big ideas

Lying for a climate crusade.

“The Consumer Product Safety Commission is on a mission that has nothing to do with safety… This was a clear-cut case of science being brandished for activism, and judging by the paper’s reception in the popular press and on social […]

under the microscope

How much faith should you put into light therapy?

I am generally slow to come around on newfangled popular wellness fads, which include infrared/red light therapy. “In this study we present the up-to-dated evidence about the effects of PBMT, i.e., low-intensity laser therapy and red and/or infrared low-intensity light-emitting […]

under the microscope

Don’t throw away your printed books.

“Although the current results suggest that paper-based reading should be favoured over digital-based reading, it is unrealistic to recommend avoiding digital devices. Nevertheless, ignoring the evidence of a robust screen inferiority effect may mislead political and educational decisions, and even […]

under the microscope

Fish have a brain microbiome.

“Recently, a study published in Science Advances provided the strongest evidence yet that a brain microbiome can and does exist in healthy vertebrates — fish, specifically. Researchers at the University of New Mexico discovered communities of bacteria thriving in salmon […]

retail therapy

An open letter to Jeff Bezos and Amazon.

Several very good and critical points within. “I have been selling on Amazon for over 10 years, my company has paid yours well over $24 million dollars, and your attorneys have deposed me for 8 hours. The problem with Amazon […]

tech, startups, internet

Tesla’s Optimus robot — still wow.

“These runs are on mulched ground, where I’ve myself slipped before. What’s really crazy here is that for these, Optimus is actually blind! Keeping its balance without video (yet), only other on-board sensors consumed by a neural net running in […]

tech, startups, internet

The Google Willow thing.

You may have seen the announcement about Google’s latest quantum computer. “Scientifically, the headline result is that, as they increase the size of their surface code, from 3×3 to 5×5 to 7×7, Google finds that their encoded logical qubit stays […]

better doing

Gimmicky product display boost sales.

“In 2 field experiments and 4 online experiments, researchers found that: When a candy store displayed boxes of chocolates in a cylindrical shape (vs a standard cube), sales increased by 189.3% …” ~ learn more