Precise Molecular Intervention.
An end to cancer.
News Items is “the most valuable newsletter out there.” — Peggy Noonan.
1. The Wall Street Journal:
A new study has found that patients who received mRNA Covid-19 vaccines while undergoing certain cancer treatments lived significantly longer than unvaccinated patients receiving the same treatments. What began with Operation Warp Speed has the potential to achieve something even more historic: an end to cancer.
Presidents from both parties have promised to wage a war on cancer, but progress has been slow and the results have fallen short of the rhetoric. With continued investment in mRNA research, Donald Trump could turn the stalemate against cancer into a decisive breakthrough.
That may sound ambitious, but it’s backed by compelling new data. Researchers at the University of Texas’ MD Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Florida have found that patients with non-small-cell lung cancer who received an mRNA Covid vaccine within 100 days of beginning immune checkpoint inhibitors had a median overall survival of 37.3 months—nearly double that of patients who didn’t receive the vaccine. (Source: wsj.com)
2. A Northwestern University team transformed a common chemotherapy drug into a powerful, targeted cancer therapy using spherical nucleic acids. The redesign dramatically boosted drug absorption and cancer-killing power while avoiding side effects. This innovation may usher in a new era of precision nano-medicine for cancer and beyond. The research paper is here. (Sources: sciencedaily.com, pubs.acs.org)
3. Virginia Tech researchers have shown that memory loss in aging may be reversible. Using CRISPR tools, they corrected molecular disruptions in the hippocampus and amygdala, restoring memory in older rats. Another experiment revived a silenced memory gene, IGF2, through targeted DNA methylation editing. These findings highlight that aging brains can regain function through precise molecular intervention. (Sources: news.vt.edu, sciencedaily.com)
4. The number of Chinese scientists taking on leadership roles in international science projects is growing rapidly. They now lead more than half of all research projects with the United Kingdom, and are expected to lead an equal number of projects with Europe and with the United States in the next couple of years, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last week. (Sources: nature.com, pnas.org)
5. Three Chinese astronauts, or taikonauts, have been temporarily stranded in space after their return capsule was struck by a piece of suspected “space junk” hours before it was due to depart. Officials are investigating exactly what happened, but so far, there is no indication of how much damage the craft sustained or when the crew will return to Earth. The taikonaut trio — Wang Jie, Chen Zhongrui and Chen Dong, collectively known as the Shenzhou-20 crew — has been living on China’s Tiangong space station since April 24. They were due to return to Earth Wednesday (Nov. 5) following a successful handover period with the Shenzhou-21 crew, who arrived on the station on Halloween (Oct. 31). (Source: livescience.com)
6. China has issued dollar bonds at rates equivalent to US Treasury yields, in what bankers on the deal said was the first time Beijing’s borrowing costs have matched Washington’s. The bond offering is the latest example of countries taking advantage of being able to issue international debt cheaply, as their borrowing costs in relation to US Treasuries fall to some of the lowest levels on record. (Source: ft.com)
7. James Somers:
The science-fiction author William Gibson is said to have observed that the future is already here, just not evenly distributed—which might explain why A.I. seems to have minted two cultures, one dismissive and the other enthralled. In our daily lives, A.I. “agents” that can book vacations or file taxes are a flop, but I have colleagues who compose much of their code using A.I. and sometimes run multiple coding agents at a time. Models sometimes make amateur mistakes or get caught in inane loops, but, as I’ve learned to use them effectively, they have allowed me to accomplish in an evening what used to take a month. Not too long ago, I made two iOS apps without knowing how to make an iOS app. (Sources: jsomers.net, newyorker.com)
8. Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang has warned that China will beat the US in the artificial intelligence race, thanks to lower energy costs and looser regulations. In the starkest comments yet from the head of the world’s most valuable company, Huang told the FT: “China is going to win the AI race.” The Nvidia chief said that the west, including the US and UK, was being held back by “cynicism”. “We need more optimism,” Huang said on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Financial Times’ Future of AI Summit. Huang singled out new rules on AI by US states that could result in “50 new regulations”. He contrasted that approach with Chinese energy subsidies that made it more affordable for local tech companies to run Chinese alternatives to Nvidia’s AI chips. “Power is free,” he said. (Source: ft.com)
9. Apple Inc. is planning to pay about $1 billion a year for an ultrapowerful 1.2 trillion parameter artificial intelligence model developed by Alphabet Inc.’s Google that would help run its long-promised overhaul of the Siri voice assistant, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Following an extensive evaluation period, the two companies are now finalizing an agreement that would give Apple access to Google’s technology. (Source: bloomberg.com)
