Media Today

[Rick Plant]

Possible antidote discovered for deadliest mushroom: study



Researchers said on Tuesday that an already widely used medical dye reduces the poisonous effects of death cap mushrooms in mice, raising hopes of the first targeted antidote for the world's deadliest mushroom.

The China-led team said the dye, which has yet to be tested as an antidote on humans but has already been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) for other uses, has the potential to "save many lives".

Amanita phalloides, commonly known as death caps, are estimated to cause more than 90 percent of all deaths from mushroom poisoning worldwide.

They often resemble other species of mushrooms that people like to pick in the wild -- but eating just half of one can cause deadly failure of the liver or kidneys.

While originally native to Europe, death caps have spread across the world, causing more than 38,000 illnesses and nearly 800 deaths in China alone between 2010 and 2020.

For a new study published in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers sought to target alpha-amanitin, the main toxin produced by the mushrooms.

They used genome-wide CRISPR screening, a relatively new technique that has helped researchers understand the role specific genes play in infections and poisonings.

The team had previously used the technology to find a potential antidote for the box jellyfish, one of the world's most venomous animals.

The CRISPR screening identified that the protein STT3B was a key culprit in the toxic effects of death cap poisoning.

The team searched through a database of drugs already approved by the US FDA and found one that could potentially block the protein.

- 'Unexpected connection' -

It is a fluorescent dye called indocyanine green, which is administered intravenously. It has been widely used for decades in the US, Europe and elsewhere for diagnostic imaging, allowing doctors to measure liver and heart function.

Qiaoping Wang, a researcher at China's Sun Yat-sen University and senior author of the study, told AFP that "upon discovering this unexpected connection, the research team was understandably taken aback".

The team tested the antidote first on liver cells in a petri dish, then on mice.

In both cases, it "demonstrated significant potential in mitigating the toxic impact" of mushroom poisoning, Wang said.

"This molecule holds immense potential for treating cases of human mushroom poisoning and could mark the first-ever specific antidote with a targeted protein," he said.

"It could save many lives if it is as effective in humans as in mice."

The team now intends to conduct trials on humans using the dye as a death cap antidote.

An extract from milk thistle seeds called silibinin has previously been used to treat death cap poisoning, but exactly how it works has remained unclear.

© 2023 AFP

[Rick Plant]

Webb telescope spots signs of universe's biggest stars



The James Webb Space Telescope has helped astronomers detect the first chemical signs of supermassive stars, "celestial monsters" blazing with the brightness of millions of Suns in the early universe.

So far, the largest stars observed anywhere have a mass of around 300 times that of our Sun.

But the supermassive star described in a new study has an estimated mass of 5,000 to 10,000 Suns.

The team of European researchers behind the study previously theorized the existence of supermassive stars in 2018 in an attempt to explain one of the great mysteries of astronomy.

For decades, astronomers have been baffled by the huge diversity in the composition of different stars packed into what are called globular clusters.

The clusters, which are mostly very old, can contain millions of stars in a relatively small space.

Advances in astronomy have revealed an increasing number of globular clusters, which are thought to be a missing link between the universe's first stars and first galaxies.

Our Milky Way galaxy, which has more than 100 billion stars, has around 180 globular clusters.

But the question remains: Why do the stars in these clusters have such a variety of chemical elements, despite presumably all being born around the same time, from the same cloud of gas?

Rampaging 'seed star'

Many of the stars have elements that would require colossal amounts of heat to produce, such as aluminum which would need a temperature of up to 70 million degrees Celsius.

That is far above the temperature that the stars are thought to get up to at their core, around the 15-20 million Celsius mark which is similar to the Sun.

So the researchers came up with a possible solution: a rampaging supermassive star shooting out chemical "pollution".

They theorize that these huge stars are born from successive collisions in the tightly packed globular clusters.

Corinne Charbonnel, an astrophysicist at the University of Geneva and lead author of the study, told AFP that "a kind of seed star would engulf more and more stars".

It would eventually become "like a huge nuclear reactor, continuously feeding on matter, which will eject out a lot of it," she added.

This discarded "pollution" will in turn feed young forming stars, giving them a greater variety of chemicals the closer they are to the supermassive star, she added.

But the team still needed observations to back up their theory.

'Like finding a bone'

They found them in the galaxy GN-z11, which is more than 13 billion light years away -- the light we see from it comes from just 440 million years after the Big Bang.

It was discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2015, and until recently held the record of oldest observed galaxy.

