US auto workers union seeks two-week halt due to virus

WILDCAT STRIKES BREAK OUT

Following a walkout at one plant, the United Auto Workers is pushing for a two-week shutdown of American auto plants due to the coronavirus

The United Auto Workers is pushing for a two-week shutdown of American auto plants due to the coronavirus, officials said Tuesday, following a walkout at one plant.


The auto workers union, which has about 150,000 members in the US car industry, is set to meet with representatives of the "Big 3" tonight, as part of a task force set up by the union that includes executives with General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler (FCA).

At a meeting with auto company officials Sunday, UAW President Rory Gamble and other union officials requested a two-week shutdown, Gamble said in a statement posted Tuesday to Facebook.

Pointing to recommendations from health officials, UAW leaders "requested a two-week shutdown of operations to safeguard our members, our families and our communities," Gamble said.

"Your UAW leadership feels very strongly, and argued very strongly, that this is the most responsible course of action."

Gamble said this plan was rejected by Big 3 leaders on Sunday, who asked for two days to prepare plans to address the concerns.

Gamble said the union "will use any and all measures" to protect workers.

A General Motors spokesman confirmed the task force would meet this evening, adding in an email that "the members of the Task Force have been working diligently since Sunday and that work continues."

On Monday night, workers walked off the job at a Warren, Michigan truck plant outside Detroit, FCA confirmed.

An FCA spokeswoman confirmed the action, adding that there were no confirmed cases of COVID-19 at the Warren Truck Assembly Plant.

"We are continuing to monitor the situation carefully and are taking all necessary precautions to safeguard the health and welfare of our workforce," the spokeswoman said in email.

Ford announced Tuesday that it was halting production in Europe due to the coronavirus, joining Volkswagen and other leading automakers in suspending work.

Sugar leads to early death, but not due to obesity

by MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences

Close up of glass jar with sugar cubes inside and a stack of six sugar cubes to the side. Credit: Suzy Hazelwood via Pexels

Sugar-rich diets have a negative impact on health independent of obesity reports a new study led by the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences, UK.

Researchers discovered that the shortened survival of fruit flies fed a sugar-rich diet is not the result of their diabetic-like metabolic issues.

The findings, published in the journal Cell Metabolism, instead suggest that early death from excess sugar is related to the build-up of a natural waste product, uric acid.

We all know that consuming too much sugar is unhealthy. It increases our risk of developing metabolic disorders, such as obesity and diabetes, and can shorten our life expectancy by several years. While this reduction in lifespan is widely believed to be caused by metabolic defects, this new study in fruit flies reveals that this may not be the case.

"Just like humans, flies fed a high-sugar diet show many hallmarks of metabolic disease—for instance, they become fat and insulin resistant", says Dr. Helena Cochemé, the principal investigator of the study. "Obesity and diabetes are known to increase mortality in humans, and so people always assumed that this was how excess sugar is damaging for survival in flies".

However, like salt, sugar also causes dehydration. In fact, thirst is an early symptom of high blood sugar and diabetes. Dr. Cochemé continues: "Water is vital for our health, yet its importance is often overlooked in metabolic studies. Therefore, we were surprised that flies fed a high-sugar diet did not show a reduced lifespan, simply by providing them with an extra source of water to drink. Unexpectedly, we found that these flies still exhibited the typical metabolic defects associated with high dietary sugar".

Based on this water effect, the team decided to focus on the fly renal system. They showed that excess dietary sugar caused the flies to accumulate a molecule called uric acid. Uric acid is an end-product from the breakdown of purines, which are important building blocks in our DNA. But uric acid is also prone to crystallise, giving rise to kidney stones in the fly. Researchers could prevent these stones, either by diluting their formation with drinking water or by blocking the production of uric acid with a drug. In turn, this protected against the shortened survival associated with a sugar-rich diet.

So, does this mean we can eat all the sugary treats we want, as long as we drink plenty of tea? "Unfortunately not," says Dr. Cochemé, "the sugar-fed flies may live longer when we give them access to water, but they are still unhealthy. And in humans, for instance, obesity increases the risk of heart disease. But our study suggests that disruption of the purine pathway is the limiting factor for survival in high-sugar-fed flies. This means that early death by sugar is not necessarily a direct consequence of obesity itself".

To understand the impact of dietary sugars on human health, collaborators from Kiel University in Germany explored the influence of diet in healthy volunteers. "Strikingly, just like flies, we found that dietary sugar intake in humans was associated with worse kidney function and higher purine levels in the blood", says Prof. Christoph Kaleta, co-author of the study.

Accumulation of uric acid is a known direct cause of kidney stones in humans, as well as gout, a form of inflammatory arthritis. Uric acid levels also tend to increase with age, and can predict the onset of metabolic diseases such as diabetes. "It will be very interesting to explore how our results from the fly translate to humans, and whether the purine pathway also contributes to regulating human survival", concludes Dr. Cochemé. "There is substantial evidence that what we eat influences our life expectancy and our risk for age-related diseases. By focusing on the purine pathway, our group hopes to find new therapeutic targets and strategies that promote healthy ageing".

