Hey everyone! Proof of life here. My book MS is in (and accepted!*). I just sent off the final (I hope) illustration list to both the design department and the picture researcher. So maybe…just possibly…I might be able to do the odd post here.
I got lots of thoughts about our political adventures, most notably that while I’m having as much fun with furniture fetishist Vance, this remains an existential fight, as Trump says the quiet part out loud: if he wins, this is our last election. But there are better front-pagers (and commenters) on this beat, so I thought I’d try to get some less immediately obvious takes on these times we’re living in.
And why not attempt to restart some bloggery with some decent news. Biomedicine has been spinning off some amazing results lately. Here are two that will do so much to relieve human suffering…
First: fascinating new insights on lupus:
A new study about the underlying mechanisms of lupus presents a novel way to potentially treat the autoimmune disease…
The study’s findings raise a “compelling idea” for a novel way to treat lupus, said Deepak Rao, a rheumatologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and one of the senior authors of the study.
The linked WaPo article is a good explainer. The TL:DR is that the research team–a collaboration between scientists at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Northwestern University–identified a specific mechanism within certain T cells that could produce the disregulation of the immune system that creates the damage associated with lupus. The work is VERY preliminary, but if the causal account holds up, the details of that mechanism suggest a way to address the disease at the cellular level.
Which is to say: clinical benefits, if any, are a long way off. But lupus is a wretched disease, and creating a detailed molecular account of the disease process is a crucial foundational step towards being able to treat and hopefully reverse its effects.
Second: this is just cool…
NASA’s Perseverance rover has found a very intriguing rock on the surface of Mars.
An arrowhead-shaped rock observed by the rover has chemical signatures and structures that could have been formed by ancient microbial life. To be absolutely clear, this is not irrefutable evidence of past life on Mars, when the red planet was more amenable to water-based life billions of years ago. But discovering these colored spots on this rock is darn intriguing and has Mars scientists bubbling with excitement.
As the reporter, Eric Berger emphasizes, this isn’t a discovery–yet. Dots on a rock do not in themselves admit the conclusion that microbes once lived on Mars.
They could be–but the limit of what can be gleaned at this distance is, as Berger writes, “The distinctive colorful spots, containing both iron and phosphate, are a smoking gun for certain chemical reactions—rather than microbial life itself.”
To go further, chunks of Mars have to make it back to earth. Sample return is a hugely challenging mission. I hope it happens in my lifetime. But whether or not it does, this is still at once a delightful possibility and, in some sense, a work of art. Perseverance serves no practical purpose. It was made and it performs because enough of us find the attempt to understand nature beautiful in the same fashion that any other gift to our senses and our minds can satisfy.
And here, alas, is where politics reenters the conversation–at least for me. Science is valuable because it contributes to human flourishing. Often in the most obvious, material ways: coming up with a cure for lupus would be a big deal, changing and saving lives. And it can be fun, provide joy, prompt deeper thinking and feeling, as Perservance’s off-roading demonstrates. Neither happens unless as a society we are willing to spend a ton of money on curiosity (the human impulse, not that other Mars hot rod). Supporting science in DC has historically been a pretty reliably bipartisan affair–but that’s increasingly no longer true.
The range of threats a Trumpist GOP poses to the science and the research capacity of the US is beyond the reach of this late night post; I know the commentariat has all the expertise needed to fill in that story.
For now, let me not harsh the mellow too much. Hairless bipeds remain capable of doing great things. We can enjoy them.
G’night all. This thread is as open as will be the first 7-Eleven on Deimos.
Image: Hendrik ter Brugghen, Mars Asleep, 1629
War for Ukraine Day 884: Constant Air Raid Alerts for Kharkiv
KatKapCC
And yet the Slurpee machine will be broken on day one.
Kristine
Yea for manuscript acceptance!
I hope the lupus research pans out. Early days.
I hadn’t heard about spotty rocks. The last excitement I’d read about was the sulfur find.
J. Arthur Crank
Did you intend to put a footnote? Anyway, congratulations on the acceptance*!
KatKapCC
A good quick rundown/takedown of the right’s DEI garbage against Harris over her whole career, from Mother Jones.
