Cathie Leavitt / is on Nostr

Shapeshifter. Grandmother.

Last Notes

2025-04-07 22:45:59

File this under "What could go wrong?"
"Relying on deft genetic engineering and ancient, preserved DNA, Colossal scientists deciphered the dire wolf genome, rewrote the genetic code of the common gray wolf to match it, and, using domestic dogs as surrogate mothers, brought Romulus, Remus, and their sister, 2-month-old Khaleesi, into the world during three separate births last fall and this winter—effectively for the first time de-extincting a line of beasts whose live gene pool long ago vanished."
https://time.com/7274542/colossal-dire-wolf/

2025-04-06 15:15:34

Latest musings inspired by @nprofile…lsu5 🔥 coaching New Biology 101.
Pattern integrity is a metaphysical concept that describes observable physical qualities and processes of the Universe we inhabit. It's clear to me that biological life in all its forms is based on pattern integrities.
Plants in a jungle sometimes grow long, flexible, rope-like branches. Sometimes they entwine themselves around nearby trees. These structures are living pattern integrities.
What functions do these self-amplifying rope-like patterns serve in the life processes of the individual plant and other organisms in the jungle?
What role do symbiotic relationships play in maintaining the pattern integrity of life?
How can humans study, understand and apply the fundamental principles we observe in nature to optimize conditions for our own species without disrupting or damaging the symbiotic networks we depend on for our existence and well-being?
"There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line
And the less I seek my source for some definitive
Closer I am to fine..."
https://media.gigaohm.bio/7e7effe4-f653-4770-b19e-517524b29218/liana-2.png

2025-04-04 16:21:29

Florence Nightingale (circa 1860) gets it.
"SHALL we begin by taking it as a general principle–that all disease, at some period or other of its course, is more or less a reparative process, not necessarily accompanied with suffering: an effort of nature to remedy a process of poisoning or of decay, which has taken place weeks, months, sometimes years beforehand ..."
"Diseases are not individuals arranged in classes, like cats and dogs, but conditions growing out of one another."
https://archive.org/details/notesnursingwhat00nigh/mode/2up

2025-04-03 01:49:17

Just finished the first Biology 101 journal club paper, "The honeybee microbiota and its impact on health and disease."
Dig in Ohmies!
https://gigaohmbiological.com/stuff
I detect the typical reductionist approaches and models that attempt to isolate and control elements of our irreducibly complex natural world, with little to show for it.
A few of the laboratory techniques used include:
"Perturbation of the normal microbiota using antibiotics or other stressors, followed by phenotype examination. For example, honeybees exposed to tetracycline or streptomycin exhibit perturbed gut communities and increased susceptibility to bacterial and fungal infections.
"Genetic engineering of bee gut strains to include visual markers or resistance genes.
"Mark–recapture experiments with hive bees that enable examination of survivorship under natural, field conditions; for
example, honeybees were exposed under laboratory conditions
to tetracycline96 or a Roundup formulation151, then returned to
their original hives to investigate recovery rates and microbiota
resilience."
None of these sound good, but that last one really raised the hackles on the back of my neck.
The words "poorly understood," "unknown," "further study needed" crop up often. For example:
"It is important to note that studies on microbiota effects on bee development and behaviour are challenged by the fact that larval development occurs under varying hive conditions, which have been shown to affect adult phenotypes. Moreover, we note that only some of these results have been replicated, so their generality among bee genotypes, microbiota strains and environmental conditions is not yet certain."

2025-03-07 17:45:41

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Interesting clip.
I have a vague memory of an interview where RFK Jr. mentioned fake pandemics, like he was aware that pandemics had been faked in the past. Does anyone else remember that?
Whatever. He's definitely playing politics now.

2025-02-07 23:13:26

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Mad scientists with dumb ideas pursuing IP license income. My hot take:
👎

2025-01-15 21:13:18

Some interesting revelations -- h/t to Broken Science Initiative
"The unraveling of a Nobel Prize: How Hermann Muller was awarded the Nobel Prize: A front for eugenics"
History of science, eugenics, Rockefeller Fdn., environmental movement
https://web.archive.org/web/20250115210625/https://brokenscience.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Calabrese-Muller-NobelPrizeAndEugenics.pdf

2025-01-10 22:48:34

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I posted archive links:
https://gigaohm.bio/objects/fe6745a6-65c1-4c27-bdea-3f46268dd28e

2025-01-10 17:18:37

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OpenVAET cites three studies that establish "the fact that [covid] is replication competent." I don't interpret them the same way. These studies all use standard cell culture techniques and rely on PCR tests. JJCouey has clearly explained how PCR tests were used to mislead people by failing to account for previously unquantified background signals.
Also, in the second cited study, (https://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12985-022-01802-5) the authors state:
"The genome of SARS-CoV-2 has rapidly acquired numerous mutations, giving rise to several Variants of Concern (VOCs) with altered epidemiological, immunological, and pathogenic properties."
"Cell culture models are too distant from the human organism to draw reliable conclusions for infectiveness in humans and disease severity based only on replication kinetic experiments. This limited transferability of cell culture experiments to the epidemiologic situation is emphasized by the most recent findings regarding the newest VOC Omicron...."

2025-01-10 16:08:52

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There's a new post up.
https://openvaet.substack.com/p/how-the-israeli-data-used-to-sell/comment/85432543

2025-01-07 19:33:09

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"The error for RNA cannot pandemic is measles."
Wait, isn't that a perfect example of an RNA that really can't pandemic? 🤔
When's the last time they declared a measles pandemic, other than a few cases in highly publicized "outbreaks" that quickly burned out?

2025-01-04 18:46:56

For fans of classic film, a study of Hollywood's role in crafting and curating narrative.
I stumbled onto this archived copy of the 1940 film, Dr. Ehrlich's Silver Bullet. Paul Ehrlich is played by Edward G. Robinson in an outstanding performance transcending his gangster stereotype.
https://archive.org/details/dr.-ehrlichs-magic-bullet
The film portrays Ehrlich's role in the development of hematological staining, serology, immunology, bacteriology, antibiotics, chemotherapy, and intramuscular injection of medicines
There's a great scene where Ehrlich defies his hospital administrator to attend the lecture at which Robert Koch announces his discovery of the tuberculosis pathogen. Ehrlich stands up and describes his work on developing stains for specific microbes. Koch hands him a test tube containing the tuberculosis pathogen, warning, "It's very dangerous"!
Ehrlich went on to discover how to selectively stain tuberculosis bacillus. Later, he worked with von Behring on developing diphtheria antitoxin (a late-19th century hospital clinical trial is dramatically portrayed). He also developed an arsenical antibiotic for treating syphilis (with an unfavorable safety profile, as it turned out).
Ehrlich was awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1908 for his contributions to immunology and has been called "the father of immunology."
The film's themes include:
convergence of industrial chemistry (aniline dyes) with microbiology (targeting specific cells using staining techniques)
values and risks of independent thinking, dedication to truth, defiance of institutional authority, determination to succeed at all costs
ethical considerations of animal and human experimentation
propaganda (speculation): In 1914, Ehrlich signed the Manifesto of the Ninety-Three, which was a defense of Germany's World War I politics and militarism. At the time, Ehrlich (a Jew) probably didn't fully anticipate the future direction of German politics and militarism. But in 1940, the money behind the film probably had reasons for portraying Ehrlich and his contributions to science in such an idealistic way.
https://media.gigaohm.bio/f9c41378-d759-49d4-ab9d-56102755768c/Ehrlich-Magic-Bullet.jpg