David Lane

Birds Make an Alarm Call That Spans Species and Continents—and May Offer Insight Into the Evolution of Human Language — Smithsonian Magazine More than 20 species make a nearly identical noise to warn nearby birds of brood parasites, a behavior that bridges the “sharp division between animal communication systems and human language”

#evolution #language #birds #cross-species #brood #parasites

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🧪 #pfas #water #eco-friendly #chemicals

news.rice.edu/news/2025/ri...

Jane Goodall, Eminent Primatologist Who Chronicled the Lives of Chimps, Dies at 91

Very sorry to hear of Jane Goodall’s passing. Her scientific contributions and her work as a conservationist are extraordinary.
#goodall #chimpanzee #conservation #primatology

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Gift article

Worth noting that Excel was originally developed for the Mac.

Very nice. I created a version that allows you to set the number of doors. With a large number of doors, it may be a bit easier to see that switching is better. onlinestatbook.com/2/probabilit...

AI tool speeds up stroke care across England, tripling recovery rates | The Optimist Daily New NHS AI tool cuts stroke treatment time by 60 minutes and boosts recovery rates—now available at all stroke centres across England.

#stroke
#AI
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Researchers unlock hidden plant ability that could eliminate harmful chemicals from farming: 'Savings of more than a billion dollars' A new nitrogen-fixing genetic tweak could help wheat fertilize itself, potentially saving farmers over a billion dollars every year.

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#fertilizer
#agriculture
#environment
#chemicals
#CRISPR
“In low-nitrogen tests, the edited plants stayed greener, captured more sunlight, and produced bigger harvests. Roots from those plants also released more apigenin, which lined up with the extra biofilm growth around them.”

That is quite an honor. 🏆

YouTube video by Improbable Research The 35th First Annual Ig Nobel Ceremony (2025) FULL SHOW

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From Wikipedia:
The Ig Nobel Prize (/ˌɪɡ noʊˈbɛl/) is a satirical prize awarded annually. Its aim is to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." The name of the award is a pun on the Nobel Prize, which it parodies, and on the word "ignoble".

#comedy
#Nobel

As the Yakov Smirnoff joke goes, the problem is not freedom of speech, the problem is freedom after speech.

Ne supra crepidam - Wikipedia

Ne supra crepidam ("not beyond the shoe") is a Latin expression used to tell others not to pass judgment beyond their expertise.

Interesting point

Scientists create 'super wood' from gene-edited trees and claim it will change everything Genetically engineered wood from poplar trees offers eco-friendly strength without chemical processing, revolutionizing construction.

Great promise here. We’ll see how it plays out.
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#genetic #enginering
#co2
#wood
#material
#environment

The Trump administration’s “cubic model” of coronavirus deaths, explained An extremely foolish way to forecast the pandemic.

Would you but a used car from a man who developed what is arguably the worst and most naive statistical model in history. The model predicted Covid would be essentially gone in May 2020.

Good question. I suspect it will take quite a while but I don’t know.

Sun-powered device extracts lithium without wrecking the environment An experimental new method for extracting lithium from brine and even seawater promises to be more sustainable than existing methods

#lithium
#chemistry
#water
#environment
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Reminds me of the old Steven Wright joke: “ I bought some batteries, but they weren't included.”

Glad your story has a happy ending.

Science Thought Nerves Couldn’t Heal. It Thought Mars Had Canals. It Thought Plastic Was Eco-Friendly. Then It Thought Again In honor of SciAm’s 180th birthday, we’re spotlighting the biggest “wait, what?” moments in science history.

#history
#neurogenesis
#mars
#plastic
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Opinion | The Playbook Used to ‘Prove’ Vaccines Cause Autism (Gift Article) Data can easily be manipulated to show causation that doesn’t exist.

Excellent thorough explication of the faulty experimental designs, faulty statistical analyses, faulty logic, and serious biases used to argue vaccinations cause autism. Great material for anyone teaching research methods or statistics.
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#vaccine, #autism, #research, #p-hacking, #Geier

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Research on reversing Alzheimer’s reveals lithium as potential key Years of investigation by scientists at Harvard has revealed that lithium is deeply involved in Alzheimer’s disease, a finding that could lead to new treatments.

Low levels of lithium may play a role in memory decline.
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#memory
#Alzheimer
#lithium

“We found that when we administered lithium orotate to aging mice [that had] started losing their memory, the lithium orotate actually reverted their memory to the young adult, six-month level,”

wapo.st/45FbUHx

Possibly Japan, UK, Germany, and The Netherlands.

I’ve had some research projects like that.

I had that book too. I was doing psychology reaction time experiments and needed a software clock that was fast (loop until a response is made and record the number of loops). I think there was a H and an L register. Writing a game is much more complex, congratulations.

Scientists Are Turning the Earth Beneath Our Feet Into a Giant Battery A new technology known as Geochemical Energy Storage (GES) could provide months-long storage for renewable energy, increasing grid reliability.

Great potential for energy storage. Important for #solar and #wind energy.
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Sight of someone potentially infectious causes immune response, research suggests Scientists use VR headsets to see how participants react to faces of people showing signs of viral infections

“…potential contact with approaching infectious avatars, activate the salience network, as measured with psychophysics, electroencephalography and functional magnetic resonance imaging.”
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#immune
#infection

Mostly cats get infected by eating infected rats and/or mice. Therefore, it’s possible for an indoor cat to eat an infected rodent and become infected themselves. All cat owners should take precautions to avoid being infected.

This cat-borne parasite could be causing you to make bad decisions. Here's how | BBC Science Focus Magazine The parasite hijacks our brain chemistry and can lead to both rage and risk-taking

Fascinating story of #Toxoplasma gondii and how it affects the brains of #rats (and humans). Rats become attracted to #cat urine increasing the chance they are eaten by a cat. An infected cat can spread the #parasite to other animals.

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www.sciencefocus.com/news/cat-par...