Week of June 10, 2024
At my kids' high school, each student gets a 4-minute speech from someone of their choosing at graduation. The four-and-a-half-hour ceremony provides ample time to contemplate life, question the value of the school's tradition, and develop hypotheses on comfortable folding chair design. However, watching our Child #1 deliver a poignant and funny speech about our Child #2 is hugely satisfying, justifying the time and plastic-chair-induced low back pain investment.
Once again, the internet reveals I am not alone – this time in my curiosity about folding chair comfort. The New York Times published a shockingly comprehensive folding chair review last month. My kids’ (now former) school needs a subscription to the Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-folding-chairs/
---
The waste water-based forecasting implies a stable national rate of COVID. I am reading about the increasing number of COVID cases in Europe and some California cities (see the wastewater scan data set below). Due to low testing rates beyond wastewater monitoring, it is hard to feel confident in any of the anecdotal data.
The Pandemic Mitigation Collaborative (PMC) website uses wastewater levels to forecast 4-week predictions of COVID rates.
https://pmc19.com/data/
based upon https://biobot.io/data/
Wastewater Scan offers a multi-organism wastewater dashboard with an excellent visual display of individual treatment plant-level data.
https://data.wastewaterscan.org/
------
COVID articles
A recent paper published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Public Health claimed to show an association between excess mortality in 2021-2023 and the use of coronavirus vaccines. Penn biostatics and epidemiologist Jeffery Morris does an excellent job illustrating this paper's logical fallacies and data flaws. It sounds like BMJ should retract the paper. However, some media outlets have picked up on the paper and publicized it. One pattern of the anti-science movement is to anchor on papers such as this, thereby continuing the slow, insidious sowing of doubt in the value of well-proven vaccine efficacy.
https://x.com/jsm2334/status/1798835958806405575
Nearly 18 million U.S. adults appear to have ongoing symptoms of Long COVID. Vaccinated and boosted individuals have the lowest reports of Long COVID symptoms.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2819957
Protecting yourself is still about masking in dense, poorly ventilated situations (like on airplanes), getting boosters, and good air exchange (or at least filtration).
https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/from-long-covid-odds-to-lost-iq-points-ongoing-threats-you-dont-know-about
The speed of coronavirus evolution is remarkable. Eric Topol shared updates on the latest COVID variants becoming predominant in the U.S. The September booster will confer improved protection against the latest strains. However, Topol and others offer a valuable discussion on the challenges of developing and deploying boosters as rapidly as the virus changes.
https://x.com/erictopol/status/1799086435485814935
and
https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/updated-covid-19-vaccines-use-united-states-beginning-fall-2024
Medical Trends and Technology
All recipients of genetically modified pig organs have had complications thus far. USA Today published a pretty good overview of why xenotransplantation will be more complex than the excitement and enthusiasm generated from the first round of articles (in March and April). It is an excellent example of how fundamental scientific changes look like many small steps forward and back, not giant leaps forward.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/05/31/pig-kidney-transplant-update/73920400007/
Basic science with many fascinating implications—biomedical engineers have fused a sea sponge enzyme, called silicatein, to an E. coli protein that sits on the cell surface, called OmpA. The E. coli can then make a mineralized shell, creating a living organism that can focus and project light. When combined with other genetic modifications, there is a pathway to creating organic light sensing and microlenses.
https://x.com/nikomccarty/status/1798403437446692894
and
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.06.03.597164v1
Infographics
I did not know hydrangeas change color based on soil pH. The mulched garden outside my office is probably slightly acidic and contains silicates.
https://x.com/compoundchem/status/1792651993611120734/photo/1
Take the hydrangea quiz!
https://cen.acs.org/environment/Quiz-much-know-chemistry-behind/102/web/2024/05
Things I learned this week
The New Republic covered the birth of a conspiracy - the "Birds are not Real" [movement? A joke?] and performance artists who spawned it. "Many conspiracies, like QAnon, create airtight logical systems. These systems appeal to people who prefer certainty over ambiguity and see 'I don't know' as a discomforting answer. Psychologists call this the need for cognitive closure [associated] with anxiety, authoritarianism, and conspiratorial thinking."
The article is simultaneously musing and concerning.
https://newrepublic.com/article/181241/birds-arent-real-prank-conspiracy-theory-misinformation-spreads
Related - even science journals now have to defend the notion that there is a knowable, defendable truth. "Scientific knowledge cannot be understood as absolute, but this does not imply that scientific findings are arbitrary or unreliable, or that there are no valid standards for adjudicating scientific claims."
