Lowe takes metformin primate results seriously.

Link. “Comparing RNA-seq and proteomics profiles of the two aged groups (treatment and control) with the two younger cohorts showed that metformin treatment rolled things back from 4 to 6 years”. 3 years of metformin for middle-aged cynomolgous monkeys.

I didn’t believe this result when I first read it. China has immense science fraud problems and the effect seems much too big. Published in Cell, but not, fwiw, in Nature or Science. I still think it’s too big an effect but if true it’s kind of Nobel gimme.

“certain brain networks, especially those involved in social and emotional processing, shrink during pregnancy”

Link. Similar to adolescent pruning of key neural networks. Suggests optimizing or locking-in some bonding behaviors that favor infant survival. (But may decrease maternal survival. )

“By the ninth week of gestation, 80 percent of 400 brain areas analyzed showed decreases in gray matter volume and cortical thickness that continued through pregnancy, with areas shrinking by 4 percent on average. Change was particularly pronounced in the default mode network, which is instrumental in perceiving other people’s feelings and perspectives.”

Rare article on how some Gazans see Hamas: “If you want to fight Israel, you should go do that. But why are you coming to hide among the civilians?”

Link. “Palestinians interviewed by The New York Times expressed frustration with Hamas, particularly over its practice of embedding in civilian areas”

“intelligence intercepts show that Hamas leaders have ordered their fighters to kill hostages if it appeared that Israeli troops were moving in and could potentially rescue them”

OpenAI’s “Strawberry”: “… complex planning or problem solving. It represents a huge leap in those areas.”

Link. I’ve read that while o1-preview is better at complex problems it tends to confabulate more. The good news is that at our current rate of improvement the AI impact will be more of a vast economic disruption precipitating a brewing “mass disability” socioeconomic crisis rather than the end of humanity. At least for the next 10 years.

Researchers in children and young adults who shoot schoolchildren: “recognizing and acting upon warning signs that school shooters almost always give well before they open fire”

Link. THE only good essay on American school shootings I have ever read. From their book.

(Useful writing is most often done by domain experts with editor assistance. Journalists rarely have time to do useful writing on hard topics. Publishes in a local digital news service.)

Rapid maturation (cortical thinning) of girl brains more than boy brains during COVID stress.

Link. This is not thought to be due to COVID directly, but rather a general stress response. Under conditions of high stress human adolescent brains may convert to adults mode faster than usual. What’s new is that the conversion is more marked in girls than boys and it’s associated with anxiety disorders in girls. It’s easy to imagine this is a primate adaptive response.

2004 paper: The Nature-Nurture Debate and Public Policy (blank slate, tabula rosa, nature vs nurture)

Link. I dug this up because I believe 1960s progressive-liberal “blank slate” ideology was one of the great intellectual errors of the left.

It was a reaction to early 20th century eugenics and to ongoing deep and pervasive racism. But it led to a misplaced focus on college for all and fed into disastrous 1990s trade policies. It was also really dumb.