C-Cab's recent activity
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Comment on ‘Unprecedented risk’ to life on Earth: Scientists call for halt on ‘mirror life’ microbe research in ~science
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Comment on ‘Unprecedented risk’ to life on Earth: Scientists call for halt on ‘mirror life’ microbe research in ~science
C-Cab LinkBrief snippets from the article:Brief snippets from the article:
World-leading scientists have called for a halt on research to create “mirror life” microbes amid concerns that the synthetic organisms would present an “unprecedented risk” to life on Earth.
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Many molecules for life can exist in two distinct forms, each the mirror image of the other. The DNA of all living organisms is made from “right-handed” nucleotides, while proteins, the building blocks of cells, are made from “left-handed” amino acids. Why nature works this way is unclear: life could have chosen left-handed DNA and right-handed proteins instead.
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The work is driven by fascination and potential applications. Mirror molecules could be turned into therapies for chronic and hard-to-treat diseases, while mirror microbes could make bioproduction facilities, which use bugs to churn out chemicals, more resistant to contamination.
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Beyond causing lethal infections, the researchers doubt the microbes could be safely contained or kept in check by natural competitors and predators. Existing antibiotics are unlikely to be effective, either.“Unless compelling evidence emerges that mirror life would not pose extraordinary dangers, we believe that mirror bacteria and other mirror organisms, even those with engineered biocontainment measures, should not be created,” the authors write in Science.
“We therefore recommend that research with the goal of creating mirror bacteria not be permitted, and that funders make clear that they will not support such work.”
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‘Unprecedented risk’ to life on Earth: Scientists call for halt on ‘mirror life’ microbe research
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Comment on The science of why you can remember song lyrics from years ago in ~science
C-Cab (edited )LinkNo summary write up for this one as it's a relatively short, digestible article. Some food for thought: While I don't think I should have to write a song for each concept I want students to learn,...No summary write up for this one as it's a relatively short, digestible article.
Some food for thought: While I don't think I should have to write a song for each concept I want students to learn, I do wonder about using generative learning models to make a song for a course to summarize the key concepts.
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The science of why you can remember song lyrics from years ago
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Comment on The unexpected poetry of PhD acknowledgements in ~science
C-Cab Link ParentRegarding your last sentence: nothing has taught me to be more unsure of what we know than conducting science. I am frankly astounded at some people's confidence with the claims they make.Regarding your last sentence: nothing has taught me to be more unsure of what we know than conducting science. I am frankly astounded at some people's confidence with the claims they make.
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Comment on The unexpected poetry of PhD acknowledgements in ~science
C-Cab (edited )LinkThe timing of reading this article couldn't be more serendipitous. My final revisions and formatting for my dissertation were approved just a couple days ago and it's now officially off my plate....The timing of reading this article couldn't be more serendipitous. My final revisions and formatting for my dissertation were approved just a couple days ago and it's now officially off my plate. To echo a sentiment from Dr. John Dawson in the article, "I'm done." This enormous endeavor is finally finished and while I spent nearly 8 years trying to answer some specific scientific questions, I relatively spent more time these last few months thinking about the acknowledgements and who all to thank. Same as a child, it takes a village to train a Ph.D. student. At a certain point I had to cut myself off because there were so many people that had bettered my life, even in small ways, that made the experience easier to get through.
One key thing I take away from this article, is that as scientists we want to express ourselves in many ways beyond the science that we do. Science is inherently a creative expression, but it is very constrained in the ways that you can express yourself. I think it's important for people, scientists included, to find a medium that feels the most appropriate as a creative outlet.
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Comment on The unexpected poetry of PhD acknowledgements in ~science
C-Cab Link ParentGood luck on the tail end. I just finished mine and while it was a lot of work in the end, it felt better than the middle.Good luck on the tail end. I just finished mine and while it was a lot of work in the end, it felt better than the middle.