This made it an obvious early target for Hubble's successor as most powerful space telescope, the James Webb, which started releasing its first observations last year.

Webb offered up two new clues: the incredible density of stars in globular clusters and -- most crucially -- the presence of lots of nitrogen.

It takes truly extreme temperatures to make nitrogen, which the researchers believe could only be produced by a supermassive star.

"Thanks to the data collected by the James Webb Space Telescope, we believe we have found a first clue of the presence of these extraordinary stars," Charbonnel said in a statement, which also called the stars "celestial monsters".

If the team's theory was previously "a sort of footprint of our supermassive star, this is a bit like finding a bone," Charbonnel said.

"We are speculating about the head of the beast behind all this," she added.

But there is little hope of ever directly observing this beast.

The scientists estimate that the life expectancy of supermassive stars is only around two million years -- a blink of an eye in the cosmic time scale.

However they suspect that globular clusters were around until roughly two billion years ago, and they could yet reveal more traces of the supermassive stars they may have once hosted.

The study was published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics this month.

© 2023 AFP

[Rick Plant]

A Large Landslide Occurred at Mount Saint Helens; Major Road Closed

A major landslide just occurred to the north of Mount Saint Helens, occurring on the Sunday before the 43rd anniversary of its destructive volcanic eruption. As a result of this landslide, Spirit Lake Highway was blocked with a bridge destroyed, resulting in a closure of Johnson Observatory. This video discusses why this landslide occurred and how it relates to both hydrothermal alteration and the weather.

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Watch: Dust devil disrupts a Florida baseball game

Video shows the moment a dust devil swept across home plate at a Jacksonville baseball game, enveloping the young batter. WTLV's Zach Wilcox reports.

[Rick Plant]

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes must start prison sentence May 30

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes must begin serving her prison sentence by May 30 while she appeals her conviction on charges of defrauding investors in her failed blood-testing startup, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

Read More Here: https://www.axios.com/2023/05/18/theranos-founder-elizabeth-holmes-prison-sentence-may-30


Elizabeth Holmes to start prison term May 30

A federal judge is allowing disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes to surrender for her prison term on May 30, after the Memorial Day weekend. Holmes was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for defrauding investors in a blood-testing scam.

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Wildfires rip across Canada as heat wave smashes temperature records

The early-season heat and wildfires set the stage for a long, smoky summer in western Canada, where seasonal and long-term forecasts predict more heat.



High temperature records fell by the dozen this week as western Canada continued to suffer in a prolonged, scorching heat wave.

About 90 wildfires, spurred on by unusually high temperatures, continue to burn in Alberta. Smoke blanketed the province in unhealthy air and dipped across the border into the U.S., according to satellite photos. 

The heat wave pattern — described as an “omega block” by meteorologists — resembles in some ways the record-breaking heat event in Canada and the U.S. Pacific Northwest in June 2021, which killed hundreds of people. The intense spring wildfires in Alberta are reminiscent of the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire, which is considered one of Canada’s costliest natural disasters.

“This is a very unusual pattern. We often don’t see these types of patterns set up this early in the year. We see these patterns in the summer,” said Terri Lang, a warning preparedness meteorologist for Environment and Climate Change Canada.

It can take months for scientists to determine whether a particular weather anomaly is the result of climate change and the heating of the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels. But Lang said the events fit with what climate scientists have predicted for western Canada.

“It is consistent with what the science of climate change is telling us — that the climate’s warming, that temperatures are getting warmer and drier early on in the year and that warming temperatures lead to more forest fires,” she said.

The early-season heat and wildfires — which had displaced nearly 20,000 people as of Tuesday and threatened some oil extraction operations — set the stage for a long, smoky summer in western Canada, where seasonal and long-term forecasts predict more heat. The events show how extreme weather, made more common by climate change, can disrupt lives and shift economies.

The “omega block” pattern was established in late April and early May, Lang said. The pattern — a massive block of high pressure that resembles the Greek letter it is named for — has continued to sit over the region for weeks, sending temperatures soaring into record-breaking territory in early May.

Daily temperature records have been broken with regularity in Alberta and other provinces since the beginning of the month.

Weather stations in seven Alberta locations eclipsed daily highs Tuesday. British Columbia, Saskatchewan and other provinces also set records this week. 

Lytton, British Columbia — which had Canada’s all-time recorded high of 121 degrees Fahrenheit during the June 2021 heat wave and then burned to the ground a day later — was one of several communities to set new daily records this week. 

