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When I began Schwartzreport my purpose was to produce an entirely fact-based daily publication in favor of the earth, the inter-connectedness and interdependence of all life, democracy, equality for all, liberty, and things that are life-affirming. Also, to warn my readers about actions, events, and trends that threaten those values. Our country now stands at a crossroads, indeed, the world stands at a crossroads where those values are very much at risk and it is up to each of us who care about wellbeing to do what we can to defend those principles. I want to thank all of you who have contributed to SR, particularly those of you who have scheduled an ongoing monthly contribution. It makes a big difference and is much appreciated. It is one thing to put in the hours each day and to do the work for free, but another to have to cover the rising out-of-pocket costs. For those of you who haven’t done so, but read SR regularly, I ask that you consider supporting it.
Stephan: The idea of a second center in your gut is not new. Egyptian medicine held to this belief, and osteopathy has maintained this idea. However, this is the most refined and detailed understanding of the idea, and its implications are profound.
Scientists studied fetal and newborn mice to see when and how these neurons separate.
The “gut brain” is linked with emotional health and stress, but isn’t well understood.
Scientists have known for years that there’s a “second brain” of autonomous neurons in your long, winding human digestive tract—but that’s about where their knowledge of the so-called abdominal brain ends.
Now, in new research, scientists have catalogued 12 different kinds of neurons in the enteric nervous system (ENS) of mice. This “fundamental knowledge” unlocks a huge number of paths to new experiments and findings.
The gut brain greatly affects on how you body works. Your digestive system has a daily job to do as part of your metabolism, but it’s also subject to fluctuations in functionality, and otherwise related to your emotions.
Digestive symptoms and anxiety can be comorbid, and your gut is heavily affected by stress. So scientists believe having a better understanding […]
Stephan: All of us know someone whose life has been destroyed by their slipping away into Alzheimer's. And although medicine does not yet know how to stop this disease, it does know that the sooner you can diagnose Alzheimer's the more likely medicine is to be able to hold it at bay so that people can continue to live near-normal lives. The problem has been the only way to really make such an early diagnosis has been with a PET scan, and they cost thousands of dollars. Because we only have an illness profit system in the U.S. those without medical insurance or inadequate insurance, have been unable to get a PET scan. But now there has been a breakthrough and this is very good news. Here's the story.
Alzheimers Research LabCredit: Jerry Naunheim Jr./C2N Diagnostics/AP
A non-COVID medical breakthrough: People over 60 now have access to a blood test for Alzheimer’s disease.
Why it matters: The existing PET brain scan test costs some people about $5,000 and often isn’t covered by insurance, AP reports.
Both the blood test and the brain scan are looking for a buildup of a protein called beta-amyloid, which combined with symptoms like memory loss can lead to a dementia diagnosis.
The test hasn’t received FDA approval, and it’s being sold under rules for commercial labs.
The big picture: Roughly 5.5 million Americans may have Alzheimer’s-induced dementia, the NIH reports.
Earlier diagnoses can’t stop the disease, the NIH notes, but treatments can prolong the period before people lose the ability to function on their own.
Between the lines: C2N Diagnostics of St. Louis, which is selling the test and seeking FDA approval, hasn’t published any data on the test’s accuracy, AP notes.
Company promotional materials cite results comparing the test to PET brain scans.
The U.K. will become the first major industrialized nation to end all public finance for fossil fuel projects overseas, in an effort to mark itself out as a leader in tackling climate change.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will make the announcement at a virtual United Nations summit on Saturday, which he’s co-hosting with France, Italy and Chile. More than 70 world leaders are due to attend the event, alongside Pope Francis and Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook, who will each pledge to step up ambitions to curb emissions.
He wants to use green policies to prove that the U.K. will continue to have influence outside the EU’s trading bloc, including to bolster relations with U.S. […]
Stephan: Proper hydration, drinking enough water, has been known to be a critical part of good health for generations. But until now there has been no research as to how proper hydration affected a person's emotional health. Now there is.
Credit: Fernanda Latronico/Pexels
NEW YORK — What’s the key to happiness? Most people would probably answer that question with responses like love or family. Interestingly, a new survey of 2,000 Americans finds the true answer may be staying hydrated. The poll finds those who maintain proper hydration tend to be happier, more successful, and more energetic.
Respondents who drink at least six glasses of water daily (41%) are most likely to agree with the statement, “I’m very happy.” Conversely, only 12 percent of those drinking less than one glass of water per day say the same.
Commissioned by Bosch home appliances, the survey also reports 40 percent of Americans drinking more than six glasses of water consider themselves an optimistic person. Only 10 percent of those drinking less than one cup share the same sentiment.
