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<title>20 September, 2023</title>
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<title>Covid-19 Sentry</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
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<li><strong>Global Preparedness for the Next Disease X: A Current and Prospective Situation Analysis</strong> -
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COVID-19 has strongly struck the world and damaged its global lifestyle in an unprecedented manner, at least in our modern age. Thus, it’s of utmost importance to prepare for the next inevitable pandemic regardless of its origin; whether naturally, rouge gain of function research or even planned bioterrorism. In this short note, the most probable upcoming pandemics according to the WHO shortlist of prioritized potentially fatal diseases and other potential ones are being discussed together with the role of climate change. Notably, in Africa we adopted a different scientific strategy to confront COVID-19 which was different from the one adopted in developed countries, we chose early treatment not mass vaccination nor mandates, and the results on the ground are obvious to all. It’s wise and vigilant to learn from Africa and the Egyptian immune-modulatory broad spectrum antiviral immune-modulatory Kelleni’s protocol if we are sincerely determined to avoid loss of more millions of lives.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/yudvf/" target="_blank">Global Preparedness for the Next Disease X: A Current and Prospective Situation Analysis</a>
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</div></li>
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<li><strong>High-affinity binding to the SARS-CoV-2 spike trimer by a nanostructured, trivalent protein-DNA synthetic antibody</strong> -
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Multivalency enables nanostructures to bind molecular targets with high affinity. Although antibodies can be generated against a wide range of antigens, their shape and size cannot be tuned to match a given target. DNA nanotechnology provides an attractive approach for designing customized multivalent scaffolds due to the addressability and programmability of the nanostructure shape and size. Here, we design a nanoscale synthetic antibody ("nano-synbody") based on a three-helix bundle DNA nanostructure with one, two, or three identical arms terminating in a mini-binder protein that targets the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The nano-synbody was designed to match the valence and distance between the three receptor binding domains (RBDs) in the spike trimer, in order to enhance affinity. The protein-DNA nano-synbody shows tight binding to the wild-type, Delta, and several Omicron variants of the SARS-CoV-2 spike trimer, with affinity increasing as the number of arms increases from one to three. The effectiveness of the nano-synbody was also verified using a pseudovirus neutralization assay, with the three-arm nanostructure inhibiting two Omicron variants against which the structures with only one or two arms are ineffective. The structure of the three-arm nano-synbody bound to the Omicron variant spike trimer was solved by negative-stain transmission electron microscopy reconstruction, and shows the protein-DNA nanostructure with all three arms attached to the RBD domains, confirming the intended trivalent attachment. The ability to tune the size and shape of the nano-synbody, as well as its potential ability to attach two or more different binding ligands, will enable the high-affinity targeting of a range of proteins not possible with traditional antibodies.
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</div>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.09.18.558353v1" target="_blank">High-affinity binding to the SARS-CoV-2 spike trimer by a nanostructured, trivalent protein-DNA synthetic antibody</a>
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</div></li>
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<li><strong>Predicting Long COVID in the National COVID Cohort Collaborative Using Super Learner</strong> -
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Post-acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), also known as Long COVID, is a broad grouping of a range of long-term symptoms following acute COVID-19 infection. An understanding of characteristics that are predictive of future PASC is valuable, as this can inform the identification of high-risk individuals and future preventative efforts. However, current knowledge regarding PASC risk factors is limited. Using a sample of 55,257 participants from the National COVID Cohort Collaborative, as part of the NIH Long COVID Computational Challenge, we sought to predict individual risk of PASC diagnosis from a curated set of clinically informed covariates. We predicted individual PASC status, given covariate information, using Super Learner (an ensemble machine learning algorithm also known as stacking) to learn the optimal, AUC-maximizing combination of gradient boosting and random forest algorithms. We were able to predict individual PASC diagnoses accurately (AUC 0.947). Temporally, we found that baseline characteristics were most predictive of future PASC diagnosis, compared with characteristics immediately before, during, or after COVID-19 infection. This finding supports the hypothesis that clinicians may be able to accurately assess the risk of PASC in patients prior to acute COVID diagnosis, which could improve early interventions and preventive care. We found that medical utilization, demographics, anthropometry, and respiratory factors were most predictive of PASC diagnosis. This highlights the importance of respiratory characteristics in PASC risk assessment. The methods outlined here provide an open-source, applied example of using Super Learner to predict PASC status using electronic health record data, which can be replicated across a variety of settings.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.27.23293272v2" target="_blank">Predicting Long COVID in the National COVID Cohort Collaborative Using Super Learner</a>
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</div></li>
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<li><strong>Gut microbiome remains stable following COVID-19 vaccination in healthy and immuno-compromised individuals</strong> -
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The bidirectional interaction between the immune system and the gut microbiota is a key contributor to various host physiological functions. Immune-associated diseases such as cancer and autoimmunity, as well as the efficacy of immunomodulatory therapies, have been linked to microbiome variation. Here, we investigate the temporal impact of COVID-19 vaccination on the gut microbiome in healthy and immuno-compromised individuals; the latter included patients with primary immunodeficiency and cancer patients on immunosuppressive therapy. We find that the gut microbiome, assessed using shotgun metagenomics, remained stable post-vaccination irrespective of diverse immune status, vaccine response, and microbial composition spanned by the cohort. The stability is evident at all tested levels including phylum, species, and functional capacity. Our results show the resilience of the gut microbiome to host immune changes triggered by COVID-19 vaccination and suggest minimal, if any, impact on microbiome-mediated processes.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.23.554506v2" target="_blank">Gut microbiome remains stable following COVID-19 vaccination in healthy and immuno-compromised individuals</a>
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<li><strong>Developmental progression of the nasopharyngeal microbiome during childhood and association with the lower airway microbiome</strong> -
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Background The upper (URT) and lower (LRT) respiratory tract feature distinct environments and responses affecting microbial colonization but investigating the relationship between them is technically challenging. We aimed to identify relationships between taxa colonizing the URT and LRT and explore their relationship with development during childhood. Methods We employed V4 16S rDNA sequencing to profile nasopharyngeal swabs and tracheal aspirates collected from 183 subjects between 20 weeks and 18 years of age. These samples were collected prior to elective procedures at the Children9s Hospital of Philadelphia over the course of 20 weeks in 2020, from otherwise healthy subjects enrolled in a study investigating potential reservoirs of SARS-CoV-2. Findings After extraction, sequencing, and quality control, we studied the remaining 124 nasopharyngeal swabs and 98 tracheal aspirates, including 85 subject-matched pairs of samples. V4 16S rDNA sequencing revealed that the nasopharynx is colonized by few, highly-abundant taxa, while the tracheal aspirates feature a diverse assembly of microbes. While no taxa co-occur in the URT and LRT of the same subject, clusters of microbiomes in the URT correlate with clusters of microbiomes in the LRT. The clusters identified in the URT correlate with subject age across childhood development. Interpretations The correlation between clusters of taxa across sites may suggest a mutual influence from either a third site, such as the oropharynx, or host-extrinsic, environmental features. The identification of a pattern of upper respiratory microbiota development across the first 18 years of life suggests that the patterns observed in early childhood may extend beyond the early life window. Funding Research reported in this publication was supported by NIH T32 GM007200 (AJH), F30 DK127584 (AJH), NIH/NIAID R21AI154370 (AOJ, ALK), NIH/NICHD R01HD109963 (AOJ, ALK), and NIH/NICHD R33HD105594 (AOJ). Dr. John is an Investigator in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Diseases of the Burroughs Welcome Fund.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.09.18.23295747v1" target="_blank">Developmental progression of the nasopharyngeal microbiome during childhood and association with the lower airway microbiome</a>
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</div></li>
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<li><strong>Сan we start to ignore the SARS-CoV-2 disease?</strong> -
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Current WHO reports claim a decline in COVID-19 testing. Many countries are reporting no new infections. In particular, USA, China and Japan have registered no cases and COVID-19 related deaths since May 15, 2023. To discuss consequences of ignoring SARS-CoV-2 infection, we compare endemic characteristics of the disease in 2023 with ones estimated before using 2022 datasets. The accumulated numbers of cases and deaths reported to WHO by 10 most infected countries and global figures were used to calculate the average daily numbers of cases and deaths per capita (DCC and DDC) and case fatality rates (CFR) for two periods in 2023. The average values of daily deaths per million still vary between 0.12 and 0.41. It means that annual global number of COVID-19 related deaths is still approximately twice higher than the seasonal influenza mortality. Increase of CFR values in 2023 show that SARS-CoV-2 infection is still dangerous despite of increasing the vaccination level. Very low CFR figures in South Korea and very high ones in the UK 4 need further investigations.
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</p>
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.09.18.23295709v2" target="_blank">Сan we start to ignore the SARS-CoV-2 disease?</a>
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<li><strong>Evolution of enhanced innate immune suppression by SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants</strong> -
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SARS-CoV-2 adaptation to humans is evidenced by the emergence of variants of concern (VOCs) with distinct genotypes and phenotypes that facilitate immune escape and enhance transmission frequency. Most recently Omicron subvariants have emerged with heavily mutated spike proteins which facilitate re-infection of immune populations through extensive antibody escape driving replacement of previously-dominant VOCs Alpha and Delta. Interestingly, Omicron is the first VOC to produce distinct subvariants. Here, we demonstrate that later Omicron subvariants, particularly BA.4 and BA.5, have evolved an enhanced capacity to suppress human innate immunity when compared to earliest subvariants BA.1 and BA.2. We find that, like previously dominant VOCs, later Omicron subvariants tend to increase expression of viral innate immune antagonists Orf6 and nucleocapsid. We show Orf6 to be a key contributor to enhanced innate immune suppression during epithelial replication by BA.5 and Alpha, reducing innate immune signaling through IRF3 and STAT1. Convergent VOC evolution of enhanced innate immune antagonist expression suggests common pathways of adaptation to humans and links VOC, and in particular Omicron subvariant, dominance to improved innate immune evasion.