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Comment on IVF alone can’t save us from a looming fertility crisis in ~health
C-Cab Link ParentThere are many factors that influence the zeitgeist of a given time, and I don't think it's all the worthwhile to try to attribute motivations to large groups of people (especially one so large as...There are many factors that influence the zeitgeist of a given time, and I don't think it's all the worthwhile to try to attribute motivations to large groups of people (especially one so large as the entirety of the internet), but one parsimonious explanation I can think of is that people who were concerned about overpopulation probably aren't going to be too vocal about replacement rates falling so you're only going to hear people concerned about the other end of things.
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Comment on TV Tuesdays Free Talk in ~tv
C-Cab Link ParentI loved Scavenger's Reign. I was completely enamored by the imagination and alienness of the ecosystems, and I was particularly impressed by the range of characters and how the show handled their...I loved Scavenger's Reign. I was completely enamored by the imagination and alienness of the ecosystems, and I was particularly impressed by the range of characters and how the show handled their progression.
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Comment on For many Olympic medalists, silver stings more than bronze in ~science
C-Cab Link ParentAlso in the wise words of Reese Bobby, "If you ain't first, you're last."Also in the wise words of Reese Bobby, "If you ain't first, you're last."
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Comment on For many Olympic medalists, silver stings more than bronze in ~science
C-Cab LinkFood for thought: I remember at one point competing against my best friend in a middle school spelling bee. We had a few rounds going back and forth and finally there was a word that I couldn't...Food for thought: I remember at one point competing against my best friend in a middle school spelling bee. We had a few rounds going back and forth and finally there was a word that I couldn't quite figure out - there were two ways to spell it by my reckoning and I ended up gambling on the wrong way. My friend immediately spelled it the other way and won the competition. I remember being a little frustrated in the moment, but I was also pretty excited that we both made it to the end. I wonder how knowing the people you're competing against might factor into your emotions.
Question to any readers: has this ever happened to you - where you were hoping to do better or you narrowly missed coming out on top?
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Comment on For many Olympic medalists, silver stings more than bronze in ~science
C-Cab LinkKey points:Key points:
We studied photos of 413 Olympic athletes taken during medal ceremonies between 2000 and 2016. The photos came from the Olympic World Library and Getty Images and included athletes from 67 countries. We also incorporated Sports Illustrated’s Olympic finish predictions, because we wanted to see whether athletes’ facial expressions would be affected if they had exceeded expectations or underperformed.
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Even though second-place finishers had just performed objectively better than third-place finishers, the AI found that bronze medalists, on average, appeared happier than silver medalists.
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Silver medalists form an upward comparison, imagining a different outcome – “I almost won gold.” Bronze medalists, on the other hand, form a downward comparison: “At least I won a medal” or “It could have been worse.”
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We found evidence consistent with both category-based and expectation-based counterfactual accounts of Olympic medalists’ expressions. Unsurprisingly, our analysis also found that gold medalists are far more likely to smile than the other two medalists, and people who finished better than expected were also more likely to smile, regardless of their medal.
Prior studies haven’t been able to thoroughly test this phenomenon. But by using artificial intelligence, we were able to test these two theories on a large and diverse set of image data for the first time.
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For many Olympic medalists, silver stings more than bronze
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Comment on Deriving mammalian DNA methylation predictors for maximum life span, gestation time and age at sexual maturity in ~science
C-Cab (edited )LinkSome food for thought: I don't find this result too surprising (besides maybe the strength of the correlation) - epigenetics primarily revolve around modulating our genes to tightly control things...Some food for thought:
I don't find this result too surprising (besides maybe the strength of the correlation) - epigenetics primarily revolve around modulating our genes to tightly control things like development, homeostasis, reproduction, etc. We want specific genes to be active at certain points of our life but we don't want them always on. We inherit our epigenetics from our parents just like we inherit the actual gene sequences, but these epigenetics can be changed throughout one's life.
However, it's not totally clear that this is the whole picture. In fact, since the correlation is not 1 it seems like there are some other unexplained factors influencing the variation. For instance, we've also found a strong link between the shortening of telomeres and aging. Maybe we could alter our epigenetics in a way to extend certain components of our life-span, but we still have other hurdles to get past.
