Month: January 2023

New attack on cancer? (in mice)

Cancer cells delete the part of their own DNA that normally keeps them from reproducing out of control. Bad news (from the cancer’s viewpoint)? This deletion also removes some genes that any cell needs to survive. Good news (from the cancer’s viewpoint)? The cell has a backup version of the genes needed for survival.

So what happens if we turn off the backup genes? Normal cells don’t notice, their first set of genes is working just fine. But cancer cells are now screwed.

Again, this is in mice and may work differently in people. And it’s a very small study. But it might be very important…

Lots of articles on MTHFD2 inhibitors, but this one is clearer than most. 550 words: https://scitechdaily.com/cancer-weakness-discovered-new-method-pushes-cancer-cells-into-remission/.

The Russian Army

Russia has 146 million people and a GDP around $4 trillion. Ukraine has 43 million people and a GDP of $545 billion. (All numbers from the internet and approximate.)

So Russia has over three times the population and over seven times the GDP of Ukraine. Why haven’t they simply crushed Ukraine?

Lots of reasons. One major reason is the atrocious performance of the Russian armed forces. This article https://medium.com/@dylan.combellick/why-russia-cant-have-nco-s-9c20577111f4 discusses the makeup and training of their military. (About 2,400 words.)

Don’t the Russians train, too? Well, no. They don’t. Not at the NCO level, anyway. Nearly everything the average soldier learns in the Russian military is on-the-job training. Don’t get me wrong, this is the best kind of training for many circumstances, but ONLY when it is done upon a solid foundation — and that’s what Russia lacks…

Variety. Every officer and enlisted in the US military moves between jobs on a regular basis — typically every three years. For the most part they are still working within their broad specialty — a mechanic is a mechanic — but the exact vehicles they service, the environment they service them (storage depot, training base, operating base) change frequently. In the Russian military they often stay at the same job for their entire career. I know that in the New START missions there were Russian counterparts who had been doing the same job for thirty years…

Corruption. At no point can a large shipment of parts go missing for the NCO to sell on the black market — they will be discovered pretty soon. In the Russian system there is no check on this behavior. Once they’re in the job they can probably keep it forever if they want to. They can cut in superiors and inferiors into the corruption to look the other way. They are also more or less permanently and can coverup indefinitely…

Conscripts are treated like garbage. The Russian mentality is one of power and exploitation. If you are powerful it is your right to exploit those lower down the line, and it is in your interest to avoid exploitation from those above you. There is no concept of teamwork or working for a greater purpose — everyone is in it for themselves.

(For what it’s worth, Russia is the world’s ninth largest economy by GDP, hardly a superpower. California has around 39 million people and a GDP almost the size of Russia’s at $3.63 trillion.)