Unqualified Curiosity

Unfortunately, it is just me this week as we return to the regular format. To make up for that we have some sweet topics though! Learn a little about batteries and how sodium-ion batteries could offer a bridge to the electrified future. I did get carried away with electrochemical vocab on this one so bear with me. After that, we learn about all the cool developments and applications of fun-sized AI through TinyML. If you end up making a pocket-sized language translator let me know I would love to purchase it (yes I know you can download Google Translate onto your phone for off-grid use but that is boring). Thanks again for listening and stay curious!
Citations Follow:
Sodium Ion Batteries:
Move over lithium: Sodium batteries could one day power a green economy | Science | AAAS
High-Energy, High-Power Sodium-Ion Batteries from a Layered Organic Cathode | Journal of the American Chemical Society
Sodium-ion vs. Lithium-ion Battery: Comparison, Challenges & Alternative | GEP Blog
Frontiers | Progress and Perspective of Constructing Solid Electrolyte Interphase on Stable Lithium Metal Anode
Interface chemistry for sodium metal anodes/batteries: a review
Sodium batteries: A better alternative to lithium?
Recycling Spent Lithium Ion Batteries and Separation of Cathode Active Materials: Structural Stability, Morphology Regularity, and Waste Management | Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
Physics - Sodium as a Green Substitute for Lithium in Batteries
Sodium ion battery vs lithium ion - comparing which is better? - Huntkey & GreVault Battery Energy Storage Systems
The Difference Between Capacity and Energy | QuantumScape
Electrode Materials in Modern Organic Electrochemistry - PMC
An Introduction to Batteries: Components, Parameters, Types, and Chargers | Article | MPS
Smart processing of high energy density cathodes - The Faraday Institution
Advances on Manganese-Oxide-Based Cathodes for Na-Ion Batteries | Energy & Fuels
The measured discharge capacity per AM mass (mAh/g) for various cathode... | Download Scientific Diagram
Tuning the solvation structure with salts for stable sodium-metal batteries | Nature Energy
Sodium-ion battery anodes: Status and future trends - ScienceDirect
Tiny Machine Learning and Its Applications:
What’s tinyML? The Global South’s alternative to power-hungry, pricey AI | Science | AAAS
Widening Access to Applied Machine Learning With TinyML · Issue 4.1, Winter 2022
Classifying mosquito wingbeat sound using TinyML | Proceedings of the 2022 ACM Conference on Information Technology for Social Good
Electricity use in homes - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
The growing energy footprint of artificial intelligence - ScienceDirect
Intelligent Drone Design for Precision Cashew Farming | IEEE Conference Publication | IEEE Xplore
TinyML Device Shipments to Grow to 2.5 Billion in 2030, Up From 15 Million in 2020
TinyML — Post-Training Pruning. From mathematical foundations to edge… | by Thommaskevin | Medium
What is tinyml? - Learn More - Imagimob
What is TinyML? An Introduction to Tiny Machine Learning | DataCamp

This week I was fortunate enough to welcome Dr. Patrick Huber to the podcast. Dr. Huber is a particle physicist at Virginia Tech. His research specializes in both neutrino physics and the discovery of dark matter through investigating ancient rocks. Most of his career has been in the theoretical field of physics, but with the recent addition of his dark matter research, he has transitioned to the applied physics realm. Listen in to learn more about these elusive particles as well as how to handle career transitions like Dr. Huber experienced. As always thanks for listening and stay curious!

This week we dive into the science behind neutrino detection methods and the recent development into the highest energy neutrino ever detected. After that some developments in our understanding of Earth's core using seismic data over the past few decades. Thanks for listening and stay curious!
 
