Human biology appears to have two seasons, not four, study says


While color changes to trees during the fall is an annual highlight for many -- including the tourists pictured in Forest Park in St. Louis in November 2019 -- researchers say the human body only registers two seasons, not the four marked on the calendar. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

The human body apparently disagrees with Mother Nature on how many seasons there are.

Instead of four seasons, human biology appears to have two, according to a team of Stanford University researchers.

"We're taught that the four seasons -- winter, spring, summer and fall -- are broken into roughly equal parts throughout the year, and I thought, 'Well, who says?' " said Michael Snyder, a professor and chair of genetics. "It didn't seem likely that human biology adheres to those rules."

So he and his colleagues conducted a study guided by people's molecular compositions to let the biology reveal how many seasons there are.

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They analyzed four years of molecular data from 105 people, aged 25 to 75. About four times a year, participants provided blood samples that were analyzed for molecular information about immunity, inflammation, heart health, metabolism, the microbiome and more. Participants' diet and exercise habits were also tracked.

Overall, the study found that more than 1,000 molecules ebb and flow during the year, especially during late spring-early summer and late fall-early winter.

For example, late spring coincided with a rise in inflammatory biomarkers known to play a role in allergies, a spike in molecules involved in rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, a peak in HbAc1, a protein that signals risk for type 2 diabetes, and the highest annual levels of the gene PER1, an important regulator of the sleep-wake cycle.

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In early winter, there were increases in immune molecules that help fight viral infections molecules involved in acne development and markers of high blood pressure.

The researchers also found differences between people who were insulin-resistant -- their bodies don't process glucose normally -- and those who weren't.

Insulin-resistant people had higher levels of Veillonella, a type of bacteria involved in lactic acid fermentation and the processing of glucose, throughout the year, except during mid-March through late June, according to findings published this month in the journal Nature Communications.

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Snyder noted that the study involved people in California, and it's likely that the molecular patterns of people in other regions would differ.

Understanding such seasonal changes in human biology could help guide health care and the design of clinical drug trials, he suggested.

More information

RELATED Arctic bird turns down immune system to conserve energy in winter

NASA has more on Earth's seasons.

Copyright 2020 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

NASA, space industry seek new ways to cope with space debris


Nanoracks envisions in-space renovations of spent rocket stages, depicted here, to be used as storage containers or even human habitats. Image courtesy of Nanoracks

ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 5 (UPI) -- NASA's official watchdog panel has renewed calls for the agency to move faster on a plan to better track and mitigate dangers posed by orbiting debris in space.

Members of NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel said during a regular meeting last week that the agency has made some progress, but it needs to focus on space debris as a top priority.

At stake is the safety of astronauts, anyone going into space on planned private missions and the nation's growing fleet of satellites used for national security, communications and scientific observation.

Because debris orbits at thousands of mph, even tiny pieces of space trash can puncture spacecraft.

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The panel's comments came on the heels of NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine telling a Senate Committee on Wednesday that the agency needs Congress to fund a comprehensive strategy for debris tracking and management, including international outreach.

"I cannot emphasize the importance of this issue enough, and we really need some action taken now," said Patricia Sanders, who chairs the panel.

Companies such as Northrop Grumman have proposed in-space collection and recycling stations -- basically additional satellites that would capture debris and either destroy it or melt it down and manufacture something new.

RELATED SpaceX improved Crew Dragon capsule for planned Oct. 31 launch

NASA is funding limited projects to repurpose space debris, including a mission by Houston-based Nanoracks to convert spent rocket boosters in orbit into useful technology and possibly even human habitats -- what the company calls Outposts.

"We are rapidly reaching the point where we have to be concerned about how we dispose of hardware," Jeffery Manber, CEO of NanoRacks, said in an interview Friday.

His company has $15 million from NASA to begin the experiment and plans to launch next year a robotic cutting machine that will study how to cut metal in space.

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The in-space cutting demonstration will last about an hour and will provide data to NanoRacks for expanded experiments, Manber said.

"Habitats are a goal, but we are focused now on utility," he said. "We're thinking about turning used space debris into recycling centers or storage depots and possibly even new space stations."

More than 5,000 satellites orbit the Earth, 3,000 of which are inoperative. About 14,000 pieces of space debris larger than 10 centimeters in diameter exist, while smaller objects that often result from collisions may number around 600,000, according to NASA and scientists who track the debris.

Meanwhile, companies like SpaceX and OneWeb plan to launch tens of thousands of new satellites to low-Earth orbit. Those satellites are able to deorbit and burn up in the atmosphere quickly, but such plans will further crowd the heavens.

Space debris "not only presents some standing safety concerns for NASA, especially for humans and spacecraft, but it also is a growing threat to the sustainability of space as a peaceful domain for science exploration, innovation and commerce," said Susan Helms, a retired astronaut and panel member.

