Dammit, after all the fine work by shrieking Sharri (disrespect), Major Mitchell and many other fine reptiles, the pond was shocked to wake up to find that they still hadn't managed to drive a stake through the Covid creature origin story ...
The Beeb, as you'd expect of cardigan wearers, was full of it in Genetic ghosts suggest Covid’s market origins:
A team of scientists say it is “beyond reasonable doubt” the Covid pandemic started with infected animals sold at a market, rather than a laboratory leak.
They were analysing hundreds of samples collected from Wuhan, China, in January 2020.
The results identify a shortlist of animals – including racoon dogs, civets and bamboo rats – as potential sources of the pandemic.
Despite even highlighting one market stall as a hotspot of both animals and coronavirus, the study cannot provide definitive proof.
The samples were collected by Chinese officials in the early stages of Covid and are one of the most scientifically valuable sources of information on the origins of the pandemic.
An early link with the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market was established when patients appeared in hospitals in Wuhan with a mystery pneumonia.
The market was closed and teams swabbed locations including stalls, the inside of animal cages and equipment used to strip fur and feathers from slaughtered animals.
Their analysis was published last year and the raw data made available to other scientists. Now a team in the US and France says they have performed even more advanced genetic analyses to peer deeper into Covid’s early days.
It involved analysing millions of short fragments of genetic code – both DNA and RNA – to establish what animals and viruses were in the market in January 2020.
"We are seeing the DNA and RNA ghosts of these animals in the environmental samples, and some are in stalls where [the Covid virus] was found too," says Prof Florence Débarre, of the French National Centre for Scientific Research.
The results, published in the journal Cell, highlight a series of findings that come together to make their case.
It shows Covid virus and susceptible animals were detected in the same location, with some individual swabs collecting both animal and coronavirus genetic code. This is not evenly distributed across the market and points to very specific hotspots.
"We find a very consistent story in terms of this pointing - even at the level of a single stall - to the market as being the very likely origin of this particular pandemic," says Prof Kristian Andersen, from the Scripps Institute in the US.
They were analysing hundreds of samples collected from Wuhan, China, in January 2020.
The results identify a shortlist of animals – including racoon dogs, civets and bamboo rats – as potential sources of the pandemic.
Despite even highlighting one market stall as a hotspot of both animals and coronavirus, the study cannot provide definitive proof.
The samples were collected by Chinese officials in the early stages of Covid and are one of the most scientifically valuable sources of information on the origins of the pandemic.
An early link with the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market was established when patients appeared in hospitals in Wuhan with a mystery pneumonia.
The market was closed and teams swabbed locations including stalls, the inside of animal cages and equipment used to strip fur and feathers from slaughtered animals.
Their analysis was published last year and the raw data made available to other scientists. Now a team in the US and France says they have performed even more advanced genetic analyses to peer deeper into Covid’s early days.
It involved analysing millions of short fragments of genetic code – both DNA and RNA – to establish what animals and viruses were in the market in January 2020.
"We are seeing the DNA and RNA ghosts of these animals in the environmental samples, and some are in stalls where [the Covid virus] was found too," says Prof Florence Débarre, of the French National Centre for Scientific Research.
The results, published in the journal Cell, highlight a series of findings that come together to make their case.
It shows Covid virus and susceptible animals were detected in the same location, with some individual swabs collecting both animal and coronavirus genetic code. This is not evenly distributed across the market and points to very specific hotspots.
"We find a very consistent story in terms of this pointing - even at the level of a single stall - to the market as being the very likely origin of this particular pandemic," says Prof Kristian Andersen, from the Scripps Institute in the US.
And so on, but luckily the pond also checked out AP's version, A new genetic analysis of animals in the Wuhan market in 2019 may help find COVID-19’s origin.
Mark Woolhouse, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Edinburgh, said the new genetic analysis suggested that the pandemic “had its evolutionary roots in the market” and that it was very unlikely COVID-19 was infecting people before it was identified at the Huanan market.
“It’s a significant finding and this does shift the dial more in favor of an animal origin,” Woolhouse, who was not connected to the research, said. “But it is not conclusive.”
Exactly, and that's why the pond will always get its conclusive science from top notch scientists of the scintillating Sharri (disrespect) and Major "Order of Lenin medal" Mitchell kind, instead of rank also rans carrying out high falutin' genetic detective work and other forms of wankery ...
It just so happens that after that the pond could turn to other reptile science studies for the day, with nuking the country to save the planet high on the agenda ...
Some will note on the far right the ghost of Bill Kelty returning to haunt the lizard Oz, accompanied by Chris Bowen doing a piece about nuking the country.
But why would the pond bother with Bowen, when it can read the lizard Oz's very own EXCLUSIVE on proceedings?
Oh dear, the pond has already explained that the pond would rather pierce its ear drums than listen to the reptiles read out loud, and as for "take me there", why we're already here ...
Never mind, costings, schmucktings ...
Then with those correctives in place, the reptiles could continue the undermining, while regurgitating little chunks of Bowen, with the undermining a job well done ...