Citations Follow:
Record-Setting Neutrino Detection:
Record-setting neutrino opens ‘new energy window on the universe’ | Science | AAAS
Mysterious neutrino barrels through deep waters near Sicily
Observation of an ultra-high-energy cosmic neutrino with KM3NeT | Nature
Water Cherenkov detectors | Mathematical and Physical Sciences | The University of Sheffield
Optical imaging of Cerenkov light generation from positron-emitting radiotracers - PMC
Understanding Neutrinos: Stories: More IU Research: Research Impact: Indiana University
Neutrino - Wikipedia
DOE Explains...the Standard Model of Particle Physics | Department of Energy
Subatomic particle - Elementary, Quarks, Leptons | Britannica
Lepton - Wikipedia
Particle physics: 2  Leptons | OpenLearn - Open University
Neutrinos Offer a New Way to Investigate the Building Blocks of Matter | Department of Energy
Forces - NASA Science
Strong & Weak Nuclear Force | Multiwavelength Astronomy
Optical imaging of Cerenkov light generation from positron-emitting radiotracers - PMC
Cherenkov Radiation, Explained | Department of Energy
A Statistics-Based Threshold for the RMS-Energy Oscillation Detector | Journal Article | PNNL
Earth’s Inner Core Structural Discoveries
Researchers Uncover Mysterious Structural Changes in Earth’s Inner Core
Earth’s mysterious inner core really is changing shape
From Core to Crust: Defining Earth’s Layers | Exploring Earthquakes
Earth's magnetic field: Explained | Space
Inge Lehmann: Discoverer of the Earth's Inner Core | AMNH
What Are P-Waves and S-Waves?  | Cal OES News
Seismic data reveals Earth’s inner core is changing shape - The Watchers
Researchers recreate deep-Earth conditions to see how iron copes with extreme stress
The Earth's core has changed shape and rotation in recent decades
USC study confirms the rotation of Earth’s inner core has slowed
Annual-scale variability in both the rotation rate and near surface of Earth’s inner core | Nature Geoscience

This week, we investigate the potential impacts of AI hallucinations on memory recall and some ways to best avoid the potential detriments of AI chatbot use. We then look into some discoveries related to a connection drawn between humpback whale songs and human language. Some sort of frequency pun should be placed here. Thanks for checking in for another episode, stay curious!
 
Citations:
AI Memory Impacts:
Are the Internet and AI affecting our memory? What the science says
AI hallucinations can’t be stopped — but these techniques can limit their damage
What Are AI Hallucinations? | Snowflake
Understanding and Mitigating AI Hallucination | DigitalOcean
5 Memory Processes: Encoding – Cognitive Psychology
AI chatbots and (mis)information in public health: impact on vulnerable communities - PMC
The “online brain”: how the Internet may be changing our cognition - PMC
Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips | Science
Chatbots For Knowledge Transfer
Whale Talk?:
Whale song shows language-like statistical structure | Science
Convergent evolution in whale and human vocal cultures | Science
Songs of Humpback Whales Show Human Language-Like Statistical Structure | Sci.News
Mother’s voice and heartbeat sounds elicit auditory plasticity in the human brain before full gestation - PMC
The prevalence and importance of statistical learning in human cognition and behavior - PMC
Understanding Whale Communication: Sounds and Signals
How Babies’ Brilliant ‘Onboard Computers’ Sort Language From Sound Soup - Early Learning Nation
New research finds whale song has a human language-like structure | University of St Andrews news
This Math Pattern Explains Your Content Performance (and what to do about it) | Orbit Media Studios
Zipf's Law of the Internet: Explaining Online Behavior | Parse.ly

This week, we dive into the developments of AI-designed antivenoms, thanks to a collaborative effort of RFdiffusion and AlphaFold technologies, looking into how they can help supplement and hopefully replace our current antivenom creation process. Then, we update you on the results of the OSIRIS-REx NASA mission, which found the building blocks of life in the brine remnants of the asteroid Bennu. Thanks again for listening in and stay curious!
 
Citations are as follows:
AI Designed Antivenom
AI-designed proteins tackle century-old problem — making snake antivenoms
De novo designed proteins neutralize lethal snake venom toxins | Nature
Monoclonal antibody - Wikipedia
Biological Effects of Animal Venoms on the Human Immune System - PMC
Venomous versus poisonous. Same thing, right? Wrong! - Cabrillo National Monument (U.S. National Park Service) - Cabrillo Field Notes
Frontiers | Multifunctional Toxins in Snake Venoms and Therapeutic Implications: From Pain to Hemorrhage and Necrosis
Neurotoxin - Wikipedia
Ion Channels and the Electrical Properties of Membranes - Molecular Biology of the Cell - NCBI Bookshelf
Causes and Consequences of Snake Venom Variation - PMC
Innovative Immunization Strategies for Antivenom Development - PMC
Modern venomics—Current insights, novel methods, and future perspectives in biological and applied animal venom research | GigaScience | Oxford Academic
Drug Discovery Institute Production of Monoclonal Antibodies | Icahn School of Medicine
What are Monoclonal antibodies(MABs) - GenScript
Antivenom | Smithsonian Institution
Early Signs of Life on Asteroids
Asteroid Bennu contains salts from ancient brine
Special delivery! Biggest-ever haul of asteroid dust and rock returns to Earth
NASA's OSIRIS-REx Mission to Asteroid Bennu
A piece of the dawn: Asteroid sample science hints at an ancient salt lake and conditions in the early solar system - News
Asteroids - NASA Science
Physical conditions on the early Earth - PMC
NASA’s Asteroid Bennu Sample Reveals Mix of Life’s Ingredients - NASA
NASA's recovered Bennu asteroid samples show evidence of carbon and water, scientists say - CBS News
Asteroid fragments upend theory of how life on Earth bloomed

I was fixated on pharmaceuticals this week, so we got to dive into some novel treatment methods for cancer and pain therapy. There is also mention of pig organs if that piques your interest. I just started classes, so with the introduction of some other obligations, I decided only to do two topics this week. Hopefully, all three consistent listeners are not disappointed by that. Citations are below. Stay curious!
 