Helms noted that some progress has been made, but she said "it is well overdue that the U.S. exert some effective international leadership in the safety of space operations."

The panel expects NASA to make sure all future budget requests include funding for such a comprehensive approach, she said.

SCOTUS to take up religious liberty cases


Religious liberty organizations are watching several cases before the new term of the U.S. Supreme Court. Photo by Stefani Reynolds/UPI | License Photo


Oct. 5 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court's 2020 term, which begins Monday, could produce decisions that have a major impact on religious liberty.

The cases to be argued include a request for a faith-based exemption from antidiscrimination laws by a private foster care agency, a lawsuit filed by three Muslim men seeking damages from FBI agents who placed them on the no-fly list and a student's challenge of college speech rules that he says violated his First Amendment rights.

In addition, the justices have been asked to hear appeals involving employer accommodation of workers' religious practices; buffer zones for anti-abortion counseling at medical facilities; and an effort to compel a religiously affiliated hospital to allow medical procedures that violate its religious beliefs.

Religious liberty organizations are watching these cases:

Free exercise of religion

One of the most significant cases is Fulton vs. City of Philadelphia, which has the potential to produce a landmark decision.

Philadelphia contracts with private providers for foster care services and refused to place children in homes of families that work with Catholic Social Services after it learned the agency would not certify same-sex married couples as foster parents, which is a violation of the city's anti-discrimination provisions. Two women who have fostered more than 40 children between them, Sharonell Fulton and Toni Simms-Busch, and CSS sued over the exclusion.

The case came to the Supreme Court after the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to grant an injunction to keep the agency's foster care program open. The mothers and CSS say their First Amendment and free exercise of religion rights are being violated by conditioning their ability to participate in the foster care system on taking actions and making statements that contradict their sincere religious beliefs.

"CSS exercises its religion by caring for foster children and acting in accordance with its Catholic beliefs in the process," The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents the plaintiffs, said in a court petition. "This means that CSS cannot make foster certifications inconsistent with its religious beliefs about sex and marriage. CSS sincerely believes that the home study certification endorses the relationships in the home, and therefore it cannot provide home studies or endorsements for unmarried heterosexual couples or same-sex couples."

In a phone briefing with reporters, Lori Windham, Becket's senior counsel who will be arguing the case, said a ruling will have a nationwide impact.

"There are 8,000 faith-affirming foster and adoption agencies across the country," Windham said. "Several cities and states across the nation have shut those agencies down so foster and adoption agencies and the families who depend on them are watching to see what the Supreme Court will do."

In addition to ending the CSS exclusion, the plaintiffs are asking the justices to overturn a 1990 Supreme Court decision that denied a religious exemption to two members of the Native American Church who were fired for using peyote. The workers, who used peyote as part of their faith, were denied unemployment benefits because they had violated a state law.

One of the men filed suit alleging his right to the free exercise of religion had been violated and won in the lower courts. However, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the ruling.

The high court decision, Employment Division vs. Smith, held that the Constitution's Free Exercise Clause cannot be used to challenge a neutral and generally applicable law as a burden on faith. The clause can be used to challenge only laws that target religious practice or were motivated by anti-religious animus.

Generally applicable laws

Howard Slugh, general counsel of the Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty, said the standard set by the Smith case to decide if a law burdens someone's religion is too restrictive.

In a hypothetical example of a law banning circumcision for alleged medical reasons, a litigant would have to prove the statute was motivated by anti-religious animus, Slugh said in an email. However, as soon as the law was determined to be religiously neutral, a claim under the Free Exercise Clause would be dismissed.

Members of minority faiths are particularly affected, he said.

"Smith has deprived numerous Jewish Americans of their day in court," Slugh wrote. "In one instance, a court cited Smith as the reason a Jewish police officer had no free exercise right to wear a yarmulke, a traditional Jewish head covering. The police department's ban on head coverings was religiously neutral, and therefore, Smith immunized it from constitutional scrutiny."

John Bursch, senior counsel and vice president of appellate advocacy at the Alliance Defending Freedom, said the action against the foster care agency was motivated by animus for its religious beliefs.

Kelly Shackelford, CEO and chief counsel of First Liberty Institute, said a lot of children will go unplaced because of the participation ban on agencies that won't certify same-sex couples and that the Smith ruling is a bad decision.

In a friend-of-the-court brief, three organizations -- the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the Center for Inquiry and the American Humanist Association -- argue that CSS's attack on the Smith ruling "is not just an attack on over a century of precedent, but also an attack on the rule of law itself."

"What CSS really seeks is a system of judicially created religious favoritism," the brief says.

Patrick Elliott, FFRF senior counsel, said the Smith decision should stand.

"Even if you have religious beliefs, you still have to comply with neutral and generally applicable laws," Elliott said.

