And then there were 6 — kinds of taste, that is

In addition to sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami, a new study suggests the tongue might also detect ammonium chloride as a basic taste

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

 

IMAGE: THE POPULAR SCANDINAVIAN CANDY SALTY LICORICE CONTAINS THE ALKALINE SALT AMMONIUM CHLORIDE, GIVING THE CANDY A UNIQUE FLAVOR. view more 

CREDIT: MAXINE ESCHGER.

Japanese scientist Kikunae Ikeda first proposed umami as a basic taste — in addition to sweet, sour, salty and bitter — in the early 1900s. About eight decades later, the scientific community officially agreed with him.

Now, scientists led by researchers at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences have evidence of a sixth basic taste.

In research published Oct. 10 in Nature Communications, USC Dornsife neuroscientist Emily Liman and her team found that the tongue responds to ammonium chloride through the same protein receptor that signals sour taste.

“If you live in a Scandinavian country, you will be familiar with and may like this taste,” says Liman, professor of biological sciences. In some northern European countries, salt licorice has been a popular candy at least since the early 20th century. The treat counts among its ingredients salmiak salt, or ammonium chloride.

Scientists have for decades recognized that the tongue responds strongly to ammonium chloride. However, despite extensive research, the specific tongue receptors that react to it remained elusive. 

Liman and the research team thought they might have an answer.

In recent years, they uncovered the protein responsible for detecting sour taste. That protein, called OTOP1, sits within cell membranes and forms a channel for hydrogen ions moving into the cell. 

Hydrogen ions are the key component of acids, and as foodies everywhere know, the tongue senses acid as sour. That’s why lemonade (rich in citric and ascorbic acids), vinegar (acetic acid) and other acidic foods impart a zing of tartness when they hit the tongue. Hydrogen ions from these acidic substances move into taste receptor cells through the OTOP1 channel.

Because ammonium chloride can affect the concentration of acid — that is, hydrogen ions — within a cell, the team wondered if it could somehow trigger OTOP1.

To answer this question, they introduced the Otop1 gene into lab-grown human cells so the cells produce the OTOP1 receptor protein. They then exposed the cells to acid or to ammonium chloride and measured the responses.

“We saw that ammonium chloride is a really strong activator of the OTOP1 channel,” Liman said. “It activates as well or better than acids.”

Ammonium chloride gives off small amounts of ammonia, which moves inside the cell and raises the pH, making it more alkaline, which means fewer hydrogen ions. 

“This pH difference drives a proton influx through the OTOP1 channel,” explained Ziyu Liang, a PhD student in Liman’s lab and first author on the study. 

To confirm that their result was more than a laboratory artifact, they turned to a technique that measures electrical conductivity, simulating how nerves conduct a signal. Using taste bud cells from normal mice and from mice the lab previously genetically engineered to not produce OTOP1, they measured how well the taste cells generated electrical responses called action potentials when ammonium chloride is introduced.

Taste bud cells from wildtype mice showed a sharp increase in action potentials after ammonium chloride was added while taste bud cells from the mice lacking OTOP1 failed to respond to the salt. This confirmed their hypothesis that OTOP1 responds to the salt, generating an electrical signal in taste bud cells. 

The same was true when another member of the research team, Courtney Wilson, recorded signals from the nerves that innervate the taste cells. She saw the nerves respond to addition of ammonium chloride in normal mice but not in mice lacking OTOP1.

Then the team went one step further and examined how mice react when given a choice to drink either plain water or water laced with ammonium chloride. For these experiments, they disabled the bitter cells that also contribute to the taste of ammonium chloride. Mice with a functional OTOP1 protein found the taste of ammonium chloride unappealing and did not drink the solution, while mice lacking the OTOP1 protein did not mind the alkaline salt, even at very high concentrations. 

“This was really the clincher,” Liman said. “It shows that the OTOP1 channel is essential for the behavioral response to ammonium.”

But the scientists weren’t done. They wondered if other animals would also be sensitive to and use their OTOP1 channels to detect ammonium. They found that the OTOP1 channel in some species seems to be more sensitive to ammonium chloride than in other species. And human OTOP1 channels were also sensitive to ammonium chloride.

So, what is the advantage in tasting ammonium chloride and why is it evolutionarily so conserved?

Liman speculates that the ability to taste ammonium chloride might have evolved to help organisms avoid eating harmful biological substances that have high concentrations of ammonium.

“Ammonium is found in waste products — think of fertilizer — and is somewhat toxic,” she explained, “so it makes sense we evolved taste mechanisms to detect it. Chicken OTOP1 is much more sensitive to ammonium than zebra fish.” Liman speculates that these variations may reflect differences in the ecological niches of different animals. “Fish may simply not encounter much ammonium in the water, while chicken coops are filled with ammonium that needs to be avoided and not eaten.” 

But she cautions that this is very early research and further study is needed to understand species differences in sensitivity to ammonium and what makes OTOP1 channels from some species sensitive and some less sensitive to ammonium.

