#pharmaceutical companies in usa

[chemxpert]

The Role of APIs in Personalized Medicine in 2024 | Chemxpert Database

Personalized medicine is an innovative model of the health system that address the particular traits including genetic makeup, behavior, and surroundings of the patient. In the center of this transformation is active pharmaceutical ingredient (API)  which is pivotal in designing specific treatments. This blog examines how API operates in the system to deliver personalized medicine and the futuristic implications of such a unity.

[renejix58]

Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Services in the USA

Are you searching for Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Services in the USA. Then contact Renejix Pharma Solutions because We provide the best services like Clinical Manufacturing, Commercial Manufacturing, OTC Manufacturing, clinical trial supplies manufacturing services in the USA. Feel free to contact us; we are here for you 24/7. Call us at +1 (631) 210-5235.

For more information, visit:- https://renejix.com/pharmaceutical-manufacturing/

[nando161mando]

[gean-grey-blog]

What makes White Collar hold up so much better than other police procedurals:

It was part of the "pretty happy shows with gorgeous ensemble casts and a charismatic weird guy" USA network era but it somehow used that to be about stuff that is so REAL

What is justice? Is our system fair? Can you be a criminal and still be a good man? Can you be a good man and still work for the system?

The bad guys are rich assholes, and people defrauding families out of their homes, and unethical pharmaceutical companies. People manipulating energy supply out of greed resulting in blackouts which are showing *harming a dog,* aka how to show something is monstrous in a pg show written by a white person. Class exists in this universe in more ways than having a cardboard concept of a "rich guy."

The bad guys include police, FBI agents, prison staff, judges, senators. Those people cause real harm, obstruct justice, plant evidence, kill people. It's shown how the system protects them and harms regular people.

The harm that causes the main character to go from wanting to be part of the system, to subverting and working against it, is him finding out about an act of police corruption, brutality, and murder--and what's more, that if he became a cop, that's what he could become.

The harm that causes the main character to be outside the white picket fence is that the system failed his family after that act. What happened to Neal's mom? Why did nobody besides Helen step in? They had to check in with US Marshals, did nobody notice this kid didn't have an adult fit to parent?

So Neal turns to found family. And let's be real, heavily polyamory coded found family at that. But he keeps chasing the idea of a girl who will be everything. But he's got all this attachment trauma so he never does. But because found family is real family, even the people who freaking played the characters are still connected a decade later

[a-clown-with-wings]

🍉🍉🍉 VERY IMPORTANT!!! 🍉🍉🍉

I know that I usually post about silly robots and my OCs, but for once, this isn't a silly fun post about my hobbies.

Palestine and Gaza are still very much under attack, and their people need our help in order to survive the malicious and hate filled violence that's claiming lives every day. It hurts to know that literal children are being torn apart and being separated from their parents, their homes for nothing. There is no reason for any of this to be happening, but since it still is, it's never too late to take action and help out. Whether it's donating to Palestinian charities to help with removing them from the hostilities being forced on their homes, or if you simply repost this post, you are helping with spreading a message and are bring us one step closer to helping these people and free them from this one sided war. It's not over until they are safe.

For those with money to spare, here are some charities to donate to in order to help out:

Every penny counts, so don't dwell on only donating so much. One dollar is better than nothing.

Slight relation: Companies that support Israel.

(I get that it's impossible to boycott everything, but even reducing the amount of money you give to these companies is spreading a message.)

KFC

McDonald’s

Starbucks

Pizza Hut

Dominos

Kit Kat

Burger King

Häagen-Daz

Costa Coffee

Aroma

Subway

Nestle

Walmart

Hardee

Mars

Pepsi

Coca Cola

Minute Maid

Fanta

Carnation

Smarties

Nerds

Laffy Taffy

SweeTarts

Alpo

Lipton

Tropicana

Dasani

Perrier

Sprite,

Twix

Nike

Addidas

Puma

L’Oréal

Estée Lauder

HP

American Eagle

The Body Shop

Tommy Hilfiger

Lancôme

Ralph Lauren

Johnson and Johnson

Chanel

Kyle Cosmetics

Garnier

Olay

Clinique

Urban Decay

Neutrogena

LifeBuoy

Wix

Motorola

Nido

Giorgio Armani

Victoria Secret

Maybelline

NYX

Revlon

Siemens

Skims

Goop

Marks & Spencer

Smartwater

Aveda

Tom Ford

Covergirl

Nesquik

Papa Johns

MAC

The Ordinary

Disney

Bobbi Brown

Honest

Sabra

Nokia

Nido

Walls

Tom Ford Beauty

Summer Fridays

Soda Stream

Ahava

Keter

Strauss

Danone

Tivall

AXA

Teva Pharmaceuticals

Airbnb

TripAdviser

Again, our society relies on most of these companies, so I'm not expecting you to just live off of air and hopes, but consider your favorite brands you like to shop from and think to yourself if it's worth the harm they are causing. Remember, at the end of the day, they only care about your money, not you.