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01587-3
The RP Flip was an oceanographic research vessel owned by the Scripps Institute and funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research from 1962 to 2020. The ship was unique; it could flood its stern and rotate 90 degrees, raising the bow vertically above the water. Designers built the controls and workspace for horizontal and vertical use. The photos and video are worth checking out.
https://x.com/brianroemmele/status/1798481191043248630
and
https://www.ship-technology.com/projects/flip-ship/?cf-view
and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RP_FLIP
Living with A.I.
I feel obligated to share any article titled "You can now buy a flame-throwing robot dog for under $10,000. Thermonator, the first "flamethrower-wielding robot dog," is completely legal in 48 U.S. states." The article pointed out that Maryland and California are the two states with clear flame thrower regulations. Happy Father's Day to all my friends not in Maryland and California? I'm sure the company's suggested use cases are all the typical consumer will have in mind:
The company lists possible applications of the new robot as "wildfire control and prevention," "agricultural management," "ecological conservation," "snow and ice removal," and "entertainment and SFX." Likewise, I am sure no one will add an LLM-driven AI tool to this robot.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/04/you-can-now-buy-a-flame-throwing-robot-dog-for-under-10000/
Chatting with an A.I.-generated version of my future self could be therapeutic. Or, as MIT media lab researchers wrote, "Our system allows users to chat with a relatable yet AI-powered virtual version of their future selves tuned to their future goals and personal qualities. The system generates a "synthetic memory"—a unique backstory for each user—that creates a throughline between the user's present age (between 18-30) and their life at age 60. The "Future You" character adopts the persona of an age-progressed image of the user's present self. After a brief interaction with the "Future You" character, users reported decreased anxiety, and increased future self-continuity."
Abstract https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.12514v2
and
Full Paper https://arxiv.org/pdf/2405.12514v2
A.I. art of the week
Two robot dogs with flame throwers on their backs talking. One robot should have a voice bubble that states, "I don't think humans are real." There are hydrangeas in the background.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mxjgn1Gi7RN8O6R4qZ3ESSIszzi8ojVy/view?usp=sharing
Clean hands and sharp minds, team
Adam
At my kids' high school, each student gets a 4-minute speech from someone of their choosing at graduation. The four-and-a-half-hour ceremony provides ample time to contemplate life, question the value of the school's tradition, and develop hypotheses on comfortable folding chair design. However, watching our Child #1 deliver a poignant and funny speech about our Child #2 is hugely satisfying, justifying the time and plastic-chair-induced low back pain investment.
Once again, the internet reveals I am not alone – this time in my curiosity about folding chair comfort. The New York Times published a shockingly comprehensive folding chair review last month. My kids’ (now former) school needs a subscription to the Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-folding-chairs/
---
The waste water-based forecasting implies a stable national rate of COVID. I am reading about the increasing number of COVID cases in Europe and some California cities (see the wastewater scan data set below). Due to low testing rates beyond wastewater monitoring, it is hard to feel confident in any of the anecdotal data.
The Pandemic Mitigation Collaborative (PMC) website uses wastewater levels to forecast 4-week predictions of COVID rates.
https://pmc19.com/data/
based upon https://biobot.io/data/
Wastewater Scan offers a multi-organism wastewater dashboard with an excellent visual display of individual treatment plant-level data.
https://data.wastewaterscan.org/
------
COVID articles
A recent paper published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Public Health claimed to show an association between excess mortality in 2021-2023 and the use of coronavirus vaccines. Penn biostatics and epidemiologist Jeffery Morris does an excellent job illustrating this paper's logical fallacies and data flaws. It sounds like BMJ should retract the paper. However, some media outlets have picked up on the paper and publicized it. One pattern of the anti-science movement is to anchor on papers such as this, thereby continuing the slow, insidious sowing of doubt in the value of well-proven vaccine efficacy.
https://x.com/jsm2334/status/1798835958806405575
Nearly 18 million U.S. adults appear to have ongoing symptoms of Long COVID. Vaccinated and boosted individuals have the lowest reports of Long COVID symptoms.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2819957
Protecting yourself is still about masking in dense, poorly ventilated situations (like on airplanes), getting boosters, and good air exchange (or at least filtration).
