Xi'an's Og

In this issue of Nature (I read on my way to Warwick), a pre-COP30 tribune, to be opposed to later issues!, with a positive take on the impact of the Trump Administration ignoring the conference, with the advances made by China and India (with a surprising 50% of “installed electricity generation capacity coming from non-fossil sources”, if more critical on Brazil’s efforts than the subsequent tribune by the Brazilian undersecretary for ecological transformation for environment, plus a tribune on the ambiguous terms used by countries to secure access to “critical” minerals, in tune with the on-going muscle-flexing attitudes of China and the US. Although the comment is more focussing on the universal access to minerals than to the protection of the workers extracting it and to the environmental impact of it. Followed though by another comment on the climate impact(s) on mining as (no longer) extreme weather events hinder mining all over the (mining) world.

A reflection on China’s 5y plan for science and its reaching a $500 billion annual investment in R&D, predicting (with a large confidence margin) that it will become the #1 power in sciences and technology in the coming decade. I am actually surprised that China has not yet achieved this goal for semi-conductors. And a tribune on the mixed signal of Takaichi Sanae becoming Japan’s first female prime minister, for science as a whole and for gender equity. (My take being that her having UK’s first female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, as a role-model is not particularly promising. Just like the projection of Marine Le Pen on the verge of becoming France’s first female president does not carry any optimistic message!)

A light entry on a chemical analysis of the specifics of koti luwak (or civet coffee) that does not tell much, beside civet  digestion  adding caprylic and capric acids making beans lower in proteïns and higher in fat. Not yet reaching the goal of “leaving the animals out” from producing this luxury coffee ($75 a cup!).

An article on the shrinking number of US PhD admissions (in some colleges) conflicting with another article in a later issue of a stable influx. And a rather shallow article on the creativity or lack thereof of AI, along with the high sycophancy of LLMs,  to be opposed to a thoughtful reflection on how AI is radically changing the PhD experience and focus, if almost shelving statistics as a thing from the past! But insisting on graduates keeping their ability to check for the validity of their (AI’s)  statistical conclusions!! And another entry on the systematic dismantling of US federal scientific agencies like EPA, CDC, NASA, NOOA, NIH, &tc., by Trump -2.0, which beyond terminating staff contracts in huge proportions is culling the independence of these agencies. With generational impacts on science, training, and evidence-based policies.

A Where I work column featuring a pangolin treated by a Singapore vet, Charlene Yeong. (Unfortunately said pangolin was euthanised after the surgical intervention.) And a book review on the background and motivations of Francis Crick,  just prior to his collaborator James Watson passing away. As noted by the author, Cobb, as MRC staff and later non-resident fellow of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego,  “Crick never had to teach or grapple with university administration: he applied for a grant only once in his life.” And concludes that he was not a saint or a hero but “an extraordinarily clever man with limits to his interests and perception”.