The IRS Finally Has an Answer to TurboTax
No, it’s not perfect, but it’s a good start.
From The Atlantic:
During the torture ritual that was doing my taxes this year, I was surprised to find myself giddy after reading these words: “You are now chatting with IRS Representative-1004671045.” I had gotten stuck trying to parse my W-2, which, under “Box 14: Other,” contained a mysterious $389.70 deduction from my overall pay last year. No explanation. No clues. Nothing. I tapped the chat button on my tax software for help, expecting to be sucked into customer-service hell. Instead, a real IRS employee answered my question in less than two minutes.
The program is not TurboTax, or any one of its many competitors that will give you the white-glove treatment only after you pony up. It is Direct File, a new pilot program made by the IRS. It walks you through each step in mostly simple language (in English or Spanish, on your phone or laptop), automatically saves your progress, shows you a checklist of what you have left to do, flags potential errors, and calculates your return. These features are already part of TurboTax, but Direct File will not push you to an AI chatbot that flubs basic questions. And most crucial, it’s completely free.
That Direct File exists at all is shocking. That it’s pretty good is borderline miraculous. This is the same agency that processes your tax return in a 60-something-year-old programming language and uses software that is up to 15 versions out of date. The only sure thing in life, after death and taxes, is that the government is bad at technology. Remember the healthcare.gov debacle? Nearly 3 million people visited the site on the day it launched in 2013; only six people were actually able to register for insurance. As of the end of last year, about half of .gov websites are still not mobile friendly.
Direct File isn’t perfect—the program is available in only 12 states, and it isn’t able to handle anything beyond the simplest tax situations—but it’s a glimpse of a world where government tech benefits millions of Americans.
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🍿 Repellent Republicans Rushing toward Ruin 🍿
'FYI': White House turns claim that Joe Biden banned religious egg designs around on Trump
More nothing-burger performative outrage from MAGA world. Point and laugh! 👈 😂
From Raw Story:
Donald Trump on Saturday claimed that Joe Biden's White House banned religious-themed egg designs from its Easter celebration, but that policy extended even into Trump's term, according to some insiders.
Trump and other MAGA-worlders melted down over the alleged change, represented by a White House invitation for children from families of the National Guard to submit artwork to appear on the traditional holiday event, and also to ensure eggs kindly refrain from using religious symbols of any kind.
White House Deputy Assistant to the President Elizabeth Alexander poured cold water on the claim.
"*Fyi on all the misleading swirl re White House and Easter: the American Egg Board flyer’s standard non-discrimination language requesting artwork has been used for the last 45 years, across all Dem & Republican Admins—for all WH Easter Egg Rolls —incl previous Administration’s," she reported on Saturday.
Mnuchin’s plan to buy TikTok has some insiders bewildered
Ol’ Steve has never struck me as Mensa material, and this ridiculous plan pretty much proves it.
From The Washington Post (gift link):
Former treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin is telling rich investors he has a plan to take over TikTok: rebuild the wildly popular video app from scratch.
The investment banker who served under President Donald Trump has told potential backers that he aims to maneuver around two giant obstacles facing those vying for the platform: its estimated price tag of more than $100 billion — far beyond what most suitors, including Mnuchin, could afford — and the Chinese government’s ban of the export of recommendation algorithms, TikTok’s secret sauce.
Mnuchin has indicated that he could overcome those hurdles by offering to buy the app without the export-blocked code, essentially forcing his consortium to remake a service built on billions of lines of code before it could be usable again. ✂️
Observers, and at least one person familiar with the pitch, have said the idea is so far-fetched that it suggests a lack of familiarity with how tech companies work. TikTok users flocked to the app because of its surprising suggestions for videos they might like to watch, and there’s no guarantee any Mnuchin-driven version could duplicate that success — or beat rivals like Meta and Google, which have worked for years to mirror the experience within their own respective apps, Instagram and YouTube.
“Everyone wants to build a TikTok-level algorithm. That’s a key element of competition in the tech sector right now,” said Matt Perault, a University of North Carolina professor and former Facebook director who studies technology policy.
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Good news from my corner of the world
Washington County [Oregon] has eliminated homeless encampments
This is a very satisfying example of a community using funding in a targeted, thoughtful way.
From The Oregonian:
Washington County leaders say they have achieved what many communities throughout the country are working to do: eliminate homeless encampments.
Using their share of the tri-county area’s Metro homelessness services tax, intended to fund supportive housing, shelter, eviction prevention and behavioral health care, they built a homelessness services system from the ground up.
Over the past two years, the money has gone mainly to establishing 90 tiny homes at three locations and other shelters, which in turn allowed outreach workers to eliminate the county’s seven large and medium-sized encampments by moving those campers into the collective 380 new shelter beds.