Explore furtherUric acid pathologies shorten fly lifespan, highlighting need for screening in humans
More information: "Sugar-Induced Obesity and Insulin Resistance Are Uncoupled from Shortened Survival in Drosophila", Cell Metabolism (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2020.02.016
Journal information: Cell Metabolism
Provided by MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences

Sugar    http://sidneymintz.net/sugar.php

Studying a single food or commodity such as sugar may seem like an incongruous project for an anthropologist who claims to work mostly with living people. Still, it is a rich subject for someone interested in the history and character of the modern world, for its importance and popularity rose together with tea, colonial slavery, and the machine era. Had it not been for the immense importance of sugar in the world history of food, and in the daily lives of so many, I would have left it alone.

Sugar, or sucrose (C12H22O11), is manufactured photosynthetically by green plants. We humans can't make sugar. The best we can do is to extract it, and change its form. We have been doing so zealously, for more than 2,000 years. Sugarcane was domesticated about ten millennia before that, and is the most important plant from which sucrose is extracted. Today, corn sweeteners have begun to overtake sucrose in the West; but cane sugar and beet sugar still have promising futures in the poor, or “less developed” world.  

My work on sugar, Sweetness and Power, situates it within Western history because it was an old commodity, basic to the emergence of a global market. The first time I was in the field I'd been surrounded by it, as I did my fieldwork. That led me to try to trace it backward in time, to learn about its becoming domesticated, and how it spread and gained importance in the growing Western industrial world. I became awed by the power of a single taste, and the concentration of brains, energy, wealth and -- most of all, power -- that had led to its being supplied to so many, in such stunningly large quantities, and at so terrible a cost in life and suffering. 

I follow it still – as well as honey, carob, aspartame, estevia, palm sugar, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), and so on. I want to know what will happen with sweetness next: how its desirability confronts the costs it  poses to health, physical appearance, the environment, and the world order. 

How do we get from one child's sweet tooth to the history of slavery, of war, and of corporate lobbying in the Congress? And how do we retrace our steps backward, this time to the significance of that child's sweet tooth? Do these issues ever become so powerful that there may be thought of legislating the availability of this or other foods – the health implications of which can be debated? These are the kinds of questions that have arisen in recent years. Alongside them are the shacks of the cane cutters, scattered in so many of the earth’s tropical corners, which deserve at least equal attention from anthropologists.

Fusion researchers endorse push for pilot power plant in US

by Peter Dunn, Massachusetts Institute of Technology MARCH 19, 2020

A fusion community report recommends three science drivers and several new facilities to accelerate toward commercially relevant fusion power. Credit: Plasma Science and Fusion Center

The growing sense of urgency around development of fusion technology for energy production in the United States got another boost this week with the release of a community consensus report by a diverse group of researchers from academia, government labs, and industry. High among its recommendations is development of a pilot fusion power plant, an ambitious goal that would be an important step toward an American fusion energy industry.

The report—the first of its kind in almost 20 years and the product of a novel 15-month collaboration process—identifies high-priority scientific needs that can help fill gaps in fusion knowledge and facilitate the drive to making fusion a practical energy source. It will be used by the U.S. Department of Energy's Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC) as it undertakes a new phase of strategic planning for its Fusion Energy Sciences program, the primary U.S. source of fusion research funding.

If successfully harnessed, fusion would fundamentally change the world's energy grid by offering safe, abundant, carbon-free electricity production.

Some 300 members of the fusion community hammered out their consensus during three major workshop meetings and hundreds of online working-group sessions, using an anonymous voting process that gave all participants the chance to express themselves freely. The top energy-related priorities include:
development of a shared neutron source facility that can be used for development of critical materials and power plant designs;

continued cultivation of burning plasma physics knowledge through ongoing participation in the international ITER program and expanded public-private collaboration in the United States; and
Immediate pre-conceptual design of a new U.S. tokamak facility, which would begin operation by the end of the decade and support work on power extraction from exhaust heat and plasma sustainment.

Also identified were several "opportunities and research needs" that are broadly applicable across the fusion and plasma fields: use of advanced computing technologies for better understanding and modeling; development of improved plasma diagnostics; enhanced support for public-private partnerships; and embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion, along with development of a more multidisciplinary workforce.

"This is first time in a generation when the fusion community has been called upon to self-organize and figure out its highest priorities for getting from fusion science to fusion energy," says Bob Mumgaard, chief executive of MIT spinout Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), one of a growing number of private companies pursuing fusion. "How we can get ready, with data, experience, test facilities—the things that are needed to support the science, and eventually an industry.

"The National Academies of Science (NAS) issued a good report [in late 2018], that said we should be bold and do fusion now and create test facilities," adds Mumgaard. "But this is different because it's the whole community, coming together in a very transparent grassroots effort to answer questions about what we're doing, what needs to be done, and what we're willing to not do. It wasn't done in a back room but by scientists themselves, and they came out with a plan and priorities—it's kind of cool."

Nathan Howard, a research scientist at MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center, was one of seven co-chairs who shared development oversight of the report, which will be used in developing long-range strategic plans for fusion science programs in response to a FESAC request issued in November 2018.

