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Mummy Mia! Medicinal Cannibalism Was More Recent Than You Think
Why did people think cannibalism was good for their health? The answer offers a glimpse into the zaniest crannies of European history, at a time when Europeans were obsessed with Egyptian mummies.
Driven first by the belief that ground-up and tinctured human remains could cure anything from bubonic plague to a headache, and then by the macabre ideas Victorian people had about after-dinner entertainment, the bandaged corpses of ancient Egyptians were the subject of fascination from the Middle Ages to the 19th century.
Mummy maniaFaith that mummies could cure illness drove people for centuries to ingest something that tasted awful.
Categories: Science 2.0
Why The French Get Grumpy When It's Warmer
The French look at not owning air conditioning as a point of pride, and it may have made them so grumpy it explains why they passed laws saying no one can install it unless they get permission from their neighbors, and perhaps even the city or prefecture government.
They can talk about mitigating climate change but letting 10,000 senior citizens die during heat waves was never a good thing, especially when wealthy nations refuse to hold China accountable for being the runaway leader in emissions. Air conditioning might make Europeans see issues more clearly.
They can talk about mitigating climate change but letting 10,000 senior citizens die during heat waves was never a good thing, especially when wealthy nations refuse to hold China accountable for being the runaway leader in emissions. Air conditioning might make Europeans see issues more clearly.
Categories: Science 2.0
Now For Something New Around Uranus
There us something new to talk about around Uranus, the seventh planet from the Sun.
Uranus is a “sideways planet” due to its extreme axial tilt, and the ice giant owes its cyan-color to a deep atmosphere composed of hydrogen, helium and methane. And it has moons. Lots of moons. Now it has one more. A James Webb Space Telescope survey found the as-yet unnamed new one, provisionally designated S/2025 U 1, bringing the total to 29, thanks to 10 long exposures obtained by the JWST Near-Infrared Camera.
Why it escaped detection for so long
Uranus is a “sideways planet” due to its extreme axial tilt, and the ice giant owes its cyan-color to a deep atmosphere composed of hydrogen, helium and methane. And it has moons. Lots of moons. Now it has one more. A James Webb Space Telescope survey found the as-yet unnamed new one, provisionally designated S/2025 U 1, bringing the total to 29, thanks to 10 long exposures obtained by the JWST Near-Infrared Camera.
Why it escaped detection for so long
Categories: Science 2.0
New Vaccine For 21 Strains Of Pneumococcal Disease
A new international, randomized clinical trial is evaluating a vaccine developed to protect against 21 strains of pneumococcus, up from the current 13 strains covered now. That means greater protection to babies against the common infection that causes pneumonia, sinusitis and meningitis.
Pneumococcal disease can lead to serious illness and death among children under two years of age. The US had 31,000 cases and more than 3,500 deaths from invasive pneumococcal disease (bacteremia and meningitis)
Participants will receive four doses of the vaccine at two, four, and six months of age and a booster dose at 12-15 months. To stay within real-world conditions they will still receive the usual vaccines.
Pneumococcal disease can lead to serious illness and death among children under two years of age. The US had 31,000 cases and more than 3,500 deaths from invasive pneumococcal disease (bacteremia and meningitis)
Participants will receive four doses of the vaccine at two, four, and six months of age and a booster dose at 12-15 months. To stay within real-world conditions they will still receive the usual vaccines.
Categories: Science 2.0
Some Thoughts On Co-design For Tracking Optimization
These days I am organizing a collaborative effort to write an article on holistic optimization of experiments and complex systems. "So what is the news," I could hear say by one of my twentythree faithful readers(cit.) of this blog. Well, the news is that I am making some progress in focusing on the way the interplay of hardware design and software reconstruction plays out in some typical systems, and I was thinking I could share some of those thoughts here, to stimulate a discussion, and who knows, maybe get some brilliant insight.
Categories: Science 2.0
How European Forests May Look By The Year 2100
A new computer simulation says that climate change may may ruin the tall beech trees common in Europe. Unfortunately, many other simulations already said it was too late to curb runaway emissions by India and China as of 2016.
For the last 2,000 years, the area from southern Sweden to central France has been a
temperate deciduous forest zone, and beech tries thrived. The new estimate says that future summers will be warmer, drier and reminiscent of the Mediterranean climate, which are fine for people but not beech trees.
For the last 2,000 years, the area from southern Sweden to central France has been a
temperate deciduous forest zone, and beech tries thrived. The new estimate says that future summers will be warmer, drier and reminiscent of the Mediterranean climate, which are fine for people but not beech trees.
Categories: Science 2.0
No Sense Of Smell? Try Radio Waves
We usually associate smell with bad things, like body odors or fire or a gas leak, but a keen sense of smell helps us enjoy food and other pleasures in life.
