[Fatima99]

Paris Will Soon Host the World’s Largest Picnic on the Champs-Élysées



Are you in Paris in late May? Well make sure you stay around for Le Grand Pique Nique, or for those of you who chose German, Spanish, or Italian to learn in high school, “The Grand Picnic.”

From the Arc de Triomphe to the intersection of Avenue George V, nine ephemeral kitchens will punctuate a journey along the famous Champs-Élysées for a gastronomic picnic on the largest picnic blanket in the world.

On Sunday, May 26th, LG Electronics is sponsoring this massive eating and promenading event, when 4,000 lucky tourists and locals will have the opportunity to gather around a giant, traditional red and white checkered picnic rug to sample Parisian cuisine.

While it’s a shame that the event is a contest determined via a ballot system, the Champs-Élysées is perhaps the most thoroughly trodden thoroughfare in all Europe, where 100,000 pedestrians passed daily in pre-COVID times.

Today, with tourism more popular and in demand than ever, and with Paris still holding its spot as the most-visited destination on Earth in terms of visitors per square kilometer, prudence is warranted.

Each chosen visitor is given a picnic basket to enjoy samples from the nine kitchens, and each square on the giant checkered rug can accommodate 6 people.

There are also musical events, games, and other outdoor ambiance setters.

In order to attend, visitors can fill out the raffle ballot on the LG site here. They can select up to 6 additional attendees, and one of two services, 12:00 and 14:00.

As well as giving foodies domestic and international alike the time of their lives, the city is also aiming to set the Guinness World Record for the largest picnic blanket, which they claim their rug will count as.

Those attending may see in advance some of the renovations that architect Philippe Chiambaretta is planning for the €300 million, post-Olympics makeover for the Champs-Élysées, which the mayor’s office admitted to looking “worn out” back in 2021.

The plan is to halve the number of parking spots, turn some of the roads into pedestrian areas, and spruce up the whole area into “an extraordinary garden.”

[Fatima99]

Dear newshounds

I have noticed lately that some of the news stories posted here do not conform to the spirit of the game, i.e. they are miserable, depressing and do not make anyone smile.

Please refresh your memories with the original post if you're in any doubt as to whether your news story conforms, here:

What is it?
Here is your chance to become an "ACE REPORTER" for our weekly news magazine.
It is your job to find weird, funny or "good feel" stories from around the world and share them with our readers in our weekly magazine

How do you play?
Just post a story that you have come across that made you smile, laugh, feel good...
BUT NOTHING DEPRESSING

[midgemental]

Asteroid hunters spot 27,500 overlooked near-Earth asteroids — more than were discovered by all of the world’s telescopes last year



We may no longer have to fear unseen Empire State Building-sized space rocks passing within our orbit.

Asteroid hunters have identified 27,500 overlooked near-Earth asteroids using cutting-edge tech that could potentially stave off armageddon in the future.

Instead of stargazing with a traditional telescope, researchers devised a novel algorithm called Tracklet-less Heliocentric Orbit Recovery, or THOR, which peruses old photos of space like a form of interstellar forensics.

“This is an example of what is possible,” declared Massimo Mascaro, technical director in Google Cloud’s office of the chief technology officer.

Using the method, the scientists were able to pinpoint the tens of thousands of newly identified solar system bodies — more than were discovered by all of the world’s telescopes last year.

Perhaps most significant among them were 100 near-Earth asteroids — those that pass within the orbit of our planet.

A majority of those reside within the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

Ed Lu, executive director of the Asteroid Institute which helmed the research along with the University of Washington, told the New York Times that the work represents “a sea change” in how astronomical research can be conducted.

While none of the newly found intergalactic boulders were on a collision course with Earth, the algorithm could help identify potentially hazardous asteroids and other terrors from beyond.

“A comprehensive map of the solar system gives astronomers critical insights both for science and planetary defense,” Matthew Holman, dynamicist and search algorithm expert at the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard & Smithsonian in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said in a 2022 press release.

The traditional method of analyzing celestial entities’ trajectories involves analyzing multiple photos of the same patch of sky taken over time. That allows them to piece together an object’s orbit like a jigsaw puzzle or flip book.

Most of the identified asteroids were located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

“This is a sea change” in how astronomical research will be conducted, according to researcher Ed Lu. Christopher P. Michel

However, THOR works by connecting a tiny dot of light observed in one image with its corresponding dot in a different photograph, deducing that they’re the same object and effectively predicting their flight path.

The National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory, or NOIRLab, houses 412,000 images in its digital archives, some of which depict 1.7 billion dots of light, the New York Times reported.

Using Google Cloud, THOR was able to identify all the previously overlooked cosmic bodies within about five weeks.

“The work of the Asteroid Institute is critical because astronomers are reaching the limits of what’s discoverable with current techniques and telescopes,” said THOR co-creator Mario Jurić, a senior data science fellow with the UW eScience Institute.