The county also experienced a near-instant ten-fold increase in housing vouchers to cover or subsidize unhoused people’s rent for a few months to a couple years or even permanently. It was the first time the county had the resources to begin filling in gaps needed to help their hundreds of unhoused residents.
To be sure, Washington County’s homeless population is significantly smaller than Multnomah County’s – hundreds of people versus thousands. But the county’s successes provide a glimmer of hope regarding what many have come to feel is an intractable problem. Elements of its approach could provide a roadmap for other struggling communities.
Washington County’s largest initial expansion was growing the number of shelter beds from 46 to 426 over two years. In the next two years, leaders plan to ramp up their supportive housing programs with just as much ambition.
Supreme Court declines Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument cases, upholding 2017 expansion
Ever since President Obama expanded the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, logging companies have tried to overturn the expansion. Finally, we can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that this beautiful, biologically diverse area is protected.
From Oregon Public Radio:
Seven years ago, three groups separately sued the federal government over the expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument: Murphy Company, an Oregon-based timber company; the Association of O&C Counties, a group advocating for timber management; and the American Forest Resource Council, an advocacy group for the timber industry. The AFRC and AOCC lawsuits were later consolidated. That 48,000-acre increase was designated by President Barack Obama in early 2017.
The groups argued that the decision limited logging on land where it should have been allowed to occur. They cited the 1937 O&C Act, which designated federal forestland in Oregon to be set aside and used for local governments to fund public services through forest production. President Obama used the Antiquities Act of 1906 to expand the monument, which legally protects cultural and natural resources of historic or scientific interest on federal lands. ✂️
But on Monday, the Supreme Court declined to hear both cases, although Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh said they would have granted the petition to hear the cases. ✂️
Kristen Boyles, the lead attorney for the groups defending the monument, described her reaction. “Frankly, it’s one of relief, that we have gotten to the end of these challenges to monument expansion, and that the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument is now protected for all of us as we go forward,” she said. ✂️
The Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument was originally designated by President Bill Clinton in 2000. It’s located at the intersection of the Klamath, Siskiyou and Cascade mountain ranges and is known for its biological diversity.
Portland Preservationists Think the Future of New Housing is in Old Buildings
Not every vintage building is suitable for converting into housing, especially since Portland is vulnerable to earthquakes, but many are. I hope the City Council will consider this seriously.
From Portland Mercury:
Considering the housing crisis plaguing Portland and Oregon at large, figuring out ways to increase housing supply has been a top priority for city and state elected officials across the political spectrum. But so far, most of the initiatives meant to boost housing production have been focused on building new units from scratch. Portland’s advocates for historic building preservation want that to change.
Members of Portland’s Historic Landmarks Commission (HLC) say solutions to the city’s housing woes won’t come from being bullish on new construction. No need to reinvent the wheel, they say— Portland has plenty of existing buildings primed for rehabilitation, and giving those structures a new life is the best way to expedite housing production in a climate-friendly way while maintaining the city’s character.
“We wring our hands over housing shortages and how to revive downtown and lower carbon emissions, yet fail to recognize a big part of the solution is literally right in front of us,” Peggy Moretti, a member of the Historic Landmarks Commission, told City Council at a meeting on March 13. “Our largest renewable resource is our existing buildings.”
The HLC came to City Council alongside Portland’s Design Commission to give their annual “state of the city” reports. Both groups hammered home the message that Portland’s urban design is integral to the city’s success, and asked the city to invest more in a fully-supported development services program.
While building preservationists have sometimes been known for demonstrating a strain of anti-housing NIMBYism, the HLC’s message was intent on showing that housing construction doesn’t have to be at odds with maintaining historic properties and neighborhood character.
Given the state of the housing crisis (not to mention the possibly-impending Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake), however, other housing advocates are hesitant to embrace the preservationist viewpoint to this extent. And while rehabilitating old buildings instead of building new housing may have some environmental benefits, climate and development experts are mixed on if it’s always the most efficient approach. But for those inclined toward preservationism, the cultural history is worth considering, too.
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Good news from around the nation
New $20 minimum wage for fast food workers in California is set to start Monday
🎩 to indefatigable Gnusie news sleuth T Maysle for mentioning this great news on Sunday.
From AP:
Most fast food workers in California will be paid at least $20 an hour beginning Monday when a new law is scheduled to kick in giving more financial security to an historically low-paying profession while threatening to raise prices in a state already known for its high cost of living.
Democrats in the state Legislature passed the law last year in part as an acknowledgement that many of the more than 500,000 people who work in fast food restaurants are not teenagers earning some spending money, but adults working to support their families. ✂️
Over the past decade, California has doubled its minimum wage for most workers to $16 per hour. A big concern over that time was whether the increase would cause some workers to lose their jobs as employers’ expenses increased.
