Dedicated to all the FE'rs and millenials out there. Be sure to view the vid at https://youtu.be/hLpE1Pa8vvI :

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/08/24/what-do-flat-earthers-and-climate-alarmists-have-in-common-survey-says-millennials/

What do Flat Earthers and Climate Alarmists have in common? Survey says: Millennials!

David Middleton / 16 hours ago August 24, 2018

Guest whatever by David Middleton

Do People Really Think Earth Might Be Flat?

A poll says lots of Millennials evidently do—and it’s not entirely clear why

By Craig A. Foster, Glenn Branch on August 21, 2018

“Just 66 percent of millennials firmly believe that the Earth is round,” read the summary from the pollster YouGov. Kids today, right? But it’s not only curmudgeons eager to complain about the younger generation who ought to find the survey of interest. For despite the recent prominence of flat-earthery among musicians and athletes, YouGov’s survey seems to have been the first systematic attempt to assess the American population’s views on the shape of the Earth.

Moreover, the results raised a number of compelling questions that deserve attention. For example, why is the scientifically established view on the shape of the Earth less popular among younger respondents (according to YouGov) when the scientifically established view on the history of life and on the cause of global warming have been, in poll after poll, more popular among younger respondents?

[…]

Scientific American

The authors (“a psychology professor at the Air Force Academy and a long-time staffer at the National Center for Science Education”) went on to examine the raw data and could not verify YouGov’s survey results…

“Puzzled but undeterred, we used the information in the spreadsheet to calculate acceptance of the round Earth by age groups and found that only about 82.5 percent of millennials (as YouGov called 18–24-year-olds) agreed with “I have always believed the world is round.” That’s still dismayingly low, of course, but it’s not as dismayingly low as 66 percent. And those aged 25–34 turned out to fare a tad worse, with only about 81.8 percent agreeing.

The discrepancy between the data underlying YouGov’s original report and the data provided in the spreadsheet undermined our understanding of both data sets. Frustratingly, YouGov was unable or unwilling to provide further assistance. Although there are transparency standards in survey research, such as the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls, they are, regrettably, not universally followed.

Even more oddly, the majority of the ~18% of survey respondents who didn’t believe the Earth was round(ish) also didn’t believe it was flat.

“In the absence of further information, what can we conclude? Clearly, despite the discrepancy between the results, younger people are less likely to agree with the scientifically established view of the shape of the Earth. Yet, B.o.B. and Kyrie Irving notwithstanding, the spreadsheet data indicate that they are not substantially more likely to agree that the Earth is flat. Indeed, firm belief in a flat Earth was rare, with less than a 2 percent acceptance rate in all age groups.

Rather, according to the spreadsheet data, younger people were more likely to be uncertain or ambivalent about the shape of the Earth, either agreeing that they have recently entertained doubts that the Earth is round or opting for the “Other/Not Sure” choice on the questionnaire. Importantly, these responses weren’t distinctive to those aged 18 to 24 but were comparably prevalent among those aged 25 to 34 and those aged 35 to 44.

What can we conclude from this? I’d like to conclude that the 16% of not round, but not flat respondents were thinking spheroid… which is still round(ish). Although the most likely answer is that they are uninterested in the shape of the Earth because it didn’t come from an iPhone app.

We can also conclude that the results of public polling need to be taken with a LARGE grain of salt.

The diseases … the cures …

New anti-cancer drug attacks several target proteins simultaneously, cures 50% of mice with acute leukemia, about to go to Phase I trials.

Press release:

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-08-years-acute-leukemia.html

Journal article (behind a paywall):

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(18)30973-5?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867418309735%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

For first time in 40 years, cure for acute leukemia within reach

August 24, 2018 by Tali Aronsky, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Acute myeloid leukemia is one of the most aggressive cancers. While other cancers have benefitted from new treatments, there has been no encouraging news for most leukemia patients for the past 40 years. Until now.

As published today in the scientific journal Cell, Professor Yinon Ben-Neriah and his research team at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU)'s Faculty of Medicine have developed a new biological drug with a cure rate of 50% for lab mice with acute leukemia.

Leukemia produce a variety (and a high quantity) of proteins that together provide leukemic cells with rapid growth and death protection from chemotherapy.

To date, most of the biological cancer drugs used to treat leukemia target only individual leukemic cell proteins. However, during "targeted therapy" treatments, leukemic cells quickly activate their other proteins to block the drug. The result is drug-resistant leukemic cells which quickly regrow and renew the disease.

However, the new drug developed by Ben-Neriah and his team functions like a cluster bomb. It attacks several leukemic proteins at once, making it difficult for the leukemia cells to activate other proteins that can evade the therapy. Further, this single molecule drug accomplishes the work of three or four separate drugs, reducing cancer patients need to be exposed to several therapies and to deal with their often unbearable side-effects.

Additionally promising, is the new drug's ability to eradicate leukemia stem cells. This has long been the big challenge in cancer therapy and one of the main reasons that scientists have been unable to cure acute leukemia.

"We were thrilled to see such a dramatic change even after only a single dose of the new drug. Nearly all of the lab mice's' leukemia signs disappeared overnight," shared professor Ben-Neriah.

BioTheryX recently bought the rights to this promising drug from HU's technology transfer company Yissum. Together with Ben-Neriah's research team, they are now applying for FDA approval for phase I clinical studies.

>>2730953

Happy to be of help! My best wishes and prayers for you and your friend to assist during this trying time! Be sure to periodically check https://clinicaltrials.gov/ for info on various clinical trials in the USA and in 204 countries.

