Nonsense

Synthetic DNA Sheds Light on Mysterious Difference Between Living Cells at Different Points in Evolution

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Is it just noise, a side effect of evolution, or does it have functions?

Key Points: 
  • Is it just noise, a side effect of evolution, or does it have functions?
  • A research team at NYU Langone Health sought to answer the question by creating a large, synthetic gene, with its DNA code in reverse order from its natural parent.
  • Then they put synthetic gene into yeast and mouse stem cells and watched transcription levels in each.
  • The study authors use yeast cells to assemble long DNA sequences in a single step, and then deliver the them into mouse embryonic stem cells.

Reality Bites at 30: why the Gen X classic still stands up today

Retrieved on: 
Sunday, February 11, 2024

“I was really going to be something by the age of 23,” says Lelaina Pierce, played by the radiant Winona Ryder in the 1994 Gen X classic Reality Bites.

Key Points: 
  • “I was really going to be something by the age of 23,” says Lelaina Pierce, played by the radiant Winona Ryder in the 1994 Gen X classic Reality Bites.
  • Lelaina is a dissatisfied university graduate confronting the realities of life after graduation while making a documentary about her equally disaffected friend group.
  • Reality Bites continues to resonate with new generations of viewers.

A film for Gen X

  • Hawke’s brooding intellectual and Ryder’s luminous yet sardonic girl-next-door established personas for the duo that persisted throughout the decade.
  • Read more:
    Nostalgia, VHS and Stranger Things' homage to 80s horror

    The themes of the film are surprisingly relevant given the generational differences between audiences of the early 90s and today.

  • Despite clear generational differences in fashion, lifestyle and music, the response to the film by new audiences tends to be one of resonance and recognition.
  • Spoiler Alert: Lelaina forgives him for leaving, and their embrace and kiss is one of the final images of the film.

A worthy rewatch

  • Watching the film as an adult who is closer in age to Lelaina’s parents, the choice is less clear.
  • Whichever side you end up taking, the film’s rocking soundtrack, charming performances and snarky humour make it a worthy rewatch.
  • Read more:
    Baby boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z labels: Necessary or nonsense?


Adam Daniel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

No more BMI, diets or ‘bad’ foods: why changing how we teach kids about weight and nutrition is long overdue

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Or perhaps we remember references to calories and diets in the classroom.

Key Points: 
  • Or perhaps we remember references to calories and diets in the classroom.
  • Given what we know about the links between weight stigma and the development of eating disorders, they’re long overdue.

Weight stigma starts early

  • Weight stigma and diet culture are rife in our society.
  • On the flip side, the latest diets and other weight loss techniques are regularly hot topics of conversation among friends and colleagues.
  • Peer teasing for size, weight and shape is common and increases the risk of a child or young person developing an eating disorder.

Fostering positive body image

  • For eating disorders specifically, positive role modelling by adults around how we talk about our own and others’ bodies is crucial.
  • Research shows learning about body acceptance and appreciation is important for both males and females in developing a positive body image.
  • Teachers have an important role in educating our children about body respect and having a healthy relationship with their bodies and eating.

How to talk about food with kids

  • We need to talk about food for its function in our bodies (such as carbohydrates for energy and fats for our brain).
  • We should talk about foods we eat to help us concentrate and fuel our bodies as well as making us strong and helping us feel well.
  • Here's why

    Food should also be presented as an enjoyable and a social activity (for example, sharing food with others).

Everyone has a role

  • As adults we have to work really hard to be better role models.
  • While teachers play a crucial role, children also need other adults to go to who make them feel understood and accepted.


Dr Vivienne Lewis works for the University of Canberra and runs her own Clinical Psychology practice.

Prime Medicine Receives Up to $15 Million from Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to Advance Hotspot and PASSIGE™ Prime Editors for Cystic Fibrosis

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, January 25, 2024

Funding from the CF Foundation will allow Prime Medicine to progress two distinct strategies for applying Prime Editing to treat CF: hotspot editing and PASSIGE™ (Prime Assisted Site Specific Integrase Gene Editing).