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</div>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.07.12.499603v2" target="_blank">Evolution of enhanced innate immune suppression by SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants</a>
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<li><strong>Evidence associating neutrophilia, lung damage, hyperlactatemia, blood acidosis, impaired oxygen transport, and mortality in critically ill COVID-19 patients</strong> -
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Background: COVID-19 severity and high in-hospital mortality are often associated with severe hypoxemia, hyperlactatemia, and acidosis. Since neutrophil numbers in severe COVID-19 can exceed 80% of the total circulating leukocytes and that they are massively recruited to infected lungs, we investigated whether metabolic acidosis mediated by the glycolytic neutrophils is associated with lung damage and impaired oxygen delivery in critically ill patients. Methods: Based on prospective mortality outcome, 102 critically ill-hospitalized COVID-19 patients were divided into two groups: ICU-Survivors (ICU-S, n=36) and ICU-Non-survivors (ICU-NS, n=66). Blood samples were collected from patients and control subjects to explore correlations between neutrophil counts, lung damage, glycolysis, blood lactate, blood pH, hemoglobin oxygen saturation, and mortality outcome. We also interrogated isolated neutrophils for glycolytic activities and for apoptosis using high-throughput fluorescence imaging complemented with transcriptomic analyses. Stratified survival analyses were conducted to estimate mortality risk associated with higher lactate among predefined subgroups. Results: Neutrophil counts were consistently higher in critically ill patients while exhibiting remarkably lower apoptosis. Transcriptomic analysis revealed miRNAs associated with downregulation of genes involved in neutrophils apoptosis. Both CT lung damage scores and neutrophil counts predicted mortality. Severinghaus fitting of hemoglobin oxygen saturation curve revealed a right-shift indicating lower oxygen capacity in non-survivors, which is consistent with lower blood-pH observed in the same group. Levels of blood lactate were increased in patients but significantly more in the ICU-NS relative to the control group. ROC analysis followed by Kaplan-Meyer survival analysis stratified to the obtained cut-off values showed that CT damage scores, neutrophil counts, and lactate levels are predictors of mortality within 15 days following blood collection. Conclusion: The current results implicate neutrophilia as a potential player in metabolic acidosis and deranged oxygen delivery associating SARS-CoV-2 infection thus contributing to mortality outcome.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.09.17.558185v1" target="_blank">Evidence associating neutrophilia, lung damage, hyperlactatemia, blood acidosis, impaired oxygen transport, and mortality in critically ill COVID-19 patients</a>
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</div></li>
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<li><strong>Third dose COVID-19 mRNA vaccine enhances IgG4 isotype switching and recognition of Omicron subvariants by memory B cells after with mRNA but not adenovirus priming</strong> -
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Background: Booster vaccinations are recommended to improve protection against severe disease from SARS-CoV-2 infection. With primary vaccinations involving various adenoviral vector and mRNA-based formulations, it remains unclear if these differentially affect the immune response to booster doses. We here examined the effects of homologous (mRNA/mRNA) and heterologous (adenoviral vector/mRNA) vaccination on antibody and memory B cell (Bmem) responses against ancestral and Omicron subvariants. Methods: Healthy adults who received primary BNT162b2 (mRNA) (n=18) or ChAdOx1 (vector) (n=25) vaccination were sampled 1-month and 6-months after their 2nd and 3rd dose (homologous or heterologous) vaccination. Recombinant spike receptor-binding domain (RBD) proteins from ancestral, Omicron BA.2 and BA.5 variants were produced for ELISA-based serology, and tetramerized for immunophenotyping of RBD-specific Bmem. Results: Dose 3 boosters significantly increased ancestral RBD-specific plasma IgG and Bmem in both cohorts. Up to 80% of ancestral RBD-specific Bmem expressed IgG1+. IgG4+ Bmem were detectable after primary mRNA vaccination, and expanded significantly to 5-20% after dose 3, whereas heterologous boosting did not elicit IgG4+ Bmem. Recognition of Omicron BA.2 and BA.5 by ancestral RBD-specific plasma IgG increased from 20% to 60% after the 3rd dose in both cohorts. Reactivity of ancestral RBD-specific Bmem to Omicron BA.2 and BA.5 increased following a homologous booster from 40% to 60%, but not after a heterologous booster. Conclusion: A 3rd mRNA dose generates similarly robust serological and Bmem responses in homologous and heterologous vaccination groups. The expansion of IgG4+ Bmem after mRNA priming might result from the unique vaccine formulation or dosing schedule affecting the Bmem response duration and antibody maturation.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.09.15.557929v1" target="_blank">Third dose COVID-19 mRNA vaccine enhances IgG4 isotype switching and recognition of Omicron subvariants by memory B cells after with mRNA but not adenovirus priming</a>
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<li><strong>Moving Beyond the Gradient: Social Classes as Group Contexts Defined by Multiple Forms of Capital</strong> -
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Social class is a complex multidimensional phenomenon. Yet social psychologists have typically used indicators of SES or “social rank” to proxy class. Informed by sociology and cultural psychology, we treat social classes as group contexts characterized by the interplay of material, social, and cultural capital. Subjecting three datasets to latent profile analysis (LPA; N = 30,332), we uncover qualitatively distinct class groupings within the U.S. population—each characterized by a unique pattern of capital (Studies 1–3). Consistent with theory in cultural psychology, class formation is guided by a reciprocal relationship between material capital (income and assets) and social capital (interpersonal ties). Across studies, we predict and observe one profile (the “middle/upper class”) that exhibits high material capital but low levels of social capital, and another profile (the “vulnerable workers”) that displays modest material capital but very high social capital. Studies 2 and 3 illuminate the adaptive value of vulnerable workers’ high social capital, with this group reporting similar mental and physical health outcomes to the middle/upper class (Studies 2 and 3) and leveraging their social networks to protect against health impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic (Study 3). Our work reveals that tradeoffs between material and social capital occur most reliably at the group (not individual) level; that class effects are not monotonic, but reflect higher-order interactions between forms of capital; and that LPA can be a fruitful analytic approach when combined with careful theorization, validation of profiles against appropriate covariates, and preregistration.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/ph3ze/" target="_blank">Moving Beyond the Gradient: Social Classes as Group Contexts Defined by Multiple Forms of Capital</a>
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<li><strong>Public Engagement with COVID-19 Preprints: Bridging the Gap Between Scientists and Society</strong> -
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The surge in preprint server use, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, necessitates a reex-amination of their significance in the realm of science communication. This study rigorously investigates discussions surrounding preprints, framing them within the contexts of systems theory and boundary objects in scholarly communication. An analysis of a curated selection of COVID-19-related preprints from bioRxiv and medRxiv was conducted, emphasizing those that transitioned to journal publications, alongside the associated commentary and Twitter activity. The dataset was bifurcated into comments by biomedical experts versus those by non-experts, encompassing both academic and general public perspectives. Findings revealed that while peers dominated nearly half the preprint discussions, their presence in Twitter dia-logues was markedly diminished. Yet, intriguingly, the themes explored by these two groups diverged considerably. Preprints emerged as potent boundary objects, reinforcing, rather than obscuring, the delineation between scientific and non-scientific discourse. They serve as cru-cial conduits for knowledge dissemination and foster inter-disciplinary engagements. None-theless, the interplay between scientists and the wider public remains nuanced, necessitating strategies to incorporate these diverse discussions into the peer review continuum without compromising academic integrity and to cultivate sustained engagement from both experts and the broader community.
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</div>
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/75gs6/" target="_blank">Public Engagement with COVID-19 Preprints: Bridging the Gap Between Scientists and Society</a>
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<li><strong>Sex-specific differences in physiological parameters related to SARS-CoV-2 infections among a national cohort (COVI-GAPP study)</strong> -
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Considering sex as a biological variable in modern digital health solutions, we investigated sex-specific differences in the trajectory of four physiological parameters across a COVID-19 infection. A wearable medical device measured breathing rate, heart rate, heart rate variability, and wrist skin temperature in 1163 participants (mean age = 44.1 years, standard deviation [SD]=5.6; 667 [57%] females). Participants reported daily symptoms and confounders in a complementary app. A machine learning algorithm retrospectively ingested daily biophysical parameters to detect COVID-19 infections. COVID-19 serology samples were collected from all participants at baseline and follow-up. We analysed potential sex-specific differences in physiology and antibody titres using multilevel modelling and t-tests. Over 1.5 million hours of physiological data were recorded. During the symptomatic period of infection, men demonstrated larger increases in skin temperature, breathing rate and heart rate as well as larger decreases in heart rate variability than women. The COVID-19 infection detection algorithm performed similarly well for men and women. Our study belongs to the first research to provide evidence for differential physiological responses to COVID-19 between females and males, highlighting the potential of wearable technology to inform future precision medicine approaches. This work has received support from the Princely House of the Principality of Liechtenstein, the government of the Principality of Liechtenstein, the Hanela Foundation in Switzerland, and the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) 2 Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No 101005177. This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union9s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and EFPIA.
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</p>
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.09.17.23295693v1" target="_blank">Sex-specific differences in physiological parameters related to SARS-CoV-2 infections among a national cohort (COVI-GAPP study)</a>
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</div></li>
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<li><strong>Increased neurovirulence of omicron BA.5 and XBB variants over BA.1 in K18-hACE2 mice and human brain organoids</strong> -
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<div>
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The reduced pathogenicity of the omicron BA.1 sub-lineage compared to earlier variants is well described, although whether such attenuation is retained for later variants like BA.5 and XBB remains controversial. We show that BA.5 and XBB isolates were significantly more pathogenic in K18-hACE2 mice than a BA.1 isolate, showing increased neuroinvasiveness, resulting in fulminant brain infection and mortality, similar to that seen for original ancestral isolates. BA.5 also infected human cortical brain organoids to a greater extent than the BA.1 and original ancestral isolates. In the brains of mice, neurons were the main target of infection, and in human organoids neuronal progenitor cells and immature neurons were infected. Although fulminant brain infection is not a feature of COVID-19, evidence for brain infection and brain damage in some COVID-19 patients with severe disease is becoming compelling, with the results herein suggesting that evolving omicron variants may have increasing intrinsic neuropathogenic potential.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.22.521696v2" target="_blank">Increased neurovirulence of omicron BA.5 and XBB variants over BA.1 in K18-hACE2 mice and human brain organoids</a>
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<li><strong>Adherence Behaviors to Prevent COVID: The Role of Anxiety and Prosocial Behaviors</strong> -
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In situations of acute stress, individuals may engage in prosocial behaviors or alternatively, individuals may engage in risk taking self-oriented behaviors. The COVID-19 pandemic created large stress-promoting conditions that impacted individuals9decisions to adhere to COVID-19 preventative behaviors. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between anxiety during the pandemic and adherence behaviors to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and the moderating influence prosocial behaviors. Method: 54 undergraduate students completed online questionnaires during the second wave of the pandemic: prosocial behaviors, anxiety, and COVID-19 preventive behaviors. Moderation analyses were conducted using Process in SPSS. Results: Results demonstrated a statistically significant interaction of public prosocial behavior with state anxiety([beta]= -.17, p=.01) predicting engagement in COVID-19 preventative behaviors. At low levels of anxiety, low levels of prosocial public behaviors were associated with higher engagement in COVID-19 preventative behaviors. In contrast, high levels of public prosocial behavior were associated with lower engagement in COVID-19 preventative behaviors at low levels of anxiety. Conclusion: Results provide information that can aid at in the creation of anxiety reducing interventions that could increase adherence to COVID-19 preventative behaviors.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.09.18.23295630v1" target="_blank">Adherence Behaviors to Prevent COVID: The Role of Anxiety and Prosocial Behaviors</a>
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<li><strong>Deep learning-based prediction of one-year mortality in the entire Finnish population is an accurate but unfair digital marker of aging</strong> -
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Background: Accurately predicting short-term mortality is important for optimizing healthcare resource allocation, developing risk-reducing interventions, and improving end-of-life care. Moreover, short-term mortality risk reflects individual frailty and can serve as digital aging marker. Previous studies have focused on specific, high-risk populations. Predicting all-cause mortality in an unselected population incorporating both health and socioeconomic factors has direct public health relevance but requires careful fairness considerations. Methods: We developed a deep learning model to predict 1-year mortality using nationwide longitudinal data from the Finnish population (N = 5.4 million), including >8,000 features and spanning back up to 50 years. We used the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) as a primary metric to assess model performance and fairness. Findings: The model achieved an AUC of 0.944 with strong calibration, outperforming a baseline model that only included age and sex (AUC = 0.897). The model generalized well to different causes of death (AUC > 0.800 for 45 out of 50 causes), including COVID-19 which was not present in the training data. The model performed best among young females and worst in older males (AUC = 0.910 vs. AUC = 0.718). Extensive fairness analyses revealed that individuals belonging to multiple disadvantaged groups had the worst model performance, not explained by age and sex differences, reduced healthcare contact, or smaller training set sizes within these groups. Conclusion: A deep learning model based on nationwide longitudinal multi-modal data accurately identified short-term mortality risk holding the potential for developing a population-wide in-silico aging marker. Unfairness in model predictions represents a major challenge to the equitable integration of these approaches in public health interventions.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
|
||||
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.09.18.23295726v1" target="_blank">Deep learning-based prediction of one-year mortality in the entire Finnish population is an accurate but unfair digital marker of aging</a>
|
||||