Many things cause loss of smell; aging is number one, but also brain injuries and loss of smell was a common complaint about COVID-19 infections. It's not a life-threatening condition, which may be why there are very few effective treatments.
Many things cause loss of smell; aging is number one, but also brain injuries and loss of smell was a common complaint about COVID-19 infections. It's not a life-threatening condition, which may be why there are very few effective treatments.
Categories: Science 2.0
So Good Badminton Banned It: The Spin Serve Gets A CFD Analysis
In all racket sports, a well-executed serve can establish a real advantage. Badminton is played by around 220 million people across the globe and a“spin serve” took badminton by storm when a Danish player at the Polish Open 2023 badminton tournament used it to dominant effect.
Like in table tennis, a spin-serve in badminton adds pre-spin before the racket touches the shuttlecock and the natural spin determined by its feathers’ inclination angles plus the pre-spin makes the flight trajectory even more unpredictable.
Naturally, instead of expecting players to adjust and improve, the community demanded the Badminton World Federation ban it. Coaches and players said extended rallies were more exciting for fans than good serves.
Like in table tennis, a spin-serve in badminton adds pre-spin before the racket touches the shuttlecock and the natural spin determined by its feathers’ inclination angles plus the pre-spin makes the flight trajectory even more unpredictable.
Naturally, instead of expecting players to adjust and improve, the community demanded the Badminton World Federation ban it. Coaches and players said extended rallies were more exciting for fans than good serves.
Categories: Science 2.0
Blocking IL-23 May Keep HPV From Helping Cancer Grow
The most common cancer-causing strain of human papillomavirus, HPV16, can reprogram immune cells surrounding the tumor to help cancer grow, and new work in mice blocking this process helped treatments prevent the spread of cancer.
HPV is common in humans and in most cases clears naturally but HPV16 is linked to over half of cervical cancer cases and roughly 90% of HPV throat cancers. The HPV vaccine can prevent those cancers if vaccination occurs prior to HPV exposure but young people are the first generation to have the vaccine readily available.
HPV is common in humans and in most cases clears naturally but HPV16 is linked to over half of cervical cancer cases and roughly 90% of HPV throat cancers. The HPV vaccine can prevent those cancers if vaccination occurs prior to HPV exposure but young people are the first generation to have the vaccine readily available.
Categories: Science 2.0
Inflammatory Bowel Disease May Accelerate Dementia
You have probably heard the phrase “follow your gut” – often used to mean trusting your instinct and intuition. But in the context of the gut-brain axis, the phrase takes on a more literal meaning. Scientific research increasingly shows that the brain and gut are in constant, two-way communication. Once overlooked, this connection is now at the forefront of growing interest in neuroscience, nutrition and mental health.
Categories: Science 2.0
How Trump Is Making Taiwan Safe(r)
Let’s write a letter to Donald Trump. Trigger warning: Lots of sarcasm here.
Not-so-dear Don,
Categories: Science 2.0
USDA Results Show Science Can Feed The World If Governments Get Out Of The Way
Until the 1980s, the modern-day Malthus acolytes like Drs. Paul Ehrlich and John Holdren predicted Population Bombs and advocated for government-mandated sterilization and abortion to prevent it.(1)
Science didn't buy into the doomsday narrative and the poor have benefited.
Rather than the world starvation social authoritarians claimed only they could prevent, food has become so plentiful and affordable that modern social authoritarians now demand poor people be banned from buying food that government panels segregate. For the first time in the history of planet earth, the poorest people can afford to be fat.(2)
That was not a problem for the poor even 50 years ago.(3)
Science didn't buy into the doomsday narrative and the poor have benefited.
Rather than the world starvation social authoritarians claimed only they could prevent, food has become so plentiful and affordable that modern social authoritarians now demand poor people be banned from buying food that government panels segregate. For the first time in the history of planet earth, the poorest people can afford to be fat.(2)
That was not a problem for the poor even 50 years ago.(3)
Categories: Science 2.0
We Won't Lose Vaccine Leadership Due To Less Government, Government Has Always Done Little
"If it was up to the NIH to cure polio through a centrally directed program instead of independent investigator driven discovery, you'd have the best iron lung in the world, but not a polio vaccine." - Dr. Samuel Broder, M.D., former Director of the National Cancer Institute
Categories: Science 2.0
Age 60 And Up: Walk Faster To Reduce Risk Of Stroke
Epidemiologists correlate inputs to outcomes by looking at surveys and diaries and then seeing what foods, products, or behaviors to outcomes, like better or worse health.