Key Points: 
  • Funding from the CF Foundation will allow Prime Medicine to progress two distinct strategies for applying Prime Editing to treat CF: hotspot editing and PASSIGE™ (Prime Assisted Site Specific Integrase Gene Editing).
  • Through hotspot editing, the Company aims to address multiple mutations at mutational hotspots with a small number of Prime Editors.
  • Prime Medicine has begun preclinical research to use hotspot Prime Editors to correct the G542X nonsense CFTR mutation, and plans to extend this work to develop hotspot Prime Editors for other clusters of CFTR mutations.
  • Prime Medicine is eligible for an additional $6 million upon achieving certain preclinical milestones, with up to $3 million in supplementary funding upon mutual agreement.

Focused Compounding Fund, LP Refuses to Cancel February Special Election

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, January 18, 2024

In a democracy, you don’t write the other side asking them to please cancel the upcoming election.

Key Points: 
  • In a democracy, you don’t write the other side asking them to please cancel the upcoming election.
  • We know there is a chance that some of the company’s directors will refuse to resign even after losing the special election.
  • If you win a special election in a way that causes owners to retch at your behavior – is that a win?
  • The special election you want us to cancel is everything we’ve been dreaming of from day one of this campaign.

AidQuest® Announces Integration Partnership with SwyftOps® to Super Charge Homecare Website Engagement

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, January 17, 2024

In an era when engaging website visitors is pivotal, AidQuest stands out with its unique solution.

Key Points: 
  • In an era when engaging website visitors is pivotal, AidQuest stands out with its unique solution.
  • AidQuest's highly-trained human chat agents effortlessly transform website visitors into caregiver applicants and new client leads — all without agencies having to lift a finger.
  • AidQuest Live Chat offers a myriad of benefits for home care agencies, including increased engagement with website visitors and the generation of additional caregiver applicants and client leads.
  • "You have only about 20 seconds to capture the attention of your website visitors," says AidQuest CEO Kamran Nasser.

Sail Biomedicines Provides Update on Research with Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Pioneering Medicines

Retrieved on: 
Friday, January 5, 2024

Sail Biomedicines, Inc., a Flagship Pioneering company and leader in RNA-based programmable medicines, today provided an update on its research funded by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CF Foundation), with preclinical data that suggest that Sail’s Endless RNA™ (eRNA™) may offer the potential to treat the 10%-15% of people with CF for whom existing treatments are not an option.

Key Points: 
  • Sail Biomedicines, Inc., a Flagship Pioneering company and leader in RNA-based programmable medicines, today provided an update on its research funded by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CF Foundation), with preclinical data that suggest that Sail’s Endless RNA™ (eRNA™) may offer the potential to treat the 10%-15% of people with CF for whom existing treatments are not an option.
  • Sail’s programmable eRNA platform is designed to enable the in vivo expression of any protein, potentially targeting any tissue.
  • Cystic fibrosis is a progressive, genetic disease caused by mutations in the CFTR gene that affect the lungs, pancreas, and other organs.
  • “We are extremely hopeful about the impact this work could have for the CF community.”
    “The collaboration between Pioneering Medicines and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation aims to accelerate the path to potential treatments and cures for all people living with cystic fibrosis,” said Paul Biondi, President, Pioneering Medicines and Executive Partner, Flagship Pioneering.

Monolith considers the cultural and social implications of new technology, without overdoing it

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, October 26, 2023

One of the socially redeeming features of mass media has always been its communal aspect, the fact people are drawn together into a shared experience based on network programming.

Key Points: 
  • One of the socially redeeming features of mass media has always been its communal aspect, the fact people are drawn together into a shared experience based on network programming.
  • Of course, this, in the English-speaking world at least, has been driven by the desire for profit through selling advertising space to corporations.
  • Her investigation takes her across the globe and back through time to the 1980s and the Cold War.
  • We watch as she interviews people, often using ethically dubious practices, and assembles the material entirely from inside her home.

What is the monolith?

  • We never definitively find out (which some viewers will surely find annoying).
  • The obscurity with which the film represents the bricks seems to call for this kind of allegorical reading.
  • Joining Sullivan are the voices of some well-known Australian actors including Damon Herriman, Kate Box and Erik Thomson.

