In a large cohort study, the highest probability of reaching 90 years old was found for those drinking between 5g and 15 g of alcohol per day. This does not mean that if you are not drinking, you should start. The Earth is getting greener thanks to CO2. In turn, a greener Earth will mitigate global … Continue reading Science and Technology links (February 22nd 2020)
It is often believed that radiations are bad for you. To the contrary, David et al. report that life expectancy is approximately 2.5 years longer in people living in areas with an elevated background radiation in the USA. Birth order, that is whether you are the oldest or youngest sibling, is independently associated with a … Continue reading Science and Technology links (February 8th 2020)
Almost all climate predictions are based on the so-called “business as usual” model, yet this model is based on assumptions that are unrealistically pessimistic. (Source: Nature) African populations have Neanderthal ancestry. This might be indicative that people from Europe went back to Africa over the centuries. The oceans are not acidic, their PH is about … Continue reading Science and Technology links (February 1st 2020)
Scientists found a way to increase the production of new neurons in the brains of mice, effectively rejuvenating the brains of old mice. (Source: Nature) How many people died during accidents at nuclear power plants? In North America, the most famous accident happened at Three Mile Island when a reactor overheated, shut down, and small … Continue reading Science and Technology links (January 25th 2020)
The extra wealth that ones acquires by attending college is now estimated to be indistinguishable from zero. The authors control for the parent’s education and the individual’s financial acumen. A drug approved for use in human beings (Rapamycin) appears to rejuvenate dental health in mice. Low-fat milk increases the obesity risk of children when compared … Continue reading Science and Technology links (January 11th 2020)
The number of research papers with more than 1000 authors is increasingly quickly and reaching many fields. Researchers at Facebook use neural networks to solve fancy algebraic problems that may be out of reach of computer algebra systems. At least on the short term, wind turbines may contribute more to global warming than equivalent fossil … Continue reading Science and Technology links (December 21st 2019)
The computation capacity needed by artificial intelligence doubles every 3.4 months. In parallel, we are making fast progress in hardware and software: what took three hours a year and half ago can now take less than two minutes. In Luxembourg, a small European country, all public transportation is free. Luxembourg has also a gay prime … Continue reading Science and Technology links (December 14th 2019)
Incredibly, there is a new simpler way to solve the quadratic formula. I used to rely on the completion of the square, but this is better! There is a video report on the finding. Surgeons are putting patients in suspended animation (biostasis) during surgery, replacing their blood with a cold saline solution, for time-sensitive interventions. … Continue reading Science and Technology links (December 7th 2019)
We have new technology to do genetic engineering on human beings (CRISPR). In a small clinical trial, the researchers tested it on live human subjects and found it to be safe. Girls and boys have a similar intelligence according to psychometric tests, but girls do much better in school, and this is not due to … Continue reading Science and Technology links (November 16th 2019)
People who were the oldest in the classes in school tend to be more confident and to take more risks. At the University of Montreal, about 32% of the students are male and 68% are female. Did blind orchestra auditions really benefit women? Wealthy people are happier, but the effect is small. Among Uber consumers, … Continue reading Science and Technology links (October 26th 2019)
Researchers have effectively rejuvenated the damaged skin of mice by using “exosomes”. These are packages that cells send in their environment, and it appears that other cells react positively to exosomes in some conditions. The therapy is non-invasive (no needle!) and it appears to be superior to existing skin rejuvenation treatments (e.g., retinol, stem cells). … Continue reading Science and Technology links (September 28th 2019)
Amputees suffer from lack of sensory feedback from the missing limbs. Researchers found it beneficial to provide artificial sensory feedback. More economically equal societies favor people with better genes, something referred to as the Gene-Gini interplay. As we age, we tend to accumulate senescent cells. Removing senescent cells is likely to improve the health of … Continue reading Science and Technology links (September 21st 2019)
Streaming music makes up 80% of the revenue of the music industry. Revenue is up 18% for the first six months of 2019. This follows a record year in 2018 when the music industry reached its highest revenues in 10 years. Though it should be good news for musicians, it is also the case that … Continue reading Science and Technology links (September 14th 2019)
In a small clinical trial, scientists administered some “anti-aging” therapies to people between their fifties and sixties. They used growth hormone to regenerate the thymus, part of our immune system which is nearly all gone when people reach 50 years old. They complemented this therapy with anti-diabetes drugs (dehydroepiandrosterone and metformin) as an attempt to … Continue reading Science and Technology links (September 7th 2019)
The Conboy laboratory in Berkeley is responsible for some of the best work in aging research. In 2005, they showed that by connecting the blood vessels of an old and a young mice, they could rejuvenate the old mice (via a process called parabiosis). This earlier work showed that there are probably “aging factors” in … Continue reading Science and Technology links (August 31st 2019)
The net contribution of the Amazon ecosystem to the world’s oxygen is effectively zero. Furthermore, there is a lot of oxygen in the air and it would be excessively difficult to lower or increase the ratio. In effect, we are not going to run out of oxygen on Earth any time soon, even if we … Continue reading Science and Technology links (August 24th 2019)
Google may soon release an augmented-reality version of Google Maps for mobile phones. I have always found it difficult to identify the streets I see in an unfamiliar setting, and it looks like Google may be solving this very problem. I am looking forward to seeing how well it works in practice. The delivery company UPS … Continue reading Science and Technology links (August 17th 2019)
A short (less than one hour) online lesson improved grades among weaker students. The lesson taught the growth mindset: that intellectual abilities can be developed. The chip maker AMD, has released a processor (EPYC 7742) which has 32-billion transistors and 64 cores. According to a recent study, we tend to see women as victims and … Continue reading Science and Technology links (August 10th 2019
Reportedly, researchers in China are creating embryos that are part human and part monkey. Sickle cell disease is a genetic disease with no cure. In an attempt to cure the disease, a patient received gene therapy. We still do not know whether it will work. Scientists theorize that chronic inflammation brings down your motivation and … Continue reading Science and Technology links (August 3rd 2019)
There are thick ice deposits on the Moon. Water in space is important as it can be used to create fuel and to sustain life. Most animals do not suffer heart attacks and strokes, the way human beings do. It appears that the difference may be due to a specific genetic mutation. Heart attacks are … Continue reading Science and Technology links (July 27th 2019)