Once again, a good number of biology articles this month but there is one about the Earth’s magnetic field which may be related to the planet bearing life, or it might not.
Starting with that first, the study is about the realization that the strength of Earth’s magnetic field seems correlated with the abundance of oxygen in the atmosphere, roughly rising and falling together over the past billion years or so. The strange thing is that there is no obvious reason why they might be correlated with the best guess being merely that the magnetic field helps to deflect solar wind, thus slowing the loss of oxygen and other gases into space. Another explanation might be that tectonic motions can both affect the geomagnetic field and release nutrients that fuel blooms of oxygen-producing algae.
Next is a development combines both biology and information technology. A private institute has just announced the creation of the first virtual model of a cell. This specific version is designed to predict how stem cells, cancer cells and immune cells respond to drugs, cytokines or genetic perturbations. The obvious benefit is that using a virtual model of the cell is far easier than having to run the experiment using real cells. Everyone will be testing to see how accurate the responses of this particular model will be but this is only the first attempt and future versions are only going to be better.
Then we have this news about an experiment that has dramatically extended the lifespan of mice by giving them monthly injections of an antibody. The antibody in question, X203, works by inhibiting the natural protein interleukin 11. This is a cytokine whose concentration in the body increases with age and is associated with inflammation and cancer. The team claims that interleukin 11 has been observed to work similarly in humans as in mice but of course we still need to what effects this injection has on more subjects beyond mice and what the long-term effects other than extending life would be.
Finally here’s an article that I included because it feels like something right out of the videogame Bioshock to me. It talks about how a specific species of sea slugs are able to gain new abilities by consuming algae with those abilities. For example they are able to gain photosynthesis from the algae when consuming. Instead of digesting the chloroplast cells, they build structures of their own around them, and keep them working. Similarly they are able to store the stinging cells from the sea anemones they consume and deploy them later against their own enemies.
Here’s another film by the British duo Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, also known as the Archers, and it’s likely to be the last one in a while since the rest of their filmography isn’t as notable. This one is about a group of nuns who set out to establish a convent in a remote part of India near the Himalayas. Since there’s a dashing Englishman involved, it’s easy to guess that there might be some romance involved. But there is so much more to this film and it genuinely flummoxed me for a bit as to what it is trying to say. Multiple interpretations are plausible, yet it is undeniable that this is a unique film.
I’d mistakenly believed that this was the original version of the 2003 English-language film by François Ozon but it turns out the resemblance is only superficial. This one does feature major French star power and sizzles with erotic tension. It’s even more meaningful once you learn about the behind-the-scenes relationships and events during filming. Unfortunately I wouldn’t consider it a great film. It drags on just a little too much and the eroticism peaks at the beginning instead of ramping up as it should.
This is the newest version of a film that Hollywood loves to remake again and again. I’d never seen any of the previous ones but my wife asked to watch this one so here we are. I have to admit that this is a well-executed film with strong performances, solid music which is especially surprising from Bradley Cooper, and so on. Yet its heart is still the kind of fairy tale that Hollywood loves so much along with a willingness to forgive the excesses of the lifestyles of artistes because they are special. I just can’t buy into this kind of story these days and so this doesn’t work for me at all.
In every post about fighting games, I always note how awful I am at them. Well, I still am but I picked this one up specifically because it’s said to be beginner-friendly. Indeed, not only does it have simple buttons so that you don’t have to learn complex technical inputs but it also includes one of the most comprehensive in-game tutorials I’ve seen. Not being familiar to the franchise, the characters are all new to me and feel like generic rip-offs of better established characters. But the gameplay seems solid and the art looks nice enough. I’d planned to learn this better but unfortunately I’d hurt my hand recently and that cut my time with it shorter than I might have liked.
I actually do have vague memories of the earlier 1984 adaptation of the James Clavell novel even though I was far too young then to understand any of it. This new version is by all accounts far better especially as rather than framing John Blackthorne as the protagonist, it really only puts him in the position of a witness to the rise of Yoshii Toranaga. Production quality and especially the performances are all excellent. This is faithful to the novel so it uses the fictionalized versions of the historical characters. But part of me so wishes it used the original names instead as it would have been so cool.
If this weren’t just released on Netflix, I probably wouldn’t have watched it but we do watch lighter fare once in a while. This Korean animated film may feature slick visuals and a science-fiction setting but don’t be fooled. It’s an old-school romance which doesn’t hesitate in pouring on the melodrama to wring out your tears. Still, I can’t be entirely dismissive as newcomer director Han Ji-Won knows exactly what he is going for and does a great job of filling the screen with spectacular if not entirely realistic imagery.