Scientists hope that THOR can help increase the number of asteroids that space telescopes can locate.

THOR currently can locate 80% of near-Earth asteroids that are 460 feet in diameter or larger — 10 percent shy of the goal outlined in a 2005 mandate passed by Congress.

In February, an asteroid nearly the size of a double-decker bus passed by Earth, coming within 140,000 miles away — closer than the moon.

Despite its incredible capabilities, THOR could perhaps make studying space less glamorous as the focus increasingly shifts from the stars themselves to a computer screen.

https://nypost.com/2024/04/30/lifestyle ... last-year/

[DaveLDaveL]

Amateur angler lands UK's 'biggest fish'


Darren Reitz says he needed the help of three friends to reel in the huge catfish

An amateur angler has landed what is believed to be the UK's biggest ever fish caught by rod in freshwater.
Darren Reitz, 34, a binman from Rainham, east London, said "luck" was key to catching the "monster" catfish, which weighed 143lb (64.4kg).

Mr Reitz said it took him and three friends about 50 minutes to reel it in at a fishing lake in Maldon, Essex.
The previous catfish record was set at 130lb (58.9kg) and the British Record (Rod Caught) Fish Committee has encouraged Mr Reitz to get in contact.

"My wrist is still hurting from reeling," said Mr Reitz. "I wasn't expecting to catch that."

"Three of my friends got into the water with nets because it was that big and I was so worried we would lose it.
"I did not know there were fish of that size here, in Spain or France maybe, not here," he said.

It was about 22:30 BST on Saturday when the fish was hoisted out of the water.

'We started panicking'

Mr Reitz, who started fishing in 2017, said: "I'm an amateur, I go for the peace and quiet and if I catch, I catch.
"This was just luck, I think. My friends were in their tents, and they might have been a bit jealous.

"We started panicking a bit when it came to pulling it out. People were trying to tell me what to do but I didn't listen.

"It was a monster."

The catfish, which has been released, was nicknamed Scar.

Paul Tallowin, co-owner of Chigborough Farm & Fisheries, where the fish was caught, said it might not be the biggest in the lakes.

He said: "The catfish put on about 7lbs (3.2kg) a year, so this one would be about 45 years old. I am sure some are a bit bigger. It all depends on what they have to eat.

"This one is the biggest that has been caught at the moment.

Well done for getting it out."

[PennySerenade]

This woman says she feels love differently since her heart transplant. She wants to know why



Anne Marie Switzer was baptized and given her last rites at just two days old.

She was born with a congenital heart disease called transposition of the greater vessels. Even after receiving the life-saving surgery known as the Mustard procedure, she still faced many complications throughout her life.

At 50 years old, she got the gift she had prayed for her entire life: a new heart.

But shortly after her heart transplant, something changed — something she couldn't easily explain.

Perhaps most importantly, Switzer says her feelings of love are no longer the same.

"I don't know when the first time I realized it," said Switzer, who is from Brampton, Ont. "I know I love my family, but I don't get that squishy feeling [anymore]."

Thoughts and memories of her loved ones used to feel warm and tingly, she said. Now, they feel logical or factual, or cold.

"I love my husband, but I don't always get twitterpated anymore," she added, referring to the butterflies-in-your-stomach, love-at-first-sight feeling described in the classic Disney film Bambi.

"It's definitely a loss … because I'm a heart person; I'm a love person; I'm a relationship person. I don't know how many people have told me, 'You've got such a big heart.' And I miss that," she said.

"Why don't I feel that?"

While seemingly rare, It's not an unheard-of phenomenon.

Some researchers believe it may be possible for donor organs to hold and even pass on the characteristics and experiences of its original owner onto the new recipient, via a process known as cellular memory.

Dr. Michael McDonald, a medical director at the Toronto General Hospital's Ajmera Heart Transplant Centre, says the term typically refers to how the body develops immunity to diseases.

"We all have cellular memory as part of our adaptive immune responses that keeps us safe from disease, infection and cancer and anything foreign," he said.

In other words, it allows our body to remember how to fight diseases we have encountered before. Transplant medicine experts, however, work to make sure that same response doesn't reject a new organ as a potentially harmful foreign object.

"When I'm thinking of [the] strictly clinical function of an organ, I'm … interested in: Is it doing what it's told to do by the rest of the body? Is it squeezing blood around the body? Is it emptying? Is the heart rhythm normal?" said McDonald.

"Beyond that, you know, it's hard for me to say whether there are other components to what a heart can offer, particularly from a donor that's not native to the recipient."

Some researchers, however, have taken the idea of what organs can store — and perhaps pass on — even further.

In a 2019 journal article published in Medical Hypotheses, Dr. Mitchell Liester presented an idea that "memories from the donor's life are stored in the cells of the donated heart and are then 'remembered' by the recipient following transplant surgery."

The evidence for it, however, remains inconclusive and highly controversial.

