@fioraaeterna's account for science, pharmacology, tech, etc.
Jan 6, 2020 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
it's really weird how some people think their psychology and their neurochemistry are different things. like, your psychology IS your neurochemistry. that's how it works
you are your neurochemistry.
you are your thoughts and feelings (all of them, every last one of them, not just the ones you label as "I")
even your state of mind right now isn't merely "determined by" the chemical state of your brain, it *is* the chemical state of your brain
Dec 19, 2019 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
apparently ??? clonidine is a TAAR1 agonist??? sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
seeing this makes me wonder if there's any notable inconsistencies in the techniques of different papers, because (for example) i've seen one paper claim that 2c-b is not a TAAR1 agonist at <10 uM in human receptors, and this one claims that it is
Nov 29, 2019 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
so this is a kind of thing i've seen in other places too in industry; i'll call it "responsibility laundering"
i'll give a comparison in electronics manufacturing!
let's say a company (we'll call them Stark Industries) is manufacturing a phone. Stark sets up strict rules about supplier behavior and how those suppliers treat workers, both for publicity reasons and to comply with legal requirements
Sep 8, 2019 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
tired: "ADHD might relate to a problem with norepinephrine"
wired: the "problem with norepinephrine" is literally because of this, right here:
that and countless other problems and maladaptive cognitive pathways, like learning that the only way to complete any task is by forcing yourself, preventing proper enjoyment of literally anything
Aug 16, 2019 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
i'm going to refer people to this Entire Thread every time anyone in my life questions as to why i actively avoid doctors and try to handle as much of my own medication and health on my own
old.reddit.com/r/bestoflegala…
content warning: literally everything, it's a thread of hundreds of personal stories (mostly though not exclusively women) being ignored (at best) or treated maliciously by doctors, often ending in permanent injury or death
Jul 24, 2019 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
Okay so what the hell is going on with T1AM (3-iodothyronamine) frontiersin.org/articles/10.33…
It’s an endogenous thyroid hormone metabolite discovered in 2004. As of 2014, we don’t even know its synthesis pathway. But it’s a NANOMOLAR LEVEL agonist of TAAR1, which is the primary amphetamine receptor target
Apr 29, 2019 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
saw an interesting hypothesis the other day and vaguely wondering how much water it holds
the idea is basically:
1) according to sci-hub.tw/10.1016/j.jtbi… and other sources, there is a real-world maximum rate of free fatty acid liberation from adipose tissue
2) in a wide slice of typical humans, this rate may be *significantly lower* than the basal metabolic rate
3) the idea: perhaps the BMR decrease in response to starvation/fasting is a *consequence* of this rate limit rather than an endocrine regulatory choice?
the “chemical imbalance/serotonin theory of depression” is a lie pushed by astrazenica marketing... but you don’t need that lie to justify antidepressants. if they work for you, that’s valid and that’s all that matters
2. for any drug or drug combo: just because your psych prescribes it doesn’t mean it makes sense. do your own research, for your own sake.
just because you’re prescribed dumb shit doesn’t mean you are required to take it
Jan 25, 2019 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
okay so i know the trendy alt-med thing nowadays is to blame everything on "inflammation" but if that's really the case, then why can't you treat it with COX inhibitors?
not that high doses of COX inhibitors are necessarily a great thing long-term, but surely it would be a mimetic for some other form of treatment, right?
Jan 20, 2019 • 26 tweets • 5 min read
You probably know of a few vitamins. But maybe not this massive boy: Vitamin B12. It's the coolest vitamin, and has a fascinating history.
B12 is an absolutely bizarre vitamin. Yes, that's a COBALT atom in the center there. WTF? It's by far the most complex vitamin by structure.
The human body only needs about 2 micrograms per day. Yes, micrograms.
What does it do? It takes part as a coenzyme in some obscure reactions.
But if you don't have it, your entire nervous system starts to break down.
Don't get scared though; you probably get enough.
Jan 1, 2019 • 19 tweets • 4 min read
i spent 30 minutes last night the atelier, eyes dark-adjusted, with nothing but 395nm and 425nm blacklights to play with and it was a real interesting experience. i highly recommend it for screwing with your visual perception sometime.
i can't post pictures because none of it can be meaningfully photographed. (more on this later)
the first interesting effect, at 425nm, with all other lights off, i becomes clear the light isn't actually blue (which is what it looks like at first glance), it's indigoish violet
Dec 31, 2018 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
one of my favorite science "lies to children" is the pop culture story of how antidepressants work
the truth of the matter is it's not only deeply wrong, but that they didn't have a damn clue when they invented them and have been bouncing around all kinds of theories ever since
you know the lie: "depression is about serotonin, and SSRIs increase serotonin, which helps fix depression".
of course, these are all lies
Dec 25, 2018 • 17 tweets • 3 min read
so since there's a thread going around elsewhere on this hellsite about programming language ISAs, here's some hot takes as an assembly programmer and compiler maker
many ISAs, especially older ones, are built as if someone came up with a list of basic primitive operations and wrote them out and told an ISA designer to put them all in
The human body only needs about 2 micrograms per day. Yes, micrograms.