Instead, data showed wages went up and employment did not fall, said Michael Reich, a labor economics professor at the University of California-Berkeley. “I was surprised at how little, or how difficult it was to find disemployment effects. If anything, we find positive employment effects,” Reich said.
Plus, Reich said while the statewide minimum wage is $16 per hour, many of the state’s larger cities have their own minimum wage laws setting the rate higher than that. For many fast food restaurants, this means the jump to $20 per hour will be smaller.
The law reflected a carefully crafted compromise between the fast food industry and labor unions, which had been fighting over wages, benefits and legal liabilities for close to two years. The law originated during private negotiations between unions and the industry, including the unusual step of signing confidentiality agreements.
What If Finding Affordable Housing Worked More Like Matchmaking?
This is such a great idea! I’m especially impressed by the program’s flexibility and by its success in getting cooperation from government agencies, nonprofits, and funders.
From Reasons to Be Cheerful:
Brilliant Corners was founded in 2004 by several nonprofit service providers with the mission to find housing for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in three California counties. In 2014, it significantly expanded its mission to extremely low-income Californians and began operating the Flexible Housing Subsidy Pool, in partnership with the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and private partners such as the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, as part of the Housing for Health initiative. The Flex Pool is a supportive housing rent subsidy program that helps match vulnerable individuals with available housing options.
The key is its flexibility: “For one landlord, it was a dealbreaker that the applicant had $3,000 in debt. So we paid off half the debt,” says Kolby Vaughn, Brilliant Corners’ associate housing services director in San Diego, which has a Flex Pool that is funded by the Regional Task Force on Homelessness. “For another client, cooking was really important so we spoke with the landlord [to see] if we could put a hot plate in his unit. These are the kind of hurdles we can overcome outside of the bureaucratic process.”
With a budget of over $200 million, braiding state, local and private funding sources, Brilliant Corners has been able to make a significant impact. “We have developed the capacity to administer over $10 million of rent subsidies every month,” according to Brilliant Corners CEO Bill Pickel. To date, the nonprofit has placed nearly 13,000 unhoused people into permanent homes in Los Angeles, averaging about 200 people a month. Brilliant Corners contracts with government agencies, such as the L.A. County Department of Health Services or Veterans Affairs, other nonprofits and community partners, and pairs up with Intensive Case Management Services to help clients achieve and maintain health and housing stability.
Save the Redwoods League, the Yurok Tribe, and Park Partners Sign Historic Agreement to Return Tribal Land
From Save the Redwoods League:
[On March 19,] the Yurok Tribe, Save the Redwoods League, National Park Service and California State Parks signed a landmark memorandum of understanding, a historic first step toward transferring ‘O Rew, a 125-acre ecologically and culturally important property, from Save the Redwoods League back to its original steward, the Yurok Tribe. In addition, the agreement describes the four partners’ shared vision for long-term co-management of the site as a gateway for the visiting public to the adjacent Redwood National and State Parks (RNSP). This would be a first-ever cooperative arrangement for the National Park Service and California State Parks on tribe-owned land. The partners envision building a new visitor and cultural center and trails at ‘O Rew that will highlight the distinct histories and cultures of local tribes. ✂️
Critical elements of the new recreational and cultural gateway will be built in 2025 prior to the transfer [in 2026]. These comprise more than 1 mile of accessible new trails, including a new segment of the California Coastal Trail, interpretive exhibits across the site and other visitor amenities. The new trails will connect to numerous existing trails in the parks, including direct access to one of the most popular old-growth redwood groves in the parks, Lady Bird Johnson Grove. The agreement outlines that, after the transfer, the Yurok Tribe aims to construct a visitor center highlighting the distinct history and living culture of the Tribe and the extraordinary natural, cultural and recreational resources of the parks. The Yurok Tribe also plans to build a traditional village on-site, including plank houses and a sweat house. ✂️
The 125-acre property — ‘O Rew in the Yurok language — encompasses a significant place for the Yurok people on Prairie Creek. Located near Orick in Northern California, ‘O Rew is roughly in the center of Yurok ancestral territory. During the mid-1800s, there was an attempt to forcibly remove Yurok people from their homeland, including ‘O Rew and nearby Owr-rekw, to expedite exploitation of the region’s natural resources, including old-growth coast redwood trees.
Save the Redwoods League purchased and conserved the site in 2013. Before that, for more than 50 years, it operated as a lumber mill and was referred to as the Orick Mill Site and Mill Site A. While the mill was in operation, large portions of the land were paved over, and much of the natural channel and floodplain of Prairie Creek was buried. For the last 10 years, the League has partnered with accomplished restoration experts, including the Yurok Tribe Construction Corporation and Fisheries Department and California Trout, to undertake a full restoration of a critical stretch of Prairie Creek on the site for the benefit of federally listed coho salmon and steelhead.
