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A short video post claims scientists have confirmed that human fear of snakes is learned rather than innate. The post contains little detail beyond the claim and the attached media.
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Molly O'Shea reports a $1.8 billion coalition including Biohub, the Department of Energy, NIH, Meta, Google DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs to build the largest open, AI-ready biological dataset to help models predict biology and treat disease.
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Vaibhav Sisinty reports the FDA cleared the first human age-reversal trial, citing animal research on partial reprogramming and Life Biosciences' $80 million raise to pursue it, though the post's claims about mouse and monkey results are not independently verified.
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James Zou announces the Evidence API from Paperclip, which lets users search over 100 million papers to find evidence for and against a scientific claim in about a second. He cites coffee and diabetes risk as an example query.
Noah Smith shares a post by Brandon Luu, MD, reporting that two weeks without phone internet improved sustained attention by an effect size comparable to about ten years of aging and reduced depression symptoms more than the average antidepressant effect.
Brandon Luu, MD @BrandonLuuMDAfter blocking phone internet for 2 weeks:
1) Sustained attention improved by an effect size comparable to ~10 years of aging
2) Depression symptoms improved more than the average antidepressant effect
Brandon Luu, MD, highlights a randomized trial in which gargling with plain water three times daily reduced upper respiratory infections by about 36%. He describes it as one of the cheapest cold-prevention interventions.
Palmer Luckey says Anduril won the Wildfire XPRIZE for detecting and suppressing a wildfire within 10 minutes of ignition. He argues that even small gains could save the U.S. roughly $500 billion a year lost to wildfires.
Peter H. Diamandis, MD @PeterDiamandisCongrats to @PalmerLuckey and Anduril for winning the Wildfire XPRIZE - for detecting and suppressing a wildfire within 10 minutes of ignition!
