Exploring the mysterious alphabet of sperm whales MIT News. From the original: “These results show context-sensitive and combinatorial vocalisation systems extend beyond humans, and can appear in an organism with a divergent evolutionary lineage and vocal apparatus.”
Plants can communicate and respond to touch. Does that mean they’re intelligent? NPR
No, Jerome Powell Isn’t Playing Politics John Authers, Bloomberg
Pandemic-era winners suffer $1.5tn fall in market value FT
Climate
Can capitalism solve the ecological crisis? Climate and Capitalism
Making Graphs to Flatter the Global Elite Sublation Media
Scorching heat across Asia drives up power, coal, gas demand S&P Global
None of the world’s top industries would be profitable if they paid for the natural capital they use Grist. Not sure about that term “natural capital.”
Shell sold millions of ‘phantom’ carbon credits FT
How the US financial system helps shelter profits from environmental organized crime The Hill
Safe Havens Quinn Slobodian, NYRB
Water
Panama Canal Authority warns of water insecurity beyond historic drought S&P Global
China’s devastating rainstorms show there’s no room for complacency when it comes to climate risks South China Morning Post
Pandemics
AstraZeneca withdraws COVID-19 vaccine globally months after admitting to side effects in court documents Channel News Asia
Scientists create new coronavirus jab that even works on viruses they haven’t discovered yet in a bid to beat the next pandemic Daily Mail. Only mouse studies, as of yet.
Estimating the return on investment of selected infection prevention and control interventions in healthcare settings for preparing against novel respiratory viruses: modelling the experience from SARS-CoV-2 among health workers The Lancet. From the Discussion:
We modelled the experience from the COVID-19 pandemic and assessed the return on investment on a global scale of three [infection prevention and control (IPC)] interventions to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infections among health workers: enhancing hand hygiene; increasing access to personal protective equipment (PPE); and combining PPE, with a scale-up of IPC training and education (PPE+). Our analysis highlights the large health and economic gains that would have been achieved globally by implementing three interventions prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results suggest that estimated gains could have been highest when access to PPE was combined with increased access to IPC education and training. The relatively modest health gains attributable to the hand hygiene intervention are not surprising when considering that SARS-CoV-2 infection is transmitted through multiple routes, but mainly airborne via respiratory droplets and aerosol particles.26 Taken together, our results suggest that investments aiming to strengthen IPC capacity, consistent with the WHO IPC core components, should be prioritised to bolster the pandemic response and better prepare for future outbreaks. Our finding that the PPE only and PPE + interventions could have yielded substantial health and economic gains underscores the importance of securing global supply chains
Administering another well-deserved kick to the handwashing goons; Semmelweis would be rolling in his (early) grave to see his discoveries calcified into purely bureaucratic imperatives by dogmatists as rigid as those whose resistance to science drove him mad.
How HIV drugs have changed over the decades Chemistry World. “Antivirals are effective at knocking down replication in HIV-1 and reducing virus numbers, but they cannot cure. As soon as someone stops taking treatment, the virus rebounds. Why? Once inside the cell, the reverse transcriptase enzyme flips viral RNA into DNA and incorporates itself into the patient’s own DNA. The therapies cannot get at this DNA…. Other hideouts for the virus are in the brain, spinal fluid and testes.” Seems familiar somehow….
To combat cow flu outbreak, scientists plan to infect cattle with influenza in high-security labs Science. What could go wrong?
China?
Macron’s cognac — the only thing that went down smoothly with Xi Politico
Xi Jinping praises Hungary’s ‘independent’ foreign policy ahead of Orbán meeting FT
China’s COMAC to expand Shanghai C919 plane factory as orders grow Channel News Asia. I wonder if Southwest will buy any. Just to get Boeing’s attention.
US, EU making inroads into China’s EV battery manufacturing dominance S&P Global
Wescom chief agreed to China’s ‘new model’ Manila Times. Commentary:
This is huge: https://t.co/qHaPC3t9FF
China has released a recording of a phone call between the Chinese embassy and a top Filipino military chief, Vice Adm. Alberto Carlos, chief of the Western Command (Wescom), in which the latter says that the entire chain of command of the… pic.twitter.com/kbaZczDLXH
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) May 8, 2024
Myanmar
Myanmar ethnic armed group says it captured hundreds of junta personnel Channel News Asia
Cambodia’s Hun Sen asks Myanmar junta for Suu Kyi talks Channel News Asia. Suu Kyi is a brand beloved by NGOs and the Western press. Having acquiesced in the Tatmadaw’s Rohingya genocide, she doesn’t represent progress.
