Funding awarded for study on hydrogen storage potential in the East Midlands  British Geological Survey

The African Light Source (AfLS) project is now almost eight years old. This article assesses the history, current context and future of the project. There is by now considerable momentum in building the user community, including deep training, facilitating access to current facilities, growing the scientific output, scientific networks and growing the local laboratory-scale research infrastructure. The Conceptual Design Report for the AfLS is in its final editing stages. This document specifies the socio-economic and scientific rationales and the technical aspects amongst others. The AfLS is supported by many national and Pan-African scientific professional bodies and voluntary associates across many scientific disciplines, and there are stakeholders throughout the continent and beyond. The current roadmap phases have expanded to include national and Pan-African level conversations with policy makers through new Strategic Task Force groups. The document summarizes this progress and discusses the future of the project.

Fourth-generation synchrotron storage rings represent a significant milestone in synchrotron technology, offering outstandingly bright and tightly focused X-ray beams for a wide range of scientific applications. However, due to their inherently tight magnetic lattices, these storage rings have posed critical challenges for accessing lower-energy radiation, such as infrared (IR) and THz. Here the first-ever IR beamline to be installed and to operate at a fourth-generation synchrotron storage ring is introduced. This work encompasses several notable advancements, including a thorough examination of the new IR source at Sirius, a detailed description of the radiation extraction scheme, and the successful validation of our optical concept through both measurements and simulations. This optimal optical setup has enabled us to achieve an exceptionally wide frequency range for our nanospectroscopy experiments. Through the utilization of synchrotron IR nanospectroscopy on biological and hard matter samples, the practicality and effectiveness of this beamline has been successfully demonstrated. The advantages of fourth-generation synchrotron IR sources, which can now operate with unparalleled stability as a result of the stringent requirements for producing low-emittance X-rays, are emphasized.

Synchrotron light sources require X-ray optics with extremely demanding accuracy for the surface profile, with less than 100 nrad slope errors and sub-nanometre height errors. Such errors are challenging to achieve for aspheres using traditional polishing methods. However, post-polishing error correction can be performed using techniques such as ion beam figuring (IBF) to improve optics to the desired quality. This work presents a brief overview of the history of IBF, introduces some of the challenges for obtaining such demanding figure errors, and highlights the work done at several in-house IBF facilities at synchrotron light sources worldwide to obtain state-of-the-art optical quality.

A multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) is a powerful global optimization tool, but its results are considerably affected by the crossover parameter ηc. Finding an appropriate ηc demands too much computing time because MOGA needs be run several times in order to find a good ηc. In this paper, a self-adaptive crossover parameter is introduced in a strategy to adopt a new ηc for every generation while running MOGA. This new scheme has also been adopted for a multi-generation Gaussian process optimization (MGGPO) when producing trial solutions. Compared with the existing MGGPO and MOGA, the MGGPO and MOGA with the new strategy show better performance in nonlinear optimization for the design of low-emittance storage rings.

The advent of diffraction-limited storage rings (DLSRs) has boosted the brilliance or coherent flux by one to two orders of magnitude with respect to the previous generation. One consequence of this brilliance enhancement is an increase in the flux density or number of photons per unit of area and time, which opens new possibilities for the spatiotemporal resolution of X-ray imaging techniques. This paper studies the time-resolved microscopy capabilities of such facilities by benchmarking the ForMAX beamline at the MAX IV storage ring. It is demonstrated that this enhanced flux density using a single harmonic of the source allows micrometre-resolution time-resolved imaging at 2000 tomograms per second and 1.1 MHz 2D acquisition rates using the full dynamic range of the detector system.

Bragg coherent X-ray diffraction imaging (BCDI) has emerged as a powerful technique for strain imaging and morphology reconstruction of nanometre-scale crystals. However, BCDI often suffers from angular distortions that appear during data acquisition, caused by radiation pressure, heating or imperfect scanning stages. This limits the applicability of BCDI, in particular for small crystals and high-flux X-ray beams. Here, we present a pre-processing algorithm that recovers the 3D datasets from the BCDI dataset measured under the impact of large angular distortions. We systematically investigate the performance of this method for different levels of distortion and find that the algorithm recovers the correct angles for distortions up to 16.4× (1640%) the angular step size dθ = 0.004°. We also show that the angles in a continuous scan can be recovered with high accuracy. As expected, the correction provides marked improvements in the subsequent phase retrieval.

Historically, knowledge of the mol­ecular packing within the crystal structures of organic semi­con­duc­tors has been instrumental in understanding their solid-state electronic properties. Nowadays, crystal structures are thus becoming increasingly important for enabling engineering properties, understanding poly­mor­phism in bulk and in thin films, exploring dynamics and elucidating phase-transition mech­a­nisms. This review article introduces the most salient and recent results of the field.

Serial crystallography, born from groundbreaking experiments at the Linac Coherent Light Source in 2009, has evolved into a pivotal technique in structural biology. Initially pioneered at X-ray free-electron laser facilities, it has now expanded to synchrotron-radiation facilities globally, with dedicated experimental stations enhancing its accessibility. This review gives an overview of current developments in serial crystallography, emphasizing recent results in time-resolved crystallography, and discussing challenges and shortcomings.