10. China has unveiled critical details of a revolutionary cargo ship under development: a nuclear-powered vessel that can carry 14,000 standard shipping containers. But what makes this ship truly groundbreaking is that it will be powered by a thorium-based molten salt reactor (TMSR) with a thermal output of 200 megawatts – matching the power level of the S6W pressurized water reactor used in the US Navy’s most advanced Seawolf-class nuclear attack submarines.Unlike traditional nuclear reactors that rely on uranium and require massive cooling systems and high-pressure containment, this new Chinese reactor uses thorium, a safer, more abundant and proliferation-resistant nuclear fuel. And critically, the reactor does not need water for cooling, allowing it to be smaller, quieter and inherently safer than conventional designs. (Source: scmp.com)
11. John Lanchester:
The truth is that shipping is responsible, as Rose George put it in the subtitle of her classic 2013 book on the subject, for ‘90 Per Cent of Everything’. It is the physical equivalent of the internet, the other industry which makes globalisation possible. The internet abolishes national boundaries for information, news, data; shipping abolishes these boundaries for physical goods. The main way it does this is by being almost incomprehensibly efficient and cheap. As George points out, if you’re having a sweater shipped from the other side of the planet, the cost of shipping adds just a cent to the price. Another way of putting it would be to say that shipping is, in practice, free. This has had the effect of abolishing geography and location as an economic factor: moving stuff from A to B is so cheap that, for most goods, there is no advantage in siting manufacturing anywhere near your customers. Instead, you make whatever it is where it’s cheapest, and ship it to them instead. As Marc Levinson wrote in The Box (2006), his unexpectedly thrilling book about the container industry, shipping is so cheap it has ‘changed the shape of the world economy’. (Source: lrb.co.uk)
12. William Galston:
The loss of 5.7 million manufacturing jobs between January 2001 and January 2010 helped fuel the discontent that sparked the tea party and set the stage for the election of Donald Trump in 2016. It may now be the white-collar sector’s turn to bear the brunt of economic dislocation. If millions of college graduates end up unemployed or underemployed within the next few years, a new political eruption seems likely. We may already be seeing its beginning in New York City with Zohran Mamdani’s appeal to young voters. There’s nothing more politically potent than disappointed expectations. (Source: wsj.com. Swami wrote about this very subject back in August)
Quick Links: FAA orders 10% cut in flights at several airports as shutdown drags on. How Saudi Arabia’s Neom dream unravelled. Have the chicken: Tariffs on pasta from Italy could soon soar to more than 100%. Milei defies calls to float Argentine peso freely. Countries hoping for better relations with the U.S. in the Trump era could learn from Pakistan’s playbook. Alex Ovechkin continues to make history, becoming first NHL player to score 900 goals.
Political Links: Amy Howe: Supreme Court appears dubious of Trump’s tariffs. Opponents of Trump’s tariffs had a good day at the Supreme Court. Trump goes on a posting frenzy a day after Democrats win key elections. The New Yorker gives Mayor-elect Zorham Mamdani a mash note for the ages. Trump vs. Mamdani: The showdown to come. Mr. Mamdani appointed former FTC Chair Lina Khan as co-chair of his transition team. Mamdani thinks he has “a mandate to deliver on the agenda that we ran on.” Rule #1 of mandates: 50.4% of the vote is not a mandate. Democrats in Virginia exceeded their own expectations Tuesday. They’re preaching restraint. Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger received 57% of the vote in Virginia. Republicans point fingers after their losses, but not at Trump. Great Swami and Joe Klein chew over the off-year election results. Elections in India’s poorest state put Modi’s party to the test. Smart piece by Larry Summers: “The China Economic Challenge.”
Science/Technology Links: The UAE is winning the race to sequence an entire country’s DNA. Quantinuum today unveiled Helios, its third-generation quantum computer. It is said to be on the path to unravelling superconductivity. ChatGPT does not have an inner life. Yet it seems to know what it’s talking about. Wired’s Steven Levy: The man who invented AGI saw it as a threat. AI power users are impressing bosses and leaving co-workers in the dust. AI is accelerating Tech giants’ dominance of the ad market. Reading a person’s mind is now one step closer to reality. How your brain creates ‘Aha’ moments and why they stick. New ‘plug-and-play’ cell design could revolutionize cancer immunotherapy. MIT study finds targets for a new tuberculosis vaccine. Can AI help to save endangered birds?
War: Putin signals Russia may start nuclear weapons tests in response to Trump. Russia and Ukraine say their forces are locked in fierce fighting in the ruins of Pokrovsk. Ukraine must choose between saving territory or its men in Pokrovsk fight. North Korea is reportedly deploying additional troops to support roles in the Russian rear. Russian forces continue to commit war crimes against Ukrainian civilians.