Towards this end, they have made a start. “We identified a particular part of the OTOP1 channel — a specific amino acid — that’s necessary for it to respond to ammonium,” Liman said. “If we mutate this one residue, the channel is not nearly as sensitive to ammonium, but it still responds to acid.” 

Moreover, because this one amino acid is conserved across different species, there must have been selective pressure to maintain it, she says. In other words, the OTOP1 channel’s ability to respond to ammonium must have been important to the animals’ survival.

In the future, the researchers plan to extend these studies to understand whether sensitivity to ammonium is conserved among other members of the OTOP proton family, which are expressed in other parts of the body, including in the digestive tract.

And who knows? Perhaps ammonium chloride will join the other five basic tastes to bring the official count to six.

About the study

In addition to Liman, Liang and Wilson, authors on the study include Sue Kinnamon of the University of Colorado Medical School and Bochuan Teng, a former PhD student at USC Dornsife who is now at Cal Tech. 

The study was supported by National Institutes of Health grants R01GM131234 and R01DC013741.

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-023-41637-4 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animal tissue samples

ARTICLE TITLE

The Proton Channel OTOP1 is a Sensor for the Taste of Ammonium Chloride

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

5-Oct-2023

 

New research may make future design of nanotechnology safer with fewer side effects

Study shows a promising strategy to reduce adverse reactions to nanoparticles by using complement inhibitors

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO ANSCHUTZ MEDICAL CAMPUS

A new study may offer a strategy that mitigates negative side effects associated with intravenous injection of nanoparticles commonly used in medicine.  

The study was published today in Nature Nanotechnology.

“Nanotechnology’s main advantage over conventional medical treatments is its ability to more precisely target tissues, such as cancer cells targeted by chemotherapy. However, when nanoparticles are injected, they can activate part of the immune system called complement,” said senior author Dmitri Simberg, Ph.D., professor of Nanomedicine and Nanosafety at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

Complement is a group of proteins in the immune system that recognize and neutralize bacteria and viruses, including nanoparticles which are foreign to the body. As a result, nanoparticles are attacked by immune cells triggering side effects that include shortness of breath, elevated heart rate, fever, hypotension, and, in rare cases, anaphylactic shock.

“The activation of the immune system after injection of nanoparticles can be challenging to understand and prevent. This research is one step closer to providing a better understanding and a solution for people to receive the benefits of nanoparticles without side effects,” said Simberg, who is also the co-director of the Colorado Center for Nanomedicine and Nanosafety Co-Director.

The researchers say while some progress has been made in mitigating adverse reactions through slow infusion and premedication with steroids and antihistamines, a significant number of people still experience reactions.

“The goal is to prevent, avoid and mitigate adverse reactions and immune activation,” Simberg adds.

To do so, Simberg’s research team collaborated with Michael Holers, M.D., at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and the Medical University of South Carolina to study the impact of complement inhibitors injected with nanoparticles in animal models.

Specifically, the study focuses on an interesting group of complement inhibitors (called “regulators”). The research showed promising results.

Simberg and colleagues observed that the regulators being studied effectively inhibited complement activation by nanoparticles in human serum in vitro and animal models. Specifically, when injected at very low doses, the regulators completely and safely blocked activation of complement by nanoparticles in the animal models used. According to the authors, this is significant because when nanoparticles activate complement, the resulting immune response can not only cause an adverse reaction but it can also reduce the efficacy of nanomedicines.

This research also provides a better understanding of why and how complement regulators could help the body respond more favorably to nanoparticles. The study team observed that of the trillions of nanoparticles entering the blood in a standard injection, only a small fraction activated complement. Complement regulators worked as soon as nanoparticles started activating complement, thereby promptly mitigating immune activation.

“These results suggest we have an exciting opportunity to explore how to further optimize the use of regulators with nanoparticles, with the goal of improving the efficacy and tolerability of multiple nanotechnology-based therapeutics and vaccines,” Simberg said.

The researchers say the next step is to test the complement inhibitors with multiple nanoparticles and in difference disease models to fully understand the potential of this approach with the ultimate goal to apply the research in a clinical setting.

Research reported in this press release was supported by the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

About the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus is a world-class medical destination at the forefront of transformative science, medicine, education and patient care. The campus encompasses the University of Colorado health professional schools, more than 60 centers and institutes, and two nationally ranked independent hospitals - UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital and Children's Hospital Colorado - that treat more than two million adult and pediatric patients each year. Innovative, interconnected and highly collaborative, the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus delivers life-changing treatments, patient care and professional training and conducts world-renowned research fueled by over $690 million in research grants. For more information, visit www.cuanschutz.edu.

