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1000 results for “scientiac”
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The role of the scientist is to search for the truth, not attempt to prove a belief. In Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha, the young wanderer, Govinda, is cautioned not to go looking for something but rather to find what is there ("... as a result of your seeking you cannot find"). Science has strict processes for judging what constitutes knowledge. An individual's musings constitute only the beginning, the creation of hypotheses. Testing of hypotheses, followed by peers' careful evaluation and rigorous critiques, may ultimately lead to theories. A scientific theory is not "just" a theory; it represents a very high level of knowledge acquisition. Religious belief is different.
-- Philip B. Carter (American Scientist (May 2007))⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #PhilipBCarter #Belief #Religion #Science #Truth
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Huh, I'm curious what effect this knowledge might have (if any) on #transgender persons and their existence:
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1122852?user_id=688df53416db12a71511c696
Does it mean that we might soon find whatever "causes" transgenderism in the DNA and be able to filter it out of the population over time using #eugenics?
This is a moral dilemma, and top of my mind right now as I'm #actuallyautistic that they might consider something similar if they can find an "autistic letter".
Is it moral to prevent someone from being born the sex that they don't "feel" before they have a chance to feel that way?
Is it moral to "fix" people from having #autism?
This also isn't just a moral question, but also a #scientific one and practical one, because if you can code "out" undesirable traits, that could lean to population "gene shallowing". Anyone remember what happened to the #GrosMichel #banana? And what might be starting to happen with the #Cavendish banana if the #Panamadisease continues to spread?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_disease
If we started gene or even DNA editing en masse, we could be writing #humanity an early grave.
It's something to consider and #discuss, I think.
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#Agroecology as the path to #ClimateResilient and just food systems
By Dr Susan Chomba, Director Food, Land and Water at World Resources Institute Africa
Monday, July 28, 2025 — updated on August 02, 2025
"The 2nd National Agroecology Symposium, held in Nairobi from July 10–11, 2025, marked a pivotal moment in #Kenya’s food systems transformation.
"The event brought together farmers, researchers, civil society, private sector actors, media, and policymakers with one clear message: Agroecology must move from the margins to the centre of national agricultural strategy. It is not just an alternative; it is the most viable path forward to achieve our intertwined goals for #people, #nature, and #climate—without compromising one for the other.
Agroecology offers a coherent framework for #RegeneratingSoils, producing safe and nutritious food, and building #ClimateResilient and #equitable #FoodSystems."As #ClimateChange intensifies, this approach provides Kenya and other #AfricanNations a powerful opportunity to lead a just transition—rooted in #LocalKnowledge, backed by #science, and responsive to the realities of #smallholder #farmers.
A crossroads for Kenya’s food systems
"Kenya’s food systems are at a crossroads. The dominant model—based on chemical-intensive agriculture and ultra-processed foods—is driving soil degradation, poor nutrition, increased prevalence of non-communicable diseases, and the pollution of our rivers and lakes. This model also contributes significantly to #biodiversity loss and #GreenhouseGasEmissions.
"Alternatively, a more resilient and #sustainable path is within reach—one that aligns human health with ecological integrity. But this transition cannot be left to smallholder farmers alone. It requires coordinated leadership from governments—particularly ministries of agriculture, health, environment, and finance—as well as development partners, scientists, and the private sector.
"Farmers should not be expected to feed a growing population and withstand escalating #ClimateShocks while being under-supported or misdirected by ineffective policies and subsidies. Without the right investments and incentives, we risk deepening the crisis.
What agroecology is—and isn’t
"Agroecology is too often misunderstood as a nostalgic return to low-productivity farming. In reality, it is a sophisticated, evidence-informed, and farmer-driven approach to transforming food systems in ways that are locally appropriate and ecologically sound. It is not a one-size-fits-all solution, but a dynamic practice that integrates scientific research with #TraditionalKnowledge.
"The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) outlines 10 elements of agroecology, while the High-Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) has identified 13 principles. These include #RecyclingNutrients, enhancing biodiversity, strengthening synergies, and co-creating knowledge."
