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Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Medical breakthrough: Cure for obesity or license to overeat?

I was interested to see different takes on the 'net concerning a bit of recent medical research.  The research involves inhibiting expression of a gene called RCAN1, which seems to regulate body fat.  Long story short, research suggests that inhibiting this gene in mice allows them to remain "thin" in spite of eating a diet in excess of their normal requirements.

The question naturally arises: What does this mean for humans?

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Is the Mac back or on its way out?

Apple recently held a big event in which it updated a number of its non-iPhone products, namely the MacBook Air, the Mac Mini, and the iPad Pro. 

For the first two, this update is the first in several years.  As Will Oremus points out in his take on the event, this fact cannot help but suggest that these devices are on their way out:

But for the Macs, it feels less like a golden age than the golden years.

Monday, July 30, 2018

Is almond milk fake milk?

Kate Yoder of Grist reports that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering the matter of plant milk.  More specifically, the US dairy industry is trying to get the agency to create regulation restricting the term "milk" to the product of lactation, e.g., cow's milk.  Such a rule would ban the application of "milk" to plant-based liquids, e.g., almond milk.

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Technology and authenticity in The Incredibles 2: A hidden message?

I had the pleasure to see The Incredibles 2 this weekend.  It was an enjoyable movie and a worthy sequel to the original Incredibles, in spite of the 14 years it took to bring out. (Spoiler alert!)

As with the original movie, an important theme of the sequel is the relationship between technology and the self.  The first film featured a conflict between superheroes and a hyper-technological villain named Syndrome. 

Thursday, June 28, 2018

The conscience of Silicon Valley

There has been much uproar lately in Silicon Valley, April Glaser writes in an interesting piece in Slate.  Employees at Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Uber, and others, have expressed disapproval of their companies' involvement with police surveillance, military technology, or refugee policy.  Their efforts have apparently had an impact on corporate decisions.