Van Vleck modes describe all possible displacements of octahedrally coordinated ligands about a core atom. They are a useful analytical tool for analysing the distortion of octahedra, particularly for first-order Jahn–Teller distortions, but determination of the Van Vleck modes of an octahedron is complicated by the presence of angular distortion of the octahedron. This problem is most commonly resolved by calculating the bond distortion modes (Q2, Q3) along the bond axes of the octahedron, disregarding the angular distortion and losing information on the octahedral shear modes (Q4, Q5 and Q6) in the process. In this paper, the validity of assuming bond lengths to be orthogonal in order to calculate the Van Vleck modes is discussed, and a method is described for calculating Van Vleck modes without disregarding the angular distortion. A Python package for doing this, VanVleckCalculator, is introduced and some examples of its use are given. Finally, it is shown that octahedral shear and angular distortion are often, but not always, correlated, and a parameter η is proposed as the shear fraction. It is demonstrated that η can be used to predict whether the values will be correlated when varying a tuning parameter such as temperature or pressure.

The first Federation of European Biochemical Societies Advanced Course on macromolecular crystallization was launched in the Czech Republic in October 2004. Over the past two decades, the course has developed into a distinguished event, attracting students, early career postdoctoral researchers and lecturers. The course topics include protein purification, characterization and crystallization, covering the latest advances in the field of structural biology. The many hands-on practical exercises enable a close interaction between students and teachers and offer the opportunity for students to crystallize their own proteins. The course has a broad and lasting impact on the scientific community as participants return to their home laboratories and act as nuclei by communicating and implementing their newly acquired knowledge and skills.

SUBGROUPS is a free online program at the Bilbao Crystallographic Server (https://www.cryst.ehu.es/). It permits the exploration of all possible symmetries resulting from the distortion of a higher-symmetry parent structure, provided that the relation between the lattices of the distorted and parent structures is known. The program calculates all the subgroups of the parent space group which comply with this relation. The required minimal input is the space-group information of the parent structure and the relation of the unit cell of the distorted or pseudo-symmetric structure with that of the parent structure. Alternatively, the wavevector(s) observed in the diffraction data characterizing the distortion can be introduced. Additional conditions can be added, including filters related to space-group representations. The program provides very detailed information on all the subgroups, including group–subgroup hierarchy graphs. If a Crystallographic Information Framework (CIF) file of the parent high-symmetry structure is uploaded, the program generates CIF files of the parent structure described under each of the chosen lower symmetries. These CIF files may then be used as starting points for the refinement of the distorted structure under these possible symmetries. They can also be used for density functional theory calculations or for any other type of analysis. The power and efficiency of the program are illustrated with a few examples.

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Still from "Godzilla vs. Kong"; Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Drew Arriola Sands, left, sings in the South Gate band Trap Girl at La Conxa, 2017.; Credit: Amina Cruz

Growing up, Drew Arriola-Sands' music was "too weird for the weird kids." Her first band couldn't even get a backyard gig, but since Sands transitioned in 2013, her current band, Trap Girl, have been at the center of an exploding queer hardcore scene in Los Angeles. 

NOTE: Trans Pride L.A. is taking place this weekend, Saturday June 17, at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. To hear a preview of the event with organizer Gina Bigham, listen to the extra audio on this post.

Sands is 28 now, but she's always been drawn to glamorous women with big hair. Her mirror is adorned with pictures of Ronnie Spector, Dolly Parton, and Jayne Mansfield. Wig idols, she calls them. Sands has a large collection of wigs, and even makes her own, but it all started 20 years ago.

"When I was a little kid, my mom always had short black hair," Sands remembers. "And then one day, getting ready for school, she walked out of the bathroom with a long, thick, black braid with a ribbon on it, and it freaked me out, because I never saw her with long hair. So I was like, 'That’s weird! What is it?'" She was eight years old. For weeks to come, Sands would lock herself in the bathroom and stare at the extension braid in it's clear, Avon box until her mother threw it away without warning. The seed had been planted, though.

Her love of singing came at an early age too. As a child, Sands would stand up on a chair while watching baseball with her father to sing the national anthem. Her mother would scold her for being loud and tell her that she could sing at a baseball game when she was older. At 11, her father put her in little league.

We look at a picture of young Drew in a baseball jersey. Sands was a chubby little kid, biting down a smile, and burying her hand in her mitt. "I was a 'catcher' even then," laughs Sands.

"I was told I was gay before I even knew I was gay, because people saw I was feminine, did things a little different, spoke a little different, a little more sensitive," says Sands. Bullying was a consistent part of her childhood, with no one incident standing out because there was always "80 more horrible ones," she says. But she found ways to cope through her hobbies.

Her father said if she wasn't going to play a sport, she had to play an instrument. The first instrument she started with in earnest was the guitar, before picking up bass and more. "Nirvana was still the biggest band in the world. Everyone at my junior high who played guitar learned how to play 'Rape Me' or 'Smells like Teen Spirit' as their first song" says Sands. The first song sands learned on guitar was Nirvana's "About a Girl," and the first album she bought was Hole's "Live Through This."

