Women full of testosterone

Sometimes it feels like the world has gone crazy. This morning, I felt that way when I noticed a headline in a Finnish afternoon newspaper stating that transgender women were dominating a volleyball game in Canada.

According to the article, there were five transgender women playing in the women's game, all of whom "are said to be playing in the women's league without having undergone any hormone treatment or gender reassignment surgery." In other words, in Canadian women's volleyball, there are men with testosterone playing with all their male anatomy.

These men also have strength. So much so that their spikes cause concussions and other health damages when they hit the heads of the opposing women.

* * *

I have nothing against people's diversity. Everyone can be in a free country - such as Canada or Finland - exactly as they wish. Even if that means a man dressed as a woman or a transgender woman who has undergone hormone therapy and gender reassignment surgery.

This freedom extends exactly so far as not to cause undue harm to others. In women's sports, this means that men dressed as women or even trans women who have undergone testosterone-boosting treatments during adolescence should not be allowed to compete.

World sports leaders should take this matter seriously. If not for the sake of women's equality - which is violated by individuals who compete against them with the strength of male muscles - then at least for the sake of the interest in their sports, and thus their viability.

It's clear that volleyball players like those I described in the beginning wouldn't inspire girls to take up the sport, nor would they inspire spectators to watch. And I doubt that such competitions, at least in the case of women's sports, would even draw an audience.

But of course, national and international sports organizations make their own decisions. Both in Finland and Canada. And also at the international level.

The original though in Finnish:
Testosteronia pullistelevat naiset

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A factory of five billion mosquitoes

The Nature magazine published a news article stating that Brazil is planning to build a mosquito factory to produce five billion mosquitoes per year, which are intended to be released into the wild.

These are not just any mosquitoes, but winged insects that carry a certain bacterial infection. As a result, these mosquitoes do not function as efficient carriers of the virus that causes dengue fever.

Therefore, the market for these mosquitoes is in places where this viral disease occurs, such as Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, and Vietnam, where it is hoped that the released insects will pass on the bacteria in a way that even their naturally occurring counterparts are no longer able to transmit viruses.

The method has been tested before the decision to build the factory was made. The best results were achieved in a trial conducted in Indonesia, where releasing bacteria-carrying mosquitoes into the wild reduced dengue fever cases by as much as 77 percent. In other trials, the number of people with the disease also decreased, but less so.

It remains to be seen whether the mosquito factory will succeed in improving human health, and what kind of market will open up for a factory producing bacteria-carrying mosquitoes.

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Microbial solution to malnutrition?

According to Unicef, more than 10 million children are at risk for starving in East Africa. The causes include drought, increasing food prices and escalation of armed conflicts.

That is not anything new, as probably we all remember previous episodes of famine in eastern Africa. What is new, however, is a finding of new means to reduce the consequences of food shortage. 

That development was reviewed in the Proceedings of the National Academy of the USA. According to that, a unique mix of foods such as peanuts and bananas supported the growth of age-appropriate microbes and helped to restore the health of malnourished toddlers—and the outcome was more effective at improving their health than standard supplements.

The review also reported that offering plant-based diets high in fiber, and diets high in fermented foods such as kombucha and kefir to kids - and also their microbes - had positive effects to their health after periods of serious malnutrition. As an outcome, they increased the growth and intellectual development of children.

Most interestingly, when the researchers fed malnourished toddlers with a special food supplement twice a day for three months, the children gained height and weight in patterns similar to their healthy peers. That was different form the standard treatments.

Overall, the recent developments are encouraging, and may lead to new ways to save children´s lives in eastern Africa and elsewhere where malnutrition occurs. That could probably also reduce the number of people searching for better life in western countries in Europe and North America, and therefore help in avoiding risks of instability caused by a collision of different cultures seen e.g. in Sweden.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Riots in Sweden: what next?
World Resources Institute had an arrogant demand