Source [paywall]:
https://nation.africa/kenya/blogs-opinion/blogs/agroecology-as-the-path-to-climate-resilient-and-just-food-systems-5140556Archived version:
https://archive.ph/QxY8u#SolarPunkSunday #AgroEcology #FoodSecurity #Africa #ClimageChangeResiliency #SharingKnowledge
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“No man is an island, / Entire of itself; / Every man is a piece of the continent, / A part of the main.”*…
Individualism has been been a growing force in cultures around the world since the Enlightenment; it picked up momentum in the 20th century (c.f., e.g., Adam Curtis’ masterful Century of Self [and here]); and has become a– if not the— foundational concept in liberalism. But, Nils Gilman argues, the biological discovery of the holobiont gives the lie to “the autonomous individual” in a way that has massive implications not only for how we think about, but also how we govern ourselves…
We like to believe we end at our skin. This is the primary hallucination of modern political philosophy in the West, the foundational axiom upon which we have erected our laws, our economics, and our sense of self-worth. Philosophical liberalism imagines human individuals as discrete, bounded entities — monads moving through space, contained entirely within a fleshy envelope that separates “self” from “other.” This architectural model of the human being underpins the political concept of the autonomous liberal subject, just as it grounds the social scientific commitment to methodological individualism. It asserts that the basic unit of human reality is the singular actor, the “I” that thinks, chooses, and owns.
However, this model is a biological fiction. It is a map that corresponds to no territory found in nature. Over the last three decades the life sciences have undergone a quiet revolution that renders the classical liberal view of the subject not merely philosophical debatable, yet factually incorrect. The concept of the holobiont, coined by Adolf Meyer-Abich in 1943 but popularized in the anglophone world by Lynn Margulis in the 1990s, has shattered the idea of the unitary organism. We now know that every macro-organism is actually a dynamic ecosystem, a chimera composed of a host and billions of symbiotic microbes that function as a distinct, integrated biological unit. You are not a single entity. You are a walking coral reef, a plural assemblage of human and non-human cells negotiating a fragile, continuous existence. Roughly half the cells in your body are not human; they are bacterial, fungal, and viral. They do not merely hitch a ride. They digest your food, regulate your immune system, modulate your mood, and structure the development of your brain.
The implications of this biological reality for political theory are cataclysmic. The entire edifice of Liberalism, from Hobbes and Locke to modern libertarianism, rests on the assumption of the “atomic individual” — a sovereign state of one. This core concept of liberal political theory posits a world of separate, self-governing agents who enter into contracts and demand rights to protect their private sphere from intrusion. The liberal subject claims (and demands) to be walled off, protected, and kept clean of the influence of others.
Biology exposes this desire for total autonomy as not just false, but a death wish. In the logic of the holobiont, absolute immunity is not health; it is starvation. A body hermetically sealed against the “other” dies. Our physical existence requires constant contamination and collaboration with foreign agents. We cannot be “self-made” because we are constitutively “made-with.” Donna Haraway describes this shift as moving from autopoiesis (self-making) to sympoiesis (making-with). We do not precede our relationships; our relationships constitute us. If the political subject is physically constituted by “others,” the concept of self-sovereignty collapses. One cannot be the sole monarch of a kingdom occupied by foreign powers that provide the essential infrastructure for the kingdom’s survival…
[Gilman elaborates on the implications both for our political and management systems and for the social sciences that study them. And he explores why this new perspective is hard to internalize and embrace…]
The resistance to this holobiontic perspective is fierce because it is terrifying. As Rudyard Kipling observed (in a quote often misattributed to Nietzsche), “The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” The autonomous liberal subject offers psychological safety. It promises control. It tells us that we are captains of our souls. Embracing the holobiont requires admitting that we are porous, vulnerable, and inextricably entangled with things we cannot control. It demands that we surrender the fantasy of the impermeable border. The skin is not a wall; it is a heavily trafficked interface. The state is not a fortress; it is a metabolic node in a planetary flow.
We are living through the friction between our laws and our biology. We legislate for individuals, yet we live as assemblages. We worship independence while our bodies are grounded in interdependence. The future of political theory cannot simply be an adjustment of liberal categories. It requires a fundamental ontological revision that starts with relation rather than separation. We must stop trying to protect the self from the world and begin understanding the self as a spatially intensified instantiation of the world.
