CharonY

If soundwaves affect food in a measurable way, then the food of most chefs would be lethal. Do you know how much shouting and swearing there is in a typical kitchen?

Mutagenesis is not the primary outcome of acuter mercury poisoning. In fact, genotoxicity is still somewhat being discussed. Primary issues include neurotoxic effects and kidney damage. As others also have mentioned, atherosclerosis is formed slowly via a range of different mechanisms. Mostly it is a chronic inflammatory process, which is associated with lipid accumulation and invasion of macrophages (and somewhat more disputed, smooth muscle cells). It is nothing that happens even after weeklong ingestion of eggs or other foodstuff. Generally speaking, long-term exposure to harmful compounds or diet can increase risk of atherosclerosis, though the exact mechanisms are not clear. The most obvious pathway are inflammation pathways (which are also triggered e.g. by stress, certain components often found in processed food (sugars, saturated fats etc.) and so on. Eggs, interestingly enough are generally considered to be anti-inflammatory (we had a discussion elsewhere where we discussed the effect of LDL:HDL ratios which are not precisely part of the inflammatory cascade per se, but influence influence lipid deposition at the intima, which might then be associated with inflammatory responses).

I don't consider it subterfuge, it is just a form of non-verbal communication. However, as any form of communication it can be misunderstood. Apparently I look sufficiently uncomfortable that folks started to ask me whether it was alright.

I think it is because the plates tend to get too hot. When held at moderate Temps the change is slower (though oxidation continues).

Sorry, I think I started with one thought and then veered off in a different direction. So the stuff that is mostly stable includes (IIRC) things like chlorogenic and ferulic acids, which tends to stick around. However other components including acetaldehydes, pentadiones actually increase, resulting in what some consider a rancid aroma. You can test that by measuring the pH over time. This is less pronounced if you start off with burned coffee beans in the first place (which often has less of fruity notes) but in certain (e.g. Colombian coffee) with citrus notes it becomes quite prominent after a little while. I think it is less about re-heating, but rather how long it oxidizes (and at which temperature). So warming up a fresh coffee should have little impact (unless heated excessively) but let it stand for a day or more more would (at least with decent beans). One can prolong the time by reducing oxygen and putting it in the fridge. Edit: actually I think I have read something taste profile changes after re-heating but I forgot if folks actually looked at the metabolites. I'll have to check. Edit2: I recall that there were taste tastes of coffee holding time on hot plates and I think the how long and how much heat it gets affected flavour rather rapidly. So likely it also depends on how you reheat it (and how hot). But again, that is rather murky memory territory now.

I think there are a few misconceptions when it comes to coffee. Fundamentally each extraction method extracts the various components of coffee with different efficiency, depending on contact time, temperature, but also the grind size and so on. However, a critical factor are the beans themselves. Many of the aromatic compounds are volatile, so pre-ground coffee can lose a lot of them. Some of the bitterness can come from the overroasted beans, and while one can mitigate them by the coffee preparation method, it is a bit like scraping off burnt bits from bread. If you cannot taste the difference between freshly brewed coffee and older reheated coffee, chances are that you have started with stale, potentially overroasted coffee as what you taste might are likely cholorgenic acid lactones and their breakdown products during prolonged roasting. Unfortunately, this process also destroys many of the more volatile components and coffee can lose some of their more complex flavour profiles. They belong to a wide range of different chemical compound of which only a few dozen have been identified to my knowledge. Strongly roasted beans are the typical method for pre-ground coffee as the taste becomes more standardized and many folks associated the bitterness with "strength" of the coffee. Cold brewing extracts polar components very well (which is why it also has a high caffeine content and also rich in caffeoylquinic acid ), but is somewhat inefficient for some of the more hydrophobic compounds. Still, it can retain some of the more malty, caramel or nutty flavours, but certain floral (as I found to be common in Ethiopian coffee) seem to be more muted. In general, complex flavours (i.e. wider range of flavour molecule) seem to get more effectively extracted with longer contact time. Espresso results in fairly efficient extraction (due to combination of pressure and heat) but significantly changes the ratio of compounds relative to immersion. OK I shut up now.

I think it should be acknowledged that artificial upwelling is at least technically feasible. The big unknown is whether it allows long-term carbon sequestration and whether that offsets all the negatives (including cost, energy consumption, release of CO2 due to upwelling of inorganic and organic carbon, temperature effects, local disruption of sedimentation and so on). Research on that matters does indeed show rather low effectiveness even under optimal conditions for carbon capture. In one paper the biggest effect seems to be caused by cooling rather than biomass production in the ocean, eliminating even the benefits of the best case scenario: See Oschlies et al. https://doi.org/10.1029/2009GL041961 As mentioned above, in many areas upwelling would cause a net release of CO2 (as are natural upwells).