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JOURNAL

Nature Nanotechnology

DOI

10.1038/s41565-023-01514-z 

ARTICLE TITLE

Inhibition of Acute Complement Responses Toward Bolus-Injected Nanoparticles by Targeted, Short-Circulating Regulatory Proteins

 

Isis presents a special bibliographic issue on the history of pandemics

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS JOURNALS

In 1913, historian of science George Sarton created what has become the Isis Current Bibliography of the History of Science (IsisCB). For the last 110 years, the journal Isis has included a comprehensive survey of the recent work in the history of science and allied fields, first in each issue and later as a full yearly supplement. Now the basis of a free online search tool called IsisCB Explore, the IsisCB continues to serve as an indispensable reference for scholars and students.

“Bibliographic Essays on the History of Pandemics” is a special issue of the IsisCB published in September 2023. Co-edited by HSS Bibliographer Stephen P. Weldon and historian of biology Neeraja Sankaran, the issue gathers current and important historical scholarship on infectious disease. It features nineteen essays along with accompanying bibliographies of go-to sources in the field. All essays and bibliographies in this issue are free to read, and a companion podcast series supplies in-depth interviews with the editors and contributors.

Conceived in 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the special issue was intended to serve as a key resource for historians of science with applications extending beyond the discipline. Sankaran and Weldon believed that doctors, virologists, public health experts, and activists could also find significant value in a historically grounded survey of disease history. Speaking to the timeliness of the scholarship in this issue, contributors Robert Peckham and Mei Li write: “At a time when history as a discipline is under intense institutional pressure to justify its worth, surely there can be no more compelling case for its vital importance.”

The issue is grouped into several thematic clusters that draw vital connections between historical and emerging themes in global health. These include a geographically focused cluster covering Asia, Europe, and Latin America, a pre-modern cluster with essays on the Ancient Mediterranean and Islamicate worlds, as well as a cluster focusing on other pandemic diseases in history. Essays in this cluster address the so-called “Spanish flu” of 1918-19, the AIDS pandemic, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

One unique feature of the project was the incorporation of an open peer review system. This practice, which aims to increase transparency in scholarly communication, allows readers to access the initial submitted version of an article, reviewer reports, and all revisions prior to publication. All previous versions of essays, reviewer feedback, and more are still accessible online.

The publication of this special issue represents not only a landmark contribution to the history of science, but also a milestone for the IsisCB. After 2023, the IsisCB Explore site will continue to grow and be available as a tool for bibliographic discovery, but the Isis Current Bibliography will no longer be published in static form. “Bibliographic Essays on the History of Pandemics” serves as a fitting milestone in the IsisCB’s 110-year history and will continue to inspire and support researchers for years to come.

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JOURNAL

Isis

AI-driven earthquake forecasting shows promise in trials

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

 

IMAGE: 

DAMAGE AFTER A POWERFUL EARTHQUAKE IN NEW ZEALAND IN 2011. RESEARCHERS AT UT AUSTIN ARE WORKING TO FORECAST EARTHQUAKES WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.

view more 

CREDIT: FLICKR/MARTIN FLUFF

A new attempt to predict earthquakes with the aid of artificial intelligence has raised hopes that the technology could one day be used to limit earthquakes’ impact on lives and economies. Developed by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin, the AI algorithm correctly predicted 70% of earthquakes a week before they happened during a seven-month trial in China.

The AI was trained to detect statistical bumps in real-time seismic data that researchers had paired with previous earthquakes. The outcome was a weekly forecast in which the AI successfully predicted 14 earthquakes within about 200 miles of where it estimated they would happen and at almost exactly the calculated strength. It missed one earthquake and gave eight false warnings.

It’s not yet known if the same approach will work at other locations, but the effort is a milestone in research for AI-driven earthquake forecasting.

“Predicting earthquakes is the holy grail,” said Sergey Fomel, a professor in UT’s Bureau of Economic Geology and a member of the research team. “We’re not yet close to making predictions for anywhere in the world, but what we achieved tells us that what we thought was an impossible problem is solvable in principle.”

The trial was part of an international competition held in China in which the UT-developed AI came first out of 600 other designs. UT’s entry was led by bureau seismologist and the AI’s lead developer, Yangkang Chen. Findings from the trial are published in the journal Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.

“You don’t see earthquakes coming,” said Alexandros Savvaidis, a senior research scientist who leads the bureau’s Texas Seismological Network Program (TexNet) — the state’s seismic network. “It’s a matter of milliseconds, and the only thing you can control is how prepared you are. Even with 70%, that’s a huge result and could help minimize economic and human losses and has the potential to dramatically improve earthquake preparedness worldwide.”

The researchers said that their method had succeeded by following a relatively simple machine learning approach. The AI was given a set of statistical features based on the team’s knowledge of earthquake physics, then told to train itself on a five-year database of seismic recordings.

Once trained, the AI gave its forecast by listening for signs of incoming earthquakes among the background rumblings in the Earth. 
 
