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TMT and Hawaiian Homelands Issues, Progress, Justice, And Work to be done.

TMT and Hawaiian Homelands Issues, Progress, Justice, And Work to be done.

Jan 22 2022 | comment(s)

The Thirty Meter Telescope is moving forward as the state of Hawaii seeks to address real injustices done to the Native Hawaiians, issues brought to wider attention by the protest building TMT.

When astronomers say that having a Thirty Meter Telescope atop Mauna Kea will unlock discoveries, we can only dream of what do we really mean? What good reasons did a minority of Native Hawaiians have to oppose this construction? What has happened since the wonderful time when a protest on top of a beautiful mountain that seemed to have a carnival like atmosphere was the worst thing happening?

Democrats in Academia Believe POTUS Biden Has Already Been Great For Science But The Evidence Isn't There

Democrats in Academia Believe POTUS Biden Has Already Been Great For Science But The Evidence Isn't There

Jan 21 2022 | comment(s)

A new opinion piece in Nature says that President Joe Biden has mostly followed the science and he is a lot better than President Trump - but how much of that is filtered through the reality that one is in their political tribe and the other guy a Republican muddles the issue. Academics said the same thing about Obama over Bush and it was so clearly partisan (and scientifically wrong) we wrote a whole book on it.
SARS-CoV-2 Is A Respiratory Virus, But 'Long Covid' Effects In The Brain Are Real

SARS-CoV-2 Is A Respiratory Virus, But 'Long Covid' Effects In The Brain Are Real

Jan 21 2022 | comment(s)

All coronaviruses, and certainly SARS-CoV-2, have become famous as a respiratory virus, but acute COVID-19 infection has been linked to many different organ systems, including the brain, resulting in a wide range of neurological complications with long-lasting impacts.

 According to a new paper by Serena Spudich and Avindra Nath, cases of neurological “Long Covid” symptoms may result from the emergence and persistence of these mechanisms and the neurological symptoms that accompany COVID-19.
Growing Anti Germ Theory Denialism And COVID 19, Anti-Science That Makes Flat Earthers Look Brilliant.

Growing Anti Germ Theory Denialism And COVID 19, Anti-Science That Makes Flat Earthers Look Brilliant.

Jan 20 2022 | comment(s)

Disease is caused by microbes, viruses, and bacteria. In the case of cancer, it is an overgrowth of your own human cells in a disorderly way. Microbiology is even more indisputable than any astronomical fact. In fact, it is so solid that the best reference to give is a free and open-source textbook. 1 People who take a holistic approach to disease, who are also often anti vaxx are not generally anti-germ theory. It is a fact the healthier the body the better it can fight off disease causing microbes. COVID-19 the current pandemic is enflamed in the United States due to the virus replicating in the overabundant fat cells of people in our country who are overweight and especially obese people.

Chewing Gum May Increase Diet-Induced Thermogenesis And Therefore Mean Less Weight Gain

Chewing Gum May Increase Diet-Induced Thermogenesis And Therefore Mean Less Weight Gain

Jan 20 2022 | comment(s)

A new study finds that oral stimuli during the chewing of food can help increase energy expenditure of body and prevent obesity.

Chew your food well is ancient wisdom.  In the past, the belief was perhaps because there was less food anyway. Chewing it longer gave the brain and stomach time to catch up with each other. Many people have reported 'their eyes are bigger than their stomach' and feeling hungry until they were very full. Others said it made digestion easier.
Political Parties Don't Follow Polls, Polls Follow Party Changes

Political Parties Don't Follow Polls, Polls Follow Party Changes

Jan 20 2022 | comment(s)

In 2008, Senator Barack Obama was opposed to gay marriage and worried vaccines might cause autism. A few years later he said neither of those things.