The strange solitude of interpersonal communication

  • The strange solitude of interpersonal communication in the global information economy underpins the whole thing, and the screen is replete with a plethora of different technologies reflecting this – talking head videos online, audio recording, editing and streaming, mobile phones, smart houses, close-ups of digital text.
  • At the same time, we watch her go about the day-to-day business of living – making food in the kitchen, eating, showering at night – her deep solitude foregrounded throughout.
  • Despite this, Monolith remains an effective fantasy-thriller, remarkably engaging given its limitations – one location, one actor (well, two, including pet turtle Ian).
  • It’s also refreshing to see a high concept Australian film, as opposed to the usual social realist and period dramas.


Ari Mattes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Brian Starr releases 'Martha May McKenzie and The Magic Cake Big Mistake!'

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, September 12, 2023

SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 12, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Brian Starr marks his entry to the publishing scene with the release of "Martha May McKenzie and The Magic Cake Big Mistake!" (published by Archway Publishing), a humorous story about a kooky, eccentric, off-the-wall grandmother named Martha May McKenzie, who appears to be a simple coffee shop owner at first but is, in fact a witch.

Key Points: 
  • SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 12, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Brian Starr marks his entry to the publishing scene with the release of "Martha May McKenzie and The Magic Cake Big Mistake!"
  • Her coffee shop, known as The Witches Brew, is where she hides in plain sight, helping grandmothers with their naughty little grandchildren.
  • She is wacky and weird and completely unconventional, even by witches' standards.
  • However, they have no idea that their grandmother is a witch to begin with!

'What do my screams while reading this book suggest?' A cultural history of screaming fails to hit the high notes

Retrieved on: 
Monday, August 7, 2023

We engage with these things to reveal unseen tensions – political, ideological and social – that can then be mapped against what cultural arbiters generally deem more significant.

Key Points: 
  • We engage with these things to reveal unseen tensions – political, ideological and social – that can then be mapped against what cultural arbiters generally deem more significant.
  • The point of this kind of critique is to make the everyday strange, to reveal the ideological forces that sustain its function.
  • It was with this in mind that I eagerly opened Michael J. Seidlinger’s recent book in the Bloomsbury series, Scream.
  • A cultural history of screaming throughout horror cinema, heavy metal, art, social life?

I scream, therefore I am

    • Seidlinger’s text is often pitched in the lexicon of self-affirmation, echoing online victim culture: “I scream therefore I am”.
    • These cover growing up, feeling awkward, and turning to screaming media (mainly horror cinema and nu-metal) as a way of trying to deal with that.
    • The annual “Grito de Dolores” festival, for example, which celebrates the start of the Mexican War of Independence.
    • Or Ashley Peldon, Hollywood voice actor and screamer extraordinaire, who has opened up her lungs in numerous films and videogames.
    • While these mistakes are not major in and of themselves, they draw attention to the dilettantish nature of the project as a whole.

Low-stakes victimhood

    • Instead, it’s mainly a kind of confessional exercise by Seidlinger, as he interminably riffs on his screaming attempts to overcome the traumas of his youth.
    • (How many times can you mention you have panic attacks in a 25,000-word book?)
    • The problem is, the stakes of his victimhood are remarkably low.
    • A major trauma, for example, is the fact his mother made him stay at the table until he’d eaten his food.
    • Again, it’s a neat idea for a book – but his understanding of people is both incredibly generic and overly personal.

Howlers and nonsense

    • At times I felt like I had woken up in an episode of The Twilight Zone, given Bloomsbury’s excellent track record.
    • They can be useful in popular writing as blunt and inexact instruments, for this very reason.
    • Aside from obvious howlers, such as where he refers to The Scream as “the famous painting that everyone knows about”, the prose is full of passages that at times border on nonsense.
    • And:
      The severity of our emotional condition after losing someone – there is rarely a more saddening feeling.
    • But the writing falls well below the standard of, say, an article in a popular newspaper or magazine.
    • The prose tries to be lively, but it feels lightweight and repetitive – personal in an attempt to cover up its lack of substance.