whitequark @whitequark@mastodon.social

The Resilience of Life to Astrophysical Events. "We do not fully understand the mechanisms by which life started, but once it exists on an Earth-like planet, the complete removal of all life (other than through evolution of the host star) is a very unlikely event." https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-05796-x

Mice sing songs that approach in complexity songs of songbirds.
"Ultrasonic Songs of Male Mice" https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.0030386

sometimes i wonder if i should post anything here other than biomed snippets, and each time this place feels inexplicably hostile.
i don't know why; it's odd

Acetone as an anticonvulsant. "Therapeutic indices are either comparable or better than that of valproate, a standard broad-spectrum anticonvulsant." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19049597

TIL silica contributes 2-5% of dry mass of many grass leaves, and is apparently used as defense against folivorous insects https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2656.2006.01082.x

some dinoflagellate, probably: "but what if I added more heterocycles?"
this is a toxin, ciguatoxin (one of the forms of), remarkable in its low effective dose (as low as 0.1 ppb), long half-life (it persists for many years¹) and the fact that it's apparently sexually transmitted², which I haven't previously seen said about a toxin.
also it looks neat.
¹https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1763481/pdf/v070p00004.pdf
²https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2810444

see also: the history of artemisinin

Datamining a medieval medical text reveals patterns in ingredient choice that reflect biological activity against the causative agents of specified infections https://arxiv.org/abs/1807.07127

"This is the most extensive systematic assessment of effects of omega‐3 fats on cardiovascular health to date. Moderate‐ and high‐quality evidence suggests that increasing EPA and DHA has little or no effect on mortality or cardiovascular health" https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD003177.pub3/full

Sham acupuncture may be as efficacious as true acupuncture: a systematic review of clinical trials https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19250001

features sentences like "Noting that his grand mal seizure was followed by restful sleep, DF sought to duplicate the experience with electroconvulsive therapy."
outstanding paper and outstanding person

Self-management of Fatal Familial Insomnia. Part 2: Case Report https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1781276/

"Maternal kisses are not effective in alleviating minor childhood injuries (boo-boos): a randomized, controlled and blinded study" J Eval Clin Pract. 2015 Dec;21(6):1244-6 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26711672

"Does previous use affect litter box appeal in multi-cat households?"
answer: no. "Results suggest neither malodor nor chemical communication play a role in litter box preferences … removal of physical/visual obstructions as the key factor"
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28216119

also: did you know that the idea that humans have a poor sense of smell (compared to e.g. dogs and rodents) is a 19th century myth derived partly from religious politics of the Catholic Church in France
yes seriously
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5512720/

did you know general anesthesia works on plants?
"Mimosa leaves, pea tendrils, Venus flytraps and sundew traps all lost both their autonomous and touch-induced movements after exposure to anaesthetics."
https://academic.oup.com/aob/advance-article/doi/10.1093/aob/mcx155/4722571

the pad dia is 250 µm and the thickness of the underlying copper layer is 70 µm. this sounds like you'd need a microscope but I just drilled the ViP out by eye (but very carefully) to get to the next copper layer (with a trace that's wider than the via dia) and voila it worked!

(I didn't have a stencil or balls and when I went to the nearest electronics market I decided to skip the hassle and just went to a laptop/smartphone repair shop, which gladly did this oddball rework job; these people are always really good at what they do, too)

today I've torn off a pad from a 0.5 mm pitch 0.3 mm ball dia via-in-pad BGA footprint, then repaired it, then had it reballed and soldered, and it worked!