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Wearable mobile health technology could help people with Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) to stick to exercise regimes that help them to keep the condition under control, a new study reveals. An international team studied the behavior of recently-diagnosed T2D patients in Canada and the UK as they followed a home-based physical activity program, with some participants wearing a smartwatch paired with a health app on their smartphone.

Renting clothes can reduce the fashion industry's enormous environmental impact, but so far, the business models have not worked very well. The best chance of success is for a rental company to provide clothing within a niche market, such as specific sportswear, and to work closely with the suppliers and clothing manufacturers.

Imagine navigating a virtual reality with contact lenses or operating your smartphone under water: This and more could soon be a reality thanks to innovative e-skins. A research team has developed an electronic skin that detects and precisely tracks magnetic fields with a single global sensor. This artificial skin is not only light, transparent and permeable, but also mimics the interactions of real skin and the brain.

Imagine navigating a virtual reality with contact lenses or operating your smartphone under water: This and more could soon be a reality thanks to innovative e-skins. A research team has developed an electronic skin that detects and precisely tracks magnetic fields with a single global sensor. This artificial skin is not only light, transparent and permeable, but also mimics the interactions of real skin and the brain.

A machine learning algorithm was able to correctly identify in 97 cases out of 100 whether or not an individual had Celiac disease based on their biopsy, new research has shown. The AI tool, which has been trained on almost 3,400 scanned biopsies from four hospitals, could speed up diagnosis of the condition and take pressure off stretched healthcare resources, as well as improving diagnosis in developing nations, where shortages of pathologists are severe.

A new method significantly advances 3D imaging of reflective surfaces. The approach integrates techniques known from high-precision optical 3D metrology and computer vision, and could benefit applications ranging from industrial inspection and medical imaging to virtual reality and cultural heritage preservation.

A new method significantly advances 3D imaging of reflective surfaces. The approach integrates techniques known from high-precision optical 3D metrology and computer vision, and could benefit applications ranging from industrial inspection and medical imaging to virtual reality and cultural heritage preservation.

Researchers asked generative AI to write a research paper. While adept at some steps, it wholly failed at others.

Researchers asked generative AI to write a research paper. While adept at some steps, it wholly failed at others.

Researchers have discovered a groundbreaking use of terahertz (THz) imaging to visualize cochlear structures in mice, offering non-invasive, high-resolution diagnostics. By creating 3D reconstructions, this technology opens new possibilities for diagnosing hearing loss and other conditions. THz imaging could lead to miniaturized devices, like THz endoscopes and otoscopes, revolutionizing diagnostics for hearing loss, cancer, and more. With the potential to enhance diagnostic speed, accuracy, and patient outcomes, THz imaging could transform medical practices.

Researchers conducted the first clinical trial of an AI-powered therapy chatbot and found that, on average, people with diagnosed mental disorders experienced clinically significant improvements in their symptoms over eight weeks, according to new results. Users engaged with the software, known as Therabot, through a smartphone app and reported that interactions were comparable to working with a mental-health professional. The researchers conclude that while AI-powered therapy is in critical need of clinician oversight, it has the potential to provide real-time support for the many people who lack regular or immediate access to a professional.

Most haptic devices only deliver feedback as simple vibrations. New device applies dynamic forces in any direction to simulate a more realistic sense of touch. Small, lightweight device can enhance virtual reality, help individuals with visual impairments, provide tactile feedback for remote health visits and more.

Most haptic devices only deliver feedback as simple vibrations. New device applies dynamic forces in any direction to simulate a more realistic sense of touch. Small, lightweight device can enhance virtual reality, help individuals with visual impairments, provide tactile feedback for remote health visits and more.

Red specks in the early universe are puzzling astronomers, but a proposed explanation suggests they are the progenitors of supermassive black holes

Okay, my oil is changed, I have new wiper blades, car is lubed, all fluids checked, and my car is in pretty good shape for a 2000 Honda (still haven’t reached 90,000 miles). But I have stuff to do, and so you can enjoy this ZeFrank video (an old one): true facts about the duck. The most exciting part of the movie is, of course, the drake’s corkscrew penis.  This is an early ZeFrank video, so it’s short and there’s a dearth of science.

