United States
2024-10-12 @ 15.42.02 ∈ In English
2024-10-08 @ 11.19.00 ∈ In English
Bias found when drug manufacturers fund clinical trials
Psychiatric drugs are reported to be about 50% more effective in clinical trials funded by the drug’s manufacturer than when trials of the same drug are sponsored by other groups, new research shows. […] "The addition of unpublished trials reduces the effect of sponsorship, and most of the sponsorship effect can be explained by publication bias," [says the author.]
2024-09-15 @ 15.54.07 ∈ In English
‘The data on extreme human ageing is rotten from the inside out’ – Ig Nobel winner Saul Justin Newman
In general, the claims about how long people are living mostly don’t stack up. I’ve tracked down 80% of the people aged over 110 in the [world]. Of those, almost none have a birth certificate. […] [A] Japanese government review in [2010 found] that 82% of the people aged over 100 in Japan turned out to be dead.
2024-09-14 @ 13.22.30 ∈ In English
(From 2023; Medium.com, eww)
AI and the American Smile
Why do you smile the way you do? A silly question, of course, since it’s only “natural” to smile the way you do, isn’t it? It’s common sense. How else would someone smile? As a person who was not born in the U.S., who immigrated here from the former Soviet Union, as I did, this question is not so simple.
2024-09-05 @ 11.57.22 ∈ In English
2024-07-19 @ 8.18.36 ∈ In English
The redpoll finch saga: How two bird species just became one
[The] hoary redpoll finch, a small, plump bird commonly found in the Arctic, will be reclassified as the same species as the common redpoll finch, a smaller bird found in similar habitats. This announcement came as a direct result of a CU Boulder-led study which found that, despite their different looks, very few genetic differences exist between the two types of birds.
2024-07-18 @ 16.53.24 ∈ In English
Twice-yearly HIV drug 100% effective at preventing spread
A twice-a-year injectable drug has been shown to be 100% effective in preventing the spread of HIV, according to the first data from a clinical trial. If approved, the drug offers another preventive option and puts us a step closer to eradicating HIV.
2024-07-05 @ 12.19.14 ∈ In English
2024-05-25 @ 10.08.14 ∈ In English
Meet the Finnish biotech startup bringing a long-lost mycoprotein to your plate | TechCrunch
The best known mycoprotein is probably Quorn, a meat substitute that’s fast approaching its 40th birthday. But Finnish biotech startup Enifer is cooking up something even older: Its proprietary single-cell fungus-based protein, branded Pekilo, was originally developed in the 1960s and ’70s — by, of all things, the local paper industry.