‘Green Gold' Review: How the Avocado Grew on Us
An odd quirk of the avocado, Persea americana to botanists, is the clockwork performed by its blossoms. They undergo a complicated sequence of opening, closing and reopening that keeps each flower's male and female sex organs from operating on the same day. Among two large categories of cultivated strains, group A trees bear flowers that are functionally female in the morning and male the next afternoon. Meanwhile, group B's flowers are female in the afternoon and male the next morning.
Unreliable pollination had long baffled commercial avocado growers until, on May 5, 1923, the botanist A.B. Stout had the game-changing idea of setting up cameras in a California orchard. His photographs solved the mystery by capturing the discrepancy between A and B's blossoming schedules, thus suggesting the wisdom of planting trees from both groups in close proximity.
The lesson doesn't seem to have great priority in today's industrial-scale avocado production, at least as depicted by Sarah Allaback and Monique F. Parsons in 'Green Gold,' a trenchant chronicle of the fruit's commercial and cultural exploitation from the late 19th century to the present. The authors' enlightening picture draws on a wide range of material—plant pathology studies, avocado-association yearbooks, Super Bowl commercials, leading figures' field notes and more.
The book broadly centers on two 'mother trees' while saluting 'the people who nurtured them, for money and love.' In 1911 Carl Schmidt, an American investigator scouting for avocado specimens in Mexico, observed a tree bearing splendid crops near Atlixco in Puebla state. He was sufficiently impressed to take cuttings from the tree and bring them back for grafting in an Altadena, Calif., nursery, where the strain received the varietal name El Fuerte (Spanish for 'the Strong One').
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Geek Girl Authority
38 minutes ago
- Geek Girl Authority
STAR TREK: The Trans Trill, Explained
For decades, many Trekkies have considered the Trill alien species on Star Trek to be a trans allegory. How long has this interpretation been popular? And how has the Franchise leaned into this trans representation? For this week's second Pride Month Trek Tuesday, we're examining the read that connects the trill with trans representation. Star Trek: The Next Generation The Trill were originally introduced on Star Trek: The Next Generation. In The Next Generation Season 4's 'The Host,' a Trill ambassador visits the U.S.S. Enterprise-D in order to take part in some sensitive negotiations on Peliar Zel II. This Trill symbiont, 'Odan,' was originally joined to a male host (Franc Luz). The Trill species is comprised of two kinds of life forms. There is the symbiont, a worm-like entity. These long-lived symbionts can inhabit a humanoid 'host' body. Once this has transpired, the 'joined Trill' will possess a new personality. This is the synthesis of the personalities of the symbiont and the host. RELATED: Geek Girl Authority Crush of the Week: Beverly Crusher In 'The Host,' Odan's male host and Doctor Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) became romantically entangled. However, Odan's earlier host was subsequently killed. In order to preserve the life of the symbiont, Dr. Crusher performed a procedure that transferred Odan from the original host into the body of William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes). This complicated the romantic relationship between Odan and Crusher. This was because she considered Riker to be akin to a brother to her. At the conclusion of the episode, the Odan symbiont is transferred to a new host: a woman, Kareel (Nicole Orth-Pallavicini). There is a taboo among the Trill regarding continuing a romantic relationship across different hosts. Nevertheless, Odan was willing to disregard this and continue the romance with Crusher. However, Crusher felt that the repeated changes in hosts were too much, and declined to continue the relationship. This parallels the way that a relationship will sometimes conclude when one partner transitions. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine After being introduced in The Next Generation's 'The Host,' the Trill played a major part in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. This was thanks to the fact that one of the command crew members was a Trill: Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell). Sporting a new design (for both the host and the Trill), Jadzia introduced viewers to many facets of the Trill that were not explored in 'The Host.' Among other details, this included the fact that unjoined Trill symbionts swim in cave pools on the planet Trill. However, one aspect of the Trill that was introduced in The Next Generation was obviously and immediately continued in Deep Space Nine. This was the idea of a Trill symbiont moving from a male host to a female host. This was because Jadzia was a new host for the Dax symbiont. However, the previous host for the Dax symbiont was the late Curzon, a male who was the friend of Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks). RELATED: Star Trek: Tracing the Holodeck's History In an early Season 1 episode of Deep Space Nine, 'A Man Alone,' Sisko and Jadzia discuss Dax's 'transition.' In that scene, Jadzia notes that sometimes Trill friendships with other species 'don't survive the change.' Sisko says that it will be different for them, but that things are 'uncomfortable' at the moment. Jadzia suggests to Sisko that he learn to 'comfortable with his discomfort.' She continues that 'Time will do the rest.' Ultimately, Sisko's friendship with Jadzia does survive 'the change.' However, Sisko does continue to use the nickname 'Old Man' when speaking to Jadzia. While misgendering a trans person is not recommended, it's clear that this nickname is a sign of Sisko's affection for Jadzia. A Trans Allegory? There are many other scenes featuring Jadzia that are held in high regard by those Trekkies who perceive the character as a trans allegory. To cite just one more out of many examples, we can turn to the Deep Space Nine Season 2 episode 'Blood Oath.' In that episode, Jadzia reunites with a friend, Kor the Klingon (John Colicos), whom she knew decades earlier as Curzon. Initially, Kor refers to Jadzia as 'Curzon, [his] beloved old friend.' However, she corrects him by stating, 'I'm Jadzia now.' Kor immediately amends his statement: 'Jadzia, [his] beloved old friend.' For the rest of the episode, Kor refers to her as 'Jadzia' and uses her correct pronouns. These days, the scene has become something of a popular meme. It is frequently posted as evidence that even Klingons can adapt to a trans person's changing names and pronouns. RELATED: Geek Girl Authority Crush of the Week: T'Pol Furthermore, interpreting Jadzia as trans is not something that is a recent development. For proof, check out the Summer 1997 issue of Transgender Tapestry magazine. Jadzia is the featured model for the cover of Transgender Tapestry #76. The cover states: 'Star Trek, Transgender & the Final Frontier: Gene Roddenberry's Bold Journey Where No Trans Had Gone Before.' While the issue was released 28 years ago, the discussion around Jadzia remains unchanged. Sadly, and in one of the most controversial plot beats of the series, Jadzia is killed in the penultimate season of Deep Space Nine. The Dax symbiont is subsequently transferred to a new host, Ezri (Nicole de Boer). However, it is easy to speculate how any aspect of this transition might have been handled differently, especially if the series were released today. Trans Like Me Photo Cr: Paramount+ © 2021 CBS Interactive. All Rights Reserved. When it comes to the Trill on The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, we have a trans allegory. While certain elements of the Trill stories align with the contemporary trans experience, other elements do not. However, the Franchise eventually bridged this gap thanks to Star Trek: Discovery. In the Discovery Season 3 episode 'Forget Me Not,' we're introduced to Gray Tal (Ian Alexander). Like the other joined Trill in this article, Gray has both a host and a symbiont. However, his story is somewhat complicated. When we first meet Gray, his host body is dead. The Tal symbiont has been transferred to a human, Gray's partner, human Adira Tal (Blu del Barrio). Because Adira is human, they do not join with the symbiont in the same way a Trill host would. However, Adira does continue to see visions of Gray. RELATED: 5 Star Trek Meme Source Episodes Eventually, the problem is solved by removing the Tal symbiont from Adira and transferring it to a synthetic 'golem' using the Soong method. This can easily be seen as an allegory for contemporary gender affirming procedures. However, unlike previous Trill, Gray is also textually trans. This is thanks to the fact that the humanoid Trill host is a trans man. Before joining with the Tal symbiont (and before his death), Gray had already transitioned. While trans allegory is good, making Gray textually trans (while maintaining allegorical elements) allows us to have our replicated cake and eat it too. We Get to the Future Together Hopefully, the Star Trek Franchise will continue to offer textual trans representation moving forward. As Great Bird of the Galaxy Gene Roddenberry said: 'Star Trek