“We are very proud of this team and its first-place finish in this prestigious competition,” said Scott Tinker, the bureau’s director. “Of course, it’s not just location and magnitude, but timing that matters as well. Earthquake prediction is an intractable problem, and we can’t overstate the difficulty.”

The researchers are confident that in places with robust seismic tracking networks such as California, Italy, Japan, Greece, Turkey and Texas, the AI could improve its success rate and narrow its predictions to within a few tens of miles.

One of the next steps is to test the AI in Texas since the state experiences a high rate of minor- and some moderate-magnitude earthquakes. The bureau’s TexNet hosts 300 seismic stations and more than six years of continuous records, which makes it an ideal location to verify the method.

Eventually, the researchers want to integrate the system with physics-based models, which could be important where data is poor, or places such as Cascadia, where the last major earthquake happened hundreds of years before seismographs.

“Our future goal is to combine both physics and data-driven methods to give us something generalized, like chatGPT, that we can apply to anywhere in the world,” Chen said. 

The new research is an important step to achieving that goal.

“That may be a long way off, but many advances such as this one, taken together, are what moves science forward,” Tinker said.

The research was supported by TexNet, the Texas Consortium for Computational Seismology and Zhejiang University. The bureau is a research unit of the Jackson School of Geosciences.

This map shows the location in China of the AI-predicted earthquakes (blue dots) joined by a red line to where each actual earthquake happened (red dots). The numbers indicate the week the earthquake occurred. During the 30-week trial, the UT Austin-developed AI missed only one earthquake.

CREDIT

Yangkang Chen/Jackson School of Geosciences

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JOURNAL

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America

DOI

10.1785/0120230031 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Case study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Earthquake Forecasting Using Big Data and Artificial Intelligence: A 30‐Week Real‐Time Case Study in China

 

New UC Davis study looks at attitudes towards political violence

Research reveals a complex mix of attitudes, concerns and beliefs about the state of democracy and the potential for violence

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - DAVIS HEALTH

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — A small segment of the U.S. population considers violence, including lethal violence, to be usually or always justified to advance political objectives. This is according to newly published research from the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program (VPRP).

The study provides a complex portrait of the attitudes and concerns about the state of democracy in the U.S. It also highlights the underlying beliefs that may inform the potential for violence.

The study was published Sept. 29, 2023, in Injury Epidemiology. A preprint, or version that had not yet been peer reviewed, was shared online in July of last year.

“This study was motivated by the possibility of violence that could put at risk the future of the United States as a free and democratic society,” said Garen Wintemute, first author of the study. Wintemute is an emergency department physician and director of VPRP and the California Firearm Violence Research Center.

A belief in fringe theories and a threatened democracy

The researchers conducted the nationwide online survey from May 13 to June 2, 2022. The survey was conducted in English and Spanish. A total of 8,620 adult members of the Ipsos Knowledge Panel were included in the analysis. The sample was designed to represent the general adult population of the U.S. 

The results show a mixture of concern for the state of the country and support for violence to advance political objectives.

Almost 90% of the participants (88.9%) felt it was extremely or very important for the U.S. to remain a democracy. A little more than two-thirds (67.2%) perceived that there is a serious threat to U.S. democracy.

When asked if “American democracy only serves the interest of the wealthy and powerful,” 36% of the participants agreed strongly or very strongly.

A large percentage of the survey participants — 81.7% — said they felt the country was generally headed in the wrong direction.

Three survey questions gave insights into the number of people who believe in conspiracy theories, such as those promoted by QAnon.

Nearly 1 in 10 respondents (9.1%) agreed strongly or very strongly that U.S. institutions are “controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who run a global child sex trafficking operation.”

One in 10 (10%) also agreed strongly or very strongly that “a storm coming soon” will “sweep away the elites in power and restore the rightful leaders.” And almost 1 in 5 (19.3%) agreed strongly or very strongly that “we are living in what the Bible calls ‘the end times.’”

Survey assessed willingness to engage in violence

The survey also gauged the participants’ willingness to engage in violence, including political violence, under specific conditions. The respondents were asked, “What do you think about the use of force or violence in the following situations?” with response options being always, usually, sometimes, or never justified. “Force or violence” was defined as “physical force strong enough that it could cause pain or injury to a person.” 

The respondents’ views varied substantially with the proposed circumstances. Large majorities of respondents saw violence as usually or always justified in self-defense (76.1%) or to prevent assaultive injury to others (77.9%).

In contrast, large majorities felt that violence was never justified to win an argument (85.7%), respond to an insult (81.5%), or get respect (86.2%). Only 3% considered political violence in general to be usually or always justified.

The researchers found that the support for political violence and the use of firearms in such violence declined with increasing age, education and income.