As part of that effort, Yurok Tribe restoration crews built a new, nearly 1-mile-long meandering stream channel with abundant features to support fish, two connected ponds and approximately 20 acres of floodplain habitat. More than 50,000 native plants, including grass-like slough sedge, black cottonwood and coast redwood trees, have been planted in specific locations on the banks of the creek, ponds and floodplain of the Redwood Creek tributary. Thousands of juvenile coho and chinook salmon and steelhead are already taking advantage of the new habitat. Multiple wildlife species are also returning to the restored environment. Red-legged frogs, northwestern salamanders, elk and many species of waterfowl and songbirds have been observed at ‘O Rew.
At prom, fast fashion slows down
This is the first of two stories I found about the increasing popularity of buying secondhand clothing instead of fast fashion, especially among young shoppers. This is great news for the environment and is a welcome sign that American consumer culture might be evolving in a healthy direction.
From Grist:
On a Saturday in February, high school senior Kaylee Lemmien sifted through racks of dresses at Tinker Tailor, a small shop in downtown Elk Rapids, a village of about 1,500 people in northern Michigan. “I’d call this a mermaid, sequin, light blue gown with a tulle skirt. It’s got a lace-up back, kind of open,” Lemmien said. “Very pretty.”
Tinker Tailor usually alters clothes, but on this day it was selling them — prom dresses, to be exact. Gowns in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors — short and long, neons and pastels, satin and sequins — lined the racks. The garments were donated and consigned by people around the region, with the goal of giving them a new life at the Elk Rapids High School prom in May. Called Sustainable Style, the secondhand shopping initiative takes aim at fast fashion.
Zoe Macaluso, the president of the Eco Club at Elk Rapids High School, said that when a local volunteer group approached her with the idea, she “immediately latched onto it.” The Eco Club wants to use the project to lead by example and hopefully inspire other schools in the area to pursue their own climate projects.
It’s one of many efforts by high school students around the country to address fast fashion — clothing produced cheaply and quickly enough to stay on top of swiftly moving trend cycles — in their own lives and through advocacy. Such efforts are small, but experts say they can help people — especially young people — think differently about their role as consumers. That’s especially relevant in the age of fast fashion, when an online retailer like Shein drops up to 10,000 new items a day. ✂️
The increased focus on sustainability and thrifting might seem counter to the rise of fast fashion. It’s been described as a paradox, especially for Gen Z. A McKinsey newsletter last year laid out the relationship like this: “On one hand, Gen Zers express a desire for sustainably produced items and love thrifting. On the other hand, clothing ‘hauls’ … make up some of the most watched and most produced content on social media.”
One way high school students are counteracting that offline is by raising awareness in their communities about how fashion impacts the environment. Last year, for example, a high school in New York put on a carbon-neutral prom. A club in New Hampshire organized a clothing drive to divert used clothes to people experiencing homelessness. And a library in Athens, Georgia, regularly hosts a “Bling Your Prom” secondhand formal wear event with an eye toward sustainability.
And here are some statistics on the rising popularity of secondhand clothing:
U.S. Secondhand Apparel Market To Reach $73 Billion by 2028, Growing 11% Annually on Average
From ThredUp (🎩 to Positive News for mentioning this):
Resale grew 15X faster than the broader retail clothing sector in 2023.
Resale will more than double by 2028, growing 6.4X faster than the broader retail clothing sector and representing a CAGR [compound annual growth rate] of 17%.
Resale is expected to more than double its market share over the next 10 years, growing at a CAGR of 11% and gaining the largest volume of share of any distribution channel by 2033.
Resale will grow 6X faster than off-price by 2033.
Online resale saw accelerated growth in 2023, growing at 23%...
Online resale will account for half of all secondhand spend by 2025.
Online resale will more than double in the next 5 years, growing at a CAGR of 17% to reach $40 billion in 2028.
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Good news from around the world
Israel rocked by largest protests since war began as Netanyahu faces growing pressure
This is very encouraging. Let’s hope that the protestors can keep up the pressure!
From CNN:
Thousands of people took to the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem over the weekend in the largest protests Israel has seen since the start of the war against Hamas, a significant challenge to the increasingly embattled leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Demonstrators are angry at Netanyahu and his government for not having secured the release of all the hostages taken captive during the October 7 terror attack. While 105 people were released during a temporary truce last year, another 130 that were kidnapped are either dead or still being held by Hamas and other militant groups.
Banners at the protests called on the Prime Minister to resign and for Israel to hold new elections. “You’ve failed,” one poster read. “Impeachment now,” read another. ✂️
Sunday’s demonstration outside the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in Jerusalem was dispersed by force, but protesters appear to be readying themselves for more protests. Dozens of people were camped at tents outside the Knesset on Monday, and some vowed to stay there until Wednesday, when lawmakers head home for spring recess.
