Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

TagFrancis COllins

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A business team with raised fists celebrating a milestone, highlighting workplace enthusiasm and achievement

Group Founded by Francis Collins Starts PR Campaign for “Science”

The answer to lack of public trust in science does not lie in PR. It lies rather in addressing the attitudes and practices that lead to loss of trust
The growing crisis of confidence in science isn’t because people believe “science” is bad. It’s because they believe the current scientific elite is untrustworthy. Read More ›
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Young scientist wearing a lab coat and protective glasses is adjusting a microscope while working late in a laboratory

At NIH, Bhattacharya Hopes to Restore Open Discussion in Science

In a recent interview, he seemed surprisingly conciliatory to those who attempted to ruin his career over his dissenting views on Covid.
What he most wants to advance is open discussion in science. Science, after all, advances more from doubt than from certainty. Read More ›
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Close-up shot of microscope with metal lens at laboratory.

75% of Scientists in Nature Survey Thinking About Leaving U.S.

But there is less to this "trend" than meets the eye, when we look more closely at the survey
Respondents were self-selected and are probably more ideological or more personally impacted by the changes in approach. Read More ›
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Woman yelling into a bullhorn

Stand Up for (Ideological) Science 2025 Day!

The protestors should have rallied against themselves
Trust in the science sector ebbed precisely because the establishment became intolerant of dissent and pushed ideology in the guise of pursuing knowledge. Read More ›
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152874 3d illustration of molecule model. Science background wit

John West’s New Book Stockholm Syndrome Looks at Francis Collins

It’s not possible to reconcile Collins’s treatment of unborn children with a Christian view of them
The genome mapper is widely cited as a famous Christian in science but West asks us to look a little deeper — into his actual policies. Read More ›
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Female chromosomes, medical artwork

AI Can Fight COVID by Detecting Changes in Virus “Language”

One research team is experimenting with natural language processors (NLP), used to analyze human speech, to detect similar virus mutations

One strategy in the fight against COVID-19 relies on the curious fact that genetics is actually a language. Genome sequencer Francis Collins has even called it The Language of God. More practically, AI programs that act as natural language processors can help catch deadly coronavirus mutations. The same strategies the AIs use for reading sentences can be used to read the virus’s attempts to escape destruction by mutations: Galileo once observed that nature is written in math. Biology might be written in words. Natural-language processing (NLP) algorithms are now able to generate protein sequences and predict virus mutations, including key changes that help the coronavirus evade the immune system. The key insight making this possible is that many properties of Read More ›

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Concentrated scientist

Five Surprising Facts Re Famous Scientists We Bet You Never Knew

How about juggling, riding a unicycle, and playing bongo? Or catching criminals or cracking safes?

We know what famous scientists like Einstein are famous for but we don’t know much about who they are. Here are five personal life facts about scientists who made a big difference to our understanding of the world that you probably didn’t know. The most interesting one is saved for last. 1.Isaac Newton dressed as a bum to mingle with the unwashed and catch criminals. Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727) was the father of classical physics and an inventor of calculus. When students take their first college classes in calculus and physics today, they study the concepts Newton developed in the 17th century. But Newton also wrote over a million words on Biblical prophecy. He was also the Warden and Read More ›