Interesting:

It would take a little while for surgeons to discover that the use of anesthesia allowed them time to be meticulous. Despite the advantages of anesthesia, [British surgeon Robert Liston], like many other surgeons, proceeded in his usual lightning-quick and bloody way. Spectators in the operating-theater gallery would still get out their pocket watches to time him. The butler’s operation [the first surgery Liston did with anesthesia], for instance, took an astonishing 25 seconds from incision to wound closure. (Liston operated so fast that he once accidentally amputated an assistant’s fingers along with a patient’s leg, according to [historian Richard Hollingham]. The patient and the assistant both died of sepsis, and a spectator reportedly died of shock, resulting in the only known procedure with a 300% mortality.)

via The Daily Dish

HAF:

A compound found in marijuana can treat schizophrenia as effectively as antipsychotic medications, with far fewer side effects, according to a preliminary clinical trial.

Researchers led by Markus Leweke of the University of Cologne in Germany studied 39 people with schizophrenia who were hospitalized for a psychotic episode. Nineteen patients were treated with amisulpride, an antipsychotic medication that is not approved in the U.S., but is comparable to other medications that are.

The rest of the patients were given cannabidiol (CBD), a substance found in marijuana that is thought to be responsible for some of its mellowing or anxiety-reducing effects. Unlike the main ingredient in marijuana, THC, which can produce psychotic reactions and may worsen schizophrenia, CBD has antipsychotic effects, according to previous research in both animals and humans.

Very good, very interesting article:

But when we invent a real treatment for aging - when we can stop people from growing old, when we can rejuvenate ourselves at will - that will be the acid test of whether most religious people really believe what they say they do. Most religions teach that death is only the gateway into another realm of existence, one so blissful that we should envy the dead rather than mourn them. In a world where death is inevitable, that may be a comforting belief. But what happens when death is no longer inevitable? What will happen in a world where, barring rare accidents, people must choose to die? Will theists choose their faith in an afterlife over the certainty of an earthly life?

My guess is that when life-extending technology is invented, the clerics and fundamentalists - the people most invested in religious belief - will denounce it as the ultimate violation of God’s plan, and will probably outlaw it wherever they have the power; but the vast majority of ordinary people, religious or not, will be clamoring for it. And I think this may be the wedge that splits religion once and for all.

Past and present moral struggles, like the revolutions in women’s rights, racial justice and gay rights, have diminished the moral authority of the churches that resisted them. But the impact of this one will be far greater, because it affects everyone. Most churchgoers aren’t directly affected by issues of racial discrimination or marriage equality, so they can afford to ignore what their church teaches about them, but when your pastor tells you that you have to stop taking the medicine that’s keeping you alive, people tend to take that sort of thing personally. When you combine this with the observation that people with more secure, prosperous lives see less need for the consolations of religion - and people who have no fear of death are the logical culmination of this - the invention of an anti-aging therapy could well lead to a massive exodus from the churches.

Read the entire thing, it’s an interesting thought. I wouldn’t consider myself an atheist (I don’t consider myself anything) but if you’re in that lane, this article is definitely up your alley.

Seriously, Big Think is one of the reasons why the internet exists:

New revelations in quantum physics suggest that our conception of nothingness—a vaccuum in which no matter exists—does not really correspond to reality. “According to the probabilistic dictates of quantum field theory, even an apparently perfect vacuum seethes with particles and antiparticles popping into and out of existence.” The implication of this revelation, says prolific theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss, is that the famous question “Why is there something rather than nothing?” is turned on its head. Infamous firebrand Richard Dawkins claims that the remaining trump card of the theologian has shriveled up.

Click through the link and read the next paragraph. It’s not long but it’s awesome…

Holy fucking shit, science is awesome:

By removing natural sugar compounds found in DNA and replacing them with synthetic polymers, scientists in Britain have recreated life’s building blocks in an artificial form they call XNA. Researchers at the UK’s Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology “evolved enzymes, called polymerases, that can make XNA from DNA, and others that can change XNA back into DNA.” This copying and translating ability allowed the scientists to create artificial heredity, showing that ‘beyond heredity, specific XNAs have the capacity for Darwinian evolution,’ according to the study, which will be published in the journal Science.

Holy shit, this is crazy awesome:

By using 3D printers as chemical synthesizers, researchers at the University of Glasgow predict they will be able to turn basic chemical constituents into personalized pharmaceutical drugs—and all on-demand. “It’s almost like a layer cake,” said professor Lee Cronin. “You print the last reactionary agent first and then build other chemical layers above, finally adding a liquid at the top. The liquid goes to layer one making a new molecule which goes to the next layer creating another and so on until at the bottom you get your prescription drug out.” Cronin’s findings have been published in the Nature Chemistry journal.

Big Think is one of my favorite websites on the internet:

Cannabis acts on the body and mind by binding to what are called cannabinoid receptors, long, ropy proteins that weave themselves into the surfaces of our cells and process THC, as well as other organic chemical compounds. “Scattered throughout the body, cannabinoid receptors come in two varieties, called CB1 and CB2—most of your CB1 receptors are in your brain, and are responsible for that ‘high’ feeling when you smoke pot.” CB2 receptors are associated with the immune system and situated throughout the body, explaining why cannabis reduces swelling and pain.

I fucking love the future. It can be a bit difficult to sort through but I encourage you to read the entire thing:

Quantum technologies are the way of the future, but will that future ever arrive?

Maybe so. Physicists have cleared a bit more of the path to a plausible quantum future by constructing an elementary network for exchanging and storing quantum information. The network features two all-purpose nodes that can send, receive and store quantum information, linked by a fiber-optic cable that carries it from one node to another on a single photon.

The network is only a prototype, but if it can be refined and scaled up, it could form the basis of communication channels for relaying quantum information. A group from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (M.P.Q.) in Garching, Germany, described the advance in the April 12 issue of Nature. (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group.)