Archive for potatoes

Nature’s menu [12 March 2026]

Posted in Kids, pictures with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 26, 2026 by xi'an


In this issue with a nutrition highlight, some recommendations for healthier options, not particularly surprising:

  • “Morning coffee seems best for heart health“, based on a large longitudinal US study, even though “relationship between coffee consumption and health is unclear”, and especially since this does not impact all-day coffee (and tea?) drinkers.
  • “Go vegan for the gut microbiome“, again based on a relatively large metagenomics study (in the US, the UK, and Italy). Omnivorous get the most diverse microbiomes, but red-meat eaters produce some species linked with IBD and cancers, while vegans host more beneficial bacteria with anti-inflammatory impact. Dairy eaters are also (unsurprisingly) associated with healthier microbiomes. And a connected article in this volume on how changes in the microorganisms in the guts contribute to cognitive decline.
  • “The quest for proteins“, associating the hormone FGF21 as an endocrine signal of protein deprivation, and hence justifying our craving for protein-loaded food. Without concluding at its health consequences.
  • “Sugar rationing reduced diabetes and high blood pressure“, really?! Reminiscing of the post-war (WWII) years in the UK when sugar was rationed. And surveying people born before and after the rationing about their diabetes and hypertension patterns. (Guess what?!)
  • “Ditch the fries, not the mash” as a recommendation to eat potatoes despite the high sugar content of this starchy root (which I very rarely consume, even less in the fried format!). Again based on a huge longitudinal study of 5.2 million people years! The conclusion is still that “replacing total potatoes (…) with whole grains was associated with a lower risk of [type 2 diabetes],”

And a shorter list of recommendations for skin care, away from influencers! Like applying sunscreen, eating a nutrient-dense diet, using a simple, well-balanced moisturizer. Apart from these servings, a continuation of themes met in previous issues

  • an editorial on the three recipients of the 2026 Sony Women in Technology Award with Nature, as part of a series of remarkable women scientists, on the occasion of the International Women’s Day, Xiwen Gong at the University of Michigan, Ellen Roche at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Zhen Xu at the University of Michigan, with a rather un-international location
  • yet another tribune on Epstein!, calling for stricter rules on private funding of research,
  • and yet another on stopping the use of AI in war, which has about as much chance to be heeded as a call to stop the wars (alas!),
  • two further wishful opinion articles calling for action against Trump 2.0, with lots of must and can, but little consideration for the negligence of the rule of law by Agent Orange and his administration…

And an article on how Pokémons inspired future scientists, especially those involved in collecting and classifying.

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a journal of the conquest, war, famine, and death year

Posted in Books, Kids, pictures, Statistics, Travel, University life with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 22, 2023 by xi'an

Read [on the way back home (and during the following jet-lagged nights)] the Ninth Rain and its sequel the Bitter Twins, by Jen Williams, for which she won twice a British Fantasy Award. I am twice as surprised given that it is quite a poor series, with a simplistic approach to its world building, a dreary time-line  repeating the all-too-common pattern of a very few individuals saving the planet from a recurrent alien invasion, and bickering about mundane issues like clothes or food while facing an alien invasion. The only thing I appreciated was the character of Vintage (!), both vignerone and femme savante. But I particularly disliked the mix of fantasy (kingdoms and a mostly primitive society) and science-fiction (spaceships, magic-driven trains). The cliffhanging final chapter of the Ninth Rain was rather predictable and the inconsistency in the character psychology a major flaw. The second volume is even poorer, with new major elements of the world being suddenly revealed, more bickering/whining, and even less consistency… I had also brought west the massive Les Furtifs by Alain Damasio, which I bought in De Gaulle airport months ago. But I just could not finish it, due to both the pretentious if clever style and the charicaturesque depiction of rebels within a highly numeric capitalistic society.

Came home to solve electrical problems (by calling the right company!), harvest the very first harvest of potatoes [a small basket amounting to more than my yearly consumption], and clean the garden to try to reduce the population of mosquitoes that exploded this (wet) summer. Due to the hot weather, cooked very little, having instead all sorts of salads, including a refreshing radish marinade vaguely inspired by Murakami.

Watched the (short) second season of D.P., a Korean series on the pursuit of deserters from the Korean Army (during their military service). Rather a serialised movie since the story sketches over the six episodes, quite dark in its depiction of hazing within the troops and cover-ups by the hierarchy. Despite strongly unrealistic situations, as e.g. at the end, I rather enjoyed it, in part because of its criticism of the Korean institutions, stronger than in other series.

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potato tomato [w/o ABC]

Posted in Books, pictures, Statistics with tags , , , , , , on July 8, 2022 by xi'an

“The default parameter of KaKs_Calculator was set to estimate the Ka/Ks values, which means that the Ka/Ks value was the average of the output from 15 available algorithms comprising 7 original approximate methods and one maximum likelihood method.”

In their analysis of the philogenic evolution of the potato species, the Nature authors resort to a multiple analysis (à la EJ!) in the above sense, by averaging several results. I remain puzzled by the approach that treats all methods on an equal basis, without trying to ascertain precision and bias by X validation or other tools. (Approximate Bayesian Computing was not used as one of the methods.)

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