"The American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics took the lead and brought together the seven of us to gather data from the community," explains Howard. In addition to fusion energy, the effort also generated extensive recommendations for Discovery Plasma Science, a diverse field of more-basic research with impact in astrophysics, high energy density plasma physics, and other disciplines.
A fusion community report recommends increased effort in the fusion technologies that will be required to harness fusion power production, a transition from a program historically focused on producing fusion-grade plasmas. Credit: Alex Creely/Plasma Science and Fusion Center-Commonwealth Fusion Systems

One important development along the way was the creation of deeper linkages between the group focused on magnetic-confinement fusion and the one focused on fusion-related materials and technologies.

"It really didn't make sense for those to be separate," notes Howard. "The merger occurred naturally during the process and was motivated in part by the NAS burning plasma report, which said the U.S. should pursue building a fusion pilot plant, a reactor that will demonstrate creation of electricity from fusion and a closed fusion fuel cycle. The fusion community adopted construction of a pilot plant as its mission during the process"

While additional plasma research is important to achieving that goal, adds Howard, "the community recognized pretty clearly that we need more emphasis in fusion materials and technology. Where we're most lacking in the progress towards a power plant is in areas such as design of the blanket [the area surrounding the reactor, used to breed fusion fuel] and fusion-relevant materials."

Many of the outstanding materials issues are applicable not only to magnetic-confinement fusion, including the tokamak-type reactors that have received the most development attention to date, but also to inertial-confinement and other approaches, which offer different opportunities and challenges.

The report's official recipient is a FESAC subcommittee chaired by Troy Carter, professor of physics at the University of California at Los Angeles and director of the university's Basic Plasma Science Facility and Plasma Science and Technology Institute. He praised Howard and the other co-chairs for "working incredibly hard to organize the effort and bring so many people together. The report is very compelling, and the whole community should be commended—this sets an example for future iterations of the process and makes the job of my subcommittee much easier."

In particular, says Carter, "junior members of the community really stepped up. The co-chairs are junior and mid-career people for the most part, and it's important that it's their plan, because given the time scale, they'll be the ones implementing it."

Carter notes that, while he knew the concept of driving aggressively toward a pilot plant had support, "I was a bit surprised at how strongly it was embraced in the process. It's ambitious, and it points us in the direction of using innovation to get fusion energy onto the grid much quicker. There's still a lot of work to do in core plasma physics, but we've also got to get working on materials and other technology, which we're not putting enough effort towards now. It's refreshing to see that broad support for changing direction."

Carter's group will now incorporate the report's findings into strategic plans reflecting several budget scenarios it has been given.

"We'll lay it all out to take advantage of the opportunities in science and push towards the goal of realizing a pilot plant. We've got really good information about initiatives and guidance on prioritization," he says. "But a lot of the initiatives aren't at the level of conceptual design, so we'll have to do some work to figure out what they will cost. We have project management experts to work with, and also people from the private side—we have three members connected to private fusion companies, and will also engage other external points of view."

That process is expected to take about eight months, says Carter, with the results being submitted to FESAC around year end. After a vote, it would become FESAC's official advice to the Department of Energy. "It's something a lot of folks in Congress are interested in," notes Carter.

CFS's Mumgaard says the report's delivery could prove to be a key moment for the United States, with the potential to lead to a new fusion policy, Congressional action to support the nascent fusion industry and prepare for power plant licensing and regulation, and ongoing funding that would give academic and national laboratory leaders confidence to hire staff and build infrastructure. "It feels like things are going in the right direction," he says. "The scientific community has to speak with one voice, and this is the process that creates that voice."
Isotope movement holds key to the power of fusion reactions

Coronavirus Virus did NOT originate in Wuhan seafood market, claims CHINESE study

CORONAVIRUS cases now number more than 245,967 

the virus continuing to spread around the world. Now a shocking study suggests novel coronavirus did not originate in Wuhan seafood market as first thought.

By TOM FISH PUBLISHED Fri, Mar 20, 2020

Coronavirus has claimed the lives of at least 10,748 victims, leading scientist to race to learn about the source of the deadly disease. Now a new study by a team of Chinese scientists indicates coronavirus did not actually originate at a seafood market in the central China city of Wuhan as widely reported.

Consequently the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was instead imported from elsewhere, researchers from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Institute for Brain Research have reported.

The crowded market then boosted SARS-CoV-2 circulation and spread it to the whole city in early December 2019

Dr Yu Wenbin


The team, led by Dr Yu Wenbin, sequenced the genomic data of 93 SARS-CoV-2 samples provided by 12 countries in an attempt to hunt the source of the infection and understand how it spreads.

They discovered while the virus had spread rapidly within the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, there had also been had two major population expansions on December 8 and January 6.

According to the study, published on the institute’s website late last week, analysis indicates the coronavirus was actually introduced from outside the market.


