# trade: cryptocoin dances: Bitcoin vs. Zuk.CaLibra, the beginning

<< Bitcoin is up an eye-popping 245% in 2019 so far.

And based on many business news headlines of the past week, you’d think bitcoin’s surge is all thanks to Facebook.

But bitcoin was already up nearly 200% before June 18, when Facebook announced its plans to launch a cryptocurrency called Libra next year and a digital wallet called Calibra. And the Facebook news initially sent bitcoin lower for the first few days, before it recovered. >>

Daniel Roberts. Bitcoin price surge is not just about Facebook's crypto push. Yahoo Finance. Jun 26, 2019, 9:28 PM GMT+2

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-price-surge-is-not-just-about-facebooks-crypto-push-192843056.html

Also

"Facebook"  in:

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=facebook

# ecol epidem: deforestation vs. increase of infectious diseases, a new hypothesis

<< Habitat loss is associated with emerging infectious diseases.
Most hypotheses to explain this association focus on ecological drivers and community structure; however, none have been developed to consider coevolutionary selective pressures across a fragmented landscape.
The 'coevolution effect' proposes that, within habitat fragments, shifts in population structure among hosts, obligate parasites, and pathogens function in parallel and act as 'coevolutionary engines', accelerating pathogen diversification, and therefore increasing pathogen diversity across a degraded landscape. When combined with bridge vectors (e.g., mosquitoes and ticks) this increases the probability that pathogens with zoonotic potential may spill over into human communities. >>

Sarah Zohdy, Tonia S. Schwartz, Jamie R. Oaks. The Coevolution Effect as a Driver of Spillover. Trends in Parasitology. Vol 35, Issue 6, P399-408  doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2019.03.010. Jun 01, 2019.

https://www.cell.com/trends/parasitology/fulltext/S1471-4922(19)30061-3

Teri Greene. New hypothesis links habitat loss and the global emergence of infectious diseases. Auburn University. Jun 24, 2019.

https://m.medicalxpress.com/news/2019-06-hypothesis-links-habitat-loss-global.html  

# food: drinking a cup of coffee can stimulate 'brown fat'

<< drinking a cup of coffee can stimulate 'brown fat', the body's own fat-fighting defenses, which could be the key to tackling obesity and diabetes. The pioneering study, (..) is one of the first to be carried out in humans to find components which could have a direct effect on 'brown fat' functions, an important part of the human body which plays a key role in how quickly we can burn calories as energy. >>

Could coffee be the secret to fighting obesity? University of Nottingham.
Jun 24, 2019.

https://m.medicalxpress.com/news/2019-06-coffee-secret-obesity.html

Ksenija Velickovic, Declan Wayne, et al.  Caffeine exposure induces browning features in adipose tissue in vitro and in vivo. Scientific Reports. volume 9, Article number: 9104 June 24, 2019

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-45540-1

# chem: mimic a stable photosynthesis (inside a porous 'scaffold' to avoid deactivation / decomposition)

<< When molecules of cobalt oxide cubane, so named for its eight atoms forming a cube, are in solution, the catalytic units eventually collide into one another and react, and thus deactivate. To hold the catalysts in place, and prevent these collisions, the researchers used a metal-organic framework as a scaffold.  >>

<< Our study provides a clear, conceptual blueprint for engineering the next generation of energy-converting catalysts, >> T. Don Tilley

Theresa Duque. Here comes the sun: a new framework for artificial photosynthesis. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Jun 18, 2019

https://m.phys.org/news/2019-06-sun-framework-artificial-photosynthesis.html

Andy I. Nguyen, Kurt M. Van Allsburg, et al. Stabilization of reactive Co4O4 cubane oxygen-evolution catalysts within porous frameworks. PNAS 116 (24) 11630-11639. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1815013116. Jun 11, 2019.

https://www.pnas.org/content/116/24/11630

# brain: 'moral emotions' as a hypotetical diagnostic tool for dementia

AA << shows a particularly marked impairment of moral emotions in patients with frontotemporal dementia  >>

<< Frontotemporal dementia is a cognitive and behavioral disease caused by degenerative alteration of anterior regions of the brain. The disease is characterized by behavioral disorders such as a progressive apathy, loss of interest, social withdrawal, loss of inhibition and the processing of emotions. >>

AA << have known for a long time that these patients demonstrate impairment of emotion recognition and of theory of mind i.e. the ability to figure out the mental states of others: what they think, what they feel, what they like ... >>

<< Moral emotions can be defined as  "affective experiences promoting cooperation and group cohesion" including emotions such as admiration, shame or pity. >>

<< The results show that moral emotions are much more impaired than emotions without moral valence. In contrast, patients with Alzheimer's disease had no impairment as compared to healthy subjects and they had similar performance with moral and extra-moral emotions. >>

Moral emotions, a diagnotic tool for frontotemporal dementia? IOS Press. Jun 14, 2019.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-06/ip-mea061419.php  

Teichmann Marc, Daigmorte Chloe', et al. Moral Emotions in Frontotemporal Dementia. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 69, no. 3, pp. 887-896, 2019. doi: 10.3233/JAD-180991. Jun 4, 2019

https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad180991 

# ai: self-programming machines with twists, the beginning

<< Researchers have developed a flexible way of combining deep learning and symbolic reasoning to teach computers to write short computer programs. >>

<< A new program-writing AI, SketchAdapt, offers a way out. Trained on tens of thousands of program examples, SketchAdapt learns how to compose short, high-level programs, while letting a second set of algorithms find the right sub-programs to fill in the details. Unlike similar approaches for automated program-writing, SketchAdapt knows when to switch from statistical pattern-matching to a less efficient, but more versatile, symbolic reasoning mode to fill in the gaps. >>

<< Rather than rely on experts to define program structure, SketchAdapt figures it out using deep learning. The researchers also added a twist: When the neural networks are unsure of what code to place where, SketchAdapt is programmed to leave the spot blank for search algorithms to fill. >>

Kim Martineau. Toward artificial intelligence that learns to write code.
MIT. June17, 2019.

https://m.techxplore.com/news/2019-06-artificial-intelligence-code.html   

Maxwell Nye, Luke Hewitt, et al. Learning to Infer Program Sketches.
arXiv:1902.06349v2 [cs.AI] Jun 4, 2019.

https://arxiv.org/abs/1902.06349 

# phys: oscillating quasiparticles, decay and rebirth

<< Admittedly, quasiparticles do decay, however new, identical particle entities emerge from the debris," (..) If this decay proceeds very quickly, an inverse reaction will occur after a certain time and the debris will converge again. This process can recur endlessly and a sustained oscillation between decay and rebirth emerges. >> Ruben Verresen.

Oscillating quasiparticles: the cycle of decay and rebirth. Technical University Munich. June 14, 2019.

https://m.phys.org/news/2019-06-oscillating-quasiparticles-rebirth.html 

Ruben Verresen, Roderich Moessner,  Frank Pollmann. Avoided quasiparticle decay from strong quantum interactions. Nature Physics. doi: 10.1038/s41567-019-0535-3 May 27, 2019.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-019-0535-3