Hydration also seems to have a big impact on rest and refreshment. People who drink lots of water (6+ cups) only wake up feeling tired 2.59 times per week. Those who drink minimal water wake up feeling exhausted 3.14 times a […]
Stephan: CNN, MSNBC, and FOX ran in the background as I worked today, and I was struck by how many states had Republican Parties who tried by physical threats or outright cheating to alter the Electoral College outcome. Here is just one state's story; I could have given over the entire day's edition to presenting story after story of the same kind of nonsense in other states, but it would have been repetitious. What is clear is that there can be no doubt that the two-party system is fundamentally broken because one party, the Republicans, no longer supports democracy.
In another sign of the lingering unrest over President Donald Trump’s election loss, an Arizona group sent the National Archives in Washington, D.C., notarized documents last week intended to deliver, wrongly, the state’s 11 electoral votes for him.
Copies of the documents obtained by The Arizona Republic show a group that claimed to represent the “sovereign citizens of the Great State of Arizona” submitted signed papers casting votes for what they want: a second term for Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
Mesa resident Lori Osiecki, 62, helped created a facsimile of the “certificate of ascertainment” that is submitted to formally cast each state’s electoral votes as part of an effort to prevent what she views as the fraudulent theft of the election.
“We seated before the legislators here. We already turned it in. We beat them to the game,” she said.
Osiecki said she and others associated with a group called “AZ Protect the Vote” have attended the postelection rallies protesting the results, including the daylong meeting […]
Stephan: The moronic vulgar thuggery of the Proud Boys is made clear and obvious by the picture that accompanies this story.
From one Scotsman: “This makes my eyes bleed.” Credit: Hannah Allam
It seems things here in the apocalypse can always get weirder. Thus, a month and a half after his landslide, clearcut, historic election loss and a day after Georgia handed him what we believe is his 59th defeat in court, our Whiny-Snowflake-In-Chief is stillbabbling, as Aaron Rupar notes “without a shred of irony,” about the country “having an illegitimate president.” Backing him in this dogged lunacy is Fox News, who despite representing all those “fuck your feelings” MAGA die-hards is still holding pity parties for him: “I just feel for POTUS. I see the pain & frustration. You do everything you’re supposed to do. You run the country well. You campaign your heart out….(then) you’re robbed.” Belligerently joining in the denial this weekend were maskless Proud Boys, neo-Nazis and other garden variety thugs, who roamed the streets of the capitol threatening people, railing against the Supreme Court, cheering for pardoned felon Michael Flynn and dangerous asshat Alex Jones, and eventually stabbing at least four people because they evidently got tired of “standing by” and didn’t have much else […]
Stephan: This is what wildfire in one country can do to the entire planetary environment, and I am sure the West Coast fires added to the effect of the Australia fires. What you take away is that the heat of climate change can make the environment vulnerable to great fires which, in turn, can cool the planet, stressing the biosphere in both ways and producing catastrophic effects.
A Jan. 4 satellite image shows wildfires in Australia. (NASA/AP)
Australia’s disastrous 2019-2020 fire season blew so much smoke into the upper atmosphere that it blocked sunlight from reaching Earth’s surface, potentially causing a brief global cooling effect comparable to a moderate volcanic eruption, new research has found.
In late 2019 and early 2020, raging wildfires in southeastern Australia spawned a rash of rare fire-induced thunderclouds, known as pyrocumulonimbus clouds, or pyroCbs. This pyroCb “superoutbreak,” as scientists are now calling it, injected plumes of smoke into the stratosphere, a layer of the atmosphere that starts about nine miles overhead. There, the smoke plumes spun up their own winds, creating self-sustaining vortexes that circled the globe, in one case climbing to an unprecedented altitude of more than 20 miles in the process.
These smoke plumes did something else scientists weren’t expecting.
Findings published recently in Communications Earth & Environment and presented at the virtual American Geophysical Union (AGU) conference this week show that smoke acted like a planetary shade, […]
Stephan: Will your children ever see a freshwater dolphin? Probably not, they will be extinct, as will hundreds of other species. Because of our greed and stupidity, we are destroying the earth's biosphere faster than scientists can even measure.
Freshwater dolphins near extinction Credit: International Union for Conservation of Nature
A staggering percentage of the world’s plant and animal species are at risk of extinction, according to the latest IUCN Red List, an inventory of threatened species maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The Red List, which was updated Thursday, lists more than 35,700 species — representing almost 30% of all plant and animal species evaluated by the IUCN — as currently threatened with extinction. These include all of the world’s freshwater dolphins, almost one-third of all oak trees and 40% of all amphibians.
At least 31 species have also been declared extinct, according to the latest Red List. These include several freshwater fish species endemic to Lake Lanao in the Philippines, which, according to the IUCN, were killed off in part by overfishing and the introduction of predatory species to the lake. Three Central American frog species have also been declared extinct, the organization said.
“The growing list of extinct species is a stark reminder that conservation efforts must urgently expand,” Bruno […]