READ NOW: Flood warning: Nearly HALF of UK homes don’t know they live in flood [NEWS]

Coronavirus: Chinese scientists now believe coronavirus didn't originate at a Wuhan seafood market (Image: Getty)


Coronavirus news: Cases of coronavirus now number more than 79,800 (Image: Express)


The authors wrote: “The crowded market then boosted SARS-CoV-2 circulation and spread it to the whole city in early December 2019.”

Earlier studies by Chinese health authorities and the World Health Organisation (WHO) claimed the first known patient showed symptoms on December 8.

They also reported most of the subsequent cases had links to the Huanan seafood market, which was closed on January 1.

The researchers now believe it was possible the virus began spreading from person to person as early as late November, following analysis of genome data.

They wrote: “The study concerning whether Huanan market is the only birthplace of SARS-CoV-2 is of great significance for finding its source and determining the intermediate host, so as to control the epidemic and prevent it from spreading again.”

The scientists added although China’s National Centre for Disease Control and Prevention issued a Level 2 emergency warning about the new coronavirus on January 6, the information was not widely shared.

The authors wrote: “If the warning had attracted more attention, the number of cases both nationally and globally in mid-to-late January would have been reduced.

Meanwhile, Xiang Nijuan, a researcher at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, yesterday warned in an interview with state broadcaster CCTV people infected with the new coronavirus were contagious two days before they showed any symptoms.

Coronavirus news: The virus has claimed the lives of at least 2,468 victims (Image: Express)

Coronavirus news: There have been worrying coronavirus developments in South Korea, Italy and Iran (Image: Express)


Coronavirus news: The virus began spreading from person to person as early as late November last year (Image: Express)

He said anyone who had been in close contact with someone within 48 hours of them being confirmed as infected should put themselves in isolation for a fortnight.

The development coincided with worrying coronavirus developments in South Korea, Italy and Iran.

South Korea has raised its coronavirus alert to the “highest level” as confirmed case numbers keep rising.

President Moon Jae-in said the country faced “a grave turning point”, and the next few days would be crucial in the battle to contain the outbreak.

Six people have died from the virus in South Korea and more than 600 have been infected.

Meanwhile, Italy and Iran have announced steps to try to contain worrying outbreaks of the virus.

Meet the 'Wonderchicken': Scientists discover the oldest fossil of a modern bird — an ancestor of hens and ducks that waddled alongside the dinosaurs

The Wonderchicken — or 'Asteriornis' — lived around 67 million years ago

According to the researchers it resembles a 'mash-up' of a duck and a chicken 

It was a small bird that fed on land alongside the sea, experts have determined

The specimen found in Belgium is one of the best preserved fossil bird skulls

By IAN RANDALL FOR MAILONLINE18 March 2020

The oldest fossil ever found of a modern bird skull has been identified by scientists — who have dubbed the creature the 'Wonderchicken'.

The Wonderchicken is thought to be an ancestor of today's hens and ducks.

The fossil has been dated back to almost 67 million years ago — meaning that the birds lived alongside dinosaurs for around a million years before the latter died out.

The oldest fossil ever found of a modern bird skull has been identified by scientists — who have dubbed the creature the 'Wonderchicken'. It is thought to be an ancestor of hens and ducks. Pictured, an artist's impression of a Wonderchicken foraging along the seashore of the Cretaceous era, 67 million years ago

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The fossil has been dated back to almost 67 million years ago — meaning that the birds lived alongside dinosaurs for around a million years before the latter died out. Pictured, a three-dimensional reconstruction of the fossil bird's skull, which is one of the best ever preserved

'The moment I first saw what was beneath the rock was the most exciting moment of my scientific career,' said paper author and palaeobiologist Daniel Field of the University of Cambridge.


'This is one of the best-preserved fossil bird skulls of any age, from anywhere in the world.'

'We almost had to pinch ourselves when we saw it, knowing that it was from such an important time in Earth's history.'

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The fossil of the Wonderchicken — named in part because it looks like a mash-up of a duck and a chicken — was found in the Romontbos Quarry near fort Eben-Emael in Liège, on the Belgium-Netherlands border.

The ancient remains include a complete skull as well as leg fragments — with the bird displaying many common features with the fowl you might see in farmyards in the present day.

It is the oldest example ever found of a common ancestor to the family of birds called 'galloanserae' — which also includes quails.



'The moment I first saw what was beneath the rock (left) was the most exciting moment of my scientific career,' said paper author and palaeobiologist Daniel Field of the University of Cambridge (pictured, right, with a 3D printed model of the skull). 'We almost had to pinch ourselves when we saw it, knowing that it was from such an important time in Earth's history'


'The moment I first saw what was beneath the rock was the most exciting moment of my scientific career,' said palaeobiologist Daniel Field of the University of Cambridge




A high resolution CT scan of the fossil helped the researchers determine that the Wonderchicken was a small-bodied, likely ground-dwelling bird

The scientific name given to the Wonderchicken is 'Asteriornis' — in recognition of the ancient Greek goddess of falling stars, Asteria, who in legend transformed herself into a quail.

A high resolution CT scan of the fossil helped the researchers determine that the Wonderchicken was a small-bodied, likely ground-dwelling bird which fed along land near the seashore.

'Finding the skull blew my mind,' said paper co-author Juan Benito.