Temperatures last weekend spiked to record-setting levels in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, at the edge of the high pressure pattern, where Seattle recorded highs in the upper 80s and set new temperature highs four days in a row, according to the National Weather Service. The bayside town of Hoquiam, Washington, reached 91 degrees, a stunning mark for an area that usually has moderate temperatures because of its proximity to the Pacific Ocean.

“Last weekend was definitely anomalous, especially for May,” said Kayla Mazurkiewicz, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Seattle, who noted that the high pressure system has remained centered over western Canada. “That pattern was directly over that area. That’s why they’ve gotten the brunt of it.”

The heat wave in June 2021 was also caused by a ridge of high pressure. It contributed to more than 860 deaths in British Columbia, Washington and Oregon, according to research published in Nature Communications. 

Climate researchers determined the anomalous heat would be “virtually impossible” if not for the impacts of climate change.

Nathan Gillett, a research scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada who contributed to that research, said what’s happening this month is an “extreme event” but less so in comparison to 2021. Gillett said researchers were considering a new, detailed climate attribution study of the recent heat wave.

“The risk of these kinds of heat waves everywhere has been induced by human-caused climate change,” Gillett said. 

The hot weather has made fire danger in Alberta extreme. More than 2,500 wildland firefighters are working in the province, which reported that 19,576 had been evacuated from the areas where about 90 fires were burning.

The wildfires could affect global energy prices. Wildfires forced some Canadian shale operators to halt work this month, according to Rystad Energy, an independent energy research firm. Rystad estimated that at least 240,000 barrels of oil could not be pumped each day because of outages. Production of 2.7 million barrels of oil each day is within areas in “very high” or “extreme” wildfire danger rating zones, according to a special market update from company Vice President Thomas Liles. 

The fires are causing air quality problems. In Calgary on Wednesday, the air quality was rated 10+, meaning it topped the risk scale used by Canadian authorities.

NASA Earth Observatory published satellite imagery showing that more than 1,800 square miles of land had burned in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan as of Tuesday. The smoke was spreading into parts of North America, including the Upper Midwest. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency issued an air quality alert for Wednesday and Thursday, forecasting that the air would be “unhealthy for everybody” in northern areas of the state.

In the meantime, the heat was scrambling ecosystems in other areas of Canada. In British Columbia, the warmth prompted a rapid melt-out of mountain snow. That left officials dealing with flood and fire evacuations at the same time.

And “in the southern Northwest Territories, there’s still ice on the lakes up there, and yet they’re dealing with forest fires and towns burning down,” Lang said.

The weather is predicted to remain hot and dry in long-term forecasts, Lang and Gillett said.

“We don’t see an end in sight,” Lang said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/wildfires-rip-canada-temperature-records-fall-dozens-rcna84782

[Rick Plant]

Bruce Springsteen criticised for not cancelling Italy gig after deadly floods

Fans describe decision to go ahead as ‘outrageous’ and call on US star to reschedule Emilia-Romagna event



Bruce Springsteen has been criticised in Italy for going ahead with a concert in Ferrara on Thursday evening after the northern Emilia-Romagna region was hit by deadly floods.

Fans of “The Boss” urged him on social media to reconsider out of respect for the dead and homeless after torrential rains caused landslides and made rivers break their banks.

Massimiliano Zampini tweeted: “@springsteen please consider to reschedule your concert today. Surrounding areas have faced devastating floods. You should because: all emergency resources should be available in the affected area; we need to avoid massive traffic; out of respect for the victims.”

Cristiana Boi described the decision to go ahead with the show as outrageous, while Laura Casadei posted: “It is a scandal that they are doing Springsteen’s concert in Ferrara tonight. He will sing without an audience as all the main streets are blocked in several places.”

Springsteen’s representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ferrara, one of Emilia-Romagna’s main cities, has not been directly affected by the floods and its mayor, Alan Fabbri, defended the decision not to cancel the concert, which was expected to attract as many as 50,000 people.

“I am sorry if anyone may have thought that Ferrara was insensitive to the tragedy in Romagna just because it did not cancel the concert of The Boss,” he posted on Facebook.

A concert, “given its enormous complexity, cannot be postponed or cancelled” at short notice after having involved thousands of workers and tourists arriving in the city, he said.

