The lady biologist of ancient Japan

 In my spare time, I am reading/re reading the Tale of Genji, and this has led to me looking into all sorts of side issues of that period of Japan, including the feminist ones (were all those ladies being exorcized not possessed but acting in a passive aggressive way because   it was the only way they could fight back the patriarchy?) I am also checking about epidemics back then (did Murasaki's husband die of smallpox?) and if some of the diseases described in the novel could be identified (Aoi died suddenly: post partum pulmonary emboli or toxemia seizure? Yugao's death was sudden, and since Genji was sick for months afterward, one suspects poison, Kashiwagi's lingering death started with weak numb legs, beriberi? )

The Tale of Genji is hard to follow just like War and Peace, with all the complicated characters and plots. But if one believes the author of the Sharashita diarySharashita diary, these tales were cherished by women who loved the stories in the same way that modern stay at home housewives loved the soap operas.

Ironically while the men were writing official and often stiff non fiction in Chinese, the women stuck inside were writing literature: not just the first novel (Genji) but satirical observations like the Pillow book, and other diaries and short stories. 

One of the tales back then, probably written by a lady in waiting. and is about the girl who loved insects. The tale suggests it was a story to warn young girls not to be eccentric but to follow the rules, and alas, the tale is unfinished.

But to modern eyes, it seems to be a story of a non conformist who today would be respected as a scientist.

so she doesn't blacken her teeth. She doesn't care for her hair and clothes  And she has the local boys collect insect etc. for her collection. And to make things worse, she spurns a man trying to court her.

In short, she resembles those eccentric Victorian ladies who collected stones, fossils, plants or helped their brother observe the stars, but didn't get much encouragement for their work.

so anyway modern women look at the story and see a pioneer of science but back then she was just seen as eccentric.

But her story inspired a modern film maker, Miyazaki, and she was one of the inspirations for Nausicca of the Valley of the Winds.

She loved insects and worms, while other princesses loved butterflies. But she was incredibly intelligent and perceptive (from our standpoint). She said "Beauty is only superficial. You have to see the real nature of things to understand them", and loved to watch caterpillars changing into pupas. \

When her parents tried to persuade her to give up her "hobbies", she replied, "To understand anything, you have to look into it deeply, and see it through from the beginning to the end. This caterpillar will become a butterfly someday. The silks you are wearing came from silkworms, too."

and that sense of wonder of nature, stubborness, and non conformity is what inspired Miyazaki 

Miyazaki wondered how this princess survived as an adult, and what her fate had been. We can see the traits of this princess in Nausicaä.

Manga version here, but the story evolved so it is not the same as the movie.

and if you are too lazy to read all the links,  Linfamy tells that story (with a lot of his satirical observations and hawking products) here:

 

MPox: a minor epidemic waiting in the wings

 Science alert reports that MPox has infected 100 thousand people, but few (203) have died.

summary so far:

Firstly, mpox is now readily spreading from person to person although scientists are not entirely sure why.

well, traditionally the way animal pox spreads is via small lacerations in contact with a lesion. Such as cowpox on the hands of milkmaids. Or in this case, spread in raves via anal sex which is notorious for causing minor abrasions etc. but of course, it will spread in families via close contact (especially in poor countries where dry skin causes minor cracks in the skin, or to babies whose skin is thin.

indeed, the article states: While animal to human transmission can occur, the recent healthcare messages have focused on high-risk groups such as sex workers and men who have sex with men, two groups that have been disproportionately affected by the recent outbreak.

so shut down the raves and bathhouses. Oh no: that has been a no no since the 1980s when Diane Feinstein as mayor of San Francisco tried to do this to stem an epidemic of HepB and syphilis, but faced a recall election so changed her mind. Ironically, if she had done that, the HIV epidemic would not have spread so quickly in the USA.

but now the bad news:

Secondly, because of this sustained transmission, it is also mutating faster and two sub-clades (side branches) called clade Ib and IIb have been discovered.

ah but don't worry. Our scientists are busy mutating the virus via gain in function research so they will be prepared for the next epidemic by making a vaccine faster. those evil Republicans are complaining about this, but hey what could go wrong?

that article notes:

The gain-of-function project proposed by NIAID virologist Bernard Moss would splice genes conferring high pathogenicity from the clade I virus into the more transmissible clade II virus. The new “chimeric” (combined) virus could have retained up to a 15 percent fatality rate and a 2.4 reproductive number, a measure of transmissibility indicating every sick person could infect up to 2.4 people on average, giving it pandemic potential.

back to original article 

Thirdly, there is no licensed, mpox-specific vaccine to prevent infection, nor are there specific antiviral drugs available to treat clinically vulnerable people who can get very ill and die with the virus.

not quite true. Actually there is an unlicensed vaccineunlicensed vaccine that works fairly well to stop MPox, and that vaccine was being given out in the gay community, and there is an unlicense medicine that might work.

Lead: poisoning the poor for generations