</div></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Assess the Safety, Tolerability and Preliminary Efficacy of HH-120 for the Treatment of COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: HH-120; Drug: placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Huahui Health<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Investigate the Prevention of COVID-19 withVYD222 in Adults With Immune Compromise and in Participants Aged 12 Years or Older Who Are at Risk of Exposure to SARS-CoV-2</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: VYD222; Drug: Normal saline<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Invivyd, Inc.<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Additional Recombinant COVID-19 Humoral and Cell-Mediated Immunogenicity in Immunosuppressed Populations</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Immunosuppression; COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Biological: NVX-CoV2372<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: University of Wisconsin, Madison; Novavax<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Reducing COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Among Hispanic Parents</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Vaccine-Preventable Diseases; COVID-19 Pandemic; Health-Related Behavior; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Narration<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Baseline surveys; Behavioral: Digital Storytelling Intervention; Behavioral: Information Control Intervention<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Arizona State University; Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Evaluation of Safety and Immunogenicity of a SARS-CoV-2(Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2) Booster Vaccine (LEM-mR203)</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 Infection; COVID-19 Vaccine Adverse Reaction<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: LEM-mR203; Biological: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Lemonex<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Phase I Safety Study of B/HPIV3/S-6P Vaccine Via Nasal Spray in Adults</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: SARS-CoV-2 Infection<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Biological: B/HPIV3/S-6P<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID); Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; National Institutes of Health (NIH)<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Determine the Tolerability of Intranasal LMN-301</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Biological: LMN-301<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Lumen Bioscience, Inc.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Safety of Simultaneous mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine With Other Childhood Vaccines in Young Children</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Fever After Vaccination; Fever; Seizures Fever<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine; Biological: Routine Childhood Vaccinations<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Duke University; Kaiser Permanente; Columbia University; Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Effect of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms in Nursing Students</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Other: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Group<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Necmettin Erbakan University<br/><b>Active, not recruiting</b></p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Long COVID Immune Profiling</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Long COVID; POTS - Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome; Autonomic Dysfunction<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Diagnostic Test: IL-6; Diagnostic Test: cytokines (IL-17, and IFN-ɣ); Behavioral: Compass 31<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Vanderbilt University Medical Center; American Heart Association<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cinnamaldehyde inhibits cytokine storms induced by the ORF3a protein of SARS-CoV-2 via ROS-elimination in activated T cells</strong> - Cytokine storms are the cause of complications in patients with severe COVID-19, and it becomes the target of therapy. Several natural compounds were selected to screen the inhibitory effect on T-cell proliferation by Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) and cytokine production by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Open reading frame 3a (ORF3a) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) stimulates the specific T-cell activation model in vivo and in vitro. The…</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How does the Immunological System Change during the SARS-COV-2 Attack? A Clue for the New Immunotherapy Discovery</strong> - The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-COV-2) is one of the biggest unsolved global problems of the 21st century for which there has been no definitive cure yet. Like other respiratory viruses, SARS-COV-2 triggers the host immunity dramatically, causing dysfunction in the immune system, both innate and adaptive, which is a common feature of COVID-19 patients. Evidence shows that in the early stages of COVID-19, the immune system is suppressed…</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pharmacological inhibition of TBK1/IKKε blunts immunopathology in a murine model of SARS-CoV-2 infection</strong> - TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1) is a key signalling component in the production of type-I interferons, which have essential antiviral activities, including against SARS-CoV-2. TBK1, and its homologue IκB kinase-ε (IKKε), can also induce pro-inflammatory responses that contribute to pathogen clearance. While initially protective, sustained engagement of type-I interferons is associated with damaging hyper-inflammation found in severe COVID-19 patients. The contribution of TBK1/IKKε signalling to…</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Host heparan sulfate promotes ACE2 super-cluster assembly and enhances SARS-CoV-2-associated syncytium formation</strong> - SARS-CoV-2 infection causes spike-dependent fusion of infected cells with ACE2 positive neighboring cells, generating multi-nuclear syncytia that are often associated with severe COVID. To better elucidate the mechanism of spike-induced syncytium formation, we combine chemical genetics with 4D confocal imaging to establish the cell surface heparan sulfate (HS) as a critical stimulator for spike-induced cell-cell fusion. We show that HS binds spike and promotes spike-induced ACE2 clustering,…</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Prostaglandin E<sub>2</sub> and myocarditis; friend or foe?</strong> - This review article summarizes the role of prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) and its receptors (EP1-EP4) as it relates to the inflammatory cardiomyopathy, myocarditis. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the onset of myocarditis in a subset of patients prompted a debate on the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), like ibuprofen, which act to inhibit the actions of prostaglandins. This review aims to further understanding of the role of PGE(2) in the pathogenesis or protection of the…</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SADS-CoV nsp1 inhibits the IFN-β production by preventing TBK1 phosphorylation and inducing CBP degradation</strong> - Swine acute diarrhea syndrome (SADS) is first reported in January 2017 in Southern China. It subsequently causes widespread outbreaks in multiple pig farms, leading to economic losses. Therefore, it is an urgent to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis and immune evasion of Swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus (SADS-CoV). Our research discovered that SADS-CoV inhibited the production of interferon-β (IFN-β) during viral infection. The nonstructural protein 1 (nsp1)…</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Bioprospecting the potential of metabolites from a Saharan saline soil strain Nocardiopsis dassonvillei GSBS4</strong> - Saharan soil samples collected in El-Oued province have been investigated for actinobacteria as a valuable source for the production of bioactive metabolites. A total of 273 isolates were obtained and subjected to antagonistic activity tests against human pathogenic germs. A strain with a broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity was selected and identified as Nocardiopsis dassonvillei GSBS4, with high sequence similarities to N. dassonvillei subsp. dassonvillei^(T) X97886.1 (99%) based on…</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cholesterol and Ceramide Facilitate Membrane Fusion Mediated by the Fusion Peptide of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein</strong> - SARS-CoV-2 entry into host cells is mediated by the Spike (S) protein of the viral envelope. The S protein is composed of two subunits: S1 that induces binding to the host cell via its interaction with the ACE2 receptor of the cell surface and S2 that triggers fusion between viral and cellular membranes. Fusion by S2 depends on its heptad repeat domains that bring membranes close together and its fusion peptide (FP) that interacts with and perturbs the membrane structure to trigger fusion….</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Live imaging of the airway epithelium reveals that mucociliary clearance modulates SARS-CoV-2 spread</strong> - SARS-CoV-2 initiates infection in the conducting airways, which rely on mucocilliary clearance (MCC) to minimize pathogen penetration. However, it is unclear how MCC impacts SARS-CoV-2 spread after infection is established. To understand viral spread at this site, we performed live imaging of SARS-CoV-2 infected differentiated primary human bronchial epithelium cultures for up to 9 days. Fluorescent markers for cilia and mucus allowed longitudinal monitoring of MCC, ciliary motion, and…</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Exploring the medicinal potential of Dark Chemical Matters (DCM) to design promising inhibitors for PLpro of SARS-CoV-2 using molecular screening and simulation approaches</strong> - The growing concerns and cases of COVID-19 with the appearance of novel variants i.e., BA.2.75. BA.5 and XBB have prompted demand for more effective treatment options that could overcome the risk of immune evasion. For this purpose, discovering novel small molecules to inhibit druggable proteins such as PLpro required for viral pathogenesis, replication, survival, and spread is the best choice. Compounds from the Dark chemical matter (DCM) database is consistently active in various screening…</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Structure adaptation in Omicron SARS-CoV-2/hACE2: Biophysical origins of evolutionary driving forces</strong> - Since its emergence, the COVID-19 threat has been sustained by a series of transmission waves initiated by new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Some of these arise with higher transmissivity and/or increased disease severity. Here we use molecular dynamics simulations to examine the modulation of the fundamental interactions between the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the spike glycoprotein and the host cell receptor (human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2: hACE2) arising from Omicron variant…</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Occurrence, formation, and proteins perturbation of disinfection byproducts in indoor air resulting from chlorine disinfection</strong> - Increased amounts of chlorine disinfectant have been sprayed to inactivate viruses in the environment since the COVID-19 pandemic, and the health risk from chemicals, especially disinfection byproducts (DBPs), has unintentionally increased. In this study, we characterized the occurrence of haloacetic acids (HAAs) and trihalomethanes (THMs) in indoor air and evaluated their formation potential from typical indoor ingredients. Subsequently, the adverse effect of chloroacetic acid on A549 cells was…</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>In silico evidences of Mpro inhibition by a series of organochalcogen-AZT derivatives and their safety in Caenorhabditis elegans</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: We have found that compounds S116l (a Tellurium AZT-derivative) and S116h (a Selenium-AZT derivative) presented more promising effects both in silico and in vivo, being strong candidates for further in vivo studies.</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Remdesivir increases mtDNA copy number causing mild alterations to oxidative phosphorylation</strong> - SARS-CoV-2 causes the severe respiratory disease COVID-19. Remdesivir (RDV) was the first fast-tracked FDA approved treatment drug for COVID-19. RDV acts as an antiviral ribonucleoside (adenosine) analogue that becomes active once it accumulates intracellularly. It then diffuses into the host cell and terminates viral RNA transcription. Previous studies have shown that certain nucleoside analogues unintentionally inhibit mitochondrial RNA or DNA polymerases or cause mutational changes to…</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Outcomes of a social media campaign to promote COVID-19 vaccination in Nigeria</strong> - The COVID-19 pandemic has been an historic challenge to public health and behavior change programs. In low -and middle-income countries (LMICs) such as Nigeria, there have been challenges in promoting vaccination. Vaccine hesitancy and social norms related to vaccination may be important factors in promoting or inhibiting not only COVID vaccination, but other routine vaccinations as well. The aim of this study was to conduct a national-level quasi-experimental evaluation of a social media based…</p></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
|
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<title>20 September, 2023</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
|
||||
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
|
||||
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
|
||||
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
|
||||
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
|
||||
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
|
||||
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
|
||||
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Nikki Haley’s Consensus Appeal</strong> - A canny establishment conservative may be Biden’s greatest threat in 2024. But can she solve the Trump problem? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-political-scene/nikki-haleys-consensus-appeal">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Republican Support for the U.A.W. Is a Big LOL</strong> - When the G.O.P. was in power, it consistently sided with employers and blocked legislation supported by labor unions. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/republican-support-for-the-uaw-is-a-big-lol">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Freedom for Five Americans Doesn’t End Flash Points with Iran</strong> - The prisoner exchange will almost certainly not stop an Iranian tactic that has spanned more than four decades. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/freedom-for-five-americans-doesnt-end-flash-points-with-iran">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The World According to Elon Musk’s Grandfather</strong> - What happened to antisemitic rants before social media. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-world-according-to-elon-musks-grandfather">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Fight Against Climate Change Returns to the Streets</strong> - But this movement clearly needs to expand again. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-fight-against-climate-change-returns-to-the-streets">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li><strong>Stuart Russell wrote the textbook on AI safety. He explains how to keep it from spiraling out of control.</strong> -
|
||||
<figure>
|
||||
<img alt="illustration of a robot speaking with a podium while a scientist in a lab coat holds up a controller that says “STOP”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/CoS0ynbl9VHKuUwLJdJiMkkeuB8=/180x0:1620x1080/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72667880/Getty_Marina.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
|
||||
CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images
|
||||
</figcaption>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
AI doesn’t have to be superintelligent to cause serious havoc.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0PvoH1">
|
||||
One of the hardest parts of the news business is striking a balance between covering stories that <em>seem</em> important in the moment and covering stories that you know will truly matter in the future. And it’s hard because the most consequential things happening right now are often boring or difficult to explain.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ho9YEn">
|
||||
Artificial intelligence is a good example of this sort of challenge. The ongoing revolution in <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/4/28/23702644/artificial-intelligence-machine-learning-technology">AI</a> is unfolding so quickly that it’s hard to keep up, even if you’re trying. <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/3/15/23640640/gpt-4-chatgpt-openai-generative-ai">Chat GPT-4</a>, for instance, was released in March of this year and it stunned almost everyone who used it. If this latest large language model is a sign of what’s coming, it’s easy to imagine all the ways it might change the world — and then there are all the ways it might change the world that we <em>can’t</em> imagine.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B7A6oJ">
|
||||
So what do we need to know about AI right now? What are the questions we should be asking? And how should we be preparing for whatever’s coming?