Martin
@KatKapCC: Deimos has so little gravity, filling a Big Gulp would be extremely difficult even if it was working.
KatKapCC
@Martin: So it would just float around in the air? That could be fun. Or messy.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Martin:
Would jumping upwards on the surface be enough to reach escape velocity?
Chet Murthy
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): https://spark.iop.org/it-possible-jump-orbit#:~:text=Deimos's%20escape%20velocity%20is%20only,s%20to%20reach%20the%20ground.
A paper has considered whether it is possible to jump into orbit on a body of small mass, such as Mars’s moon Deimos. The authors conclude that it is impossible to jump from the surface of Mars’s moon into a trajectory that would lead to a stable orbit though comment that it may be possible to enter orbit by jumping vertically from a high point on the surface or by building a platform which is then collapsed. Deimos’s escape velocity is only 5.8 m/s and it is calculated that a stone dropped from waist height would take around 30 s to reach the ground.
Fair Economist
Congrats on the book! I enjoyed “Money for Nothing” and I’m looking forward to it.
According to Wiki, Deimos has an escape velocity of 5.6 meters per second, and yes, a person could jump off.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Chet Murthy:
@Fair Economist:
Neat. Thanks! That would be trippy to watch a rock take half a minute to fall to the ground
Tom Levenson
@J. Arthur Crank: I did. Some “maybe I’ll eat lunch in this town again” or stages of grief kind of joke. Then I forgot, hit publish, turned the computer off, and made my way to bed. Now I’m too lazy to log back on and either delete the asterisk or come up with something that isn’t lame.
Tom Levenson
@Fair Economist: Thanks! Glad you enjoyed MfN. I’ll be pushing this new one when the time comes.
Baud
Congratulations, Tom.
M31
congrats on the book! Newton and the Counterfeiter was great stuff, haven’t had a chance yet for Money for Nothing, but it’s on the list.
wjca
But the engineers back on earth will find a way to remotely MacGyver it back into action.
wjca
The thing about science, especially basic science, is that you simply don’t know what practical use it may have someday. Precisely because you don’t know what you will discover.
If you are hysterically fearful of the unknown, the last thing you want is to discover something new. And if you insist on ignorance of history, lest you learn something inconvenient, you will have no clue about all the basic research behind the “practical” stuff you take for granted.
EDT: I see this as a philosophical view, rather than a political one per se. YMMV
Martin
I was in Paris 3 weeks ago and so much of the infrastructure for the games was set up but not always easy to tell what it was going to be. It’s nice to see the final result.
Baud
@wjca:
The need for immediate practical application is driven by the prevalence of business culture. It’s antithetical to what makes science great.
Repatriated
… a room full of techicians anxiously awaiting the results of having cleared the 7-11 customer to “pull the lever” 8 1/2 minutes earlier…
“We have cherry slush. Repeat, we have cherry slush. Consistency nominal.”
(Room full of technicians cheers!)
Baud
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Drop a rock on earth and film it using the slow mo feature on your phone.
Chet Murthy
@Martin: I’ve read that restos and hotels were seeing depressed business right before the games; it’ll be interesting to see if they make it up — whether on balance the loss of regular tourist trade will have been worth it.
Chet Murthy
@Baud: @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Do you remember that iconic film the Apollo astronauts took of one of them dropping a hammer and a feather ? And (of course) they both fell at the same rate.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Martin:
Seeing the Effiel Tower light show was spectacular. I think the rain actually enhanced it as you could see the rain drops lit up by them
I thought the cauldron as a balloon was a unique take and a cool visual. Nice nod to France’s history
Wave Function Collapse
Another planetary announcement I saw today caught my eye more than the thing about the Mars rock.
Uranus’ moon Ariel exhibits some chemical traces that suggest it may be yet another water world! Our system seems to have an embarassment of riches in that regard. I’ve lost count, though some of them like Ceres and Pluto are still in the “suspected deep ocean” category IIRC.