Some faith groups agree.

Holly Hollman, general counsel of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, writes that Philadelphia's policy protects the viability of government partnerships with religious organizations.

"Faith-based groups often feel called to help others, including voluntarily partnering with the government to serve those in need," Hollman told UPI in an email. "Following the government's rules to administer certain government-funded programs does not mean the faith-based organization is giving up its right to speak about core beliefs in other contexts."

'Appropriate relief'

Another closely watched case is a suit filed by three Muslim American men who alleged they were placed on the no-fly list for refusing requests by FBI agents to be informants against their religious community. The CLEAR Project at the City University of New York School of Law and the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represent the men, say their clients immigrated legally to the United States and have never posed a threat to aviation security.

Four days before scheduled arguments on the government's motion to dismiss some of the claims in Tanzin vs. Tanvir, the men were taken off the list but continued to pursue damages. The FBI appealed to the Supreme Court after the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the men could seek "appropriate relief" from the government under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The question to be decided is whether suits seeking money damages against individual federal employees for violations of the act's substantive protections of religious belief is an available remedy.

The men's lawyers say in a brief that Congress sought to create a broad protection of religious exercise in RFRA, which was enacted with bipartisan support in 1993, and that the 2nd Circuit's ruling is correct.

Mary Bauer, legal director of Muslim Advocates, a civil rights group, agrees.

"In many cases, it is not possible to seek injunctive relief, and money damages are the only measure that exists for plaintiffs to obtain a semblance of justice," Bauer said in a statement. "Depriving plaintiffs of the ability to seek damages undermines religious freedom by depriving plaintiffs of a meaningful remedy in many cases."

Claims for nominal damages

Religious liberty groups are following another damages case, Uzuegbunam vs. Preczewski, which stems from an effort by Georgia Gwinnett College student Chike Uzuegbunam to share his Christian faith on the Lawrenceville campus.

Uzuegbunam was distributing religious literature and holding one-on-one conversations about his faith when college police told him he had to get advance permission to use one of two speech zones on campus to continue. He stationed himself in one of those spaces - which covered 0.0015 percent of the campus (a tiny space like a piece of paper on a football field, according to Bursch, of Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents Uzuegbunam) - but was stopped from speaking again.

This time, police told him that someone had complained and that the college's speech code defined as "disorderly conduct"" anything that makes another person feel uncomfortable, the suit says. Another student, Joseph Bradford, self-censored after learning what had happened.

After the run-ins, Uzuegbunam, who has since graduated, and Bradford, who no longer attends the college, stopped trying to share their faith. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed suit on behalf of Uzuegbunam challenging the speech code and speech zone policies and seeking nominal damages. Bradford later joined the suit.

The college responded that Uzuegbunam's speech rose to the level of "fighting words" and asked that the suit be dismissed. The college later eliminated the speech code and revised the speech zone. A trial court judge ruled that Uzuegbunam's graduation mooted his claims, while the policy changes mooted the claims brought by Bradford, who was then still enrolled.

The judge dismissed the case, which ended up at the Supreme Court after the 11th Circuit affirmed the dismissal. The question before the high court is whether a government's change of an unconstitutional policy moots nominal damages claims for past violation of a plaintiff's constitutional rights.

Bursch said a declaration that rights were violated and a nominal damages award puts officials on notice that the policies were unconstitutional and protect constitutional rights.

Becket Law, which submitted a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, said in a news release that the case is part of a trend of governments revising their policies when sued for unconstitutional behavior and then arguing that the court should never rule on whether they violated anyone's rights.

"Governments that violate individuals' rights shouldn't get away with it on a technicality," said Adele Keim, counsel at Becket.

Requests for review

Cases with religious liberty implications that the Supreme Court has been asked to review include Dalberiste vs. GLE Associates and Small vs. Memphis Light, Gas & Water, which center on requests by employees for religious accommodations to observe the Sabbath.

Also pending is a petition for review of Bruni vs. City of Pittsburgh, which was brought by anti-abortion sidewalk counselors who object to a buffer zone outside the entrances of clinics and hospitals where they are not allowed to speak.

In Dignity Health vs. Minton, a hospital in California is asking the justices to bar state lawsuits seeking to compel it to perform procedures that are contrary to the Catholic faith, in this case, an elective hysterectomy.

The justices' decisions on whether to hear these matters are pending.

Shackelford believes a case involving the rights of churches during the coronavirus pandemic will eventually come before the justices.

"The court hasn't taken one yet," he said. "They're working their way up and one will be taken in the near future."

