Becoming a physician increases the use of antidepressants, opioids, anxiolytics, and sedatives, especially for female physicians. When trying to reproduce results in cancer researchers, independent researchers find that the benefits are typically grossly exaggerated. A large planet has been found orbiting two suns. It is orbiting from very far away. NASA sent a probe in … Continue reading Science and Technology links (December 19th 2021)
It used to be that all the exciting new processors came from Intel and AMD, and they were meant for your PC. The mobile revolution changed that: it lead to the production of fantastic processors that used little energy. We are now moving back into laptops and servers. The leading supplier of servers is probably … Continue reading Science and Technology links (December 4th 2021)
Government-funded research is getting more political and less diverse: The frequency of documents containing highly politicized terms has been increasing consistently over the last three decades. The most politicized field is Education & Human Resources. The least are Mathematical & Physical Sciences and Computer & Information Science & Engineering, although even they are significantly more … Continue reading Science and Technology links (Novembre 28th 2021)
Pacific rougheye rockfish can live hundreds of years while other rockfish barely live past ten years. Female condors can reproduce without males. The phenomenon is known as parthenogenesis and it occurs in birds such as chickens. It does not happen in mammals naturally as far as we know. Chimpanzees can thrive in virtual reality. People … Continue reading Science and Technology links (Novembre 13rd 2021)
Apple announced new processors for its computers. Here is a table with the transistor count of some recent Apple processors: processor release year transistors Apple A7 2013 1 billions Apple A8 2014 2 billions Apple A9 2015 2 billions Apple A10 2016 3.2 billions Apple A11 2017 4.3 billions Apple A12 2018 6.9 billions Apple … Continue reading Science and Technology links (October 23rd 2021)
The thymus is an important component of our immune system. As we age, the thymus degenerates and our immune system becomes less fit: emotional and physical distress, malnutrition, and opportunistic bacterial and viral infections damage the thymus. New research suggests that practical thymus regeneration could be closer than ever. The thymus is able to repair … Continue reading Science and Technology links (October 16th 2021)
Evans and Chu suggest, using data and a theoretical model, that as the number of scientists grow, progress may stagnate. Simply put, in a large field, with many researchers, a few papers and a few people are able to acquire a decisive advantage over newcomers. Large fields allow more inequality. One can review their model … Continue reading Science and Technology links (October 10th 2021)
Most people were able to cure their diabetes by losing weight in a clinical trial. Video games improve intelligence over many years, while socializing has no effect. To go to Mars safely, time is of the essence because astronauts would be exposed to radiations and particles from outside of solar system. It is unlikely that … Continue reading Science and Technology links (October 3rd 2021)
Radiation-therapy can rejuvenate heart cells. (source: Nature) Within members of the same species, cancer risk increases with body size. Large human beings are more at risk than smaller ones. Across species, the reverse is often true: cancer risks decrease with body size. Elephants are much less at risk of cancer than mice. We do not … Continue reading Science and Technology links (September 26th 2021)
4.5% of us are psychopaths. U.S. per capita CO2 emissions are lower than they were in 1918. 9/10 of People With Alzheimer’s Lose Some of Their Sense of Smell. Graphene-based hard drives could have ten times the storage capacity. Ageing yields improvements as well as declines across attention and executive functions. Progress toward an Alzheimer’s … Continue reading Science and Technology links (September 18th 2021)
Researchers built a microscope that might be 10 times better than the best available microscopes. Subsidizing college education can lower earnings due to lower job experience: The Post 9/11 GI Bill (PGIB) is among the largest and most generous college subsidies enacted thus far in the U.S. (…) the introduction of the PGIB raised college … Continue reading Science and Technology links (July 31st 2021)
We use CRISPR, a state-of-the-art gene editing technique, to edit the genes of live human patients in a clinical trials. A clinical trial has begun regarding an HIV vaccine. If you choose to forgo meat to fight climate change, you may lower your individual’s lifetime warming contribution by 2 to 4%. Age-related testosterone loss may … Continue reading Science and Technology links (July 10th 2021)
Reportedly, half of us own a smartphone. It is often reported that women or visible minority earn less money. However, ugly people are doing comparatively even more poorly. We have highly efficient and cheap solar panels. However, we must also quickly dispose of them after a few years which leads to trash. Handling an increasing … Continue reading Science and Technology links (June 26th 2021)
We completed the sequencing of the human genome. AstraZeneca’s drug Lynparza cut combined risk of recurrence of breast cancer or death by 42% among women in study. Glycine and N-acetylcysteine supplementation improves muscle strength and cognition. We found Egypt’s ancient capital. It has been lost of 3,400 years. It is unclear why it was abandoned. … Continue reading Science and Technology links (June 12th 2021)
Most computer chips today in flagship phones and computers use a process based on a 5 nm or larger resolution. Finer resolutions usually translate into lower energy usage and lower heat production. Given that many of our systems are limited by heat or power, finer resolutions lead to higher performance. The large Taiwanese chip maker … Continue reading Science and Technology links (May 22nd 2021)
There were rainforests near the south pole 90 million years ago. Though commercial exchanges are typically win-win for both the buyer and the seller, people tend to view the buyer as more likely to be taken advantage of. People with low self-esteem are more likely to blame the political system for their personal problems. Moscona … Continue reading Science and Technology links (May 15th 2021)
Growing your own food could lower your carbon footprint by 3-5%. In recent years, we have acquired the ability to measure biological age: your chronological age does not necessarily match your biological since some people age faster. We measure biological aging with gene expression. Researchers found that an eight-week program of diet, exercise, and meditation … Continue reading Science and Technology links (May 1st 2021)
Moderna built their COVID 19 vaccine without having the virus on site. They viewed it as a software problem. Human and mice with red hair have elevated pain thresholds. Tumors (cancer) consume high levels of sugar. You would think that it means that cancer cells consume a lot of sugar, but it appears that it … Continue reading Science and Technology links (April 17th 2021)
Scientists, including climate-science researchers, often travel to faraway places for conferences. Attending a live conference is time consuming and expensive. The cost is relative: attending a $3000 conference in Hawaii is cheap for the Harvard student, but a considerably higher expense for people elsewhere in the world. The conference is also out of reach for … Continue reading Science and Technology links (March 27th 2021)
Increasing schooling does not improve social outcomes at a population level. Venitian glass was made near Venice as early as 450 BC. It spread worldwide through trade. Venetian glass made its way as far as North America. We have now determined that it was present in Alaska before Christopher Columbus. We expect that it came … Continue reading Science and Technology links (March 6th 2021)