To be fair, he did say he “used some open databases for data”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immunotherapy?wprov=sfla1

Immunotherapy is crazy.

Prion diseases would be harder because things circulating in your blood don’t always enter your brain (thanks to your astrocytes, which help protect your neurons). But if you can get the right cells to produce the right protein, you can do a lot of amazing things.

Well, we don’t yet have evidence that it’s bad for our bodies, per se. That’s step one to getting things to change, IMO. So far we just have theories. Personally, I subscribe to the theory that microplastics are linked to changes in immune cell function/inflammation, which in turn leads to changes in the brain amd leads to some types of neurodegeneratove disorders like Alzheimer’s. Again, a theory, not any conclusive proof. It could be the case that microplastics aren’t causing damage.

But, with the technology we have now, I can imagine some solutions. Most promising, in my opinion, would be something akin to an mRNA vaccine. Introduce the mRNA to your body to produce a protein that targets plastic and leads to its removal from the body, almost like an antibody.

But with the NIH in the United States now targeting mRNA vaccine research for “critical review” as part of Trump’s agenda, the technology may not be long for this part of the world… even though it has revolutionized our ability to quickly, safely, and inexpensively produce vaccines against disease.

Scientist here. Microplastics in the body are too ingrained in our bodies for bloodletting to do much of anything. They’re even found in fetuses.

The good news (?) is we don’t know enough about microplastics to conclusively say they’re horrible for our health. The bad news is, I’d bet a lot of money that they are.

I’ve raged and seethed about Neuralink so many times. There are so many obstacles needed to be overcome for a true Brain Computer Interface to work. Unless the company has magically solved some of the hardest problems in bioengineering, they’re just sacrificing monkeys for sport.

The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) includes the laws governing the Food and Drug Administration. These laws are written in the blood of the exploited and vulnerable, like the victims of the Tuskeege Syphillis Experiment. Many of these regulations are specifically written to keep pharmaceutical and food companies from cutting corners in product development, testing, and manufacturing.

It’s not a necessary disruption. It’s going to kill a lot of vulnerable people.

The article describes the review process - you’re right, these words just flag a paper for further review. I wonder if it’s an automatic flagging system like you suggested.

However, it took me almost a decade of rigorous training to understand my research. I sure as hell don’t trust an elected or appointed official with a political vendetta to critically read my grants. Leave politics out of peer review.

This is still an emergency situation, IMHO. Like you said, people’s grants are being canceled. I see this as a direct attack against higher education.

ETA: It’s also a waste of taxpayer money. These grants are already competing for meager funds. Why should we siphon away any resources to “investigate” them?

Sunglasses with polarized lenses? Worrying about eye cancer is too woke.

Here’s a quick off-the-cuff list of neuroscience domains, not part of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, that will be impacted by this censorship. This is not an exhaustive list, it’s just what I thought of after thinking critically for 10 minutes.

It goes without saying this practice is evil and reprehensible. No academic domain should be politically targeted. But it reaches more than their targets. It is dangerous. It is unscientific. It is book-burning. Contact your representatives. Take action. Donate to good causes.

Patient advocacy for people who have had a stroke, or have dementia, or have any number of disabilities, hereditary or acquired.

Any research about the blood brain barrier, including development of drugs that can cross it more efficiently.

Any research about the placental barrier, including development of safe medications for birthing people.

Research into cognitive bias.

Development of statistics (including Bayesian, the hot frontier), machine learning (that’s AI for anyone who prefers that term), where the term bias is used to talk about parameters and model performance.

Basic visual and auditory science, where we talk about visual and auditory discrimination.

Sex differences research- this isn’t just a social issue, we don’t understand how differences in metabolism impact drug metabolism. Can’t have female mice anymore, apparently.

Basic research in the function of neurons, which polarize, depolarize, hyperpolarize, etc.

Concussion research and, again, stroke research. The field is broadly known as traumatic brain injury.

Isn’t it magnesium chloride? More ions = better melting.

Please do not put ice salt on your food in a pinch

Is it a physical copy? If so, it’s likely related to flame retardant used in its manufacturing.

Grapefruit interacts with specific metabolic pathways in the liver. Most medications are broken down by the liver. That’s just how the body works, unfortunately

Shells or coral could serve as early tools, but (just my opinion) I feel it’s a little human-centric to assume fire and metallurgy are required to progress. Just because we did it that way, doesn’t mean another species would have to.

If anyone’s interested in this sort of speculative sci fi, check out A Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler. 10/10 world building, 9/10 science backing, 6/10 writing.

Nope, not significant. The paper was retracted because a few extra sequences were included, but the conclusion remained the same when they redid the analysis.

ETA: Link to the new paper https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17687-3

Subdermal is a lot easier than implanting in other compartments, e.g., intracranial. For example, hormonal birth control exists as an implant.

But, there’s fascinating research into how the brain rejects implanted electrodes, e.g., neuralink. Lots of work has been done developing materials that are less likely to be rejected by the brain and the brain’s immune system. For example, electrodes can be coated in chemicals to make them less harsh to the body, and flexible materials can be used.

I’ve been chasing the high from Elite Dangerous on my HOSAS setup for years. Thankfully, the recent updates have breathed some new life into the game.

X4. Come for the arcadey spaceflight simulator, stay for the galactic-scale empire building, leave for another save file once the Xenon start sending multiple I-class battleships against your Teladi allies but they cannot muster the strength to repel them and the entire gate network falls because you were too busy solving the Paranid Civil War.

Ohioan here. You’re not wrong. Sorry about JD Vance.

For me and mine, it’s carrots. Do you know how difficult it is to find carrot-free items? Impossible.