Free Republic

Affiliations 1 Rui Wang, Department of Mathematics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States. 2 Jiahui Chen, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States. 3 Guo-Wei Wei, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States. PMID: 34873910 DOI: ACS PUBLICATIONS ABSTRACTThe importance of understanding SARS-CoV-2 evolution cannot be overlooked. Recent studies confirm that natural selection is the dominating mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 evolution, which favors mutations that strengthen viral infectivity. Here, we demonstrate that vaccine-breakthrough or antibody-resistant mutations provide a new mechanism of viral...

The Tripoli Court of Appeal on Monday overturned an earlier verdict to exclude Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar from this month’s presidential elections, according to local media.The private Libya Al-Ahrar TV said the court ruled to allow Haftar to run in the Dec. 24 polls.Last week, a court in the western city of al-Zawiya issued a ruling to exclude Haftar from the vote.Last month, a Libyan court had disqualified Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of former strongman Muammar Gaddafi, from the polls, before he appealed the verdict.On Wednesday, Libya’s elections commission is expected to announce a final list of candidates for...

University of Melbourne-led research has shown the flavonoid pinocembrin, derived from Australian eucalyptus trees, has strong anti-inflammatory properties and could be safe and effective at treating lung fibrosis in sheep, a large animal model for human lung disease. Pinocembrin, a flavonoid found in several different type of trees including pine trees and eucalyptus, has been reported to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and anti-cancer properties. Researchers from the University of Melbourne, Monash University, Swinburne University of Technology and industry partner Gretals Australia, set out to test the anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrosis properties of pinocembrin in 10 sheep, to see whether the compound...

Prosecutor and defense are colluding to subvert justice' through stipulated resentencing agreements, says a victims rights attorney.. A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has refused to rubber stamp an agreement between a controversial prosecutor and defense attorneys to remove a man from death row for a 1996 double murder ... In a sign that the bench is beginning to push back against some of District Attorney George Gascón’s sweeping social justice policies, Judge Roger Ito last week in a Norwalk court rejected Deputy District Attorney Shelan Joseph’s stipulation to defense claims that 57-year-old Samuel Zamudio is intellectually disabled, exempting...

Mattias Desmet, he's a psychologist. He's also a statistician, He's at the University of Ghent... Many of us are very impressed by his thinking... I think Mattias is on to something, and he calls it 'MASS FORMATION PSYCHOSIS" ... so when he says, 'Mass formation,' you can think of it as crowd... so it's Mass Crowd Psychosis ... Mass Formation Psychosis is like hypnosis ... This is what happened to the German people ... western thinking people, how could they go so crazy ? ... a civilized people ? And this is the explanation ... You have to have a...

As many students of color struggle with the subject, schools are altering instruction - sometimes amid intense debate.Students practice equations through singing, dancing and drawing. Activities are sculpted around their hobbies and interests: anime, gaming, Minecraft. Problem-solving is a team sport, rather than an individual sprint to the right answer.Ebri, a math teacher and tech specialist for Duval County Schools in Florida, is using new techniques designed to promote equity. If kids of color, girls and low-income students engage, they'll be more likely to pursue high-level math classes, the argument goes. That can open doors to competitive colleges and lucrative...

JERUSALEM, Israel – Hamas is considering whether to renew violence against Israel following weeks of relative calm and lashed out on Monday against Egypt for its role as mediator between the two sides. "We are examining the possibilities for escalation with Israel against the background of the continuation of the blockade and the delay in the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip,” an unnamed senior Hamas official told Al Jazeera on Monday. The source was referring to Israel and Egypt’s blockade on the Gaza Strip, which Israel says is necessary to prevent the transfer of weapons to Palestinian terror groups inside...

Research at Nottingham Trent University investigated the role of trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) a molecule which is present in people's diets and produced by the body during digestion of fish. As foods containing TMAO are ingested, the molecule is broken down by bacteria in the gut. The breakdown product is taken up into the bloodstream and converted back to TMAO, which interacts with organs throughout the body. Importantly, the brain's circulatory and vascular system is exposed to TMAO, which interacts directly with the 'blood-brain barrier." This barrier works to prevent potentially harmful toxins in the body from reaching the brain. As...

Alec Baldwin has a long history of fiery behavior. Alec Baldwin‘s arrest last week was far from his first scrape with authorities. The actor, 60, has a long history of fiery behavior, largely stemming from his contentious relationship with reporters and photographers. Here’s a look back at his history.

With more than 10% of the world's population obese and 40% overweight, obesity constitutes one of the most crucial health challenges. However, existing therapeutic options remain scarce and poorly efficient. Few years ago, scientists discovered that the absorptive surface and function of the gut change due to certain external stimuli, such as exposure to cold. Increasing the food amount elevates the intestinal absorptive surface and function. Mechanistically, this is due to the enhanced expression of PPARα, a regulating protein necessary for the overeating-induced increase in the capacity of the gut to absorb calories. Furthermore, if high amounts of food increase...

