Advice for positive political change
What Could Go Right? is a free weekly newsletter from?The Progress Network?written by our executive director, Emma Varvaloucas. In addition to this newsletter, which collects substantive progress news from around the world, The Progress Network publishes an?anti-apocalypse conversational podcast also called What Could Go Right?.
??? Hello WCGR? readers! We won't see you next week, as our main writer, Emma Varvaloucas, will be on vacation. We'll return on August 18 with a guest edition from Brian Leli. ??
Peering into universes
Artificial intelligence, meet biology. A tool from Alphabet-owned AI lab DeepMind has finished predicting “the structure of nearly all proteins known to science,” as journalist Melissa Heikkila wrote for?MIT Technology Review—nearly 200 million of them, for humans, plants, bacteria, animals, and more. “You can think of it as?covering the entire protein universe,” Demis Hassabis, DeepMind’s founder, told reporters on a general call. DeepMind has?released all the information for free, on a database anyone can access right?here. Have a protein you want to look up? Just type it right in, and results appear like on a Google search.
Predicting protein structures is difficult, expensive, and time-consuming. It’s also important, as scientists can figure out how a protein works from its 3D structure. The database will save them a lot of time, explained Mohammed AlQuraishi, a systems biologist at Columbia University, to?MIT Technology Review, meaning that work like developing new drugs and medicines, understanding diseases and how to cure them, and more?will be greatly accelerated. An earlier version of the database has already played a role in a new malaria vaccine candidate and finding enzymes that could recycle plastics by “eating” them.
You might be thinking that until we see some results, the database doesn’t mean much to a layperson. Not so fast. While we can’t speak for the amateur protein-searching community, the amateur astronomy community is hustling?when it comes to publicly available data. Citizen astronomers, combing through data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), just found a “first of its kind” tertiary star formation, notable for its massive size.?A tertiary star formation is made up of two stars that orbit one another and a third, bigger one that orbits the pair.
An artist's interpretation of four-star system HD 98800. Astronomers think that the massive tertiary star system just found may have started with four stars, like this one shown. At some point, two stars may have merged, continuing?to orbit the other two as one big star.
In other neat science news this week, British scientists are advancing toward a?universal vaccine?that would work for all coronaviruses and the common cold, and American ones are, um . . .?reviving dead spiders to make grippers. Cool or creepy? We leave that decision up to you, but arachnophobes, beware that link.
First stop, Kansas
How voters will react to the overturn of?Roe v. Wade?had its first test on Tuesday, when Kansas’ proposed amendment to the state constitution hit the ballot box. The amendment, which would have removed abortion rights protections, potentially opening a pathway for lawmakers to introduce restrictions or an outright ban, was?rejected.
As was expected, the turnout was enormous. It was “especially impressive in Johnson County,” Kansas’ most populous county, “at 53.65%: a?tally nearly unheard of in a primary election,” reported?The Kansas City Star. “The number of votes cast in this election was more than double those cast in the 2018 primary, about 100,000 more than the number of votes cast in Johnson County for the 2020 presidential primary election and about 90,000 votes shy of the county’s total votes in the 2020 general election, when turnout was 74%,” the article continues.
As The Progress Network (TPN) Member Lauren Leader?told us on the WCGR? podcast?in June, "As much as people are tired and burned out and overwhelmed, all the polls that we look at show that these shock-to-the-system kind of events can be very galvanizing," getting them to the polls when they might not have gone otherwise.?We have noted previously that we write from a pro-choice perspective but understand that not all our readers share this view. Everyone, though, can rejoice at citizens?making their voices heard in a democratic system.
Revisiting this podcast with Leader, as well as the situation in Kansas,?reminded us of a reader question that came in recently: “What can we actually do to create positive, substantial, and meaningful change?” When you live in a democracy as vast and sometimes as unwieldy as the United States, registering to vote, encouraging?your friends and family to register, and even getting involved?in registering others is serious business. Then, educate?yourself about the elections where you live, from the local to the national, and?vote in them. This can make a huge difference.?Understand that the country?may not always move in the direction you want to go in, and that this is the curse but also the blessing of?democracy. Put your full heart into participating in it.
Leader?runs the nonprofit?All In Together, which equips women with a civic education?regardless of party affiliation. On the podcast, she?had two other specific pieces of advice along these lines:
As for the pro-choice, pro-life debate, ending up with this outcome would be all right:
By the way, if you're totally sick of Democrats and Republicans alike,?TPN Member Andrew Yang has created a?new political party?called Forward, which he and other founders say will stake out centrist, optimistic positions on the issues. They're planning to appear on ballots by 2024.
Before we go
We’re big fans of describing the green energy future as something that will?improve?our lives, not restrict them. So we loved reading this story in?Wired?that talks about the positive emotional impact of installing solar panels—what the writer calls “the?bliss of energy abundance.” After the installation, “I quickly found myself awash in more energy than I could use,” he writes. He says he saves about $2,000 per year in electricity costs, which will pay for the panels?in seven years. After that, “the electricity is damn-near free.” It certainly makes President Biden’s plan to?bring solar panels to low-income homes?sound pretty exciting.
We’re in a recession. We’re not in a recession. A recession is coming. A recession is not coming. Everyone is saying something different. But the real question is: does it matter? Here are two sober-minded reads on the state of the economy,?one from TPN Member Ian Bremmer?and?one from economist Noah Smith, both of which include a surprising fact about who decides whether we’re in a recession, anyway.
But just in case you want to be ready, here is TPN Member Arthur Brooks’?best advice for staying happy in a recession: make a “prudent” plan for your saving, spending, and investments, and then stop checking your accounts, and turn off the news. Really. We give you permission.
Is cold brew your coffee of choice? You may be drinking one?brewed by lasers?one day.
Below in the links section,?magic fungi, plant-based meat for cheap in the Netherlands, and a sepsis-detecting algorithm.
—Emma Varvaloucas
Secretly Sexy
A pop-section in which we celebrate numbers that represent?substantial improvement in people’s lives
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Other good stuff in the news
Found good news we should hear about? Drop a link in the comments!
Environment:
Science & Tech:
Politics & Policy:
Covid & Public Health:
Economy:
TPN Member?originals:??
Department of Ideas?
(A staff recommendation guaranteed to?give your brain some food for thought.)
Older generations?are reclaiming rites of passage?|?The New York Times
Rituals like graduations and weddings are few and far between for older adults. Some are finding ways to honor their momentous occasions.
Why we picked it:?As?we live longer and longer, it's important to find new ways to celebrate ongoing achievements and tend to our inner lives, too. —Emma Varvaloucas
We'll miss you next week! Until August 18,??this?11-year-old's suggestion?for a vacation away message is pretty solid.???
I WILL Teach You To Score ...Owner | BasketballShootingCoach.com
2 年"Stupid is as stupid does." C'mon man.....