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Cake day: July 4th, 2023

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  • NielsBohron@lemmy.worldtoScience Memes@mander.xyzFeral Science
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    11 days ago

    I do love the feeling of disorientation I got from the first book. The whole thing felt like I was in a fever dream and I was never sure if I was losing my mind or it was the book.

    Of course a big chunk of that could be the sleep deprivation that came with having 2 kids under two at the same time as reading the book.







  • NielsBohron@lemmy.worldtoScience Memes@mander.xyzMax Planck
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    17 days ago

    That’s because you’re thinking of it like a particle moving a distance, but matter at that scale actually behaves more like a standing wave that only has discrete solutions.

    Or at least that’s how I think about electrons and Schrodinger’s equation. I dunno, I only teach about stuff that’s as small as an electron, but it’s a useful tool for thinking about quantum numbers, so I assume it applies to smaller matter, too.


  • NielsBohron@lemmy.worldtoScience Memes@mander.xyzStress
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    18 days ago

    I don’t know that you’re wrong, because those MD/PhD programs are exceptionally demanding (but are a good way to avoid med school debt for some). It’s more that even for pure MD’s, research is a very, very different career path than practicing physician. I think researchers still have to go through residency, but after that they’re mostly designing and arranging clinical trials, writing grants, interacting with related university departments, etc.

    So, you know, research stuff rather than patient stuff.

    edit: to address your actual question, I have no idea what the numbers for each path look like. A lot of those fields get so interrelated that it probably depend a lot on how you define “medical research.” Does genetics count? Genomics? Biomedical engineering, definitely, but what about the material scientists that develop the new dental polymers? It all gets pretty hazy when you drill down on specifics

    Edit 2: I also suppose I should say that my experience with science research is almost entirely in public/university research from about a decade back, so current private sector research could vary a lot from my experience. I don’t think it’s that different though, given what I’ve heard from friends and coworkers.


  • NielsBohron@lemmy.worldtoScience Memes@mander.xyzStress
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    18 days ago

    There are medical researchers that have MD’s, but they are not practicing physicians (usually). There are MD/PhD programs that are aimed toward medical research fields (usually with the PhD being in biology or chemistry as you mentioned), and lots of biological and biomedical engineers working on certain medical fields as well (especially using stem cells and other chemical cues to regrow tissues). So yeah, biology- and physiology-adjacent sciences are where most of the actual advances are happening.

    Actually practicing medicine is basically like being a mechanic that specializes in keeping one particularly poorly designed piece of equipment running.


  • NielsBohron@lemmy.worldtoScience Memes@mander.xyzStress
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    18 days ago

    I’m aware of and support her current work and I agree that she’s much smarter than her public persona would lead people to believe. However, she still comes from a place of unbelievable privilege and telling people to “stop being desperate” is incredibly tone deaf, IMO.

    Two things can be true at the same time.



  • NielsBohron@lemmy.worldtoScience Memes@mander.xyzStress
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    18 days ago

    As someone who teaches chemistry to premeds, this is not surprising at all. To make a sweeping generalization, premeds, med students, and the MDs they become are some of the most entitled, condescending, and oblivious people I’ve ever met.

    There are exceptions of course, but in general, I can’t stand most premeds and I really can’t stand how our culture puts MDs on a pedestal.





  • Lead is definitely used in lots of old paint, but I seem to recall that this one specifically was mercury-based as mercury can induce schizophrenia and hallucinations, whereas lead’s neurological effects are in the “makes you dull and slow” camp.

    Also, lead was mostly used in the 1900’s, IIRC. Before that they used even nastier stuff like mercury, arsenic ( I think arsenic in the paint was the cause of death for Napoleon Bonaparte) and chromium.

    But then I’m not an MD or a historian; just a chemist trying to recall all of this from bits and pieces I’ve read over the years, so I might be way off base with some of the specifics.



  • Fun historical note: many yellow paints and dyes used in that time period had some sort of neurotoxic heavy metal (probably mercury, IIRC) that actually caused or at least exacerbated symptoms of mental illness. Many of these compounds were relatively safe to use as paint in England, but when used in warmer, humid climates, they broke down and caused hallucinations as well as respiratory complications that caused the patients to be bedridden (further worsening the symptoms).