Favorites June 27 2021

Rob Stein @robsteinnews

Another gene-editing milestone—CRISPR injected directly into the bloodstream finds its target.

npr.orgHe Inherited A Devastating Disease. A CRISPR Gene-Editing Breakthrough Stopped ItScientists successfully treated a rare disease with the experimental gene-editing technique. It could open the door to new ways of treating more common disorders in the future.

They edited his DNA in the patient's liver to stop producing a harmful protein! Amazing.

Paul Baumgart @paulbaumgart

“A vaccine that is effective in tiny doses, that is easy and inexpensive to produce, that does not require refrigeration and that protects against a bunch of mutant viruses, including ones that may emerge in the future, could be exactly the solution the world needs.”

Urs Hölzle @uhoelzle

mRNA vaccines are awesome. But vaccines based on artificial proteins might be even better. Talk about timing: “At my 2019 Ph.D. defense, I began by saying, ‘I'm about to tell you why this family of viruses has could cause a pandemic"... https://t.co/KnAdwSwvkd

This article was amazing, took a sudden turn halfway through that I should have seen coming.

Ethan Mollick @emollick

Noise cancelling headphones don’t solve the noise problem, as this study shows. They don’t significantly improve our ability to concentrate in office environments. And again, it’s a bit of a trap: we feel that they help us, even though they don’t! pub.dega-akustik.de/ICA2019/data/a…

This may actually change my thinking on headphones in office environments. I couldn’t easily tell if they were actually listening to anything on the headphones in the study though.

Dwight Rhinosoros @rhinosoros

It really can't be overstated how poisoned the brains of Facebook propaganda boomers are.

Happy that the kids are working to get the vaccine despite barriers.

Noah Smith 🐇 @Noahpinion

China threatened to withhold vaccines from Ukraine if it criticized Chinese abuses in Xinjiang.

Blake Herzinger @BDHerzinger

“Ukraine pulled its name off the list of supporting states after Chinese authorities warned Kyiv that they would block a planned shipment of at least 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Ukraine unless it did so” https://t.co/v2EvPxcZ8S

The Chinese vaccine seems to have lower efficacy than any of the other major candidates, so at least that limits their ability to strongarm like this. But also, yikes.

Paul Poast @ProfPaulPoast

4) Understanding the Cold War's End. Building on #3, during the Cold War, the US EVENTUALLY sided itself with movements seeking racial equality at home & abroad. @marydudziak's book shows how and why.

amazon.comCold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy (Politics and Society in Modern America Book 75) - Kindle edition by Dudzia…Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy (Politics and Society in Modern America Book 75) - Kindle edition by Dudziak, Mary L.. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Co…

Part of a thread about why the military should learn about the history of racism in America. I had previously read about how the Soviets would attack the US as being racist. I hadn't previously realized that one of the results of the civil rights movement that it somewhat defanged the argument, and built legitimacy / soft power for the US.

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

Different people learn different ways but for me personally I didn’t really “get” climate change until I read charts like this — even modest shifts in the average lead to huge increases in the frequency of rare extreme heat events.

Seattle is expected to have 110°F weather on the 28th. Also, this explains Twitter.

phoenecian thanker @christweetsllc

I have never seen anything as accurate

"Our food"

March 2021, Santa Cruz