[gingiesworld]

Fatal Attraction

Chapter Two

Pairings: Wanda Maximoff x GN! Reader/Wanda Maximoff x Jarvis Stark

Warnings: Angst. Fluff.

Taglist : @natashamaximoff-69 @canvascoloredin @wizardofstories @louxbloom @wandanats-goodgirl @the-ox-fan20 @ladyqueenxoxo @aemilia19 @wandaromamoff69 @mfd-101 @dorabledewdroop @marvelogic

18+ MINORS DNI

Wanda was excited to start her first day at Oscorp, of course she never told Jarvis where she was working. Oscorp and Stark Industries are the biggest rivals in the USA, both companies sell high tech software and Oscorp also sell pharmaceuticals and weapons, something which Tony had stopped Stark Industries manufacturing. So Stark had lost a lot of investors due to lack of materials.

"Why are you up so early?" Jarvis asked his wife as she sat at the table, a cup of coffee in one hand and a slice of toast in the other.

"I have my first day today." She told him as she put the cup down, gathering her things.

"What time will you be home?" He questioned as she raised her brow. "I just want to know if I should expect dinner or not when I walk through the door."

"Seriously?" She scoffed as he gazed at her. "I am not a little housewife. It is not my job to mother you!" She left the toast and coffee on the table as she grabbed her purse, heading straight to the door. "Don't expect me to cook dinner for you tonight." She told him before she slammed the door behind her. Heading straight into the cold city air as she walked to Oscorp. Making her way up to the top floor after retrieving her I.D. badge.

"Wanda, good morning." Jean greeted her as she entered the office.

"Good morning. How are you and the little one?" She asked her as Jean smiled, resting her hand on her stomach.

"We are both great." She answered before Y/N walked in, three cups and a bag of donuts.

"Green tea for Jean, coffee for me and coffee for Wanda." They handed them the cups before placing the donuts on the desk. "And breakfast." The two women thanked them before Jean handed them a file.

"You have a meeting with Dr Stacy about the new antibiotic." Jean told them as they nodded.

"Would you spend this week showing Wanda how everything is done here?" They asked her. "I want her to know everything before you leave but if she doesn't get everything, I will always help if you need me." They told the two who just nodded. Wanda watched as they disappeared down the hall and towards the elevator.

"They don't really get a moment." Jean told Wanda who nodded, grabbing a seat beside the pregnant woman. "You seemed to be upset when you came in." Jean observed as Wanda shook her head.

"Just marital problems." Wanda shrugged as Jean looked at her shocked.

"But you're so young." She whispered as Wanda chuckled.

"We have been together forever." Wanda told her, soon interrupted by the phone ringing, watching as Jean showed her how to get into Y/N's schedule. Wanda was shocked at how many meetings they had in a day, and what time they actually finished work.

"They also never really rest." Jean told her.

"I can see." Wanda nodded as she swallowed.

"You won't be staying that long unless they need you for an emergency." Jean told her. "But the overtime is generous." The two had gone on with Jean showing Wanda how to use the company software and how to make the changes as Y/N headed towards the labs.

"So, how far along is the process?" They asked her as she looked up from her tablet.

"It is almost done, we just need to start trials soon." Gwen started. "It is supposed to be stronger than your average oral antibiotic, tackling the source of the infection. We have tried it on a test dummy but we won't get sufficient results until we open up for human trials."

"Get the FDA to sign off on the trials first." They told her as she handed them another file.

"We have also had to adjust the formula of the tranquilizers." She informed them. "The old formula was." She made a face. "It was too potent."

"Just keep me informed, inform the FDA and get that approval." They told her before they walked away with the new files in their hands. Once Y/N had made it back to the office, they spotted both Jean and Wanda chatting comfortably. "Ms Maximoff, a word please." They held the office door open for her which she had quickly moved inside. "Please, have a seat." Wanda was quick to follow their order as they placed the files down in their growing pile. "I assume that Jean has shown you most of the database."

"Yes." Wanda answered as Y/N smiled at her.

"Wanda." They stood up from their seat and looked out of the window for a brief moment before continuing. "I had to do some of my own research and it seems that your husband is none other than the son of Anthony Stark."

