we'll be sure to get more of the series' iconic sim mechanics.

Release Date: TBA

The next Hitman game features Agent 47 taking part in his "most intimate and professional contract" ever. He will travel to places like Dubai, among others, to complete his contract. Developer IO Interactive also confirmed that Hitman III represents the final game in the World of Assassination trilogy.

Release Date: January 2021

It makes sense that Guerilla Games would unveil the sequel to its critically acclaimed Horizon Zero Dawn during Sony's PS5 event. Once again, you play as Aloy, who's on a journey to help find a cure for a plague that appears to be causing local wildlife to die off. While you can expect to hunt more robotic beasts on land this time around, you'll also be able to explore underwater and discover more dangerous secrets beneath the surface.

Release Date: TBA

Superbrothers, the developer behind the critically acclaimed Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, finally revealed its next game. Enitled Jett: The Far Shore, it looks like it'll involve a fair bit of intergalactic travel, accompanied by some gorgeous vistas. Aside from all the surreal visuals, little else is know about the exact premise of the game.

Release Date: Holiday 2020

Kena: Bridge Of Spirits, an upcoming adventure game that has you exploring a lush, vibrant world filled with ancient ruins and villages. While you have magical powers and bow at your disposal, you'll also fight with the aid of a woodland spirit, who seems to travel alongside you in your adventure.

Release Date: TBA

Little Devil Inside is an open-world RPG, where you play as a young boy traveling around various locations and battle a variety of monsters. Developer by Neostream Interactive, the game was successfully funded on Kickstarter and was initially expected to arrive on current-generation consoles in December 2015, but was pushed back as its scope grew larger. Regardless, Little Devil Inside will now be making its way to PS5.

Release Date: TBA

Daedalic Entertainment, the studio known for its point-and-click adventure games, is developing an all-new Lord of the Rings game that is focused on an unlikely character: Gollum. In The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, you play as Gollum in a story told from the creature's perspective. It's the first time across the entire Lord of the Rings brand--movies, TV shows, books, etc.--that a story is being told from Gollum's perspective, which is intriguing to think about. Very little is known about this game, and no images or firm details have been released yet. But Gollum is often overlooked in Middle-earth, so it's exciting to see him finally get his own game.

Release Date: 2021

You need a javascript enabled browser to watch videos.

NBA 2K21 Reveal Trailer | Sony PS5 Reveal Event

Size:640 360480 270

Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?

Sign up or Sign in now!

Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos.

This video has an invalid file format.

Sorry, but you can't access this content!

JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031Year2020201920182017201620152014201320122011201020092008200720062005200420032002200120001999199819971996199519941993199219911990198919881987198619851984198319821981198019791978197719761975197419731972197119701969196819671966196519641963196219611960195919581957195619551954195319521951195019491948194719461945194419431942194119401939193819371936193519341933193219311930192919281927192619251924192319221921192019191918191719161915191419131912191119101909190819071906190519041903190219011900

By clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

enter

Only a brief glimpse was shown of NBA 2K21, but what we saw was pretty darn impressive. Admittedly, the first look was labeled as "PS5 pre-alpha" footage, but that didn't make the droplets of sweat on New Orleans Pelicans star Zion Williamson look any less jaw-dropping.

Release Date: TBA

Oddworld: Soulstorm is a remake of 1998's Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus, the second game in the Oddworld franchise. Soulstorm recreates Abe's Exoddus with enhanced visuals but also expands upon the game with revised story elements and more action-focused combat mechanics.

Release Date: TBA 2020

Gears of War: Judgment and Bulletstorm developer People Can Fly is partnering with Square Enix for a new game called Outriders. The new game is a cover shooter that also incentivizes getting out from behind the chest-high walls and wrecking your foes with a number of cool abilities.

Release Date For PS5: Holiday 2020

Pragmata is a surreal action game set in an abandoned world starring an astronaut and a little girl with mysterious powers. The trailer didn't offer much else to go on, but we're going to have to wait a while for the game to come out, as it's expected for sometime in 2022.

Release Date: TBA 2022

Project Athia is a new project from Luminous Productions, a studio led by Square Enix veteran Hajime Tabata. You play as a mysterious cloaked girl who explores a massive fantastical world. It will come exclusively to PS5.

Release Date: TBA

A "cosmic horror" game, Quantum Error is the second game from TeamKill, following their debut title Kings of Lorn: The Fall of Ebris, which was released in 2018. Very little is known about Quantum Horror, but a brief teaser trailer showed some nice-looking visuals and gameplay that some are remarking looks like Doom meets Dead Space.

Release Date: TBA

Insomniac Games is also hard at work on another Ratchet & Clank sequel. The game's subtitle Rift Apart seems to encapsulate the new mechanics at play this time, with inter-dimensional rifts causing chaos and pandemonium as you explore the world.

Release Date: TBA

Resident Evil: Village is the next mainline entry in Capcom's long-running survival horror franchise, and it looks horrifying and ridiculous. The series is getting even weirder as it pushes the present timeline forward with new terrors that go against the grain of the T-virus infected zombies and test tube abominations that longtime fans have come to expect.

Set in an isolated village in the mountains, Resident Evil Village has you playing returning RE7 protagonist Ethan Winters, who must fight his way to escape what appears to be a cult led by a cast of eerie villains. Also, Chris Redfield makes a return and he seems to be playing the role of a villain this time. Though it's currently unclear why he's so antagonistic against Ethan. Regardless, Capcom seems to be taking bold steps away from what we've come to expect from the franchise with its next-generation debut.