Some responses reflect groups of concern. Several of the key findings:

• 32.8% considered violence to be usually or always justified to advance at least one of 17 specific political objectives, such as preventing discrimination based on race or ethnicity, stopping an election from being stolen, stopping illegal immigration, or preserving an American way of life based on Western European traditions.
• 18.9% agreed strongly or very strongly that “having a strong leader for America is more important than having a democracy.”
• 16.2% agreed strongly or very strongly that “in America, native-born white people are being replaced by immigrants.”
• 13.7% agreed strongly or very strongly that “in the next few years, there will be civil war in the United States.”
• 7.7% thought it very or extremely likely that within the next few years, in a situation where they believe political violence is justified, “I will be armed with a gun.”
• 1.1% thought it very or extremely likely when political violence is justified that “I will shoot someone with a gun.”

The overall results show that a small but concerning segment of the population considers violence, including lethal violence, to be usually or always justified to advance political objectives. The authors emphasized that violence prevention efforts should proceed urgently based on the best evidence available.

Large majority rejected political violence

The researchers noted that a large majority of respondents rejected political violence altogether. Most respondents who endorsed political violence were unwilling to resort to violence themselves. The researchers said the challenge now for those majorities is to recognize the threat posed by those who are willing to engage in political violence and respond appropriately.

“Political violence has not traditionally been included in the purview of public health. This is an oversight in our opinion, and we hope this work helps to reframe the matter,” said Veronica Pear, senior author of the study. Pear is a social epidemiologist and assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at UC Davis Health.

Future papers from VPRP will explore beliefs that might fuel violence from the political left.

Study coauthors include Sonia L. Robinson, Andrew J. Crawford, Daniel J. Tancredi, Julia P. Schleimer, Elizabeth A. Tomsich, Paul M. Reeping and Aaron B. Shev.

This work was supported by grants from the Joyce Foundation, the California Wellness Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, the California Firearm Violence Research Center and VPRP. External funders played no role in the design of the study, the collection, analysis and interpretation of data, or the writing of the manuscript.

Contact

• Violence Prevention Research Program, hs-vprp@ucdavis.edu, 916-734-3083
• Public Affairs and Marketing, hs-publicaffairs@ucdavis.edu, 916-734-9040

Resources

• Read the study in Injury Epidemiology (open access)
• UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program

 

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JOURNAL

Injury Epidemiology

DOI

10.1186/s40621-023-00456-3 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Views of democracy and society and support for political violence in the USA: findings from a nationally representative survey

UFO Sighting? Strange Pill-Shaped Object Over North Carolina Sparks Speculation

Story by Dave Malyon •

Another incident has sparked UFO speculation after a self-described technology enthusiast captured footage of a pill-shaped object in the sky while filming an airplane passing over North Carolina.

Knewz.com has learned that the video, originally shared by a YouTuber known as Bret (YouTube/@spacebret), has since gained attention for the strange “blinking light” that appeared next to the aircraft.


The pill-shaped object in question. By: YouTube/spacebret© Knewz (CA)

The footage, which was shared on the platform in January 2019, shows a plane flying over the rural areas of North Carolina near Greensboro.

What caught the attention of the videographer was the unidentified object that seemed to be "moving slowly in the sky, a little slower than the planes flying around."

"I could see the random flashing coming from the object for about 10 seconds,” the voiceover in the video said.

The uploader of the clip attempted to film the mysterious airborne object but noted that he was concerned that his camera might not capture it accurately. However, when he reviewed the footage later, he was pleasantly surprised.



The unidentified object was allegedly seen flying next to the aircraft. By: YouTube/spacebret© Knewz (CA)

As such he shared his findings and reached out to viewers, asking for their thoughts and opinions on what could be seen in the video.

As the anomaly generated conversation, it became clear that he was not the only one to witness this strange phenomenon.

Reports from various parts of the world, including the UK, Brazil, New Jersey, and Texas, indicated that others had also spotted similar objects in the sky.

“Great job catching this. I live in southern California and my family and I have seen objects similar to this over the ocean," one viewer remarked.



The aircraft flying through the sky across North Carolina. By: YouTube/spacebret© Knewz (CA)

"I saw the exact same thing in 2010. It was in the morning and the light from that object was so bright that it looked like the sun was reflecting from it," quipped another. This viewer’s account in particular seemed to be even more fascinating than than the video.

They continued: "After several minutes of signaling or long blinks, the light went out and I could actually see the UFO hovering above me. Then it split in two with what appeared to be a tether still holding on to each end."

“That's incredible,” noted another. “I've seen something similar at night..could never make out the shape but there was a tether hanging from it...at one point I saw several smaller lights come flying back to the end of the tether at different times.. awesome video..thanks for going back and reviewing it so closely.”


The US government is starting to focus more on UFO claims. By: MEGA© Knewz (CA)

These revelations come at a time when claims of UFO sightings seem to be increasing and the US government is paying more attention to them — in fact, the Pentagon launched a website where government and military officials can report such sightings.

The latter is also amidst calls from Congress for the government to open up about what it knows after dubbing the anomalous phenomena a national security threat, per BBC.

