https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholecystokinin_antagonist can you treat anxiety by blocking CCK receptors? looks like this line of research was abandoned because peptides are hard to get into the brain. i think we may have better ways around this problem now?
links 02/14/25: https://roamresearch.com/#/app/srcpublic/page/02-14-2025
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vomeronasal_organ
organ in the nasal septum of many animals that helps them “smell” non-volatile compounds like pheromones
it’s supposed to be “vestigial” in humans, but I’ve also heard claims that it’s still functional! intriguing!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flehmen_response when animals “sneer” or flare their lips, it’s to expose their vomeronasal organ and pick up pheromones.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholecystokinin hormone used in bile release, satiety, and fear. very reliably induces fear/panic in humans and animals.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholecystokinin_antagonist can you treat anxiety by blocking CCK receptors? looks like this line of research was abandoned because peptides are hard to get into the brain. i think we may have better ways around this problem now?
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12789687/ more on CCK antagonists
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrenocorticotropic_hormone ACTH is a hormone involved in the HPA axis, including anxiety. but not something you want to inhibit across the board.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypopituitarism this is what would happen, giving results kind of like:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addison%27s_disease
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrenal_crisis
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%91-Melanocyte-stimulating_hormone?searchToken=d8yek3asorql89td1t0fy80ay alpha-MSH is what makes some reptiles and fish turn dark when frightened, and is chemically related to ACTH, but in mammals is less a fear thing, more related to pigmentation, appetite, and sexuality.
https://www.complexsystemspodcast.com/episodes/zeke-faux-stablecoins-tether/ Patrick McKenzie on his usual crypto-skeptic beat
https://genders.wtf/
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfZf8MsW31eer-VruxpNmVGjiwZAdPk_akKVA-owo8DQqwgPA/viewform apply to intern at Alexandria AI, translating public domain books into as many languages as possible.
https://www.alexlib.org/
https://makesunsets.com/blogs/news/climate-outlaws Make Sunsets’ case that their solar radiation management geoengineering is legal and safe.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Lewin I <3 this guy. this is what made the Long Nineteenth Century great. his accomplishments range from:
characterizing the traditional use, psychoactive effects, and active compounds of ayahuasca, peyote, kava, betel, and possibly others
exposing the causal connection between dental amalgam fillings and mercury poisoning
analyzing the effect of aconite on the heart
various medical and toxicological works
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%92-Carboline some of the beta-carboline alkaloids are anxiogenic
some other beta-carbolines function as MAOIs in ayahuasca, allowing the DMT to be active when taken orally
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmaline
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmine
also is a fluorescent pH indicator!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/9-Methyl-%CE%B2-carboline does things to the brain maybe. also MAOI.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/334068 “bubble bath cystitis”, paper from 1967 -- not that interesting, just that some ingredient in a bubble bath soap led to irritation of the urethra in several diabetic women.
https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/1097-0142(196904)23:4%3C791::AID-CNCR2820230408%3E3.0.CO;2-Y instead of mammograms, xerox your breast! 1969 paper
old papers on cheaply testable electrical properties of tumors:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3181/00379727-15-174 1918, tumors are lower in resistance than healthy tissue, and fast-growing tumors more so than slow-growing ones; this is true both for plants and animals!
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2599246/pdf/yjbm00323-0079.pdf electrical potential across a mouse tumor (in millivolts) is quite a bit higher than across healthy tissue, and more so for fast-growing than slow-growing tumors
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2246588/pdf/brjcancer00131-0037.pdf rat tumors generally have a more acidic pH than healthy tissue, but malignant vs. benign tumors have similar pH. the more epithelial tissue there is in a tumor, whether malignant or benign, the more acidic it is.
https://aacrjournals.org/jcancerres/article/10/3/340/449670/The-Electric-Capacity-of-Tumors-of-the-Breast1 1926 paper, human malignant breast cancer tumors have about 2-3x the capacitance of normal breast tissue or benign tumors—about 2000-3000 microfarads vs 1000 microfarads.
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Bio-Electric-Properties-of-Cancer-Resistant-and-Burr-Smith/dd717f464d7eb79bbd1930ba6e83e6e8d3892826 1938 paper, also finding much higher electrical potential across spontaneous rodent mammary tumors vs. healthy tissue.
https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/39776631/Electropotential_measurements_as_a_new_d20151107-4851-h89ivn-libre.pdf?1446919144=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DElectropotential_measurements_as_a_new_d.pdf&Expires=1739483830&Signature=FXOzcLf25~bmWK7rQ0d2KFBbNubAEv7aj7IxPlvHWDKqtv1kvCFXxrKrJyuFTtkS9iRVzddlnzVuNVuGWhURe-LgRl~cTqW8npUzCrTxLsBU3NutUu6e7gkPKPqlOzZy6Ds0UKuzFbu-ZIGLzty1BBSAT8SpjNNpOiocx5hFDCxz~z6CZOzG4tr0jFwE65B04F9nHIcoPipwN42D6tsG5Kd-SaFev55RlZhnHqv5tF0Lnd0puEwvUv3FXkYeVoLbgZDzD~PPLiuup7wDuInZj-SfDbK5pEWbj4GXnnjsTIOrmw-5YxUav1GHYkgoZs94OLUw~OHg5ar8ZizSai1~Fw__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA 1998 polarization score for detecting breast cancers
https://www.marinanitze.com/ works on reforming/solving tech problems in government.
https://reason.com/2023/07/23/foster-parent-red-tape-hurts-families-and-taxpayers/
https://reason.com/2025/02/13/i-tried-to-fix-government-tech-for-years-im-fed-up/
https://sloan.org/programs/digital-technology/aipostdoc-rfp Sloan Foundation is looking for social science postdocs to study the implications of AI For Science.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.11654 Nico McCarty and others’ roadmap for an AI virtual cell.