Release Date: TBA 2021

A new third-person shooter from House Marque (Resogun, Nex Machina), Returnal puts you in control of an unnamed woman who has landed on an alien planet to fight against what appears to be demonic creatures. The narration at the start of the trailer said she was reliving her first moments on the planet "over and over" in some bizarre time-loop. As such, the planet appears to change every time you die, impacting the player's character. It will come exclusively to PS5.

Release Date: TBA

Sumo Digital (the team behind Little Big Planet 3 and Little Big Planet on PS Vita) is working on an LBP spin-off called Sackboy: A Big Adventure. This upcoming game will be a 3D platformer with an isometric perspective and will feature cooperative multiplayer.

Release Date: TBA

The next game from Bandai Namco, Scarlet Nexus puts you into the role of Yuito Sumeragi, an up and coming soldier who has a psycho-kinesis power. The game is set in the futuristic city of New Himuka.

Release Date: TBA

The next game from the team behind the critically acclaimed Hyper Light Drifter is coming to PS5. Entitled Solar Ash, you appear to play as a female being who travels into a black hole and awakens in a vibrant but seemingly desolate world. From the early gameplay, the game looks to be an action-platformer with a brisk pace.

Release Date: TBA 2021

Spider-Man: Miles Morales is the follow-up to 2018's Marvel's Spider-Man, a PS4-exclusive starring Peter Parker as the titular web-slinger. It's currently unclear whether the game is a sequel to 2018's Spider-Man or a spin-off. Regardless, you play as Morales as he embarks on a crime-fighting journey after discovering that he has spider-powers after the end of the first game.

Release Date: Holiday 2020

Stray is an adventure game set in a post-human world populated mostly by robots. As a stray cat, you'll explore the rusted, clanking corridors of a crumbling cyber-city.

Release Date: TBA 2021

See the original post:
Every PS5 Game Confirmed (And Expected) So Far - GameSpot

John Spieser(Photo: E.L. Hubbard)

The Milford Board of Education is expected to name the districts director of human resources as its new superintendent on Thursday, June 18.

John Spieser is in line to succeed Nancy House at the helm of the Milford Exempted Village School District, which serves about 6,600 students from the city of Milford, Miami Township, Miamiville and parts of Goshen and Union townships.

House is retiring July 31 after 38 years as an educator five of them as Milfords superintendent. Spieser is expected to assume the post on Aug. 1.

[ Subscribe now for unlimited access to cincinnati.com ]

After a very unique and exhaustive process, the board is very happy to come to a conclusion in selecting Mr. Spieser as the next superintendent, school board president Chris Hamm said.

The depth and review of this process and the amount of data and information collected allowed the board to make an informed decision in selecting Milfords next leader. We are excited for Mr. Spieser to continue to carry our Milford family forward as we face new challenges and new opportunities.

Spieser began his career in education with the Milford schools 26 years ago.

He taught life science at Milford Junior High for six years, then earned his administrators license and worked as assistant principal of Mason High School and then of Bethel-Tate High School.

Spieser was principal and director of K-12 curriculum for the Little Miami Schools, followed by tenures as principal of the Glen Este Campus inthe West Clermont Local Schools and, for 15 years, of Clark Montessori High School in Hyde Park.

He returned to Milford in 2015 to serve one year as director of secondary curriculum before becoming director of human resources in 2016.

As a young teacher in 1994, Milford taught me about family, Spieser said.

Every experience I have had in other districts I always compared it to Milford. It was the students, the staff, the families and the community that brought me back to Milford five years ago.

Im so thankful to be the next superintendent, Spieser said.

Some 24 people applied for the Milford schools superintendent post.

The board of education hired a representative of the Ohio School Boards Association for $8,500 to assist in the search and more than 600 people participated in community surveys on qualities deemed important for the next superintendent.

The school board chose nine people for first-round interviews, which were conducted via Zoom videoconference because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The list was narrowed to three finalists, including Spieser, after that.

Last week, the finalists were interviewed by three different groups: the Milford Board of Education, a panel of Milford schools principals and a panel of community, government and business leaders.

The latter two panels then gave the school board their evaluations of the candidates.

A job offer was extended to Spieser after an executive session of the Milford Board of Education on June 11, and he accepted, district spokeswoman Wendy Planicka said.

The school board will vote on a contract for Spieser on Thursday at a meeting set to beginat 7 p.m. in board offices at 1099 Ohio 131 in Milford.

Sign up to get the top 5 stories from Cincinnati.com in your inbox eachmorning

Read or Share this story: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2020/06/15/milford-schools-human-resources-director-expected-named-superintendent/3177437001/

Read more:
Milford school board expected to hire John Spieser as superintendent on Thursday - The Cincinnati Enquirer

3.30 pm CET/ 9.30 am EDT

COVID-19 has unleashed an unprecedented human development crisis putting at risk the hard fought gains of the last decades. It is a wake up call on the devastating effects of the increasing pressure we are placing on our planet. But in the endeavor of confronting the multiple implications of this crisis, there is also an opportunity to reimagine what is possible and desirable for the future. Policies are currently being designed to confront it and massive additional financial resources are being mobilized. A key question is therefore how to make this crisis an opportunity for positive change. In the lead up to the 2020 Human Development Report, which will focus on how to reset our relationship with nature, UNDP and UNEP are jointly organising a high level dialogue to explore how can we build back better for more sustainable and egalitarian societies.