Five people arrested after Just Stop Oil protesters disrupt London performance of ‘Les Misérables’

By Eve Brennan, CNN
Published, Thu October 5, 2023

Just Stop Oil demonstrators interrupt a performance of the musical "Les Misérables" in London on October 4, 2023.Just Stop Oil/Instagram

LondonCNN —

Five climate protesters from the activist group Just Stop Oil disrupted a performance of the musical “Les Misérables” at the Sondheim Theatre in London’s West End on Wednesday night.

The demonstrators entered the stage during the performance of the song “Do You Hear The People Sing?” carrying orange banners that read “Just Stop Oil” and “The Show Can’t Go On.”

London’s Metropolitan Police posted on social media that local officers were quickly on the scene and arrested five people.

Just Stop Oil said the protesters locked themselves to the set using flexible bicycle locks at around 8:50 p.m. local time, which theater technicians were unable to remove. The performance was halted, and the theater was evacuated by 9:10 p.m.

In a video Just Stop Oil posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, the audience can be heard booing at the protesters and telling them to get off the stage.

“Like the citizens of Paris in 1832, you have locked your doors, while the young face slaughter on the streets. We will inherit a scorched earth, unfit to live in and our politicians will be long gone,” Just Stop Oil said. “We cannot let this stand. The show cannot go on.”

The activist group has also disrupted several major sporting events in England this year, including The Open Championship, Wimbledon, The Ashes and the World Snooker Championship.

 

Just Stop Oil protest disrupts Les Misérables performance in London


Five arrested after group members storm production, unveiling banners and locking themselves to stage


Jane Clinton

THE GUARDIAN 

Wed 4 Oct 2023 



Five people have been arrested after Just Stop Oil protesters disrupted a performance of Les Misérables at the Sondheim Theatre in London’s West End.

During a performance of the song Do You Hear the People Sing? members of the Just Stop Oil group stormed the stage with banners. In a video of the protest posted online, the performance came to a halt as one member shouted “just stop oil”, to boos from the audience.

Technical staff quickly came on stage, the safety curtain came down followed by the main curtain. According to a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the group of four protesters then locked themselves to the stage.

In the post on X, the group wrote: “4 people are locked to the stage of the French-revolution-themed show. Valjean steals bread to feed a starving child. How long before we are all forced to steal?”

Hannah Taylor, of Just Stop Oil, was quoted by Sky News as saying: “The show cannot go on. We are facing catastrophe. New oil and gas means crop failure, starvation and death. It is an act of war on the global south and an utter betrayal of young people.”

William Village, chief executive of Delfont Mackintosh Theatres, confirmed to WhatsOnStage that the show was stopped and the theatre was evacuated following the protest. Tickets for the performance will be refunded.

The Metropolitan police said: “At about 21.00hrs on Wednesday, 4 October, police were called to a protest inside a theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue, WC1. Local officers were quickly on scene and five people have been arrested.”

Global event for young leaders in Belfast with ‘big rebellious spirit’ concludes


Claudia Savage, PA
Thu, 5 October 2023

The 2023 One Young World Summit in Belfast had a “big rebellious spirit”, a delegate has said.

The summit saw thousands of young leaders from more than 190 countries have discussions over three days on the biggest issues affecting humanity.

Delegates listened to speakers including the Queen of Jordan, Sir Bob Geldof, Rio Ferdinand and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.


Between panels, delegates were given the opportunity to network and collaborate on issues including climate change, peace and reconciliation, education, refugee rights and racial justice.

Akanksha Deo Sharma, a One Young World delegate from India, at the summit in Belfast (Claudia Savage/PA)

Akanksha Deo Sharma, from India, said attending the summit had been “life-changing”.

“I think this summit has been very inspirational, very thought-provoking,” she said.

“And what I loved the most was it had an undertone of a very big rebellious spirit, which I really respect.”

She added: “I have heard so many amazing young shapeshifters, change-makers, and the one lesson that I will take is that – you are enough, you can make a change.

“Everybody, no matter if they are one person or an organisation or running a big team. You all have the capability to make change.”

Nothulasizwe Mokoena, a delegate from South Africa, said her time in Belfast had been “mind-provoking”.

Nothulasizwe Mokoena, a One Young World delegate from South Africa (Claudia Savage/PA)

“I found myself thinking deeply about social challenges that I didn’t really think about before the summit,” she said.

“So really mind-provoking and really just mind-blowing. A lot of learning to take home with me to go back and start working and working hard.”

Ms Mokoena said her discussions at the forum gave her a new perspective on how global issues vary from country to country.

“When I came here, I thought we kind of like have the same challenges, but each and every country is actually experiencing different challenges,” she said.

“And what we are experiencing in South Africa is completely different to what they are experiencing in Japan. So we all come in here with different challenges and sharing perspectives, and it has been interesting.”

Ryosuke Bamba, from Japan, waved a Japanese flag as he took pictures with other delegates he had met during the week.