Clinging to the myth of the autonomous subject is a massive act of collective denial. It represents a refusal to look at the microscope and see the legions teeming inside us. We construct our societies around a myth of being that does not correspond to biogeochemical reality. The cost of this error is everywhere apparent — in the degradation of our ecology, the polarization of our politics, and the isolation of our private lives. We try to seal ourselves off, creating sterile environments that make us sick, physically and politically. The holobiont offers a different path, one that acknowledges that to be one is always to be many. We are not solitary thinkers looking out at nature. We are nature looking at itself, through a lens made of billions of other lives. The sovereign is dead. Long live the swarm…
“The Sovereign Individual Does Not Exist,” from @nilsgilman.bsky.social.
Further complicating the issue: “Externalities, Rights, and the Problem of Knowledge,” from Cyril Hédoin:
Very short summary: This essay explains how the knowledge problem [the challenge of a central authority having the information needed to make rational decisions for a complex system like a society] applies to the definition of jurisdictional rights. Jurisdictional rights define spheres of individual sovereignty. Rights are appropriately defined if they internalize all potential externalities. However, individuals may disagree about what counts as an externality. This disagreement stems from individuals’ preferences, which are typically dispersed and local. I discuss various solutions to this problem, including the use of polycentricity...
[Image above: source]
* John Donne
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As we incorporate the interconnected, we might recall that it was on this date in 1859 that our perspective was shifted in a different kind of way: Charles Darwin published The Origin of the Species. Actually, on that day he published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life; the title was shortened to the one we know with the sixth edition in 1872.
Title page of the 1859 edition#charlesDarwin #culture #darwin #externalities #history #holobiont #individualism #individuality #interconnection #interdependence #philosophy #politics #reason #rights #society #theOriginOfTheSpecies
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Peter Rowland will be running a class on Non-fiction books in the real world at CYA 2026.
Peter is a Whitley Award-winning author, naturalist, and photographer who loves finding the sweet spot between scientific facts and a great story. With a library of work that includes 14 wildlife books and five scientific papers, Peter has also been the lead editor on two key guides on landcare and revegetation.
Join in-person at the Pullman Brisbane King George Square, Brisbane or online on 11 July .
View the full program and book at www.cyaconference.com/program
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Peter Rowland will be running a class on Non-fiction books in the real world at CYA 2026.
Peter is a Whitley Award-winning author, naturalist, and photographer who loves finding the sweet spot between scientific facts and a great story. With a library of work that includes 14 wildlife books and five scientific papers, Peter has also been the lead editor on two key guides on landcare and revegetation.
Join in-person at the Pullman Brisbane King George Square, Brisbane or online on 11 July .
View the full program and book at www.cyaconference.com/program
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Vaccine skeptic hired to head federal study of immunizations and autism
A vaccine skeptic who has long promoted false claims about the connection between immunizations and autism has been tapped by the federal government to conduct a critical study of possible links between the two,
according to current and former federal health officials.
The Department of Health and Human Services has hired
#David #Geier to conduct the analysis, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.Geier and his father, #Mark #Geier, have published papers claiming vaccines increase the risk of autism,
-- a theory that has been studied for decades and scientifically debunked.
David Geier was disciplined by Maryland regulators more than a decade ago for practicing medicine without a license.He is listed as a data analyst in the HHS employee directory. Public health and autism experts fear that choosing a researcher who has promoted false claims will produce a flawed study with far-reaching consequences.
They fear it will undermine the importance of the lifesaving inoculations
and further damage trust in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The government’s premier public health agency has stressed vaccination as the safest and most effective measure to control the spread of some contagious diseases,
including the growing measles outbreak in Texas and New Mexico.https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/03/25/vaccine-skeptic-hhs-rfk-immunization-autism/
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While I cover the whole field that is typically covered by hospital hygiene (Krankenhaushygiene) in Germany which roughly translates to infection prevention and control (IPC) in the international context, my special interest is IPC and the epidemiology of hospital-acquired infections in preterm neonates.
