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This may be covered but one absurdity that I came across was https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism

When I was an undergraduate working in a molecular biology lab my two mentors, Andrei and Svetlana were Russian emigrants. Andrei taught me, in the 00s, that he couldn’t do the level of molecular biology in Russia because the downstream effects decades later put them far behind in the technical and cultural knowhow. Genetics was banned.


> More than 3,000 mainstream biologists were dismissed or imprisoned, and numerous scientists were executed in the Soviet campaign to suppress scientific opponents.

Scientists were executed… ok wow


[flagged]


Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.


The article is in the present. /s


The flagged comment was in the present, and is now in the past, thankfully.


Of course HN has tankies.


And lots of them


"Same in the West" lmao, when were scientists executed in the West? The 1500s?


> scientists were surely executed in various contexts (same in the West)

Name one.


Giordano Bruno


As relevant to this discussion as Joan of Arc.


But it highlights the absurdity of the statement that West also purged scientists.

I can think about Turing, he was definitely is a victim of the system, but not because he was a scientist.


How about one that doesn't predate capitalism?


So… Giordano Bruno?


Giordano Bruno, 1548-1600.

Capitalism came to rise during the industrial revolution more than a hundred years later.


If you arbitrarily want to make it start there… sure


Wasn't it a capitalism, the system Roman empire had?


It had elements of capitalism, like private ownership and focus on trade via monetary means, but its economy was largely based on slavery and your position within the system was based almost entirely on where you were born and to whom. It's a pre-industrial system, capitalism isn't really the correct description for it.


Sounds like USA in the early days. Not a capitalism as well?


I mean, obviously not? History is way more complicated than this, just because certain elements fit doesn't mean we look at it and go "yeah that's capitalism mate". Historians generally use capitalism as a description for economic systems from 19th century onwards - before then the correct answer is usually "it's complicated". I appreciate that can be frustrating if we just want to slap a simple recognizable label on things, but history doesn't always fit what we want it to be.


Julius Rosenburg is an obvious one. The Nazis executed gobs of scientists. And I'm certain I could find other examples if needed, but that is off the top of my head.


> Julius Rosenburg is an obvious one.

Who was executed for being a spy, not for holding unorthodox scientific beliefs.


The National Socialists were socialists so that undermines not reinforces your point:

- they implemented communist policies like mass nationalization schemes with some of the resulting "companies" being amongst the largest organizations in the world

- they wanted to fully nationalize the entire economy after the war

- they passed large amounts of left wing legislation

- they, obviously, called themselves socialists constantly. Hitler said "I am a fanatical socialist".

- they openly hated capitalism. A big part of their hate for Jews was that they associated Judaism with international capital. Same reason Marx was an anti-semite.


What? Wow. There’s a bot for every crackpot now eh?


Low quality bots are the most jarring.


There's a great episode of the podcast The Constant about Lysenkoism. Definitely worth a listen.

I can't find the link at the moment, apologies.


Ah, I guess I made up that it was The Constant... what I must have been thinking of is the episode on Lysenkoism by the legendary Melvyn Bragg on In Our Time.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00bw51j


Thanks for the follow up I couldn’t find it!


Apologies for leading you astray at first. I couldn't find it FOR THE LIFE OF ME either.

If you guys aren't already fans of In Our Time, I'm delighted to be the one to turn you on to it. It's the Liberal Arts education you didn't get in school... And I say that as someone who GOT a Lib Arts education.

There are over a thousand episodes and it's all a brilliant quick study on an unbelievable variety of subjects.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qykl/episodes/player?pa...


> Genetics was banned.

During the 1940-s. And yet it undermined the molecular biology research in the USSR. It's very easy to destroy the institutions of scientific research.

I'm sure, nothing like this can happen in the US. It's not possible that people in power will just use theological and ideological reasons to just deny sound scientific results.


I can only assume this is missing the "/s" tag.


Awareness of the concept has gained renewed importance in 2025.


Did they experience the rule of only studying soviet science ?


No they were in college in the 80s when things were more open, but Andrei’s point was that compared to a lot of other sciences, molecular biology like cloning genes was decades behind because of the past.


Interesting, I wouldn't classify IPF (idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis) as a disease of aging in the same way as the other diseases (MASH, Alzheimer's, etc..) like the author did here. Although I do appreciate the intent to show how limited we are. It's kind of like how cancer is clearly a disease of aging but it wasn't included in here because people think of it differently.

I treat a lot of old people, and IPF is at least a couple orders of magnitude rarer than the other conditions listed. Age does play a role because it shows up when people are older, but there is something else at play in it (autoimmune, genetics) that makes people hit the unlucky lottery.

I bring this up so that people reading this don't conflate normal aging related changes to the lungs with IPF. IPF is a horrible disease that kills the person in a few years (2-5 after diagnosis).


It should be patient dependent. Screening everyone is not currently thought to be useful but those with risk factors should be screened after a discussion of risks/benefits. Your father having prostate cancer (especially if he was diagnosed before age 65) is a risk and I would advocate for it, especially if it something you are worried about and you understand that sometimes a PSA can be falsely elevated in benign conditions, which may mean you get a biopsy that ultimately wasn’t necessary, and the potential risks that could have.

For a good short overview: https://www.cancer.gov/types/prostate/psa-fact-sheet

And read “is the PSA test recommended…”


I haven't seen it mentioned yet with CTRL-f and I haven't used Anki in a while, but has there been work put into modifications in Anki or other programs using spaced repetition along with interleaved practice to also see if that improves studying.

Interleaved practice explainer: https://openlearning.mit.edu/mit-faculty/research-based-lear...


I am also not your internist but wanted to upvote and second this comment. Op mentions being 29 years old, but should have a gi tract evaluation. Not necessarily now when dealing with the bacteremia but should be discussed.


Here is a direct link to the research article for those looking in the comments: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38885349/


Aside from the home use, If this could be proven to be just as accurate as arterial lines this would be a huge benefit to patients in the ICU or undergoing major surgery where continuous blood pressure is needed. I hate putting in A-lines.


Yes, the concept is sold as a huge benefit in patient quality-of-life.

A-lines mean you can't just get up and move, or even roll over in bed. Non-invasive measures can simply be unclipped, or made fully mobile in the first place.

The problem is having a non-invasive method which works, which has been the sticking point until now.


It’s one of my favorite procedures! To each their own I guess.


Thank you for your posts. They meant a lot to me and I will use them to try and help others. They have helped me.


Remember that the NIH does not publish (edit: to be clearer this is the National Library of Medicine which falls under the umbrella of the NIH, and its URL), it just organizes articles like a local library but on a much larger scale. It's a common misconception. This article was published by the British Medical Journal as an interesting anecdote from a physical therapist. The NIH makes things available for searching but does not endorse anything that they have available.


I started doing this for work after reading this here 2 years ago. It’s been helpful, but I haven’t made it a consistent habit to check the night before. I don’t access the todo list from home (partially due to barriers inherent in my work’s IT dept and also of my own making). I also keep it pretty limited to my work and don’t let my other hobbies/projects/family onto it too much. It’s been a good record and reference for things!


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