"I can explain." She tried, thinking she was going to lose her job.

"I know you can." They gave her a smile. "But I also have another contract for you to sign. It protects the assets of Oscorp and its investors." They reached inside their draw for a binded contract. "It pretty much states that you cannot speak of anything that happens inside of this building, or you will be facing a lawsuit." Wanda nodded in understanding, of course she hated the idea of lying to her husband but she needed to earn her way, not like anyone would understand. She held out her hand for a pen which they handed her one from their pen pot. "Just a quick question darling." They asked as they took the contract. "Why do you want to work if being Jarvis Stark's wife provides for you?"

"I want to be able to earn my own money." She told them honestly. "I don't want to be known as Jarvis Stark's pretty little wife."

"Then why did you marry him?" They questioned as she bit the inside of her cheek. A small smirk formed on their face before they smiled guiltily at her. "My apologies, it isn't my place."

"I love him." She told them, her eye contact never faltering. "I have loved him since the moment he asked me out, as nervous as he was for being the infamous Tony Stark's son. He was the complete opposite to his father, he was sweet and loyal, kind and caring."

"You said that as in the past tense." They told her. "So, you don't think he is the same man you fell in love with?"

"Are you my shrink?" Wanda questioned with a raised brow, making Y/N chuckle lightly before leaning on the desk before her.

"I just want the best for my employees Wanda." They told her, nothing but genuine affirmation of the words laced their tone. "I know the people outside of this company think I am heartless. A power hungry being but I only want what's right for every one who works for Oscorp, that is what Norman taught me before he left me as the sole successor of his company." Wanda listened as they spoke. "The company is as strong as the people who run it. I just keep everything in order, it's the employees who keep Oscorp running, their ideas, their knowledge, their creations keep Oscorp from going underground."

"I can say that I was one of those people." Wanda whispered as Y/N laughed a little.

"Wanda, you are now one of the people who keep Oscorp running too. You keep me on schedule and arrange the appointments for the investors." They rested their hand on her shoulder. "So I only have your best interests at heart." With that they grabbed their next file before heading to the door with Wanda following. "Just know you can always come to me." With that they opened the door for her before heading to Jean.

"Mr Fisk is downstairs." She informed them.

"Why don't you both order lunch? Take a break." They suggested, before they headed to the elevator, leaving Wanda pondering their last conversation.

"What is the deal with them and Norman?" Wanda asked Jean who shook her head.

"That is not my place to tell." She told her. "I only knew because I was Norman's assistant before Y/N took over."

"So you've been here longer?" She questioned as Jean shook her head.

"No, Y/N was always here, shadowing him, learning how to run the company. They even helped with the Glider Project." Jean told her. "Of course it failed, an accident happened and well, Norman scrapped it."

Wanda was most certainly drawn into the mystery that is Y/N Y/L/N.

[chemxpert]

How Do Pharmaceutical Intermediates Play An Important Role In Drug Discovery

As the global demand for pharmaceuticals increases, the importance of intermediate products also increases in ensuring the stability and sustainability of the pharmaceutical supply chain. The future will see technological advancements, increased international cooperation, and emerging markets with India playing an important role in making the country a medical center.

[liesmyteachertoldme]

Autism Made in USA

Over the past few decades, the dramatic increase in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), now diagnosed in 1 in every 36 children, has often been attributed to improved definitions for ASD and diagnostic tools. However, a closer look at government statistics reveals alarming trends in children’s health that go far beyond better diagnostics. Since the early 1990s, there have been staggering increases in several chronic conditions: ADHD rates have risen by 890 percent, autism diagnoses by 2,094 percent, bipolar disease in youth by 10,833 percent, and celiac disease by 1,011 percent. These numbers beg the question—what has fundamentally changed in our children’s health over the past three decades?

Despite these concerning trends, our culture continues to elevate science as the ultimate authority on health and reality, often dismissing common sense, reason, and direct empirical observation. Ironically, physicians rely on patients to describe their symptoms—a testament to the importance of individual observations—while federal health agencies and influential organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics dismiss environmental factors in favor of subjective theories, such as genetic predispositions or chemical brain imbalances as the root causes for the majority of mental and behavioral disorders in children.

This reliance on ideology over empirical scrutiny extends to vaccine development, where standard double-blind placebo trials, the gold standard for FDA drug approval, are glaringly absent. Vaccines such as the hepatitis B shot for infants and the HPV vaccine Gardasil for adolescents have been approved with minimal scientific rigor, yet they are heavily promoted and, in many cases, mandated.

