Saturday, May 16, 2020
(double checked twice for quality)
Next to homeostasis, the concept of entropy is one of my go-to "science-as-a-philosophic-concept" concepts. I have, at times, found the need to remind myself that all things tend toward disorder. And that on a long enough timeline, fighting disorder is a losing game (after all, you are fighting the second law of thermodynamics*). But it also feels like the human condition. There are many wins to be had in making sense of, organizing, and shaping our world. Nevertheless, there are times when the sense of chaos can be overwhelming, more so in the last few months. Today, I thought I would focus people fighting this chaos - articles regarding work on vaccines, therapeutics, and immunology.
* To be sure, the second law of thermodynamics is not a philosophic concept about life, per se - it describes the physical world. But, I have found it a handy thought to frame my thinking about things
-----
Data Visualization Update
State comparisons:
https://public.tableau.com/views/Coronavirus-ChangeovertimeintheUSA/2_Corona?:display_count=y&:origin=viz_share_link
Rt data
https://public.tableau.com/shared/7FH637YGW?:display_count=y&:origin=viz_share_link
FT data is still the best visualization I have found for country comparisons.
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=usa&areas=gbr&cumulative=0&logScale=1&perMillion=0&values=deaths
----
Per my question of who is enforcing various aspects of rules on the opening process:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/us/coronavirus-masks-violence.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
Here is data on one of the many vaccines in development that is showing some positive signs, not yet peer-reviewed and pre-released on 5/13. This vaccine demonstrates protection against the virus in rhesus monkeys.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.13.093195v1
Here is data from virologist working on monoclonal antibodies to coronavirus. The speed with which the team is working is impressive. They are looking at convalescent plasma from numerous recovered COVID patients and finding the most common, potent antibodies amongst all the antibodies to SARS-CoV-2.
https://twitter.com/PaulBieniasz/status/1261412973127577607
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.13.092619v1.full.pdf+html
Here is more positive and understandable news about the human immune response to COVID. These researchers are looking at types of T-cell responses to viral proteins in previously infected patients.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/t-cells-found-covid-19-patients-bode-well-long-term-immunity#
Here is an interesting story. Another company is looking at human antibodies. Sorrento's discovery supposedly is "100% effective" in blocking viral entry into cells. There is no human data yet, but Sorrento's comms team has done a great job sharing this news (nudge, nudge, wink wink). Stock prices have responded as expected. Now, some data in people, please. In the meantime, the logical fallacies mount. For instance, this treatment is only for infected patients (for whom we do not have 100% sensitive or specific testing to identify). However, it does not stop the spread and the mutation of the virus, potentially limiting the long-term effectiveness. My point is, watch the hype - this CEO has already made some very bold statements - "We want to emphasize there is a cure." Wow. I hope my intuition on this is wrong, and the company is right.
https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/15/sorrento-finds-a-coronavirus-antibody-that-blocks-viral-infection-100-in-preclinical-lab-experiments/
https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/1261281332505657344
I still amused by the thought of this work being wildly successful - the COVID detection dog. If, given all we have done, the most sensitive and specific tool we have turns out to be dogs, I will be thrilled.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/covid-19-detection-dogs-trial-launches
Here are Lord Bethell's comments: https://twitter.com/JimBethell/status/1261568480769343488
The NY Times offers some thoughts on the safety of being outside.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/us/coronavirus-what-to-do-outside.html
A contrast in stories:
https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/feature/special-features/be-patient/news-story/75b8a11b6167b385f6dc5a2cd955ca2d
vs
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/05/15/texas-reopening-coronavirus-cases/
Here is another excellent example of headline's espousing a logical fallacy. I have been unable to find a verifiable story about re-infection. We have discussed that PCR testing can be falsely positive for weeks after a COVID infection due to non-contagious viral RNA still being present in respiratory epithelium. AND YET, this AP article insists on the headline "Sailors on sidelined carrier get virus for second time" despite stating (in the last two paragraphs) that testing may be the issue.
https://apnews.com/0cae34376380ab4150002a58bd9934b9
I think this is a fine example of false cause fallacy.
https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/false-cause
Meta-infographic of the day! All about the world of freelance data Visualizers.
https://medium.com/nightingale/how-self-employed-data-visualization-designers-make-a-living-23dc00ea5264
Moving infographics! Here is a video about virus classification (from one of the visualizers in the article above)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQNuThIjGqg
Here is your Saturday time vaccuum! In preparation for World Camel day, I wanted to make sure not to neglect my appreciation of narwhals. I was sad to learn that Narwhal day 2020 (April 22) was canceled due to COVID. But, I would have missed It (since I didn't know it was a thing), so there is that. Nevertheless, I did find a Reddit rabbit hole of discussion on why narwhals have become so popular.
https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/7x4pln/why_are_narwhals_so_popular_right_now/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykwqXuMPsoc&app=desktop
-----------Bonus Round - Fighting Entropy (sort of) edition
Here is an article about the notion that the entirety of consciousness is a side effect of entropy.
https://www.sciencealert.com/human-consciousness-could-be-a-result-of-entropy-study-science
OK, too much for a Saturday morning. Instead, I offer information on people trying to understand their perception of a chaotic world - autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) with lots of video links to try it on your own!
https://www.vox.com/2015/7/15/8965393/asmr-video-youtube-autonomous-sensory-meridian-response
Back on Monday.
