Science 2.0
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Updated: 12 min 37 sec ago
The Next Plague: Did We Learn Anything From COVID-19?
In early 2018, colleagues and I released The Next Plague and How Science Will Stop It and coronavirus was in there, because there had already been two coronavirus pandemics, SARS and MERS, this century.
No one anticipated that SARS-CoV-2 would erupt in Wuhan, China, and be the worst pandemic since the 1950s but one thing I had long been concerned about was how unprepared the CDC was. Thanks to government becoming more overlords and less public servants - sorry, George Soros and friends, 'no kings' was a problem decades before President Trump was elected - and government employees spent their days grasping for more money rather than helping anyone.(1)
No one anticipated that SARS-CoV-2 would erupt in Wuhan, China, and be the worst pandemic since the 1950s but one thing I had long been concerned about was how unprepared the CDC was. Thanks to government becoming more overlords and less public servants - sorry, George Soros and friends, 'no kings' was a problem decades before President Trump was elected - and government employees spent their days grasping for more money rather than helping anyone.(1)
Categories: Science 2.0
Kennedy Effect: Now NIEHS Scaremongers Any 'Detectable' PFAS Levels
A National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences paper(1) is sounding the alarm about detectable per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in blood samples of Delaware residents.
It sounds scary, but scientifically there are two things to keep in mind:
1. We can detect anything in anything in 2025.
2. Presence is not pathology.
It sounds scary, but scientifically there are two things to keep in mind:
1. We can detect anything in anything in 2025.
2. Presence is not pathology.
Categories: Science 2.0
Are We Stochastic Parrots, Too? What LLMs Teach Us About Intelligence And Understanding
Having interacted for a few months with ChatGPT 5 now, both for work-related problems and for private / self-learning tasks, I feel I might share some thoughts here on what these large models can tell us about our own thought processes.
The sentence above is basically giving away my bottomline from square one, but I suppose I can elaborate a bit more on the concept. LLMs have revolutionized a wide range of information-processing tasks in just three or four years. Looking back, the only comparable breakthrough I can recall is the advent of internet search engines in the early 1990s. But as exciting and awesome this breakthrough is, it inspires me still more to ponder on how this is even possible. Let me unpack this.
The sentence above is basically giving away my bottomline from square one, but I suppose I can elaborate a bit more on the concept. LLMs have revolutionized a wide range of information-processing tasks in just three or four years. Looking back, the only comparable breakthrough I can recall is the advent of internet search engines in the early 1990s. But as exciting and awesome this breakthrough is, it inspires me still more to ponder on how this is even possible. Let me unpack this.
Categories: Science 2.0
Hepatologists Ironically Over-Represented In Alcoholism
A survey asked 185 practicing transplant hepatologists across the U.S. who are among the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases members across the U.S. about "unhealthy" alcohol use - alcohol is a class 1 carcinogen, so unless you eat healthy amounts of plutonium or smoke healthy amount of cigarettes 'unhealthy' is a strange qualifier only alcohol gets - and found 26.3 percent screened positive for way too much alcohol use.
Which is higher than the general United States population but ironic since hepatologists are gastroenterologists who focus on liver diseases and alcohol is the leading cause of liver disease. So common that they had to create a non-alcohol version for the rarer cases of fatty liver disease that don't involve drinking.
Which is higher than the general United States population but ironic since hepatologists are gastroenterologists who focus on liver diseases and alcohol is the leading cause of liver disease. So common that they had to create a non-alcohol version for the rarer cases of fatty liver disease that don't involve drinking.
Categories: Science 2.0
Make Your Own Halloween Slime - In Both Gen X And Hippie-Dippie Baloney Versions
If a politician who used to be a Natural Resources Defense Council lawyer hasn’t banned all food coloring by the time
you read this, here is how you can make your own green slime. In both Gen X - chemicals that sound like chemicals - and more natural-sounding versions of chemicals. Basically, people who think Dawn dishwashing liquid is an organic weedkiller.
These are excerpted from Halloween Science 2.0, available on Amazon (and free if you have Kindle Unlimited)
Let’s post two ways. Both of
these scale, depending on how much slime you want.
Categories: Science 2.0
Impostor Participants Are Skewing Epidemiological Surveys
Impostor participants are people who fake data in order to take part in health research or are automated computer ‘bots’ which mimic human behavior and responses. As claims get promoted in journalism about harms related to PFAS in water, weedkillers causing cancer, or food coloring causing diabetes, lawsuits by predatory lawyers have become big business, and it won't be a surprise if such Predatorts or environmental and other activist groups are involved in fake participants to manipulate results in their favor.
Categories: Science 2.0
Humans Made California Wildfires More Dangerous, Though Not With Emissions
A new call to action by ecologists uses a numerical model to note that wildfires in places like California have been made worse by humans.
