Week of October 2, 2023
Thanks to my wife and sister-in-law, I went from total ignorance to a strange pride that our front lawn is now home to a much-coveted Home Depot 12-foot plastic skeleton (Skelly). We are amongst a privileged few, according to the robust online Skelly subculture. But, our neighbors seem unimpressed (not one has mentioned the absurdly large, dramatically back-lit skeleton with glowing/moving LCD eyes holding a tennis racket). So, with the help of ChatGPT, I can now put the precise word to my newly discovered feeling - "jelusion" - the false belief that others are jealous. I suspect they will be equally un-envious of my post-Halloween efforts to pack and store 12 feet of plastic bones and a large metal frame.
Our Skelly
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mUoLm4fKXszKdv1atxk0ERKNuIu801j_/view
Articles about the popularity of the Home Depot 12-foot skeleton:
https://mashable.com/article/12-foot-home-depot-skeleton
and
https://mashable.com/article/home-depot-12-foot-skeleton-restock-august-2023
And a sample of the kinds of media created with other Skellies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro9S4uAG9rc
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Hospitalizations are still rising, but at a lower rate, and wastewater RNA concentrations measured the week of 9/18/23 are stable or falling.
The N.Y. Times COVID Tracker reflects only CDC-gathered hospital data. Hospitalization data are a (lagging) indicator.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/us/covid-cases.html
Wastewater monitoring is more of a LEADING indicator.
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COVID articles
Here is your coffee read for the week. Science News offered an in-depth review of wastewater testing, including mentions of John Snow (of cholera fame) and links to the COVID poops 19 wastewater data aggregation site.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/sewage-key-track-disease-covid-19-wastewater (https://ucmerced.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/c778145ea5bb4daeb58d31afee389082)
I found several articles addressing common themes, all better-understood thanks to the intensity and volume of focus on coronavirus. Here are some specific articles covering some of those themes:
Viruses mutate. Both environmental and human-made pressures can enhance this mutation:
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/25/merck-covid-drug-linked-to-virus-mutations-study-says-.html
Viruses can induce chronic illness, likely through a variety of mechanisms, including autoimmune/inflammatory pathways:
and
https://www.medscape.com/s/viewarticle/996815
Medical Trends and Technology
I tend to dismiss light-touch interviews with "famous I.T. experts" - they often feel like veiled advertisements. However, this interview with Robin Farmanfarmaian touches on the intersection between A.I. tools and remote patient monitoring (RPM), like home blood pressure and pulse measurements. I like how well she articulates that RPM data is only helpful when coupled with analysis and interpretation.
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/intersection-remote-patient-monitoring-and-ai
There is a tremendous interest in using various hallucinogenic plants and mushrooms to treat PTSD, depression, and related psychiatric disorders. Dr. Jeremy Faust covers a recent JAMA article on psilocybin use and highlights the challenges of generating good data (for instance, the lack of a comparable placebo - people know when they've had hallucinogenic substances). Also, it is worth reviewing the comments section of his blog post.
https://insidemedicine.substack.com/p/shrooms-for-depression-did-it-work
Infographics
The Chemistry of Fall Colors
https://www.compoundchem.com/2014/09/11/autumnleaves/
Things I learned this week
The fear of the dead reanimating was so real that for centuries, Eastern European people employed various tactics to ensure the dead stayed buried. I clicked on this article for the headline but was amused to find content like "the wide range of remedies [included]: cutting out their hearts, nailing them into their graves, hammering stakes through their legs, [and] jamming their jaws open with bricks (to prevent them from gnawing their way out)." I see a lot of potential for a zombie containment and related accessory business.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/05/science/archaeology-burial-vampires-revenants.html
AI-driven neuroscience is creating various perfumes and fragrances to evoke specific emotions. I did not realize how many companies are working to combine known fragrant molecules (linked to particular feelings) with personal preferences to generate custom scents (perfumes, diffusers, etc.). The Guardian article was interesting, but the blog post on "neuroscent" and the neuroscience of smell was even better.
and
https://kafkaesqueblog.com/2022/09/23/the-science-and-neuroscience-of-scent/
I learned that October is Window Covering Safety Month AND that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's social media team is fantastic.
https://x.com/USCPSC/status/1708094976716910806
and
https://www.cpsc.gov/content/october-is-window-covering-safety-month
Living with A.I.
Nature offered an excellent analysis of how social media, deep fake generative A.I., and critical thinking (or a lack thereof) will impact the 2024 presidential election.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02990-y
Another article (also published in Nature) was a meta-analysis looking at the clinical impact of A.I. chatbots. Though the 19 studies included were small or underpowered, the meta-analysis highlighted data trends indicating "chatbot interventions are efficacious for increasing physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption, sleep duration, and sleep quality across a range of populations, age-groups and over various durations of time." But, "text-based, and artificial intelligence chatbots were more efficacious than speech/voice chatbots for fruit and vegetable consumption." So, no Alexa to remind us to eat our broccoli.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-023-00856-1
A.I. art of the week
A photo of a giant skeleton with glowing eyes telling small children to eat their peas and string beans. The children are holding pumpkin trick-or-treating buckets."
and
Clean hands and sharp minds,
Adam
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