Citations:
Oncolytic Virus Cancer Treatment:
How to trick the immune system into attacking tumours
Hyperacute rejection-engineered oncolytic virus for interventional clinical trial in refractory cancer patients - ScienceDirect
gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/oncolysis
This scientist treated her own cancer with viruses she grew in the lab
Pig-organ transplants: what three human recipients have taught scientists
Gene edits move pig organs closer to human transplantation
Monkey survives for two years after gene-edited pig-kidney transplant
Targeted Therapy for Cancer - NCI
Immunotherapy boosts chemotherapy in rare urological cancers | Drug Discovery News
targeting cell surface proteins could block cancer growth
Oncolytic Specificity of Newcastle Disease Virus Is Mediated by Selectivity for Apoptosis-Resistant Cells - PMC
Role of the immunosuppressive microenvironment in immunotherapy - PMC
Oncolytic viruses & their specific targeting to tumour cells - PMC
Non-Opioid-based Pain Treatments:
8 inhibitor poised to provide opioid-free pain relief
Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Phase 3 Trials of Suzetrigine, a Non-Opioid, Pain Signal Inhibitor for Treatment of Acute Pain After Abdominoplasty or Bunionectomy
pdf
Central sensitization: Implications for the diagnosis and treatment of pain - PMC
Vertex to Present Phase 3 Data Highlighting Suzetrigine’s Potential as a First-in-Class, Highly Selective Pain Signal Inhibitor at the American Society of Anesthesiologists Annual Meeting | Vertex Pharmaceuticals Newsroom
What are Voltage-gated sodium channels modulators and how do they work?
Neuronal voltage-gated sodium channel subtypes: key roles in inflammatory and neuropathic pain - PubMed
Peripheral Nervous System (PNS): What It Is & Function
Vertex Announces Results From Phase 2 Study of Suzetrigine for the Treatment of Painful Lumbosacral Radiculopathy | Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Druggability of Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels—Exploring Old and New Drug Receptor Sites - PMC
Suzetrigine phase II study shows significant pain reduction – Medthority
How opioid drugs activate receptors | National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Body’s Natural Pain Killers Can Be Enhanced
Nature's Painkiller: How Endorphins Play A Significant Role In Exercise | Campus Recreation | West Virginia University
Risk Factors for Opioid Misuse, Addiction, and Overdose | U.S. Department of Labor
How a brain gets hooked on opioids | PBS News
Understanding Endorphins and Their Importance in Pain Management - PMC
Voltage-gated sodium channel - Wikipedia
Distribution and function of voltage-gated sodium channels in the nervous system - PMC
Action potential - Wikipedia
suzetrigine (VX-548) PHASE 2 RESULTS IN PAINFUL LUMBOSACRAL RADICULOPATHY

This week, we examine the concept of storing carbon in our building materials, developments that may allow grapefruit consumption for all, and how urban wildfires are caused, tracked, and prevented using modern technology. Two episodes related to genetically modified fruit is a lot...
 
Citations are as follows.
Carbon Sequestration in Building Materials:
Built to remove carbon | Science
Building materials could store more than 16 billion tonnes of CO2 annually | Science
21.19__5_.pdf
Portland cement - Wikipedia
Substantial global carbon uptake by cement carbonation | Nature Geoscience
Who We Are - Our Story and Team | Leilac
Cement - Wikipedia
Storing CO2 while strengthening concrete by carbonating its cement in suspension | Communications Materials
Limestone filler : GCCA
What Are Concrete Aggregates? | Concrete Aggregate Types
Effects of aggregate sizes on the performance of laterized concrete | Scientific Reports
Emerging CO2 utilization technologies for construction materials: A review - ScienceDirect
Aggregate Packing in Concrete: The Key to Better Mix Design!
 