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Comment on Deriving mammalian DNA methylation predictors for maximum life span, gestation time and age at sexual maturity in ~science
C-Cab LinkThe abstract from the primary research article by Li et al.:The abstract from the primary research article by Li et al.:
By analyzing 15,000 samples from 348 mammalian species, we derive DNA methylation (DNAm) predictors of maximum life span (R = 0.89), gestation time (R = 0.96), and age at sexual maturity (R = 0.85). Our maximum life-span predictor indicates a potential innate longevity advantage for females over males in 17 mammalian species including humans. The DNAm maximum life-span predictions are not affected by caloric restriction or partial reprogramming. Genetic disruptions in the somatotropic axis such as growth hormone receptors have an impact on DNAm maximum life span only in select tissues. Cancer mortality rates show no correlation with our epigenetic estimates of life-history traits. The DNAm maximum life-span predictor does not detect variation in life span between individuals of the same species, such as between the breeds of dogs. Maximum life span is determined in part by an epigenetic signature that is an intrinsic species property and is distinct from the signatures that relate to individual mortality risk.
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Deriving mammalian DNA methylation predictors for maximum life span, gestation time and age at sexual maturity
6 votes -
Comment on Collecting sex-crazed zombie cicadas on speed: Scientists track a bug-controlling super-sized fungus in ~science
C-Cab Link ParentInsects do indeed have a brain (I'm not sure what you mean by a "true" brain, but I'm assuming you mean a central nervous system as opposed to something like a neural net), and it looks like this....Insects do indeed have a brain (I'm not sure what you mean by a "true" brain, but I'm assuming you mean a central nervous system as opposed to something like a neural net), and it looks like this. In fact, they use many of the same neurotransmitters we do such as dopamine and serotonin, albeit often in different ways, while sometimes relying on different transmitters altogether to carry out similar purposes (for instance, insects use octopamine instead of norepinephrine).
All that to say, I absolutely agree with the comments in the articles you linked. Cordyceps have pretty specific relationships and dependencies on their host and like most parasites really only function through one or a handful of species. Through natural selection they're finely tuned to manipulate insects to do very specific tasks (often quite clumsily). With the increase in global temperature I could maybe see some jumps between other arthropod species occurring more frequently, but it would take a long amount of evolutionary time for a fungus to hijack the human nervous system to the extent that we see in The Last Of Us. Our physiology is just waaaaaaaay too different from insects for a fungus like cordyceps to do something so drastic.
Having said that, I do think that if any pathogen would cause a zombie scenario it probably would be a fungus. You could maybe get a 28 Days Later scenario from something like a virus or bacteria if it knocks out very specific neuronal populations, but that doesn't seem too likely. Since fungi can be multicellular they could have a distributed network of cells that would more easily allow coordinated control of the brain.
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Comment on The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom | Announcement trailer in ~games
C-Cab Link ParentOh man you just made me consider a game where you switch between Sheik and Zelda based off the task at hand (combat vs. puzzle). That would be such a cool game!Oh man you just made me consider a game where you switch between Sheik and Zelda based off the task at hand (combat vs. puzzle). That would be such a cool game!
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Comment on Recommendations for less mass-produced and more artistic tv in ~tv
C-Cab Link ParentI was gonna suggest this but I didn't want to recommend anything that hasn't finished yet. The first season is seriously fantastic though, and it could be it's own story. I have full faith they...I was gonna suggest this but I didn't want to recommend anything that hasn't finished yet. The first season is seriously fantastic though, and it could be it's own story. I have full faith they will pull off the second (and final!) season successfully.
Some food for thought: I definitely agree with the concerns about a runaway effect if these microbes had a containment breach - much of our molecular defenses would likely be useless. But that could be a double-edged sword; if our fine tuned molecular machinery couldn't interact with the mirror microbes, it's not unreasonable that they would have the same issue.
That isn't to say that we shouldn't regulate this and pursue any research with extreme caution, but just something to consider.
Additionally, I thought of a world ending scenario where our current form of life goes extinct and the new mirror microbes reign over Earth with new sapient life emerging billions of years from now, trying to make cells like ours.