BIO CONTENT

A Russian parliamentary committee has said that nuclear weapons should be used in response to “hypersonic and non-nuclear strategic weapons”. Russia’s upper house of parliament has provided a non-binding recommendation to the National Security Council to change its rules on nuclear weapons. The current doctrine has provisions for nuclear responses if there is a “risk to statehood” but the latest recommendation calls for more precise wording. Recommended changes to the requirements include references to hypersonic weapons which are not currently in use. Russia and China are the two countries believed to be aggressively pursuing research in this field. Hypersonic weapons travel at least five times faster than the speed of sound and are currently in development. The trouble is that Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim had totally opposite views of what the joint statement was supposed to mean. Mr. Trump apparently believed that American sanctions, plus his threats (“fire and fury”) and his irresistible ...

LONDON: Scientists have unanimously voted to change the way a kilogram is defined. A cylinder of polished platinum-iridium alloy known as “Le Grand K”, which is locked away safe in a Paris vault, it to be retired from its role as the true kilogram. Instead, attendees at the General Conference on Weights and Measures have opted to use a measurement based on electric currents to define this unit of weight. Representatives from 60 countries around the world gathered in Versailles, France, to witness the moment, with some scientists sporting tattoos on their arms to mark the occasion. The decision was greeted by rapturous applause, after the policy makers and scientists one by one signalled their approval of the new system. “The vote is a unanimous yes; I hope that such votes will be possible for many other issues in the world,” said Professor Sebastien Candel, president of the French Academy of Sciences, who oversaw proceedings.

https://knighterqw.blogspot.com/2018/11/tet-2018-math-question-paper.html

Antibiotic and pesticide susceptibility and the Anthropocene operating space Rising levels of antimicrobial and pesticide resistance increasingly undermine human health and systems for biomass production, and emphasize the sustainability challenge of preserving organisms susceptible to these biocides. In this Review, we introduce key concepts and examine dynamics of biocide susceptibility that must be governed to address this challenge. We focus on the impact of biocides on the capacity of susceptible organisms to prevent spread of resistance, and we then review how biocide use affects a broader suite of ecosystem services. Finally, we introduce and assess the state of what we term the Anthropocene operating space of biocide susceptibility, a framework for assessing the potential of antibiotic and pesticide resistance to undermine key functions of human society. Based on current trends in antibiotic, insecticide and herbicide resistance, we conclude that the states of all six asses...