Dr. John Wallwork, former director of transplant service for the U.K.'s National Health Service (NHS), says it's impossible for a physical organ to change your personality, your memories or how you feel.

"Our culture sees the heart as the seat of life, love, the soul. There is no basis in science for this," he offered as an explanation.

A German study from 1992 surveyed 47 patients who received an organ transplant, and found that the majority of them did not experience any change to their personalities.

Fifteen per cent said they did experience changes, but attributed it to the trauma of undergoing a life-threatening procedure. Six per cent (three patients) said their personalities had changed, and attributed it to their new hearts.

Although the numbers are small, Liester said reports of personality changes after a heart transplant have existed for nearly 50 years. But he added that "this phenomenon has not been well researched and is not well understood."

He added "that neither the lack of an adequate explanatory model, nor doubts regarding the existence of such changes, disprove the occurrence of this experience."

A 2016 blog post by The University of Melbourne noted that many studies that examined this phenomenon were done with very small sample sizes, and sometimes with subjects chosen to support the researchers' bias.

And the discussion continues. In 2021, an article offered a "hypothetical explanation" of what it called an organ donor's "heart memory transfer" to some heart transplant recipients, citing the 1992 German study among others.

That said, McDonald acknowledged that a heart transplant is "one of the most transformative experiences somebody can go through."

"We hear … a lot when we're face-to-face with our patients about the different sensory and emotional, cognitive, personal experiences that they have after recovering from transplant," he said.
One of the most famous stories of the transplant-recipient experience comes from the late Claire Sylvia. Her 1997 memoir, A Change of Heart, was adapted into a 2002 film called Heart of a Stranger.

After her heart-lung transplant, she wrote that she felt as if "a second soul were sharing my body." She experienced new desires, including an appetite for beer, junk food and curvy blondes.

Five months after surgery, she dreamt about a tall, young man named Tim L.

"We kiss, and it feels like the deepest breath I have ever taken. And I know at that moment the two of us will be together forever," Sylvia wrote.

"I woke up knowing — really knowing — that Tim L. was my donor and that some parts of his spirit and personality were now in me."

She later discovered her donor's identity via a few details from her nurse, which she then used to find his newspaper obituary. Eventually, she located and visited Tim L.'s family. Their description of him matched the man she saw in her dream.

Sylvia sought help beyond her doctors, and consulted "open-minded scientists" who told her "cellular memory" was the cause of her new appetites and memories.

Since her transplant, Switzer has noticed other changes. For example, she went from not caring for the taste of pickles, to wanting them on all her hamburgers.

Switzer never met her donor. She was allowed to write a letter of gratitude to their family via the heart transplant clinic.

Still she strongly believes the changes she feels have something to do with her new heart.



Switzer has heard and considered the arguments — those that support, and those that cast some doubt on the strange phenomenon she says she experienced.

In the end, she doesn't believe anyone can truly speak to the heart-transplant-recipient experience except someone who has been through it.

"They can [only] speak to knowing of, but they can't speak to knowing, unless they've had that experience," she said.

[rflash8]

Google appears to add 'audio emoji' feature - including a fart button

Google Pixel phone users are noticing a new feature that allows them to fart, laugh and clap down the phone. The "audio emojis" are getting a mixed reaction.



Google appears to be rolling out "audio emojis" to its phone users.

Some Google Pixel phone owners are noticing an option to send a reaction while on a call.

"I was on the phone and saw a new button come up... "Audio Emoji"??? I had to call my brother to test it out!" said one X user.

An accompanying video shows the feature in action. The "audio emoji" option swipes up to reveal six familiar emojis: laughing, clapping, celebrating, a drum, crying and... the poo emoji.

When a user taps the emojis, they play a corresponding sound down the phone.



Some of the matching sounds are obvious - clapping is clapping, laughing is laughing, the drum makes a 'badum tish' sound. And, somewhat inevitably, the poo emoji makes a fart noise.

The update, which appears to just be being tested as it isn't rolled out to all users, has been met with mixed reactions.

"Did anyone ask for this? No. Am I still gonna use it? Yes," said one Reddit user. Others were less entertained.

"If you ask me, they should focus on improving things," one person posted on X.

"Imagine you are calling your friend after getting fired and talking to him about the stress you are going through, and suddenly, your friend starts playing weird audio emoji sounds," another posted on Reddit.

One Reddit user, SohipX, did have an idea of how to put the poo emoji to good use.

"The fart sound is a great idea... I could use it with scam calls!"

Sky News has approached Google for more information.

[Alessa9]

Taiwanese student wins 1st place at US balloon twisting championship

Yen also won 3rd place Qualatex Color Quest: Chartreuse competition with his piece titled 'Parrot'


First Place entry by Yen Jui-chun titled “Alligator.”

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A high school student from Taichung won first and third place at a U.S. balloon twisting competition last week.