Clean hands and sharp minds,
AW
(double checked twice for quality)
Next to homeostasis, the concept of entropy is one of my go-to "science-as-a-philosophic-concept" concepts. I have, at times, found the need to remind myself that all things tend toward disorder. And that on a long enough timeline, fighting disorder is a losing game (after all, you are fighting the second law of thermodynamics*). But it also feels like the human condition. There are many wins to be had in making sense of, organizing, and shaping our world. Nevertheless, there are times when the sense of chaos can be overwhelming, more so in the last few months. Today, I thought I would focus people fighting this chaos - articles regarding work on vaccines, therapeutics, and immunology.
* To be sure, the second law of thermodynamics is not a philosophic concept about life, per se - it describes the physical world. But, I have found it a handy thought to frame my thinking about things
-----
Data Visualization Update
State comparisons:
https://public.tableau.com/views/Coronavirus-ChangeovertimeintheUSA/2_Corona?:display_count=y&:origin=viz_share_link
Rt data
https://public.tableau.com/shared/7FH637YGW?:display_count=y&:origin=viz_share_link
FT data is still the best visualization I have found for country comparisons.
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=usa&areas=gbr&cumulative=0&logScale=1&perMillion=0&values=deaths
----
Per my question of who is enforcing various aspects of rules on the opening process:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/us/coronavirus-masks-violence.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
Here is data on one of the many vaccines in development that is showing some positive signs, not yet peer-reviewed and pre-released on 5/13. This vaccine demonstrates protection against the virus in rhesus monkeys.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.13.093195v1
Here is data from virologist working on monoclonal antibodies to coronavirus. The speed with which the team is working is impressive. They are looking at convalescent plasma from numerous recovered COVID patients and finding the most common, potent antibodies amongst all the antibodies to SARS-CoV-2.
https://twitter.com/PaulBieniasz/status/1261412973127577607
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.13.092619v1.full.pdf+html
Here is more positive and understandable news about the human immune response to COVID. These researchers are looking at types of T-cell responses to viral proteins in previously infected patients.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/t-cells-found-covid-19-patients-bode-well-long-term-immunity#
Here is an interesting story. Another company is looking at human antibodies. Sorrento's discovery supposedly is "100% effective" in blocking viral entry into cells. There is no human data yet, but Sorrento's comms team has done a great job sharing this news (nudge, nudge, wink wink). Stock prices have responded as expected. Now, some data in people, please. In the meantime, the logical fallacies mount. For instance, this treatment is only for infected patients (for whom we do not have 100% sensitive or specific testing to identify). However, it does not stop the spread and the mutation of the virus, potentially limiting the long-term effectiveness. My point is, watch the hype - this CEO has already made some very bold statements - "We want to emphasize there is a cure." Wow. I hope my intuition on this is wrong, and the company is right.
https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/15/sorrento-finds-a-coronavirus-antibody-that-blocks-viral-infection-100-in-preclinical-lab-experiments/
https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/1261281332505657344
I still amused by the thought of this work being wildly successful - the COVID detection dog. If, given all we have done, the most sensitive and specific tool we have turns out to be dogs, I will be thrilled.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/covid-19-detection-dogs-trial-launches
Here are Lord Bethell's comments: https://twitter.com/JimBethell/status/1261568480769343488
The NY Times offers some thoughts on the safety of being outside.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/us/coronavirus-what-to-do-outside.html
A contrast in stories:
https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/feature/special-features/be-patient/news-story/75b8a11b6167b385f6dc5a2cd955ca2d
vs
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/05/15/texas-reopening-coronavirus-cases/
Here is another excellent example of headline's espousing a logical fallacy. I have been unable to find a verifiable story about re-infection. We have discussed that PCR testing can be falsely positive for weeks after a COVID infection due to non-contagious viral RNA still being present in respiratory epithelium. AND YET, this AP article insists on the headline "Sailors on sidelined carrier get virus for second time" despite stating (in the last two paragraphs) that testing may be the issue.
https://apnews.com/0cae34376380ab4150002a58bd9934b9
I think this is a fine example of false cause fallacy.
https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/false-cause
Meta-infographic of the day! All about the world of freelance data Visualizers.
https://medium.com/nightingale/how-self-employed-data-visualization-designers-make-a-living-23dc00ea5264
Moving infographics! Here is a video about virus classification (from one of the visualizers in the article above)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQNuThIjGqg
Here is your Saturday time vaccuum! In preparation for World Camel day, I wanted to make sure not to neglect my appreciation of narwhals. I was sad to learn that Narwhal day 2020 (April 22) was canceled due to COVID. But, I would have missed It (since I didn't know it was a thing), so there is that. Nevertheless, I did find a Reddit rabbit hole of discussion on why narwhals have become so popular.
https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/7x4pln/why_are_narwhals_so_popular_right_now/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykwqXuMPsoc&app=desktop
-----------Bonus Round - Fighting Entropy (sort of) edition
Here is an article about the notion that the entirety of consciousness is a side effect of entropy.
https://www.sciencealert.com/human-consciousness-could-be-a-result-of-entropy-study-science
OK, too much for a Saturday morning. Instead, I offer information on people trying to understand their perception of a chaotic world - autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) with lots of video links to try it on your own!
https://www.vox.com/2015/7/15/8965393/asmr-video-youtube-autonomous-sensory-meridian-response
Back on Monday.
Clean hands and sharp minds,
AW
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