IMF urges public spending to create jobs for COVID-19 recovery
PRIME THE PUMP

NOT THE AUSTERITY AXE

A masked woman passes an office tower in Moscow, Russia, on May 2. The IMF warned earlier this summer that global growth could contract by nearly 5% and imperil "significant progress" made since the 1990s. File Photo by Yuri Kochetkov/EPA-EFE

Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Governments should significantly boost social and infrastructure spending during the coronavirus pandemic to leverage millions of new jobs in the post-COVID-19 world, the International Monetary Fund said Monday.

IMF economists in a new report advocated borrowing at current low interest rates to bolster public investments in key areas such as healthcare, public housing, digitalization and environmental protection -- which, they say, could create 7 million jobs directly and more than 30 million jobs total.

"Public investment can play a central role in the recovery, with the potential to generate, directly, between two and eight jobs for every million dollars spent on traditional infrastructure, and between five and 14 jobs for every million spent on research and development, green electricity, and efficient buildings," they wrote.

The international bank predicted in June that global growth would contract by nearly 5% this year, imperiling "the significant progress made in reducing extreme poverty in the world since the 1990s."

RELATED St. Louis Fed chief: Good Q3 would put U.S. near 'sort of full recovery'

That contraction could actually be higher, the IMF said, with a second wave in Europe and high case numbers in the United States heading into the colder winter months.

The bank said increasing public investment by 1% of GDP "could strengthen confidence in the recovery" -- if the investments "are of high quality" and the resulting debt burdens "do not weaken the response of the private sector to the stimulus."

Despite soaring debt levels in many advanced and emerging countries, the IMF said low interest rates signal the time is right to invest.

"Savings are plenty, the private sector is in waiting mode, and many people are unemployed and able to take up jobs created through public investment," the report said.

With private investment depressed and the economic outlook uncertain due to the continuing pandemic, the IMF said, "the time is now to undertake high quality public investment, in priority projects. It can be done by borrowing at low cost."

Pope criticizes lack of unity, capitalism amid pandemic

Pope Francis warned nations in his third encyclical against growing nationalism. Pool Photo by Possolo/Spaziani/UPI | License Photo


Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Pope Francis said the coronavirus pandemic has laid bare the failures of both global cooperation and capitalism while warning countries against growing nationalism.

In his third encyclical, the most authoritative of the papal teachings, published Sunday, Francis said the pandemic hit as he was preparing the document, and it has shown the world's inability to work together.

"For all our hyper-connectivity, we witnessed a fragmentation that made it more difficult to resolve problems that affect us all," he said. "Anyone who thinks that the only lesson to be learned was the need to improve what we were already doing, or to refine existing systems and regulations, is denying reality."

He said in the lengthy encyclical titled Brothers All that the world lacks a "shared roadmap" and that the pandemic has only made it more evident the need to rethink not only how the world organizes its societies but the meanings of their existence.

"If everything is connected, it is hard to imagine that this global disaster is unrelated to our way of approaching reality, our claim to be absolute masters of our own lives and all that exists," he wrote. "Unless we recover that shared passion to create a community of belonging and solidarity worthy of our time, our energy and our resources, the global illusion that misled us will collapse and leave many in the grip of anguish and emptiness."

The "worst response" the world could take to the ending of the pandemic would be to plunge even deeper into consumerism and other forms of "egotistic self-preservation," he wrote in the encyclical signed Saturday at the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi, the pope's namesake.

The marketplace, he said, cannot solve all of humanity's problems as it resorts to the same "magic theories" as solutions to inequality, which creates violence that threatens the stability of society.

Instead of coming together, the world has shown signs of regression, he wrote, stating that old conflicts have reignited, and "myopic, extremist, resentful and aggressive nationalism" has grown, leading to new forms of selfishness created under the guise of defending national interests.

The pope wrote that some good has come from the pandemic, as it has enabled the world to see and appreciated those who put their lives at risk to save others.

"We began to realize that our lives are interwoven with and sustained by ordinary people valiantly shaping the decisive events of our shared history," he wrote. "They understood that no one is saved alone."

Pope: Market capitalism has failed in pandemic, needs reform
By NICOLE WINFIELD AP

1 of 5

Pope Francis waves during the Angelus noon prayer delivered from his studio window overlooking St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)


ROME (AP) — Pope Francis says the coronavirus pandemic has proven that the “magic theories” of market capitalism have failed and that the world needs a new type of politics that promotes dialogue and solidarity and rejects war at all costs.

Francis on Sunday laid out his vision for a post-COVID world by uniting the core elements of his social teachings into a new encyclical aimed at inspiring a revived sense of the human family. “Fratelli Tutti” (Brothers All) was released on the feast day of his namesake, the peace-loving St. Francis of Assisi.

The document draws its inspiration from the teachings of St. Francis and the pope’s previous preaching on the injustices of the global economy and its destruction of the planet and pairs them with his call for greater human solidarity to confront the “dark clouds over a closed world.”

