So I look like a slow distillation atack

Implanted flexible electronics reveal principles of human islet cell electrical maturation Understanding how human pancreatic α and β cell electrical activities mature is critical for building fully functional stem cell–derived (SC-) pancreatic organoids for research and therapeutics. We im...

Delighted to share our latest now published in @science.org, where we developed "cyborg" pancreatic organoids to trace and stimulate functional human islet cell maturation.

We're excited for the potential as new tools for #diabetes research and therapy!

Don't give them ideas

@down.blue

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Health, encouraging users to connect their medical records But it’s ‘not intended for diagnosis or treatment.’

FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THE UNIVERSE
PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER

www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...

I strongly suggest this read on the topic and LLM antropomorphism:

The LLMentalist Effect: how chat-based Large Language Models replicate the mechanisms of a psychic’s con
softwarecrisis.dev/letters/llme...

Just quit Quitting projects in science is hard, but we should be doing a lot more of it.

Blog post: Just quit
Quitting projects in science is hard, but we should be doing a lot more of it.

open.substack.com/pub/arjunraj...

An essential development over the past decade-plus is that the ignorant went from feeling chastened when their ignorance was revealed to banding together and deciding that, actually, they were right. They might disagree at times, but they agreed that ignorance itself was an indicator of trust.

710 (an ooold joke about the gulf war, in straight type face and turned by 180 degrees)

💔🙏Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are celebrating Christmas today in the trenches while holding the line against Russian aggression

They're doing it for their nation's survival & for Europe's security

Merry Christmas to all of them & their families. May they reunite soon

Working Christmas Eve was not only about shops, it was all other places too (well schools and unis closed)! And the burden would traditionally fall on women, so no one cared.

Err, it was always working day under communists. So I would argue not capitalist. But wholly disregarding the tradition and need. So happy the calendar finally follows the heart!

One of the most pleasant surprises of the past 20 years was the transformation of Wikipedia into arguably the most reliable general information source freely accessible to the public. It’s not perfect — I’ve certainly seen errors — but it’s kind of shockingly good.

One might consider a donation.

Greta Thunberg arrested at a protest supporting Palestine Action hunger strikers Climate activist Greta Thunberg has been arrested in central London at a demonstration in support of Palestine Action hunger strikers.

Greta Thunberg arrested at a protest supporting Palestine Action hunger strikers

In English we know it as “Carol of the Bells,” but the melody arises from a Ukrainian folk tradition of songs welcoming the new year and summoning the forces of nature to meet human labor and bring prosperity.
Do listen.
I wrote about the history here: snyder.substack.com/p/o-generous...

Closing out my year with a journal editor shocker 🧵

Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...

The man who mistook his imagination for the truth The disappointing reality of one of my (ex-)heroes, Oliver Sacks

Oliver Sacks was a hero of mine. I couldn't let @rachelaviv.bsky.social’s brilliant piece pass without comment. My latest, on why Sacks's fictions are so much worse than those of your garden-variety journalist fabulist.
. open.substack.com/pub/mariakon...

#OtD 17 Dec 1970 soldiers were ordered to fire upon Polish dockworkers in Gdynia by the state to attempt to crush protests against price rises. Dozens were killed then buried, but strikes grew until the government had to back down stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8870...

i know this is hardly a new take but isn’t it WILD that wikimedia has to ask for donations to keep itself afloat when every LLM in the world has been trained on wikipedia data?

If you have a bank account in your country or use U.S. technology, as most of us do, this will 100% affect you and your loved ones now and well into the foreseeable future. And this is why #Digitalsovereignty should be a goal for every democratic government if they are serious about freedom.

This is what is going to happen. There will be a thin top layer of non-digital universities — and all the tech billionaires will send their kids to those places.

Why does anyone use the Wilcoxon test for anything?
It's not even transitive. It's sensitive to things one most likely is not looking for (changes in distribution shape) and relatively insensitive to what one usually is looking for (change in location).

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Wondering how much it helps that Finnish is not widely spoken and not easy to learn (but Hungary contradicts this factor)

Radu Isac: The War Next Door YouTube video by Radu Isac

Just discovered Radu Isac, hilarious & resonates so much youtu.be/ndtMz2aNqi8?...

Huge respect to the papers for finding both an 88 year old worried about the tax bill on her 6 bedroom Kensington house and a 20 year old fretting about only being able to save £12k a year tax free.
Top work all around. These are not easy case studies to find.

It sure looks like Russian intelligence attempted to use military drones to assassinate the President of Ukraine inside an EU country.

Looking forward to more thoughts from Belgium on why freezing Russian assets is an escalatory move that might compromise the peace process.

Oh look. They’ve actually drawn a diagram for all the people stupid enough to need a bloody diagram.

Congratulations Natalia!

Day 4 and the final day of the BSI saw a fantastic talk from @labliston.bsky.social about Tregs in the brain and an excellent session devoted to “Barriers, bugs, and breakdowns” - right up our street! Thank you to all organisers and presenters @britsocimm.bsky.social for a great week in Liverpool🫶