I'm the scientific coordinator of the German #NEO_KISS (https://www.nrz-hygiene.de/KISS-Modul/KISS/NEO) and leading the MEASURE work package of #NeoIPC (https://neoipc.org/). -
Reaching for the stars: enduring symbols of Soviet science – in pictures
The photographer Eric Lusito takes us on a scientific journey through space and time in a book on Soviet scientific institutes
A stairwell in the damaged building of the Institute of Radio Astronomy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kharkiv.
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Finding one #tick on your body is scary enough – tick-borne #diseases are serious – but what if you found more than 10 on yourself in just one month? That’s the plight of some #farmers as the threat of ticks and tick-borne diseases grows
#Medical #Agricultural #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/01/med01072601.html -
Recent ancient DNA analysis has identified domestic dogs at archaeological sites dating to the Late Upper Paleolithic, roughly 16,000 to 14,000 years ago. This discovery pushes back the earliest confirmed genetic record of dog domestication by approximately 5,000 years, firmly placing their emergence prior to the advent of agriculture.
#Archaeogenetics #EvolutionaryBiology #Paleontology #Archaeology #Genomics #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/03/arch03252601.html -
What foods are recommended for depressive disorder? #depression #mentalhealth #depressionawareness ... Continue to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkWA7I93G1c
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Biofeedback for treatment of depression #biofeedback #depression #depressionawareness #mentalhealth ... Continue to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3GvIZoyw8E
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🧠💙 Which is a common symptom of depression? #mentalhealth #depressionawareness #depressionsymptoms ... Continue to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPYUKHxniTk
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Why the lack of neurogenesis in adults may be an evolved positive trait in mammals. In song birds:
“... as the new neurons move through the brain, they seem to be pushing or deforming the tissue,” Scott says. “You could imagine that they might be altering the circuit, breaking connections that are the basis of stored memories.”
Commentary on:
"Songbird connectome reveals tunneling of migratory neurons in the adult striatum", Shvedov et al. 2026
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2026.03.057 -
Amaia Alcalde Anton (scientific and medical finalist): From Butterflies to Humans, 2023
This is the brain of a butterfly undergoing metamorphosis as new neurones are born through a process called #neurogenesis. Studying this process can provide valuable insights into how the nervous system is formed, as well as brain disorders, says scientist Alcalde Anton.
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🫰 Time isn’t just personal. It’s expensive.
🔍 According to a recent review of over 360 scientific studies (link in comment), the time change doesn’t deliver - medically or economically.
Help us push for smart, science-based time policies in Europe.
✍️ Sign & share the petition: https://action.wemove.eu/sign/2024-10-are-you-sick-and-tired-of-changing-the-clock-twice-a-year-EN
#SleepHealth #BioClock #CircadianRhythms #clockchange #summertime #wintertime #timechange #DaylightSaving #DST #DitchDST #nomoreDST #stopDST #Standardtime #NaturalTime
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🫰 Time isn’t just personal. It’s expensive.
🔍 According to a recent review of over 360 scientific studies (link in comment), the time change doesn’t deliver - medically or economically.
Help us push for smart, science-based time policies in Europe.
✍️ Sign & share the petition: https://action.wemove.eu/sign/2024-10-are-you-sick-and-tired-of-changing-the-clock-twice-a-year-EN
#SleepHealth #BioClock #CircadianRhythms #clockchange #summertime #wintertime #timechange #DaylightSaving #DST #DitchDST #nomoreDST #stopDST #Standardtime #NaturalTime
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🫰 Time isn’t just personal. It’s expensive.
🔍 According to a recent review of over 360 scientific studies (link in comment), the time change doesn’t deliver - medically or economically.
Help us push for smart, science-based time policies in Europe.
✍️ Sign & share the petition: https://action.wemove.eu/sign/2024-10-are-you-sick-and-tired-of-changing-the-clock-twice-a-year-EN
#SleepHealth #BioClock #CircadianRhythms #clockchange #summertime #wintertime #timechange #DaylightSaving #DST #DitchDST #nomoreDST #stopDST #Standardtime #NaturalTime
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🫰 Time isn’t just personal. It’s expensive.