What an excellent warm-up act for our Henry.
The pond's main interest in any outing by the hole in the bucket man is whether it's a Thucydides day. Sad to say, the Greek master misses out this time, but there's still a satisfying amount of pompous and portentous references in the word salad ...
Speaking of word salad machines, has our Henry thought about this invention ...
There really should have been room for "wokerati" on that final wheel- as in "Taylor Swift is grilling the wokerati" - but never mind, time to give our Henry a spin ...
The latest to hog the news cycle featured Boris once again wreaking Europe (NY Times paywall).
At this point the pond is forced to note that our Henry copped the same inserted click bait video as seen above ... but the whole point inside the hive mind is to keep repeating the same thing over and over...
Denouncing the doom sayers, our Henry, robust climate scientist, was hurt to be categorised as a denier ...
The weather system was fueled by a blast of Arctic air that moved in from the north, causing temperatures to plummet within 24 hours. While it’s not unprecedented for a polar blast to hit Europe in late summer, it could become more likely to happen in the future under a changing climate, said Richard Rood, a climatologist at the University of Michigan.
That cold air collided with warmer air from the south that was dense with water vapor. The overloaded moisture came from an unusually warm Mediterranean Sea that hit the highest temperature ever recorded last month.
“The climate is so warm that every storm or weather event is influenced by a warming climate,” Dr. Rood said. “It’s impossible to have an event, especially an extreme event, that doesn’t have some relation to climate change.”
While flooding has always been a natural occurrence, heavier rains are arriving more often as greenhouse gas emissions, largely caused by the burning of fossil fuels, continue to rise. Higher temperatures on both land and sea mean more moisture is held in the atmosphere. And a hotter planet creates more energy that can cause storms to more efficiently rain out that moisture, potentially leading to a more violent storm.
“To prevent such catastrophic outcomes in the future, we as Europe have to accelerate our flood adaptation,” Dr. Knispel de Acosta said. Those adaptations could include improved storm water management systems, better urban planning, more accessible early warning systems and growing investments in green infrastructure, like replacing concrete surfaces with more permeable materials or planting more trees.
“Our infrastructure was built for a climate that no longer exists,” said Diana Urge-Vorsatz, a professor at Central European University and vice chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. But while these storms become more common, even experts can forget how pervasive they have become.
Before Storm Boris hit Central Europe, Dr. Urge-Vorsatz was warned by another climate scientist to stock up on enough food and emergency supplies to last at least three days. It’s going to be really bad, she said he had told her. She didn’t listen. Then floodwaters and strong winds threatened her home just outside Vienna.
“We know that with climate change, the rain is getting more intense and frequent, but no one really believes it when it’s coming,” Dr. Urge-Vorsatz said. “We always think it’s happening to others, and that it can’t happen to me.”
Winds pummeled her neighborhood, knocking down big trees. Schools closed, roadways and transit lines were submerged, power outages flickered across the region, affecting tens of thousands of homes.
Bloody useless apocalyptic fanatical fear mongeringManicheans.
What they need is a decent serve of medievalism instead of all this blather about floods in Europe ...
Instead both times the pond was transferred to Samantha McCulloch, the Chief Executive of Australian Energy Producers, proposing Greens’ gas ban would devastate the economy,It’s imperative that Australians understand the consequences of these irresponsible demands.
... with the punchline ...
The Greens are the outliers.
Their sloganeering would smash Australia’s economic and energy security and increase emissions, derailing the national pathway to a net zero economy.
The pond simply can't understand why everybody keeps rabbiting on about a "net zero economy".
That's just the result of some modern religious weirdos devising an apocalyptic Anabaptist fever dream ...
Luckily our Henry was on hand to provide guidance on the correct moral position ... fuck the planet, who cares?
True. Embarking on a rant about ancient ways to demolish current science takes exceptional will and skill, and most of all the moral courage to shout loudly, "I'm as barking mad as hell, and fuck the planet".
And with that the pond regrets that there was no good way to segue to the infallible Pope, the immortal Rowe and Wilcox of the day, so here they are, clustered together at the end ...
"The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e, the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought), no longer exist."
ReplyDelete~ Hannah Arendt
https://theconversation.com/hannah-arendt-wanted-political-thinking-to-be-urgent-and-engaged-she-is-a-philosopher-for-our-times-229383
She really is No. 1 on their Hated Enemies hit list, ïsn't she:
ReplyDeleteHenry: "Decades before Greta Thunberg burst on the scene ..." "Burst"? Yeah, sure, of course she did. But then, just how long did it take for James Hansen to "burst on the scene" ? "Decades" smirks our Henry.
PS:
Delete"Scientists reviewed 7,000 studies on microplastics. Their alarming conclusion puts humanity on notice."
https://theconversation.com/scientists-reviewed-7-000-studies-on-microplastics-their-alarming-conclusion-puts-humanity-on-notice-239105
Wau !