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4WHass">
|
||||
To get some answers, I invited Stuart Russell onto <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-gray-area-with-sean-illing/id1081584611"><em>The Gray Area</em></a>. Russell is a professor of computer science at UC Berkeley and the author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Human-Compatible-Artificial-Intelligence-Problem/dp/0525558632/ref=asc_df_0525558632/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=459440273404&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8812316997016693251&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9014051&hvtargid=pla-951654604793&psc=1"><em>Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control</em></a>. He was one of the signatories of an <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/3/29/23660833/ai-pause-musk-artificial-intelligence-moratorium-chatgpt-gpt4">open letter</a> in March calling for a six-month pause on AI training. We discuss the risks and potential benefits of AI and whether he believes we can build AI systems that align with our values and interests.
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TxUiG7">
|
||||
Below is an excerpt of our conversation, edited for length and clarity. As always, there’s <em>much</em> more in the full podcast, so listen and follow <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-gray-area"><em>The Gray Area</em></a> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-gray-area-with-sean-illing/id1081584611">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/search/vox%20conversations">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6NOJ6IkTb2GWMj1RpmtnxP">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/show/vox-conversations">Stitcher</a>, or wherever you find podcasts. New episodes drop every Monday.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<div id="eeJhgc">
|
||||
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="zvgc0E"/>
|
||||
<h4 id="OflXU1">
|
||||
Sean Illing
|
||||
</h4>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LfgPpn">
|
||||
When you think about the state of AI at this moment, what feels most urgent to you? What excites you? What scares you?
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h4 id="busGoa">
|
||||
Stuart Russell
|
||||
</h4>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GZrA3G">
|
||||
I think it’s important to understand that almost nobody is saying that the state of AI right now is such that we have to worry about AI systems taking over the world, if you want to put it that way. They still exhibit many limitations, and at least the latest generation, the large language models like ChatGPT, don’t exhibit the kinds of decision-making capabilities and planning capabilities that you would need to take over the world.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wze6AV">
|
||||
You can try playing chess with them, for example. They’re pretty hopeless. They pretend well for a few moves, and then they’ll play a move that’s completely illegal because they haven’t actually learned the rules properly. There’s a lot of progress that we still need to make before we reach systems that are fully comparable or better than a human mind.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wmyq9X">
|
||||
The things people are concerned about right now with this technology [are things that] we already have. Disinformation would probably be number one. The fact that these systems can be directed to generate highly targeted, personalized propaganda, to convince an individual based on everything the system can find out about that person. It could do that. Not just in a single email or blog post or whatever, but it could do that over several months. People are very worried about that being weaponized by nation states, by criminals, by unscrupulous politicians who would produce deep fakes of their opponents.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GhW2rn">
|
||||
These are very real, and we’re starting to see them already happening and a bunch of other serious concerns. One that has surfaced recently is defamation. Systems making up crimes, not being directed to do so, but just because they <a href="https://apnews.com/article/artificial-intelligence-hallucination-chatbots-chatgpt-falsehoods-ac4672c5b06e6f91050aa46ee731bcf4">hallucinate</a>. They say things that have no basis in truth, but making up defamatory statements about real individuals. There are a couple of lawsuits happening already.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h4 id="LoLtJu">
|
||||
Sean Illing
|
||||
</h4>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X842tz">
|
||||
Are you comfortable referring to something like GPT-4 as intelligent? Or is that not quite the right word?
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h4 id="1gvYlk">
|
||||
Stuart Russell
|
||||
</h4>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dVzB9A">
|
||||
For normal conversation, it’s a reasonable thing that it shows elements of intelligence. In fact, [in a] <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/2303.12712.pdf">paper</a> that Microsoft produced, a group of experts there spent several months with GPT-4 before it was released, trying to understand what it could do. The paper that they produced is called “Sparks of Artificial General Intelligence.” And that’s a pretty bold claim, because artificial general intelligence means the kind of AI that exceeds human capabilities in every dimension, the kind of AI that does take over the world.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HBTkRX">
|
||||
According to them, we are creating the kind of AI that does take over the world. We have absolutely no idea how it works, and we are releasing it to hundreds of millions of people. We’re giving it credit cards, bank accounts, social media accounts. We’re doing everything we can to make sure that it can take over the world. That should give people something to think about.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wRhkxJ">
|
||||
Let me give you an example of that one of my colleagues sent me. He was using ChatGPT-3.5 and he asked it, “Which is bigger, an elephant or a cat?” And it says, “An elephant is bigger than a cat.” You say, “Which is not bigger than the other, an elephant or a cat?” And it says, “Neither an elephant nor a cat is bigger than the other.” When you look at that second answer, you realize, “Well, it can’t be answering the question with respect to some internal model where there are big elephants and little cats,” but that means that it wasn’t answering the first question with respect to an internal model where there are big elephants and little cats. It wasn’t really answering either question in the sense that we think about answering questions, where we query an internal model of the world.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sPjYXR">
|
||||
If I say, “Where’s your car?” you query your internal model of the world. You say, “It’s in the parking garage across the road.” That’s what we mean by answering a question. It’s really clear that in a real sense, these systems are not answering questions. They don’t seem to build a coherent internal model of the world.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h4 id="qoRBnC">
|
||||
Sean Illing
|
||||
</h4>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="57wTLw">
|
||||
You focus a lot on the “alignment problem” or the “control problem” and this question of whether AI might develop its own goals, separate and apart from the goals we program into it. How worried are you on this front?
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h4 id="kAXnoH">
|
||||
Stuart Russell
|
||||
</h4>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oSt0CW">
|
||||
The alignment problem is simpler than the one you described. You suggested the alignment problem is about systems developing their own goals, which are different from the ones we program into them. Actually, the original alignment problem is about systems pursuing the goals that we program into them, but the problem is we don’t know how to program the right goals.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rpOSpO">
|
||||
We call this the <a href="https://futureoflife.org/ai/artificial-intelligence-king-midas-problem/">King Midas problem</a>. King Midas programmed the goal into the gods that everything he touched turned to gold, and the gods gave him exactly this. They carried out his objective, and then his food and his drink and his family all turned to gold and he dies of misery and starvation. There are many legends and lots of cultures have stories very similar to this, where you get what you ask for and you regret it, because you didn’t ask for the right thing.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Bhkv0u">
|
||||
What people have observed is that when you’ve got a sufficiently capable AI system, and you give it even a very innocuous-sounding goal like, “Could you fetch me a cup of coffee?” When a machine is sufficiently intelligent and it has a goal like, “Fetch a cup of coffee,” it doesn’t take a genius to realize that if someone switches you off, you’re not going to succeed in fetching the coffee. As a logical sub-goal of this original goal, you’ve now got the goal of, “Preventing myself from being switched off,” and possibly taking other preemptive steps to avoid interference by human beings in the achievement of this goal.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h4 id="FOxb91">
|
||||
Sean Illing
|
||||
</h4>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a5t1iE">
|
||||
You can have fun imagining all the ways that could go wrong—
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h4 id="tNnH8C">
|
||||
Stuart Russell
|
||||
</h4>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Icig2m">
|
||||
Yep. There are many science fiction stories that do exactly that. Sometimes in the literature you’ll see the phrase, “Instrumental goals.” These are goals like self-preservation, like acquiring more power over the environment, acquiring money, acquiring more computing resources so you can do a better job of solving the goal that you’ve been given. These instrumental goals are just derived automatically from the original goal.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DW2Xis">
|
||||
With a human being, if I say, “Fetch a cup of coffee,” it doesn’t mean “Fetch a cup of coffee” is now the only goal that you should care about and your entire life’s mission is to fetch that coffee. That’s not what we mean when we say it to a human being, but that’s how we have been building our AI systems for decades and decades. The objective that we put in is the objective of the system and nothing else. That’s fundamentally a mistake. We can’t build systems that way, because we cannot specify completely and correctly all the things that human beings care about, so that the system’s behavior is actually what we would really want to have happen.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jMd9Rg">
|
||||
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Human-Compatible-Artificial-Intelligence-Problem/dp/0525558632/ref=asc_df_0525558632/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=459440273404&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8812316997016693251&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9014051&hvtargid=pla-951654604793&psc=1">My book</a> is about a different way of building AI systems, so that they understand some things about what humans want, but they know there’s a bunch of other stuff that they don’t understand and they’re uncertain about. And that actually leads to systems that behave much more cautiously and usefully.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="y7QE6F">
|
||||
The other thing that you mentioned, the possibility that these machines would develop their own goals — obviously that would be much worse. It’s bad enough that we give them specified goals. If they’re able to develop their own goals, then there’s no reason to think that those would be aligned with our goals.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h4 id="gVrSTa">
|
||||
Sean Illing
|
||||
</h4>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U9eAMR">
|
||||
I often hear people say that we’re still only talking about narrow AI at the moment. We’re not talking about artificial general intelligence, which you mentioned a minute ago, something that is actually self-teaching and can develop its own goals, and that’s the thing we really have to worry about. But I don’t know, that seems wrong to me, or it seems like it misunderstands how progress in AI works.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qYI7F0">
|
||||
But setting that aside, it’s not like we need some AGI superintelligence to wreck our world. As you said a few minutes ago, when I start imagining all the havoc AI could cause merely through the creation and distribution of misinformation, it makes my head explode. <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/6/8/21284005/urgent-threat-deepfakes-politics-porn-kristen-bell">Deep fake</a> tech is already here, but it doesn’t feel pervasive enough yet to be a major concern. But the lines between fact and fiction are already suicidally blurred in our society, and the post-truth world I can imagine in that future is infinitely worse than our situation today.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="m8giby">
|
||||
Do you think we’re even close to ready for this?