was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate, but take a special delight in differences in ideas and differences in life forms.' RELATED: Star Trek Episode Trilogy: Revisiting 'Unification' Roddenberry continued, 'If we cannot learn to actually enjoy those small differences, to take a positive delight in those small differences between our own kind, here on this planet, then we do not deserve to go out into space and meet the diversity that is almost certainly out there.' These episodes of Star Trek are currently available for streaming on Paramount+. The Premise and How STAR TREK Fans Created Fanfic as We Know It Avery Kaplan is the author of several books and the Features Editor at Comics Beat. She was honored to serve as a judge for the 2021 Cartoonist Studio Prize Award and the 2021 Prism Awards. She lives in the mountains of Southern California with her partner and a pile of cats, and her favorite place to visit is the cemetery. You can also find her writing on Comics Bookcase, NeoText, Shelfdust, the Mary Sue, in many issues of PanelxPanel, and in the margins of the books in her personal library.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Nuevocor Announces FDA Clearance of IND for NVC-001 for LMNA-Related Dilated Cardiomyopathy
LMNA-related dilated cardiomyopathy (LMNA DCM) is one of the most aggressive forms of DCM, affecting approximately 100,000 individuals in the United States and Europe, who progress rapidly to end-stage heart failure. NVC-001 demonstrated significant benefits, including survival and cardiac function in preclinical models. IND clearance enables initiation of first-in-human, ascending-dose Phase 1/2 clinical trial in early 2026. SINGAPORE and PHILADELPHIA, June 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Nuevocor, a Singapore-headquartered biotechnology company developing cures for cardiomyopathies driven by aberrant mechanobiology, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared its Investigational New Drug (IND) application for NVC-001. NVC-001 is an adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene therapy designed to treat LMNA-related dilated cardiomyopathy (LMNA DCM). Nuevocor plans to initiate an open-label, ascending-dose Phase 1/2 clinical trial of NVC-001 in patients with LMNA DCM. "This IND clearance marks a significant milestone in our mission to develop transformative therapies for patients with genetic cardiomyopathies by leveraging unique insights from our proprietary PrOSIA mechanobiology platform," said Dr. Yann Chong Tan, co-founder and CEO of Nuevocor. "NVC-001 is the first disease-modifying therapy for LMNA DCM designed to address the underlying mechanobiological root cause of disease. We look forward to initiating our clinical trial to bring this potentially life-changing therapy to patients." LMNA DCM is a serious genetic heart condition caused by mutations in the LMNA gene, which encodes lamin A/C – a protein essential for maintaining nuclear envelope integrity and regulating gene expression in cardiac cells. Mutations in LMNA lead to a weakening of the heart muscle, arrhythmias, and progression to end-stage heart failure. LMNA DCM is estimated to affect approximately 100,000 patients in the U.S. and Europe, representing a significant unmet medical need. NVC-001 is engineered to address the functional mechanical root cause of disease by reducing aberrant mechanical stress on the nucleus, thereby restoring nuclear envelope integrity. Nuclear envelope disruption is a hallmark of LMNA DCM. In preclinical studies, treatment with NVC-001 demonstrated significant benefits, including survival and cardiac function. The planned Phase 1/2 clinical trial is a first-in-human, 52-week open-label, multicenter, ascending-dose study designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy of NVC-001 in adult subjects with LMNA-DCM. NVC-001 will be administered as a one-time intravenous infusion to patients in ascending-dose cohorts. About Nuevocor Nuevocor is biotechnology company developing novel therapies for genetic cardiomyopathies driven by aberrant mechanobiology, headquartered in Singapore with an office in the U.S. and expansion to Europe. Our unique approach, enabled by our proprietary PrOSIA mechanobiology platform, surpasses the limitations of traditional gene replacement therapy – which treats individual gene mutations – to treating defects in shared disease pathways across multiple cardiomyopathies by addressing the functional root cause of disease. Nuevocor is first-in-disease by addressing genetic cardiomyopathies that are not amendable to gene replacement therapy and have no effective treatment options. ( View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Nuevocor Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
