From the monthly archives:

November 2010

A meta-meta-analysis from the CDC

November 30, 2010

As a meta-oriented post, Metamodern is pleased to report a meta-meta-analysis.
In this month’s issue of the CDC-sponsored journal Preventing Chronic Disease, we find, published as a “Systematic Review”:
Quality of Systematic Reviews of Observational Nontherapeutic Studies
…Of the 145 systematic reviews we found, fewer than half met each quality criterion; 49% reported study flow, 27% assessed [...]

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New project launched:
Atomic Scale and Single Molecule
Logic Gate Technologies

November 25, 2010

The Atomic Scale and Single Molecule Logic Gate Technologies project is a Singapore/EU effort that aims to build atomically precise digital devices and circuits by direct surface manipulation at cryogenic temperatures.
According to the project leader, Prof Christian Joachim, “The UHV interconnection machine at IMRE [in Singapore] is the only one in the entire project that [...]

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Molecular machine animations
in the New York Times

November 16, 2010

The New York Times has an article, “Where Cinema and Biology Meet”, on the recent high-quality animations of biomolecular machines.
The author, Erik Olsen, highlights Drew Barry as the Steven Spielberg of the field:
Mr. Berry’s work is revered for artistry and accuracy within the small community of molecular animators, and has also been shown in museums, [...]

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QED meets General Relativity

November 8, 2010

“Quantum gravitational contributions to quantum electrodynamics” (D. Toms, Nature, 4 Nov.) is the most exciting paper I’ve seen on quantum field theory and gravitation in a long time. It offers no speculations about strings, extra dimensions, new symmetries, or the like, and no loop quantum gravity or causal dynamical triangulations, just a carefully cross-checked mathematical [...]

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For the next Nobel Prize in Medicine,
I nominate…

November 3, 2010

During a three-month test across eight hospitals, several continents, and almost 4,000 patients, a new technology reduced serious surgical complications by 36% and deaths by almost 50% — in raw numbers, over 150 cases of severe harm and nearly 30 patient deaths.
This performance was demonstrated in the spring of 2008 with the prototype [...]

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