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The largest scientific experiment in history was Peer Review itself and it failed

Jo Nova
joannenova.com
Wed, 17 May 2023 03:50 UTC
Graph
© Nature
Peer Review has been a sixty year experiment with no control group

It's touted as the "gold standard" of science, yet the evidence shows Peer Review is an abject failure.

There are 30,000 scientific journals that publish nearly 5 million articles a year, and the only thing we know for sure is that two-thirds of papers with major flaws will still get published, fraud is almost never discovered, and peer review has effectively crushed ground breaking new discoveries.
By Adam Mastroianni, Experimental History

The rise and fall of Peer Review

Why the greatest scientific experiment in history failed, and why that's a great thing

For the last 60 years or so, science has been running an experiment on itself. The experimental design wasn't great; there was no randomization and no control group. Nobody was in charge, exactly, and nobody was really taking consistent measurements. And yet it was the most massive experiment ever run, and it included every scientist on Earth.
It seemed like a good idea at the time, instead it was just rubber stamp to keep the bureaucrats safe. As government funded research took over the world of science after World War II, clueless public servants wanted expert reviewers to make sure they weren't wasting money on something embarrassingly stupid, or fraudulent. They weren't search for the truth, just protecting their own necks.
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Brain

A rare mutation has helped one man stave off Alzheimer's for decades

Simon Makin
Science News
Mon, 15 May 2023 02:48 UTC
tau proteins brain alzheimer's
© Juan Gaertner/Science Photo Libary/Getty Images PlusAggregations of tau proteins (orange clump in this illustration) are one of the major signs of Alzheimer's disease in the brain.
It's the second such case ever to be reported

A rare genetic mutation never seen before protected a man with an inherited form of Alzheimer's from developing the disease for decades.

He is the second person found to have such protection, following a report in 2019 of a woman with a different mutation (SN: 1/26/20). Both mutations may have staved off the disease for years by acting in similar ways in the brain, an insight that could lead to new treatments for all forms of Alzheimer's, scientists report May 15 in Nature Medicine.

But some researchers are cautious about concluding too much from just two cases. "The results look very promising, but it would be useful to see replication in more samples," says neurologist Rudolph Tanzi of Harvard Medical School who was not involved in the new study. Still, the work is important as "it can serve as a useful guide for drug discovery," he says.

Comment: The tau protein has been the subject of several studies in connection with Alzheimer's:

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Cassiopaea

Betelgeuse's renewed brightening raises hopes for a supernova spectacle

Meghan Bartels
Scientific American
Mon, 15 May 2023 12:00 UTC
Betelgeuse
© Davide De Martin/ ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2.A telescopic view of Betelgeuse, a red supergiant star in the constellation of Orion that will someday explode as a powerful supernova.
Even if you don't know it by name, the red supergiant star Betelgeuse is one of the most familiar sights in the heavens above — a gleaming ruddy dot at the shoulder of the constellation Orion. Although already quite difficult to overlook, Betelgeuse has become even more eye-catching across the past few years because of major changes in its appearance — unexpected fluctuations in its brightness that remain poorly understood. In recent weeks, the star has at times shone more than 50 percent brighter than normal, drawing renewed attention from amateur sky watchers and professional astronomers alike. These individuals hopefully await a historic celestial event. Someday, you see, Betelgeuse will explosively end its life in a supernova — and from our planetary perch just 650 light-years away, we Earthlings will have front-row seats to this spectacular cosmic cataclysm.

But does the current bout of brightening presage Betelgeuse blowing its top? And what would such a nearby supernova look like?

Comment: It's understandable that scientists would feel confident with their Betelgeuse forecasts, however there are sufficiently regular discoveries that reveal there are significant gaps, and even errors, in their knowledge, particularly with regards to space, and so, considering Betelgeuse's current unexpected and unpredictable behaviour, we perhaps shouldn't write off a downtick in activity, just yet: And check out SOTT radio's:

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Attention

Santorini is still an active volcano, scientists remind tourists

Noor Al-Sibai
The Byte
Mon, 15 May 2023 23:10 UTC
Thera Volcano
© Steve Jurvetson, CC BYThe massive eruption of the Thera volcano more than 3,500 years ago left behind a hollowed out island, today known as Santorini.
Known as one of Greece's most famous tourist destination islands, Santorini's unique beauty was, as many know, the result of the eruption of an ancient volcano — one that is still alive to this day, as scientists remind us.

In a CNN profile, scientists studying the volcano noted that although it hasn't erupted for hundreds of years, it is by no means dead.

"If we start seeing increased activity in Kolumbo then we need to be alert," Tim Druitt, volcanologist and expedition co-chief of the deep drilling research vessel JOIDES Resolution, which visited Santorini for the first time late last year, told CNN.

Capable of drilling up to 26,000 feet below the surface of the Aegean Sea, the researchers collected sediments that hadn't yet been uncovered as they attempted to scientifically piece together the region's storied volcanic history.

Comment: Volcanoes might ordinarily give 'plenty of warning', however there is strong evidence showing that there have been periods throughout history where there are sharp upticks in volcanic activity - as appears to be happening in our own time - moreover, mainstream science has yet to identify and understand the triggers, which may be even greater than the volcanoes themselves: Volcanoes, Earthquakes And The 3,600 Year Comet Cycle

See also: And check out SOTT radio's:

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Info

Astronomers observe the first radiation belt seen outside of our solar system

Tim Stephens
University of California Santa Cruz
Mon, 15 May 2023 23:13 UTC
High-resolution imaging of radio emissions from an ultracool dwarf show a double-lobed structure like the radiation belts of Jupiter.
radiation belt
© Chuck Carter, Melodie Kao, Heising-Simons FoundationArtist's impression of an aurora and the surrounding radiation belt of the ultracool dwarf LSR J1835+3259.
Astronomers have described the first radiation belt observed outside our solar system, using a coordinated array of 39 radio dishes from Hawaii to Germany to obtain high-resolution images. The images of persistent, intense radio emissions from an ultracool dwarf reveal the presence of a cloud of high-energy electrons trapped in the object's powerful magnetic field, forming a double-lobed structure analogous to radio images of Jupiter's radiation belts.

"We are actually imaging the magnetosphere of our target by observing the radio-emitting plasma — its radiation belt — in the magnetosphere. That has never been done before for something the size of a gas giant planet outside of our solar system," said Melodie Kao, a postdoctoral fellow at UC Santa Cruz and first author of a paper on the new findings published May 15 in Nature.

Strong magnetic fields form a "magnetic bubble" around a planet called a magnetosphere, which can trap and accelerate particles to near the speed of light. All the planets in our solar system that have such magnetic fields, including Earth, as well as Jupiter and the other giant planets, have radiation belts consisting of these high-energy charged particles trapped by the planet's magnetic field.
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Bad Guys

Study finds Bill Gates' lab-grown 'meat' 25 times worse for climate than beef

Frank Bergman
Say News
Wed, 10 May 2023 17:46 UTC
Bill gates synthetic meat lab
The lab-grown "synthetic meat" being pushed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is far worse for the environment than beef, a new study has found.

Bill Gates and his allies in the World Economic Forum (WEF) have been heavily pushing for the public to switch to lab-grown meat by arguing it helps fight "climate change."

In a 2021 interview with MIT Technology Review, Gates argued that "all rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef" in an effort to meet the green agenda goals of the WEF.

However, the new study suggests that lab-grown meat's "green" credentials are not what people have been led to believe. Researchers have revealed that lab-grown or "cultured" meat, produced by cultivating animal cells, is up to 25 times worse for the climate than real beef.

Comment: Trying to game Mother Nature never ends well:
fake meat left on empty grocery shelves
© Davey /@baldrowdy/Twitter"No matter how empty the shelves are of real meat people still won't eat the fake cr*p." - January 17, 2022


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Microscope 1

Researchers discover that T-cells are able to self-activate to fight tumors

Scott LaFee
UC San Diego
Sun, 14 May 2023 16:59 UTC
T cell white blood cell immune response tumors
© NIAIDT cells are a type of white blood cell that play a central role in the immune response
UC San Diego scientists find an auto-signaling mechanism driving the T cell anti-tumor response

When you need a bit of motivation, it often has to come from within. New research suggests cancer-fighting immune cells have found a way to do just that.

Scientists at University of California San Diego have discovered a property of T cells that could inspire new anti-tumor therapeutics. Through a previously undescribed form of cell auto-signaling, T cells were shown to activate themselves in peripheral tissues, fueling their ability to attack tumors.

The study, published May 8, 2023 in Immunity, was led by study first author and postdoctoral fellow Yunlong Zhao, PhD, and co-senior authors Enfu Hui, PhD, professor in the School of Biological Sciences at UC San Diego and Jack D. Bui, MD, PhD, professor of pathology at UC San Diego School of Medicine.
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Microscope 2

Babies who have DNA from three different people born in the UK for first time


NBC News
Wed, 10 May 2023 19:19 UTC
IVF invitro fertilization
In 2015, the U.K. became the first country to adopt legislation regulating methods to help prevent women with faulty mitochondria from passing defects on to their babies.

Britain's fertility regulator on Wednesday confirmed the births of the U.K.'s first babies created using an experimental technique combining DNA from three people, an effort to prevent the children from inheriting rare genetic diseases.

The Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority said fewer than five babies have been born this way in the U.K. but did not provide further details to protect the families' identities. The news was first reported by the Guardian newspaper.

In 2015, the U.K. became the first country to adopt legislation regulating methods to help prevent women with faulty mitochondria — the energy source in a cell — from passing defects on to their babies. The world's first baby born using the technique was reported in the U.S. in 2016.

Comment: See also: U.K. moves forward with three-parent IVF

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Laptop

Pet parrots were taught to video call each other — and they loved it

Andy Corbley
Good News Network
Wed, 03 May 2023 16:29 UTC
parrot video call animal communication behavior
© Matthew Modoono/NorthwesternEllie, an 11-year-old Goffin’s cockatoo, video chats with a friend.
Wild parrots tend to fly in flocks, but when kept as single pets, they may become lonely and bored

Over 20 million parrots are kept as pets in American households, and a study wanted to see if these social birds would enjoy video calling each other just like humans.

The Birds of a Feather study recruited more than a dozen parrot owners and their birds, to see if parrot loneliness, a real danger to the birds' mental health, could be improved through access to video calling.

It's no word of a lie to say that platforms like Zoom, Skype, and Facetime saved lives during the strict lockdowns during COVID-19, but humans aren't the only creatures capable of utilizing and benefiting from video calls to friends.

The study, organized by Northwestern University in collaboration with scientists from MIT and the University of Glasgow, taught the parrots to initiate video calls with other parrots by instructing them to ring a bell, and then touch the picture of another parrot on a tablet screen to start the call.

Comment: Further from the Smithsonian:
[T]hey found that the parrots took advantage of the opportunity to call one another, and they typically stayed on the call for the maximum time allowed during the experiment. They also seemed to understand that another live bird was on the other side of the screen, not a recorded bird, researchers say. Some of the parrots learned new skills from their virtual companions, including flying, foraging and how to make new sounds.

"I was quite surprised at the range of different behaviors," co-author Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas, an animal-computer interaction researcher at the University of Glasgow, tells the Guardian's Hannah Devlin. "Some would sing, some would play around and go upside down, others would want to show another bird their toys." Two weak, older macaws, for example, became very close and even called out to one another "Hi! Come here! Hello!" from their respective screens.

The birds forged strong friendships, which researchers measured by how frequently they chose to call the same individual. Parrots who initiated the highest number of video calls also received the most calls, which suggests a "reciprocal dynamic similar to human socialization," per the statement.

The experiment also brought parrots and humans closer together — on both sides of the screen. Some birds were even reported to have developed attachments to the human caretakers of their virtual friends.

Video chatting can't replace the social interactions that would occur in the wild, but it may be a viable option for improving the lives of parrots that are already in captivity, the researchers note. In addition, it may be beneficial for birds that cannot interact in person. Pet parrots are highly susceptible to a deadly disease called avian ganglioneuritis, which can make it dangerous for human owners to plan in-person parrot playdates.


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Bacon

FDA approves genetically modified pork for super market shelves

Katie Daviscourt
The Post Millennial
Fri, 12 May 2023 00:00 UTC
pig/meat
© unknownModified: Pig and Meat
The GMO pork will be sold as German-style sausages and reportedly provides adequate nutrition for human consumption...

It looks like Americans will never have to worry about a shortage of "sausage" as the sale of genetically modified pigs has officially been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Scientists at Washington State University developed the altered pork by using the gene-editing tool CRISPR, which takes DNA seen as more "desirable" and aritifically injects that DNA into other livestock, Daily Mail reports.

The GMO pork will be sold as German-style sausages and reportedly provides adequate nutrition for human consumption.

Washington State University professor Jon Oatley, who led the research on this project, explained that the project's critical goal was to not only improve the quality of meat but also the ability for livestock to thrive in harsh environments, something he says will help increase protein sources in countries that are underdeveloped, the outlet reports. He said:
"The original intent in making these animals was to try to improve the way that we feed people. And we can't do that unless we can work with the FDA system to get these animals actually into the food chain."
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