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h4 id="Qpz78H">
|
||||
Stuart Russell
|
||||
</h4>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1RBoGh">
|
||||
No, I think if it’s not regulated, we are in for a huge amount of pain. As you say, in terms of still images, we are already at the point where they are indistinguishable from reality and they are coupled with the large language models. In other words, you can ask the language model to give you an image of anything you want and it’ll do it.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4aOals">
|
||||
DALL-E and these other image generators are coupled to language models. You can already say, “Give me a 22-second video showing such and such and such and such,” and it will do it. It’s not great right now, but three years ago, face generation wasn’t great. There would often be weird things with the ears. Or it’d be like the same pair of earrings occurring over and over again. Just glitches. But those have been ironed out and now it’s pretty much perfect.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NKpHlE">
|
||||
And that’s going to be the case for video very soon, if not already in the lab. You can say, “I need a video of Donald Trump receiving a suitcase full of cash from some mafioso,” and it’ll produce it for you. And it’ll be very difficult for anyone to prove that’s not real. We really need regulation. Just like we have regulation around counterfeit currency. We can now produce counterfeit currency that’s indistinguishable from the real thing to a non-expert shopkeeper, for example.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OjBqAc">
|
||||
As a result, we have very stringent regulations and enormously long jail sentences for counterfeiting and a lot of security around the designs. This idea that digital technology is completely safe and should be unregulated in all circumstances is just extremely outdated. The two things people are proposing, one, that all output for AI-generated content should be labeled indelibly. There are methods called watermarking, which work for images and sound and video, where it’s cryptographically encoded into the content and there’s really no way to pull it out.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CRV6q7">
|
||||
You can recognize that that’s generated by such and such a model on such and such a date. And then, you also want the platforms, the social media platforms, necessarily have to make that absolutely apparent to the user. They could, for example, give you a filter saying, “I don’t want to see artificially generated content. Period.” Or if you do see it, it should have a big red box around it. Maybe a red filter, so that it just doesn’t look like ordinary, natural video.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HNBsJm">
|
||||
And then, you also want to have ways of watermarking real video. When I have a video camera and I’m out there in the real world, it’s producing an indelible cryptographically secure time-stamping and geocoding and all the rest, so that that’s globally recognized. So that we know that this is real video.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1K4EXn">
|
||||
Those two things together will go a long way. Plus, the regulations on the media platforms go a long way to making us safe. Is that going to happen? I don’t know. An interesting <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/24/upshot/artificial-intelligence-regulation.html">article in the New York Times</a> yesterday was saying, “On average, it takes [decades] for a regulation to catch up with technology.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h4 id="OeUcpW">
|
||||
Sean Illing
|
||||
</h4>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U7oqRq">
|
||||
A lot of these conversations about AI seem to imply that we actually have the power to control something that will be far more capable than we are. But I don’t see any reason in nature or history to believe that’s the case—
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h4 id="6dLGsJ">
|
||||
Stuart Russell
|
||||
</h4>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bTbb9e">
|
||||
There are no historical examples and no examples in nature that I’m aware of where that happens. Although, actually, there are weird things that happen in nature. There are fungi that control the behavior of animals by literally getting into their nervous systems and causing them to behave in weird ways. Causing mice not to be afraid of cats, for example, so that the mouse gets eaten, and then the fungus gets into the brain of the cat. Some complicated lifecycle story like that.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3eNRDr">
|
||||
There are these weird exceptions, but basically we don’t have a good model for how this might work. The way I think about it, if I go back to the question I said at the beginning, “How do we maintain power forever over systems more powerful than ourselves?” That sounds pretty hopeless. If instead you say, “What’s a mathematical problem such that no matter how well the AI system solves it, we are guaranteed to be happy with the outcomes?” That sounds maybe a little more possible.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lXrX6M">
|
||||
We can make the AI system as intelligent as you want, but it’s constitutionally designed to be solving a certain type of problem. And if it does it well, we are going to be happy with the results. The way I’m thinking about this is, as you said, not three laws, but actually two laws really. One, the AI system’s only objective is to further the interests of human beings. And the second principle is that it knows that it doesn’t know what those interests are.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h4 id="HFrLSW">
|
||||
Sean Illing
|
||||
</h4>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7297HC">
|
||||
At what point does AI innovation become the most consequential event in human history?
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h4 id="nMsVyM">
|
||||
Stuart Russell
|
||||
</h4>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3YUCnn">
|
||||
Good question. I think certainly when we have something resembling AGI. AGI means AI systems that match or exceed human capabilities along all relevant dimensions, but because of the massive advantages that machines have in speed, memory, communication, bandwidth, intake bandwidth, there’s no doubt that they would very quickly far exceed human capabilities.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6WL8Nu">
|
||||
That would be the biggest event in human history, in my view, because it would in some sense basically switch to an entirely different basis for civilization. Our civilization is based on our intelligence, and now that would no longer be true. It might also be the end of civilization, if we don’t figure out how to control such a system.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kwYqG1">
|
||||
<em>To hear the rest of the conversation, </em><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/conservative-socialism/id1081584611?i=1000625916356"><em>click here</em></a><em>, and be sure to follow </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/thegrayarea">The Gray Area</a><em> on </em><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-gray-area-with-sean-illing/id1081584611"><em>Apple Podcasts</em></a><em>, </em><a href="https://podcasts.google.com/search/vox%20conversations"><em>Google Podcasts</em></a><em>, </em><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6NOJ6IkTb2GWMj1RpmtnxP"><em>Spotify</em></a><em>, </em><a href="https://www.stitcher.com/show/vox-conversations"><em>Stitcher</em></a><em>, or wherever you listen to podcasts.</em>
|
||||
</p></li>
|
||||
<li><strong>10 of the biggest — and smallest — scientific mysteries</strong> -
|
||||
<figure>
|
||||
<img alt="Hubble Space Telescope photo of spiral galaxy NGC 4414." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/V4oRT57EbdKP5Ei3nPATqmuva1U=/0x65:1730x1363/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72667764/904137.0.jpg"/>
|
||||
<figcaption>
|
||||
NASA
|
||||
</figcaption>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Some unanswered scientific questions loom out in the universe. Others reside in our homes.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uj4TJ4">
|
||||
In March 2021, Vox launched <a href="https://www.vox.com/unexplainable"><em>Unexplainable</em></a>, a podcast focused on unanswered questions and everything we learn by exploring the unknown. One hundred episodes later, our producers have scoured the land, the sea, the animal kingdom, the human body, the solar system, and the universe to explain the blank spaces in our collective knowledge.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9Ld7Cs">
|
||||
In this process, we’ve learned a lot: about how questions get answered, who sets the scientific agenda, and the hope that resides in a great question. Unanswered questions matter because they help us imagine the future; all progress starts by asking questions, and all questions come from reckoning with what’s not known.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WH1LIv">
|
||||
But perhaps the biggest, most exciting lesson <em>Unexplainable</em>’s producers and reporters have learned is just how many unanswered questions there are! We’re 100 episodes in, with no signs of running out of topics for stories.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JDuD7C">
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bpdhfe">
|
||||
These mysteries exist in all sizes — literally. From huge mysteries that involve the area of the entire universe to mysteries that reside in small spaces, like in the crevices of our homes, on the starting line of a track race, or tucked away deep in a forest. It’s delightful to learn that, sometimes, these little mysteries are no more resolved than the cosmic ones. So here are some of our favorite big mysteries, and our favorite smaller ones (which are still big in their own way).
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2tkP6X">
|
||||
<em>(Have a great mystery for </em>Unexplainable<em> to explore? Email us: Unexplainable@vox.com) </em>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h2 id="RI5zNY">
|
||||
Biggest Mysteries
|
||||
</h2>
|
||||
<h3 id="8IFTOC">
|
||||
<strong>What is the universe made out of?</strong>
|
||||
</h3>
|
||||
<div class="c-float-left">
|
||||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/7SRIjoBUyBuccbewFiR1KUJyqYU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22053291/heic1506f.jpg"/> <cite>NASA</cite>
|
||||
<figcaption>
|
||||
Shown in blue on the image is a map of the dark matter found within a galaxy cluster.
|
||||
</figcaption>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FUqbeL">
|
||||
It’s a simple question that’s also bafflingly unanswered: What makes up the universe?
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2rvruL">
|
||||
It turns out all the stars in all the galaxies in all the universe barely even begin to account for all the <em>stuff</em> out there. Most of the matter in the universe is actually unseeable, untouchable, and, to this day, undiscovered. It’s called dark matter, and despite searching for it for decades, scientists still have no idea what it is.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CJwVXx">
|
||||
How might they find it?
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<div id="gY6cfC">
|
||||
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7IBYRG">
|
||||
<em><strong>Further reading:</strong></em><em> </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/21537034/dark-matter-unexplainable-podcast">Dark matter holds our universe together. No one knows what it is.</a>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="HncXHY"/>
|
||||
<h3 id="FLXsjV">
|
||||
<strong>How will </strong><em><strong>everything</strong></em><strong> end?</strong>
|
||||
</h3>
|
||||
<div class="c-float-right">
|
||||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/bywiBbQ0Shkc34FBAYqRPkBdCEI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24371303/STScI_01G8H1NK4W8CJYHF2DDFD1W0DQ.png"/> <cite>NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO</cite>
|
||||
<figcaption>
|
||||
The first image released from the Webb space telescope.
|
||||
</figcaption>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r44iAA">
|
||||
In the early 1900s <a href="https://www.aavso.org/henrietta-leavitt-%E2%80%93-celebrating-forgotten-astronomer"><strong>Henrietta Leavitt</strong></a>, a Massachusetts-born “computer” who worked at the Harvard College Observatory, <a href="http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1908AnHar..60...87L"><strong>published a discovery that</strong></a><strong> </strong>may sound small but is one of the most important in the history of astronomy: She found a way to measure the distance to certain stars.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VrjbS4">
|
||||
Over time, scientists kept building on Leavitt’s ruler to measure the universe. As they used these measuring tools, their understanding of the universe evolved. They realized it was far bigger than previously thought, there are billions of galaxies, and it’s expanding: Those galaxies are moving further and further away from one another.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="s7mSQZ">
|
||||
Astronomers also realized that the universe had a beginning. If galaxies are moving away from one another now, it means they were closer together in the past — which led scientists to the idea of the Big Bang.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iJgtm2">
|
||||
It also led them to realize that the universe may, eventually, end.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<div id="9CmdCS">
|
||||
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zEZpyn">
|
||||
<em><strong>Further reading:</strong></em><em> </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/unexplainable/22547100/henrietta-leavitt-cosmic-ruler-podcast"><strong>How scientists discovered the universe is really freaking huge</strong></a>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="FgVBAq"/>
|
||||
<h3 id="gpiKrD">
|
||||
<strong>Where the heck does our moon come from?</strong>
|
||||
</h3>
|
||||
<div class="c-float-left">
|
||||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/TNMVfW8YW4JpCLWQ6yxsyWSgKSc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23630261/GettyImages_1354421254.jpg"/> <cite>HUM Images/Universal Images Group</cite>
|
||||
<figcaption>
|
||||
This view from the Apollo 11 spacecraft shows the Earth rising above the moon’s horizon.