"One of my first jobs, actually, was making burnt cd’s for a guy who sold them at the alley, and he made me copy Trina cd’s, ten at a time. She had songs on there like 'Nasty Bitch,' things like that, and I just loved it! But it was like a guilty pleasure, 'cause I was still a rock kid."  - Drew Arriola-Sands

By her early twenties, she started her first real band, The Glitter Path; Sands describes it as something like Daniel Johnston, the schizophrenic outsider musician, mixed with Patsy Cline - extremely emotional, "lying across the road, ready to die type of music." It didn't fit in in the "very straight, very cis, surf rock-indie" backyard scene, says Sands. She can't remember the band playing more than two or three shows, anywhere, but she says she doesn't hold any grudges.

The Glitter Path's "Wear a Wig"

We look at another photo of Sands from her Glitter Path days. She points out the increasing number of women’s accessories she was wearing at the time. She was starting to feel a change coming.

"I was in a relationship in 2013 with an artist, but I was male presenting, and I had these feelings of identity and gender, and I expressed them to him, and he accepted them," Sands says,  "but didn’t know how to deal with me and I didn’t know how to deal with myself." Sands boyfriend broke up with her, and she reevaluated her emotional state. "My mental health was not going to get better if I did not come out [as a trans person]," she decided.

She had a much easier time dating after transitioning, and one chance hook-up set Sands down a new musical road.

"So this guy I was hooking up with at the time would play the Damned in the room while we were hooking up. I had a guitar in the room, and he didn’t know I played music and said, 'Do you play guitar?' I said, 'Yeah.' He said, 'Well, you should start a band, like the Damned, and play guitar. It’d be good, looking the way you do, and wear ball gowns.'” - Drew Arriola-Sands

Sands started Trap Girl, not as guitarist, but as lead singer, in 2014.

The early shows were backyard gigs in South Central. Songs like “Dead Men Don’t Rape” went over well, but Sands wasn’t out as a trans performer yet. Maybe people could read between the lines though, with a name like Trap Girl. Sands offers a few definitions for Trap Girls/Trap Queens (though she has never settled on just one).

• A woman who helps out a "trap lord," or drug dealer
• A very convincing transvestite
• A girl trapped in a man's body

Throughout 2015, Trap Girl built their following Downtown and on the Eastside, with Sands finally out as a trans artist.

Trap Girl live at Xicana PUNK Night

"I started this band alone," explains Sands. "I didn’t know any queer people, I didn’t know any trans people, I didn’t know who was gonna help this band. Who was gonna give us a shot? So, I was ready to defend this band, even though there was no one defend it from."

Rather, Trap Girl were embraced and found sisterhood in bands like Sister Mantos and Yaawn. In 2016, Sands took it a step further and organized the first annual Transgress Fest (at the Santa Ana LGBT Center), for trans performers. "We had people as young as twelve to people as old as sixty in the audience," she says. "We had a huge turnout. I never expected that."

Transgress Fest is coming back in November. In the meantime, Trap Girl are getting ready to release their second EP, "The Black Market." The title track grapples with the question of whether or not a trans person needs surgery.

"Being a woman doesn’t mean you have to look like a woman. I didn’t know any trans people at all before I transitioned, so automatically, my idea was to think that I needed to present as feminine to be accepted as a trans person, but little did I know, that that’s the last thing you need to be a trans person. Not all people can pass, and that’s ok." - Drew Arriola-Sands

Sands says the takeaway from "The Black Market" is not to risk your life with black market cosmetic procedures. "These girls are killing themselves to achieve their looks," says Sands. "They’re getting it offline [sic], off Craigslist. You know, they go to someone’s basement and get their ass injected with cement, and then they go home and get a blood clot in their lungs, and they die." "The Black Market" EP is due for release this summer.

Trap Girl is singer Drew Arriola-Sands, bassist Ibette Ortiz, drummer Jorge Reveles, and guitarist Estevan Moreno.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Source: Streetwise Reports 11/07/2024

Dakota Gold Corp. (DC:NYSE American) announced drill results from the first 17 holes of its ongoing infill drilling program to expand the maiden resource at its Richmond Hill Gold Project in the historic Homestake District of South Dakota.

An updated S-K 1300 resource estimate is planned for Q1 2025 and a S-K 1300 Initial Assessment with cashflow analysis is planned for Q2 2025, the company said in a release. The expanded resource is expected to include an additional 88 new drill holes totaling 17,000 meters.

"The highlight of this morning's release was (hole) RH24C-099, which was drilled in the Twin Tunnels Zone and returned 1.15 g/t Au (grams per tonne gold) over 51.7 meters from 132.9 meters," wrote Canaccord Genuity Capital Markets Analyst Peter Bell in an updated research note on Monday. "The results this morning were consistent with the current resource at Richmond Hill, with many cases reporting higher-than-average grades."

Bell said the firm was encouraged by the results, "which we believe provide support for expansion in future resource estimates. With infill and step out drilling at Richmond Hill being just one of three ongoing drill programs currently underway at Dakota, underscoring the company's emphasis on exploration and expansion."