'Without these cutting-edge scans, we never would have known that we were holding the oldest modern bird skull in the world.'


The fossil of the Wonderchicken — named in part because it looks like a mash-up of a duck and a chicken — was found in the Romontbos Quarry near fort Eben-Emael in Liège, on the Belgium-Netherlands border

'The origins of living bird diversity are shrouded in mystery — other than knowing that modern birds arose at some point towards the end of the age of dinosaurs, we have very little fossil evidence of them until after the asteroid hit,' said paper co-author Albert Chen.

'This fossil provides our earliest direct glimpse of what modern birds were like during the initial stages of their evolutionary history.'

The full findings of the study were published in the journal Nature.

Miners Stuck In Limbo As Beijing's Last Coal Mine Closes
By Poornima WEERASEKARA, Danni ZHU IBT 03/20/20 

Gutted factories, rusting pickaxes and crumbling homes that will soon be abandoned dot the scarred hills in Mentougou -- home to Beijing's last coal mine slated to close this year as the city battles choking smog.

One of China's oldest mining towns, it has powered the capital for nearly 300 years.

But more than 270 coal mines in the area have been shut down over the past two decades, as China has scrambled to cut carbon emissions and switch to renewables.

The last remaining mine -- which employed about 7,000 workers at its peak -- is scheduled to fully close later this year.

Gutted factories, rusting pickaxes and crumbling homes that will soon be abandoned dot the scarred hills in Mentougou -- home to Beijing's last coal mine slated to close this year as the city battles chocking smog Photo: AFP / GREG BAKER


"Once the Datai coal mine closes there won't be any coal mines in Beijing left," said Ma Shihui, a miner from the southwestern province of Sichuan.



TOP ARTICLES2/5Doctors, Nurses Without Protective GearMay Be Infecting Patients



The young workers have already collected their severance cheques and moved to cities to find work.

But hundreds of others like Ma have little hope of finding new jobs due to old age and have no rights to farmland in their villages.



Ma worked with explosives at the Datai mine since 2016 and earned about 10,000 yuan (US$ 1,400) a month.

One of China's oldest  mining towns it has powered the capital for nearly 300 years Photo: AFP / GREG BAKER

Now his family survives on a 1,540 yuan monthly hand out from the mining company.

"I'm already 50... If you're over 45 years old, they don't want you," he said.


"My family doesn't have farmland anymore... So I can't go back. Even if you go back it's no use, you couldn't survive."

According to Beijing Jinmei Group, the state-owned enterprise that owns the mines near the capital, the government-mandated closures will mean the loss of six million tons of coal production capacity and the "resettlement" of more than 11,000 workers, mostly migrants.

But more than 270 coal mines near Beijing have been shut down over the past two decades, as China scambles to cut carbon emissions and switch to renewables Photo: AFP / GREG BAKER

Those left behind like Ma go twice a day to sign an attendance sheet at the mine office. They also help sweep away shredded documents and recycle mining waste.

"I hope the company will be able to arrange some work for me at their other mines in Ningxia or Shandong," said Ma. "I don't mind even working as a cleaner."

Miners suffering from lung diseases after inhaling coal dust are also stuck in this dilapidated town southwest of Beijing, because their government health insurance only covers treatment from hospitals in the area.

China accounts for half of the world's demand for coal and almost half of its production but the country is switching to greener sources of energy to fight chocking smog and reverse the environmental damage from its coal addiction Photo: AFP / GREG BAKER

A miner from Guizhou surnamed Zhang said he was diagnosed with black lung disease in January last year. He had worked at the Datai mine for 30 years.

The government has promised 380,000 yuan in compensation for sick mine workers, Zhang said, but the money hasn't reached many.

Some 1,400 workers suffering from occupational illnesses have filed a lawsuit against the mine operator, accusing the company of syphoning their compensation for work-related injuries.

Calls and faxes to Beijing Jinmei Group on the issue went unanswered.

Liu Sheng, 51, had worked in coal mines since 1989. He was forced to retire in 2012 after being diagnosed with black lung disease.

"The main thing about this kind of illness is lung trouble. It takes a lot of effort to go outside... It can't be cured," Liu said.

"I'm usually hospitalised five or six times a year."

Liu now lives on a 4,000 yuan monthly government handout. He is unable to return to his village in Sichuan because the health insurance card given by the company is only accepted in hospitals in the Mentougou area.

"I came to Beijing when I was 20 and now I'm 50. Beijing is my second home," Liu said. "It's unfair for them to ask us to leave now."

China accounts for half of the world's demand for coal and almost half of its production. But the country is switching to greener sources of energy to fight chocking smog and reverse the environmental damage from its coal addiction.

A local government circular says they plan to turn Mentougou into an eco-park, with "green mountains, blue waters and red tourism," spotlighting the coal town's role in helping the communist party.

Beijing's subway line is being extended to reach this far corner in hopes it will bring curious tourists.

But so far, there are no hotels or even adequate public toilets to cater to visitors.

Earlier attempts to turn local farmsteads into bed and breakfast hotels have also failed.

