Category Archives: In the News

Nobel Prizes, Wearable Technology and More…

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Surfing the web, I uncovered these new items worth sharing:

  • David J. Thouless, F. Duncan M. Haldane, and J. Michael Kosterlitz were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for discoveries in condensed-matter physics that have transformed the understanding of matter that assumes strange shapes.

  • New research led by scientists from the University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center shows a reduction in cervical pre-cancers in young women who received the HPV vaccine. The results were published in JAMA Oncology.
  • According to researchers at the University of Southern California, wearable technology may improve cancer treatment. This project will be presented at the White House as part of the Cancer Moonshot exhibit.  Read more about this project in ScienceDaily.
  • Scientists are a step closer to developing an effective universal flu vaccine. The results have been published in PNAS.

 

 

Do You Know the Ancient Origins of the Book?

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Long before the e-book vs print book battle, there existed another upheaval in the ways readers got their information. BBC Culture explains how humans have been resistant throughout history to changing forms of the written word, going back thousands of years.

Scrolls, made from Egyptian papyrus, dominated ancient Rome. However, these scrolls were cumbersome to use, fragile, and had a short shelf life. Continue reading →

Friday Announcements, Exploration and Fun from the Internet

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Yesterday the publication eLife announced that, starting January 2017, they will begin charging a publication fee of $2,500. For more information, see this statement about  creating a financially stable future for eLife. Visit the archive on PMC here.

New York Magazine has a long piece about information addiction by Andrew Sullivan called I Used to Be a Human Being.

According to an odd item in the Atlantic, which seems less crazy than it sounds once you read it, a former urologic surgeon used a 3D printed kidney to explore anecdotal stories of patients passing small kidney stones after riding roller coasters. The PubMed abstract of the paper describing the experiment he and a colleague conducted is available here.