Drilling Is 'Adding Ounces'

The maiden S-K 1300 resource, announced in April, outlined an Indicated Resource of 51.83 million tonnes (Mt) at 0.80 g/t Au for 1.33 million ounces (Moz) and Inferred Resource of 58.06 Mt at 0.61 g/t Au for 1.13 Moz., the company said.

The initial infill drill results release released Monday encountered further gold mineralization from the central portion of the Richmond Hill resource area consistent with results reported in the maiden resource, Dakota said. The drilling was conducted in areas where the original resource block model contained gaps to support the company's belief that the initial resource could be significantly expanded with additional infill drilling.

Highlights of the results include:

• Hole RH24C-077: 0.76 g/t Au over 24.4 meters
• Hole RH24C-083: 0.70 g/t Au over 13.8 meters
• Hole RH24C-085: 1.10 g/t Au over 17.9 meters
• Hole RH24C-088A: 0.96 g/t Au over 41.5 meters
• Hole RH24C-099: 1.15 g/t Au over 51.7 meters

Dakota said the resource remained open in all directions and could be improved with more drilling, metallurgical work, and incorporation of silver into the resource.

"We are very pleased to see that initial results from our infill drill program are adding ounces to our current S-K 1300 resource," said Dakota Vice President of Exploration James Berry. "The results to date show grades and widths consistent with drill holes in the original block model and support an expansion of gold mineralization, including shallow oxide mineralization. We look forward to continuing our infill program on the other zones identified in our Initial assessment for follow-up drilling."

'Vastly Unexplored' District

The historic Homestake Mine produced 41 Moz Au and 9 Moz silver (Ag) over 126 years. The company has 48,000 acres of holdings surrounding the original mine, which was first discovered in 1876 and consolidated by George Hearst.

Areas surrounding "super-giant deposits" like Homestake are believed to contain significant additional gold resources, wrote John Newell wrote.

Areas surrounding "super-giant deposits" like Homestake are believed to contain significant additional gold resources, wrote John Newell of John Newell & Associates this week for a Streetwise Reports piece on the legacy of the famous mine.

"Super-giant deposits are characterized by clusters of geologically similar deposits within several hundred square kilometers, defining profoundly mineralized regions," Newell wrote. "It is believed that at least twice that amount of gold exists in the neighborhood of these super giants. If that is true, then there are at least 100 Moz of gold left to be found in this vastly underexplored precious metal district of South Dakota."

This proximity to a super-giant "suggests a high potential for similar deposits," Newell wrote. "Being in the shadow of many old mines increases the probability of finding significant mineral resources."

The Catalyst: Gold Continues Bull Market

After hitting a record high of US$2,790.15 per ounce on Thursday, spot gold was up 0.1% to US$2,737.35 on Monday afternoon, according to Reuters.

Investors were keeping a close on Tuesday's presidential election in the U.S. and the Federal Reserve's meeting later this week, Anjana Anil reported.

"A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted last month found worries that the U.S. could see a repeat of the unrest that followed Trump's 2020 election defeat, when his false claim that his loss was the result of fraud prompted hundreds to storm the U.S. Capitol," Anil wrote.

Gold's rise has "resulted in big returns for the investors who bought in earlier this year," Angelica Leicht reported for CBS News last month. "For example, the investors who purchased gold in March when it hit US$2,160 per ounce have seen their gold values increase by nearly 27% in the time since. That's a huge uptick in value in a matter of months, especially on an asset that's known more for long-term growth."

Recently polled London Bullion Market Association members indicated they believe the gold price could reach US$2,940/oz during 2025, reported Stockhead on Oct. 28.

"Combined with expectations of lower global interest rates, this further enhances gold's attractiveness as an investment," the article noted.[OWNERSHIP_CHART-7442]

As for gold equities, the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (SPCDNX) confirmed a multidecade bull run for junior, intermediate, and senior mining stocks when it closed above 1,000 recently, Stewart Thomson with 321Gold wrote. The index is a key indicator of the health of the general gold, silver, and mining stocks market.

Ownership and Share Structure

According to the company, approximately 25% of its shares are with management and insiders.

Out of management, Co-chairman, Director, President and Chief Executive Officer Robert Quartermain holds the most shares at 8.4%, while COO Jerry Aberle holds 4.8%, the company said.

About 26% of the shares are with institutional investors, according to Yahoo Finance and Edgar filings. Top institutional holders include Fourth Sail Capital with 5.3%, Van Eck Associates with 4.1%, Blackrock Institutional Trust Co. with 3.7%, The Vanguard Group Inc. with about 3.2%, Fidelity Management and Research Co. LLC with 2.7%, and CI Global Asset Management with 2.6%.

About 16.5% is with strategic investors, including Orion Mine Finance, which owns about 9.9%, and Barrick Gold Corp., which owns about 2.5%. The rest is retail.

Dakota Gold has a market cap of US$212.61 million, with 93.66 million shares outstanding. It trades in a 52-week range of US$3.25 and US$1.84.

