Science is (partially) socially constructed
https://theness.com/neurologicablog/scie...nstructed/

EXCERPT: People decide which questions to ask, how to ask them, how to define terms, how to categorize nature, where to set thresholds of confirmation, which outcomes are meaningful, how to determine which studies get published and disseminated, and which scientists get promoted, get funded, and win awards. Science is also a community effort, and it works best when groups of scientists collaborate and provide a check on each other.

At the same time, the very nature of science means that the findings of science are constrained by reality. There is a “mind independent reality” and that reality pushes back. Some philosophers of the mid 20th century forgot that part, which is what lead to post-modernism notions that the findings of science are all socially constructed. They aren’t... (MORE - details)

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New Carlo Rovelli book challenges science's understanding of reality and the universe
https://www.npr.org/2026/09/14/nx-s1-596...lo-rovelli

EXCERPTS: This "God's-eye view" is also what's claimed as the purpose and promise of physics in many popular books on the subject. But, now, comes a new book by physicist Carlo Rovelli that explicitly rejects any path to an ultimate reality.

[...] As Rovelli puts it in his latest book, "Physics is often credited with a power it does not have: that of exhausting what can be known about the world. This is nonsense. Knowing the physical laws of the world does not amount to knowing the world."

This is a radical claim about physics, particularly for one of the world's most well-regarded physicists. Not only does it directly contradict the scientific triumphalism that one finds in many popular books about science, it's also a view that crashes against the perspectives of many contemporary philosophers of science. But as Rovelli writes, "we never leave the circle of perspectives." For him, this irreducibility of relationship is the central lesson of relativity and quantum mechanics.

One of the most original aspects of Rovelli's argument is to draw on philosophical sources beyond the usual suspects in the Greek or European tradition. He relies heavily on the classical philosophies of India and Asia... (MORE - details)

https://www.sciencealert.com/cern-detect...iggs-boson

EXCERPTS: Scientists have been producing and measuring entangled particles such as atoms and photons for decades, more recently hoping to exploit them for quantum communications and quantum computing. In 2024, the ATLAS Collaboration reported the first observation of quantum entanglement between pairs of top quarks produced at the LHC.

Z bosons do things a little differently. Unlike top quarks, which have two possible spin states, Z bosons have three – a distinction that, in the language of quantum information, makes a Z boson a qutrit, rather than a two-state qubit.

"And that makes another important difference, because this is the first time entanglement has been measured with elementary particles that are qutrits," Aguilar-Saavedra explained.

[...] There's a catch, though. A Higgs boson has a mass of around 125 GeV, while a Z boson weighs in at around 91 GeV. There simply isn't enough energy available for the Higgs to produce two ordinary Z bosons at once. So at least one of them has to be virtual.

Virtual particles are strange even by quantum-physics standards. They emerge fleetingly during collider interactions, but can't be observed as free particles in the way their "real" counterparts can. That raises an intriguing question: if one of the Z bosons in the pair is virtual, can it still participate in something as fundamentally quantum as entanglement? The new result suggests that it can.

[...] But the experiment also raises another, more intriguing question about the virtual Z itself. Physicists don't entirely agree on what it means to say a virtual particle "exists". Unlike ordinary particles, virtual particles can't be directly observed; some physicists regard them primarily as mathematical ingredients used to describe interactions.

Yet here, a virtual Z appears to behave in a strikingly particle-like way – it carries spin information that can become entangled with another Z. "One can ask: do virtual particles exist, or are they a construct of our minds that we use to calculate things?" Aguilar-Saavedra said.

He cautioned that the result doesn't settle that philosophical question, but said it could "shed a little light on whether virtual particles are particles or not."

"If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then what we're looking at must be a duck," he said. "In this case, a virtual duck." The results have been published in Physical Review Letters...... (MORE - missing details)

RELATED (eurekalert): Oxford physicists help uncover ‘spooky’ quantum effect in the Large Hadron Collider

https://www.acsh.org/news/2026/09/12/hav...essed-food

EXCERPTS: The Environmental Working Group recently compared ultra-processed foods across major fast-food chains and found one conspicuous exception: Chipotle. That makes for an appealing yet incomplete nutritional story.

[...] This is not Chipotle’s first time in the food-borne illness rodeo. [...] My point here isn't to shame or blame Chipotle. Fresh and minimally processed produce is an important source of foodborne outbreaks because, unlike many highly processed foods, it often receives no final "kill step"—such as cooking or pasteurization—before reaching the consumer. None of the foodborne illness cases involved ultra-processed buns, sandwich meats (I’m looking at you, pepperoni), sauces, or dressings.

One hidden ingredient in processed foods is safety. The same industrial food system EWG criticizes for its processing also employs processing steps that address genuine food-safety problems. Processing isn't nutritional vandalism; it can perform useful functions.

EWG wants to frame the fast-food trade-off largely as convenience versus long-term health. But another axis matters: microbial safety. Fresh, minimally processed ingredients can offer nutritional advantages while retaining risks that cooking, preservation, and other processing steps are specifically designed to reduce. None of that makes ultra-processed food "healthy."

It simply reminds us that processing isn't a toxin; it's a technology. The relevant question isn't whether a food has been processed, but what the processing does, what problem it solves, and what trade-offs it creates... (MORE - missing details)

Drug improves sexual function for patients with depression, study finds
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1143897

INTRO: Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and an inadequate response to standard antidepressants who received an add- on treatment with the drug lumateperone saw significantly improved sexual function, found a new study led by a University of Virginia School of Medicine researcher.

In a study of 480 patients, significant improvements in sexual function were seen in patients who were randomized to receive a daily 42 mg dose of lumateperone added to their antidepressant therapy compared with patients whose additional treatment was a harmless placebo. Improvements were seen across multiple patient groups including those with baseline sexual dysfunction, women, younger and older adults as well as across various aspects of sexual functioning (desire, arousal, orgasm and pleasure).

