Anne Applebaum is a staff writer for The Atlantic and a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian. Her latest article, "There Is No Liberal World Order," argues that unless democracies defend themselves together, the forces of autocracy will destroy them. She joins Michel Martin to discuss this existential struggle.

hen Facebook removed dozens of groups dedicated to Canada’s anti-government “Freedom Convoy” protests earlier this month, it didn’t do so because of extremism or conspiracies rife within the protests. It was because the groups were being run by scam artists.

Networks of spammers and profiteers, some based as far afield as Vietnam or Romania, had set up the groups using fake or hacked Facebook accounts in an attempt to make money off of the political turmoil.

That foreign networks of social media scammers had seized on a divisive political issue may feel like somewhat of a throwback. Before investigations into Russian troll factories’ operations during the US presidential election and culture war conflicts over content moderation, one of the biggest challenges facing social media platforms was profiteers pushing fake news articles and spam for easy money. Hundreds of websites mimicking US news outlets pushed their content on social media, reaping ad revenue from the traffic they generated.
-------------
Disinformation for profit

It is hard to know the exact scale of the for-profit misinformation industry, researchers say, since it functions as part of an underground economy and comes in various forms. In addition to content mills and ad revenue schemes, there are also private firms across the globe that are hired to create fake engagement or push political propaganda. In 2021 alone, Facebook said it removed 52 coordinated influence networks across 32 countries that attempted to direct or corrupt the public debate for strategic goals, according to a company report on inauthentic behavior.

You probably remember being taught about the cell in your high school biology class—learning the cell structure, labeling the membrane, the nucleus, and the cytoplasm.

But it turns out, what we’ve learned from our biology textbooks is likely an oversimplification, and biologists at research organizations like the Allen Institute for Cell Science are working to take a more integrated and holistic view to better understand the cell and all its complexities.

We are in a new era of cell biology. For centuries, microscopes have illuminated previously invisible worlds, and the recent advancements in microscopy are no different. Breakthrough laser microscopes are not only allowing biologists to image a cell in three dimensions, but also providing the opportunity to reveal hidden patterns inside of living cells.

Find out more about this new microscopy technology capturing cells like never before and what this could mean for the next decade of cell biology on this episode of Focal Point.

A 100-gram (3+1?2-ounce) portion of hulled hemp seeds supplies 2,451 kilojoules (586 kilocalories) of food energy. They contain 5% water, 5% carbohydrates, 49% total fat, and 31% protein. Hemp seeds are notable in providing 64% of the Daily Value (DV) of protein per 100-gram serving. Hemp seeds are a rich source of dietary fiber (20% DV), B vitamins, and the dietary minerals manganese (362% DV), phosphorus (236% DV), magnesium (197% DV), zinc (104% DV), and iron (61% DV). About 73% of the energy in hemp seeds is in the form of fats and essential fatty acids,[20] mainly polyunsaturated fatty acids, linoleic, oleic, and alpha-linolenic acids. The ratio of the 38.100 grams of polyunsaturated fats per 100 grams is 9.301 grams of omega‑3 to 28.698 grams of omega‑6. Typically, the portion suggested on packages for an adult is 30 grams, approximately three tablespoons.

The amino acid profile of hemp seeds is comparable to the profiles of other protein-rich foods, such as meat, milk, eggs, and soy. Protein digestibility-corrected amino acid scores were 0.49–0.53 for whole hemp seed, 0.46–0.51 for hemp seed meal, and 0.63–0.66 for hulled hemp seed.

Rules are rules, OK?

Bonnie Bassler discovered that bacteria "talk" to each other, using a chemical language that lets them coordinate defense and mount attacks. The find has stunning implications for medicine, industry -- and our understanding of ourselves.

Early life and education

Born in Chicago and raised in Danville, California, Bassler was intellectually curious from a young age, as she enjoyed solving various logic puzzles. Bassler began her career in science "as a veterinarian’s assistant at the Miami Zoo and later at a local dog and cat clinic." Bassler received a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry from the University of California, Davis. Despite her entry as a major in veterinary sciences, she preferred to focus on genetics and biochemistry. She stated that these subjects allowed her the "gateway to solving biological puzzles." She began to work for UC Davis biochemistry and molecular medicine professor Frederic Troy. Troy's research focuses included bacterial carbohydrates and the relationship between the Epstein-Barr virus and cancer. At the time, the cancer project appealed to Bassler more than the research on bacteria, but Troy assigned her to the bacteria research project. Within this project, Bassler characterized an enzyme in E. coli which cleaved sugars from various membrane glycoproteins. Eventually, Bassler admired working with prokaryotes as she stated that "they're the perfect creatures to work on."

Following her undergraduate research, Bassler received a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Johns Hopkins University. She achieved key insights into the mechanism by which bacteria communicate, known as quorum sensing. Her postdoctoral research was conducted at Agouron Institute in genetics for four years. Here, she studied glow-in-the-dark bacteria that cause the oceanic light show. She used her previous knowledge and research to demonstrate that when there were enough cohorts to make effort, bacteria gave off light. In 1994, Bassler joined the Princeton faculty. She is currently the chair of the department of molecular biology and the Squibb Professor in molecular biology. Following her postdoctoral research, the MacArthur Foundation awarded Bassler its fellowship in 2002, which recognized her for her immense contributions to the bacterial lexicon.