One Young World delegate Ryosuke Bamba, from Japan (Claudia Savage/PA)

“I really enjoyed making that connection and sharing my experiences and the good thing was we inspired each other and I was inspired by working with the delegates,” he said.

Motaz Amer, who is originally from Yemen and is living in Northern Ireland, said the week was “unbelievable and incredible”.

“People from different parts of the world, more than 190 countries, the same place together sharing perspective and experiences. Just a lifetime. Yeah, you cannot find it anywhere else,” he said.

Mr Amer said he had learned to speak some Japanese.

Motaz Amer, who is originally from Yemen and is living in Northern Ireland, at the One Young World summit in Belfast (Claudia Savage/PA)

“Listening is key. Diversity drives innovation, and together we can change the world,” he said.

“We are not the leaders of tomorrow, we are the leaders of today.”

Semiratu Abdallah, from Ghana, works in renewable and green energy.

“The week has been very amazing,” she said.

Delegate Semiratu Abdallah at the summit in Belfast (Claudia Savage/PA)

“It was very enlightening, learning and relearning different things.

“And then the message of hope has been very repeating over everything that I’ve learned and every discussion that I’ve had, so that’s the one thing I’ve taken away from here is the message of hope.”

'Pretty Trumpian': UK Tories accused of stretching the truth


Peter HUTCHISON
Fri, 6 October 2023 

Britain's energy minister Claire Coutinho was accused of making false claims about a Labour meat tax during the Conservative Party conference (JUSTIN TALLIS)

False claims about meat taxes, references to a debunked conspiracy theory and myths about bendy bananas -- are members of Britain's ruling Conservatives following Donald Trump's electoral playbook?

Several Tory MPs were accused of making untrue or exaggerated statements at their annual conference this week, likely the last such gathering before a general election expected next year.

With the Tories lagging behind Labour in opinion polls, some observers saw the comments as a deliberate -- and desperate -- ploy that ex-US Republican president Trump's former election strategist would be proud of.

"There's a degree to which this is following the Steve Bannon playbook of flooding the zone," said political scientist Tim Bale of Queen Mary University of London, describing the comments as "pretty Trumpian".

"So that you actually create a question in people's minds as to what is and isn't real. And in the end, people just decide to go on their gut, rather than actually on any kind of objective truth or facts," he told AFP.

Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho suggested in her speech that Labour wanted to tax meat when the centre-left opposition has no such policy. Coutinho later defended it as a "light moment" in her address.

Therese Coffey, the environment minister, mentioned meat as well, claiming that "some green zealots" want people to only eat fake meat. She did not say who those people were.

Coffey also regurgitated a favourite trope among Eurosceptics in the run-up to the 2016 Brexit referendum.

"Frankly, bent or straight, it is not for government to decide the shape of bananas you want to eat," she told delegates.

Coffey said she would drop "absurd" European Union regulations that say bananas should be "free from malformation or abnormal curvature."

The guidelines do not ban curved bananas, though.

Transport minister Mark Harper was accused of offering up the most egregious falsehood when he vowed to crack down on so-called 15-minute cities.

The urban planning concept proposes designing cities where people are able to walk or bike to all essential services, such as supermarkets and pharmacies, within quarter of an hour.

- 'Facts and evidence' -

"What is sinister, and what we shouldn't tolerate, is the idea that local councils can decide how often you go to the shops," said Harper.

His comments echo online conspiracy theories that claim the proposal is a government plot to stop people from leaving their homes. The claim has been widely debunked, including by the government itself.

"That's the one that really surprised me because once you start spouting stuff that really only makes sense to people who frequent the outer fringes of the internet, I think you really are in desperate straits," said Bale.

Political scientist Anand Menon reckons the comments are a deliberate tactic to force Labour leader Keir Starmer into engaging with the Conservatives on "culture war" issues like identity and personal freedoms.

At the conference, science minister Michelle Donelan vowed to push back what she called a "slow creep of wokeism" in the scientific community, while hardline interior minister Suella Braverman referenced "the privileged woke minority with their luxury beliefs".

"There's a frustration, in a way I suppose it's a compliment to Starmer, that there's nothing that Labour has said that they (the Tories) can get their teeth into," Menon, of King's College London, told AFP.

In some respects, the falsehoods and exaggerations are a continuation of the path that began in 2016 by pro-Brexit campaigners led by Tory former prime minister Boris Johnson.

Earlier this year, a parliamentary committee ruled that he had deliberately lied to MPs about lockdown-breaking parties during the Covid pandemic.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was himself accused of being liberal with the truth last month when he announced a rollback of net-zero green policies.

He was accused of scrapping policies that were not government policy, including compulsory car-sharing, and households would be forced to use seven recycling bins.

"The Tories, more than Labour now, I think, stand to gain from the public thinking they're all the same, you can't trust any of them," Menon went on.

"Which is obviously profoundly dangerous for democracy and the state of the system. But of course, that takes second place to winning the election."

