The traditional accounts of Aztec sacrifice are almost too gory to be true. In them, Aztec priests cut beating hearts from the chests of sacrificial victims before throwing them down the steep steps of pyramids. “It is the most terrible and frightful thing,” an account from 1519 stated, shortly after the Spanish arrival in Mesoamerica.But the Aztecs, or Mexica, whose empire controlled most of central Mexico in the 15th century, didn’t see sacrifice as quite so startling, nor as quite so si ...read more
Back in 2019, a group of computer scientists performed a now-famous experiment with far-reaching consequences for artificial intelligence research. At the time, machine vision algorithms were becoming capable of recognizing a wide range of objects with some recording spectacular results in the standard tests used to assess their abilities. But there was a problem with the method behind all these tests. Almost all the algorithms were trained on a database of labelled images, known as ImageNet. Th ...read more
Conspiracy theories are everywhere, and they can involve just about anything.People believe false conspiracy theories for a wide range of reasons– including the fact that there are real conspiracies, like efforts by the Sackler family to profit by concealing the addictiveness of oxycontin at the cost of countless American lives.The extreme consequences of unfounded conspiratorial beliefs could be seen on the staircases of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and in the self-immolation of a protes ...read more
If you’ve ever had the misfortune to swallow a mouthful of seawater, you have some idea of its intense salinity. One small gulp is bad enough, but the total salt content of Earth’s oceans is truly staggering: Based on an average of 7 tablespoons per liter, scientists have calculated that they hold about 50 quadrillion tons (that’s 15 zeros) of dissolved salt.More incredible still, it wasn’t always there. It trickled slowly into the ocean — grain by grain, year by year — from the moun ...read more
Many medical organizations have been recommending lung cancer screening for decades for those at high risk of developing the disease.But in 2022, less than 6% of people in the U.S. eligible for screening actually got screened. Compared with other common cancer screenings, lung cancer screening rates fall terribly behind. For comparison, the screening rate in 2021 for colon cancer was 72%, and the rate for breast cancer was 76%. Why are lung cancer screening rates so poor?I am a pulmonologist who ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine