linkstream2 microblog

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_pill_and_blue_pill
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The red pill and its opposite, the blue pill, are a popular cultural meme, a metaphor representing the choice between:

Knowledge, freedom, uncertainty and the brutal truths of reality (red pill) Security, happiness, beauty, and the blissful ignorance of illusion (blue pill)

The terms, popularized in science fiction culture, are derived from the 1999 film The Matrix. In the film, the main character Neo is offered the choice between a red pill and a blue pill by rebel leader Morpheus.
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Sequence of events in prostate #cancer, by @MarkARubin1
http://www.Nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06029-5 Discusses the high prevalence of AR-enhancer amplifications in recent studies
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“Quigley and colleagues performed whole-genome sequencing of 101 samples of metastatic, castration-resistant prostate-cancer tissue obtained from previous studies11,12. The most frequently altered genomic site identified was the AR-enhancer region, which was amplified in 81% of samples. The high prevalence of this type of amplification is notable because enhancer amplifications identified so far for other cancer types generally arise at much lower
frequency13–16. Moreover, the high prevalence of this AR-enhancer amplification in the data presented by Viswanathan and Quigley contrasts with its occurrence in only 1 of 54 previously published whole-genome sequences of prostate-cancer samples obtained before clinical treatment had commenced17.”
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Designing the Death of a Plastic
https://www.NYTimes.com/2018/08/06/science/plastics-polymers-pollution.html That is, designing self-destructing polymers

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“Dr. Feinberg’s polymers were imprisoned in circular loops instead of being open-ended chains. By themselves, the loops were stable. For the self-destructing plastic, Dr. Feinberg mixed the polymers with a little bit of yellow, light-sensitive dye. When light shines on the plastic, the energized dye molecules rip electrons out from the polymers. The loops break, exposing the polymer ends, and the polymers unzip.

Other scientists trap their polymers by capping the ends of the long chains or linking the chains together into networks. By designing these traps to fail upon meeting certain triggers like light or acid, scientists can control exactly how and when their polymers unzip.

…
In theory, these next-generation polymers could help mitigate pollution problems associated with plastic products. If the units were collected after unzipping to make new polymers, that would lead to chemical recycling. Most recycling done today simply involves melting the plastic and remolding it.
…
Economically speaking, replacing the most widely used polymers like polyethylene (grocery bags), polypropylene (fishing nets) or polyterephthalate (single-use bottles) with unzipping polymers is not feasible.
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The strange link between the human mind & quantum physics
http://www.BBC.com/earth/story/20170215-the-strange-link-between-the-human-mind-and-quantum-physics Wave packet collapse & decision making. A potential connection between #QuantumComputing & #Neuroscience

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“As a result, physicists are often embarrassed to even mention the words “quantum” and “consciousness” in the same sentence.

But setting that aside, the idea has a long history. Ever since the “observer effect” and the mind first insinuated themselves into quantum theory in the early days, it has been devilishly hard to kick them out. A few researchers think we might never manage to do so. …
One particularly puzzling question is how our conscious minds can experience unique sensations, such as the colour red or the smell of frying bacon. With the exception of people with visual impairments, we all know what red is like, but we have no way to communicate the sensation and there is nothing in physics that tells us what it should be like.

Sensations like this are called “qualia”. We perceive them as unified properties of the outside world, but in fact they are products of our consciousness – and that is hard to explain. Indeed, in 1995 philosopher David Chalmers dubbed it “the hard problem” of
consciousness.
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This has prompted him to suggest that “we could make some progress on understanding the problem of the evolution of consciousness if we supposed that consciousnesses alters (albeit perhaps very slightly and subtly) quantum probabilities.””
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Anticipating the upcoming #NobelPrize announcements, here’s someone who probably should have won the prize for discovering fMRI had he not
died so young https://www.NYTimes.com/2014/03/10/science/jack-belliveau-explorer-of-the-brain-dies-at-55.html Jack Belliveau, Explorer of the Brain Using MRI, Dies at 55

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“Dr. Belliveau was a 30-year-old graduate student at the Martinos Center when he hatched a scheme to “see” the neural trace of brain activity. …

Dr. Belliveau tried a different approach. He had developed a technique to track blood flow, called dynamic susceptibility contrast, using an M.R.I. scanner that took split-second images, faster than was usual at the time. This would become a standard technique for assessing blood perfusion in stroke patients and others, but Dr. Belliveau thought he would try it to spy on a normal brain in the act of thinking or perceiving.
…
“He went out to RadioShack and bought a strobe light, like you’d see in a disco,” said Dr. Bruce Rosen, director of the Martinos Center and one of Dr. Belliveau’s advisers at the time. “He thought the strobe would help image the visual areas of the brain, where there was a lot of interest.”
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Peerage of Science is a free, portable peer review service that gives initial feedback on manuscripts within 2-3 weeks of submission (and then final feedback after resubmission). Some journals have stated that they officially welcome reviews from Peerage of Science, including BMC Genomics, PLOS Biology, and PLOS One, although they reserve the right to conduct their own round of peer reviews in addition.
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https://www.peerageofscience.org/how-it-works/
https://www.peerageofscience.org/how-it-works/overview/
https://www.peerageofscience.org/review/review-examples/

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0409-3
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“… comprehensive genomic characterization of 27 strains of the common breast cancer cell line MCF7 uncovered rapid genetic
diversification. Similar results were obtained with multiple strains of 13 additional cell lines.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_thermometer
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In some models, if there are some bulbs at the top (Figure 4, left) and some at the bottom, but one floating in the gap, then the one floating in the gap (green 76 °F (24 °C)) tells the temperature. If there is no bulb in the gap (Figure 4, right) then the average of the values of the bulb above and below the gap gives the approximate temperature. In other models, the lowest floating bulb gives the approximate temperature.[6]
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QT:{{”
And the take-home message from their efforts to control the release of harmful particulates in the air is simple: ban wood burning. “”}}

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23831801-400-why-the-uks-plan-to-tackle-air-pollution-is-mostly-hot-air/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buridan‘s_ass

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Buridan’s ass is an illustration of a paradox in philosophy in the conception of free will. It refers to a hypothetical situation wherein a donkey that is equally hungry and thirsty is placed precisely midway between a stack of hay and a pail of water. Since the paradox assumes the ass will always go to whichever is closer, it dies of both hunger and thirst since it cannot make any rational decision between the hay and water.[1] A common variant of the paradox substitutes two identical piles of hay for the hay and water; the ass, unable to choose between the two, dies of hunger.
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