Google’s GenCast, introduced at the end of 2024, is a program designed to accurately predict weather forecast for 15 days — “a far more difficult task than 10 days,” writes Dr. William Brown, explaining how the program works and its implications for the future.

“Heisenberg was right in his day — there were no methods for ‘seeing’ atoms, never mind, electrons. But these days the first fussy pictures of atoms have been seen and electrons tracked,” writes Dr. William Brown, covering two scientific objects of recent fascination for him: A giant red star and a photon of light.

“We created AI and now AI helps us understand ourselves, our world and our universe. That’s why AI, biology and physics have so much in common,” writes Dr. William Brown.

“The formation of stars, galaxies and the natural elements combines the dominant themes of physics in the first half of the 20th century: General relativity … and quantum physics,” writes Dr. William Brown.

Gene editing once held “the promise of fixing mutant genes responsible for the mutant proteins that cause hundreds of other protein-related diseases,” writes Dr. Brown. “Unfortunately, transforming theory into practice is difficult.”

“With some exceptions, progress in science is usually incremental and biology, especially biochemistry,” writes Dr. Brown, analyzing how our understanding of the science behind DNA has evolved — while some central questions remain.

“Immigrants need safety and opportunity, and Western countries need their talents and energy to secure the country. It’s that simple,” writes Dr. William Brown.

“There’s no escape: good genes, a healthy lifestyle, timely, effective intervention and treatment along the way, and luck, may put off this or that threat, but in the end, there is an end,” writes Dr. Brown

“I’ve enjoyed learning and writing about those and other topics for much the same reasons I would imagine my readers do: we are curious and we want to understand as much as we can about who we are,” writes Dr. Brown.

“On good days, Jan knows precisely who I am and responds to cuddling and holding hands and most of my bad jokes,” writes Dr. Brown. “So, in some of the most important ways, I haven’t lost Jan.”

“The single most important technical development to have a major impact in commercial and military aviation after the war was the development of turbine jet engines,” writes. Dr. William Brown.

“Like the human brain, AI acquires large databases (sets for AI), which cover a broad range of subjects sequestered in different sets. The issue is: how does AI choose from among different sets of data to better focus and solve the problem or question at hand?” writes Dr. Brown.

“Connect the dots and look back; it seems Biden obvious was suffering from some form of dementia, which affected his memory, speech, thought processes and planning — made worse by the bad news piling up on his desk and pressure at home and abroad to look ‘in command,'” writes Dr. William Brown.

Studies have repeatedly shown that as many as one-third of patients suffering from pain see noticeable improvement thanks to placebos, a measure of effectiveness rivalling or surpassing the effectiveness of many pain medications, including over-the-counter drugs and opioids for painful disorders such as headache and lower back pain. 

“As it is, the health-care system is overloaded. Physicians and patients alike are frustrated with long waiting periods to see physicians and nurse practitioners. For now, health-care organizations such as the Harvard system, see ChatGPT as a partner for physicians — but how long will that partnership be complementary and equal?” writes Dr. William Brown.

For much of our human evolution, climate played a major part in the success or failure of various human species variants — including the last, homo sapiens — the lone survivor as Chris Stringer so aptly put it in the tile of his 2012 book, “Lone Survivors: How We Came to be the Only Humans on Earth.”