Tag: Americas

The creation of a chimeric monkey with glowing fingers and eyes is a scientific breakthrough, according to researchers in China.

The chimera was created using embryo from female crab-eating macaque and cells genetically modified to display a green glow.

BYPASS THE CENSORS

Sign up to get unfiltered news delivered straight to your inbox.

You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

However, the chimeric monkey was incredibly sick and had to be put down.

Infowars has the story: Science journal Nature reported the groundbreaking birth of the unique long-tailed macaque involved injecting an embryo with genetically distinct cells:

Scientists have produced an infant ‘chimeric’ monkey by injecting a monkey embryo with stem cells from a genetically distinct donor embryo. The resulting animal is the first live-born chimeric primate to have a high proportion of cells originating from donor stem cells.

Nature reports the advancement will help future researchers who can use the chimeric monkeys as guinea pigs due to their genetic similarities to humans:

The finding, reported today in Cell, opens the door to using chimeric monkeys, which are more biologically similar to humans than are chimeric rats and mice, for studying human diseases and developing treatments, says stem-cell biologist Miguel Esteban at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Guangzhou, a co-author of the study.

The chimera was created using an embryo from a female crab-eating macaque and cells genetically modified to display the green glow.

Meanwhile, the researchers extracted embryonic stem cells from one-week-old cynomolgus embryos and genetically edited the cells to display a green fluorescent signal. To grow the stem cells in the laboratory, the team finetuned the nutrients and growth-promoting proteins in the liquid in which the stem cells were grown. They then injected up to 20 green embryonic stem cells into each of the recipient embryos, yielding 74 chimeric embryos with a strong fluorescent signal.

The embryos were then implanted into surrogate female monkeys.

These embryos were implanted into 40 surrogate female monkeys. Just 12 surrogates became pregnant, and only one gave birth to a live chimeric monkey, a male that was later euthanized.

Unfortunately, the chimeric monkey was incredibly sick and later had to be put down.

But the monkey chimaera had to be euthanized when it was only ten days old because of hypothermia and breathing difficulties, highlighting the need for further optimization of the approach and raising ethical concerns, say researchers.

The monkey’s condition indicates the donor cells may not have been a correct match:

The low birth rate of chimeric monkeys and the poor health of the one survivor suggest that the donor embryonic stem cells did not perfectly match the developmental state of the recipient embryo, says reproductive biologist Zhen Liu at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai. The team plans to optimize this in future, he adds.

While scientists playing God sounds incredibly terrifying, researchers say the procedure “might be used to grow human organs in pig or non-human primate tissues.”

“If we can delete the genes encoding for, say, the kidney, in a large animal such as a pig or primate, we could introduce human cells to produce that organ instead,” explained Shoukhrat Mitalipov, the director of the Oregon Health & Science University Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy.

Sure — let us know when you have a chimeric monkey that can live longer than 10 days.

Latest posts by Niamh Harris (see all)

A state of emergency has been declared in Iceland after thousands of tremors raised fears of a volcanic eruption.

A series of powerful earthquakes rocked the country’s southwestern Reykjanes peninsula, signalling that there was an increased likelihood of a volcanic eruption in the region.

BYPASS THE CENSORS

Sign up to get unfiltered news delivered straight to your inbox.

You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

The Icelandic Met Office (IMO) warned that an eruption could take place “in several days”.

According to the IMO, Since late October, 24,000 tremors have been registered on the peninsula, and “a dense swarm” of nearly 800 quakes registered between midnight and 2pm GMT on Friday.

Sky news reports: Authorities have ordered thousands living in the southwestern town of Grindavik to evacuate as a precaution and have closed the nearby Blue Lagoon tourist attraction.

The area around Mount Thorbjorn on the Reykjanes Peninsula has been shaken by hundreds of small earthquakes every day for more than two weeks due to a build-up of volcanic magma – molten rock – around three miles (5km) underground.

Land in the region has risen by 9cm (3.5in) since the end of October, according to the Icelandic Met Office (IMO).

Scientists are closely monitoring the situation for any indication the seismic activity is getting closer to the surface.

Iceland, which sits above a volcanic hotspot in the North Atlantic, averages an eruption every four to five years.

The most disruptive in recent times was the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which spewed huge clouds of ash into the atmosphere and led to widespread airspace closures over Europe.

The Reykjanes Peninsula on Iceland’s southwestern coast includes a volcanic system that has erupted three times since 2021, after being dormant for 800 years.

The evacuation of Grindavik came after the IMO warned “significant changes have occurred in the seismic activity” and that magma could have extended under the town, which is located about 33 miles (53km) from the capital Reykjavik.

The IMO said: “At this stage, it is not possible to determine exactly whether and where magma might reach the surface.”

Latest posts by Niamh Harris (see all)

The Colombian government has begun the process of formally bringing war crime charges against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for committing ‘crimes against humanity’ in the Gaza Strip.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced on X on Thursday that his foreign minister Alvaro Leyva would meet with the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday to criminally prosecute Netanyahu over “the massacre of the Palestinian people’s children and civilians he has caused.”

BYPASS THE CENSORS

Sign up to get unfiltered news delivered straight to your inbox.

You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

Presstv.ir reports: Israel waged the war on the impoverished Gaza Strip on October 7 after Palestinian resistance groups launched the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm into the occupied territories in response to the Israeli regime’s intensified crimes against Palestinians.

Since then, the occupying regime has embarked on an incessant bombardment of the densely-populated enclave, with the Gaza-based health ministry announcing on Friday that 11,078 people, including 4,506 children, have been killed, and 27,490 others have sustained injuries.