Did Democrats flip to being pro-science and the party followed and then the President reflected those polls? Perhaps he changed from stating party platforms based on voter beliefs to his own once he was elected, then he changed the party, and then the party led its members, finds results in a new paper on party and personal political polarization. 
UK Rolls Back Restrictions On Neonics Based On

UK Rolls Back Restrictions On Neonics Based On "Robust Scientific Assessment"

Jan 19 2022 | comment(s)

Late last spring, Sri Lanka listened to anti-science activists who claimed organic food was viable right now and less progressive countries simply lacked the political will to stand up to large corporations and banned all processes but organic.

Within a few short months crops had failed, GDP was in freefall, people were hoarding food, the black market became rampant, and the government was forced to roll back their bans.

Lesson learned. Yet the UK, home of both the anti-GMO and the modern anti-vaccine movement, keeps repeating these same lessons and never seems to learn from the same mistakes. 
Magnesium Helps The Immune System, Including Against Cancer

Magnesium Helps The Immune System, Including Against Cancer

Jan 19 2022 | comment(s)

Magnesium is important in the immune system’s ability to tackle pathogens and even cancer cells but that doesn't mean you should run to a supplement huckster or naturopath. It is magnesium in blood that is needed for T cells to operate efficiently and that means science and medicine, not woo.

Some studies, though only in mice so strictly observational, found that cancerous growths spread faster when the animals received a low-magnesium diet – and also that their defense against flu viruses was also impaired. Lacking a plausible biological mechanism for exactly how this mineral affects the immune system leaves such studies in the interesting but not clinically relevant camp.
Environmental Health Trust Now Claims 5G Cell Phones Kill Trees

Environmental Health Trust Now Claims 5G Cell Phones Kill Trees

Jan 19 2022 | comment(s)

Prior to 2021, if you found an anti-vaxxer, it was also going to be someone who bought organic food and thought cell phones cause cancer. While some kooky Republicans have taken over for some of the wacky left-wing people that deny vaccines, organic food and 5G conspiracy theories are thankfully still only one party and thus don't get much media attention from their political tribe in corporate journalism.
There Are Few Countries In Which It's Good To Die

There Are Few Countries In Which It's Good To Die

Jan 18 2022 | comment(s)

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, 81 countries, rich and poor, mostly do poorly on how well their health systems provide for the physical and mental wellbeing of patients at the end of life.
For AI To Make Health Care Decisions, It Needs 6 Things

For AI To Make Health Care Decisions, It Needs 6 Things

Jan 18 2022 | comment(s)

When it comes to baseball and football, coaches always know the numbers. That helps them make informed decisions on risk and reward. Less well-known is that clinicians also often make important healthcare decisions with the aid of algorithmic tools that draw on large amounts of complex data.
The Real Future Of Solar Power Is Space

The Real Future Of Solar Power Is Space

Jan 17 2022 | comment(s)

If you believe solar power is ready for mass usage, you are likely an activist, in the industry, or one of the customers who really believes they are selling electricity back to the utility at the same price they are paying when they need it and it isn't being paid for by people in the apartments that we get told are better for the environment than single-family homes.

Without mandates and subsidies, plus fees tacked onto every non-solar-using customer, the industry would go back to the niche it was prior to 2010. Since 2010, the share of conventional energy needed has not moved while the world spent trillions underwriting alternatives.(1)
Joe Rogan, And Other Podcasters,

Joe Rogan, And Other Podcasters, "Influence" Does Not Equal Expertise, Let Alone Data. Science Is Not Debate, It Is Data Lead.

Jan 15 2022 | comment(s)

Even a website by researchers who support the use of Ivermectin say you need to get vaccinated. So why do people like Joe Rogan and other podcaster/influencers lean into anti vaccine anti science and counterfactual rhetoric? Vaccines should not be mandated for those who just don’t want them but the rest of us should not have to accept anti-scientific reasons. If someone does not want to be vaccinated fine no one should be forced. Adjust by accepting online schooling, remote work, eating carry out instead of dine in, etc. Have the integrity to admit it’s because you just don’t want it, no reason. Especially if you aren’t someone who was health conscious at all, and who eats junk food and drinks diet soda and never exercises at all.