Alphafold 3 Extends Modeling Capacity To More Biological Targets
Doctor working on digital tablet with medical interface and digital healthcare and network concept. The people behind the original protein modeling tool Alphafold have now developed a newer version, Alphafold 3, which is changing the way that this fundamental technology works. Looking at the changes in the newest version, you find that Alphafold 3 extends to a broader spectrum of molecular structures, including ligands (ions or molecules with certain binding properties) and other ions, as well as something called 'post-translational modifications' – (here's the Wikipedia entry.) Additionally, Alphafold 3 uses a reformed 'Pairformer' architecture to process pairwise relationships (more on that later) - it has better prediction accuracy, and improved performance in making some types of predictions. (Here's more from NIH). The original Alphafold technology earned its makers, John Jumper and Demis Hassabis, a Nobel prize, and now these tools are still redefining what it means to do drug discovery. So how does Alphafold work for big drug companies? In a TED talk explaining some of this commercial success, Lauren Davis, someone with MIT ties, shows us a bit of how this works, helping companies to come up with life-saving medicines. Davis points to a 'transformative' process where new tools enable rapid development, on a more efficient framework. One aspect of this, she points out, is target identification – predicting the structure of a given target. That way, companies can sidestep some of the human and animal testing that's expensive and labor-intensive, not to mention sensitive. She compares the system to a dating app, where you narrow down potential matches before proceeding with actual testing, which would be analogous to meeting someone for a date (read: investing time and effort.) She talks about the process of scoring potential inhibitors, which she says she's excited about because she used to be on the MIT soccer team. In general, Davis paints a picture of how Alphafold actually applies in the commercial world. That's a little bit about the way is that Alphafold is contributing to the medical community. But there's another feature of this new model that I was interested in, and I ended up getting different results from different LLM models, so let's look at that a bit: If you ask ChatGPT whether Alphafold 3 is open source, you get this - at least, I did: '(Alphqafold 3 is) not open-sourced; instead, it is accessible through a cloud-based platform provided by DeepMind for non-commercial research purposes. This approach has elicited some concerns within the scientific community regarding transparency and accessibility.' As a source, the model lists this Wired article. However, when I looked at a post from Dario Amodei from November of last year, I found this, suggesting, albeit in a terse way, that Alphafold 3 has become open source: 'AI protein prediction tool, AlphaFold3, is open source.' Now, when I asked Copilot the same thing, as a result of typing a search into Bing, it gave me this: 'Not fully open source - AlphaFold 3 is not fully open source. While the source code and model weights are available for academic use under specific non-commercial restrictions, access to the model weights is limited to those with academic affiliations. This means that while researchers can use the software for non-commercial applications, they cannot freely access the training weights for commercial use.' And there were a number of sources listed. So the most likely answer, based on all of that input, is that Alphafold 3 is 'sort of' open source – that is, as Copilot said, that some of the weights and other aspects are public, but other aspects of the technology are not. ChatGPT contends, above, that the cloud-based platform that Alphafold 3 is on is 'maintained by DeepMind for non-commercial research purposes.' Anyway, in this case, we don't really have to guess: just check the GitHub for the new version. But this shows how you can get different information from different models, something we are going to have to learn to navigate. In any case, this new version of Alphafold continues the tradition of giving us new tools for drug discovery. Davis, in her talk, used the example of lisinopril as an ACE inhibitor, and explained how the Alphafold process can apply to predicting and modeling how an inhibitor will work. Practically, we have millions and millions of Americans on these drugs, and they apply to a wide scope of health conditions, so it's abundantly useful to take advantage of AI in these ways. Will it lower the cost of drugs? We'll see.