|
||||
</figcaption>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MJuHfK">
|
||||
Before the moon landings, scientists thought they knew how the moon came to be. But then, Apollo astronauts brought samples back from the lunar surface, and those rocks told a totally different story.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Y2qXox">
|
||||
“Geologists had found that the moon was covered in a special kind of rock called anorthosite,” <em>Unexplainable</em> senior producer Meradith Hoddinott explains on the show. “Glittery, bright, and reflective, this is the rock that makes the moon shine white in the night sky. And at the time, it was thought, this rock can only be formed in a very specific way: magma.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AtjJcA">
|
||||
The indication there was magma means the moon must have formed in some sort of epic cataclysm: “Something that poured so much energy into the moon that it literally melted,” Hoddinott says. Scientists aren’t precisely sure how it all played out, but each scenario is a cinematic story of fiery apocalyptic proportions.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<div id="xFpdL3">
|
||||
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MfS8fm">
|
||||
<strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/6/21/18677691/apollo-anniversary-moon-rock-lunar-sample-geology">How Apollo moon rocks reveal the epic history of the cosmos</a>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="ZcNcAR"/>
|
||||
<h3 id="Aec0L3">
|
||||
<strong>How did life start on Earth? </strong>
|
||||
</h3>
|
||||
<div class="c-float-right">
|
||||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||
<img alt="Unicellular organism, drawing" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wJ9gbTnsB2kYpEQARS4_hZa1lnA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24467042/857129344.jpg"/> <cite>DeAgostini/Getty Images</cite>
|
||||
<figcaption>
|
||||
Even single-celled organism can be incredibly intricate. So how did the first one form?
|
||||
</figcaption>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GASTE3">
|
||||
For decades, scientists have been trying to recreate in labs the conditions of early Earth. The thinking is, perhaps if they can mimic those conditions, they will eventually be able to create something similar to the first simple cells that formed here billions of years ago. From there, they could piece together a story about how life started on Earth.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AJR8HG">
|
||||
This line of research has demonstrated some stunning successes. In the 1950s, scientists Harold Urey and Stanley Miller <a href="https://nature.berkeley.edu/garbelottoat/?p=582"><strong>showed</strong></a> that it’s possible to synthesize the amino acid glycine — i.e., one of life’s most basic building blocks — by mixing together gasses believed to have filled the atmosphere billions of years ago and adding heat and simulated lightning.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xlpvu0">
|
||||
Since then, scientists have been able to make lipid blobs that looked a lot like cell membranes. They’ve gotten RNA molecules to form, which are like simplified DNA. But getting all these components of life to form in a lab and assemble into a simple cell — that hasn’t happened.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GPQ8Si">
|
||||
So what’s standing in the way? What would it mean if scientists actually succeed and create life in a bottle? They could uncover not just the story of the origin of life on Earth, but come to a shocking conclusion about how common life must be in the universe.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<div id="RxhWeX">
|
||||
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0hPcKr">
|
||||
<em><strong>Further reading: </strong></em><a href="https://www.vox.com/unexplainable/23616700/unexplainable-mysteries-life-earth">3 unexplainable mysteries of life on Earth</a>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="OB7ekL"/>
|
||||
<h3 id="7wkP33">
|
||||
<strong>What killed Venus?</strong>
|
||||
</h3>
|
||||
<div class="c-float-left">
|
||||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/pWZcXRZl5pN1mU-GEmlRSlcY6fg=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23630254/PIA23791_fig2.jpeg"/> <cite>NASA</cite>
|
||||
<figcaption>
|
||||
The clouds of Venus captured in 1974 by NASA’s Mariner 10 spacecraft.
|
||||
</figcaption>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uxoI8v">
|
||||
“Hellscape” is the most appropriate word to describe the surface of Venus, the second planet from the sun. At 900 degrees Fahrenheit, it’s the hottest planet in the solar system, thanks to an atmosphere that’s almost entirely made up of carbon dioxide, which generates a really strong greenhouse effect. Clouds made of highly corrosive sulfuric acid are draped over a volcanic landscape of razor-sharp volcanic rock. The pressure on the surface of Venus is about 92 times what you’d feel at sea level on Earth.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ab6e17">
|
||||
Yet some scientists suspect Venus was once much like Earth, with a liquid water ocean like the ones that support life on our planet. This prompts an existential question for life on Earth.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BEpyVz">
|
||||
“Venus and Earth are planetary siblings,” says Robin George Andrews, volcanologist and author of <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/super-volcanoes-what-they-reveal-about-earth-and-the-worlds-beyond/9780393542066"><em><strong>Super Volcanoes: What They Reveal about Earth and the Worlds Beyond</strong></em></a>. “They were made at the same time and made of the same stuff, yet Venus is apocalyptic and awful in every possible way. Earth is a paradise. So why do we have a paradise next to a paradise lost?”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wlh3qA">
|
||||
There are two leading hypotheses. One is that the sun cooked Venus to death. The other is that volcanoes did. Figuring out which one occurred might help us understand the eventual fate of the Earth.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<div id="IogdEV">
|
||||
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vXViTb">
|
||||
<em><strong>Further reading:</strong></em><em> </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/22807575/venus-hot-hellscape-climate-change-earth">Venus could have been a paradise but turned into a hellscape. Earthlings, pay attention.</a>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="wSyblY"/>
|
||||
<h2 id="wS9xgS">
|
||||
Small and surprising mysteries
|
||||
</h2>
|
||||
<h3 id="2N6yBj">
|
||||
<strong>What insects live in our homes?</strong>
|
||||
</h3>
|
||||
<div class="c-float-right">
|
||||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||
<img alt="Butterflies, beetles, and moths pinned to a light blue background." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/cHTuO8dhVjkpOiK3aKgREtK0fCw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23285894/GettyImages_904637674.jpg"/> <cite>Getty Images/Mint Images RF</cite>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bGN5uV">
|
||||
<a href="https://peerj.com/articles/1582.pdf">In the 2010s</a>, a team of scientists went into 50 homes around Raleigh, North Carolina. Their mission: to scour the homes and find as many insect species as they could. What they discovered was quite surprising (and a bit gross): The average house was home to around 100 species of insects. These weren’t “dirty” homes or ones located deep in the woods with the windows left open.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4CuqUY">
|
||||
Instead,<strong> </strong>the findings illustrated that the typical human dwelling is an ecosystem for more creatures than we’ve realized. Which provokes another question: What are they doing in there? And what can we learn from them?
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<div id="MWfH8t">
|
||||
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DwlQcj">
|
||||
<em><strong>Further reading: </strong></em><a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2016/1/23/10815572/insects-species-home">The dozens of bug species that live in your home, in one chart</a>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="jsP19l"/>
|
||||
<h3 id="7MWwD6">
|
||||
<strong>Can plants … see? </strong>
|
||||
</h3>
|
||||
<div class="c-float-left">
|
||||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||
<img alt="A photo collage showing leaves of different shapes and colors." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/7VZCbWpoGmUfa3ijDpQqyEZxKrY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24222962/gr1_lrg.jpg"/> <cite><a class="ql-link" href="https://www.cell.com/trends/plant-science/fulltext/S1360-1385(16)30171-6" target="_blank">Ernesto Gianoli/Trends in Plant Science</a></cite>
|
||||
<figcaption>
|
||||
Examples of Boquila trifoliolata mimicking the leaves of other plants. Yellow arrows point to leaves of Boquila trifoliolata that are mimicking other species in A-G. Image H shows what Boquila trifoliolata leaves look like when they’re not mimicking other plants.
|
||||
</figcaption>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1KPqQu">
|
||||
More than a decade ago, scientist Ernesto Gianoli made a remarkable discovery. He found a little vine in the forests of South America that had the ability to mimic the shape of other plants around it. The biggest and most provocative question is how.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S0Agdf">
|
||||
“Plants have no brains or eyes,” Vox’s Benji Jones <a href="https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/2022/11/30/23473062/plant-mimicry-boquila-trifoliolata">reports</a>. “So how do they sense the shape of leaves around them and then copy it?”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uZU2U9">
|
||||
Scientists still don’t know. But each possible answer — one being somehow these plants are “seeing” their surroundings, another being they are somehow influenced by the genetics of plants around them — could drastically alter our understanding of what plants are capable of.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<div id="PZoTpR">
|
||||
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="25HxjR">
|
||||
<em><strong>Further reading:</strong></em><em> </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/2022/11/30/23473062/plant-mimicry-boquila-trifoliolata">The mystery of the mimic plant</a>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="ZGHI19"/>
|
||||
<h3 id="9dIW4i">
|
||||
<strong>How fast can a sprinter start a race? </strong>
|
||||
</h3>
|
||||
<div class="c-float-right">
|
||||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/oSLv0kAVFj0yOw9bea6LchVFH0I=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24042531/GettyImages_1409199469.jpg"/> <cite>Ezra Shaw/Getty Images</cite>
|
||||
<figcaption>
|
||||
TyNia Gaither competes in the women’s 100-meter heats on the second day of the 2022 World Athletics Championships.