Meanwhile, Mordecai and Esther are doing well, and Esther is investigating windows for her nest. We think she’s picked one out now, and there is plenty of quacking, splashing, and diving. Tomorrow a Chicago Maroon writer will interview me about the ducks, and I hope they do a good article. I want the campus to learn about Esther and Mordecai so they are taken care of as a University asset. Students are already stopping frequently to gawk at and photograph our mallards.

Photosynthesising microbes in soil may increase their activity as temperatures rise, offsetting some of the carbon emissions expected to be released from peatland and permafrost

After nearly 36 years of searching, astronomers have finally confirmed Neptune has auroras, thanks to data from the James Webb Space Telescope

Mary Rasmussen lives in Chicago, but has photographed plenty of wildlife. Her photos are below, with her captions and IDs indented. You can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

My Backyard on the Chicago River

My little yard in a lively neighborhood of Chicago backs up to a branch of the Chicago River. This is not the coveted motor-navigable part of the river. This part of the river is channelized, often clogged with debris, and across the river are canyons of apartment buildings. As a kid we rode our bikes to the river but were warned to stay out of it. It was considered pretty much an open sewer. That is changing.

From GROK: “Fish species that vanished from the river—like largemouth bass, bluegill, and even otters—have returned, with biodiversity surveys noting over 70 species now present, up from just a handful decades ago. The river’s still not pristine (urban runoff and legacy pollutants like PCBs linger), but it’s clean enough that people kayak, fish, and even swim in it—things unthinkable a generation ago.

So, yeah, it’s gotten a lot cleaner—less a sewer, more a living river. Still a work in progress, though.”

It is a hopeful sign of spring when the shopping carts are thawing from the ice.

Coyotes (Canis latrans) are pretty common here and they can make some real racket howling. This fellow is checking for spilled birdseed.

When there are no birds at the feeders and the yard is quiet I check for hawks. Cooper’s hawks (Astur cooperii) are frequent visitors. Sometimes they perch on the backs of our lawn chairs.

Lots of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) too. I saw this young deer a little after dawn eating my violets. They can easily leap over the chain link fences and go from yard to yard:

Eastern cottontail rabbits (Sylvilagus floridanus) eat almost everything. It’s good they’re so cute.

There is a family of raccoons (Procyon lotor) that lives in a hollow branch of a Cottonwood tree along the river. The branch overhangs our yard and makes for lots of entertainment.

It was over 90 degrees on this day and there were at least 3 or 4 raccoons in that branch. It must have been stifling:

American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) are often in the trees or on the power lines in the backyard. One day they were making such a fuss I went out to see what was happening. It was fledging season and I thought they could be upset about a neighbor’s cat moving through the yard:

The animal was moving so slowly through the grass that I went inside, grabbed my camera, and realized that it was not a cat. It went under the fence, turned around and stared at me. Not afraid. I checked the photo and realized it’s an American mink! (Neogale vison) They are making a comeback along the river. I’ve seen them twice in my yard since then:

This female wood duck (Aix sponsa)came last year to check for spilled seed under the feeders. I hope to see her and her mate this year:

Per Grok: “Urban wildlife diversity often surpasses that of farmland because cities, despite their challenges, are heterogeneous landscapes. They offer a mosaic of habitats—gardens, vacant lots, forest fragments, and even business parks—that can support a range of species, from songbirds to small mammals like foxes. Research from the last decade shows that urban areas can have higher or comparable mammal diversity to wild spaces, especially when green spaces are preserved.”

For fun I also asked Grok (X’s A.I. app) to create an image of my spirit animal. Grok checks the internet and creates an animal based on what it finds or information that I give it about myself. This is what it gave me. I’m not sure about the hat, but an owl is better than I expected. This was done with Grok 2. Grok 3 seems to generate less personal images:

I use a Nikon D500 camera with a NIKKOR 200-500mm lens.

A new review suggests that cranberries may in fact be effective at preventing urinary tract infections.