In the encyclical, Francis rejected even the Catholic Church’s own doctrine justifying war as a means of legitimate defense, saying it had been too broadly applied over the centuries and was no longer viable.

“It is very difficult nowadays to invoke the rational criteria elaborated in earlier centuries to speak of the possibility of a ‘just war,’” Francis wrote in the most controversial new element of the encyclical.

Francis had started writing the encyclical, the third of his pontificate, before the coronavirus struck and its bleak diagnosis of a human family falling apart goes far beyond the problems posed by the outbreak. He said the pandemic, however, had confirmed his belief that current political and economic institutions must be reformed to address the legitimate needs of the people most harmed by the coronavirus.

“Aside from the differing ways that various countries responded to the crisis, their inability to work together became quite evident,” Francis wrote. “Anyone who thinks that the only lesson to be learned was the need to improve what we were already doing, or to refine existing systems and regulations, is denying reality.”

He cited the grave loss of millions of jobs as a result of the virus as evidence of the need for politicians to listen to popular movements, unions and marginalized groups and to craft more just social and economic policies.

“The fragility of world systems in the face of the pandemic has demonstrated that not everything can be resolved by market freedom,” he wrote. “It is imperative to have a proactive economic policy directed at ‘promoting an economy that favours productive diversity and business creativity’ and makes it possible for jobs to be created, and not cut.”

He denounced populist politics that seek to demonize and isolate, and called for a “culture of encounter” that promotes dialogue, solidarity and a sincere effort at working for the common good.

As an outgrowth of that, Francis rejected the concept of an absolute right to property for individuals, stressing instead the “social purpose” and common good that must come from sharing the Earth’s resources. He repeated his criticism of the “perverse” global economic system, which he said consistently keeps the poor on the margins while enriching the few — an argument he made most fully in his 2015 landmark environmental encyclical “Laudato Sii” (Praised Be).

Francis also rejected “trickle-down” economic theory as he did in the first major mission statement of his papacy, the 2013 Evangelii Gaudium, (The Joy of the Gospel), saying it simply doesn’t achieve what it claims.

“Neo-liberalism simply reproduces itself by resorting to magic theories of ‘spillover’ or ‘trickle’ — without using the name — as the only solution to societal problems,” he wrote. “There is little appreciation of the fact that the alleged ‘spillover’ does not resolve the inequality that gives rise to new forms of violence threatening the fabric of society.”

Francis’ English-language biographer, Austen Ivereigh, said with its two key predecessors, the new encyclical amounts to the final part of a triptych of papal teachings and may well be the last of the pontificate.

“There is little doubt that these three documents ... will be considered the teaching backbone of the Francis era,” Ivereigh wrote in Commonweal magazine.

Francis made clear the text had wide circulation, printing the encyclical in the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano and distributing it free in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday to mark the resumption of printed editions following a hiatus during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Much of the new encyclical repeats Francis’ well-known preaching about the need to welcome and value migrants and his rejection of the nationalistic, isolationist policies of many of today’s political leaders.

He dedicated an entire chapter to the parable of the Good Samaritan, saying its lesson of charity, kindness and looking out for strangers was “the basic decision we need to make in order to rebuild our wounded world.”

“That a theme so ancient is spoken with such urgency now is because Pope Francis fears a detachment from the view that we are all really responsible for all, all related to all, all entitled to a just share of what has been given for the good of all,” said Anna Rowlands, professor of Catholic social thought at Britain’s University of Durham, who was on hand to present the encyclical Sunday at the Vatican.

Francis enshrined in the encyclical his previous rejection of both the nuclear arms race and the death penalty, which he said was “inadmissible” in all cases.

Francis’ call for greater “human fraternity,” particularly to promote peace, is derived from his 2019 joint appeal with the grand imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar, the revered 1,000-year-old seat of Sunni Islam. Their “Human Fraternity” document established the relationship between Catholics and Muslims as brothers, with a common mission to promote peace.

The fact the he has now integrated that Catholic-Muslim document into an encyclical is significant, given Francis’ conservative critics had already blasted the “Human Fraternity” document as heretical, given it stated that God had willed the “pluralism and diversity of religions.”

Vatican encyclicals are the most authoritative form of papal teaching and they traditionally take their titles from the first two words of the document. In this case, “Fratelli Tutti” is a quote from the “Admonitions,” the guidelines penned by St. Francis in the 13th century.

The title of the encyclical had sparked controversy in the English-speaking world, with critics noting that a straight translation of the word “fratelli” (brothers) excludes women. The Vatican has insisted that the plural form of the word “fratelli” is gender-inclusive.

Francis’ decision to sign the document in Assisi, where he travelled on Saturday, and release it on the saint’s feast day is yet further evidence of the outsized influence St. Francis has had on the papacy of the Jesuit pope.