🔍 According to a recent review of over 360 scientific studies (link in comment), the time change doesn’t deliver - medically or economically.
Help us push for smart, science-based time policies in Europe.
✍️ Sign & share the petition: https://action.wemove.eu/sign/2024-10-are-you-sick-and-tired-of-changing-the-clock-twice-a-year-EN
#SleepHealth #BioClock #CircadianRhythms #clockchange #summertime #wintertime #timechange #DaylightSaving #DST #DitchDST #nomoreDST #stopDST #Standardtime #NaturalTime
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🫰 Time isn’t just personal. It’s expensive.
🔍 According to a recent review of over 360 scientific studies (link in comment), the time change doesn’t deliver - medically or economically.
Help us push for smart, science-based time policies in Europe.
✍️ Sign & share the petition: https://action.wemove.eu/sign/2024-10-are-you-sick-and-tired-of-changing-the-clock-twice-a-year-EN
#SleepHealth #BioClock #CircadianRhythms #clockchange #summertime #wintertime #timechange #DaylightSaving #DST #DitchDST #nomoreDST #stopDST #Standardtime #NaturalTime
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Preparing some slides on my favourite topic of the moment - #HippocampalReplay - for some colleagues, starting from lecture slides I made about 8 years ago...
and I keep crossing stuff or adding "BUT see xx" or "actually not" or "Now controversial!" to about half of the results that I was taking from granted 8 years ago 👀Is there any such thing as a scientific fact?!
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Preparing some slides on my favourite topic of the moment - #HippocampalReplay - for some colleagues, starting from lecture slides I made about 8 years ago...
and I keep crossing stuff or adding "BUT see xx" or "actually not" or "Now controversial!" to about half of the results that I was taking from granted 8 years ago 👀Is there any such thing as a scientific fact?!
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Preparing some slides on my favourite topic of the moment - #HippocampalReplay - for some colleagues, starting from lecture slides I made about 8 years ago...
and I keep crossing stuff or adding "BUT see xx" or "actually not" or "Now controversial!" to about half of the results that I was taking from granted 8 years ago 👀Is there any such thing as a scientific fact?!
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Preparing some slides on my favourite topic of the moment - #HippocampalReplay - for some colleagues, starting from lecture slides I made about 8 years ago...
and I keep crossing stuff or adding "BUT see xx" or "actually not" or "Now controversial!" to about half of the results that I was taking from granted 8 years ago 👀Is there any such thing as a scientific fact?!
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Preparing some slides on my favourite topic of the moment - #HippocampalReplay - for some colleagues, starting from lecture slides I made about 8 years ago...
and I keep crossing stuff or adding "BUT see xx" or "actually not" or "Now controversial!" to about half of the results that I was taking from granted 8 years ago 👀Is there any such thing as a scientific fact?!
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Psychopharmacology is the scientific study of the effects drugs have on mood, sensation, thinking, and behavior. It is an interdisciplinary field that merges the principles of neuroscience, pharmacology, and psychology to understand how chemical agents interact with the nervous system to alter mental states.
#Psychopharmacology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/02/cat02182601.html -
Psychopharmacology is the scientific study of the effects drugs have on mood, sensation, thinking, and behavior. It is an interdisciplinary field that merges the principles of neuroscience, pharmacology, and psychology to understand how chemical agents interact with the nervous system to alter mental states.
#Psychopharmacology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/02/cat02182601.html -
Psychopharmacology is the scientific study of the effects drugs have on mood, sensation, thinking, and behavior. It is an interdisciplinary field that merges the principles of neuroscience, pharmacology, and psychology to understand how chemical agents interact with the nervous system to alter mental states.
#Psychopharmacology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/02/cat02182601.html -
Psychopharmacology is the scientific study of the effects drugs have on mood, sensation, thinking, and behavior. It is an interdisciplinary field that merges the principles of neuroscience, pharmacology, and psychology to understand how chemical agents interact with the nervous system to alter mental states.
#Psychopharmacology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/02/cat02182601.html