ReplyDeleteCoalition’s nuclear plan will add $665 a year to average power bill, report warns
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/sep/20/coalition-nuclear-power-plan-will-add-665-dollars-to-average-power-bill-a-year-report-warns
But never no mind because: "Opposition disputes costings in study and accuses authors of cherrypicking ‘worst-case scenario projects’ from around the world."
And we believe everything that "the Opposition" says about the costs and timeframes of nuclear powered energy, don't we.
In a void of detail.
DeleteSo apt... "in a void if detail"
"In a void of detail, two reports attempt to spell the challenge for Peter Dutton to go nuclear"
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-20/nuclear-costings-absent-power-bill-rise-supply-shortfall/104374718
I think "in a void of detail" is now my fave fraze. Until...
Spent a couple of days travelling. Life, and Spring, are both too short, ‘And since to look at things in bloom. Fifty springs are little room,. About the woodlands I will go.’ - ignoring reptiles sunk in woe.
ReplyDeleteActually, reptiles repeating. A couple more Groans, on furriners, particularly student furriners. (Thought, is the Dame more concerned because students are a kind of renewable furriners? And renewable anythings - well, they are plug-ugly for a start.
Also had Mein Gott supposedly making a doddle of the tax quandaries. Except he was doing little more than fiddle at the edges. Little mention of significant land taxes, which do offer more chance of wringing tax out of even the most artificially constructed local agency of multinationals; certainly better chances than trying to capture a sliver of electronic ‘money’ whizzing around who knows where. On a quick read, Mein Gott did refer to what those mining corporations were doing out of the goodness of their hearts for our land of Girtby, but I don’t recall serious consideration of what Our Gott might have considered to be a fair rate of royalty if he were the initial owner, and had done the ground work in estimating likely reserves of hydrocarbons and minerals that those corporations wanted to sell to an avid world.
My scan of other bits of news included the revelation that OpShops in Tamworth might be a good place for what I understand is called a ‘designer’ handbag, but I think that was ABC, so the source could be discounted as much as the handbag was.
To the news of this day - to my mind, probably the most compelling argument against Covid-19 being designed in a laboratory in China, to inflict economic woe on the rest of the world, is that such a laboratory would have produced vaccines in tandem with the infectious agents.
That is standard practice in known research for approved biological control agents, and China has no shortage of highly competent researchers who would have proceeded in just that way; for their own protection, if for no other reason. But China was no better prepared for the pandemic than any other advanced economy.
Unlike Mango Man, I am not prepared to say that ‘I look forward to reading’ Sharri’s (disrespect) book. As I wrote above, life is too short, and I am not as accomplished a lier as the Mango.
It is pleasing to see much more research on the likely alternative for the origin of Covid-19, even if it has no chance of converting one single promulgator of bioconspiracy ‘theories’.
If I may be indulged a little on account of the Henry. He really doesn’t think, does he? Opening sentence ‘Historically, Australia’s major parties have never condoned the use of violence as a means of achieving political objectives.’ Huh? HUH? How many times in the Henry lifetime has either major party fallen into line behind the USA, explicitly promising violence to some faraway land, side by side with our ‘allies’, for blatantly political objectives. Political objectives that applied right here, across Girtby, so the major party with the seals of Government could show the populace what a sad lot of wets, cowards and losers sat on the benches opposite - and how they should never again be invited to take the Treasury benches.
Now, now Chad, you know the Holely One wasn't referring to "violence' against otter peoples (which he would refer to as enforcing International Law, anyway) but to the use of threats of 'violence' against members of the Oz public and in particular members of other political parties.
DeleteWe don't seem to have much of that, do we; especially not the predilection for attempting homicide which the Americans, in particular, seem addicted to.
Geoff and Rosie: "...national polling ranking voter concerns shows climate change tumbling down the priorities list...". "Tumbling down", eh ? Yep, the only way we're going to stop the CO2 based climate change is to at least halve the human population, and this is the way that our own stupidity will do it for us.
ReplyDeleteSo: "The Minerals Council of Australia ... has launched an apolitical digital campaign to bust myths about nuclear power." Sure, and one of the first myths to be busted is that starting from zero as late as we would be doing will have any impact at all on Australia's energy supply before at least 2040. Which being true, not one of those 'myths', surely will be propagated.
In the meantime:
"The Earth is on track for global average temperatures to rise by up to nearly 3 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, according to a new United Nations report. That temperature hike is almost double the amount that nations agreed upon in the Paris Agreement."
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/earth-headed-for-nearly-three-degree-temperature-hike-well-above-paris-agreement-level-180983305/#:~
Oh the horror! Smart mask monitors breath for signs of health
ReplyDelete"(They) have developed a prototype for a smart mask that can be used to monitor a range of medical conditions, including respiratory ailments, such as asthma, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), and post-COVID-19 infections."
Joe - do you know if it will prevent us from breathing our own carbon monoxide - which was the fear that Pauline Hanson voiced in the time of Covid?
DeleteWe're going dual moon for a short while:
ReplyDelete"Earth’s gravitational pull will cause a trapped asteroid to orbit around planet for about two months".
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/19/mini-moon-asteroid