Francis is the first pope to name himself after the mendicant friar, who renounced a wealthy, dissolute lifestyle to embrace a life of poverty and service to the poor.
_

Pope says free market, 'trickle-down' policies fail society
By Philip Pullella 

© Reuters/REMO CASILLI Pope Francis delivers Angelus prayer at the Vatican

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis said on Sunday that the COVID-19 pandemic was the latest crisis to prove that market forces alone and "trickle-down" economic policies had failed to produce the social benefits their proponents claim.

In an encyclical on the theme of human fraternity, Francis also said private property cannot be considered an absolute right in all cases where some lived extravagantly while others had nothing.

Called "Fratelli Tutti" (Brothers All), the encyclical's title prompted criticism for not using inclusive language after it was announced last month.

In Italian, Fratelli means brothers but it is also used to mean brothers and sisters. The Vatican said it was taken from the "Admonitions", or guidelines, written by St Francis of Assisi in the 13th century to his followers and could not be changed.

© Reuters/REMO CASILLI Pope Francis delivers Angelus prayer at the Vatican

The pope says in the first line of the 86-page encyclical that St. Francis had "addressed his brothers and sisters" that way. In the document, he uses the term "men and women" 15 times and speaks several times about defending the rights and dignity of women.

© Reuters/REMO CASILLI Pope Francis delivers Angelus prayer at the Vatican

Encyclicals are the most authoritative form of papal writing but they are not infallible.

The encyclical, which Francis signed in Assisi on Saturday, covers topics such as fraternity, immigration, the rich-poor gap, economic and social injustices, healthcare imbalances and the widening political polarisation in many countries.

The pope took direct aim at trickle-down economics, the theory favoured by conservatives that tax breaks and other incentives for big business and the wealthy eventually will benefit the rest of society through investment and job creation.

"There were those who would have had us believe that freedom of the market was sufficient to keep everything secure (after the pandemic hit)," he wrote.

Francis denounced "this dogma of neo-liberal faith" that resorts to "the magic theories of 'spillover' or 'trickle' ... as the only solution to societal problems". A good economic policy, he said, "makes it possible for jobs to be created and not cut".

© Reuters/REMO CASILLI Pope Francis delivers Angelus prayer at the Vatican

'EMPIRE OF MONEY'

The 2007-2008 financial crisis was a missed opportunity for change, instead producing "increased freedom for the truly powerful, who always find a way to escape unscathed". Society must confront "the destructive effects of the empire of money".

Francis repeated past calls for redistribution of wealth to help the poorest and for fairer access to natural resources by all.

"The right to private property can only be considered a secondary natural right, derived from the principle of the universal destination of created goods," he said.

A Vatican official said the pope was referring to those with massive wealth.

The pope wrote that the belief of early Christians - "that if one person lacks what is necessary to live with dignity, it is because another person is detaining it" - was still valid.

Those with much must "administer it for the good of all" and rich nations are obliged to share wealth with poor ones. But he said he was "certainly not proposing an authoritarian and abstract universalism".

Some ultra-traditionalist Catholics have accused Francis of secretly backing a perceived plot for a "One-World Government," a debunked conspiracy theory.

Without naming countries or people, Francis condemned politicians who "seek popularity by appealing to the basest and most selfish inclinations" or who enact policies of "hatred and fear towards other nations".

Addressing racism, a key issue in the United States following the Black Lives Matter movement, Francis

said: "Racism is a virus that quickly mutates and, instead of disappearing, goes into hiding, and lurks in waiting."

He repeated calls for the abolition of nuclear weapons and the death penalty, positions which have been assailed by conservative Catholics, particularly in the United States.

(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Giles Elgood)

#LIVINGWAGE  #FIGHTFOR25
Geneva residents vote to institute $25 per hour minimum wage


Geneva's new minimum wage will take effect Nov. 1. Photo by Stéphane Pecorini via Wikimedia Commons

Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Residents of Geneva, Switzerland, voted this week to introduce a minimum wage that is believed to be the highest in the world.

More than half -- 58% -- of voters in the canton, or state, of Geneva, voted to set the minimum wage 23 francs an hour, the equivalent of $25 an hour.
The initiative was backed by a coalition of labor unions, and is expected to affect about 6% of Geneva's workers when it takes effect Nov. 1.
Switzerland has no national minimum wage law, but Geneva is the fourth of the country's 26 cantons to vote on a minimum wage in recent years.

Geneva voters had previously rejected initiatives to introduce a minimum wage -- twice.

The unions that backed the initiative argued that it was impossible to live in dignity in Geneva making less than $25 per hour, or $4,437.51 per month for a full-time, 41-hour work week.

Rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Geneva costs at least $3,258 francs, and long lines of people waiting for handouts of food and other necessities have been common as the coronavirus pandemic has progressed.