The media compounds the issue by amplifying the official narrative while systematically excluding dissenting voices. This failure of transparency has allowed federal health agencies like the CDC, NIAID, and HHS to evade accountability. These institutions, which should safeguard public health, have instead become ideologically and politically captured by private interests. Their close ties to pharmaceutical companies have led to the approval of insufficiently tested vaccines, the pathologization of normal childhood behaviors, and the delivery of subpar healthcare—all at a staggering cost of $5 trillion annually.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/autism-made-usa/5874947

[macgyvermedical]

How about a history of lexapro/escitalopram or trazadone?

Honestly escitalopram isn't that exciting, history-wise. It was approved for depression in 2002 and generalized anxiety disorder in 2003. It was (probably) initially part of a strategy called "evergreening" in which a pharmaceutical company will make incremental changes to a drug in order to retain a patent. In this case, citalopram came first, and then with a slight chemical tweak, escitalopram was introduced a year before the citalopram patent expired in the USA, thus allowing Lundbeck pharmaceuticals to retain a very lucrative antidepressant patent.

It was found later that escitalopram actually does work slightly better with slightly fewer side effects than citalopram.

I also don't have much for trazodone, even though it's older. Trazodone was the first non-MAOI and non-Tricyclic antidepressant. It was discovered in 1966 in Italy and approved for use in the US in 1981.

We still don't have a great idea about how trazodone works as an antidepressant, but we think it has something to do with serotonin reuptake. Even so, it works differently and does things to other neurotransmitters and receptors than modern SSRIs and has a very different side effect profile. Antidepressant doses of trazodone are high- in the 300 to 600mg range. A lot of people find that this dose makes them very sleepy. This side effect, combined with the fact that we have more effective antidepressants and anti-anxiety agents today, mean that even though it has never been approved for treating insomnia or erectile disfunction, these are its primary uses today.

[medusapelagia]

S - Soulmate

S is for Sage (@cranberrymoons) I swear I tried to write some fluff but I wasn't able to! I still have to learn from you! Thank you for your kindness💜

I hope you will enjoy your present 🎁!

Rating: Mature Relationship: Steve /Eddie WT: needles, hospitals, car accident Words: 1145

Steve sighs for the umpteenth time, wondering why in the hell he should have been born as the only son of Richard and Margaret Harrington and being used as a test subject for their latest crazy idea.

Being the owner of a big pharmaceutical company they were always eager to show Steve what they had come up with, especially when their last invention was a machine that was able to predict who your soulmate was: all you had to do was give a tiny drop of blood to the machine and it would have found your perfect match.

No more apps or websites, no more awful first date! Find your soulmate now!

That is the spot that keeps going on the television in the waiting room, and now Steve is sitting in a waiting area, ready to be pinched and find his soulmate. Not that he was really looking forward to it, but his girlfriend just broke up with him and his mum was adamant that the machine would have found Steve's perfect match avoiding more suffering, and in the end, Steve has agreed to be a test subject.

“It will be ok.” his mother tells him while lifting the collar of his shirt.

They aren’t allowed to test the machine on a minor without the parents' approval so Steve is going to be the first minor tested “You don’t have to worry, the machine will find the perfect match for you, isn’t that what everyone wants?” his mother asks him, before gently pushing him toward a nice nurse and Steve suppresses the desire to ask her if she has taken the test and if his father is actually her soulmate or not. He probably is not, Steve already knows that since the first time that his father punched the door and his mother threw him a few plates.

"If your soulmate has ever been to a hospital, the machine can match their blood results with yours and give us a name." the nurse is saying to Steve while she helps him on the examination table.

"Mum says it only has data from the USA." Steve states monotone, while he tries to keep his mind focused and not worry about what would happen if his soulmate is from another country or even worse, dead.

The smile on the nurse's face falters a little "That's true, but I'm confident that a young boy like you will find the proper match in no time." she insists, pinching his finger and putting the data in the machine.

He thanks her and goes back to the waiting area where his parents are waiting for him and the three of them stare at the numbers on the screen looking at the countdown and waiting for the number one, followed by a name, but the machine doesn't stop at one.

It stops at zero.

No match.

This could mean that either Steve's soulmate has never been to a hospital, and that’s why there are no records to match, or that he is not from the USA, or… that he is not alive anymore.

It’s not bad, he doesn’t even know their name so he can’t mourn someone that he never knew, right?

"I'm sure that's a mistake, honey, you can retake the test when you want." his mum assures him.