Yen Jui-chun (顏睿軍), a high school sophomore from Taichung, took first place in the Qualatex Color Quest: Cactus competition with an entry titled “Alligator,” the company said on Friday (April 25). Yen also won third place in the Qualatex Color Quest: Chartreuse competition with his piece titled “Parrot.”

Yen's winning balloon sculpture is a cartoonish alligator with crossed eyes, protruding teeth, and a scaly body holding a blue toothbrush with pink toothpaste. In its Facebook of Yen's win, Qualatex said, “We just can't get over all the different techniques used here! And he keeps his teeth clean!”

The artist regularly shares his balloon creations on social media and serves as a moderator on the Balloon board on the PTT online forum. He has been interested in balloons since he was four years old and started learning balloon twisting on his own, reported CNA.

Four years ago, Yen began to connect online with balloon artists worldwide.

Yen posted on Threads Sunday (April 28) that he had wanted to participate in this competition before, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the competition had been suspended for several years. This year, he signed up for three categories.

Having won two prizes, Yen thanked his friends “who have silently supported me along the way." He also vowed to continue working hard to "showcase Taiwan to the world."

The artist said his inspiration for the alligator came from the illustrated book “The Crocodile and the Dentist,” by Japanese illustrator Gomi Taro.


Yen with one of his other balloon creations.


Third place entry of Yen titled “Parrot.”

[Misstee]

Scientists identify ‘degrees of Kevin Bacon’ gene


By Katie Hunt, CNN
4 minute read
Published 1:37 PM EDT, Thu May 2, 2024


Actor Kevin Bacon, shown attending the premiere of Netflix's "Leave the World Behind," has inspired the name of a gene that influences social networks in fruit flies.
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP



Many species of animals form social groups and behave collectively: An elephant herd follows its matriarch, flocking birds fly in unison, humans gather at concert events. Even humble fruit flies organize themselves into regularly spaced clusters, researchers have found.

Within those social networks, certain individuals will often stand out as “gatekeepers,” playing an important role for cohesion and communication within that group.

And now, scientists believe there is evidence that how central you are to your social network, a concept they call “high betweenness centrality,” could have a genetic basis. New research published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications has identified a gene responsible for regulating the structure of social networks in fruit flies.

The study’s authors named the gene in question “degrees of Kevin Bacon,” or dokb, after a game that requires players to link celebrities to actor Bacon in as few steps as possible via the movies they have in common.

Inspired by “six degrees of separation,” the theory that nobody is more than six relationships away from any other person in the world, the game became a viral phenomenon three decades ago.

Senior author Joel Levine, a professor of biology at the University of Toronto who went to high school with Bacon in Philadelphia, said the actor was a good human example of “high betweenness centrality.”

Aware of Levine’s link with Bacon, study lead author Rebecca Rooke, a postdoctoral fellow of biology at the University of Toronto Mississauga, suggested the gene’s name.

“The degrees of separation is a real-world thing for us,” Levine said.

Having high measures of centrality in a group network can be positive or negative, Levine explained.

“Patterns of sharing and communication can be absolutely wonderful,” he said. “You also have patterns that contribute to the spread of lethal diseases and infectious diseases, but the structure of the group is the same structure. It’s not a good or a bad or a positive or a negative.”

Levine said that the “degrees of Kevin Bacon” gene was specific to fruit flies’ central nervous systems, but he thought similar genetic pathways would exist in other animals, including humans. The study opened up new opportunities for exploring the molecular evolution of social networks and collective behavior in other animals.


A male fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is shown on rotting bananas.
FLPA/Shutterstock

The gene behind fruit fly social networks

The researchers investigated a number of gene candidates in fruit flies, a common lab organism used in the study of genetics.

“We found two versions of the dokb gene and one version produces networks with high betweenness centrality and the other version produces networks with low betweenness centrality,” Levine said.

“A network with a high average betweenness centrality indicates there are individuals in the network important for the flow of information from one part of the network to other parts.”

The team used gene-editing techniques to knock out and swap these distinct variants to see what happened among different strains of flies. This exchange influenced the patterns of interaction among a network of flies, with a social group taking on the pattern of the donor variant.

“The difference that we would see is a difference in group cohesion. It’s not a difference that you would see with your naked eye,” Levine said.

If you observe video footage of fruit flies in a dish in the lab, Levine said they appear to interact with one another, forming repeatable patterns specific to different strains that can be analyzed statistically.

“What we know is that there’s a repeatable structure to the groups that they’re in,” Levine said. “And we imagine that those structures facilitate how they live.”

In nature, fruit flies show group behavior when laying eggs and encountering predators, Levine said.

“In our paper, we don’t actually characterize what is flowing through the network, so it is hard to speculate what advantages/disadvantages there are to flies who form these different patterns of interaction,” he explained in an email.

“However, we do show that the two different dokb variants exist in several wild strains of flies spanning the globe and that one of these variants correlates with low elevation environments,” Levine said. “Perhaps in low elevations, certain patterns of interaction are advantageous? Again, we don’t directly test this, so it is just speculation.”