Trio of scientists win Nobel Prize in Physics for black hole research


Roger Penrose (L), Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez were awarded the prize on Tuesday. Illustration by Niklas Elmehed/Nobel Media


Oct. 6 (UPI) -- A trio of scientists from the United States, Britain and Germany jointly won the Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for discoveries about black holes, the Norwegian Nobel Institute announced.

British mathematician and physicist Roger Penrose won half of the prize and the other half was shared by German astrophysicist Reinhard Genzel and American astronomer Andrea Ghez.

The prize was announced during a ceremony at the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, which awards the honor each year.

Penrose was recognized for his work at Birkbeck College in London during the 1960s, during which he used revolutionary mathematical equations to prove the existence of black holes and to determine they were a direct consequence of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity

Black holes, he showed, are super-heavy masses capturing everything that enters them, even light, hiding singularities in which all the known laws of nature cease. His 1965 paper, "Gravitational collapse and space-time singularities," not only explained black holes but also set the stage for discoveries about the cosmological "Big Bang."

Genzel and Ghez have each focused their work on a region at the center of the Milky Way galaxy called Sagittarius A, where an extremely heavy, invisible object is thought to be pulling million of stars together into a small area at extremely high speeds.

Genzel, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and Ghez, who teaches at the University of California, Los Angeles, each were honored for developing new techniques in which powerful telescopes can be used to observe Sagittarius A and uncover new information about a powerful black hole at the center of the galaxy.

"The discoveries of this year's Laureates have broken new ground in the study of compact and supermassive objects," said David Haviland, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics.

"But these exotic objects still pose many questions that beg for answers and motivate future research. Not only questions about their inner structure, but also questions about how to test our theory of gravity under the extreme conditions in the immediate vicinity of a black hole."

The Nobel Institute's prize for medicine was awarded Monday to Americans Harvey J. Alter, Charles M. Rice and Briton Michael Houghton for their work on curing Hepatitis C.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry will be announced Wednesday, to be followed by the literature prize on Thursday, the peace prize on Friday and the prize for economic sciences on Oct. 12.


U.S., British hepatitis C researchers win Nobel Prize in Medicine

Americans Harvey Alter and Charles Rice and Briton Michael Houghton were honored Monday for their work with hepatitis C. Image by Niklas Elmehed/Nobel Foundation

Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Three scientists who each played a role in finding a cure for hepatitis C have won this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the Nobel Foundation announced Monday.

Americans Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice and Briton Michael Houghton won the 2020 prize for their separate work in battling hepatitis C, a blood-borne disease that causes cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer.

The disease is associated with significant morbidity and mortality and causes more than 1 million deaths per year worldwide, making it a global health threat on a scale comparable to HIV infection and tuberculosis.

The prize was announced during a ceremony at the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, which awards the honor each year.

Two other types of hepatitis -- A and B -- had been identified earlier, but a still-unknown form had continued to affect blood transfusion patients.

In the 1970s, Alter, working at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, first showed that the condition was caused by a previously unknown, distinct virus, later named the hepatitis C virus.

Identifying the virus, however, eluded researchers for more than a decade. Houghton, then working for the Chiron Corp. in California, was able to isolate the genetic sequence of the virus in 1989, providing a key breakthrough.

With the virus identified, researchers still needed to prove that it alone was capable of causing hepatitis. Rice, a scientist at Washington University in St. Louis, provided the link in 2005 after eight years of research.

The scientists' contributions have "essentially eliminated post-transfusion hepatitis in many parts of the world, greatly improving global health," the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine said.

"Their discovery also allowed the rapid development of antiviral drugs directed at hepatitis C," it added. "For the first time in history, the disease can now be cured, raising hopes of eradicating hepatitis C virus from the world population."

The Nobel Institute's two other scientific prizes -- for physics and chemistry -- will be announced Tuesday and Wednesday. They will be followed by the literature prize on Thursday, the peace prize on Friday and economic sciences on Oct. 12.

Court rules Venezuela can claim $1.8B in gold stored in Britain


The Venezuelan government has been keeping about $1.8 billion worth of gold in the Bank of England in London, Britain. File Photo by Andy Rain/EPA-EFE

Oct. 5 (UPI) -- A British appeals court in London overturned a lower ruling Monday to clear the way for the Venezuelan government to receive a stash of gold worth nearly $2 billion it had stored in the Bank of England.

A lower court ruled this summer that President Nicolas Maduro's government could not lay claim to the gold because the British government had recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the "constitutional interim" president of Venezuela.

The appeals court, in setting aside the earlier decision, ruled that the British Home Office needed to clarify its position and noted that London still maintains full diplomatic relations with Maduro's government.

The Venezuelan government had said it needs the gold for humanitarian purposes due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Maduro remains in control of the Venezuelan government and its military.