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Important Disclosures:

1. Dakota Gold Corp. is a billboard sponsor of Streetwise Reports and pays SWR a monthly sponsorship fee between US$4,000 and US$5,000.
2. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Dakota Gold Corp.
3. Steve Sobek wrote this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an employee.
4. This article does not constitute investment advice and is not a solicitation for any investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her personal financial adviser and perform their own comprehensive investment research. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company.

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( Companies Mentioned: DC:NYSE American, )

Reconstructions from the Daynès Studio in Paris depict a male Neanderthal (right) face to face with a human, Homo sapiens.; Credit: /Science Source

It's something that many of us reckon with: the sense that we're not quite as sharp as we once were.

I recently turned 42. Having lost my grandfather to Alzheimer's, and with my mom suffering from a similar neurodegenerative disease, I'm very aware of what pathologies might lurk beneath my cranium.

In the absence of a cure for Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, the most important interventions for upholding brain function are preventive — those that help maintain our most marvelous, mysterious organ.

Based on the science, I take fish oil and broil salmon. I exercise. I try to challenge my cortex to the unfamiliar.

As I wrote my recent book, A History of the Human Brain, which recounts the evolutionary tale of how our brain got here, I began to realize that so many of the same influences that shaped our brain evolution in the first place reflect the very measures we use to preserve our cognitive function today.

Being social, and highly communicative. Exploring creative pursuits. Eating a varied, omnivorous diet low in processed foods. Being physically active.

These traits and behaviors help retrace our past, and, I believe, were instrumental in why we remain on the planet today.

And they all were, at least in part, enabled by our brain.

Social smart alecks finish first

The human saga is riddled with extinctions.

By "human," I don't just mean Homo sapiens, the species we belong to, but any member of the genus Homo. We've gotten used to being the only human species on Earth, but in our not so distant past — probably a few hundred thousand years ago – there were at least nine of us running around.

There was Homo habilis, or the "handy man." And Homo erectus, the first "pitcher." The Denisovans roamed Asia, while the more well-known Neanderthals spread throughout Europe.

But with the exception of Homo sapiens, they're all gone. And there's a good chance it was our fault.

Humans were never the fastest lot on the African plains, and far from the strongest. Cheetahs, leopards and lions held those distinctions. In our lineage, natural selection instead favored wits and wiliness.

Plenty of us became cat food, but those with a slight cognitive edge — especially Homo sapiens — lived on. In our ilk, smarts overcame strength and speed in enabling survival.

Ecology, climate, location and just sheer luck would've played important roles in who persisted or perished as well, as they do for most living beings. But the evolutionary pressure for more complex mental abilities would lead to a massive expansion in our brain's size and neurocircuitry that is surely the paramount reason we dominate the planet like no other species ever has.

Much of this "success," if you can call it that, was due to our social lives.

Primates are communal creatures. Our close monkey and ape cousins are incredibly interactive, grooming each other for hours a day to maintain bonds and relationships. Throw in a few hoots and hollers and you have a pretty complex community of communicating simians.

An active social life is now a known preserver of brain function.

Research shows that social isolation worsens cognitive decline (not to mention mental health, as many of us experienced this past year). Larger social networks and regular social activities are associated with mental preservation and slowed dementia progression.

Entwined in this new social life was an evolutionary pressure that favored innovation. Our eventual ability to generate completely novel thoughts and ideas, and to share those ideas, came to define our genus.

As we hunted and foraged together, and honed stones into hand axes, there was a collective creativity at work that gave us better weapons and tools that enabled more effective food sourcing, and, later, butchering and fire. Effectively sharing these innovations with our peers allowed information to spread faster than ever before - a seed for the larger communities and civilizations to come.

Challenging ourselves to new pursuits and mastering new skills can not only impress peers and ingratiate us to our group, but literally help preserve our brain. New hobbies. New conversations. Learning the banjo. Even playing certain video games and simply driving a new route home from work each day, as neuroscientist David Eagleman does, can keep our function high.

Whether it's honing ancient stone or taking up Sudoku, any pursuit novel and mentally challenging may help keep the neural circuits firing.

We really are what we eat

All the while, as we hunted and crafted in new and communal ways, we had to eat. And we did so with an uniquely adventurous palette.

Homo sapiens is among the most omnivorous species on the planet. Within reason we eat just about anything. Whether it's leaves, meat, fungus, or fruit, we don't discriminate. At some point, one of us even thought it might be a good idea to try the glistening, grey blobs that are oysters - and shellfish are, it turns out, among the healthiest foods for our brain.

The varied human diet is an integral part of our story. As was the near constant physicality required to source it.

On multiple occasions over the past 1 to 2 million years climate changes dried out the African landscape, forcing our ancestors out of the lush forest onto the dangerous, wide-open grasslands. As evolution pressured us to create and commune to help us survive, a diverse diet also supported our eventual global takeover.

Our arboreal past left us forever craving the dangling fruits of the forest, a supreme source of high-calorie sugars that ensured survival. Back then we didn't live long enough to suffer from Type 2 diabetes: if you encountered sweets, you ate them. And today we're stuck with a taste for cookies and candy that, given our longer lifespans, can take its toll on the body and brain.

But humans were just as amenable to dining on the bulbs, rhizomes and tubers of the savanna, especially once fire came along. We eventually became adept scavengers of meat and marrow, the spoils left behind by the big cats, who preferred more nutritive organ meat.