With:

Achim Steiner, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme

Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme

Raya Haffar El Hassan, Former Minister of Finance and Interior of Lebanon

Joseph Stiglitz, Professor at Columbia University and recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences

Bina Agarwal, Professor at the University of Manchester

Moderator: Femi Oke, Journalist.

REGISTER TO JOIN THE DISCUSSION IN ZOOM:https://bit.ly/37nqFz0

Go here to read the rest:
People and the planet: The future of development in a post-COVID-19 world - UN Environment

Ive always thought being a mail carrier would be a cool job - except when it comes to dealing with dogs.

You definitely want your dog to provide security for your home, whether its merely to alert you to the presence of a stranger or to act as a front line of defense. But for postal workers, dogs can be a real threat. So, its important to be mindful of the safety of your mail carrier in relation to your canine buddy.

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) released its annual list of cities with the most recorded dog attacks ahead of National Dog Bite Awareness Week, which kicks off June 14. Sadly, a whole lot of postal workers have been attacked here in Texas, with five cities ranked in the top 20 for dog attacks.

Houston had the most dog attacks in the U.S. with 85 in 2019. Dallas was ranked number 5 with 40, San Antonio was tied for 11th on the list with 28, Fort Worth came it at number 12 with 27, while El Paso is tied for 14th on the list with 25.

When it comes to states with the most dog attacks, California tops the list for the second straight year with 777, with Texas coming in a distant second with 491 attacks.

The good news is that the number of USPS employees attacked is down nationwide with 5,803 attacks, which is over 200 fewer than 2018 and more than 400 fewer than 2017. Lets hope the downward trend continues.

Go here to read the rest:
Texas City Tops the List of Dog Attacks on Postal Workers in US - Newstalk1290

Contributing Author:Jared Kaufman

After the COVID-19 pandemic, we cant go back to normal. Normal was a broken food system that left vulnerable communities behind and hurt our natural biodiverse ecosystems.

How do we rebuild a food system thats truly regenerative and restorative? How do we create systems that are not just diverse but truly inclusive? How do we feed a growing population without sacrificing our fragile planet?

Throughout the pandemic, Ive been hosting Food Talk Live conversations twice daily, and Ive spoken with countless farmers, chefs, journalists, scientists, entrepreneurs, sustainable business leaders, and other food system stakeholders. From these conversations, Ive realized we need to blend technology with traditional wisdom, make the invisible visible, recognize the power of food as medicine, and use both our forks and our ballots to vote for a healthier food system.

In the journal Agriculture and Human Values, over 80 inspiring researchers and advocates share their own insights into how COVID-19 has impacted the food system and how we move forward. The essay collection, which Food Tank was honored to help organize along with many other brilliant folks, is available for everyone to read for free.

Food Tank is highlighting some of the articles from this series that pave the way toward a more equitable and sustainable post-COVID food system.

1. Alison Hope Alkon, Sarah Bowen, Yuki Kato, and Kara Alexis Young, food justice and equity scholars, on unequal vulnerability to COVID

While stark racial health disparities predate COVID-19, if we continue to turn a blind eye to the classism and racism embedded within our food system, these disparities will inevitably widen as this pandemic weaves its way through the population, write Alison Hope Alkon, Sarah Bowen, Yuki Kato, and Kara Alexis Young. They analyze the racial disparities in COVID-19 vulnerability through a food justice framework, noting that diet-related risk factors for the disease are not the result of a persons individual choices but rather the racial capitalist structures that constrain a persons food access.

2. Ana Moragues-Faus, political economist of food, on building distributive food economies

Spain was hit hard and early by COVID-19, and national responses reinforced a monolithic and industrial version of the modern food system. But communities challenged this with distributive food practices such as mutual aid programs, interconnected webs of relationships within the food system, and local agroecology, according to Ana Moragues-Faus, a professor of the political economy of food at Universitat de Barcelona in Spain. The pandemic represents and opportunity to nurture and invest in distributive food economies, she argues.

3. Bill McKibben, climate change scientist, on playing by natures rules

Farmers inherently understand the need to pay attention to nature, environmentalist and Middlebury College professor Bill McKibben writes. But most of us have lost touch with the fickleness of a world we cant control. We can wish things were different all we want, he says, but this only delays our action and allows the problem to get worsewhether COVID-19 or climate change. As it turns out, you cant spin a virus, you cant talk it down, you cant force it to compromise or negotiate, he writes. Biology sets limits and we have to respect them, not the other way around.

4. Edie Mukiibi of Slow Food International on food security in Africa

While African countries are enacting restrictions to stop the spread of COVID-19, the impact of the pandemic on peoples ability to access food has been an afterthought, writes Edie Mukiibi, the vice president of Slow Food International and executive director of Slow Food Uganda. This is particularly pronounced in urban areas, where shortages and skyrocketing prices are significant barriers. For Africa to handle the emerging and post COVID-19 food security crisis, we need to strategically focus on giving the necessary support and facilities to communities of producers, fishers, pastoralists, indigenous people and other key grassroot players in the food system, he writes.

5. Elizabeth Hoover, Indigenous foodways scholar, on Native nations responses to the pandemic

Indigenous nations around the U.S. have struggled with food insecurity for years, and often dont receive policy help they need, writes Brown University professor Elizabeth Hoover. In this essay, Hoover highlights steps Native leaders around the country are taking to help their communitiescreating educational programs, pushing for support for local food networks, building local seed sovereignty, and more.

6. Elizabeth Mpofu, general coordinator of Via Campesina, on how globalization leaves peasant farmers behind

Peasant food systems are crucial to building defence against crises, writes Elizabeth Mpofu, a Zimbabwean organic farmer and the general coordinator of Via Campesina, a global organization of peasant farmers. Mpofu writes that Via Campesina is fighting for a food system thats more harmonious with nature and stands up for the right to food sovereignty for peasant farmers.

7. Gary Paul Nabhan, ethnobotanist and seed saving advocate, on how COVID will change crops

After the pandemic, the food we eat will neither look nor taste the same as what we are eating today, writes Gary Paul Nabhan, the co-founder of Native Seeds/SEARCH. Why? Because, he says, the breakdown of our siloed food system will lead us to develop agricultural landscapes with a greater diversity of soil microbes and plant species. People will grow more of their own food and get used to eating produce that looks imperfect. And as we grow foods on our own fertile soil with our own seeds, Nabhan says, well learn what seasonal crops are actually supposed to taste like.

8. Jeff Moyer, CEO of The Rodale Institute, on how soil health equals human health

In 1942, Rodale Institute founder J.I. Rodale said, Healthy Soil=Healthy Food=Healthy People. This is as true now as ever, Rodale Institute CEO Jeff Moyer writes. The Rodale Institute works to build regenerative, organic farming methods that revitalize the soil, which Moyer says has been neglected by conventional agriculture. With a goal of human health starting with the soil, together we will achieve a future that prioritizes health as the primary metric of agricultural success, he writes.

9. Julian Aygeman and Alexandra Duprey, urban food justice scholars, on protecting undocumented immigrants during COVID

Sanctuary cities are urban areas that have committed to protecting undocumented immigrants from federal deportation or prosecution. But what are sanctuary cities doing to protect undocumented immigrants from the pandemic? Not enough, argue Julian Agyeman and Alexandra Duprey, faculty in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University. Immigrant communities are generally facing compounding trauma during the COVID-19 pandemic, they write. They offer concrete steps cities can take to address this.

10. Leah Penniman, Black farmer and food sovereignty advocate, on how food can be liberation

This nation has relied upon the labor, expertise, and resources of BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and people of color] communities to undergird the food system since its inception, writes Leah Penniman, the founder of Soul Fire Farm. This means the industrialized food system is steeped in racism, injustice, and unequal access to resources and opportunities. By land redistribution, mutual aid, and dignified food access, Black and Indigenous communities can free themselves from what Penniman calls the system of food apartheid.

11. Mary Hendrickson, rural food systems researcher, on the dangers of agribusiness consolidation

Power in the agri-food system is concentrated in the hands of a few global companies like Bayer and Cargilland the pandemic has exposed how brittle such a centralized, non-diversified system is, says University of Missouri rural sociologist Mary Hendrickson. Our only hope is that the precarity of the system, its potential losing of its core identity as a for-profit food system based on efficiency, specialization, standardization and centralization, will allow transition to a decentralized, diverse, and interconnected food system that can feed all of us now and in the future, she writes.

12. Patrick Holden, farmer and sustainability advocate, on a healthier local food economy

Health is not merely the absence of disease but rather a vital state when an organism, plant, animal or human, is living in a dynamic balance with its external environment, writes Patrick Holden, a farmer in Wales and the founder of Sustainable Food Trust. He argues a better nourished population, with a more sustainable food system, could have been better equipped to battle COVID-19. The light at the end of the tunnel, he writes, is that local food systems offer increased food security at a time of serious existential threats.

Read this article:
This Essay Collection is a Roadmap Toward A Healthier Post-COVID Food System - Food Tank

One of the more difficult aspects of being an atheist, at least from an outsiders perspective, is dealing with death. How do we face the end of our own lives? How do we comfort others who have lost a loved one?

Last year, Lori Lipman Brown, the former executive director of the Secular Coalition for America, lost her father Mel. He was a wonderful activist whom I had the pleasure of knowing for several years.

She just published a piece in The Humanist reflecting on his death a year later. Its beautiful on its own terms, but I wanted to highlight one part of it in particular.

She shares one of the emails she received shortly after he died and its such a great example of how we can be a source of comfort for others without using religious platitudes.

Dear Lori,

I was so sorry to hear that your dad died. He gave so much to us in his activism, his warmth, his humor and his friendship. Please DO NOT FEEL THE NEED TO REPLY TO THIS EMAIL; I know you have a lot on your plate right now with all the details that need to be handled following a death.

These are just a few things I can think of that I could do, but if you think of anything else you need me for, just let me know.

With deepest friendship

Its not just an open offer of help. Its a list of specific things people may not think about until theyre already grieving. (Brown says she took the person up on the help with taxes.)

Great advice for an awful situation.

(Image via Shutterstock)

Read this article:
An Atheist Shares the Helpful Email She Received After Her Father's Death - Friendly Atheist - Patheos

Pauline McLynn might have been iconic as tea-loving Mrs. Doyle in Father Ted, but she admits shes nothing like her character. So much so, in fact, that the actress says she got out of the habit of Catholicism.

Pauline became a global star in the 1990s as the scatty housekeeper to three priests in the hit Channel 4 clerical comedy.

Though she was brought up as a Catholic, the TV star has revealed she doesnt miss having religion in her life.

Despite that, Sligo-born Pauline has embarked on a 1,000-km pilgrimage from Belgrade to Istanbul alongside former British politician Edwina Currie and Olympic star Fatima Whitbread in BBC series Pilgrimage: The Road to Istanbul.

TV presenter Adrian Chiles, a converted Catholic, and comedian Dom Joly, an atheist, are also taking part.

The group spend two weeks living as simple pilgrims on the ancient route, and Pauline was certainly curious about the spiritual element of the new three-part series.

She reveals: I was christened a Catholic but Im a secular person. I was brought up an Irish Catholic at a time when the church and the state were so entwined in Ireland that you just didnt get a choice.

It was more a habit than a religion to the point where I realised I wasnt practicing or anything anymore, it just meant so little that I didnt even miss it. Im an atheist.

TheFather Ted favourite said being religious and being kind were not mutually exclusive.

In fact, all of the talking about, Well I like to be kind and everything. Yeah, I do as well, but I just think thats being a decent human being.

Revealing why she decided to take part in the pilgrimage, Pauline said: These were three countries Ive never been to before! Mostly, which I was glad to see in the first episode, was just how funny it all was.

We all did [an] interview before we went off on our travels, and Im afraid I quite shallowly said that I like walking, a little bit of an adventure and I was hoping to have a right laugh. That is indeed what happened.

So, did she find spiritual enlightenment on the trek in the end?

All the trip did for me was cemented the fact that I really have no time for organised religion of any sort, Pauline said.

We visited an awful lot of places where the most extraordinary atrocities occurred, and its all in the name, really, of religion. I was glad to be an atheist at the end of it all.

Pilgrimage: The Road To Istanbul airs on BBC Two on Friday, March 27 at 9pm.

View original post here:
Father Ted star Pauline McLynn glad to be an atheist after new BBC show - Extra.ie

Normal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text size

One morning in 2005, Shelley Beverley woke up to find that she had gone deaf. She was 21, and living in Johannesburg with her older brother Neil. I was very scared, she says. It was just so sudden. She struggled through the rest of the day, hoping that her hearing would come back, but it didnt. In one sense, her hearing loss wasnt entirely a surprise: Beverleys grandmother had been deaf, Neil had lost his hearing when he was 13, and her mum, Mary, had lost hers when she was 32. We knew it ran in the family, she says, but I thought Id been lucky and not inherited it.

Beverley, 35, lives in Margate, a semi-rural district south of Hobart, with her husband James. The couple migrated to Australia from South Africa in 2010, looking for space, buying 2 hectares of lush green grass at the foot of a forested ridge near the mouth of the Derwent River. We love the wildlife here, says James, looking out the living room window. Weve seen pademelons, echidnas, quolls, blue-tongue lizards, even a Tassie devil. At dusk, hundreds of kangaroos emerge from the forest to gorge on the grass. Its very peaceful, says James. Its really helped us after everything thats happened.

Apart from their deafness, Beverleys family had largely enjoyed good health. Then, in September 2015, her mother, Mary, then 62, started experiencing fatigue and stomach pain. Doctors in Durban ordered a colonoscopy, but the procedure made her worse. Her feet became swollen and purple. Because of their hearing problems, Shelley and Mary had communicated mainly in text messages. But soon I began noticing that her wording got a bit funny, says Beverley. It didnt always make sense.

Loading

Beverley flew to Durban in February 2016, but by that time her mother could no longer talk or walk. She was so weak that she couldnt move her hands or lift her neck. Two days after Beverley arrived in Durban, her mother caught a virus that caused fluid to build up on her lungs. The doctors tried unsuccessfully to drain it. Shortly afterwards, she died. She weighed just 36 kilograms. It was so fast, Beverley says. And we were still in the dark about what she had.

Shortly before Marys death, Neil had also fallen ill. He developed a number of mysterious symptoms, including facial twitches and seizures. He kept falling over and tripping, and experienced vomiting and headaches so severe he lost his vision for weeks at a time. His behaviour became strange showering with his clothes on, and hallucinating.

One day, Dad was driving him around and Neil started talking to all these little people he thought were around his feet, says Beverley. Doctors in Durban had trouble diagnosing him, so they sent a biopsy to London, where he was found to have a type of mitochondrial cytopathy one of a large family of chronic and progressive diseases that affect the muscles, brain and nervous system. As the family soon learnt, the condition has no cure and no effective therapies. One of the common early symptoms is hearing loss.

Neil died in June 2017, aged 34, by which time Beverley had discovered she also had the condition. It was fear, so much fear, she says. She began experiencing symptoms, including migraines and vision loss. She has since developed diabetes, hypertension, gastro-paresis (when your stomach muscles dont work), and pharyngeal dysphagia (difficulty swallowing). Every time I get sick now, the flu or something, I think, When am I going to need a wheelchair or a feeding tube? When will my legs stop working?

Mito has taken everything from me, she says. If I die, at least James will still have a part of me.

Beverley has bright blue eyes and long, straight, ash-brown hair. Shes got a lazy left eye and uncommonly pale skin, which she attributes to her condition. Oh, and I had bunions out in 2010, she says, laughing wryly.

She doesnt know how long shes got left, but she is determined to make it count. She has joined mito awareness groups, and is an active member of the Mito Foundation, which supports sufferers, and funds research. She has exhaustively researched the condition and takes every opportunity to educate doctors. Youd be surprised by how little they know about it, she says.

But her overriding focus has been on a cutting-edge, and currently illegal, procedure called mitochondrial donation, a form of IVF which would allow those with the condition to have children, safe in the knowledge they would not be passing it on. Mito has taken everything from me, she says. If I die, at least James will still have a part of me. I would like him to look at our child, and say, You have your mums smile or your mums eyes.

An IVF treatment known as mitochondrial donation could potentially save up to 60 Australian children a year from being born with the condition. Credit:

Mitochondrial donation has been labelled immoral and unethical, a slippery slope to designer babies, not to mention potentially unsafe. The only country in the world to have legalised it is the UK. A report by medical experts into the technologys potential application in Australia is due to be delivered to Health Minister Greg Hunt this month.

This fight is really personal to me, Beverley says. Short of a cure, people with mito should at least have the option of having healthy children.

Mitochondria are microscopic structures in human cells that provide the body with energy. For this reason, they are often described as the cells powerhouse. They are crucially important: if your mitochondria fail or mutate, your body will be starved of energy, causing multiple organ failure and premature death.

A stylised representation of a mitochondrion, which provides the body with energy. Malfunction can lead to organ failure and death.Credit:Josh Robenstone

Mito, which is maternally inherited, usually affects the muscles and major organs such as the brain, heart, liver, inner ears, and eyes. But it can cause any symptom in any organ, at any age. Indeed, the term mito includes more than 200 disorders, the symptoms of which are maddeningly varied and seemingly unrelated, leading to delayed diagnoses or incorrect diagnoses or, indeed, no diagnosis.

Many of these people have been fobbed off by doctors or laughed off by people who think they are hypochondriacs, says Dr David Thorburn, a mitochondrial researcher at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, in Melbourne, who has diagnosed some 700 cases over the past 28 years. Most people are relieved to finally know what it is, because that is the end of that part of their journey.

Its sometimes said babies produced as a result of mitochondrial donation would have three parents the mother, the father, and the donor.

Up to two million people worldwide have some form of mito. - Others, like Beverley, who have a less severe type of the disease, will get adult onset, and can expect to become ill in their 30s, 40s or 50s.

According to Thorburn, One of the things that most dismays families with mito is the lack of control they have over passing the condition down to future generations of their family.

Remaining childless is one way to stop the condition from being passed down, as is adopting, but as Thorburn acknowledges, There is an innate desire in many individuals to have their own children. For these people, mito donation offers the very real prospect that the condition is eliminated from future generations.

Mitochondrial replacement is a highly specialised procedure, requiring a level of manual dexterity sufficient to manipulate a womans egg, which is roughly the width of a human hair. Within that egg is a nucleus, where a persons genes are located, and the cytoplasm, the jelly-like substance that surrounds it. Mitochondria are found in the cytoplasm.

Mitochondrial replacement involves taking a donor females healthy egg, removing its nucleus and replacing it with the nucleus of the woman affected by mitochondrial disease, but whose nucleus is healthy. The egg is then fertilised using her partners sperm. (Another option is to fertilise the egg first, and then swap the nucleus.) The resulting embryo is then implanted into the mother.

Researcher David Thorburn: "Mito donation offers the very real prospect that the condition is eliminated from future generations."Credit:Josh Robenstone

Since more than 99.9 per cent of our genes are found in the eggs nucleus, which remains unaffected, the procedure will have no impact on the childs height, hair colour or mannerisms. Despite that, its sometimes said that babies produced as a result of mitochondrial donation would have three parents the mother, the father, and the donor.

The technology has been tested in mice for more than 30 years, but only since 2009 has research been done on human embryos, mainly in the UK. Almost from the start, the research was subject to sensational headlines about scientists playing God, and the possibility of genetic engineering, with much of the hysteria being fuelled by anti-abortion groups. The Catholic Church described it as a further step in commodification of the human embryo and a failure to respect new individual human lives.

In 2012, the Human Genetics Alert, an independent watchdog group in London, wrote a paper comparing any baby produced with mitochondrial replacement to Frankensteins creation, since they would be produced by sticking together bits from many different bodies. According to the Conservative British MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, the procedure was not a cure for disease, it is the creating of a different person.

Regulators subjected the technology to four separate scientific reviews, together with rounds of ethical debate and community consultation. In 2015, the UK Parliament voted to legalise the technology for use in humans, on the proviso that it only be available to those women at high risk of passing on the disease. Since then, 13 couples in the UK have received the go-ahead to undergo the procedure.

Its unclear how many children, if any, have been born: the parents have asked that details not be published. Meanwhile, scientists like Thorburn wait eagerly for news of any developments. I know the UK researchers well and have asked several of them, and they are keeping completely quiet about it in respecting the families wishes, he says.

Loading

If there have been babies born in the UK using the procedure, they arent the first. In April 2016, a child was born using the technique in Mexico, to a Jordanian mother who carried a fatal mitochondrial condition known as Leigh syndrome. The doctor in charge, an American fertility specialist called Dr John Zhang, later admitted that he had gone to Mexico because the procedure is illegal in America. In Mexico, he admitted, There are no rules.

Even those who want mitochondrial donation legalised in Australia concede that much remains unknown about the procedure. Its long-term risks can only be understood through lifelong health check-ups, but this is impossible until any children conceived via this procedure become adults. Implications for subsequent generations also remain unclear.

No medical procedure is 100 per cent safe, says Sean Murray, CEO of the Mito Foundation. But we think we are at the stage now where the benefits of the technology are greater than the risks.

One of the issues around safety concerns the compatibility of the donors mitochondria with the recipients nuclear genes. A 2016 study in mice suggested that mismatched mitochondria affected their metabolism and shortened their lives. Another concern is known as carryover, whereby a tiny amount of mutant mitochondria is inevitably transferred from the affected mothers egg into the donor egg during the procedure.

Instead of it being wiped out, the mutation might then reappear in the descendants of any girls born as a result. For this reason, some people have proposed that the procedure be restricted to male embryos only, but this raises all kinds of ethical issues around selective breeding and sex selection.