The Banco Central de Venezuela sued the Bank of England in May to control its gold. Maduro initially asked the bank to remove the gold in 2018, which was then worth about $550 million. The stash now is estimated to be worth $1.8 billion.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Antivirus software magnate John McAfee indicted for tax evasion


U.S. software entrepreneur John McAfee has been arrested in Spain and faces tax evasion charges in the United States. File Photo by Saul Martinez/EPA

Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment on Monday charging antivirus software creator John McAfee with tax evasion and willful failure to file tax returns.

The Justice Department said in a statement that McAfee failed to file tax returns from 2014 to 2018 despite earning millions from promoting cryptocurrencies, consulting work, speaking engagements and selling the rights to his life story for a documentary.

The 10-count Indictment accuses McAfee of failing to pay taxes by having his earnings deposited into bank and cryptocurrency exchange accounts under the names of others while attempting to evade the Internal Revenue Service by concealing property, vehicles and a yacht in the same manner.

The amount the antivirus software magnate owes was not disclosed, but if convicted he faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for each count of evasion and one year for each count of willful failure to file a tax return.

Prosecutors said the June 15 indictment was unsealed following McAfee's arrest in Spain, where he is pending extradition.

The unsealing of the indictment came after the Securities and Exchange Commission announced Monday that it had filed civil charges against McAfee for accepting more than $23.2 million in exchange for promoting seven cryptocurrency investments to his 1 million Twitter followers without disclosing he was paid to do so.

The SEC said McAfee made "false and misleading statements" to investors, such as claiming he had personally invested in initial coin offerings he was advertising.

"McAfee falsely claimed to be an investor and/or a technical advisor when he recommended several ICOs, creating the impression that he had vetted these companies, that they were benefiting from his technical expertise and that he was willing to invest his own money in the ventures," the SEC complaint said. "In reality, McAfee's tweets were paid promotions disguised as impartial investment advice."

Jimmy Watson, Jr., McAfee's bodyguard, was also charged by the SEC for negotiating the promotion deals with the initial coin offerings, aiding McAfee to cash out the digital payments received for the promotions and for having his spouse tweet interest in one of the cryptocurrencies.

"McAfee, assisted by Watson, allegedly leveraged his fame to deceptively tout numerous digital asset securities to his followers without informing investors of his role as a paid promoter," said Kristina Littman, cyber unit chief at the SEC.

The pair face charges of violating anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities law while McAfee has been individually charged with violating anti-touting provisions and Watson has been charged with aiding and abetting McAfee's violations.

"The complaint seeks permanent injunctive relief, conduct-based injunctions, return of allegedly ill-gotten gains and civil penalties," the SEC said, adding that it also asks for McAfee to be barred from serving as a public company officer or director.

Groundwater depletion means 'peak grain' has come, gone for some High Plains states

Grain production in Texas and Kansas is expected to decline in the decades ahead as a result of groundwater depletion. Photo by Mark Meyers/Flickr

Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Peak grain has already passed for several High Plains states, according to a new survey of groundwater depletion across the region.

To more accurately predict future grain yields, researchers looked at the relationship between levels of water extraction from the Ogallala aquifer and the amounts of grain harvested in each state over the last 50 years.

Researchers adapted analysis techniques previously used to study the relationship between peak oil production and peak grain production. The research team detailed the results of their analysis in a new paper, published Tuesday in the journal PNAS.

"We were inspired by insightful analyses of U.S. crude oil production," lead study author Assaad Mrad, doctoral candidate at Duke University, said in a news release. "They predicted a peak in crude oil production a decade in advance."

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The new analysis showed Texas and Kansas reached peak grain in 2016. Grain yields in the two High Plains states have been declining over the last four years. Without new yield-boosting technologies, grain production in Texas could decline as much as 40 percent by 2050.

Water demand has outstripped supply in recent years, researchers said, as a result of excessive aquifer extraction and delays in irrigation regulations designed to sustainably manage water usage.

"This shows quite clearly that the aquifers are not being used in a sustainable way and it's essential to find new technologies that can irrigate crops in a sustainable way," said study co-author David Hannah, professor at the University of Birmingham.

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Unlike Texas and Kansas, Nebraska enjoys a wetter climate. Rainfall in Nebraska has allowed farmers to expand grain production without increasing groundwater pumping.

Overall, the latest findings suggest depleted groundwater levels will continue to pose a serious threat to grain production across the High Plains. Many farmers in the region rely on the Ogallala aquifer to supply as much as 90 percent of their irrigation.

"Overall, the picture we see emerging from these calculations is bleak," Hannah said. "The ultimate consequence of the aquifers continuing to be overused will be the decline and collapse of grain production. We have already seen this happen in Texas, where over the course of fifty years, peak water use has twice led to peak grain production followed by production crashes."