Allen J. Moore, a distinguished research professor at the University of Georgia’s department of entomology, said in an email that the research was “careful work” and he agreed with the findings.

“Although a first step — and we (and they) don’t know exactly how it works — it is fascinating to find a single gene that influences social cohesion,” said Moore, who wasn’t involved in the research but reviewed the paper before publication.
What fruit flies and humans share in common

Drosophila melanogaster, best known for hovering around fruit bowls, has been a model organism to explore genetics for more than 100 years. The insects breed quickly and are easy to keep.

While flies are very different from humans, the creatures have long been central to biological and genetic discovery.

“Fruit flies are useful because of the power of manipulation. We can investigate things experimentally in Drosophila that we can only examine indirectly in most organisms,” Moore said.

The tiny creatures share nearly 60% of our genes, including those responsible for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer and heart disease. Research involving fruit flies has previously shed light on the mechanisms of inheritance, circadian rhythms and mutation-causing X-rays.

Revolutionary New ‘Living Plastic’ That Could Slash Damage to the Environment Developed by California Researchers


Thermoplastic polyurethane pellets (left) and Bacillus subtilis spores (right) – Photos by David Baillot/UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering

Scientists believe they’ve found a way to make plastics more durable and biodegradable by adding bacterial spores that have been put through evolutionary rigors.

This kind of “living plastic” can break down in about five months without the necessary addition of any other microbes.

Researchers led by scientists at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) created this living plastic in the form of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), a soft but durable commercial plastic used in footwear, floor mats, cushions, and memory foam.

They explained that the material is filled with bacterial spores that, when exposed to nutrients present in compost, germinate and break it down at the end of its life cycle.

The biodegradable TPU was made with bacterial spores from a strain of Bacillus subtilis that has the ability to break down plastic polymer materials.

“It’s an inherent property of these bacteria,” said study co-senior author Professor Jon Pokorski, of UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. “We took a few strains and evaluated their ability to use TPUs as a sole carbon source, then picked the one that grew the best.”

The research team used bacterial spores, a dormant form of bacteria, due to their resistance to harsh environmental conditions.

Pokorski explained that unlike fungal spores, which serve a reproductive role, bacterial spores have a protective “protein shield” that enables bacteria to survive while in a vegetative state.

To make the biodegradable plastic, the researchers fed Bacillus subtilis spores and TPU pellets into a plastic extruder. The ingredients were mixed and melted at over 200°F, then extruded as thin strips of plastic.

To assess the material’s biodegradability, the strips were placed in both microbially active and sterile compost environments. Prof Pokorski said the compost setups were maintained at around 100°F with a relative humidity ranging from 44 to 55%.

Water and other nutrients in the compost triggered germination of the spores within the plastic strips, which reached 90% degradation within five months.

“What’s remarkable is that our material breaks down even without the presence of additional microbes. Chances are, most of these plastics will likely not end up in microbially rich composting facilities,” said Professor Pokorski.

“So this ability to self-degrade in a microbe-free environment makes our technology more versatile.”


Study co-first author Han Sol Kim, a postdoctoral fellow in Pokorski’s lab, tests the stretchability and strength of the living plastic credit – David Baillot


Although the researchers still need to study what gets left behind after the material degrades, they believe that any lingering bacterial spores are likely harmless.

Pokorski explained that Bacillus subtilis is a strain used in probiotics that’s generally regarded as safe to humans and animals and can even be beneficial to plant health.

For the study, published in the journal Nature Communications, the bacterial spores were evolutionary nudged to adapt to the hot temperatures necessary for manufacturing the TPU. The strains that survive this process are then isolated and put through the cycle again.

“We continually evolved the cells over and over again until we arrived at a strain that is optimized to tolerate the heat,” said study co-senior author Dr. Adam Feist, a bioengineering research scientist at UCSD. “It’s amazing how well this process of bacterial evolution and selection worked for this purpose.”

He said the spores also serve as a strengthening filler, similar to how rebar reinforces concrete, resulting in a TPU variant with enhanced mechanical properties—requiring more force to break and showing greater stretchability.

“This is great because the addition of spores pushes the mechanical properties beyond known limitations where there was previously a trade off between tensile strength and stretchability,” said Pokorski.

The research team is now working on optimizing the approach for use on an industrial scale.

“There are many different kinds of commercial plastics that end up in the environment – TPU is just one of them.” said Dr. Feist. “One of our next steps is to broaden the scope of biodegradable materials we can make with this technology.”

More markets looking to utilize this, and other forms of similar technology, the question will always be how expensive it is to make. Plastics are mass-produced, and anything that breaks down will have to be priced at an acceptable mark-up and produced in bulk for this and other biodegradable plastics to catch on.

[goldie0608]

Man Tries to Board Flight with Snakes in His Pants at Miami Airport

The snakes were discovered by Transportation Security Administration officials on Friday, April 26



A plane flying out of Miami International Airport almost had a group of slithery travelers onboard.