|
||||
</figcaption>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AVs46N">
|
||||
In July 2022, <a href="https://worldathletics.org/athletes/bahamas/tynia-gaither-14362366"><strong>TyNia Gaither</strong></a> lined up in the second lane for one of her biggest races of the year: the semifinals of the 100-meter dash at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon. The 29-year-old Bahamian sprinter crouched down into the starting blocks. The crowd grew quiet. She waited for the sound.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sug9Hw">
|
||||
“I heard the gun go off, and I took off,” Gaither says. “And then I heard the gun go off again.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gnmib1">
|
||||
That second “bang” meant officials had stopped the race. Someone had false-started, and Gaither was surprised to find out it was her.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4eDbWe">
|
||||
Per the rules, Gaither was immediately disqualified. When she tried to contest the call to the race official, he showed her a replay. It didn’t show a visible false start. But then he pointed to a number, lit up in red: 0.093 seconds, the amount of time it took for Gaither to start after the gun fired. Yes: She had started <em>after</em> the gun went off, and was still thrown out of the race.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hOlAU9">
|
||||
According to the logic underlying the rules, Gaither had started faster than humanly possible. Scientists say that’s likely wrong: We don’t know the fastest possible start to a running race.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<div id="bDtbHF">
|
||||
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8vgGtn">
|
||||
<em><strong>Further reading:</strong></em><a href="https://www.vox.com/unexplainable/23365327/tynia-gaither-devon-allen-false-starts-worlds-science-physiology-human-limit"><em> </em>Runners can be disqualified for starting after the gun. What gives?</a>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="6zcQzA"/>
|
||||
<h3 id="LJf2r4">
|
||||
<strong>What is ball lightning? </strong>
|
||||
</h3>
|
||||
<div class="c-float-left">
|
||||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||
<img alt="A comic-style illustration of a woman and a white-blue ball of light." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ZQA8oKhpyrWh_tt41aiK31leFRI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22397031/BallLightning_Lede2.jpg"/> <cite><a class="ql-link" href="https://www.elizabethgalian.com/" target="_blank">Elizabeth Galian</a></cite>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6aOnrz">
|
||||
For millennia, people have been telling stories about mysterious spheres of light that glow, crackle, and hover eerily during thunderstorms. They’ve been spotted in homes, in rural areas, in cities, <a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009AGUFMAE21A0308D/abstract"><strong>on airplanes</strong></a>, and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289306924_Multiple_ball_lightning_observations_at_Neuruppin_Germany"><strong>even passing through windows</strong></a>.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oifgDG">
|
||||
They seem out of this world, but scientists believe they are very much of this world. These apparitions are called ball lightning, and they remain one of the most mysterious weather phenomena on Earth.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="e60HNB">
|
||||
Ball lightning usually only lasts for a few moments, and it’s impossible to predict where and when it’ll show up. You can’t hunt ball lightning and reliably find it. Ball lightning finds you.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7ljwfi">
|
||||
It’s rare, but many people have seen it. Scientists don’t know exactly where it comes from, but that hasn’t stopped them from trying to make it themselves.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<div id="UWELs0">
|
||||
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CS2KzV">
|
||||
<em><strong>Further reading:</strong></em> <a href="https://www.vox.com/unexplainable/22336644/ball-lightning-scientific-mystery-eyewitness-accounts-illustrations">Ball lightning is real, and very rare. This is what it’s like to experience it.</a>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="UotTw6"/>
|
||||
<h3 id="0fYDS5">
|
||||
<strong>Why do we have anuses — or butts, for that matter?</strong>
|
||||
</h3>
|
||||
<div class="c-float-right">
|
||||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||
<img alt="Three peaches showing their resemblance to human butts." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/DXiUb-DhfC7OxAyRecexZmBO8tI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22746211/GettyImages_1257486709.jpg"/> <cite>Getty Images</cite>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TnGtpw">
|
||||
This is a question we never even knew we wanted to answer — until we heard the Atlantic’s Katherine Wu <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/05/evolution-butts/618915/"><strong>explain</strong></a> that “the appearance of the anus was momentous in animal evolution.” Before the appearance of the anus, animals had to eat and excrete through the same hole. The anus allowed for a more efficient system, and allowed animal life on Earth to grow bigger and take on new shapes and forms.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3VxO8W">
|
||||
But scientists don’t have a complete picture of the evolutionary history here; they don’t know which creature developed the anus first, and when. “It’s so hard to study something that must be millions and millions of years old and doesn’t fossilize,” Wu says.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JYtUR8">
|
||||
And then there’s a whole other question: Why is the human butt so big, compared with other mammals?
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<div id="5HZwaQ">
|
||||
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JpICD7">
|
||||
<em><strong>Further reading: </strong></em>Katherine Wu’s “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/05/evolution-butts/618915/">The Body’s Most Embarrassing Organ Is an Evolutionary Marvel</a>,” at the Atlantic.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="dI7JyH"/>
|
||||
<h3 id="5BbS2z">
|
||||
And so many more …
|
||||
</h3>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1kJsNr">
|
||||
In between the biggest and smallest mysteries: You guessed it, there are only more mysteries. From <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2022/2/9/22914378/the-science-and-mystery-of-love">the beautiful mysteries of love</a>, to <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/22947671/the-five-senses-touch-hearing-taste-smell-podcast-explainers">how our senses work,</a> to the frustrating questions about a health <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/hu/podcast/the-mysteries-of-endometriosis/id1554578197?i=1000532358838">condition like endometriosis,</a> to <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/hu/podcast/do-animals-grieve/id1554578197?i=1000618593367">whether animals can grieve</a>, or if scientists <a href="https://www.vox.com/unexplainable/2023/7/15/23793840/chat-gpt-ai-science-mystery-unexplainable-podcast">understand the AI programs they create</a>, our world is still beautifuly haunted by mysteries. What else is out there for us to discover?
|
||||
</p></li>
|
||||
<li><strong>What a defense ministry shake-up may say about Ukraine’s corruption problem</strong> -
|
||||
<figure>
|
||||
<img alt="Volodymyr Zelenskyy sitting at a desk in the UN General Assembly with a sign that reads “Ukraine” in front of his microphone." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ktc6Bof2aMarkIPCztji4NukOEY=/553x0:5000x3335/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72666061/1676956052.0.jpg"/>
|
||||
<figcaption>
|
||||
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters on September 19, 2023 in New York City. World heads of state and representatives of government will attend amid multiple global crises such as Russia’s war against Ukraine and the climate emergency. | Adam Gray/Getty Images
|
||||
</figcaption>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
The removals come two weeks after the removal of the defense ministry and as Ukraine seeks to shore up global support.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3viMhK">
|
||||
Ukraine is shaking up its defense ministry, <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-deputy-defense-ministers-dismissed/32597598.html">removing all six deputy ministers</a>, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travels to the United Nations and Washington to shore up support and aid.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VV6XIP">
|
||||
The purge comes after Zelenskyy replaced Ukraine’s defense minister <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/03/world/europe/zelensky-ukraine-defense-minister.html">Oleksii Reznikov earlier this month</a>. That was a very visible upheaval, arriving in the middle of Kyiv’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/23819064/ukraine-war-counteroffensive-russia-mines-tanks">ongoing counteroffensive</a>, and came<strong> </strong>amid ongoing <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/04/world/europe/ukraine-military-spending-corruption.html">allegations of corruption</a> and financial mismanagement within the military.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q8NLTK">
|
||||
The latest Ministry of Defense dismissals are likely a continuation of that attempt to clean house, although the ministry did not give a reason for the removals, nor did it directly connect it back to Reznikov’s dismissal. (Reznikov himself was not directly implicated in any scandals.) Some outlets have <a href="https://www.kyivpost.com/post/21732">pointed out </a>that staff changeovers are not unusual when a top official leaves; the <a href="https://www.mil.gov.ua/en/">new Minister of Defense</a> was likely going to put in his own team anyway.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v12z6j">
|
||||
Still, these latest shake-ups are likely a message that Ukraine is taking any hint of corruption or mismanagement seriously and wants to signal renewed leadership at the defense ministry. The removal also comes at an inauspicious time: as Zelenskyy seeks to assure partners, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/14/ukrainian-president-zelenskyy-set-to-visit-to-washington-amid-budget-debate">including in the United States</a>, that Kyiv is responsibly managing billions in military, security, and economic assistance.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oOTrMU">
|
||||
The graft allegations previously swirling around the defense ministry shake-up haven’t directly implicated misuse of Western aid, and past <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/gop-led-hearing-aid-ukraine-finds-evidence-misuse/story?id=98218939">oversight hasn’t found any evidence of misuse</a>. But Ukraine has previously struggled to root out <a href="https://www.vox.com/22902846/ukraine-russia-nato-zelensky-poroshenko">high-level corruption</a> and bolster the rule of law, despite <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2019/9/24/20882359/trump-impeachment-ukraine-president-zelensky">Zelenskyy promising</a> to do so when he was elected in 2019. Ukraine’s backers in the United States and Europe <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/11/21/fact-sheet-us-assistance-ukraine">had put pressure on Kyiv for nearly a decade</a> to deal with these issues, especially as a condition for Ukraine’s invitation into Western institutions.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SMMMi4">
|
||||
<a href="https://www.vox.com/russia">Russia</a>’s full-scale attack last year shunted some of those corruption concerns aside as the urgency of Ukraine’s war effort consumed Zelenskyy’s government, its Western backers, and even some of <a href="https://eucrim.eu/articles/war-and-corruption-in-ukraine/">Ukraine’s watchdog organizations</a>.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XcMtDU">
|
||||
The problem of systemic graft, however, never fully dissipated. And as the war goes on — <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/9/7/23860308/ukraine-war-counteroffensive-united-states-debates">and it may go on much, much longer</a> — it is a reputation that Ukraine is very much trying to avoid, especially as it relies on uninterrupted Western aid and as it continues to make the case that it belongs in institutions like the <a href="https://www.vox.com/european-union">EU</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2023/7/12/23784649/nato-summit-ukraine-biden-zelenskyy-vilnius">maybe even NATO</a>.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h3 id="kkn7fZ">
|
||||
This shake-up sends a message, but Ukraine’s corruption issues are still a challenge
|
||||
</h3>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aGUc0v">
|
||||
This is not the first major personnel change since the war began, and graft accusations had lingered around the defense department for some time before the departure of Minister Reznikov earlier in September.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="osuE4m">
|
||||
Back in January, allegations that the Ministry of Defense had overseen inflated prices for food contracts <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2023/1/24/23569257/ukraine-corruption-officials-resignation-purge">led to a major personnel shake-up and arrests</a>. In August, Zelenskyy fired the heads of the military recruitment offices over allegations that these <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-volodymyr-zelenskyy-dismisses-all-head-of-recruitment-amid-corruption-concerns/">officials had taken bribes</a> to enable draft dodgers. Ukrainian media and anti-corruption activists have continued to expose scandals related to the military procurement processes, including a recent investigation <a href="https://kyivindependent.com/investigative-stories-from-ukraine-defense-ministry-at-center-of-procurement-scandal-once-again/#:~:text=Earlier%20in%20January%2C%20ZN.UA,of%20office%20at%20the%20ministry.">from ZN.UA</a> that the Ministry of Defense ordered overpriced jackets for the troops from a company tied to a member of parliament’s nephew.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hMBq37">
|
||||
But the departure of these deputy defense ministers comes as Ukraine is at a bit of a crossroads militarily and diplomatically.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eZpBY0">
|
||||
Ukraine is waging its counteroffensive, which is making <a href="https://www.vox.com/23819064/ukraine-war-counteroffensive-russia-mines-tanks">slow progress</a>. Kyiv has made some <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/18/ukraine-war-live-updates-latest-news-on-russia-and-the-war-in-ukraine.html#:~:text=Ukraine%20liberates%20two%20villages%20in,and%20east%20of%20the%20country.">key gains</a> in recent days, though the operation is largely still an attritional battle. A<strong> </strong>breakthrough could still happen, but Ukraine will continue to need sustained military, security, economic, and humanitarian support.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5UdrnJ">
|
||||
The United States and many of its Western partners have continued to provide, but there are some quiet cracks in that assistance. The US has maintained bipartisan backing from Ukraine, but a very vocal wing of the Republican Party — <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meetthepressblog/vivek-ramaswamy-defends-positions-ukraine-taiwan-rcna102408">including some running for president</a> — has questioned that level of aid and investment in Ukraine. Some US Republicans have used <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/08/18/1193874620/rural-voters-shaping-the-gop-presidential-turn-against-u-s-aid-to-ukraine">examples of past corruption</a> to challenge the <a href="https://www.vox.com/joe-biden">Biden administration</a>’s support for Kyiv. <a href="https://www.ifw-kiel.de/publications/news/ukraine-support-tracker-europe-clearly-overtakes-us-with-total-commitments-now-twice-as-large/">European support for Kyiv is very strong</a>, but divisions over things like the <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-grain-poland-hungary-slovakia-diplomacy-world-trade-organisation-european-union-sue/">transport of Ukrainian grain</a> could also threaten its solidarity. This is why <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/14/zelenskyy-heading-to-new-york-to-court-the-rest-of-the-world-00115760">President Zelenskyy is making the rounds at the United Nations</a> — and making an essential pit <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/zelenskyy-is-expected-to-visit-washington-as-congress-debates-21-billion-in-aid-for-ukraine">stop in Congress</a>.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CWAme5">