Loading

Indeed, it often seems as if the term ethical minefield was coined especially with mitochondrial donation in mind.

My primary ethical concern has to do with the sanctity of human life, says Father Kevin McGovern, a Catholic priest and member of the National Health and Medical Research Councils Mitochondrial Donation Expert Working Committee.

If mitochondrial donation is permitted here, the technique most likely to be used is pronuclear transfer, which requires that both the donors egg and the affected mothers egg be fertilised. [This is to ensure that both eggs are at the same developmental stage.] But once the nucleus is removed from the donors fertilised egg, it is discarded. For people who believe that life begins at conception, this is akin to murder. You are creating two lives and destroying one for spare parts.

The Catholic Church has consistently opposed mitochondrial donation. In a Senate inquiry into the technology in 2018, Dr Bernadette Tobin, director of the Plunkett Centre for Ethics at the Australian Catholic University, suggested the process was intrinsically evil.

The inquiry also heard from Father Anthony Fisher, Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, who raised concerns about the moral right of the child to know how he or she was conceived the problem of what he called genealogical bewilderment and the donors right to remain anonymous. He also worried that women might effectively become egg vending machines: The availability of human ova is often assumed when people talk about reproductive technology as if they were somehow there in a cupboard to be used. In fact, it means women have to be used to obtain these eggs. They are extracted by invasive procedures that do carry some risk.

A report by medical experts into mitochondrial donation and its potential application in Australia is due to be delivered to Health Minister Greg Hunt this month. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Equally troubling for the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, the peak national body for the churchs bishops, was the fact that mitochondrial donation involved conceiving babies not by marital intercourse [but by] a technical procedure.

Most of these concerns are redundant, argues the Mito Foundations Sean Murray. We already have a well defined regulatory framework for dealing with all this, he says. As far as the donors right to remain anonymous, we would defer to the appropriate federal or state and territory regulations that apply for sperm or egg donations. In regard to a kids right to know they had a mitochondrial donor, societally there seems to be a preference to inform kids. Its important for them to understand their genetic lineage.

Then theres the matter of consent. The parents can wrestle with the ethical issues and weigh up all the risks, but the only person who cant consent to the procedure is the unborn child. Well, says Murray, they cant consent to being born with mito, either.

The Mito Foundations Sean Murray: "In regard to a kids right to know they had a mitochondrial donor, societally there seems to be a preference to inform kids."Credit:Joshua Morris

Murray, 47, is one of the founding directors of the Mito Foundation, which was established in Sydney in 2009. Mito runs in my family, he says. My older brother, Peter, died of it in 2009 at 45, and my mum passed away in 2011, at 70. What people often dont understand is that even in families that have mito, each member can have different mutational loads basically, different amounts of bad mitochondria. Peter got a high load, but I didnt. Thats why Im still here.

A computer scientist by training, Murray now works full-time on the foundation. Much of his job involves travelling around the country, explaining mito to politicians, journalists and philanthropists, raising funds for research and, most crucially, advocating for a change to the laws.

Mitochondrial donation falls foul of two pieces of legislation: the Research Involving Human Embryos Act 2002, and the Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction Act 2002. The laws prohibit the implantation of a human embryo that contains more than two peoples genetic material. The laws were subject to a mandatory review in 2010, but the then Labor government recommended they remain the same.

In 2013, the Mito Foundation urged the government to revisit its decision. Two years later, it began lobbying in earnest. What we tried to get across was that the science around mito donation has come a long way since 2010, says Murray. Also, the process that the UK went through to legalise it really reassured us that the procedure is safe and effective.

Loading

In the past five years, Murray and his colleagues have consulted with more than 100 MPs and senators. Only one of them, according to Murray, said I dont like this. They have also talked to dozens of industry experts, including academics and medical and research bodies, about the benefits of mitochondrial donation. Most of them get it straight away, he says. We are talking about a technique that will prevent the chance of having a morbidly ill child.

Now, a breakthrough appears imminent. In February 2019, Health Minister Greg Hunt asked the National Health and Medical Research Council to look into the matter, review the science and conduct public consultation. The NHMRC is due to hand its report to Hunt this month. The expectation among the mito community is that he will recommend the laws be changed. Any proposals would then need to be debated in Parliament, where issues around reproductive medicine have, in the past, been hotly contested.

Murray expects some opposition from more conservative MPs, but nothing like the rancour seen in the NSW Parliament during last years debate over legalising abortion. Shadow health minister Chris Bowen has, for his part, said that Labor will support changing the laws.

Mitochondrial sufferer Shelley Beverley at home in Tasmania. This fight is really personal to me. Credit:Peter Mathew

Whether this will help people like Shelley Beverley is unclear. If Hunt gives it the green light, it will take two years at least for mitochondrial donation to become available to prospective parents, given the time involved in drafting and passing legislation, establishing a regulatory regime and getting doctors up to speed with the technology.

This will probably be too late for Beverley. I really only have about a year left to give it a go, she tells me. After that, my symptoms may progress and biologically things get worse after 35. She says she would consider going to the UK for the treatment, but that at present they are not accepting international patients.

Loading

In the meantime, she watches TV, and reads a little, but not too much. (It puts me to sleep.) She gardens: she has a bed of huge white and pink roses out the back of her house, as a memorial to her mother and brother. And she eats. James cooks for me. He lets me choose the best meat and potatoes! Ive put on weight since I met him. She describes James as something close to an angel. He will listen to every problem I have or feeling I experience. He will always put me first.