That doesn't mean it is human emissions. For decades, California government has banned logging. They let people move to risky fire areas and then not pay for any mitigation or firebreaks. State and local governments refuse to allow dead brush to be cleared because it impacts the environment.
That doesn't mean it is human emissions. For decades, California government has banned logging. They let people move to risky fire areas and then not pay for any mitigation or firebreaks. State and local governments refuse to allow dead brush to be cleared because it impacts the environment.
Categories: Science 2.0
AI Helps Doctors Look At Lots Of Data Fast For Diagnostic Clues
Actors, artists, and musicians are rightly worried about the impact of AI on their incomes but doctors and scientists welcome the help. They know typewriters didn't make literature worse than writing in longhand and "AI" - LLMs - likewise removes the 'how' of information access so thinkers can get to the 'why.'
In modern government-controlled healthcare, doctors are more pressed for time per patient than ever. Often while relying on incomplete information. Electronic health records contain vast amounts of patient data but much of it remains difficult to interpret quickly, and that is even more challenging for patients with rare diseases or unusual symptoms.
In modern government-controlled healthcare, doctors are more pressed for time per patient than ever. Often while relying on incomplete information. Electronic health records contain vast amounts of patient data but much of it remains difficult to interpret quickly, and that is even more challenging for patients with rare diseases or unusual symptoms.
Categories: Science 2.0
Altmetric Will Now Include Your Podcast
In the early days of Science 2.0, blogging did not get a lot of institutional respect. Public outreach was a waste of time, academics were often told, leave that to science journalists and the PIOs at schools who write press releases.
It seemed archaic. Anyone who knows how much of science is government-funded, about a third of basic research, knows that means it is political. Which means you cannot and should not let someone else write your narrative. It's too easy to manipulate. A decade ago, when a group wrote to Columbia University and asked them to remove Dr. Oz from the faculty because of his claims about supplements and that medicine was a corporate conspiracy, he got allies in corporate journalism to dismiss us as Big Pharma shills.(1)
It seemed archaic. Anyone who knows how much of science is government-funded, about a third of basic research, knows that means it is political. Which means you cannot and should not let someone else write your narrative. It's too easy to manipulate. A decade ago, when a group wrote to Columbia University and asked them to remove Dr. Oz from the faculty because of his claims about supplements and that medicine was a corporate conspiracy, he got allies in corporate journalism to dismiss us as Big Pharma shills.(1)
Categories: Science 2.0
Coca Leaf: Native Heritage Or Dangerous Drug?
Due to President Clinton's 1994 DSHEA law (Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994), and diverting science funding to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a large number of people believe acupuncture works and that supplements can be alternatives to medicine.
Acupuncture is the placebo effect but some natural products can work - the problem is that if they work they may do something bad. Kratom is an example of a product banned in countries that grow it; unless it is for export to the United States. They know that it works, and also that it can kill Godzilla.
Acupuncture is the placebo effect but some natural products can work - the problem is that if they work they may do something bad. Kratom is an example of a product banned in countries that grow it; unless it is for export to the United States. They know that it works, and also that it can kill Godzilla.
Categories: Science 2.0
What's Happening In The Brains Of Protesters?
From Los Angeles to Portland to New York City, political protests have become common. That provides data for what may be happening in brains and how engaged people can avoid becoming a Tyler Robinson or Luigi Mangione or Antifa in Oregon.
The US is not special when it comes to protests, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace says there have been over 140 mass demonstrations globally in the past year, with 30 ongoing.
A new paper(1) says up to 80% of activists experience moderate to severe anxiety or depression. Are they protesting because they are anxious or are they anxious because they spend time in a group of protesters?
The US is not special when it comes to protests, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace says there have been over 140 mass demonstrations globally in the past year, with 30 ongoing.
A new paper(1) says up to 80% of activists experience moderate to severe anxiety or depression. Are they protesting because they are anxious or are they anxious because they spend time in a group of protesters?
Categories: Science 2.0
AT 2024tvd: A Black Hole Is Eating A Star Outside A Galaxy Center, And Spitting Parts Back Out
When you picture a black hole, you probably picture in the center of a galaxy with matter swirling toward it. You're not wrong but that is why the exception proves the rule.
A recent study detected a surprising tidal disruption event where a black hole outside the center of a galaxy is tearing apart a star. Even stranger and defiance of black hole lore, the delayed and powerful radio outbursts suggest previously unknown processes in how black holes eject material over time. Designated AT 2024tvd, it is to-date the fastest-evolving radio emission ever observed from a black-hole-driven stellar disruption.
A recent study detected a surprising tidal disruption event where a black hole outside the center of a galaxy is tearing apart a star. Even stranger and defiance of black hole lore, the delayed and powerful radio outbursts suggest previously unknown processes in how black holes eject material over time. Designated AT 2024tvd, it is to-date the fastest-evolving radio emission ever observed from a black-hole-driven stellar disruption.
Categories: Science 2.0