|
||||
Along the way, Kyiv wants to make it very clear that aid is being allocated effectively, responsibly, and appropriately. It wants to make the case that as countries continue to invest in Ukraine — including putting resources into <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/08/19/artillery-ammunition-ukraine-pentagon/">ramping up production for weapons and artillery</a> — this is also a long-term downpayment on a democratic Ukraine.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ozfYUB">
|
||||
This is a case to make to outsiders but also to those within Ukraine. Daria Kaleniuk, the executive director of the Anti-Corruption Action Center in Ukraine, said that across Ukrainian society, support is high to expose corruption, even if it poses a risk of breaking trust with Ukraine’s partners. “People believe in and [are] encouraging the exposing of corruption even during wartime. People have very low tolerance to corruption. People see Ukraine as an EU and NATO member — and this is what we’re fighting for.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Jv868O">
|
||||
As Kaleniuk pointed out, the Ministry of Defense will oversee the procurement of lethal and nonlethal aid as this war continues, and it needs to be able to make effective and sound decisions. The military operations run through Zelenskyy, so any personnel changes shouldn’t affect the day-to-day operations of the counteroffensive, but ministry responsibilities — like buying food and supplies and equipment — can influence the battle. Those jackets for Ukrainian troops did not just have inflated prices, they were also apparently supposed to be for cold-weather wear, but ended up being lightweight coats, <a href="https://www.kyivpost.com/post/21004">according to Ukrainian media reports</a>.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pZxuD0">
|
||||
So yes, Ukraine wants to make it clear that it is stamping out corruption. But there are still a lot of questions about exactly how Ukraine is approaching its anti-corruption campaign. Firing or replacing officials is one thing, but Zelenskyy has proposed <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/volodymyr-zelenskyy-corruption-scandal-crackdown-treason-ukraine-war-democracy-antac-anti-corruption-action-center/">making wartime corruption a treasonous offense</a>. This would put more power in Ukraine’s security forces, which some critics and watchdogs fear will diminish the authority of the independent investigative bodies. This could potentially backfire, undermining the rule of law and independent judiciary, and create lasting <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/volodymyr-zelenskyy-corruption-scandal-crackdown-treason-ukraine-war-democracy-antac-anti-corruption-action-center/">damage to the institutions</a> that Ukraine (and the West) sought to build up. The president’s office also oversees the security services, which could lead to Zelenskyy consolidating power, with the security services potentially used to shield the president’s allies and tamp down scandals that may be embarrassing for Zelenskyy.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5Z7PVi">
|
||||
War, <a href="https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/lessonslearned/SIGAR-21-46-LL.pdf">no matter who is doing the fighting</a>, tends to be fertile ground for corruption. The chaos of conflict — lots of rapid procurements, an influx of funds, and supplies moving through many hands — increases the potential for graft. Ukraine is no exception, but it faces the additional challenge that corruption permeated its government institutions even before Russia’s invasion.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vt8msO">
|
||||
There’s still a lot unclear from these shake-ups, but it does hint that Ukraine’s corruption problem — and the perception of that corruption problem — still threatens to undermine Kyiv’s war efforts, within Ukraine and without.
|
||||
</p></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dyf and Nashvegas catch the eye</strong> -</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ravishing Form, Evaldo, Red Falcon and Galahad shine</strong> -</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Working professionals in Chennai are taking to night football on turfs across the city</strong> - As the city sleeps, footballers across the city are dribbling and tackling their way around a six-day work week by being on the ball</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Tim Southee to undergo thumb surgery, World Cup decision next week</strong> - The 34-year-old Kiwi pacer dislocated and fractured his thumb while attempting to take a catch in the fourth and final one-day international against England recently.</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Morning Digest | Census a must for women’s reservation Bill to become reality; Civil groups in Manipur demand release of armed miscreants, and more</strong> - Here is a select list of stories to start the day</p></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>TDP gears up to confront YSRCP over Naidu’s arrest in Andhra Pradesh Legislature</strong> - We will expose the ruling party’s autocratic rule and the government’s failures, assert opposition leaders</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>VIT-AP University inks pact with Pi Datacenters to facilitate capacity-building initiatives</strong> - The MoU aims to promote exchange of technical expertise and operational best practices in data centre management and security that ensues top-tier performance, reliability and data protection</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Chandrayaan may be a success, but our minds are still conservative: Radhakrishnan</strong> -</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Hold discussion on India-Canada diplomatic row in Parliament: NCP asks government</strong> - NCP MP Supriya Sule, while speaking on the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha, asked the government to hold a discussion on the matter</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Untouchability row: Minister misunderstood ritual, no discrimination shown against anyone, says priests’ association</strong> - K. Radhakrishnan, who hails from a Scheduled Caste, had on Monday said two priests of a temple refused to hand over the small lamp they had brought to light the main lamp placed at the venue for marking an inauguration at the shrine. Instead, they themselves lit the main lamp, and after that placed the small lamp on the ground, thinking that he would take it.</p></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Nagorno-Karabakh forces agree Azerbaijan demand to disarm</strong> - Twenty-four hours into an Azerbaijan army offensive, ethnic-Armenian forces agree terms for a ceasefire.</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Nagorno-Karabakh: Conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenians explained</strong> - The region is at the heart of a long-running conflict between ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijanis.</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Spain players agree to end boycott before Nations League games</strong> - Most of the Spain team agree to end their boycott, says secretary of state for sports Victor Francos.</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Russian ‘evil cannot be trusted’, Zelensky tells UN</strong> - The world must unite to end Russia’s aggression, Ukraine’s president tells the UN General Assembly.</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Russia superyacht symbolises challenge of seizing assets</strong> - The BBC investigates the seizure of a £54m yacht and its links to a sanctioned Russian billionaire.</p></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>It’s time for fall shots—and CDC is ready for anti-vaccine nonsense</strong> - It’s time for RSV, flu, and COVID shots, and the CDC has a 4-step strategy to urge vaccination. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1969517">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SBF’s parents were given $16.4M house paid for entirely by FTX, lawsuit says</strong> - FTX sues Bankman and Fried to claw back millions “siphoned” from crypto firm. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1969483">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Telling AI model to “take a deep breath” causes math scores to soar in study</strong> - DeepMind used AI models to optimize their own prompts, with surprising results. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1969012">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Archaeologists find 500-year-old board game carved in ruins of Polish castle</strong> - Nine-man morris, or mill, is a two-person strategy game with ancient origins. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1968641">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Online child safety law blocked after Calif. argued face scans not that invasive</strong> - Compliance is “actually likely to exacerbate” online harm to kids, judge says. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1969388">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What do you call a lawyer with an IQ of 75?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||||
<div class="md">
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Your Honor!
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
What do you call a lawyer with an IQ of 50?
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Senator!
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Red_Stripe1229"> /u/Red_Stripe1229 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16n7h8w/what_do_you_call_a_lawyer_with_an_iq_of_75/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16n7h8w/what_do_you_call_a_lawyer_with_an_iq_of_75/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A 17-year-old boy who works part-time at Pizza Hut drives up to park in front of the house in a beautiful Porsche.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||||
<div class="md">
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Naturally, his parents know that there’s no way he earned enough with his after-school job to buy such a car.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
“Where did you get that car?” his mom and dad screamed in shock. “I bought it today,” replied the teen calmly. “With what money young man?” his mom demands. “We know how much a Porsche costs and you cannot afford it!” “Well, it’s used and I got a good deal” says the boy, “This one cost me 20 dollars.” “Who on earth would sell a car like that for 20 dollars?!” “The woman up the street,” the boy replies. “I don’t know her name–she just moved in. She ordered a pizza and when I delivered it to her, she asked me if I wanted to buy a Porsche for 20 dollars.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
The boy’s dad and mom hurry over to their new neighbor’s house, ready to demand an explanation. Curiously, their new neighbor is calmly planting flowers in her front yard.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
“I’m the father of the kid you just sold a sports car to for $20,” the dad says. “I need an explanation from you!” “Well,” the woman says, not looking up from her garden. “This morning I got a phone call from my husband. I thought he was on a business trip in Florida, but it seems he has run off to Hawaii with his secretary and doesn’t intend to come back.” “What on earth does that have to do with selling our son a Porsche for $20?” The boy’s mom asks, utterly perplexed. The new neighbor smiles very big, and pauses for a minute. “Well, my husband asked me to sell his new Porsche and send him the money. So I did.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MarcoDanielRebelo"> /u/MarcoDanielRebelo </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16njlgk/a_17yearold_boy_who_works_parttime_at_pizza_hut/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16njlgk/a_17yearold_boy_who_works_parttime_at_pizza_hut/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>[NSFW] An elder couple were sitting in their broken down car on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||||
<div class="md">
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
The tow truck arrives and the driver walks up to the car as the old man who was driving, rolls down his window.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Driver: Hello folks. What seems to be the problem?
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Elder lady: WHAT???
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Elder man: Sorry my wife is hard of hearing.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Then he looks at his wife and yells out “HE ASKED WHAT THE PROBLEM WAS”.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Elder lady: I think we ran out of gas.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Driver: No problem, I can tow you to the nearest gas station. It’s only about 5 miles away.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Elder lady: WHAT???
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Elder man: HE SAID HE WILL TOW US TO THE NEAREST GAS STATION.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Elder lady: Okay. Thank you.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
As the driver was hooking up the car to the tow truck, he decided to make conversation.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Driver: So where are you folks from?
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Elder lady: WHAT???
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Elder man: HE ASKED WHERE WE’RE FROM.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Elder lady: Birmingham, Alabama.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Driver: Birmingham. I lived there many, many years ago. Met a woman who was probably the worst fuck of my life.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Elder Lady: WHAT???
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Elder man: HE SAID HE THINKS HE KNOWS YOU.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Ixz72"> /u/Ixz72 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16mqz4j/nsfw_an_elder_couple_were_sitting_in_their_broken/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16mqz4j/nsfw_an_elder_couple_were_sitting_in_their_broken/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>I haven’t said a word to my wife in 3 weeks…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||||
<div class="md">
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
… I didn’t want to interrupt her!
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/luh3418"> /u/luh3418 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16n74yh/i_havent_said_a_word_to_my_wife_in_3_weeks/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16n74yh/i_havent_said_a_word_to_my_wife_in_3_weeks/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What did Sigmund Freud believe came between fear and sex?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||||
<div class="md">
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Funf.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Smolesworthy"> /u/Smolesworthy </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16n8wzp/what_did_sigmund_freud_believe_came_between_fear/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16n8wzp/what_did_sigmund_freud_believe_came_between_fear/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
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|
||||
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Reference in New Issue