Transportation Security Administration officials announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, that a bag of snakes was found hidden in a passenger's pants at a checkpoint on Friday, April 26.

The passenger, identified as a man by WBBH-TV, hid the snakes in a small green camo bag. TSA officials gave a glimpse of the bag through three different photos included in the post.

One of the photos showed two pink snakes crawling around the exterior of the bag with white packaging material around them.

According to the announcement, officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Miami-Dade Police Department were called to the scene, and the snakes were turned over to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

WFTV reported that the passenger was attempting to go on an international flight, and was denied boarding after the snakes were found. PEOPLE has reached out to the Miami-Dade Police Department for comment.

The U.S. Department of Transportation explains on its website that "federal and state governments impose restrictions on transporting live animals. In addition, each airline establishes its own company policy for the proper handling of the animals they transport."

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) advises pet owners to purchase flights with fewer connections or layovers, allowing a smoother travel experience.

"Pick departure and arrival times to avoid extreme heat or cold. For example, planning a nighttime arrival to a hot destination may be better for your pet," the CDC adds on its website.

In a previous conversation with PEOPLE, Dr. Sarah Nold, an on-staff veterinarian for Trupanion, advised that the safest way to fly with pets is to be "prepared for any situation."

"Make sure your carrier is the proper size for your pet and durable. Call the airline to determine if your carrier/pet is approved for riding in the cabin or if they will have to go in cargo," continued Nold. "Keep in mind there may be maximum weight and minimum age requirements for traveling, these are usually enforced for the safety of your pet."

No More Yearly Flu Shots? Vaccine Mixed From 80,000 Proteins Could Be The Key

Today: ferrets. Tomorrow: the world?


Could these reminders become obsolete? Image credit: PhotobyTawat/Shutterstock.com

A new vaccine strategy could spell the end of yearly flu shots, by targeting part of the virus that is much less prone to mutations. So far, it’s worked well in mice and ferrets – could we soon be looking at a human equivalent?

Why do we need to get a flu vaccine every year?

Seasonal flu is responsible for roughly half a million deaths every year. It can be a very serious disease, and spreads easily between people, so vaccines that prime our immune system to recognize proteins on the virus’s surface are our best possible defense.

Unfortunately, the flu virus also has an irritating habit of mutating. A lot. That means we have to constantly update the vaccine to try and keep up. Each year, scientists study the trends from previous flu seasons and tailor the vaccine to the strains of virus they think will be most prevalent.

It's not a perfect system, and some year’s flu vaccines are better than others, but it does save lives.

What does the flu vaccine target?

The two major surface proteins on an influenza virus are called hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. The different types of these proteins give each strain a shorthand name – you may have heard of H5N1 or H1N1. The H, sometimes abbreviated to HA, is what we’re most interested in.

“On the virus particle, there's five to 10 times more hemagglutinin than neuraminidase,” said associate professor of molecular genetics and microbiology Nicholas Heaton in a statement. “If we took your blood to see if [you are] likely to be protected from a strain of flu, we'd be measuring what your antibodies do to hemagglutinin as the best metric of what's likely to happen to you.

“The strongest correlates of protection have to do with hemagglutinin-directed immunity.”

How is this new vaccine approach different?

“A number of groups have gone through and experimentally mutagenized the whole hemagglutinin and asked ‘which areas can change and still allow the hemagglutinin to function?’ And the answer is, you can't really change the stalk and expect it to continue to function,” Heaton said.

The “head” of the hemagglutinin protein is constantly changing as the virus is locked in an arms race with the human immune system. Heaton and the team came up with a way to get the immune system to shift its focus to a new target instead: the stalk.

The team generated some 80,000 different variants of hemagglutinin, each with small changes in one section at the top of the head. They mixed a vaccine cocktail of these variants and injected it into mice and ferrets. We don’t see ferrets cropping up in the lab all that often, but they’re a very good model organism for the study of influenza.

Because the hemagglutinin heads being presented to the immune system via the vaccine were all different, whereas the stalks were consistent, this altered the balance of antibodies being generated by the immune system.

Antibodies against the stalk of the protein work differently than those against the head. By creating a vaccine that generates both types of antibodies, Heaton and the team hoped to give the immune system a better chance even if the seasonal strains selected for the vaccine weren’t quite right, or in case a whole new pandemic strain should come along.

“Essentially, the paper says, Yes, we can accomplish that,” said Heaton.

What were the results?

Well, they were pretty impressive. In some of the mouse experiments, 100 percent of the animals avoided illness or death when given a dose of flu that should have been fatal. Across the ferret experiments, the animals given the new vaccine had less severe illness than those given an old-style shot.

However, it’s a little early to get excited. If you want up-to-date protection, you’re going to be scheduling in that annual shot for a good few years yet.

One of the important caveats the authors note in their paper is that the animals they used had no pre-existing immunity to flu. This is not the case for pretty much every human who is not a newborn baby, so it will be important to find out how this approach works in people with a history of previous vaccine or illness.