Beverley started going out with James when she was 21, right around the time she first went deaf. I was so scared that he wouldnt like me as much. I remember calling him and saying I was scared he would leave me. But James is still here. Im very lucky to have him, she says. If I go, I want him to have a part of me.

To read more from Good Weekend magazine, visit our page at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times.

Tim Elliott is a senior writer with Good Weekend.

The rest is here:
How far should genetic engineering go to allow this couple to have a healthy baby? - Sydney Morning Herald

What to read while youre self-isolating to avoid the coronavirus? How about books about all the various plagues humankind has survived before?

There are classics like Giovanni Boccaccios 1353 classic The Decameron, about Italian aristocrats who flee the bubonic plague in Florence, or Daniel Defoes 1722 novel A Journal of the Plague Year, an account of the Black Death in London half a century before.

There are many more recent works about pandemics, some nonfiction, some historical fiction, some speculative fiction. On March 8, Stephen King resisted comparisons of the current crisis to his 1978 novel The Stand, set in a world where a pandemic has killed 99% of the population. King tweeted, No, coronavirus is NOT like THE STAND. Its not anywhere near as serious. Its eminently survivable. Keep calm and take all reasonable precautions.

Despite Kings protestations, readers often look to books to help explain real-world phenomena, especially in bewildering times like these. Here are a few more plague books to consider.

Fiction

Pale Horse, Pale Rider (1939) by Katherine Ann Porter is a short novel set during the influenza pandemic of 1918, which killed five times as many Americans as did World War I. Its main character, Miranda, is a young reporter who falls in love with a soldier; the books fever-dream style captures the experience of the disease.

The Andromeda Strain (1969) by Michael Crichton is a bestselling techno-thriller that begins when a military satellite crashes to earth and releases an extraterrestrial organism that kills almost everyone in a nearby small town. Then things get bad.

Love in the Time of Cholera (1985) by Gabriel Garca Mrquez is the great Colombian authors beguiling tale of a 50-year courtship, in which lovesickness is as debilitating and stubborn as disease.

The MaddAddam Trilogy by Margaret Atwood, which includes Oryx and Crake (2003), The Year of the Flood (2009) and MaddAddam (2013), is a masterwork of speculative fiction by the author of The Handmaids Tale. Set in a near future in which genetic engineering causes a plague that almost destroys humanity, its savagely satirical, thrilling and moving.

The Road (2006) by Cormac McCarthy is a bleak, beautifully written, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel set after an unspecified extinction event has wiped out most of humanity. An unnamed man and boy travel on foot toward a southern sea, fending off cannibals and despair.

Nemesis (2010) by Philip Roth is the authors 31st and last novel, a sorrowful story set in Newark, N.J., in 1944, as the United States is in the grip of the polio epidemic that killed and disabled thousands of children.

Station Eleven (2014) by Emily St. John Mandel is a bestselling novel about a group of actors and musicians traveling through the Great Lakes region in future years after a mysterious pandemic called the Georgian flu has killed almost everyone.

The Old Drift (2019) by Namwalli Serpell is a dazzling debut novel set in Zambia, spanning a century but focusing in part on the disaster wrought in that country by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Nonfiction

The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance (1995) by Laurie Garrett is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters clear-eyed look at how rapidly the modern world has changed the nature of disease, how important preparedness is and how endangered we are without it.

Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic (2013) by David Quammen is the great science writers fascinating look at zoonotic diseases, such as AIDS and Ebola (and now coronavirus), that jump from animal species to ours.

Read more:
Books about pandemics to read in the time of coronavirus - Cape Cod Times

Robots used for treating coronavirus in US

There is electricity in our body, our nerves carry electric signals to and fro for all actions made by us. All our actions have these signals that are guided by the brain. This could mean we can exploit our body's reception to electrical pulses for other means, from neural implants to biosensors.

A team of researchers from Stanford University has developed genetically engineered neurons to build materials into the cell membranes. This method could be used to target highly specific groups of cells that could help control body's response to electrical stimulation. The study has been published in the journal Science.

The paper explains that introducing new genes into an organism could endow new biochemical functions or change the patterns of existing functions. The team combined genetic engineering and polymer chemistry that could manipulate the behavior in living animals.

The team used re-engineered viruses which can get into a cell and deliver a DNA creating an enzyme that changes the electrical properties of the cells, this demonstrated that the same process can be used to control their behaviour

The method was used to modulate neuronal pulses by culturing hippocampal neurons of rat, mouse brain slices, and even human cortical spheroids. This showed the process produced the polymers in large enough quantities to alter their behaviour without obstructing natural functions of the cell.

Applying this to humans is a challenge. However, the approach could be used in therapies that use electrical stimulation of neural circuits as an alternative to drugs for diseases as varied as arthritis, Alzheimer's , diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, and many clinical trials are on, reported Singularity Hub

Other than disease-focused bioelectronics, Otto and Christine Schmidt from the University of Floridasay said that the approach could be greatly useful for advanced prosthetics, that is for a patients' nervous system, making possible to excite sensory neurons without accidentally triggering motor neurons, or vice versa, according to the report.

The approach, says the report, could be used to bridge our mind and machines in the future. Our neurons need highly targeted approaches that shouldn't obstruct the natural process too! This could help.

As science fictions excites us with its cyborgs. It can as well be our future if the research could lead us to build 'electronic-tissue composites' in humans.

See the original post here:
Scientists make genetically engineered neurons, speculate sci-fi kind of reality in future - International Business Times, Singapore Edition