Supreme Court Finds Biden Can Mandate Vaccines For Federally Funded Hospitals But Not All Businesses

Supreme Court Finds Biden Can Mandate Vaccines For Federally Funded Hospitals But Not All Businesses

Jan 13 2022 | comment(s)

The Supreme Court dealt another blow to federal overreach by the Biden administration but then rightly upheld vaccine mandates if an organization is federally funded.

Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, nearly all hospitals are federally funded. So a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rule requiring vaccinations for health care workers at companies that receive Medicare or Medicaid funding, which is nearly all of them, is legal, while the overzealous attempt to use the Occupational Safety and Health Administration requiring companies with 100 or more employees to force them to get vaccines was rightly found unconstitutional.
Maybe There Is No One True Native, Everyone Displaced Someone Else

Maybe There Is No One True Native, Everyone Displaced Someone Else

Jan 13 2022 | comment(s)

People in Britain, from Scotland to Wales, may maintain a cultural identity, but how much of it is real versus an arbitrary social construct? How much should be decided by genes versus how people choose to identify?

A new study opens up as many questions as it answers about Bronze Age Britain. Where did many of them 'come from'? Inference suggests France.
Quantum Gravity And The Search For A Unified Physics

Quantum Gravity And The Search For A Unified Physics

Jan 13 2022 | comment(s)

Quantum gravity has fascinated scientists for over a century.
Vilca-Chicha: Peruvians Created A Literal Opiate Of The Masses To Exercise Control

Vilca-Chicha: Peruvians Created A Literal Opiate Of The Masses To Exercise Control

Jan 12 2022 | comment(s)

As Peru's Wari kingdom sought to shore up their crumbling empire over 1,000 years ago they did it with their own form of bread and circuses - cocaine, ayahuasca, and a beer with psychedelics mixed in.

Since the concoction was only made by elites without a penalty of death, festivals became a way to exercise political control among friends and challengers alike. It obviously didn't work forever, the Incas conquered them, but the archaeological evidence provides a compelling look into South American culture of 1000 AD.
Worry That Scientific Debate Of Possible SARS-CoV-2 Lab Leak Would Annoy China Was Real

Worry That Scientific Debate Of Possible SARS-CoV-2 Lab Leak Would Annoy China Was Real

Jan 12 2022 | comment(s)

China has no problem blaming other countries for SARS-CoV-2 - they tried to blame the US for it, claiming it was brought into China in frozen food and the hand-picked World Health Organisation panel said nothing - but their willingness to retaliate is clear. So clear that a panel of experts worried that even discussing the possibility of an accidental leak was cautioned against because it might risk "international harmony."

A Wellcome Trust email from Dr. Jeremy Farrar, current director of the Wellcome Trust and former Oxford professor, stated on February 2 2020 that a likely explanation for the virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic that erupted in the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market was a leak from one of the nearby labs in Wuhan.
Politicizing Aphid Poop

Politicizing Aphid Poop

Jan 11 2022 | comment(s)

We all know there is no Beepocalypse by now, right? Seeing it referenced in sit-coms from the 2010s  is as anachronistic as watching "Soylent Green" from the 1970s and seeing them lament that they didn't listen to scientists and make the hole in the ozone layer larger. Sure, Washington Post readers probably still believe bees are dying, just like their contributors think "Soylent Green" got a lot right, but it's as unscientific as acupuncture. 
Deep Learning Boosts The Performance Of Particle Detectors

Deep Learning Boosts The Performance Of Particle Detectors

Jan 11 2022 | comment(s)

The title of this post is no news for particle physicists - particle detectors are complex instruments and they work by interpreting the result of stochastic phenomena taking place when radiation interacts with the matter of which detectors are built, and it looks only natural that deep learning algorithms can help improve our measurements in such a complex environment.

However, in this post I will give an example of something qualitatively different to providing an improvement of a measurement: one where a deep convolutional network model may extract information that we were simply incapable of making sense of. This means that the algorithm allows us to employ our detector in a new way.