Political invective, then and now. Who'd a thunk?

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-08/coe-iar082418.php

In ancient Rome, insults in politics knew hardly any boundaries

Public Release: 24-Aug-2018

According to historians, political debates in ancient Rome were conducted with great harshness and personal attacks, which were in no way inferior to some of the hate speech on the Internet. "The attacks, also known as invectives, were an integral part of public life for senators of the Roman Republic," explains ancient historian Prof. Dr. Martin Jehne of Technische Universität Dresden. At the 52nd Meeting of German Historians in Münster in September, in a section on abuses from antiquity to the present day, he will speak about the culture of conflict in ancient Rome. "Severe devaluations of the political opponent welded the support group together and provided attention, entertainment and indignation - similar to insults, threats and hate speech on the Internet today." According to Jehne, the highly hierarchical Roman politics sounded rough, but was not without rules. "Politicians ruthlessly insulted each other. At the same time, in the popular assembly, they had to let the people insult them without being allowed to abuse the people in turn - an outlet that, in a profound division of rich and poor, limited the omnipotence fantasies of the elite." Politicians and the public hardly took abuse at face value. Even if the comparison with today is partly misleading, says Jehne: "A certain Roman robustness in dealing with abusive communities such as AfD or Pegida could help to reduce the level of excitement and become more factual."

According to the historian's findings concerning ancient Rome, withstanding and overcoming insults can ultimately have a politically stabilising effect. The slander in the Roman Republic (509-27 BC) went quite far: "The famous speaker and politician Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC), for instance, when he defended his supporter Sestius, did not shrink from publicly accusing the enemy Clodius of incest with brothers and sisters," says Prof. Jehne - a sexual practice that was also considered illegal in Rome. "Clodius, in turn, accused Cicero of acting like a king when holding the position of consul. A serious accusation, since royalty in the Roman Republic was frowned upon." Thus, as the historian emphasises, there were hardly any limits in the political dispute. This differs from today, where intensive thought is given to the limits of what is permitted in debates on the street or on the web. "The Romans didn't seem to care much. There was the crime of iniuria, of injustice - but hardly any such charges."

"No murders to avenge honour"

According to the historian, the Romans of the city were proud of their biting, ruthless wit at the expense of others: "They considered this an important part of urbanitas, the forms of communication of the metropolitans, in contrast to the rusticitas of the country bumpkins." They made a downright boast of the slander flourishing in the city in particular. "When you were abused, you stood it, and if possible, you took revenge." Invective opponents often worked together again soon afterwards and maintained normal contact. The political climate remained reasonably stable: murders to avenge honour were only committed in the exceptional situation of a civil war.

According to Prof. Jehne, the fact that the people were excluded from the harsh treatment of senators in political arenas, but were themselves allowed to insult and catcall the political elite, shows that the politicians of the Republic "undisputedly recognised the popular assembly as a political people". Measured by today's democratic electoral procedures, it was a maximum of three per cent of those entitled to vote, "but the senators saw in it the people as the decision-making authority for the community". In the debate about the agricultural law in 63 BC, for example, Cicero tried to persuade the people to change their minds. "But should he not succeed, he promised to bow to the people and change his opinion." Those who questioned the people as a decision-making body risked the crowd roaring up and storming the rostra. "However, this power of the people was only valid in official political communication arenas," emphasises Jehne. "If members of the 'common people' did not make way for the senators and their entourage in the streets in time, they were approached rudely and by no means courted."

[more at website]

Watch the water …

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/filter-turns-saltwater-freshwater-just-got-upgrade?tgt=nr

A filter that turns saltwater into freshwater just got an upgrade

Making the material smoother prevents it from getting gunked up quickly

By Maria Temming 2:00pm, August 16, 2018

Smoothing out the rough patches of a material widely used to filter saltwater could make producing freshwater more affordable, researchers report in the Aug. 17 Science.

Desalination plants around the world typically strain salt out of seawater by pumping it through films made of polyamide — a synthetic polymer riddled with tiny pores that allow water molecules to squeeze through, but not sodium ions. But organic matter, along with some other waterborne particles like calcium sulfate, can accumulate in the pockmarked surfaces of those films, preventing water from passing through the pores (SN: 8/20/16, p. 22). Plant operators must replace the membranes frequently or install expensive equipment to remove these contaminants before they reach the filters.

Now researchers have made a supersmooth version without the divots that trap troublesome particles. That could cut costs for producing freshwater, making desalination more broadly accessible. Hundreds of millions of people already rely on desalinated water for drinking, cooking and watering crops, and the need for freshwater is only increasing (SN: 8/18/18, p. 14).

Manufacturers normally create salt-filtering films by dipping porous plastic sheets into chemical baths that contain the molecular ingredients of polyamide. These molecules glom onto the sheet, building up a thin polymer membrane. But that technique doesn’t allow much control over the membrane’s texture, says Jeffrey McCutcheon, a chemical engineer at the University of Connecticut in Storrs.

McCutcheon and colleagues made their version by spraying the polyamide building blocks, molecular layer by layer, onto sheets of aluminum foil. These polyamide films can be up to 40 times smoother than their commercial counterparts.

Such ultrasmooth surfaces should reduce the amount of gunk that accumulates on the films, McCutcheon says, though his team has yet to test exactly how clean its films stay over time.

Ironed out

Typical polyamide films for filtering saltwater (shown in the scanning electron microscopy image to the left) have rugged, pockmarked surfaces that trap organic material and other particles, clogging the filter. New, ultrasmooth polyamide membranes (right) could avoid that problem.