As our whittling improved we developed spears, and learned to trap and hunt the beasts of the plains ourselves. There is also evidence that we learned to access shellfish beds along the African coast and incorporate brain-healthy seafood into our diet.

Studying the health effects of the modern diet is tricky. Dietary studies are notoriously dubious, and often involve countless lifestyle variables that are hard to untangle.

Take blueberries. Multiple studies have linked their consumption with improved brain health. But, presumably, the berry-prone among us are also more likely to eat healthy all around, exercise, and make it to level 5 on their meditation app.

Which is why so many researchers, nutritionists, and nutritional psychiatrists now focus on dietary patterns, like those akin to Mediterranean culinary customs, rather than specific ingredients. Adhering to a Mediterranean diet is linked with preserved cognition; and multiple randomized-controlled trials suggest doing so can lower depression risk.

A similar diversity in our ancestral diet helped early humans endure an ever-shifting climate and times of scarcity. We evolved to subsist and thrive on a wide range of foods, in part because our clever brains allowed us access to them. In turn, a similarly-varied diet (minus submitting to our innate sugar craving of course) is among the best strategies to maintain brain health.

All of our hunting, and foraging, and running away from predators would have required intense physical exertion. This was certainly not unique to humans, but we can't ignore the fact that regular exercise is another effective means of preserving brain health.

Being active improves performance on mental tasks, and may help us better form memories. Long before the Peletons sold out, our brains relied on both mental and physical activity.

But overwhelmingly the evidence points to embracing a collection of lifestyle factors to keep our brain healthy, none of which existed in a Darwinian vacuum.

Finding food was as social an endeavor as it was mental and physical. Our creative brains harnessed information; gossiping, innovating, and cooking our spoils around the campfire.

Researchers are beginning to piece together the complex pathology behind the inevitable decline of the human brain, and despite a parade of failed clinical trials in dementia, there should be promising treatments ahead.

Until then, in thinking about preserving the conscious experience of our world and relationships — and living our longest, happiest lives — look to our past.

Bret Stetka is a writer based in New York and an editorial director at Medscape. His work has appeared in Wired, Scientific American, and on The Atlantic.com. His new book, A History of the Human Brain, is out from Timber/Workman Press. He's also on Twitter: @BretStetka.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Sherman Institute, built in the Mission Revival architectural style, enrolled its first students on Sept. 9, 1902.; Credit: SHERMAN INDIAN MUSEUM

Earlier this month, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced an effort to search federal boarding schools for burial sites of Native American kids. 

The effort is similar to the one in Canada, which found the remains of up to 751 people, likely mostly children, at an unmarked grave in a defunct school in the province of Saskatchewan.  

We dive into the history of American Indian Boarding Schools, as well as their evolution and what the schools that still exist, including Sherman Institute High School in California, look like today.

Guests:

Brenda Child, professor of American Studies and American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota; she is the author of many books, including “Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families, 1900-1940” (University of Nebraska Press, 2000)

Amanda Wixon, curator at the Sherman Indian Museum, which is on the campus of Sherman Indian High School; assistant curator at Autry museum of the American West; PhD candidate in history at UC Riverside where her research is in Native American history, especially federal boarding schools and the carceral aspects of the Sherman Institute

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Copy of the book “Beyond Baseball’s Color Barrier: The Story of African Americans in Major League Baseball, Past, Present, and Future” (Rowman & Littlefield, May 2021)

Most of us are familiar with the story of Jackie Robinson, the first Black player to play baseball in the Major Leagues, and while Jackie’s story is arguably the biggest chapter in the story of how baseball was integrated, there’s plenty more to the story that happened both before and after Jackie broke into the Majors. Author, sports historian and Santa Barbara City College Director of Athletics Rocco Constantino dives into this rich history in his new book “Beyond Baseball’s Color Barrier: The Story of African Americans in Major League Baseball, Past, Present, and Future” where he explores the contributions of major figures like Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Satchel Paige as well as the lesser known ones of players like Vida Blue, Mudcat Grant and Dwight Gooden.

Today on AirTalk, Constantino joins Larry Mantle to explore the history of Black players in baseball, their fight for recognition and integration into the Major Leagues and the issues of race that persisted well beyond Jackie Robinson breaking baseball’s color barrier.

Guest:

Rocco Constantino, author of “Beyond Baseball’s Color Barrier: The Story of African Americans in Major League Baseball, Past, Present, and Future” (Rowman & Littlefield, May 2021); he is a sports historian and the director of athletics at Santa Barbara City College

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Restoration of the imperiled sagebrush biome will require tools that assist resource managers in determining which restoration practices are most effective, and when and where restoration efforts will lead to the most ecosystem recovery. New research from USGS and Colorado State University provides biome-wide insights and spatially explicit tools that can inform restoration practices. 

Circus of Books storefront.; Credit: Netflix/Circus Of Books (2020)

The documentary “Circus of Books”  tells the story of two book stores, one in West Hollywood and the other in Silver Lake, operated by Karen and Barry Mason, who became accidental book sellers. They also became real pillars of the LGBTQ communties. Rachel Mason is the daughter of the masons and she’s also the filmmaker. Larry talked with Rachel about “Circus of Books” when it was first released on Netflix. Today on FilmWeek, we excerpt a portion of that conversation. 

