
Links 12/7/2020
This Unusual Bird Superpower Goes Back to the Dinosaur Extinction NYT
Plenty of fish in the sea? Scientists can now count them using DNA ABC
Water Futures to Start Trading Amid Growing Fears of Scarcity Bloomberg
Foggy metrics obscure value of cloud companies FT
Housing booms, reallocation and productivity (PDF) Sebastian Doerr, Bank for International Settlements. From the Abstract: “I establish that US public firms holding real estate have persistently lower levels of productivity than non-holders. Rising real estate values relax collateral constraints for companies that own real estate and allow them to expand production. Consequently, an increase in house prices reallocates capital and labor towards inefficient firms, with negative consequences for aggregate industry productivity.”
An Economy of Godzillas: Salesforce, Slack, and Microsoft Matt Stoller, BIG
BIS, Swiss National Bank and SIX announce successful wholesale CBDC experiment (press release) Bank of International Settlements. CDBC = Central Bank Digital Currency
Airbus Bets on Hydrogen to Deliver Zero-Emission Jets Bloomberg
Is it Too Late to Save ‘America’s Amazon’? The Revelator. A river.
#COVID19
Therapeutically administered ribonucleoside analogue MK-4482/EIDD-2801 blocks SARS-CoV-2 transmission in ferrets Nature. From the Abstract: “We demonstrate high SARS-CoV-2 burden in nasal tissues and secretions, which coincided with efficient transmission through direct contact. Therapeutic treatment of infected animals with MK-4482/EIDD-2801 twice a day significantly reduced the SARS-CoV-2 load in the upper respiratory tract and completely suppressed spread to untreated contact animals. This study identified oral MK-4482/EIDD-2801 as a promising antiviral countermeasure to break SARS-CoV-2 community transmission chains.” Big if true (DL): “If this ferret-based data is translated into humans, Covid-19 patients treated with [Monulparivir] could become non-infectious within 24 hours of starting treatment. The drug can be taken orally.”
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Durability of Responses after SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-1273 Vaccination (letter) NEJM. “At the 100-μg dose, mRNA-1273 produced high levels of binding and neutralizing antibodies that declined slightly over time, as expected, but they remained elevated in all participants 3 months after the booster vaccination.” Technical detail above my paygrade; perhaps a helpful reader can translate.* * *How a First World country handles testing:
Vending test.
Free Covid-19 test kits are made available in a vending machine at an MTR metro train station in Hong Kong. Vending machines have been set up in 10 stations.
Those using the kits have to return their specimens to a government clinic for tests and results pic.twitter.com/KYMvZCKHiG
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) December 7, 2020
Screens showing CO2 level set up at venues to lessen virus risk The Asahi Shimbun. “The [CO2] figure indicates the air indoors is being appropriately exchanged.”
New CRISPR-based test for COVID-19 uses a smartphone camera Medcial Xpress. More precisely, it uses a swab and a camera.
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Dust can spread influenza among guinea pigs, raising coronavirus questions Science News (nvl). From August, still germane. Still, if I had to pick a source for “aerosolized fomites,” it would be a guinea pig’s cage. More research needed!* * *
Employers debate whether to require COVID-19 vaccine for workers The Hill (Furzy Mouse).Get Ready for False Side Effects Derek Lowe, “In the Pipeline,” Science
How is COVID-19 affecting student learning? Brookings Institution
Did Viruses Create the Nucleus? The Answer May Be Near. Quanta (DL).
China?
Can a New Regulation Fix China’s ‘Big Data Backstabbing’ Problem? Sixth Tone
Flush with cash, Chinese hog producer builds world’s largest pig farm Reuters
This Japanese Shop Is 1,020 Years Old. It Knows a Bit About Surviving Crises. NYT
India
India and China gear up for a new battle, this time over water South China Morning Post
Covid vaccines will be available for private purchase in India FT
Malaysia reports 1,335 new COVID-19 cases Channel News Asia
Tale of two Belt and Road Initiative port projects in Malaysia shows limits of Chinese money South China Morning Post
Indonesia receives first COVID vaccine from China’s Sinovac Reuters
Indonesian minister and two senior ministry officials detained for bribery related to Covid-19 aid package Straits Times
How COVID-19 undid Duterte’s poser government in the Philippines Nikkei Asia
Pandemic pushes Filipinos out of labor force, especially women The Rappler
Syraqistan
Driving by Israeli settlements in colonized Palestine Yasha Levine, Immigrants as a Weapon
Brexit
UK may drop parts of bills which breach NI Protocol if ‘long-term legal solution found’ RTE
Barnier tells EU officials he ‘cannot guarantee’ Brexit trade deal FT
Revealed: The ‘reasonable worst case’ if EU talks collapse ITV
UK/EU
Wealthy London Areas with Low Covid Case Rates Included in Rapid Testing Programme Byline Times. Surely not.
Another Victim of Global Warming: The Great British Bake Off Wired
Venezuela’s Maduro claims sweep of boycotted election AP
New Cold War
Clock is Ticking on New START Extension Air Force Magazine
Russians are wary of Putin’s vaccine The Spectator
RussiaGate
Well, well:
“Fusion GPS put pressure on Orbis (Steele firm) to talk to Mother Jones” + “With the breakdown that the (MJ) interview caused with FBI…that’s when they decided to go the McCain/Kramer route” *ALSO SEE FBI Matrix receipt Fusion GPS/Glenn Simpson/Dossierhttps://t.co/u8JgYfpoYz
— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) December 6, 2020
Move along, people, move along. There’s no story here.
Trump Transition
Biden Transition
Biden picks California Atty. Gen. Becerra for Health and Human Services secretary LA Times. I don’t know why Biden wants a lawyer heading HHS. And if Becerra were anything but a placeholder in California’s corrupt Blue oligarchy, Marcie Frost wouldn’t still be at CalPERS.
To rebuild CDC, Biden picks Rochelle Walensky Politico. “Give a central role to career officials.” Hopefully not career officials who butchered the test rollout and dragged their feet on aerosols, eh?
Biden’s 100-day mask plan ‘a good idea,’ Trump’s vaccine chief says Politico
Health Care
Colchicine a Case Study for What’s Wrong With US Drug Pricing MedScape
Imperial Collapse Watch
The New Comedy of American Decline The Atlantic
Bro Culture, Fitness, Chivalry, and American Identity Patrick Wyman, Perspectives. Well worth a read (though it trails off at the end).
Guillotine Watch
The Super-Rich Are Buying Luxury Online Like Never Before Bloomberg
‘Existential Peril’: Mass Transit Faces Huge Service Cuts Across U.S. NYT
Class Warfare
Tipped Service Workers Are More Vulnerable Amid Pandemic Harassment Spike: Study NPR (dk).
Separated by Design: How Some of America’s Richest Towns Fight Affordable Housing Pro Publica
I’ll Tell You Why the 99% Isn’t In Revolt We Do the Work (the author). From January, still germane.
Luxury Sneaker Markets Are a Preview of Capitalist Dystopia Jacobin
“Almost the Complete Opposite of Fascism” (interview) Corey Robin, Jewish Currents. Today’s must-read.
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here