Turkey’s Erdoğan suffers blow in crucial mayoral elections as secular opposition surges
Could this be the beginning of the end of Erdoğan’s authoritarian regime? Fingers crossed! 🤞
From Politico:
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan suffered a major blow on Sunday, with initial results showing the country’s main opposition party notched up regional election victories around the country.
The opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) held onto or captured the country’s five biggest cities in Sunday’s vote, which had been seen as a make-or-break moment for a movement still reeling from Erdoğan’s victory in the Turkish presidential contest in May 2023. The CHP saw its biggest triumph in Istanbul, where Ekrem Imamoğlu was reelected mayor. Europe’s biggest city, Istanbul accounts for 18 percent of Turkey’s population and a third of its economy.
In his victory speech delivered late Sunday, Imamoğlu said the local election results would have big implications for the country’s political future. “Turkey will blossom into a new era in democracy as of tomorrow. March 31, 2024 is the day when democratic erosion ends and democracy begins to recover,” he told a big crowd in Istanbul. Imamoğlu is seen as a future challenger to Erdoğan, and winning the city which catapulted the current president to national prominence when he won the mayorship 30 years ago is a symbolic achievement.
Erdoğan conceded defeat and promised to listen to the message delivered by Turkish voters. “March 31 is not an end for us, but a turning point,” he said. Turkey’s long-serving leader — in office as president or prime minister since 2003 — had vowed to recapture the city where he had made his political career, and sent no fewer than 17 government ministers to campaign in Istanbul ahead of voting.
The CHP also won in Turkey’s capital, Ankara, as well as Izmir, Bursa and Adana, pushing its support to 37.4 percent nationwide with more than 90 percent of the votes counted.
Netherlands: ‘Historic victory’ as Dutch law adopts consent-based definition of rape
Defining rape as “sex without consent” is an important protection for women, and it needs to be in place everywhere.
From Amnesty International, via Fix the News (formerly Future Crunch):
[On March 19,] the [Netherlands] Senate voted to remove the requirement that rape must involve physical force, threat or coercion. The Netherlands will become the seventeenth country out of 31 European states analysed by Amnesty International to recognize that sex without consent is rape. The act will come into force on July the 1st 2024.
The vote passed with 73 votes in favour and 2 against. Together with hundreds of activists and an action group of women who experienced sexual violence, Amnesty International Netherlands has campaigned for a consent-based law for years.
Mireille, one of the women from the action group said: “After four years of campaigning, we finally have recognition. What we have experienced, now officially exists.”
National milestone as abortion officially decriminalised in every state and territory in Australia
Good for the Aussies!
From Women’s Agenda, via Fix the News:
[March 26] marks an important milestone for Australia as offences related to abortion access are officially removed from Western Australia’s criminal code.
WA was the last state to still include abortion care access in its criminal code, with reform coming via the passage of the state’s Abortion Legislation Reform Bill 2024. The changes mean that as of today, patients in Australia can no longer be criminalised for abortion care access.
It’s a milestone that has been hard fought for across all parts of the country, with pro-choice advocates including the Australian Women’s Health Alliance and Fair Agenda celebrating the fact that today marks the first day since Federation that a patient needing access to abortion will be recognised as accessing the healthcare they need.
Decriminalising abortion doesn’t solve all access issues, but it does send a powerful message to the community that abortion care should be treated like any other form of healthcare. And as Bonney Corbin, Chair of the Australian Women’s Health Alliance says, the milestone comes as Australia has more women in parliament than ever before, and record numbers of women serving as health ministers and in key health leadership positions.
It’s difficult to miss the link between having women in positions and developments across women’s health and reproductive health.
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Good news in medicine
The future of healing: 3D printing skin directly onto open wounds
This is simply amazing.
From Optimist Daily:
Pennsylvania State University researchers achieved a major medical science breakthrough by being the first team ever to 3D print real human skin tissue directly onto open wounds. This novel strategy has enormous potential to revolutionize wound healing, reconstructive surgery, and even hair loss therapies.
Traditional wound treatment procedures, such as skin transplants, frequently fail to produce optimal results. Ibrahim Ozbolat, professor of engineering at Penn State and lead author of a paper on the research emphasizes the limitations of present procedures, stating that “reconstructive surgery… is usually imperfect, resulting in scarring or permanent hair loss.” This emphasizes the critical need for new approaches to addressing these limitations.
Building on prior trials with 3D bioprinted skin layers, the research team went on a ground-breaking mission to directly repair damaged tissue through a layered approach. Printing the hypodermis and middle dermis layers allowed the epidermis to grow organically over time, resulting in seamless tissue regeneration. Ozbolat highlights the significance of their findings, adding, “We demonstrate bioprinted, full-thickness skin with the potential to grow hair in rats,” indicating a prospective option for more natural-looking reconstructions.
