Tusse won! What? The song contest of course. Best wishes for Eurovision final in May. Yes, it is nice to have something else to think of than the Corona virus and mutations. This florist I had a chat with the other day made me think of months before the pandemic was a fact. This is almost forgotten, but can you imaginge – there were bombs! People were sleeping and at night time terrorist groups bombed in Stockholm and in other parts of Sweden. Like to prepare that something bad was going to happen. The florist was in a way right talking about the pandemic as wartime.

As usual, to cope with the surrealistic daily life, like bombs, I thought of Peter Sellers and The Pink Panther. Found this nice peace from decades ago.

Stay safe 🐾

It is more time consuming to write in Swedish as well, but I hope you like this change! I do not use google translate. Day by day we are getting closer to – what should I say – liberty? A few days ago I bought some flowers to remind myself of spring and summer. Good to look forward. The florist actually talked like it is an ongoing war. Corona restrictions with limited number of customers etc. Being a political refugee must be terrible. I have been lucky and never lived in a war. Only news on tv.

Life is on hold and it is important to stay in a stable social bubble. A lot of people follow the Eurovision song contest. Good to have a rest from the virus and vaccines. I used to watch when Carola and Herreys competed, and I was a true supporter. Since I have friends who like watching Eurovision, I share Herreys.

By the way, any one who knows what has happened to Annie Löf? Has she become a maverick? She should talk to the former party leader Maud Olofsson for advice. Interesting to follow the domestic political development.

Stay safe 🐾

To stay at home during this pandemic is the very best you can do. It is boring so you have to do the very best you can to stay in a good mood. Vaccination is ongoing but it is very time consuming. Perhaps we do not have enough vaccine yet in Sweden?

Cooking has been my main interest during the pandemic. To find new inspiring recepies. I have so many cookbooks, but today you mostly use the internet. I always forget the degrees for cooking meet and fish etc in the oven, then the internet is perfect to rely on.

Anyway, I have gained a couple of pandemic kilos that I have to do something about. Muscles perhaps. Spring time makes it easier. It is warmer and I can have my sallad again. Winter time I prefer hot food, but a fresh sallad is my favorite. On top of my ordinary exercise of course.

To keep going you have to focus on the positive things in life. I prefer the Muppet show with the Swedish chef instead of mutations that I mentionend the other day.

Stay safe 🐾

Another pandemic week has passed. I saw sweetie and cutie last weekend, and I brought a gift from a collegue. For some reason, I have saved this present for years, but now it was a perfect moment to light this rice lantern. It was a little windy, and the wind brought it to the sky over the fields. Amazing!

This weekend we have full moon. A constant lantern in the sky. The moon is so bright this evening so I had to google. I found out that in April and May there will be some kind of super moon. This pandemic makes me focus on the little things in life. Like rice lanterns and full moon.

Stay safe 🐾

Sorry for not writing for some time. This is new for me, and it takes time to adjust to bilingual writing. I have also thought of mutations – a phenomena that has been known for decades. I asked a few questions last time, and it is tough to explain complex genetics with a few words. And in addition, to make it understandable.

A mutation is a change in genetic material that can be passed on to a cell’s or a virus’s descendants. A change in genetic material can be due to many reasons. For example, if you are exposed to radiation at a particular wave length, your DNA can be changed and subsequently may lead to disease. Interestingly, our body has a defence against alterations, so there is a kind of balance. For detailed information, please see: https://www.britannica.com/science/mutation-genetics

Enzymes that help copy viral RNA are prone to making errors. Currently there is a lot of discussion with regard to spike proteins. A spike protein is made up of three smaller peptides in ‘open’ or ‘closed’ orientations. The spike proteins on SARS-CoV-2 bind to receptors on human cells, helping the virus to enter. Open conformations makes it more likely for the virus to enter, and might increase the chance of infection.  Please see: Corona virus mutations (Nature), in particular the illustration on page 177.

I havn´t seen anything written on this topic, but mutations must be very interesting for staticians to study since it concerns probability. From what I remember, statistics is very much about probability. The probability of a mutation might increase the virus´s ability to spread and/or cause disease. And also the contrary, a probability that a mutation will harm the virus. Is there a balance of beneficial mutations for the virus? Good for the virus and bad for humanity. That is at a more philosophical level and the question probably needs to be rephrased. Never mind.

The observed spike protein mutation of SARS-CoV-2 has been observed in several countries. Different viruses in different regions. The virus adapts to the environment but has no passport. Biology meets politics. This has forced authorities to make precautions. For the interested reader, I found this article where you can find more detailed foreign biological viral politics, please see: The Lancet – An action plan against.

I have spent this weekend with sweetie and cutie. Actually, I wanted to write earlier, but this is much too complicated and I needed some thinking. A walk in the forest with my beloved dogs cleared my mind. Dogs are very popular in Sweden right now during the pandemic. They definetly help us to stay safe!