This conversation aired during FilmWeek’s Saturday broadcast. 

Guest: 

Rachel Mason, director of the Netflix documentary ‘Circus of Books’ and daughter of Circus of Books owners Karen and Barry Mason; she tweets @RachelMasonArt

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Shot from the film “The Boss Baby: Family Business”; Credit: Dreamworks

Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Lael Loewenstein, Wade Major and Charles Solomon review this weekend’s new movie releases on streaming and on demand platforms.

• "The Forever Purge," in wide release

• "The Boss Baby: Family Business," in wide release & on Peacock

• "Long Story Short," at Laemmle’s Glendale; & on VOD/Digital (including Vudu, FandangoNow & Google Play)

• "The Tomorrow War," on Amazon Prime Video

• "The One And Only Dick Gregory," premieres on Showtime July 4 at 9 pm PT, available on demand on Showtime following that

• "No Sudden Move," on HBO Max

• "The Ladykillers (Originally released in 1955)," at Laemmle Theaters (Royal, Town Center 5, Playhouse 7)

• "America: The Motion Picture," on Netflix

Our FilmWeek critics have been curating personal lists of their favorite TV shows and movies to binge-watch during self-quarantine. You can see recommendations from each of the critics and where you can watch them here.

Guests:

Lael Loewenstein, film critic for KPCC; she tweets @LAELLO

Wade Major, film critic for KPCC and CineGods.com

Charles Solomon, film critic for KPCC, Animation Scoop and Animation Magazine

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Famed investor and commentator Jim Rogers talks his preference for tangible assets, why he's leaning toward silver over gold, and uranium's role in the energy transition.

Famed investor and commentator Jim Rogers talks his preference for tangible assets, why he's leaning toward silver over gold, and uranium's role in the energy transition.

SURFSIDE, Fla. — Crews used explosives late Sunday night to demolish the remaining structure at Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Fla.

The heavily damaged condo building was knocked down at about 10:30 p.m. Eastern time.

The targeted blast caused the tower to fold and crumble, sending a large plume of dust and debris over a section of the beachside community. A crowd watching from a distance prayed as the building came down.

Before the structure was leveled, Miami-Dade County police urged residents who live nearby to remain indoors and shelter in place.

Miami-Dade County officials said removing the tower was an essential step so search and rescue teams could resume scouring the rubble pile for victims of the disaster.

Officials suspended recovery efforts on Saturday because of concerns about the danger posed by the unstable building.

"It will be safe to resume the search activities very shortly after the blast and that's when we'll resume it," said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava at a press conference Sunday evening.

Demolition of the tower was also accelerated because of Tropical Storm Elsa, which could hit South Florida with high winds and heavy rains as early as Monday.

Search efforts had been ongoing since the morning of June 24, when much of the 12-story condo complex suffered a "progressive collapse" and dozens of apartments were reduced to rubble in a matter of seconds.

The number of confirmed dead from the disaster remains at 24, with the number of people unaccounted for at 121.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., told reporters Sunday the demolition of the remaining tower added to the sorrow for families who lived in the complex, destroying homes and possessions.

"So often demolitions of buildings are a spectacle, it's almost like a show," Schultz said. "This demolition is a tragic situation."

Local officials assured former residents and the public that everything possible had been done to rescue pets left behind in the structure.

"Folks can be comfortable we're not leaving anyone behind, including our beloved pets," Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett told reporters.

Multiple investigations are already underway into the cause of the collapse.

Documents acquired by NPR from an anonymous source show the condo association's board received warnings from an engineering firm beginning in 2018 that the structure needed extensive repairs.

A memo sent by the association to Champlain Towers South residents ahead of a May 2021 board meeting acknowledged the "desperate needs of the building."

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

A tropical storm with 65-mile-an-hour winds is drenching Cuba, and is expected to reach Key West and the west coast of Florida within the next 48 hours.

The National Hurricane Center expects Tropical Storm Elsa to drop between 5 and 10 inches of rain on central and western Cuba, leading to significant flooding and mudslides. The storm probably will weaken somewhat as it crosses the island, but could strengthen again as it approaches Florida.

According to the Associated Press, Cuban officials evacuated 180,000 people as a precaution against the possibility of heavy flooding.

Most of those evacuated stayed at relatives' homes, others went to government shelters, and hundreds living in mountainous areas took refuge in caves prepared for emergencies. The storm had killed at least three people on other Caribbean islands before it reached Cuba

The National Weather Service says that the western coast of Florida, including Tampa Bay, can expect a storm surge that would lift water levels between two and four feet. Much of Florida could see heavy rainfall that could reach six inches in some places. The storm will then bring heavy rains to Georgia and the Carolinas later in the week.

Florida officials were worried that the storm could destabilize what was left of the condominium building that partially collapsed over a week ago. In order to avoid an uncontrolled collapse, they approved the demolition of the remaining portion of the building, which took place on Sunday night.