"Mentougou's economy is in a shambles," said Dong Xiaoyuan from Peking University's Institute on Poverty Research.

"First officials tried to introduce sheep herding, but it ended up harming the already deteriorated environment," he said.

"Haphazard plans only push more people into poverty."
Copyright AFP. All rights reserved.

SCIENTISTS DISCOVER HOW FEAR FORMS IN THE BRAIN

offering hope that PTSD sufferers could switch off traumatic memories

'Fear memory' formation involves neural connections between two brain regions

Activity between the two regions increased in mice faced with 'aversive stimuli'

Weakening these could erase fear memory for people who are living with PTSD

By JONATHAN CHADWICK FOR MAILONLINE 16 March 2020

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients could receive new treatments after scientists discovered how fear forms in the brain.

Biologists in the US say that ‘fear memory’ is formed as pathways between two small regions of the brain strengthen following a traumatic event.

Experiments on mice brains proved that aversive stimulus caused increased activity between these two regions – called the hippocampus and the amygdala.

Finding a way to weaken these connections could erase fear memory and help patients recover from PTSD, they say.






PTSD can cause problems in daily life for months or even years for people who have experienced trauma such as a car crash

‘Our study now demonstrates for the first time that the formation of fear memory associated with a context indeed involves the strengthening of the connections between the hippocampus and amygdala,’ said Professor Jun-Hyeong Cho at the University of California Riverside.

‘Our study, therefore, also provides insights into developing therapeutic strategies to suppress maladaptive fear memories in post-traumatic stress disorder patients.’

Human brains can form a fear memory associated with a dangerous situation, such as a terrorist situation or a car crash.

After horrific events, neural pathways strengthen between the hippocampus and the amygdala – two small but important parts of the brain.

The hippocampus responds to a particular context, such as a collision, and encodes it, and the amygdala then triggers defensive behaviour, including fear responses.

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The Hypothalamus and Amygdala are small regions of the brain that are involved in the formation of the so-called 'fear memory'

This association makes us highly adaptive because it lets us learn from past trauma and informs us how to avoid dangerous situations in the future.

WHAT IS PTSD?


Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder caused by very stressful, frightening or distressing events.

Someone with PTSD often relives the traumatic event through nightmares and flashbacks, and may experience feelings of isolation, irritability and guilt.

They may also have problems sleeping, such as insomnia, and find concentrating difficult.

These symptoms are often severe and persistent enough to have a significant impact on the person’s day-to-day life.

PTSD can develop immediately after someone experiences a disturbing event or it can occur weeks, months or even years later.

Source: NHS



During a car accident, for example, the brain processes a set of multisensory circumstances around the traumatic event, such as visuals and audio, or even smells such as burning materials from a damaged vehicle.

‘Suppose we had a car accident in a particular place and got severely injured. We would then feel afraid of that – or similar – place even long after we recover from the physical injury,’ said Professor Cho.

This is because our brains form a memory that associates the car accident with the situation where we experienced the trauma.

‘This associative memory makes us feel afraid of that, or similar, situation and we avoid such threatening situations.

‘The neural mechanism of learned fear has an enormous survival value for animals, who must predict danger from seemingly neutral contexts.'

However, this process can be dysregulated, leading to exaggerated fear responses that cause PTSD symptoms include nightmares, heightened reactions, anxiety, depression and avoidance of situations that trigger memories of the trauma.

PTSD can affect those who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event for months, or even years.

A previous study found that one in 13 young people in England and Wales experience post-traumatic stress disorder by the age of 18.

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PTSD is much more common in certain groups including firefighters, rape victims and teenage car crash survivors

An estimated one in 11 people will be diagnosed PTSD in their lifetime, according to the American Psychiatric Association.

Is much more common in certain groups including firefighters, war veterans, rape victims and teenage car crash survivors.

The team hopes their insights will lead to improved PTSD treatments and now plans to develop strategies to suppress pathological fear memories in PTSD.

The study has been published in the journal Nature Communications.

Professor Cho and his team previously investigated in 2017 how the brain encodes a fear memory linked to a 'auditory stimulus'.

Coronavirus: Kind Canadians start 'caremongering' trend

"But I think this does highlight something about Canada - people look out for each other. It is unique."
By Tom Gerken BBC News, Washington 16 March 2020

GETTY IMAGES  Canada will close its borders

Just a few days ago the word "caremongering" did not exist. Now, what started as a way to help vulnerable people in Toronto has turned into a movement spreading fast across Canada.

More than 35 Facebook groups have been set up in 72 hours to serve communities in places including Ottawa, Halifax and Annapolis County in Nova Scotia, with more than 30,000 members between them.

People are joining the groups to offer help to others within their communities, particularly those who are more at risk of health complications related to coronavirus.

The pandemic has led to acts of kindness around the world, from delivering soup to the elderly in the UK to an exercise class held for quarantined residents on their balconies in Spain.

But in Canada, a country whose inhabitants are stereotyped in the media as kind to a fault, helping others has become an organised movement called "caremongering".