Cambodia presses ahead with canal project linking the capital with the Gulf of Thailand Splash 247
India
Is Constitutional Secularism Under Threat In ‘New India’? Madras Courier
Syraqistan
Israel says it reopened a key Gaza crossing after a rocket attack but the UN says no aid has entered AP
US pauses weapons delivery to Israel over Rafah offensive concerns: Reports Al Jazeera
Two more MSC ships targeted by the Houthis Splash 247
A high-stakes report looms over Biden on whether Israel violated international law CNN
Bahamas formally recognizes Palestine as state Anadolu Agency
European Disunion
Italy’s mafia turns to white-collar crime as murder, extortion fall out of favor Reuters
New Not-So-Cold War
Rus Calls West Bluff; Threatens Strikes UK; Warns France Nukes; Massive West Climbdown No Troops Ukr (video) Alexander Mercouris, YouTube. Starts out: “[Yesterday was] a very frightening day with Russian announcements of military exercises, which included tactical drills on the use of tactical nuclear weapons and with the Russians calling in to the Russian foreign Ministry the ambassadors of Britain and France for what looked like a severe dressing down, and I explained that the trigger to these Russian moves appeared to be two articles written by Steven [Bryen] which have appeared in Asia Times” (here; here). And he goes on from there….
Ukraine Has Changed Too Much to Compromise with Russia The Atlantic. Co-founder of the Kyiv Independent. Oh?
Ukraine peace talks should include Russia, Chinese diplomat says Reuters
Ukraine’s manpower problem is likely going to ‘get worse before it gets better,’ war expert says Business Insider
How the West is helping Ukraine won’t be enough to win Politico
Ukraine Says It Thwarted Russian Plan To Kill Zelenskiy, Top Officials Radio Free Europe
Russians attack power facilities in six Ukrainian oblasts overnight Ukrainska Pravda
Global Elections
Should India take from the rich, give the poor? A new election flashpoint Al Jazeera
Biden Administration
The Antisemitism Awareness Act is a full frontal assault on free speech Middle East Eye
The Texas Three-Step Credit Slips
2024
Trump’s federal classified docs trial date postponed indefinitely Axios
Groves of Academe
Student protests against Gaza war spread in Europe, sparking clashes and dozens of arrests France24
Pro-Palestinian protesters retake MIT encampment, occupy building at Rhode Island School of Design Scripps News
Penn Encampment:
I took these two pics and then asked some protesters if I could enter. They said absolutely, and requested I not photograph anyone’s face. They were polite and happy to show me around and did not ask me, a 40-year-old Jewish man, who I was or what I think about anything. pic.twitter.com/iRhh6Zo5mZ
— David Klion (@DavidKlion) May 6, 2024
Antitrust
Why Are Electric School Buses So Expensive? Resources
Digital Watch
America’s War on Drugs and Crime will be AI powered, says Homeland Security boss The Register. Let me know how that works out.
The disenshittified internet starts with loyal “user agents” Cory Doctorow, Pluralistic
Boeing
DOJ to meet with families of Boeing victims as decision closes on if company violated prosecution deal The Hill
WA Boeing Firefighters Continue to Picket During Lockout Fire Engineering
Zeitgeist Watch
The Unlearning Of Empathy indi.ca
Our Famously Free Press
The interview with Congressional candidate Dennis Kucinich that was removed from The Real News site and led to the termination of my show Chris Hedges, The Chris Hedges Report
Guillotine Watch
Truest Crime Matt Bevins, The 100 Days. The deck: “A deep dive into the sociopathy of the Opioid Crisis.”
Class Warfare
Stellantis Warren Stamping workers approve strike over health and safety WSWS
In Labor’s Mission to Organize the South, Another Domino Could Soon Fall In These Times
Why the world needs a Bretton Woods 2.0 South China Morning Post
Antidote du jour (By Gabriel Barathieu, CC BY-SA:
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