https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/from-long-covid-odds-to-lost-iq-points-ongoing-threats-you-dont-know-about
The speed of coronavirus evolution is remarkable. Eric Topol shared updates on the latest COVID variants becoming predominant in the U.S. The September booster will confer improved protection against the latest strains. However, Topol and others offer a valuable discussion on the challenges of developing and deploying boosters as rapidly as the virus changes.
https://x.com/erictopol/status/1799086435485814935
and
https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/updated-covid-19-vaccines-use-united-states-beginning-fall-2024
Medical Trends and Technology
All recipients of genetically modified pig organs have had complications thus far. USA Today published a pretty good overview of why xenotransplantation will be more complex than the excitement and enthusiasm generated from the first round of articles (in March and April). It is an excellent example of how fundamental scientific changes look like many small steps forward and back, not giant leaps forward.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/05/31/pig-kidney-transplant-update/73920400007/
Basic science with many fascinating implications—biomedical engineers have fused a sea sponge enzyme, called silicatein, to an E. coli protein that sits on the cell surface, called OmpA. The E. coli can then make a mineralized shell, creating a living organism that can focus and project light. When combined with other genetic modifications, there is a pathway to creating organic light sensing and microlenses.
https://x.com/nikomccarty/status/1798403437446692894
and
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.06.03.597164v1
Infographics
I did not know hydrangeas change color based on soil pH. The mulched garden outside my office is probably slightly acidic and contains silicates.
https://x.com/compoundchem/status/1792651993611120734/photo/1
Take the hydrangea quiz!
https://cen.acs.org/environment/Quiz-much-know-chemistry-behind/102/web/2024/05
Things I learned this week
The New Republic covered the birth of a conspiracy - the "Birds are not Real" [movement? A joke?] and performance artists who spawned it. "Many conspiracies, like QAnon, create airtight logical systems. These systems appeal to people who prefer certainty over ambiguity and see 'I don't know' as a discomforting answer. Psychologists call this the need for cognitive closure [associated] with anxiety, authoritarianism, and conspiratorial thinking."
The article is simultaneously musing and concerning.
https://newrepublic.com/article/181241/birds-arent-real-prank-conspiracy-theory-misinformation-spreads
Related - even science journals now have to defend the notion that there is a knowable, defendable truth. "Scientific knowledge cannot be understood as absolute, but this does not imply that scientific findings are arbitrary or unreliable, or that there are no valid standards for adjudicating scientific claims."
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01587-3
The RP Flip was an oceanographic research vessel owned by the Scripps Institute and funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research from 1962 to 2020. The ship was unique; it could flood its stern and rotate 90 degrees, raising the bow vertically above the water. Designers built the controls and workspace for horizontal and vertical use. The photos and video are worth checking out.
https://x.com/brianroemmele/status/1798481191043248630
and
https://www.ship-technology.com/projects/flip-ship/?cf-view
and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RP_FLIP
Living with A.I.
I feel obligated to share any article titled "You can now buy a flame-throwing robot dog for under $10,000. Thermonator, the first "flamethrower-wielding robot dog," is completely legal in 48 U.S. states." The article pointed out that Maryland and California are the two states with clear flame thrower regulations. Happy Father's Day to all my friends not in Maryland and California? I'm sure the company's suggested use cases are all the typical consumer will have in mind:
The company lists possible applications of the new robot as "wildfire control and prevention," "agricultural management," "ecological conservation," "snow and ice removal," and "entertainment and SFX." Likewise, I am sure no one will add an LLM-driven AI tool to this robot.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/04/you-can-now-buy-a-flame-throwing-robot-dog-for-under-10000/
Chatting with an A.I.-generated version of my future self could be therapeutic. Or, as MIT media lab researchers wrote, "Our system allows users to chat with a relatable yet AI-powered virtual version of their future selves tuned to their future goals and personal qualities. The system generates a "synthetic memory"—a unique backstory for each user—that creates a throughline between the user's present age (between 18-30) and their life at age 60. The "Future You" character adopts the persona of an age-progressed image of the user's present self. After a brief interaction with the "Future You" character, users reported decreased anxiety, and increased future self-continuity."
Abstract https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.12514v2
and
Full Paper https://arxiv.org/pdf/2405.12514v2
A.I. art of the week
Two robot dogs with flame throwers on their backs talking. One robot should have a voice bubble that states, "I don't think humans are real." There are hydrangeas in the background.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mxjgn1Gi7RN8O6R4qZ3ESSIszzi8ojVy/view?usp=sharing
Clean hands and sharp minds, team
Adam
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