Donelan, pressed during a BBC radio interview on the various conference comments, insisted: "I genuinely believe we are the party of facts and evidence."

pdh/phz/yad

UK

I've been an RMT trade unionist for 30 years. This is why the government has it wrong on HS2

Yahoo News UK
Fri, 6 October 2023 

Mick Lynch: 'Money for key public transport infrastructure projects that would transform the country, could easily be afforded if the political will was there.' (Getty)

Mick Lynch has been general secretary of the Rail Maritime Transport Workers union for two years and a member since 1993. Lynch has since become a well-known public figure, leading calls for better wages and working conditions for railway workers as well as campaigning against compulsory redundancies in the sector.

On Wednesday, Rishi Sunak announced he plans to scrap the Manchester leg of HS2. The announcement has largely been greeted with despair by political leaders in the North.

I grew up on a Paddington council estate, leaving school at 16 to become an electrician and worked in the construction industry.

After helping to form a new union in the sector, I was blacklisted for my trade union activity. This was confirmed when the conspiracy among major construction companies was finally brought to court. As a result of not being able to find work, I joined the railways in 1993 and worked at Eurostar, where I became an RMT activist. I never sought the post of general secretary but after being elected to the NEC and then assistant general secretary, I was encouraged to stand and I was elected in 2021.

Yesterday's announcement by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that a northern leg of HS2 has been scrapped is a disaster for the British economy and a slap in the face to future generations.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (pictured) has delivered a "slap in the face" to future generations, says Mick Lynch. (Alamy)


Britain needs an integrated affordable and modern high-speed rail system that can connect every village town and city promoting increased economic activity. There has been much talk about the escalating budget of HS2. No doubt the use of private contractors, greedy consultants and advisers has not helped with the cost of this project. However, cost is not the reason why the Tories are scrapping a major part of HS2.

When the banks were bailed out in 2009, £750 billion was found. When we needed to implement furlough due to the unprecedented global pandemic, £139billion was found. And when energy companies pleaded poverty due to rising prices and people were struggling to pay their bills, the government found £40 billion.

Money for key public transport infrastructure projects that would transform the country, could easily be afforded if the political will was there. Instead, we have a millionaire prime minister who uses a helicopter to get around and is out of touch with what the country needs going forward.

Rishi Sunak tried to spin the line that he was creating a northern network with improved rail and bus travel whilst appealing to the motoring lobby with promises of improved motorways. Considering he has just scrapped a major infrastructure project, the public would be wise to be sceptical. And we know you can’t trust the Tories on transport when they are planning to de-staff our railway and close nearly every railway ticket office.

The construction site for the HS2 project at Curzon Street in Birmingham. Sunak has now axed plans for HS2 to run from Birmingham to Manchester. (Alamy)

But even if Sunak carries out his plan, including having HS2-branded trains travelling on normal non high-speed railway lines and increased bus services, it will not make up for the fact high-speed line from Birmingham to Manchester has been abandoned. Sunak presents investments in public transport infrastructure as an either-or equation, where we can have local transport networks but not interconnect the whole country.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has already criticised the prime minister’s ‘network north’ initiative saying that it doesn’t deal with the east-west travel problem that is in desperate need of being addressed. Mayor Burnham has correctly pointed out that the abandonment of HS2 to the north of England and full connectivity, will increase divisions in the country and hinder economic growth where it is most needed.

The full HS2 project including the abandoned London to Leeds, which was scrapped in 2021, would have represented the start, not the finish, of a high-speed revolution in Britain. Such an approach presents a different vision for the country; one that is about creating tens of thousands of jobs, being environmentally sustainable and a Britain that is in step with the rest of the world in high-speed rail technology.

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, has argued in favour of retaining the Manchester leg of HS2. (Alamy)

This has been reflected somewhat embarrassingly by historic tweets both from former transport secretary Grant Shapps and current chancellor Jeremy Hunt. Shapps said on X (formerly Twitter) at the beginning of last year: “Imagine Manchester to London by rail in just 70 minutes?

"Today I’m laying a Bill in Parliament that will make this a reality - taking HS2 tracks from Crewe to Manchester – improving services, increasing connections, boosting local economies & creating 17,500 direct jobs."

And Hunt said in 2020: "No HS2 = no ambition for our country just when the whole world is looking at us. Now is a time to be AMBITIOUS." Now these ministers, along with this zombie government, are abandoning future generations both economically and environmentally in a desperate attempt to appeal to the most short term reactionary politics in order to hoodwink the public at a general election.

This attitude is mirrored in how they treat existing railway workers and refuse to give a mandate to train operating companies to do a deal with RMT.

As general secretary of RMT, I will not stop our industrial campaigning for our members jobs, decent working conditions and a pay rise until we have a fair settlement for our people that protects jobs, conditions, pay, and the service we work on. And we will continue to fight for the future of high speed rail as it is a key part of building a genuine brighter tomorrow.