Genetically Modified Grapefruits:
Scientists May Be Able to Make Grapefruits Compatible With Medications They Currently Interfere With - The New York Times
A 2OGD multi‐gene cluster encompasses functional and tissue specificity that direct furanocoumarin and pyranocoumarin biosynthesis in citrus
New Phytologist SI template
Microsoft Word - grape-bailey-1-at.doc
Grapefruit–drug interactions - Wikipedia
Bergamottin a CYP3A inhibitor found in grapefruit juice inhibits prostate cancer cell growth by downregulating androgen receptor signaling and promoting G0/G1 cell cycle block and apoptosis - PubMed
Identification and Quantitation of Furocoumarins in Popularly Consumed Foods in the U.S. Using QuEChERS Extraction Coupled with UPLC-MS/MS Analysis - PMC
Table - PMC
Grapefruit Juice and Statins - The American Journal of Medicine
Grapefruit juice and statins - Harvard Health
Furocoumarins in food
Inhibition of cytochrome P450 by furanocoumarins in grapefruit juice and herbal medicines - PubMed
Inhibitory effects of furanocoumarin derivatives in Kampo extract medicines on P-glycoprotein at the blood-brain barrier - PubMed
 
Science Behind Urban Wildfires:
Why fires spread quickly in modern cities ― and how to slow them
What We Know About What Led to the L.A. Wildfires - FactCheck.org
Review of Modern Forest Fire Detection Techniques: Innovations in Image Processing and Deep Learning
A Review on Early Forest Fire Detection Systems Using Optical Remote Sensing - PMC
Copernicus Services: Wildfire Impact and How It Is Monitored and Measured | UN-SPIDER Knowledge Portal
Understanding Wildfire Warnings, Watches and Behavior
Climate Change A Factor In Unprecedented LA Fires | Sustainable LA Grand Challenge
How Santa Ana winds fueled the deadly fires in Southern California | University of California
Wildland Fire: What is a Prescribed Fire? (U.S. National Park Service)
Are Wildfires Good for the Environment? | WFCA
How Do Wildfires Affect Soil? - Applied Earth Sciences
Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites - R Series | NOAA/NASA
California wildfires: What we know about L.A.-area fires, what caused them, who is affected and more

This week, we dive into the discovery of an entirely new quantum particle known as a fractional exciton. Normal excitons are boring now! After that, we learn a little about antibiotic resistance and how modern clinical trials are trying to stay a step ahead of those pesky bacteria. Finally, we end on a more somber note, acknowledging the 1.5 °C increase seen in the global temperature of 2024. As always thanks for listening in and stay curious!
I start school next week so there may be an adjustment to uploading schedules but I will try to stay on track. Exams will definitely screw me though at some point.
The citations for this week are as follows:
New Quantum Particle:
Discovery of new class of particles could take quantum mechanics one step further
Excitons in the fractional quantum Hall effect | Nature
New Quantum Particle Discovery Set to Revolutionize Physics
Physicists describe exotic ‘paraparticles’ that defy categorization
Excitons in the fractional quantum Hall effect | Nature
Haldane pseudopotentials and Landau level mixing in the quantum Hall effect
Hall effect sensor - Wikipedia
Physics - The Quantum Hall Effect Gets More Practical
Quantum Hall effect - Wikipedia
Landau levels - Wikipedia
Fermi level - Wikipedia
Lorentz force | Equation, Properties, & Direction | Britannica
Fractional quantum Hall effect - Wikipedia
[2208.07908] Fractional quantum Hall effect at the filling factor $ν=5/2$
The Quantum Hall Resistance - PTB.de
Exciton: An Introduction | Ossila
Precursors to Exciton Condensation in Quantum Hall Bilayers | Phys. Rev. Lett.
[1306.0584] Exciton Condensation in Bilayer Quantum Hall Systems
[1306.0584] Exciton Condensation in Bilayer Quantum Hall Systems
Pauli exclusion principle - Wikipedia
DOE Explains...Bosons and Fermions | Department of Energy
[1112.3400] Braiding of Abelian and Non-Abelian Anyons in the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect
What is an Exciton? | ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science
Antibiotic Resistance:
ScienceAdviser: Bacteria are quick to resist new antibiotics—even ones thought ‘resistance-proof’ | Science | AAAS
Antibiotic candidates for Gram-positive bacterial infections induce multidrug resistance | Science Translational Medicine
Resistance mechanisms – Antibiotic resistance – ReAct
Mechanisms of bacterial resistance to antibiotics - PubMed
Action and resistance mechanisms of antibiotics: A guide for clinicians - PMC
Efflux pump inhibitors for bacterial pathogens: From bench to bedside - PMC
The effect of combining antibiotics on resistance: A systematic review and meta-analysis - PMC
Frontiers | Multidrug efflux pumps of Pseudomonas aeruginosa show selectivity for their natural substrates
The Mechanism of MRSA Drug Resistance and Its Detection
Development of Efflux Pump Inhibitors for overcoming innate and acquired AntiMicrobial Resistance in Enterobacterale infections | ANR
Climate Change Developments:
Earth breaches 1.5 °C climate limit for the first time: what does it mean?
Global temperatures passed critical 1.5°C milestone for the first time in 2024—new report
What's in a number? The meaning of the 1.5-C climate threshold | NOAA Climate.gov
Summary for Policymakers — Global Warming of 1.5 ºC