As it's all driven by social media, the altruism is arranged online and the hashtags provide a permanent record of all the good happening in different communities across Canada - an uplifting read in anxious times.
The acts of kindness sparked by coronavirus

The first "caremongering" group was set up by Mita Hans with the help of Valentina Harper and others. Valentina explained the meaning behind the name.

"Scaremongering is a big problem," she tells the BBC. "We wanted to switch that around and get people to connect on a positive level, to connect with each other.

"It's spread the opposite of panic in people, brought out community and camaraderie, and allowed us to tackle the needs of those who are at-risk all the time - now more than ever."

Founder Valentina Harper says the idea is to create a contagion of kindness

Valentina said the rapid growth of the trend was far beyond her expectations, with the Toronto group itself now having more than 9,000 members.

"We thought we'd have a couple dozen people," she said with a laugh. "It's grown to thousands.

"But the most positive thing is the local groups that have started, geared to specific neighbourhoods. It's really shown us the need that people have to have some level of reassurance and hope.

"Anxiety, isolation and lack of hope affects you. In providing this virtual community which allows people to help each other, I think it is really showing people there is still hope for humanity. We haven't lost our hope."
'This will give me a fighting chance'

Typically, posts are divided between two main topics - #iso and #offer. #iso posts are for people "in search of" help, whereas #offer posts are (as the name implies) for people offering help.

There are other topics for things like discussions, news articles and which shops are open, but these two tags make up the bulk of the posts in the groups.

Paul Viennau, who joined the caremongering group in Halifax, said that the help he received through the trend felt "like a hug".

"There's a lot of negative things about social media," he tells the BBC. "It's a place that can make you feel isolated normally. This is an opportunity to people to reach out and help each other.

"I have had a disability for the last 29 years, plus a compromised immune system. I live on hand sanitiser in normal circumstances. I started to worry about running out three days ago."

A friend asked on Paul's behalf for hand sanitiser in the Halifax caremongering group, and someone soon came through. Shortly after, Paul joined up to leave a message thanking everyone for their help.

"I am completely and sincerely feeling some love over it," he said. "If I get the flu or coronavirus I will be in hospital.

"This will give me a fighting chance. Thank you."
'It has been life-changing'

There are countless examples of goodwill on the various Facebook groups.

These include a single mother in Ottawa receiving food for her baby, a group of people in Toronto offering to cook meals for those who are unable, and a community in Prince Edward Island who gave grocery store gift cards to a woman who was laid off because of closures related to Coronavirus.

One of the most popular acts is to go to the supermarket for those who are unable - though depending on luck this can prove to be an act of extreme patience as one Hamilton woman discovered when going to a Walmart at 5:30am on Saturday - the queue was a long one.
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But the groups are not exclusively for people who are able to give help, or even those who need it.

They are also about providing a place for people to see acts of goodwill in their communities.

When asked what the group meant to her, Rhia Rave Fae said it was "a safe haven to restore my faith in humanity".

"It's easy to feel alone and powerless," she said, "especially if you're isolated. Being able to offer people emotional support, share information, and even just swap ideas of how to pass the time has been life-changing.

"This group shows the good in people, and proves we can do amazing things when we come together."

And Valentina told the BBC she thought the success of the groups said something about Canadians in general.

"I think there is an international belief that Canada is a very polite country," she said. "And Canadians are so nice. I think there is something Canadian about this because as our population is small as a country, there is a tendency to look out for each other, even if there are a few bad apples who buy all the toilet paper!

"But I think this does highlight something about Canada - people look out for each other. It is unique."

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Does pandemic offer US and Iran chance for partial reset?
By Jonathan Marcus BBC Defence and diplomatic correspondent 19 March 2020

The official death toll in Iran from the coronavirus disease has risen to 1,135

We are facing a public health crisis that, in global terms, may be the worst for just over a century.

No wonder then that the coronavirus pandemic has pushed many of the stories that make up our usual daily diet of international news to the sidelines.

Nonetheless, many commentators are already speculating about how global affairs may or may not change in the wake of this drama.

A more immediate question is whether the behaviour of antagonistic countries - Iran and the United States, in this case - as they both struggle to confront this emergency, might provide a glimmer of hope for a better relationship in the future?

The question is posed because Iran has been hit severely by the virus.

The number of reported cases is already more than 17,000 and the death toll stands at 1,192, although many in Iran believe the actual numbers are a lot higher.

Iran's economy is already weakened by US sanctions and, although Washington insists that humanitarian items - medical supplies, for example - remain outside the sanctions net, the web of restrictions on the Central Bank of Iran and the country's ability to trade with the outside world are only accentuating its problems.

Things have been made even more difficult by transport disruption, border closures and so on, prompted by the wider impact of the pandemic.

AFP The Iranian president has defended his government's response to the crisis

As a measure of Iran's desperate need, it has taken the almost unprecedented step of requesting a $5bn (£4.25bn) emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

This is the first time for some 60 years that Iran has sought IMF funds. A spokesperson for the organisation told me on Tuesday that the IMF "had discussions with the Iranian authorities to better understand their request for emergency financing" and that "the discussions will continue in the days and weeks ahead".