Martin
@Chet Murthy: The place was packed when we were there. It was a bit hard to get around because of all of the setup you see here, and I’m sure that got a lot worse over the last 2 weeks
Paris is such a continual tourist destination, I’m not sure they really have an opportunity to ‘make up’ for that. It’s one of the few places I can think of that would host the Olympics and that not boost tourism numbers – just change the nature of the tourists, and probably take them away from the usual tourist pattern because of the games.
RaflW
I tend to think the new Democratic line “They’re just weird” is really great, and could help even in the area of science funding.
“America used to have a broad, bipartisan agreement that science was cool, that learning new things about medicine, the earth, and even Mars had real value, and set us apart as a nation of doers, experimenters and explorers. Isn’t it weird how in the past decade or two, one party has decided science isn’t cool or interesting any more? Why are we listening to people who say “don’t research that cure for cancer”, what’s their problem? Why are they like that?!”
karen marie
Yet Vance feels justified in wanting to legislate that women should be forced to have children whether they want them or not or whether their mental and/or physical health allows it. That is creepy. And extremely offensive.
I am starting to get the impression that Republicans think they can redefine “freedom.”
rikyrah
Flavor Flav playing the piano at the US Ambassador Residence in Paris😲😲
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRofo6Pf/
rikyrah
Congratulations on the book👏🏾👏🏾
Noskilz
Congratulations!
HumboldtBlue
Great, another book I gotta buy, and I haven’t read the last three I bought yet!
Watching the replay of the opening ceremonies in Paris, the French put on a fucking show.
eclare
@rikyrah:
So cool!
Baud
@HumboldtBlue:
Tom gets paid regardless of whether you read it.
Jackie
Congrats on another book published, Tom!
Now you have time to give those poor neglected kitties extra attention!
HumboldtBlue
@Baud:
Pfft, duh… the stack looks good, though.
scav
@karen marie: Weird neuron firing — I mean, clearly in his world view, a successful rapist has more value and interest in the future of this country than any mere rape-target who somehow failed to conceive. It’s all about the magic sparkle fairy dust that the fertilized eggs and sperm bestow on their emitters.
More importantly, huzzah for a book!
Yutsano
Let me be the first to say:
MAZEL TOV YA CRAZY KID!!!
I’m kinda meh on the whole couch-fucker thing. Vance is enough of a repulsive creature on his own as it is.
Yutsano
And I know this thread is supposed to be non-political, but this picture is just awesome.
karen marie
@rikyrah: Looking at Flavor Flav’s wiki page, I am struggling to understand how he has the scratch to sponsor the US women’s water polo team. He either gets a fuck ton of royalties or he’s had a smart and good person managing his money.
I’m astonished he’s two years younger than me. I’d have figured him much younger than that.
karen marie
@Yutsano: I didn’t see that restriction on comments. Excuse me.
Chet Murthy
@karen marie: It seems difficult to believe that he’s worth only $2m, doesn’t it? I mean …. Public Enemy, all those records, all those tours.
Chet Murthy
@karen marie: Looking at this ( https://usawaterpolo.org/news/2024/7/1/mens-senior-national-team-flavor-flav-signs-five-year-sponsorship-deal-as-official-hype-man-for-usa-water-polo-womens-and-mens-national-teams.aspx ) I’m unsure if the main thing he brings to “sponsorship” is money, or hype services.
West of the Rockies
@Fair Economist:
I’m waiting for the sequel, Chicks for Free.
HumboldtBlue
@West of the Rockies:
Ba-dum-tssh
Trollhattan
Lupus took the sweet innocent daughter of a coworker years age and any kind of progress towards a cure, as opposed to staving off its inevitable march, is welcome news.
Kiddo is doing regenerative medicine research involving stem cells this summer, brain tissue first up, and while dad does not understand he can intuit the possibilities. We live in amazing times if only we allow ourselves to persevere.
Citizen Alan
@karen marie: They already have. To a Republican, freedom means that Republicans can do whatever the hell they want with no accountability and no restraint and the rest of us get to live in a police state.
Chief Oshkosh
House GOPers propose to decrease NIH from 27 institutes to just 15. This, of course, will make the remaining institutes more productive and efficient through some undefinable, gnome-based process. Since I doubt whether the majority of House GOPers can even spell “NIH,” I’m not confident that this will be a smooth change. Here’s hoping they keep stepping on their dicks and doing other important things like taking early and long vacations and impeaching the heads of the FBI and SS (even the interim one).