They also only used one specific type of hemagglutinin, and as we know there are many others out there. More work is needed to completely tease apart the mechanism by which the vaccine prevented serious disease in the animals, and the scientists are also keen to find out whether it can work with fewer than 80,000 different variants.


Ferrets and flu go back a long way – it's thanks to them that we first discovered the virus in 1933.
Image credit: Yipu Lin (WHO Influenza Centre)/NIMR London via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

All of these questions will hopefully be answered in future studies, and human trials would of course be needed before you could rock up to Walgreens and get your universal flu shot. The results form part of a five-year project – these things are marathons, not sprints.

We might have allowed ourselves to forget, just for a second, what flu can do while our attention was necessarily focused on COVID-19. But with H5N1 avian flu making concerning moves, and this year’s annual season already underway in the Southern Hemisphere, it’s good to think that the universal vaccine we’ve been hoping for is a step closer to fruition.

The study is published in Science Translational Medicine. (paywalled)

New viral trend in China shows coffee being made with spring onions
Source: MSNews


The new coffee-with-anything trend has taken China by storm.

Coffee made with spring onions becomes popular in China

In recent years, there has been a wave of “speciality” coffee trends in mainland China, ranging from coffee-infused rice, oyster coffee, and soy sauce lattes, to Luckin Coffee’s sauce-flavoured latte.

Now, a new “scallion latte” has gained popularity online, sparking discussions on whether spring onion is a suitable ingredient and whether it would ruin the drink.

Netizens call it dark cuisine

As demonstrated in several viral videos, the drink is made by putting chopped spring onions at the bottom of a cup. The maker then adds ice cubes, pours in milk, adds coffee, and finishes by sprinkling chopped scallions on top as decoration.

View how it's prepared on Instagram

Some netizens were amused, saying they never thought that they would some day have to specify that their coffee order had to come without onions, reports NOW News.

“Can everything be turned into a latte?” another netizen questioned.


Image: Yahoo新聞

According to Enanyang, there have been “dark cuisine” trends going on in China. Dark cuisine, or hei an liao li, loosely means food that puts one’s sensibilities to the test.

Typically, it comprises food combinations that are bizarre and challenge conventional notions of what is considered appealing food.

There’s Guangdong’s oyster coffee, Ningxia’s beef broth latte, Shanghai cafes’ coffee-infused rice, soy sauce lattes, century eggs added to coffees and more.

Some netizens commented that the essence of these speciality coffees lies in turning the classic combination of “milk + coffee” into a “combination-free” mode.


Image: HK 01

Some impressed by its unique taste

According to Yahoo Taiwan, shops in China have started creating novel speciality drinks on social media for entertainment.

However; the unique taste of the speciality items could be a business opportunity, should people grow to like them.

Some readers say they found the scallion latte appealing, adding that they liked the unique taste.

However, others claim the drink made them lose their appetite.

[Zbignieww]

Airbnb host transformed scrap found in neighbour's garden into cosy 'tiny home'
The reconstruction is a sight to behold



An Airbnb host who found abandoned scrap metal in their neighbour's back garden has transformed it into the perfect Irish tiny home.

"Carriage No 223" was created out of a disused Irish goods carriage found by Airbnb host James who rescued the container from going to the scrapyard and turned it into a two-bed hideaway in Ballindereen, Galway.

He came across the structure while helping to clean out his neighbour's garden and immediately saw potential for an eco-friendly Airbnb tiny home.

Read more: Missed Galway restaurant closed for years replaced as well known brand opens in place

Showing photos of the carriage in its original form covered in ivy and weeds, he explained that it used to run on Irish railways from 1930 to 1970.

The home now looks worlds away from its initial state, as photos show how the space has been converted into the perfect pint-sized abode.

In the listing, James explains: "This is old Irish goods carriage which ran on Irish railways from 1930 to 1970 was rescued from a neighbour's back garden which I was helping to clean. It was covered in ivy, and weeds (see pics).

Join our Galway Beo breaking news service on WhatsApp

"In its reconstruction I have used about 90% recycled materials apart from the new electrical and plumbing fittings. Its hot water and heat is generated from solar panels, is a small with 2 beds for two people traveling the Atlantic way, or visiting Galway and Cliffs of Moher/Aran Islands."

At €80 a night, the space is perfect for those looking to get away in the countryside and be truly immersed in the Wild Atlantic Way.

Take a look around the Airbnb in our photo story below.

You can view the listing here.


