A long but very interesting piece on the overconfidence of the incompetent, by David Dunning (of Dunning-Kruger fame). For some reason, I think it has some relevance to the Trump phenomenon, and politics in general.
For the record, I have never had a problem claiming my ignorance on a topic.
We may be able to turn it off, and reverse it. I’ve always been amused by (in Clarke’s words) the “distinguished elderly [or not so elderly] scientists” who think that the laws of physics require our bodies to deteriorate over time.
Via Glenn, who has some further thoughts.
Not exactly news to readers of this site, but it is a terrible measure of health.
Here’s your daily dose of stupid. Based on nine mice.
Future researchers will find bizarre the notion we thought lab mice were good analogs for humans in diet studies. https://t.co/xrT0dOoH02
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) February 19, 2016
This looks very promising. I can imagine at some point they’ll be able to actually print entire limbs, if they can’t come up with improved mechanical designs, that will be as good as the original. But organ replacement is the most exciting possibility, I think.
…and you’ll never guess what happened next!
TL;DR: It didn’t work. It is kind of an amusing science story, though.
This is a huge day for Kip Thorne (and others). Nadia Drake has a comprehensive story up already.
[Update a few minutes later]
Here’s another write up by Matthew Francis at The Atlantic.
[Update a few more minutes later]
Here‘s the paper itself.
[Update a while later]
And one from Miri Kramer.
[Update a while later]
And from Loren Grush.
Looks like SCOTUS just wrecked it, 5-4. Couldn’t happen to a nicer dictator.
The stay implies that they think the administration is likely to lose on the merits when the case is argued. But this points out the stakes of the election, given that the next president is likely to appoint more than one justice.
[Wednesday-morning update]
Jonathan Adler explains the ruling. (Note: He is more concerned about climate change than I am.)
This seems huge. Researchers have preserved a rabbit brain down to the neuron.
Imagining a world without them:
“The ecological effect of eliminating harmful mosquitoes is that you have more people. That’s the consequence,” says Strickman. Many lives would be saved; many more would no longer be sapped by disease. Countries freed of their high malaria burden, for example in sub-Saharan Africa, might recover the 1.3% of growth in gross domestic product that the World Health Organization estimates they are cost by the disease each year, potentially accelerating their development. There would be “less burden on the health system and hospitals, redirection of public-health expenditure for vector-borne diseases control to other priority health issues, less absenteeism from schools”, says Jeffrey Hii, malaria scientist for the World Health Organization in Manila.
They kill more humans than any other animal species, by many orders of magnitude. I wouldn’t miss them.
[Update a few minutes later]
We have the technology to wipe out all Zika-spreading mosquitos.
Why stop there? Go after every species that vectors blood. As the article notes, though, gene drive is not without risk.