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Bright indoor light during daytime may lower blood sugar, improve energy expenditure

Bright indoor lighting during daytime.


According to a new study published in Diabetologia, Insulin-resistant volunteers’ postprandial substrate processing, energy expenditure, and thermoregulation are all affected by the indoor light environment in a time-dependent manner. Further Optimization of indoor lighting to a brighter during daytime hours and dimmer in the evening may provide cardiometabolic benefits.

Artificial light is available 24 hours a day in today’s civilization, and most individuals are exposed to electrical light and light-emitting screens during the dark part of the natural light/dark cycle. Suboptimal lighting has been linked to negative metabolic impacts, and changing indoor lighting to more closely mirror the natural light/dark cycle has the potential to improve metabolic health.

This study was conducted by Jan-Frieder Harmsen and team with the objective to evaluate metabolic reactions in persons at risk of developing metabolic disorders to lighting conditions that resembled the natural light/dark cycle against poor illumination.

Dr. Stephani Otte, Ph.D. — Chan Zuckerberg Initiative — Measuring Human Biology in Action

Measuring Human Biology in Action, To Cure, Prevent Or Manage All Diseases — Dr. Stephani Otte, Ph.D., Science Program Officer, Imaging, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.


Dr. Stephani Otte, Ph.D is Science Program Officer, Imaging, at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (https://chanzuckerberg.com/), who leads the organization’s Imaging program and is focused on the creation, dissemination, optimization, and standardization of transformative imaging technologies.

Prior to CZI, Dr. Otte was Director of Science at a neuro-technology / microscopy company, Inscopix, involved in accelerating brain science and innovating mini-scope microscope solutions for real-time mapping of the human brain and it’s circuits.

Dr. Otte received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego, and did postdoctoral fellowships in systems neuroscience at the Salk Institute and University of California, Berkeley.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is an organization established and owned by Dr. Priscilla Chan and her husband, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, with a focus on science, education, immigration reform, housing, criminal justice, and other local issues, with a mission to “build a more inclusive, just, and healthy future for everyone” and to “advance human potential and promote equality in areas such as health, education, scientific research and energy”.

What is Model Monitoring?

The AI revolution is here. Machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence are used in virtually every industry today to revolutionize everything from reducing food waste to achieving better health outcomes. In all, IDC forecasts that global enterprise spending on AI will eclipse $204 billion by 2025.

Unfortunately, investments in needed infrastructure may not be keeping pace. Many enterprises are shipping AI blind or relying on outdated model monitoring approaches to catch issues with models in production.

In order to understand the scope of the problem and provide insights on potential solutions, Arize AI recently conducted a survey of 945 data scientists, engineers, executives, and others in the industry. The results speak to a distinct need for better tools to quickly visualize where and why problems are emerging and enable faster root cause analysis when models fail.

Electrical spinal implant helps paralysed man have child — BBC News

David M’zee was 22 when an injury damaged his spine, leaving him paralysed 12 years ago.

In 2017, an electrical implant to his spine enabled him to stand and walk slowly by boosting the nerve signals to his legs.

He uses the device for short periods to exercise his muscles and practise walking, and says that even when it’s not turned on, it’s brought such an improvement to his health that he’s been able to have a child.

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Aquamarine Solar Project — Smart from Start to Finish

By Helen O’Shea

On a windy, bright day in Lemoore, California another 250 megawatts of clean power was added to California’s energy mix with the dedication of the Aquamarine Solar Project. There are many new solar projects coming online across the country these days, but the Aquamarine project is notable for its innovative development model — it’s part of a 20,000-acre master-planned solar park on fallowed and salt-contaminated agricultural lands in the Westlands Water District in California’s Central Valley.

Disturbed lands farmed for years with no residual habitat value are the perfect place to locate utility-scale solar projects. In 2016 these lands, among many others, were identified as suitable for development by a diverse group of stakeholders through the San Joaquin Valley Least Conflict Solar Planning exercise.

Captained: The European immigrants prevailed in that war, as well as in a long series of conflicts with other tribes

On this land taken from Indigenous Peoples, a new nation was eventually born, largely built by those whose ancestries traced back to the Old World via immigration and slavery.

As the country grew, inventions like the telephone, airplane, and Internet helped usher in today’s interconnected world. But the inexorable march of technological progress has come at great cost to the health of the planet, particularly because of global dependence on fossil fuels. The United Nations declared in 2017 that a Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development would be held from 2021 to 2030. This Ocean Decade calls for a worldwide effort to reverse the oceans’ degradation.

The dawn of this decade, 2020, also marked the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s journey. Plymouth 400, a cultural nonprofit, has been working for more than a decade to commemorate the anniversary in ways that honor all aspects of this history, said spokesperson Brian Logan. Events began in 2020, but one of the most innovative launches is still waiting in the wings—a newfangled nautical craft, the Mayflower Autonomous Ship, or MAS.

IAVI and Moderna launch trial of HIV vaccine antigens delivered through mRNA technology

Phase I trial aims to build on response seen in proof-of-concept trial.

NEW YORK AND CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — JANUARY 27, 2022 — IAVI and biotechnology company Moderna announced today that first doses have been administered in a clinical trial of experimental HIV vaccine antigens at George Washington University (GWU) School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C. The Phase I trial, IAVI G002, is designed to test the hypothesis that sequential administration of priming and boosting HIV immunogens delivered by messenger RNA (mRNA) can induce specific classes of B-cell responses and guide their early maturation toward broadly neutralizing antibody (bnAb) development. The induction of bnAbs is widely considered to be a goal of HIV vaccination, and this is the first step in that process. The immunogens being tested in IAVI G002 were developed by scientific teams at IAVI and Scripps Research and will be delivered via Moderna’s mRNA technology.


IAVI and Moderna and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States government.

Dr. Marilyn Roossinck, Ph.D. — Beneficial Viruses — Professor Emeritus, Penn State University

“Beneficial Viruses” For Human Health, Agriculture And Environmental Sustainability — Dr. Marilyn Roossinck, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Penn State


Dr. Marilyn Roossinck Ph.D. (https://plantpath.psu.edu/directory/mjr25) is Professor Emeritus of plant pathology, environmental microbiology and biology at Penn State University.

Dr. Roossinck is an expert on viruses, from their evolutionary pressures and mechanisms, to the ecology of viral diseases. She performed some of the first experimental evolution studies on plant viruses and pioneered the first virus discovery work in a terrestrial system, by deep sequencing wild plant samples. A specialty of hers is the symbiotic relationships between plants and so-called “beneficial viruses.”

Dr. Roossinck completed her undergraduate work at the University of Colorado, Boulder, receiving a biology degree in 1982. Four years later, she earned her doctorate in microbiology and immunology from the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

Dr. Roossinck joined Penn State as professor of plant pathology and environmental microbiology and of biology in 2011, holding appointments in the College of Agricultural Sciences and the Eberly College of Science. She taught courses in virus ecology for several years at Penn State, and also has published both a popular press book about viruses entitled “Virus: An Illustrated Guide to 101 Incredible Microbes” as well as the academic text “Plant Virus Evolution”.