At the center of this discovery is bioink, a meticulously created combination of proteins and stem cells produced from human adipose tissue. This novel mixture, when coupled with a clotting solution, serves as the basis for tissue regeneration. Ozbolat elaborates on the bioink’s composition, emphasizing its role in wound healing and hair follicle regeneration. ...Surprisingly, the 3D-printed skin tissue developed both epidermis and hair follicles within two weeks, demonstrating the approach’s efficiency.
‘Exhausted’ Immune Cells Could be a New Target for Preventative Breast Cancer Treatment
It’s encouraging to see how much truly ingenious research is being done on breast cancer.
From Good News Network:
When certain immune cells in healthy women become ‘exhausted’, they could become a target for a new preventative breast cancer treatment.
Cambridge University researchers have discovered the new pathway, which involves targeting mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Everyone has BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, but mutations in these genes, which can be inherited, increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancer.
The new study found that the immune cells in breast tissue of the healthy women carrying BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations show signs of a malfunction known as ‘exhaustion’. The ‘exhausted’ immune cells can’t clear out damaged breast cells, which may eventually develop into breast cancer. “Drugs already exist that can overcome this block in immune cell function, but so far, they’ve only been approved for late-stage disease,” said Professor Walid Khaled at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Pharmacology. ...“We can identify these early changes and intervene,” he added.
Using samples of healthy breast tissue collected from 55 women across a range of ages, the researchers in England catalogued over 800,000 cells, including all the different types of breast cell. The resulting Human Breast Cell Atlas is now available as a resource for other researchers to use and add to. ✂️
One of the biggest challenges in treating breast cancer is that it is not just one disease, but many. Many different genetic variations can lead to breast cancer, and genetic risk interacts with other risk factors in complicated ways. The new study aimed to understand how some of these risk factors interact, by characterizing the different cell types in the human breast under many different physiological states.
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Good news in science
Scientists Reveal Incredible Image of Magnetic Fields Spiraling from Supermassive Black Hole
It makes sense that black holes have strong magnetic fields. These photos are just stunning!
From Good News Network:
As part of humanity’s continued attempts to image a black hole, a telescope array recently captured the swirling magnetic fields around two of the closest supermassive black holes to Earth.
Seen in polarized light for the first time, this new view of the black hole Sagittarius A. at the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy has revealed a magnetic field structure strikingly similar to that of the black hole at the center of the Messier 87 galaxy, suggesting that strong magnetic fields may be common to all black holes.
This similarity also hints toward a hidden jet in Sgr A*. The results were published [on March 29] in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Scientists unveiled the first image of Sgr A*—which is approximately 27,000 light-years away from Earth—in 2022, revealing that while the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole is more than a thousand times smaller and less massive than M87’s, it looks remarkably similar. This made scientists wonder whether the two shared common traits outside of their looks.
To find out, the team decided to study Sgr A* in polarized light. Previous studies of light around M87* revealed that the magnetic fields around the black hole giant allowed it to launch powerful jets of material back into the surrounding environment. Building on this work, the new images have revealed that the same may be true for Sgr A*. “What we’re seeing now is that there are strong, twisted, and organized magnetic fields near the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy,” said Sara Issaoun, NASA Hubble Fellowship Program from Harvard and the Smithsonian who co-led the project. “Along with Sgr A* having a strikingly similar polarization structure to that seen in the much larger and more powerful M87* black hole, we’ve learned that strong and ordered magnetic fields are critical to how black holes interact with the gas and matter around them.”
Scientists found an amazingly well-preserved village from 3,000 years ago
I love this story, and I encourage you open the free link to read it all. Of course, I did groan when I read that the head of the public body responsible “for preserving England’s historic environment” said that the residents of Must Farm had “a way of life that was more sophisticated than we could have imagined.” Sorry, dude, there’s no reason to think that Bronze Age humans didn’t have as much resourcefulness and organizational skills as modern humans — in fact, they probably needed those traits even more than we do.
From The Washington Post (gift link):
A half-eaten bowl of porridge complete with wooden spoon, communal rubbish bins, and a decorative necklace made with amber and glass beads are just a handful of the extraordinarily well-preserved remnants of a late Bronze Age hamlet unearthed in eastern England that’s been dubbed “Britain’s Pompeii” and a “time capsule” into village life almost 3,000 years ago.
The findings from the site, excavated in 2015 to 2016, are now the subject of two reports, complete with previously unseen photos, published this week by University of Cambridge archaeologists, who said they cast light onto the “cosy domesticity” of ancient settlement life. “It might be the best prehistoric settlement that we’ve found in Britain,” Mark Knight, the excavation director and a co-author of the reports, said in an interview Thursday. “We took the roofs off and inside was pretty much the contents,” he said. “It’s so comprehensive and so coherent.”