Back in the day when we need low background coverslip it, we mostly cleaned them with with piranha and/or plasma cleaning and we mostly did PLL-PEG passivation (or sometimes using silanes). I don't think recall whether we did any biotinylation, though. That being said, the procedures are much less convenient and probably less reproducible than commercial sources. I do not know specific companies off the top of my head, but perhaps just talk to companies selling functionalized coverslips regarding your application. The few I can think of are (I think) specialized more in the area of AFM, so optical background is not a high priority there.

It depends a lot on the type of position and level, but these questions are fundamentally aimed at finding a fit with the candidate. In this question one can explore how much the candidate knows about the company and the ideally about the involved duties but also allows the candidate express their goals. So I agree that this is usually where both candidate and interviewer get a good rapport. This sounds a bit like an HR-type, assessment centre or otherwise "canned" interview process, which obviously exist.

I am astonished that this is a topic somehow. In the politics section no less.

Hold on, you are saying that the stuff on Boris Johnson's head is his actual hair? Also I think men are not mocked for wigs, but rather for bad quality wigs (which women more commonly avoid, I would think).

I think many (but not all) carbon capture ideas are a bit rooted in a similar thinking that also was shown full force during the pandemic. Folks prefer to do something after it is broken, even trying out stuff that was shown not to work (e.g. ivermectin) rather than doing something that prevents it in the first place and is known to work.

That is a general issue with these types of geoengineering approaches. The impact, especially long-term are often not understood and it is often rather costly to implement systems to study. So far, none of the limited studies show any game changing effects, so while research might be interesting, without evidence that the benefit outweigh the risks it is likely not going to fly.

Not sure whether that has been addressed, but circulation on a large scale has more effects on carbon sequestration than biological effects. Studies have shown that the decline of CO2 uptake by oceans in the 90s was driven by increased circulation of ocean water to the surface bringing carbon rich deep waters to the surface and thereby decreasing the difference between the CO2 in the atmosphere and the ocean surface. The reduction in this differential resulted in less CO2 being taken up. Conversely, around 2000 a slowdown in upper ocean circulation happened, which reduced the upwelling of deep waters, resulting in an increase of carbon sequestration. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature21068 Now, if biological processes (specifically nutrient availability) were the drivers, we would expect the inverse trend in carbon sequestration as observed. If anything, direct fertilization (as has been tried in the past) is likely more efficient than trying to trying to replicate the oceanic circulations (though that has their own problems). That being said, it seems that folks have actually run pilot studies on it: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-015-5195-2 Especially regarding long-term effects, efficiency and environmental disturbance seem to be major unknowns. But skimming some of the studies it might result in net carbon sequestrations in some areas, and no effects in others. Most are too short term and probably not enough circulation to drive the above mentioned oceanic carbon sequestration effect. I have not seen anything suggesting vast superiority to terrestrial carbon sequestration attempts, though. Edit: crossedited with SJ

Assuming you are reporting a zone of inhibition, depending on journal you would at minimum report the radius (or diameter) of the inhibition zone with a some measure of variation (e.g. standard deviation) from replicates. Often a representative image is also requested for the supplement at least, showing that there was even diffusion and/or that inhibition war properly assessed. It depends on what you want to express and where you want to submit it, though. If e.g. the compound is to be tested against established antimicrobial substances, it would make sense to follow the scheme outlined by clinical lab standard initiatives (e.g. https://clsi.org/standards/products/microbiology/documents/m02/ , CDC standards etc.). For more technical work one can follow guidelines and protocols from societies like the ASM: https://asm.org/getattachment/2594ce26-bd44-47f6-8287-0657aa9185ad/Kirby-Bauer-Disk-Diffusion-Susceptibility-Test-Protocol-pdf.pdf I.e. if you want to publish in those journals.

