# gene: stuttering, syncopated (but not junk) codes

<< All organisms have DNA, the genetic material that provides a blueprint for life. The long double-helix-shaped DNA molecules in the body's cells are first translated into RNA molecules and then translated into proteins that ensure the functioning of the cell and the entire organism. But there are large parts of the DNA that are not used for making proteins. This is called 'junk DNA', because its function remained unclear for a long time. However, a certain type of junk DNA that is found in mosquitoes and which repeats itself dozens of times, known as 'satellite DNA', has now been shown to play an essential role in the early development of mosquito embryos. >>

Stuttering DNA orchestrates the start of the mosquito's life. Radboud University Medical Center. Apr 9, 2020.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200409100332.htm 

AA << results reveal a mechanism by which satellite repeats regulate global gene expression in trans via piRNA-mediated gene silencing that is essential for embryonic development. >>

Rebecca Halbach, Pascal Miesen, et al. A satellite repeat-derived piRNA controls embryonic development of Aedes. Nature 580, 274–277. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2159-2. 

Apr 1, 2020.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2159-2

Also

keyword 'piRNA' in ncbi pubmed

"piRNA"[all] AND (Review[ptyp]) AND ("last 3 years"[PDat])

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed

# gst: ab.normal (fuzzy, bizarre) Nature; apparently, ancient bacterial parasites could have used CRISPR to self-defense and 'interference' for Ma ...

<< In recent years, the development of CRISPR technologies and gene-editing scissors in particular have taken the world by storm. Indeed, scientists have learned how to harness these clever natural systems in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, among other areas. >>

<< New research (..) shows that we are not the first to find a way to exploit the benefits of the CRISPR technique. Apparently, primitive bacterial parasites have been doing so for millions of years. >>

<< Until recently, CRISPR-Cas was believed to be a defense system used by bacteria to protect themselves against invading parasites such as viruses, much like our very own immune system protects us. However, it appears that CRISPR is a tool that can be used for different purposes by diverse biological entities, (..) Here we found evidence that certain plasmids use type IV CRISPR-Cas systems to fight other plasmids competing over the same bacterial host. >> Rafael Pinilla-Redondo.

Humans are not the first to repurpose CRISPR. University of Copenhagen. Mar 24, 2020.

https://phys.org/news/2020-03-humans-repurpose-crispr.html

Rafael Pinilla-Redondo, David Mayo-Muñoz, et al. Type IV CRISPR–Cas systems are highly diverse and involved in competition between plasmids.  Nucleic Acids Research, Vol. 48, Issue 4, Pages 2000–12. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkz1197. Dec 27, 2019.

https://academic.oup.com/nar/article/48/4/2000/5687823

Also

keyword 'CRISPR' (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat) in PubMed:

 "CRISPR"[all] AND (Review[ptyp]) AND ("last 3 years"[PDat])

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/

keyword 'CRISPR' in FonT:

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

keyword 'interferenza' | 'interferente' in Notes (quasi-stochastic poetry):

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=interferenza

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=interferente

# brain: related noise in perception, like a type of "groupthink"

<< The findings, (..) offer new insights into the limits of perception and could aid in the design of so-called neuroprosthetics-devices that enable people to regain some lost sensory capabilities. >>

<< because neurons are highly interconnected, when one randomly responds incorrectly and misidentifies an image, it can influence other neurons to make the same mistake. >>

<< You can think of correlated noise like a type of 'groupthink,' in which neurons can act like lemmings, with one heedlessly following another into making a mistake, >> Surya Ganguli

<< Remarkably, the visual system is able to cut through about 90% of this neuronal noise, but the remaining 10% places a limit on how finely we can discern between two images that look very similar. >>

<< With this study, we've helped resolve a puzzle that's been around for over 30 years about what limits mammals-and by extension humans-when it comes to sensory perception, >> Mark Schnitzer

Adam Hadhazy. Misfiring from jittery neurons sets fundamental limit on perception.  Stanford University. Apr 9, 2020.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-04-misfiring-jittery-neurons-fundamental-limit.html

Rumyantsev OI, Lecoq JA, et al. Fundamental bounds on the fidelity of sensory cortical coding. Nature 580, 100–105 doi:.10.1038/ s41586-020-2130-2. Mar 18, 2020.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2130-2

# gst: apropos of slipping, the motion on a deformable ground under fast-moving sheets

<< Backed by experimental data from a laboratory machine that simulates the huge forces involved in glacier flow, glaciologists have written an equation that accounts for the motion of ice that rests on the soft, deformable ground underneath unusually fast-moving parts of ice sheets. >>

<< That equation - or "slip law" - is a tool that scientists can include in computer models of glacier movement over the deformable beds of mud, sand, pebbles, rocks and boulders under glaciers such as the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, >> Neal Iverson

<< Models using the new slip law could better predict how quickly glaciers are sliding, how much ice they're sending to oceans and how that would affect sea-level rise. >>

Neal Iverson. Experiments lead to slip law for better forecasts of glacier speed, sea-level rise. Iowa State University. Apr 2, 2020.

https://m.phys.org/news/2020-04-law-glacier-sea-level.html

<< These observations should help to solve the long-standing problem of constructing a generalized slip law that combines the processes of hard-bedded sliding and bed deformation. >>

Lucas K. Zoet, Neal R. Iverson. A slip law for glaciers on deformable beds.  Science. Vol. 368, Issue 6486, pp. 76-78 doi: 10.1126/science.aaz1183.  Apr 3, 2020.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6486/76

# life: 27 proteins to confine a world to a (complex 3D) virus dance

<< The novel coronavirus sweeping the globe packs 27 proteins, each adopting a unique, often incredibly complex 3D structure. 