The reason for the rare preservation: disaster. The settlement, thought to have originally consisted of several large roundhouses made of wood and constructed on stilts above a slow-moving river, was engulfed by a fire less than a year after being built. During the blaze, the buildings and much of their contents collapsed into a muddy river below that “cushioned the scorched remains where they fell,” the university said of the findings. This combination of charring from the fire and waterlogging led to “exceptional preservation,” the researchers found. ✂️
The site at Must Farm dates to about 850 B.C., eight centuries before Romans came to Britain. Archaeologists have been shocked at “just how clear the picture is” of late Bronze Age life based on the level of detail uncovered, Knight said. The findings also showed that the communities lived “a way of life that was more sophisticated than we could have imagined,” Duncan Wilson, head of Historic England, the public body responsible for preserving England’s historic environment, said in a statement.
The findings unearthed include a stack of spears, possibly for hunting or defense; a decorative necklace “with beads from as far away as Denmark and Iran”; clothes of fine flax linen; and a female adult skull rendered smooth, “perhaps a memento of a lost loved one,” the research found. The inhabitants’ diet was also rich and varied, including boar, pike and bream, along with wheat and barley. A pottery bowl with the finger marks of its maker in the clay was also unearthed, researchers said, still containing its final meal — “a wheat-grain porridge mixed with animal fats” — with a wooden spatula resting inside the bowl.
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Good news for the environment
Heat, cold extremes hold untapped potential for solar and wind energy
I found this research fascinating. And it’s encouraging to think that the meterological extremes we’ve been suffering through might have an upside.
From Washington State University:
Conditions that usually accompany the kind of intense hot and cold weather that strains power grids may also provide greater opportunities to capture solar and wind energy.
A Washington State University-led study found that widespread, extreme temperature events are often accompanied by greater solar radiation and higher wind speeds that could be captured by solar panels and wind turbines. The research, which looked at extensive heat and cold waves across the six interconnected energy grid regions of the U.S. from 1980–2021, also found that every region experienced power outages during these events in the past decade.
The findings, detailed in the journal Environmental Research Letters, suggest that using more renewable energy at these times could help offset increased power demand as more people and businesses turn on heaters or air conditioners.
“These extreme events are not going away anytime soon. In fact, every region in the U.S. experiences at least one such event nearly every year. We need to be prepared for their risks and ensure that people have reliable access to energy when they need it the most,” said lead author Deepti Singh, a Washington State University climate scientist.“ Potentially, we could generate more power from renewable resources precisely when we have widespread extreme events that result in increased energy demand.”
The study showed increased solar energy potential in all six U.S. regions during heat extremes, and in all but one region during cold ones, the area covered by the Texas-run grid. The researchers noted that atmospheric ridges or atmospheric high-pressure systems that cause intense heat, like the heat wave that hit the Pacific Northwest in 2021, are often characterized by cloudless, blue skies. Clear skies allow more of the sun’s radiation to reach the Earth, which could be converted into power by solar panels.
Conditions for wind power were more variable, but at least three regions had increased potential to capture this type of energy during these hot and cold events: the Northeast during widespread cold, and both the Texas grid and a major Midwestern grid during heat waves.
Green Groups Secure Deal to Clean Up Coal-Polluted West Virginia Streams
It’s great to see coal contamination in West Virginia being addressed.
From Common Dreams:
The Sierra Club announced on Friday that it had reached an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to address pollution in West Virginia streams that originates from coal mining in the state.
The agreement specifically focuses on what's called ionic toxicity pollution, which is created in the mining process. The pollution that enters the freshwater streams increases their salinity, which kills the aquatic life in them. The Sierra Club is joined by the West Virginia Rivers Coalition and the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy in the agreement.
The EPA will now be creating limits—called total maximum daily loads (TMDLs)—for how much of this pollution can enter "11 high-priority West Virginia streams."
"This is a monumental step forward in our ongoing fight to protect West Virginia's precious wildlife and natural resources," said Sierra Club West Virginia chapter director Honey May. "By holding the coal industry accountable and ensuring the development of TMDLs, we are safeguarding the habitat of countless aquatic species and preserving the ecological integrity of our streams."
The Sierra Club says this deal—which has been years in the making—will help restore important West Virginia streams and means the EPA will finally be fulfilling its obligations under the Clean Water Act.
West Virginia is one of the top coal producing states in the country, and it has faced serious problems with pollution from the state's many coal mines for decades. The coal mining industry has also long been able to avoid having to pay to clean up the pollution it causes.
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Good news for and about animals
Brought to you by Rascal and the beautiful spirits of Rosy and Nora.
A near-extinct breed of bird has been heard making a mating call
Rascal is rooting for that bittern and hopes he finds a mate soon!
