Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia@social.cleverlibre.org

Aglaonice or Aganice of Thessaly was a Greek astronomer and thaumaturge of the 2nd or 1st century BC.

She is mentioned in the writings of Plutarch and Apollonius of Rhodes as the daughter of Hegetor of Thessaly or as the daughter of Hegemon. She was regarded as a sorceress for her ability to make the moon disappear from the sky, which has been taken to mean she could predict the time and general area where a lunar eclipse would occur.

#science #astronomy #womeninscience

Polly Dips Her Crackers In Water, Like People Dipping Theirs In Coffee | University of Vienna & University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, published by Royal Society Publishing Biology Letters

by @GrrlScientist

#parrots🦜 #ornithology #innovation #food #SciComm🧪 https://www.forbes.com/sites/grrlscientist/2023/12/29/polly-dips-her-crackers-in-water-like-people-dipping-theirs-in-coffee/

"La Agencia Europea del Medicamento (EMA, en sus siglas en inglés) ha decidido suspender la comercialización en la UE de cientos de fármacos genéricos al tener dudas sobre la credibilidad de los datos de los ensayos clínicos que los respaldan, realizados en India por la empresa Synapse Labs."

https://elpais.com/sociedad/2023-12-27/la-ema-suspende-la-venta-de-cientos-de-farmacos-genericos-por-dudas-sobre-la-fiabilidad-de-los-ensayos-clinicos.html

"JN.1, which emerged from the variant BA.2.86 and was first detected in the United States in September, accounted for 44 percent of Covid cases nationwide by mid-December, up from about 7 percent in late November, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/27/well/live/jn1-covid-variant.html

"Greta Livraria’s small space masks its big ambitions. Since opening earlier this year, the bookstore in Lisbon has dedicated its space entirely to promoting a group that has, for the most part, been overlooked and undervalued by society: female authors."

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/dec/28/historical-reparation-new-bookshops-europe-give-voice-female-authors

This post deserves a Pulitzer Prize.

The author (not on Mastodon) describes it as "covering the history of the pharma industry, why drugs cost orders of magnitude more to develop now than in the 50s, and some suggestions on what we can do to improve R&D efficiency."

It's thoughtful, nuanced, packed with actionable suggestions, and yet written to be approachable for a general audience. Highly recommended!
https://atelfo.github.io/2023/12/23/biopharma-from-janssen-to-today.html

Wow, that’s a great overview of the history and challenges of drug development. The references alone are incredibly useful - thanks for sharing!

From: @predrag
https://hachyderm.io/@predrag/111662075123530020

Online Now: p300 is an obligate integrator of combinatorial transcription factor inputs https://www.cell.com/molecular-cell/fulltext/S1097-2765(23)01023-7?rss=yes&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

China braces for Covid surge as JN.1 variant spreads around the world

“[The rise in JN.1 cases] will increase the risks of severe cases and deaths among elderly and vulnerable people with underlying diseases.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3246709/china-braces-covid-surge-jn1-variant-spreads-around-world

Sometimes We Can Have Nice Things: Our 10 Favorite Feel-Good Stories of 2023 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sometimes-we-can-have-nice-things-our-10-favorite-feel-good-stories-of-2023/

"The most important challenge is that of fairness or “linguistic justice”. A common language is a bit like a telephone network: the more people know a language, the more useful it becomes to communicate. The question of fairness arises because individuals face very different costs to access the network and are on an unequal footing when using it. Those who learn English as a second language incur learning costs, while native speakers can communicate with all network members without incurring such costs. It’s like getting the latest smartphone model and sim card with unlimited data for free."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/27/english-world-power-language-linguistic-justice?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Saving the African penguin from climate change and overfishing

A hatchery and protected sanctuary in South Africa is boosting penguin numbers.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/12/saving-the-african-penguin-from-climate-change-and-overfishing/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

"In the present study, we show that adult Drosophila melanogaster fed high-sugar diets became more susceptible to infection by the Gram-negative bacteria Providencia rettgeri and Serratia marcescens, although diet had no significant effect on infection by Gram-positive bacteria Enterococcus faecalis or Lactococcus lactis."
#Preprint #Immunity #Metabolism #InnateImmunity #Drosophila

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.12.07.570705v2

Researchers find large #diversity of #protists in the #Parabasalia phylum in both mice and humans.

#microbiome

https://phys.org/news/2023-12-large-diversity-protists-parabasalia-phylum.html

Who wants to tell him? 🙄