Andrew Bissette

This is why we can't have nice things

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Posting the whole thing because taking lines of a poem out of context seems to defeat the purpose

Oppenheimer is one of the few movies I think has to be seen in the cinema. The impact of the soundtrack in that movie isn't going to work on a phone and some headphones.

The Psychological Impact of Digital Isolation: How AI-Driven Social Interactions Shape Human Behavior and Mental Well-Being Felix Eling 3697-3705 Apr 30, 2025 Education The Psychological Impact of Digital Isolation: How AI-Driven Social Interactions Shape Human Behavior and Mental Well-Being Felix Eling Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Pharmacy, Gulu College of Health Sciences, Gulu City, Northern Uganda DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.90400265 Received: 13 March 2025; Revised: 22 March 2025; Accepted: 25 March 2025; Published: 30 April 2025 ABSTRACT The increasing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in social interactions has transformed how humans experience companionship, communication, and mental well-being. This review examines the psychological impact of AI-driven social interactions, focusing on virtual assistants, AI chatbots, and digital companions. It explores the benefits, risks, and ethical concerns associated with AI companionship. A systematic review methodology was employed, detailing inclusion criteria, databases searched, and analysis techniques. Findings suggest that while AI can offer emotional relief and support, over-reliance may disrupt real-world social bonding. Ethical concerns such as data privacy, emotional manipulation, and regulatory gaps are highlighted. The study underscores the need for balanced AI integration in human socialization. The study also addresses gaps in previous literature by examining AI’s influence on different demographic groups and cultural contexts.

Let me tell you a story. Perhaps you can guess where this is going... though it does have a bit of a twist.

I was poking around Google Scholar for publications about the relationship between chatbots and wellness. Oh how useful: a systematic literature review! Let's dig into the findings. 🧵

The EU exists because the postwar survivors understood full well that they needed a mechanism against the constant war risks that affected them and their territory. This resulted in the longest peace period, ever, in that area. Ever, as far as I know. No one else accomplished this.

extrajudicial killings are a lot like Jesus healing someone when you really think about it

The biggest tell is--and always was--their attitudes towards adult trans people at the end of the day. Because say, for the sake of argument, you genuinely had no issue with trans people, but were just concerned about health care procedures and risks for minors. What would you do? (1)

The Nobel Prize committee should announce the World Cup winner tomorrow

the law is real until it gets to SCOTUS at which point it becomes fake, which doesn't bother the six reactionaries at the top but does undermine literally everyone else in the profession

Expanding the chemical repertoire of aptamers Aptamers offer distinct advantages over conventional small molecules or antibodies due to their high affinity and specificity. Additional benefits, including small size and ease of modification, further enhance their biomedical potential. Nonetheless, their interaction capabilities remain constrained by the limited chemical diversity of natural nucleobases, restricting the repertoire of targets accessible in vitro and in vivo. This review highlights strategies to overcome these limitations by expanding the chemical diversity of aptamers, including sugar, backbone, and nucleobase modifications, as well as selection approaches for their identification. We discuss structural insights into modified aptamers and explain their potential in practical applications. Finally, key challenges are identified that must be addressed to fully achieve the therapeutic and diagnostic utility of chemically modified aptamers.

Online now: Expanding the chemical repertoire of aptamers

Both use the ratchet. Tell your friends. Every turn of the ratchet depends on the idea thousands of doctors and researchers are LYING but there’s a ‘secret underground’ of doctors (it’s a tiny group, usually paid for their work) who has the ‘real truth.’ They use fear to draw people in.

It’s that time of year: what was the piece of writing about AI that stuck with you the most this year, pop press or academic? A few of mine in the thread. ⬇️

"Hitting Yourself in the Head with a Hammer (HYHH) skeptics are really just incurious hammer luddites. To just make sweeping statements like all HYHH is bad is just an unserious position."

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa Dies: ‘Mortal Kombat, ‘Last Emperor’ & ‘Man In The High Castle’ Actor Was 75 Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, the actor best known for his roles in the Mortal Kombat films, The Last Emperor and The Man in the High Castle, has died.

Ah, we have lost another of the great character actors, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa.

deadline.com/2025/12/cary...

Fellow chemists, scientists, and lab rats,

Next semester, my Crime Scene Chemistry class is focusing on miscommunication.

Do you have any stories about improperly labeled items in the lab that led to confusion or an accident?

"we killed those people fair and square, their attempts to stay alive for a few more minutes were an act of unprovoked hostility and the real war crime here"

A company that will say this is either incompetent or dishonest. Those are your two options. Either way, you gonna entrust your IVF genetic screening to them?

As a bioethicist, I also feel the need to add that the central issue with eugenics is “it’s evil” not “it’s factually incorrect.” And if we finally learned that, maybe big name bioethicists wouldn’t publish “what if eugenics but hi-tech” every five years.

You probably know Photodynamic Therapy (PDT), but how about Radiodynamic Therapy?
Now out in Cell Reports Physical Science, Bing Xu shows how lowering the radiation dose rate on solutions of the photosensitizer Chlorin e6 leads to increased production of highly cytotoxic singlet oxygen.

Worth a read.

it's wild how the positive use cases are like "save 5 minutes reading a long doc" and "write a generic email faster" and the negative use cases are "get encouraged to dive deeper in psychosis, misogyny, or suicidal thoughts" and we're still on the fence about overall value

this really isn’t an exaggeration

Hey! I’m CEO of a company that has just raised $10 billion for an app that takes the hard work out of enjoying music. Did you know, some people waste hours each day listening to “tunes”. Our AI will listen to it for you and summarise it in a 15 second scream leaving you more time to add value.

James D Watson: a cautionary tale There was always going to be a complex reckoning in the obituaries of James D Watson (1928–2025), the American geneticist who co-discovered the structure of DNA. For many years, Watson was one of the ...

I wrote an Opinion piece for @thelancet.com about James Watson. It's not an obituary - Georgina Ferry did that for them - but offers some thoughts on the problematic aspects of Watson's history.
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Professor and Head of Department of Chemistry at University of Liverpool Apply now for the Professor and Head of Department of Chemistry role on jobs.ac.uk - the leading job board for higher education jobs. View details.

Opportunity to join us at @liverpooluni.bsky.social as our new Chemistry HoD: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPQ019/p... - lots of brilliant science & exciting plans going on, plus the joy of being my line manager :D

I have an Oasis t-shirt I got when I was about 8 (so around 30 years ago) which was hilariously oversized and still fits, but as I haven't worn it in a long time I guess it doesn't count.

Your blood concierge, the blood testing craze, and related, unproven, potentially unsafe BS
"Peptides like BPC-157 are injected as casually as espresso shots, while NAD fills IV bags with the promise of a youthful glow."
www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/st...

A blue sticker with "your emails do not find me well" written in white text

The temptation to stick this to my work laptop