Tesla CEO Elon Musk sold a massive stake in his company over the past several weeks. And yet he owns 564,000 more shares than he did at the start of the selling spree...That's because at the same time he is selling shares, he's also exercising options to buy additional stock. And he's doing so at a bargain exercise price of $6.24 a share, well below 1% of Tesla (TSLA)'s current share price. Since Musk's Twitter poll on November 6, he has exercised options to buy 10.7 million shares of Tesla. To be clear, he would have done so with or...

It's been a rough week for Alec Baldwin. The former Trump impersonator gave a questionable interview with ABC News, claiming he wasn't responsible for the gun that went off in his hand and killed a cinematographer. He deleted his Twitter account. And at some point in the middle, the District Attorney investigating what happened on the set of the Baldwin-produced movie Rust said that Baldwin is NOT in the clear. That's contrary to what Baldwin told ABC News. Obviously, the stress has gotten to him. When the New York Post's Jon Levin asked him how it was going, Baldwin freaked...

Donald Trump took a swipe at President Biden’s handling of Vladimir Putin amid the Russian president’s buildup of troops at the Ukraine border, saying Putin “is not worried” by his predecessor after the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan. “Vladimir Putin looks at our pathetic surrender in Afghanistan, leaving behind dead Soldiers, American citizens, and $85 billion worth of Military equipment. He then looks at Biden. He is not worried!” Trump said in a statement through his Save America PAC just hours after Biden finished his video call with the Russian president.

There’s a ton of stories about the ships waiting off shore to unload their cargo and ho this is causing a ‘supply chain crisis’ We don’t have a supply chain crisis... we have a manufacturing crisis. The problem isn’t that we aren’t able to unload the ships fast enough. The real problem is that we don’t make anything here and we have to import almost everything. ... Our policies should be geared toward energy independence, homegrown supply chain resiliency (make it here), and sound fiscal policy with an eye towards restraint instead of buying votes and bankrupting our coiuntry.

Judge Frank P. Nervo on Tuesday issued a temporary stay on Bill de Blasio's vaccine mandate for city employees De Blasio's order was issued on October 20, and all city employees - except uniformed correction officers - had until October 29 to get their first dose Staff were given a $500 bonus for getting vaccinated: if they refused, they were placed on unpaid leave The mandate applied to 160,500 city workers, of whom 71 per cent had already been vaccinated Last month reports suggested that 9,000 city workers, representing 5.6pc of the work force, were put on leave for failing...

Chinese hackers came within minutes of shutting down a series of power stations capable of lighting three million homes in a sneak cyber attack of a sort experts warn are becoming increasingly common – and which could be used to limit Australia’s ability to respond to a military crisis in the future. On November 27, Queensland’s CS Energy was subjected to a sustained ransomware attack which sources familiar with the matter say was only stopped at the last minute before it had the potential to shut down the company’s two thermal coal plants. Had the attack been successful, it could...

Eighteen earthquakes have struck Tuesday off the Oregon coast, with the largest two reaching magnitude-5.8. The earthquakes hit far off the coast, roughly west of Newport. No tsunamis are expected. Small earthquakes strike often near Oregon’s coast, a regular reminder of the cataclysmic earthquake geologists say will happen when the pressure building between the Juan de Fuca and North American plates breaks

The Omicron variant has been detected in at least 38 countries but no deaths have yet been reported, the World Health Organization has said, amid warnings that it could damage the global economic recovery. The United States and Australia became the latest countries to confirm locally transmitted cases of the variant, as Omicron infections pushed South Africa’s total cases past 3 million.The WHO has warned it could take weeks to determine how infectious the variant is, whether it causes more severe illness and how effective treatments and vaccines are against it. “We’re going to get the answers that everybody out...

The most terrifying force of death comes from the hands of Men who wanted to be left Alone. They try, so very hard, to mind their own business and provide for themselves and those they love. They resist every impulse to fight back, knowing the forced and permanent change of life that will come from it. They know that the moment they fight back, their lives as they have lived them, are over. The moment the Men who wanted to be left alone are forced to fight back, it is a form of suicide. They are literally killing off who...

Ford CEO Jim Farley explained to Automotive News that not all of its customers are ready to make the transition, due to their specific needs. "We have a lot of rural customers at Ford that a lot of other brands don't have. We have Super Duty customers who do heavy-duty towing: horse trailers, people in the energy business who are towing big-time loads over very long distances. It's hard for me to imagine that all those customers will go electric in the next 10 years," Farley said. "They're actually as interested in the technology as anyone, it's just their use...