Hello all and Happy New Year! 2025 has quite the ring to it if you ask me. Anyways, this week we dive into the deep topic of the meaning of life (scientifically), take a look into some mice eyes while they sleep (fun fact mice sleep with their eyes open), and finally get an update from the Parker Solar Probe following its incredibly close flyby with the sun. As always thanks for listening and stay curious!
 
Citations for the week are as follows.
Storytelling and the Meaning of Life:
Shedding a light on the teller: on storytelling, meaning in life, and personal goals
2003-05781-002.pdf
Writing About Emotional Experiences as a Therapeutic Process - James W. Pennebaker, 1997
Possible neural mechanisms of psychotherapy for trauma-related symptoms: cerebral responses to the neuropsychological treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder model individuals - PMC
Frontiers | Neural Correlates of Psychotherapeutic Treatment of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: A Systematic Literature Review
Writing Can Help Us Heal from Trauma
How Focusing on Superordinate Goals Motivates Broad, Long-Term Goal Pursuit: A Theoretical Perspective - PMC
Memory Consolidation In NREM Sleep:
The Surprising Role of Pupils in Memory Formation
Sleep microstructure organizes memory replay | Nature
Deep asleep? You can still follow simple commands, study finds
Sleep deprivation disrupts memory: here’s why
Memories are made by breaking DNA — and fixing it
Pupil size in sleep reveals how memories are sorted, preserved | ScienceDaily
Pupil size during sleep decides if new or old memories are replayed - Earth.com
Decoding material-specific memory reprocessing during sleep in humans | Nature Communications
Memory, Sleep and Dreaming: Experiencing Consolidation - PMC
What Happens During NREM Sleep? | Sleep Foundation
Learned Motor Patterns Are Replayed in Human Motor Cortex during Sleep | Journal of Neuroscience
Cognitive Replay of Visuomotor Learning at Sleep Onset: Temporal Dynamics and Relationship to Task Performance - PMC
Optogenetics - Wikipedia
Making Sense of Optogenetics - PMC
Parker Solar Probe Developments:
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Makes History With Closest Pass to Sun - NASA Science
NASA probe beams home 1st detailed update after record-breaking flyby of sun: "Data scientists have awaited for decades" - CBS News
NASA SVS | Parker Solar Probe Instruments
The Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons (SWEAP) – Investigation for Parker Solar Probe
Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun PSP (ISʘIS) | Space Physics at Princeton
Science Objectives and Requirements | Wide-Field Imager for Parker Solar Probe
FIELDS Instruments – PSP/FIELDS
NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details
Traveling to the Sun: Why Won’t Parker Solar Probe Melt? - NASA

What?!? A new episode format? That's right, instead of the typical format, this episode we take a shallower dive into all the crazy scientific things that happened in 2024. I also decided to input some of my incredibly uneducated predictions for some developments to occur in the future. I do not encourage any form of gambling on my predictions, as it is likely that you will not gain money, but if you do I expect a small cut. Stay Curious!
 
Citations: 
Year In Review:
The Top Scientific Breakthroughs of 2024 - Everyman Science
9 of the Most Remarkable Scientific Discoveries of 2024 | Discover Magazine
Scientists map fruit fly brain in neurobiological milestone | Reuters
Starship flight test 5 - Wikipedia
World-first lung cancer vaccine trials launched across seven countries | Lung cancer | The Guardian
Climate Analytics | New gas and oil has prevented CO2 global…
Analyzing India's Natural Gas Policy: Reforms Required - Niti Tantra
Can natural gas still play the role of a transition fuel for India?, ET EnergyWorld
Summary of Current Status of Renewable Energy in India
Dark matter search moves from space to inside old Earth rocks - Earth.com
CRISPR Clinical Trials: A 2024 Update - Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI)
2024 Ig Nobel Prize Winners - ChemistryViews
Semafor Tech: What we got right, and didn’t see coming, in 2024 | Semafor