ArchTeryx
This is part of what killed my career in medical research. When I was due to get a full-time job out of my second postdoc, in 2011, is right when the Republicans went all-in on austerity. And that slammed the door on any chance of me ever getting funding before my employability ran out. I was right. It took me about 8 years to recover from that blow and I nearly never got the chance, because they went after my life-sustaining medical care, too. Twice.
It was a bipartisan affair when science was seen as the primary we we kept ahead of the Soviets. When the USSR collapsed, so did Republican support for science. Ignorance is far more their style. That, y’know, things like lupus and cancer are nonpartisan doesn’t matter to them. They consider anyone with a disability to be a useless eater to begin with.
NotMax
Speaking of science, days seeming just a teensy bit longer? That’s because they are.
NASA-Funded Studies Explain How Climate Is Changing Earth’s Rotation.
Chief Oshkosh
@ArchTeryx: I’m so sorry to hear that. It’s crazy that the “standard” (modular) NIH R01 grant amount ($250k/year) hasn’t increased in over 20 years.
Betty Cracker
@rikyrah: My husband played piano at a fancy cocktail party at the U.S. ambassador’s residence in Paris when he was in the USAF band back in the 1980s. I wonder if it’s the same piano? Looks old enough. I’ll ask him when he wakes up. Thanks for sharing it!
Betty Cracker
Great to see you, Tom, and many congrats on the book!
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
I’m photographing a planetary nebula, the dumbbell nebula.
lowtechcyclist
Birds can be quite impressive, and I certainly find them enjoyable.
JCNZ
Ken
They’re going with the classic “another word for nothing left to lose”.
randy khan
Congratulations on getting the manuscript, etc. done. I recently finished the South Sea Bubble book, so I could use another of yours to read!
Torrey
@karen marie:
George Lakoff’s book Whose Freedom? points out that redefinition of “freedom” was going on way back in the early 2000’s. (The book was published in 2006.)
I noticed Vance’s use of “creep” for Aniston’s statement, and I think the Republicans are adopting it as part of the constellation of ideas in “groomer” and “pedophile.”
I know Aniston was referencing her own struggles to have children, but I’m really curious to know how Vance would react if someone expressed a hope that his sons will be able to have children. Male fertility insecurity is a thing.
Anonymous At Work
Congrats on book. I know it’ll bring in the big
dollarsquartersdimesnickelspennies!As for Lupus, auto-immune diseases are horrible, especially idiopathic and intermittent ones. Lupus is the king/queen of them because it has a broad constellation of symptoms that can occur or recur at any time and you really need to catch a flare-up in progress in order to definitively diagnose it. Otherwise, it’s a diagnosis by exclusion (‘we tested for everything else, they all came up negative, so we have to conclude it’s lupus’).
Torrey
Congratulations on the book! Exciting news.
1by0
Short story. I changed jobs a bit over a couple of years ago, going from a federally funded national observatory to a university-based project for the construction of a new observatory. The new project was going to be funded about 50-50 through NSF and a private foundation, whereas the national observatory is 100% owned by USG and National Science Foundation-funded. Well, NSF took a big funding hit this year in the continuing resolution — there were warnings about these “hidden” cuts at the time the last CR was negotiated, but they never got much coverage, and everyone seemed pretty tired of the drawn out process inflicted by Repubs to get a budget in place. The result is that the national observatory is going to be treading water for a few years on a very large project that was to start ramping up this year, and the NSF grant for the new project that I’m on was declined for lack of funds, despite very positive reviews. To complete the picture of where we’re at as a society with funding for basic science, the university project’s private funding source – a philanthropic project of a well-known billionaire – will be coming through with enough funding for the entire construction budget and some years of operations. Despite my personal belief in the worth of the project I’m now on, this is no way for a nation to fund its scientific endeavors; this project just went from a community-reviewed and approved project to one that is effectively approved on the basis of one man’s opinion. Although it feels good to have landed funding, being subject to one man’s whims isn’t a good place to be.