Week of February 13, 2023
I did not expect to spend part of my weekend monitoring social media for the latest U.S. Airforce (+/- the Canadian Prime Minister) vs. UFO updates. The mental nougat filling the void of facts ranged from entertaining to scary - aliens to spying nation-states to false-flag distractions. These reactions look like more of the same intellectually fallacious ground we've been walking on for the last few years. We humans too often use limited data to validate our preconceived theories (see the ad hoc rescue fallacy). Moreover, finding these objects may be a sensitivity/specificity problem. U.S. radar monitoring systems have (reportedly) recently changed to detect smaller, high-altitude objects. And there is an apparent abundance of small, high-altitude things to find. Like many complex problems, patience and time will allow us to sort the signal from all the noise. Or the aliens have shown up at just the right time. They can now use ChatGPT, put on human suites, and infiltrate our planet.
https://twitter.com/AlexHortonTX/status/1624572858365095938
and
https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallacies/Ad-Hoc-Rescue
---
Fourteen-day averages of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are still trending down. The lowest levels were in June 2021 (average daily cases of 12,500). The current U.S. daily average is ~ 40,000 cases, with 450 people dying per day.
N.Y. Times Tracker
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html
------
The CDC moved COVID-19 vaccines (and boosters) into its standard schedule of recommended vaccines for adults and children. They suggest the initial series and boosters, not annual boosters or any other repeated COVID vaccination schedule. Their goal is to normalize the vaccines. It is still unclear whether yearly COVID injections (like a yearly flu vaccine) will be necessary or helpful.
Somewhat confusing CNN article:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/09/health/vaccine-recommendations-wellness
CDC adult schedule:
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/hcp/imz/adult.html
CDC pediatric schedule:
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/hcp/imz/child-adolescent.html
Here is data demonstrating how much more there is to learn about the coronavirus. A lung transplant donor was COVID (-) by nasal swab PCR at the time of surgery (the patient was brain dead following a car accident). However, three days after the deceased patient's lungs were transplanted into a recipient, the recipient and the surgeon who performed the transplant were COVID (+). Subsequent testing of the washings from the transplanted lungs found the donor was the source of the coronavirus. The transplanted lungs were the reservoir and transmission source - all the patients and clinical personnel involved were PCR negative by nasal swab. This data is additional evidence that coronavirus can live in various places in the body without evident or overt symptoms.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ajt.16532
I do not know who the person behind this Twitter thread is, but they offer a comprehensive collection of studies looking at the time it takes to get infected with COVID. This kind of research is challenging - ventilation (air exchanges), the quantity of airborne viral particles, the coronavirus variant, and masking status are all variables that matter. However, these articles use video and case histories to answer the question - what is the shortest duration of exposure needed to become infected with COVID? The range is 9 to 50 seconds in this series of articles. These data may explain the why behind the Cochran article from last week (masking in the general public is not associated with decreased spread). In the articles on the thread, less than a minute of masklessness (under the right circumstances) can result in viral infection.
https://twitter.com/lazaruslong13/status/1620136359360102400
(Here is an article about the Cochran study if you want to revisit this unfortunate article:
Dr. Jeremy Faust offered this overview of the expanding utility of wastewater monitoring for various infectious diseases.
Medical Trends and Technology
In the "life will find a way department," researchers recently identified that Halteria, a genus of microscopic planktonic ciliates found in many freshwater environments, like to eat viruses. Halteria is the first organism known to eat viruses, by the way. Everything organic has something that eats it, it appears.
https://twitter.com/sailorrooscout/status/1622990687330357248
for a more comely rendering of Halteria
https://roqed.com/portfolio-item/halteria/
A peer-reviewed research paper demonstrates how Halteria can thrive on an Atkins-like diet of ONLY viruses (specifically the chorlovirus).
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2215000120
So, now we have to figure out how to use CRISPR to modify Halteria and let it in coronaviruses. I am sure there will be no unintended consequences.
Infographics
I recently learned about the 2017 American Time Use Survey - and found a new (to me) interactive infographics website. Here is an animated infographic of what Americans do by each minute of the day, separated by gender. I love this infographic; it is simultaneously literal and metaphorical.
https://flowingdata.com/2019/03/06/women-men-timeuse/
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics runs the survey. The website offers some updated data since the pandemic.
Living with A.I.
Microsoft released a ChatGPT-fortified version of their search engine Bing (there is a waiting list for the A.I.-enabled chat version). In response, Google hastily demonstrated Bard, its A.I. chatbot - but the presentation did not go well. Either way, we are now in an A.I. race to the (top? bottom? end of civilization?)
https://techcrunch.com/2023/02/07/microsoft-launches-the-new-bing-with-chatgpt-built-in/
and
https://www.zdnet.com/article/what-is-google-bard-heres-everything-you-need-to-know/
In the near term, the most practical application of A.I. is for decision support. This week, an Israeli tech company obtained FDA approval for real-time A.I.-driven software for sonographers performing echocardiograms. Better images mean better diagnosis and more efficient care delivery. The FDA has now approved 500 A.I.-driven tools for use in health care.
List of FDA-approved algorithms
Deep fake voice-overs and videos are now a thing. Wolf News is a Chinese state propaganda channel using computer-generated people and content. Though these examples are flawed, this tech will improve over time.
https://www.popsci.com/technology/deepfake-news-china-ai/
and
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/07/technology/artificial-intelligence-training-deepfake.html
A.I Art of the week
"An alien using a computer talking to chatGPT while driving the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile"
https://labs.openai.com/s/CZ6HwuJkpQC9SoqYwV9bw9Y7
Things I learned this week
I learned about carcinization - the tendency of crustaceans to evolve into the "crab form" - 3 or 4 pairs of legs plus pincers. Not only did I not appreciate the biological phenomenon (there are, apparently, some evolutionary advantages in or pressures from various Earthly environments), but I was culturally blind to the volume of memes, cartoons, and other discussions about all creatures eventually becoming crabs.
https://www.sciencealert.com/evolution-keeps-making-and-unmaking-crabs-and-nobody-knows-why
As always, there is an XKCD for that
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2314:_Carcinization
The Oscar Meyer Wienermobile's catalytic converter was stolen last week in Las Vegas. While this crime may not rise to the official list of "signs of the apocalypse," I am surprisingly pearl-clutchingly outraged. "It's the Wienermobile! Have you no decency?!!?"
https://www.whsv.com/2023/02/10/thieves-target-oscar-mayer-wienermobile-steal-catalytic-converter/
Rest easy, dear readers. The Wienermobile is up and running. And, You can apply to be a Wienermobile driver (driving the country, being a one-person tubular meat marketing machine?):
https://www.oscarmayer.com/wienermobile
Clean hands and sharp minds,
Adam
Comments
Post a Comment