The floods led authorities to call off Sunday’s F1 Grand Prix at Imola, which is close to many of the areas worst hit by the flooding. Organisers said it was not possible to hold the event safely.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/may/18/bruce-springsteen-concert-italy-ferrara-floods



Death toll mounts in Italy’s worst flooding for 100 years

Older and disabled people trapped in homes as rescuers battle harsh conditions in Emilia-Romagna region



Older and disabled people were trapped in their homes as rescuers worked under pounding rain throughout the night to save people in the most catastrophic flooding to affect Italy in 100 years.

The floods in the northern Emilia-Romagna region have claimed 13 lives as of Thursday evening. An estimated 20,000 have been left homeless in a disaster that caused 23 rivers to burst their banks and 280 landslides, engulfing 41 cities and towns.

Roads remained blocked, including the A1, after a landslide in Sasso Marconi on Thursday afternoon, and trains were cancelled or disrupted.

Among the dead were an elderly couple trapped inside their home in Cava, a hamlet in the province of Forlì-Cesena. “We heard their cries for help,” a neighbour told Il Messaggero newspaper. “We tried to get them out, but it was useless.”

An 80-year-old man drowned in his cellar after going to retrieve belongings, and a couple, identified as Sauro Manuzzi and Marinella Maraldi, who owned a company that produces herbs, were hit by the floods in the field opposite their home. The body of Maraldi, 70, was swept 12 miles down a river before being found on a beach along the Adriatic coast. A 76-year-old man was killed after being hit by a landslide in his garden, while another man, aged 43, died after falling into a well while trying to pump water away from his property.

Firefighters have carried out 2,000 rescue operations across the region and in parts of central Marche that were also affected by the floods.

Forty elderly people were saved from a care home overnight as police were inundated with calls seeking help. A caller in Faenza, among the worst-hit towns, told police: “My neighbours are elderly. One has Alzheimer’s. They’re unable to leave by themselves. Somebody must come. There’s too much mud.”

Elderly people who sought refuge on rooftops were saved by helicopters, as were entire families. Volunteers described carrying people out of their homes. Paolo Meoni, a volunteer working in Cesena, told La Nazione newspaper: “We worked all night in the pouring rain. In some cases, we carried the elderly and disabled in our arms and brought them on a dinghy to rescuers, who in turn transported them to shelters.”

He added: “The water was 40cm high, but the heavy rain, which lasted until 6am, made things worse.”

Stefano Bonaccini, the president of Emilia-Romagna, compared the devastation to the earthquake that hit the region in 2012 in which 28 people died. “The damage will be quantitatively smaller, but it will be a few billion euros,” he told Rai 3 television. “We will rebuild everything as we did for the earthquake.”

The floods have destroyed homes and shops and left more than 5,000 farms under water, according to Coldiretti, Italy’s largest agricultural association.

The owner of a shop in Faenza that has been selling kitchen equipment since 1950 told Ansa news agency: “We’ve been cleaning up since 6am, I don’t know what time we’ll finish. I live outside Faenza and in 2014 there was a flood, but nothing like this – I’ve never seen anything like this one, nobody here has.”

The situation in Cesena, which was also badly hit, had slightly improved by Thursday afternoon. “There are almost no more areas that are flooded,” said Matteo Raggi, a spokesperson for the mayor of the Forlì-Cesena region, Enzo Lattuca.

“Mud remains … we are now cleaning the waste from the streets. The big problem is the hillside areas that have been hit by landslides and trying to reach people there – many have been cut off because of the landslides but also because there is no mobile phone reception. Some have no food.”

Pierluigi Randi, the president of Ampro, the association of weather experts, told La Repubblica it was the worst flood to affect Italy in a century. It followed flooding in Emilia-Romagna and parts of Marche in early May in which two people died. Six months’ worth of rain fell in two weeks.

“We need to prepare ourselves, this is the climate crisis,” Randi said.

Before the floods, Emilia-Romagna and other areas of northern Italy were blighted by a drought that dried out land, reducing its capacity to absorb water.

In 2022, the hottest year on record in Italy, 310 extreme weather events were registered, causing the deaths of 29 people, according to Legambiente, an environmental group. Thirteen people were killed in floods in Marche last September and 12 people, including several children, died in a landslide on the island of Ischia in late November.

“The only new thing to say about the latest floods is that two records were broken in 15 days in the same region,” said Luca Mercalli, the president of the Italian Meteorological Society. “An event like the one that occurred on 2 May might happen once in a century, but then another hit 15 days later – having two occasions of intense rain within such a short timeframe, and in the same region, is what is really surprising.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/18/italy-worst-flooding-in-100-years-emilia-romagna