From BBC:
A "booming" mating call from a male Bittern was heard at Amwell Nature Reserve, in Great Amwell, Hertfordshire. Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust said that in 1997 it was believed there were only 11 males left in the UK, which led to a conservation plan. The charity said the call demonstrated the great progress by local conservationists.
Although a female has not yet responded to the call, which has been heard repeatedly since 5 March, it signifies the male bird is satisfied with its habitat and wants to attract a mate there.
Bitterns are shorter than their cousins, grey herons, with pale brown plumage that allows them to camouflage themselves in reeds. The species was pushed to the brink of extinction in Victorian times when their reedbed homes were drained for reservoirs.
Between 2004 and 2010 the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust doubled the Bittern-suitable reedbeds in the region by 24 hectares. As part of that work, the trust improved the reedbeds at Amwell Nature Reserve to encourage the birds to breed there.
Tim Hill, conservation manager at the trust, said: "Good news stories such as this one really do provide hope for the future of our ecosystem. ...We have worked hard to create more reedbed habitat for these elusive, scarce and shy birds." He said the mating call "clearly demonstrates that we can reverse the terrible declines we are seeing in our native wildlife".
New Yorkers save two canine cafes as dog-centric eateries gain momentum
Yes! We need more public places where humans and dogs can enjoy each other.
From The Washington Post (gift link):
When the owners of two New York canine cafes announced they were closing last month, it was a shock to their customers. So much, in fact, they refused to accept it. ✂️
Boris & Horton opened in the East Village, billed as the city’s first cafe for dogs, where humans and their pets eat and hang out. It’s similar to a regular cafe, but there are more customers with floppy ears and wagging tails, and it’s part of a trend of similar shops that have popped up around New York and elsewhere.
The cafe serves snacks and pastries for humans and dogs (the coffee is just for humans). After several years of success, Boris & Horton launched a second location in Brooklyn last spring. To comply with the local health department’s regulations, human food and pet food are prepared separately, and dog food is served in single-use, disposable containers. The cafe portion of the business is in a distinct, adjacent space to the seating area. ✂️
“It was such a complete shock to me that they were closing,” said Amanda Gerzog, 28, who lives near the East Village location and has been a regular customer at Boris & Horton for the past six years. “I was devastated, but also determined.” Gerzog, a social media marketer, often works remotely at the cafe. As a dog lover who doesn’t have a pooch at home, she jumped at the opportunity to be around dogs all day. … She knew other New Yorkers felt the same. So Gerzog started a GoFundMe campaign to save the small business. In only a few days, more than $20,000 poured in. ✂️
[After the community rallied to support them], [Logan] Mikhly and her father [Coppy Holzman] started their own fundraising effort and drew in more than $250,000 — all from individuals. The average donation was about $60. “We’re so, so grateful,” said Mikhly, adding that they temporarily closed both cafes for repairs and upgrades. Both Boris & Horton locations reopened [on March 11]. ✂️
...they also partner with shelters and rescues to host regular adoption events. About 3,000 dogs have been adopted from events at the cafes.
Jaguar release offers a lifeline to Gran Chaco’s lonely big cats
May Keraná and Nalá find mates and begin repopulating Gran Chaco.
From Mongabay:
The lowland forest of El Impenetrable National Park in northern Argentina sprawls across the hot, swampy green of the Gran Chaco biome, home to South America’s largest mammals and thousands of plant species. It’s a critical conservation unit for the protection of one of the planet’s most deforested ecosystems, yet it’s missing an important resident: a female jaguar (Panthera onca).
Two-thirds of the Gran Chaco, which spreads across 650,000 square kilometers (251,000 square miles), are in northern Argentina, where just 10 jaguars remain — all of them male. The last female was spotted there 35 years ago, Sebastián Di Martino, conservation director at the NGO Rewilding Argentina, told Mongabay. “The situation here is urgent,” he said. “The males look for females, but never find one.”
Keraná, a female rescued as a cub in Paraguay, is the new beacon of hope for the Argentinian Chaco’s jaguars. On March 15, she was released into El Impenetrable in a joint effort between Rewilding Argentina, the National Parks Administration, and the government of Chaco province. She will soon be joined by a second female, Nalá, in the next few weeks. Rewilding experts say they hope these females will breed with the wild males and help bring the population back from the brink of a regional extinction.
The release came after years of careful planning, which began in September 2019 when footprints and camera traps confirmed the first male jaguar in El Impenetrable. Rewilding experts set up an enclosure in the region for a captive female from the Jaguar Reproduction and Reintroduction Center at Iberá Park in Corrientes province, in the hope she would mate with the male. It worked, and in 2021, the female had cubs within a 2-hectare (5-acre) pen with no human contact to ensure the cubs could be reintroduced into the wild in the future; Nalá, who will be released soon, is one of those cubs.
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