Each protein is part of the molecular toolkit that the virus uses to infect, replicate, and spread. >>

Tom Rickey. Scientists Take Aim at the Coronavirus Toolkit. PNNL. Mar 31, 2020.

https://www.pnnl.gov/news-media/scientists-take-aim-coronavirus-toolkit

https://phys.org/news/2020-04-scientists-aim-coronavirus-toolkit.html

Also 

keyword 'dance' in FonT 

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

Also (quasi-stochastic poetry)

Catalisi d'astrattivo Tao. FonT.  Jan 22, 2005.

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/2005/01/1808-catalisi-dastrattivo-tao.html

# astro: apropos of elusive predators ... the mid-sized mass black hole

<< Astronomers have found the best evidence for the perpetrator of a cosmic homicide: a black hole of an elusive class known as "intermediate-mass," which betrayed its existence by tearing apart a wayward star that passed too close. >>

<< These so-called intermediate-mass black holes (..) are a long-sought "missing link" in black hole evolution. >>

Claire Andreoli. Hubble finds best evidence for elusive mid-sized black hole. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Mar 31, 2020

https://m.phys.org/news/2020-03-hubble-evidence-elusive-mid-sized-black.html

Dacheng Lin, Jay Strader, et al.  Multiwavelength Follow-up of the Hyperluminous Intermediate-mass Black Hole Candidate 3XMM J215022.4−055108. ApJL 892 L25. Mar 31, 2020

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ab745b

# life: to save Western lifestyle from a catapulting collapse (caused by one or two Wuhan "achoo") use a techno mask (e.g. "cowboy" or "burqa" techno masks)

<< WHEN YOU LOOK at photos of Americans during the 1918 influenza pandemic, one feature stands out above all else: masks.  (..)  Newspapers published instructions for sewing masks at home. >>

<< After the 1918 pandemic, the prophylactic use of masks among the general public largely fell out of favor in America and much of the West. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has almost never advised healthy people to wear masks in public to prevent influenza or other respiratory diseases. In the past few months, with medical supplies dangerously diminished, the CDC, US surgeon general Jerome Adams, and the World Health Organization have urged people not to buy masks, paradoxically claiming that masks are both essential for the safety of health care workers and incapable of protecting the public from Covid-19. >>

<< Recently, some experts have disputed this contradictory advice. They propose that widespread use of masks is one of the many reasons why China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan have controlled outbreaks of coronavirus much more effectively than the US and Europe. "Of course masks work," sociologist Zeynep Tufekci wrote in a New York Times editorial. "Their use has always been advised as part of the standard response to being around infected people." Public health expert Shan Soe-Lin and epidemiologist Robert Hecht made a similar argument in the Boston Globe (..) Last week, George Gao, director-general of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that America and Europe are making a "big mistake" by not telling the public to wear masks during the ongoing pandemic. >>

<< N95s (N95 mask) are so-named because they filter out 95 percent of particles with a diameter of 0.3 microns, (..) Particles 0.3 microns wide are just the right size to ride a stream of air through a filter’s fibrous maze, but it is still possible to thwart them with enough twists and turns.>>

<< the bacterium that causes anthrax is 0.8 microns wide and 1.4 microns long, whereas influenza viruses and coronaviruses are usually between 0.08 and 0.12 microns. But microbes expelled from someone’s respiratory tract are rarely naked: the droplets they travel in range in size from 0.6 to more than 1,000 microns. >>

<< Although surgical masks are not tightly sealed like N95s, the filters they contain are still a major impediment to microbes. The CDC and other health agencies often say that surgical masks catch only spurts of bodily fluids and very large respiratory droplets, and that they cannot filter tiny infectious particles. But this is simply not true. >>

<< Because so many trials find only a marginal benefit or none at all, some health agencies have decided against recommending masks to the general public. But the inconsistency of randomized trials does not negate the robust physical evidence that masks block respiratory droplets and microbes.  >>

<< "To be honest, it’s common sense," says Tang (virologist Julian Tang). "If you put something in front of your face, it’s going to help more than not." If enough people wear masks at least somewhat correctly at least some of the time, the overall benefits could be dramatic. A 2011 review of high-quality studies found that among all physical interventions used against respiratory viruses-including handwashing, gloves, and social distancing-masks performed best, although a combination of strategies was still optimal. >>

It's Time to Face Facts, America: Masks Work. Official advice has been confusing, but the science isn't hard to grok. Everyone should cover up. Wired. Ideas. March 30, 2020.

https://www.wired.com/story/its-time-to-face-facts-america-masks-work/

Also 

a funky, immediate approach of the sneezing from Wuhan (a relative safe barrier - this device is NOT a filter) FonT.  Mar 20, 2020

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/2020/03/life-funky-immediate-approach-of.html

Also

climate change plus Zika, then a behavioral transition, hat burqa- like everywhere ... FonT.  Mar13, 2016.

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/2016/03/s-epidemiol-climate-change-plus-zika.html

Also

keyword 'virus' in FonT

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

keyword 'virus' in Notes (quasi- stochastic poetry)

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=virus

keyword 'snake' in FonT

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

keyword 'bat' in FonT

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