The possible transmission of H5N1, also known as bird flu, into the human population, and then from human to human, “would put us a risk for a second pandemic in less than a decade, and this time, the political climate has changed and might hobble our response to a possible pandemic,” writes Dr. Brown.
“Like the flu, COVID is now embedded in the population. That means we can expect continuing mutant versions to emerge, including more lethal versions,” writes Dr. William Brown.
“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.
“In the sciences where teamwork often makes the difference between success and failure, Brenner and Bertozzi stand out,” writes Dr. William Brown.
“Einstein was a brilliant theorist, bold in his thinking, relentless and determined,” writes Dr. William Brown. “But he could be stubborn to the point of failing to recognize inconvenient facts derived from his own studies.”
In this week’s column from Dr. Brown, he traces the evolution of computer technology’s use in the field of scientific research, from its earlier, more elementary uses in the late 20th century, to the unfolding possibilities of today’s AI machine learning.
“Nobel committees don’t always get things right, but this time they made a spectacular, if controversial, choice,” writes Dr. Brown of this fall’s Nobel Prize wins in physics and chemistry.
“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.
“The nocebo effect refers to the occurrence of harmful effects from consciously or unconsciously anticipating symptoms, one example of which was the June bug incident of 1962,” writes Dr. William Brown.
“The fact that Biden announced on July 21 he will not seek re-election is a relief for the U.S. and for him. That took courage but was the right decision given the trajectory of where his disease is headed in the next several years,” 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.”
As a species, humans consider themselves set apart from all other species because we possess gifts denied other creatures: our considerable powers of imagination, symbolic thinking and language, a compulsion to create and
The first black hole was not photographed until 2019. It’s gargantuan, billions of times the mass of the sun and much larger than the giant black hole found at the centre of our Milky Way, for which studies a Nobel prize was awarded and shared with evidence that general relativity provided a “robust explanation” for the shape of black holes.
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