The Airbnb is nestled amongst wildflowers in the heart of Galway countryside


The accommodation provides two single beds and a small kitchenette


The Airbnb captures the wildness of nature in Galway while being close to the city and many tourist spots


The accommodation opens up into a cosy space perfect for two people

https://www.galwaybeo.ie/news/ireland-n ... nd-9259211

[HogwartsExpress]

Harry Potter's Aunt Marge spotted floating in front of Tower Bridge


Aunt Marge was spotted floating in front of Tower Bridge, leaving passersby bemused as they tried to work out how the hefty character was suspended in mid-air


Londoners were left bemused after spotting Harry Potter’s Aunt Marge suspended in mid-air by Tower Bridge. The hefty replica played on the comical scene in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, where Harry Potter unintentionally casts an inflating charm on his Aunt Marge, causing her to inflate like a balloon and float away.

Weighing a staggering 95kgs, with a circumference spanning 11.7m, the bulging Aunt Marge appeared to be hovering in front of the iconic landmark. Coming in at 6.5 metres high, it took 40m3 of air to inflate the colossal figure - enough to fill 140 standard party balloons.

The skilled recreation took a total of 264 hours by a dedicated team of 16 people, including expert designers, artists and seamstresses. A staggering 46 hours were spent during the initial design and sketch process. While a further 18 hours were spent painting her head and hair, with 32 hours on stitching and sewing her clothes.

It was launched into the ether to mark the unveiling of a new Return to Azkaban feature at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - The Making of Harry Potter, which marks the 20th anniversary of the cinematic release of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Laura Sinclair-Lazell, head of show experience at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London, said: “Many fans are surprised to learn this popular scene wasn’t created using CGI in the films but in fact was created by our incredibly skilled filmmakers.”
During the original production of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the cast, camera and lighting departments, stunt players, make-up and special effects teams worked tirelessly together to create the magic that was the iconic floating departure of Aunt Marge from Privet Drive.



The costume department created 38 different tweed suits of varying sizes and shapes and there were four separate make-up stages as Aunt Marge got bigger.
Actress, Pam Ferris, also known for her role as Mrs Trunchbull in Matilda and played Harry’s grumbling aunt, spent over five hours in the make-up chair to prepare for the scene.
Her costume consisted of two bodysuits weighing 50 pounds each which were pumped by air tubes, paired with inflatable gloves and legs.
The actress and her body double were fitted with a flying harness suspended on two wire rigs that could lift, flip, and raise her with a separate rig to spin her around.
The special feature will be running from 1st May to 4th September and is included in the ticket price which must be prebooked in advance.
Laura Sinclair-Lazell added: “We’re thrilled that visitors can now come to the Studio Tour and learn more of the behind-the-scenes magic from the third film in the Harry Potter series.”

src: https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment ... arner-Bros

[johngriffen]

I sometimes get REALLY DEPRESSED reviewing the news these days.
It's always about a global pandemic threatening life as we know it,
protests around the world, stupid politicians, natural disasters,
or some other really bad story.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Welcome to The mobi weekly news magazine
IN OTHER NEWS
FRIDAY MAY 3
What is it?
Here is your chance to become an "ACE REPORTER" for our weekly news magazine.
It is your job to find weird, funny or "good feel" stories from around the world and share them with our readers in our weekly magazine

How do you play?
Just post a story that you have come across that made you smile, laugh, feel good...
BUT NOTHING DEPRESSING

EXAMPLE POST

​Naked sunbather chases wild boar through park after it steals his laptop bag

A naked sunbather was seen chasing wild boar through a park after it stole his laptop bag.
Amusing photographs from Germany show the man running after the animal to try and claim the plastic bag back.
But the cheeky boar and its two piglets appear to be too quick for the sunbather, who can't keep up with their speedy little trotters.
As the incident unfolds, groups of friends and family sat on the grass watch on and laugh.
Heads are seen turning in surprise and amusement in the hilarious photographs.
The incident happened at Teufelssee Lake - a bathing spot in the Grunwell Forest in Berlin, Germany.

Rules:
Each Edition of IN OTHER NEWS will be open for 7 days...
You can post as many stories as you like, but you will only get paid for One Story in any 24 hour period
So in other words, you can only earn WRZ$ once a day.
Each news day will start when I post announcing it
OR at:
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3:00 PM GMT (UTC -0)
on those days I space out and forget to post or can't due to Real Life
Stories may be accompanied with images - but No big images, please! 800x800 pixels wide maximum
Videos are allowed, but please keep them short, and post a short summary for those that don't like to click on videos
No Duplicate stories - Where a post has been edited resulting in duplicates, then the last one in time gets disallowed.
And please limit this to reasonably family friendly stories

Reward:
Each news story posted that I feel is acceptable (must be a real story, too few words or simply a headline are not considered acceptable) will earn you 50 WRZ$
If you post multiple stories on any given day, you will only earn 50 WRZ$ for the first story of the Day
All payments will be made at THE END of the weekly news cycle.
Special Bonus - Each week I will award "The Pulitzer Prize" for the best story of the week
The weekly winner of the "The Pulitzer Prize" will receive a 100 WRZ$ bonus
It's just my personal opinion, so my judgement is final

So help bring GOOD news to the members of mobi, and join our reporting team...

IN OTHER NEWS