The post Cranberry Juice, Revisited first appeared on Science-Based Medicine.

From the Topic Suggestions (Lal Mclennan):

What is the 80/20 theory portrayed in Netflix’s Adolescence?

The 80/20 rule was first posed as a Pareto principle that suggests that approximately 80 per cent of outcomes stem from just 20 per cent of causes. This concept takes its name from Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist who noted in 1906 that a mere 20 per cent of Italy’s population owned 80 per cent of the land.
Despite its noble roots, the theory has since been misappropriated by incels.
In these toxic communities, they posit that 80 per cent of women are attracted to only the top 20 per cent of men. https://www.mamamia.com.au/adolescence-netflix-what-is-80-20-theory/

As I like to say, “It’s more of a guideline than a rule.” Actually, I wouldn’t even say that. I think this is just another example of humans imposing simplistic patterns of complex reality. Once you create such a “rule” you can see it in many places, but that is just confirmation bias. I have encountered many similar “rules” (more in the context of a rule of thumb). For example, in medicine we have the “rule of thirds”. Whenever asked a question with three plausible outcomes, a reasonable guess is that each occurs a third of the time. The disease is controlled without medicine one third of the time, with medicine one third, and not controlled one third, etc. No one thinks there is any reality to this – it’s just a trick for guessing when you don’t know the answer. It is, however, often close to the truth, so it’s a good strategy. This is partly because we tend to round off specific numbers to simple fractions, so anything close to 33% can be mentally rounded to roughly a third. This is more akin to a mentalist’s trick than a rule of the universe.

The 80/20 rule is similar. You can take any system with a significant asymmetry of cause and outcome and make it roughly fit the 80/20 rule. Of course you can also do that if the rule were 90/10, or three-quarters/one quarter. Rounding is a great tool of confirmation bias. l

The bottom line is that there is no empirical evidence for the 80/20 rule. It likely is partly derived from the Pareto principle, but some also cite an OKCupid survey (not a scientific study) for support. In this survey they had men and women users of the dating app rate the attractiveness of the opposite sex (they assumed a binary, which is probably appropriate in the context of the app), and also asked them who they would date. Men rated women (this is a 1-5 scale) on a bell curve with the peak at 3. Women rated men with a similar curve but skewed to down with a peak closer to 2. Both sexes preferred partners skewed more attractive than their average ratings. This data is sometimes used to argue that women are harsher in their judgements of men and are only interested in dating the top 20% of men by looks.

Of course, all of the confounding factors with surveys apply to this one. One factor that has been pointed out is that on this app there are many more men than women. This means it is a buyer’s market for women, and the opposite for men. So women can afford to be especially choosey while men cannot, just as a strategy of success on this app. This says nothing about the rest of the world outside this app.

In 2024 71% of midlife adult males were married at least once, with 9% cohabitating. Marriage rates are down but only because people are living together without marrying in higher rates. The divorce rate is also fairly high so there are lots of people “between marriages”. About 54% of men over age 30 are married, with cohabitating at 9% (so let’s call that 2/3). None of this correlates to the 80/20 rule.

None of this data supports the narrative of the incel movement, which is based on the notion that women are especially unfair and harsh in their judgements of men. This leads to a narrative of victimization used to justify misogyny. It is, in my opinion, one example of how counterproductive online subcultures can be. They can reinforce our worst instincts, by isolating people in an information ecosystem that only tolerates moral purity and one perspective. This tends to radicalize members. The incel narrative is also ironic, because the culture itself is somewhat self-fulfilling. The attitudes and behaviors it cultivates are a good way to make oneself unattractive as a potential partner.

This is obviously a complex topic, and I am only scratching the surface.

Finally, I did watch Adolescence. I agree with Lal, it is a great series, masterfully produced. Doing each episode in real time as a single take made it very emotionally raw. It explores a lot of aspects of this phenomenon, social media in general, the challenges of being a youth in today’s culture, and how often the various systems fail. Definitely worth a watch.

 

The post The 80-20 Rule first appeared on NeuroLogica Blog.