"The hurricane was coming, the potential for that building to fall on the pile with the victims in it was a tragic thought," Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett told NPR on Monday.

It's early in the hurricane season. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted a busier-than-average Atlantic hurricane season, but it would be hard to top last year's, which set an all-time record with 30 named storms.

Tropical storms are fueled by warm water in the upper layers of the ocean, and ocean temperatures have been rising as heat is trapped by greenhouse gases.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Through a series of ambitious initiatives and strategic investments, India is actively working to overcome barriers and create a level playing field for technology adoption. From expanding connectivity infrastructure to investing in digital literacy programs, the nation is leaving no stone unturned in its pursuit of equitable access to technology.

To improve and ensure the efficacy of restoration efforts in the Gulf of Mexico following Deepwater Horizon – the largest oil spill in U.S. history – a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommends a set of best practices for monitoring and evaluating ecological restoration activities.

To ensure the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) is responsive to changing environmental conditions like climate change and sea-level rise, as well as to changes in water management, a new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine calls for a re-examination of the program’s original restoration goals and recommends a forward-looking, systemwide analysis of Everglades restoration outcomes across a range of scenarios.

The Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine today announced grant awards for seven new projects totaling $5.3 million.

As new evidence about climate change and sea-level rise in South Florida continues to emerge, agencies responsible for the restoration of the Everglades should conduct a mid course assessment that rigorously analyzes scenarios of future change to the region’s ecosystem in its planning, says a new congressionally mandated report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine offers guidance to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to inform the next revision of a permit program that requires industries to manage stormwater to minimize discharges of pollutants to the environment.

Two Gulf Research Program fellows reflect on their time in Mississippi after being placed with NOAA’s RESTORE Science Program. The Science Policy Fellowship helped them bridge research and action. With ideas, passion, and depth of knowledge in science and research, the fellows worked to share their backgrounds to better inform policy.

Most U.S. colleges and universities are struggling to adjust to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Historically Black Colleges and Universities — known as HBCUs — are facing their own unique challenges.

This summer, the Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine started work on a new study that will assess how climate disasters, oil spills, and long-term environmental changes such as sea level rise are affecting environmental restoration projects in the Gulf of Mexico. The study will help fulfill one of GRP’s top goals — monitoring progress and documenting how the Gulf is changing over time.

In the wake of this year’s record-breaking wildfire and hurricane season, efforts are ramping up to rebuild communities and natural ecosystems in places devastated by fire and storms. Restoring natural ecosystems requires replacing the trees, grasses, flowers, herbs, shrubs, and other plants that have evolved and occur naturally in a particular region.

As the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) pivots from planning to operations, a strong organizational foundation for science will be essential to inform management and future actions for the ecosystem, which remains vulnerable to continued degradation, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Urban freeways and transit infrastructure projects — often paid for in large part by federal transportation funds — have disproportionately displaced and isolated people living in minority neighborhoods, tearing at the fabric of vibrant communities and compounding issues of equity and access to jobs and essential services.

Social distancing, disrupted routines, and a lost sense of security and safety have made some kids and teens vulnerable to stress, anxiety, and depression during the pandemic. A new set of tools from the National Academies helps kids and adults build skills to cope with stress.

The presidents of the U.S. National Academies said in a statement that the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) presents a historic global opportunity to agree on emissions reduction targets to avoid the most intolerable impacts of climate change.

Assessing the success of ecological restoration efforts since the Deepwater Horizon platform explosion and oil spill in 2010 will require continued improvements in data analysis and coordination across the Gulf of Mexico region.

Testing for exposure to PFAS — chemicals used in a broad range of consumer products for decades — should be offered to patients who are likely to have a history of elevated exposure. A new report provides advice to the CDC on how clinicians can interpret test results and deliver follow-up care.

Hurricane Ian has caused catastrophic damage to life, property, and infrastructure across Florida, and it is headed toward Georgia and the Carolinas. The National Academies have many resources aimed at better understanding hurricanes, how climate change may be affecting their intensity and frequency, and how communities can become more resilient to extreme events.

Congress should take action to facilitate the participation of all land-grant colleges and universities in multistate research projects, says a new report. Funding disparities have prevented many historically Black and tribal colleges and universities from fully collaborating with other land-grant institutions.

The insufficient supply of seeds from native plants is a major barrier to ecological restoration and other revegetation projects across the U.S., especially as climate change increases the possibility of extreme weather events that can damage natural areas.

A study of a sophisticated Chinese browser injector that leaves more doors open!

In the second quarter ending September of the ongoing fiscal year 2025, LTIMindtree closed several multi-year projects including a $200 million-plus deal from a US-based manufacturer. The total order intake for the three-month period was flat year-on-year at $1.3 billion, down 7% from previous quarter.

After Musk acquired Twitter in October, the social media firm faced months of chaos, including layoffs of thousands of employees, criticism over lax content moderation, and an exodus of many advertisers who did not want their ads appearing next to inappropriate content.

For decades, scientists have tried to harness the unique properties of carbon nanotubes to create high-performance electronics that are faster or consume less power -- resulting in longer battery life, faster wireless communication and faster processing speeds for devices like smartphones and laptops.

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