Petro’s announcement came on the heels of a supportive statement for his Algerian counterpart, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who called for a similar prosecution, earlier in the week, against Netanyahu and his regime.  

“The Republic of Colombia will contribute to the complaint by the Republic of Algeria filed before the International Criminal Court for war crimes against Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu in light of the massacre of children and civilians of the Palestinian people that he has caused,” the Colombian president said.

Petro previously recalled his ambassador to Tel Aviv over what he called “genocide of Palestinians”, as the Tel Aviv regime has faced mounting international pressure to do more to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan has already warned that his office is collecting evidence that could result in an international investigation against Israel’s political and military leaders, as the occupying entity keeps pounding almost all areas and facilities of the blockaded territory, including hospitals, schools and residential buildings.

Israel, like the United States, is not a member of the ICC. It refused to cooperate with the court in 2021 over the war crimes investigation into the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.

A UK supermarket chain is set to ditch self-checkouts in its north of England stores

Taken sides with many of its customers, Booths, the high end supermarket chain announced it is removing self-checkouts and is bringing back fully staffed tills in the majority of its stores.

BYPASS THE CENSORS

Sign up to get unfiltered news delivered straight to your inbox.

You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

Booths managing director, Nigel Murray, told the Grocer: “We’re not great fans of self-checkouts…..We pride ourselves on great customer service and you can’t do that through a robot.”

The Guardian reports: The chain is believed to be the first in the UK to go back to fully staffed tills and is swimming against the machines-tide, which has led to more big supermarkets adding trolley self-service bays to existing basket self-service and self-scan.

All of which means fewer tills staffed by human beings which, as many argue, might be the only social interaction of the day for people who live alone.

A spokesperson for Booths said the plan was to remove the self-service tills from all but two of its stores. “We believe colleagues serving customers delivers a better customer experience and therefore we have taken the decision to remove self-checkouts in the majority of our stores,” the spokesperson said. “We have based this not only on what we feel is the right thing to do but also having received feedback from our customers.”

Booths has been owned by the same family since the tea dealer Edwin Henry Booth opened its first store in Blackpool in 1847. It has 28 stores across Lancashire, Cumbria, Cheshire and Yorkshire and has been called a “northern Waitrose”, although it may argue that Waitrose is a “southern Booths”.

Booths said its founding philosophy was: “Sell the best goods available, in attractive stores, staffed with first class assistants.”

The spokesperson said: “Delighting customers with our warm northern welcome is part of our DNA and we continue to invest in our people to ensure we remain true to that ethos.”

The two stores where self-service would be kept were the Lake District outlets in Windermere and Kendal, which could get very busy when large numbers of tourists turned up, Murray said.

Booths began introducing self-checkouts six years ago. As with other supermarkets, it was a way of managing the wage bill and increasing efficiency, Murray said. But the technology could be problematic and detract from the enjoyment of shopping at Booths, he added.

Murray flagged the need for customers to wait for staff to visually ID them when buying alcohol as a downside, along with problems registering the correct items and weights.

The decision by Booths could be seen as a bold one, given many industry experts see machines as being vital to the future of supermarkets.

Latest posts by Niamh Harris (see all)

Children and babies may have mistakenly recieved double the authorized dose of Moderna’s so called COVID-19 ‘vaccine’.

Medical professionals say that that such a mistake could have very serious consequences.

You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

In an advisory issued on November 1, the US Food and Drug Administration said it “has become aware that some healthcare providers may not recognize that the single dose vial of Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine (2023-2024 Formula) for use in individuals 6 months through 11 years of age contains notably more than 0.25 mL of the vaccine.”

They went on to say that some healthcare providers “may be withdrawing the entire contents of the vial to administer to an individual.” Adults receive a dose of 0.50 mL.

The Defender reports: The FDA did not elaborate on how it came by the information on dosing errors. However, according to the advisory, the agency had “not identified any safety risks associated with administration of the higher dose in individuals 6 months through 11 years of age” and “no serious adverse events were identified related to a dosing error for the vaccine.”

Dr. Elizabeth Mumper, a pediatrician and president and CEO of The Rimland Center for Integrative Medicine, told The Defender she had concerns about the mistaken doses.

Mumper said a child who receives more than the recommended amount “will have more exposure to synthetic modified RNA, lipid nanoparticles and potentially DNA plasmid contamination.”

Even with the appropriate dose, Mumper said, there is no guarantee that the baby or child will make the “just right” amount of spike protein to induce just the right amount of immune response.

“I worry about over-producing the spike protein and getting side effects,” Mumper said.

Dr. Renata Moon, also a pediatrician, told The Defender:

“The only appropriate dose of this mRNA shot for children is no dose. Children shouldn’t be injected with it at all. We have an avalanche of highly concerning data regarding the risks of this product.

“Experienced, frontline physicians are being censored, silenced and threatened for speaking out. Our nation’s children deserve better.”

The Moderna product is packaged in four main formats: a 0.25-milliliter pediatric single-dose vial, a 0.50-milliliter adult dose vial, a 0.50-milliliter prefilled syringe and a 2.5-milliliter vial containing five adult doses (primary or booster).

Vaccinators are instructed to draw no more than one dose from single-use vials and not to combine the leftovers from one vial with those from another to create a larger dose.

Mumper said she called the Moderna helpline, as the package insert and FDA documents do not indicate the amount of vaccine in the vials. She said Moderna told her, “There is overfill to assure sufficient volume, but there is no quantity listed.”

“Hopefully, nurses are conscientious about following the directions to only give 0.25 mL,” Mumper said. “Administration errors vary depending on the setting or experience of the nurse or medical assistant.”

The advisory instructed healthcare providers, parents and caregivers with questions to email the agency’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at ocod@fda.hhs.gov.