Approximately 68% of patients with major depressive disorder have sexual dysfunction, and the sexual side effects of antidepressant medications are a leading reason patients stop treatment. Lead researcher Anita H. Clayton, MD, a psychiatrist at UVA Health, hailed the findings as an important step forward in the management of sexual dysfunction in patients with depression... (MORE - no ads)

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What can go wrong with genital fillers?
https://theconversation.com/men-and-wome...ong-289872

EXCERPTS: Fillers are everywhere now – smoothing lines, plumping cheeks, adding volume around the eyes, nose and lips in clinics up and down the country. But some men are now having fillers injected into their penises to increase their size. [...] Research is limited when it comes to the risks, but a recent study estimated that complications occur in about 9% of men receiving hyaluronic acid fillers.

These complications can include bruising and swelling, as well as lumps and nodules. More serious problems include skin irritation, tissue breakdown and infections. The timing of these problems can vary. Bleeding and bruising tend to occur during the first week or two. Nodules may appear around the third week. Infections often appear around six or seven weeks after treatment, although they can occur years later.

In severe cases, infection can progress rapidly to multiple organ failure. There have also been cases of tissue death requiring part of the penis to be removed. And in March, social media influencer Igho Ubiribo, known as “Ego”, died from a pulmonary embolism following a penis filler procedure in Thailand.

Hyaluronic acid is not the only way men are trying to increase penis size. Another option involves taking fat from elsewhere in the body and injecting it into the penis. This carries its own risks. These include injecting fat into the wrong area, as well as swelling and bruising. Men can also develop lumps or deformities caused by uneven fat distribution or the death of the injected fat.

There is also the risk of infection with bacteria such as S aureus or E coli. In the most serious cases, tissue can die or the patient can die from a fat embolism.

Another treatment being offered for sexual enhancement is PRP, or platelet-rich plasma. These injections are not just marketed to men. The so-called “P-shot”, or priapus shot, is promoted for men, while the “O-shot”, or orgasm shot, is marketed to women... (MORE - missing details)

Pretty bad when you actually have to be paid to vote a certain way, as if there was no merit in voting that way to begin with:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6t-KjM_BPo&t=28s

In a speech at a conference, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman just laid out his vision for America’s next phase in space.

Some bullet points:

• NASA expects “dozens of landers” and “dozens of rovers” to head to the Moon over the next four years, alongside major robotics and lunar resource experiments.

• Isaacman said the lunar south pole has only a limited number of viable landing areas near permanently shadowed craters containing water ice, creating what he described as a race for a small number of strategic “parking spots.”

• He warned China is targeting the same region, intends to build a lunar base with Russia and “will get to the Moon.” Isaacman said China is now an “incredible rival” and that “the Chinese are extremely good in space right now.”

• Isaacman called SpaceX NASA’s “most important launch partner” and said the U.S. would be “seriously challenged in the high ground of space” without its capabilities.

• On Mars, he argued the hardest problem is not getting astronauts there, but getting them home - and said NASA should develop nuclear-powered transfer vehicles that reduce the need to manufacture return propellant on Mars.

• He said NASA’s SR-1 Freedom nuclear mission will be followed by “SR-2, SR-3, SR-4,” with technology ultimately aimed at destinations including Enceladus, Europa and Titan.

As always, the big mystery with these expat socialists is what are they doing here to begin with, if they hate the US? She could just a much do the subversive online activity in Canada. If they were inflicting physical sabotage, then that would be a sound reason for moving across the border. But there's no indication of that.
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INTRO: A Canadian migrant in LA has a history of trashing the United States (including posting images of friends stepping on the flag). She faced severe backlash after mocking the assassination of conservative figure Charlie Kirk. The controversial post, which included a grotesque AI-generated image, led to widespread outrage, resulting in her losing her job and having her visa revoked due to the Trump administration's stance on foreign nationals who disrespect American values.

FAFO, Sabrina ... https://youtu.be/6hEeRkuR7MQ

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/6hEeRkuR7MQ

Canada’s anti-American gamble is about to get expensive ... https://youtu.be/NAJK4bp67Ao
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/NAJK4bp67Ao

Quote:blü 2 said:
The hologram idea is solely from string theory, which is currently running second to the well-evidenced Einsteinian view. There's no basis for any claim that it demonstrates anything you claim, simply a possibility that's had its day and is presently out of fashion.

The brain is entirely physical, and has been the subject of much research since late last century. For instance, you'll recall the Max Planck team reporting in 2008 that the nonconscious mind can make decisions and begin to implement them many seconds before the conscious mind is aware.
There is no evidence of souls. Nor of sources of thought independent of the body's usual processes except via the usual sensory channels of input and learning that you used at school.

Thank you for that riveting display of intellect.

However, I can speak with authority on the matter of souls. I happen to have had numerous mind-expanding experiences in which my mind influenced my immediate surroundings and electronic devices such as radio and television. I am willing to put all this to the test by anyone who may doubt me. Although I lack hard evidence I rely on science, specifically Quantum theory, to make a decent argument in favor of all this.

According to the ancient Mesopotamians (yes, I know it's a lesser source than science, but ancient mythology is not without merit), the emergence of creation was dependent on the word and action of the Logos, a universal principle that is unsurpassed in knowledge and power. This remains outside the realm of science and therefore testable prediction as you know, but it is no less factual.

Science no doubt has its limits when it comes to knowledge. This alone is reason not to attribute sole authority to it. Therefore, we must rely on humanity's geniuses to blaze a new path in what can be called metaphysical philosophy, the mother of all sciences.