Trump Travel Ban Penalizes Scientists: Another day, another story about the inanity of the policy commonly referred to as the “travel ban.” This one falls under the subcategory of how it undermines the advancement of American science. In this case, a number of students who had research submitted and accepted by the Society for Neuroscience’s meeting in San Diego were refused entry into the United States. The reason? They are of Iranian descent. http://bit.ly/2DosrmD
Is Ride-Sharing Killing Us?: A recent study by economists at the University of Chicago and Rice University claim ride sharing apps like Uber and Lyft have caused an uptick of fatal traffic accidents since 2014. They compared accident figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration with data from the ride sharing companies. The study is not without its critics, particularly people associated with Uber and Lyft. No surprise there. http://bit.ly/2Q0a0eG
India Needs Better Models: With India projected become the most populous country in the world, economists believe its younger population will provide it with a significant advantage over China in the near future. However, much of this depends on future investments in health and education in India. To better understand what is needed, improved modeling is urgently needed. http://bit.ly/2Dpurev
Biotech Tag-Team: AbbVie and Mission Therapeutics have joined forces to tackle Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. The joint R&D project will focus on deubiquitylating enzymes in the hopes of creating drugs that can prevent the buildup of toxic proteins. http://bit.ly/2Q2bIfB
Not Another Silly Love Song: Google scientists have programmed a neural network to write cheesy lyrics for new songs. The results were either… cheesy lyrics or terrible lyrics. Oh wait. Aren’t they the same? There’s already an epidemic of sentimental trash out there. Do we need to train our future overlords to create more? http://bit.ly/2PVlkJ9
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