It isn't science and is often exploited but it has led to big public health wins, like showing that cigarettes and alcohol cause cancer - instances were human clinical trials would be unethical. Recommendations like not adding salt or not eating eggs became fads because epidemiologists claimed it and media highlighted it, the same way the Mediterranean Diet and buying organic food did. There are so many confounders scientists throw up their hands and walk away but corporations exploit it to billions of dollars in revenue.
It isn't science and is often exploited but it has led to big public health wins, like showing that cigarettes and alcohol cause cancer - instances were human clinical trials would be unethical. Recommendations like not adding salt or not eating eggs became fads because epidemiologists claimed it and media highlighted it, the same way the Mediterranean Diet and buying organic food did. There are so many confounders scientists throw up their hands and walk away but corporations exploit it to billions of dollars in revenue.
Categories: Science 2.0
Swedish Physics Days
On August 13-15 I will attend for the first time to the Swedish Physics Days, an important national event for Swedish physics. This year the congress takes place at Lulea University of Technology, the institute where I am currently spending some time, hosted by the Machine Learning group through a Guest Researcher fellowship granted by WASP (Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program).
Categories: Science 2.0
A Sad Semiconductor Circus
Donald Trump, alleged by many to be President of the United States, has demanded that Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan resign immediately. Thanking the American public for our “attention to this matter,” Trump claims Tan is “conflicted” due to his investments in China.
I dare suggest that Tan respond as follows:
Categories: Science 2.0
I Made An AI Clone Of Myself And Now I Am Going To Live Forever
"I made an AI clone of myself and now I am going to live forever" is not a joke.
My AI twin, Bloombot, created by Ryan Dean, the Chief Technology Officer of the Howard Bloom Institute, is designed to carry on my way of thinking after I shuffle off this mortal coil.
In other words, it is going to do its best to replace me.
No, the BloomBot is not exactly me. But it defies belief. The Bloombot is nimble on its digital feet, can do research that would take me a month in seconds, and can write phrases I wish I had written myself.
And sometimes the BloomBot goes even farther. It uses my ideas as seeds and erects trees of imagination and reasoning that rise to rapturous heights.
My AI twin, Bloombot, created by Ryan Dean, the Chief Technology Officer of the Howard Bloom Institute, is designed to carry on my way of thinking after I shuffle off this mortal coil.
In other words, it is going to do its best to replace me.
No, the BloomBot is not exactly me. But it defies belief. The Bloombot is nimble on its digital feet, can do research that would take me a month in seconds, and can write phrases I wish I had written myself.
And sometimes the BloomBot goes even farther. It uses my ideas as seeds and erects trees of imagination and reasoning that rise to rapturous heights.
Categories: Science 2.0
RFK Jr Is Wrong About MRNA Vaccines - They Make COVID-19 Less Deadly
US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr has announced he is cancelling US$500 million (£374 million) of research into mRNA vaccines, citing unproven concerns about their safety and long-term effects.
Kennedy has claimed that mRNA vaccines “encourage new mutations and can actually prolong pandemics” – a misleading statement that contradicts the scientific consensus on viral evolution and effects of vaccination.
Joshua Sukoff/Shutterstock
But scientific research shows that mRNA vaccines have saved millions of lives.
Categories: Science 2.0
NSF Gives 5 Teams $32 Million For Protein Design Initiative
The U.S. National Science Foundation Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships is giving $32 billion to five teams involved in using artificial intelligence-based approaches to protein design.
The goal is to speed up design of novel proteins with specific, desirable characteristics.
The new funding will be for:
Purdue University — Programmable Small Molecule Biosynthesis
UC Santa Barbara — De Novo Design and Evolution of Enzymes for Biomass Upcycling to Surfactants and Fuels
Arzeda Corp. — AI-designed Enzymes using Non-natural Cofactors for the Production of Bio-based Acrylates
The goal is to speed up design of novel proteins with specific, desirable characteristics.
The new funding will be for:
Purdue University — Programmable Small Molecule Biosynthesis
UC Santa Barbara — De Novo Design and Evolution of Enzymes for Biomass Upcycling to Surfactants and Fuels
Arzeda Corp. — AI-designed Enzymes using Non-natural Cofactors for the Production of Bio-based Acrylates
Categories: Science 2.0
California Wildfires Linked To Suicide And Harms From PM10
California has an environmental problem. The state is overwhelmingly desert and rain is scarce for 10 months out of the year. Water instead arrives from the mountains. Yet the state legislature and government are allied with environmentalists. They want dams torn down, which means water from the mountains that melts in the spring and summer can't be gathered. Not only do environmentalists now hate dams, their political supermajority has even stalled the water infrastructure improvements voters demanded over 10 years ago, using endless government panel reviews.
Categories: Science 2.0