Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia@social.cleverlibre.org

"Stingless bees are native to the Amazon, unlike the more familiar but invasive honey bees from Africa and Europe that have spread through the Americas. The most obvious difference, perhaps, is that stingless bees don’t sting. Their honey, which is runny enough to be drunk like a liquid and is said to have a citrusy aftertaste, is used by many Indigenous Peruvians as a natural medicine." https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/30/science/amazon-stingless-bees-honey.html

Stefanie Lubke et al (Philipps University Marburg) found that the Drosophila GEF Schizo interacts with Abi to antagonize Schizo function and to inhibit the removal of N-cadherin during embryogenesis.
Read the full paper: https://journals.biologists.com/bio/article/13/1/bio058666/340227

Musk makes big claims with little detail, and announcing on Twitter that Neuralink implanted a brain-computer interface into a person “is maybe the biggest example of that.” Here's what we do & don't know, from actual BCI experts https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/elon-musks-neuralink-has-implanted-its-first-chip-in-a-human-brain-whats-next/

Protein Tracking: Everything, everywhere, almost at once. https://elifesciences.org/articles/95362?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic_insights

All are welcome to our free community resource for tracking, comparing & understanding U.S. federal funder requirements for sharing research articles & research data. #OpenAccess #OpenData. Click here to compare policies by agency: https://researchsharing.sparcopen.org/articles/

“The purveyors of #disinformation capitalize on this illusion of intellectual autonomy. Individuals who believe that they can rely solely on their own wits are vulnerable to the use of misleading, cherry-picked evidence. They are susceptible to plausible but ill-informed arguments. Such tactics have entered a recurring playbook for spreading scientific disinformation” https://fediscience.org/@ct_bergstrom/111849041896938130

Deep learning for protein structure prediction and design—progress and applications
https://www.embopress.org/doi/full/10.1038/s44320-024-00016-x

Big welcome (back) to @bevil!

While he won't throw it in your face, know that Bevil is a super-star brain researcher AND an artist AND he doesn't just wear those two hats - he works at the intersection. For instance, here's a picture of Bevil and Alan Alda celebrating color:
https://bevilconway.com/?page_id=1293
On the first, he has opinions! ... Especially about how to make science a better an more equitable place. No doubt he'll find a home here; I highly recommended this follow.

https://bevilconway.com/

I can’t believe I’m having to write this but please don’t let Elon Musk anywhere near your brain.

Polar bears are iconic symbols of climate change. Who hasn't seen the near-cliche image of a bear standing on a tiny ice floe?

These animals' ambassadorial status and powerful emotional resonance attract cherry-picking hair-splitting climate change deniers in droves. Our first debunking of this drivel was published in 2009.

Freshly revised for the 4th time, this time with our "at a glance" treatment. How does it work for you? Let us know!

#ClimateMythDebunking
https://skepticalscience.com/polar-bears-global-warming.htm?utm-source=mastodon&utm-campaign=socialnetworks&utm-term=sks

'The present study illustrates great potentials of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR-T) cells targeting B cell maturation antigen in treating anti-signal recognition particle myopathy, with sustained depletion of autoantibodies and therapeutic efficacies beyond 18 mo.'
#immunotherapy #CARTcells

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2315990121

'The Shanahan Foundation Fellowship at the Interface of Data and Neuroscience was created to provide freedom and flexibility to promising young scientists from diverse fields, as they work alongside neuroscientists at the Allen Institute and University of Washington. The three-year fellowship provides Ph.D.s from data science, computer science, physics, mathematics, and many other fields the mentorship and support to pursue their own research interests with our data.'

https://alleninstitute.org/careers/internships-and-postbac/shanahan-foundation-fellowship/

'There are lots of lurid tales about the Wa, who once made a practice of beheading intruders. But the book’s bigger story involves America’s hapless war on drugs. Winn spent several years interviewing Wa citizens, U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency lifers and CIA spies. He learned that Wa-produced heroin found its way to American soldiers in Vietnam, and in the years that followed, CIA-linked opportunists helped the Wa become a force in Southeast Asia’s meth trade.'

https://crimereads.com/patrick-winn-narcotopia-wa-state/

'The Duchess was a vanishingly rare creature: a self-taught natural philosopher writing in the decades when natural philosophy was developing into what we now call science, a professionalized field that would embrace the new disciplines of astronomy, geography, mathematics, and physics. She also belonged to an emergent species: the female intellectual.'

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/05/pure-wit-the-revolutionary-life-of-margaret-cavendish-francesca-peacock-book-review

Is this "the first human-made textbook"?

Huge drawing of touchable animal tracks would be an ideal teaching tool for young hunters & trackers.

Some of the carvings are in a narrow crevice, almost like it was a "test" where the student could move through the prints identifying them by touch. (that's my guess for how they used it)

Some of the prints are from animals who no longer live in the region.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0289560