7 News Stories: Prog Dem Shrewsbury for Manchin Seat, Cicadas Invade, Robot Dogs w Guns, CO2 Removal, Cancer Vax..
Last edited Mon May 13, 2024, 08:51 PM - Edit history (1)
'7 Stories to Know: A Progressive for Mancin's Seat, Robot Dogs and Cicadas,' Daily Kos, May 13, 2024, by Mark Sumner. - Edited -
["7 stories to know” is a new Monday series on topics that may have been ignored in the crush of recent news, or have continued to evolve over the weekend. Focus on health, science and climate coverage that frequently takes 2nd chair, plus information from local sources that the national media may have overlooked.]
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1. Zach Shrewsbury, West Virginia Democratic Senate Candidate, 32 year old Marine veteran. The progressive, clean-energy candidate running to replace Joe Manchin. There aren’t many states with recent voting records as blood red as West Virginia. That would seem to make a Democratic senator a much-appreciated anomaly. But while Joe Manchin has helped Democrats maintain control of the Senate, he has often served as a stumbling block for even moderate legislation, and either forced concessions to protect his personal interests or blocked passage of critical legislation.
..The Democratic primary in West Virginia is this Tuesday. Shrewsbury will face off against Machin’s hand-picked successor, Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliot...
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2. The Cicada Invasion Is Underway. At the moment, they are rare. A few early bugs have started to burrow their way out of the ground, climb up trees and structures, and sing their hearts out for potential mates who are still largely taking a dirt nap. But within the next few weeks, “few” is going to change to “many.” Oh. So. Many. Different groups of cicadas emerge in different years and remain in the ground for different periods. What makes 2024 extra special is the overlap between the widespread 13-year Brood XIX and the 17-year Brood XIII...
* Map of Cicada Broods
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3. Marines testing robot dogs armed with rifles.
As it turns out, the biggest thing that the “Terminator” movies got wrong was the number of feet. Ars Technica reports that the Marine Forces Special Operations Command is currently testing a new generation of robot dogs. Unlike the ones you may have seen from Boston Dynamics, these dogs don’t dance, and they don’t have a funky hand on top of their heads. What they have is guns. Guns that are aimed using AI to select targets...
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4. Two systems vie for the best way to remove CO2 from the atmosphere
Right now, the prospect of staying within the guidelines for atmospheric carbon dioxide is bleak. Despite everything that’s been tried so far, 2023 set a record for emissions from fossil fuels as the global crisis gets worse by the day. But even as more CO2 is being released into the atmosphere, scientists are working to find new ways to get it out...
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5. First human trials of new mRNA vaccine show progress against Glioblastoma
For years, mRNA vaccines languished in testing, working their way through the layers of evidence required by the FDA before approving such a radically new technology. Then COVID-19 came along, and in the race to create a vaccine the last of those layers were sliced away.
Since then, there have been encouraging developments using mRNA vaccines to attack difficult medical problems, but few have made it into human trials. That’s not the case with this paper from Cell, which reports results that could point the way to a breakthrough...
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/5/13/2240030/-7-stories-to-know-A-progressive-for-Manchin-s-seat-robot-dogs-and-Cicadas