The US, as one of the IMF Executive Board's most important members, will have a significant say in whether Iran gets the money.

Already there are calls from US experts for Iran not just to be given what it needs, but also for the Trump administration to pursue a more compassionate approach to Iran's health crisis in general.

Mark Fitzpatrick, an expert on arms control and the Iranian nuclear programme, insisted that there was a moment now when an opportunity can be seized to break the log-jam.

"US policy toward Iran is stuck, failing to change Iran's behaviour except for the worse," he tweeted on Monday.
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Writing in the US journal The American Conservative on Tuesday, Iran specialist Barbara Slavin argued that the idea, espoused by some US Republicans, that the pandemic might serve to prompt the overthrow of the Iranian regime was absurd.

"The likelihood of massive protests… seems slim given government directives to stay home and rational fears that mass gatherings will only spread the virus," she wrote.

AFP The US says it exempts medicine and medical devices for Iranians from sanctions

The US treasury department, she noted, had taken some small steps to clarify that the humanitarian channel to Iran remained open. But there had been no indications that the Trump administration's "maximum pressure" policy was being reconsidered, she added.

"It appears that the crisis will only push Iran deeper into the arms of China and Russia and strengthen those in the regime who reject reconciliation with the West."

"The Revolutionary Guards, who are handling much of the response to the virus and building emergency medical facilities," she insisted, "will grow even more powerful as Iran comes to look less and less like a theocracy with a thin republican veneer and more like a military dictatorship."

So what then is the chance of even some modest rapprochement?

Not much if the public statements of some of the key players are to be taken at face value.

The Trump administration has sought to score diplomatic points in this crisis.

The US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, said earlier this week that Iran's leaders had "lied about the Wuhan virus for weeks", and that they were "trying to avoid responsibility for their... gross incompetence".

Note there the use of the term "Wuhan virus", which Mr Pompeo prefers to "coronavirus".

EPA US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hopes Iran may release some detained Americans

Washington is seeking to have a jab at Beijing too, but equally some Chinese figures have been ready to brand the pandemic as some kind of conspiracy created by the US military.

But in regard to Iran, Mr Pompeo has gone further.

He bluntly stated that "the Wuhan virus is a killer and the Iranian regime is an accomplice".

Nonetheless, he said the US was "trying to offer help".

"We have an open humanitarian channel... even as our maximum pressure campaign denies terrorists money."

REUTERS

Iran's government has urged other countries to ignore the US sanctions

In terms of potential military confrontation - remember, just a few weeks ago the US and Iran seemed to be on the brink of war - there have been some indirect incidents.

They include rocket attacks on Iraqi military bases used by US-led coalition forces that the Americans believe were carried out by a pro-Iranian Shia militia. One attack killed three coalition service personnel - one of them a British medic - and the US responded with air strikes.

General Frank McKenzie of CentCom, the man in charge of US forces in the Middle East, told the Senate Armed Services Committee recently that the coronavirus outbreak might make a weakened Iran "more dangerous".

The US is certainly not taking any risks, unusually maintaining two aircraft carriers in the region.

Of course, the indirect culpability of Iran in such attacks is always contested - certainly by the Iranians themselves.

This is not necessarily a tap that Tehran can just turn on and off at will. Many of its proxies have local concerns and goals.

The Shia militias in Iraq are eager to force the Americans out. But Iran could probably do a lot to scale down the frequency or severity of incidents.

Indeed, in general the pandemic does seem to be reducing military confrontation in the wider region.

On the Iran-Israel front in Syria, things seem to be noticeably quieter. And Gen McKenzie also noted that the US might have to "ultimately live with a low-level of proxy attacks", a statement that reduces some of the drama from the situation.

REUTERS

Top Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad on 3 January

The Iranian leadership too has been talking tough.

President Hassan Rouhani noted on Wednesday that Iran had responded to the US killing of the famed Revolutionary Guards General Qasem Soleimani in January, but also making clear that that this response would continue.

"The Americans assassinated our great commander," he said in a televised speech. "We have responded to that terrorist act and will respond to it."

So, on the face of it, there's not much chance of taking the sting out of the US-Iran relationship.

Washington's attitude to the IMF loan may be a pointer to how things might develop. And indeed rhetoric should not necessarily be taken at face value.

At the end of February, the US contacted Iran via the Swiss government to say that it was "prepared to assist the Iranian people in their response efforts".

Only on Tuesday, Mr Pompeo, along with his tough words to both Tehran and Beijing, spoke of his hope that Tehran might be considering releasing some Americans detained in the country.

The temporary release of the British-Iranian woman Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is another small pointer of a shift in Tehran.

FREE NAZANIN CAMPAIGN

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been released along with tens of thousands of other prisoners

At the end of the day, Iran may well need to tacitly restrain some of the groups who have the Americans and other Western forces in their sights.

They will need to release detained foreign nationals.

And the Trump administration will need to decide whether this is an opportunity to create a small opening with Tehran along sound humanitarian grounds or, whether the mounting pressure on the regime from both sanctions and now the coronavirus, is a moment to double-down.

It could be a fateful decision for what comes next when the pandemic has passed.

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