I think it is impossible not to use the brain. But it is a matter of for what? I do think that reading ability has changed, on average. But not because folks are not reading, but rather what they are reading. The trend seems to go toward a lot but short texts, so folks may be very good in following many disparate threads, but struggle with more complex, in-depth texts, for example. I also have little doubt that basic arithmetic skills have degraded (getting the average student to calculate the molarity of a solution is a rather painful exercise). With age, things become less flexible, in part because our brain has been exercised in certain patterns. But thinking a bit more regarding habits of the newest generation (i.e. growing up with cellphones and the internet) there is of course always the risk that the older generation just doesn't "get" the changes and extrapolate things needlessly. It has happened with all new technologies, for example. On the other hand, looking at the generations of college students, I do think that I see several shifts, some probably accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

So far there is not even an inkling that this would work for biological systems. Critical reactions that we commonly associate with life happen at membranes. There are quite a few reasons for that. The most simple one is to counter diffusion. Molecules need to be in sufficient proximity for anything to happen and if important metabolites diffuse out of range, you are out of luck. In addition, gradients created with membranes are critical to create energy. Early life does not have the luxury of high-energy containing organic molecules. The formation of some sort of compartment is almost certainly a prerequisite to life as joigus mentioned.

I am not sure which article you are referring, to regardless of whether there are specific pushes, the general system nudges folks toward polarization in a self-perpetuating manner. The flavor of the week can change, but that does not change the system as a whole. Here is an article on that topic https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/radical-ideas-social-media-algorithms/ Here is a paper outlining how social media algorithms limit exposure to information to users: Levy, Ro'ee. 2021. "Social Media, News Consumption, and Polarization: Evidence from a Field Experiment." American Economic Review, 111 (3): 831-70.DOI: 10.1257/aer.20191777 And another specifically talking about polarization. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2021.07.013 In other words, conflict and polarization are in-built into the system. While actors can manipulate certain messages, it works based on the already manipulative backbone of the system. The papers might not be freely available, though. Also, due to the way social media works, it is difficult to really separate external from organic interactions to some degree. There is a whole system of influences whose role is basically doing barely disguised commercials and it is easy to assume that political influencing is part of the game, too. Of course, for a given country one might complain about undue influences originating elsewhere, but in an increasing globalized world and especially on the internet borders do not mean much. There are folks in different countries demanding "first amendment" rights, for example. Conversely, in the USA the GOP has weaponized the concept of wokeness, which originally referred to the awareness of systemic injustice. So even if external actors are pushing this conflict, it is not as if it was designed by foreign entities. The clearest and most obvious issue is probably data harvesting and use. But then the horse appears to have left the barn, and established its own ranch with blackjack and hookers and its own megacorporation (though I acknowledge that its abuse by an authoritarian state is more worrisome than by a company- at this point at least) .

I am not sure whether user preference is a any better, though. User engagement is the business model for almost all social media, so things that provoke and outrage are high on the list of content being pushed. These alone are enough to destabilize and radicalize, without the need of an external agenda.

That is something I am actually uncertain about. I.e. whether the response can be modulated in strength. The response tends to be on mild side with various release of e.g. dopamins, cannabinoids, opioids and so on. For some of them, we know that there is a release even from simple pleasurable interactions (e.g. talking to a friend). While the perceived effect might change in strength, I am not sure whether the measurable biomarkers respond in kind. Of similar interest are nocebo effects

The placebo effect is quite interesting, but suffers to some degree from bad data. It generally does not work well for extreme or acute conditions, but the effect is more pronounced (as expected) when it comes to chronic and more subjective measures (i.e. chronic rather than acute pain, for example). In some cases, it is not the placebo itself that has a positive affect, but the mere enrolment into a controlled trial (e.g. heightened interactions with medical professionals). Some neuroimaging strategies indicate that there are certain changes in the brain and it has been speculated that there is a connection to the immune and inflammation pathways. Animal studies have shown that deception might not be necessary for certain types of outcome (though in some cases it is the experimentator/pet owners that are deceived).

Well, you would not need knowledge of the DNA, just something containing the DNA. Yes, gene therapy is still something that is not widely available. Though once methods are more streamlined there is the a good chance that certain treatments will become more widely available (provided that the health care system is working somewhat). The rationale is that certain ongoing treatments that could be replaced by gene therapy treatment could over someone's lifetime be more expensive.

Not exactly my field, but the neutral theories of evolution have more or less become the base model. From my perspective it is largely driven by the observation that most mutations have little to no phenotypical impact on the molecular level. The functional sites (i.e. parts that are essential to the function) are much sparser and those are the parts that are usually conserved (i.e. there is selective pressure to maintain them).

This sentence makes no sense whatsoever.

In that case why not have a genetic algorithm create an AI-driven curriculum and finance system that incorporates sustainable efficiency optimization using big data ecosystems that drill down toward a holistic education with resilient feedback logistics that minimizes pain points and provides an optimized customer journey that synergizes with hyperlocal strategies, aligns with global retargeting and moves the needle towards fully realized returns on investments?