He takes the test another three times, always with the same result: zero.

***

Steve’s parents have become even richer thanks to the technology of the soulmating machine; somehow people are willing to know who their true soulmate is and it doesn’t matter if some family broke after they get the result, they keep going to the center and being tasted again, and again, and again.

Steve doesn't believe in soulmates anymore, and when Dustin asks him if he should be tested to know if Suzy is his soulmate Steve firmly denies him access telling him that he is far too young and that it doesn’t matter the name of a stupid machine, what matter is how he feels and if he loves Suzy that’s more than enough.

Dustin doesn’t seem convinced but he doesn’t ask again to be tasted and Steve takes it as a win, at least until he receives a call from a crying Dustin.

“There was an accident.” the kid says between the tears “Eddie was driving, then a dog appeared from nowhere and Eddie tried to avoid it and we crashed.”

“Are you ok?” Steve asks worriedly, already taking his car keys and his jacket.

“The ambulance came and they brought us to the hospital. My mum is at work and I didn’t know who to call.”

“You did good Dustin, don’t worry I’m coming to get you.” Steve replies, trying to calm the kid.

“But Eddie…”

“He will be ok. I’m sure he will.”

“You haven’t seen him. He had blood all over his face…” Dustin continues while Steve gets in the car and continues to talk to the boy until he finally gets to the hospital; Dustin is still on his phone, talking to Steve who is just a few feet away, when he sees him he lets the phone drop and runs toward him, hugging him tight.

Steve holds him until the kid stops crying, and then they go to ask for some information from the staff.

“He has no health insurance.” someone tells him and Steve throws a platinum card with his name in big bold letters “Now he does.” he states and then comes back to Dustin. Steve doesn’t really like Eddie, he is a little bit jealous, to be honest, but he is Dustin’s friend and Steve’s family has so much money that paying for Eddie’s care is not a problem.

“Come with me.” he says to Dustin “I know for sure that the cafeteria has the best hot chocolate ever.”

The hot chocolate comforts Dustin enough that he finally falls asleep on Steve’s shoulder. The boy calls Claudia, telling her that they are at the hospital, that Dustin is fine, but that he has to wait to have news about their friend, and the woman gets to the hospital as fast as she can “Are you sure you want to stay here? We don’t know how long it will take to have any information.” Claudia asks Steve before waking up Dustin but Steve nods “Someone has to stay until his uncle arrives and Dustin already had a difficult day.”

The woman nods and after a few complaints, Dustin agrees to go back home, promising that he will be back in the morning.

Steve nods and finally goes to grab a coffee at the coffee machine; he has just pushed the button when his phone starts to vibrate and he tiredly takes a look at the notifications: it’s the soul-matching app.

He got a match.

His name is Eddie Munson.

[reading-writing-revolution]

You've doubtless seen the outpourings of sarcastic graveyard humor about Thompson's murder. People hate Unitedhealthcare, for good reason, because he personally decided – or approved – countless policies that killed people by cheating them until they died. Nurses and doctors hate Thompson and United. United kills people, for money. During the most acute phase of the pandemic, the company charged the US government $11,000 for each $8 covid test: https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/06/137300-pct-markup/#137300-pct-markup UHC leads the nation in claims denials, with a denial rate of 32% (!!). If you want to understand how the US can spend 20% of its GDP and get the worst health outcomes in the world, just connect the dots between those two facts: the largest health insurer in human history charges the government a 183,300% markup on covid tests and also denies a third of its claims. UHC is a vertically integrated, murdering health profiteer. They bought Optum, the largest pharmacy benefit manager ("A spreadsheet with political power" -Matt Stoller) in the country. Then they starved Optum of IT investment in order to give more money to their shareholders. Then Optum was hacked by ransomware gang and no one could get their prescriptions for weeks. This killed people: https://www.economicliberties.us/press-release/malicious-threat-actor-accesses-unitedhealth-groups-monopolistic-data-exchange-harming-patients-and-pharmacists/# The irony is, Optum is terrible even when it's not hacked. The purpose of Optum is to make you pay more for pharmaceuticals. If that's more than you can afford, you die. Optum – that is, UHC – kills people: https://pluralistic.net/2024/09/23/shield-of-boringness/#some-men-rob-you-with-a-fountain-pen Optum isn't the only murderous UHC division. Take Navihealth, an algorithm that United uses to kick people out of their hospital beds even if they're so frail, sick or injured they can't stand or walk. Doctors and nurses routinely watch their gravely ill patients get thrown out of their hospitals. Many die. UHC kills them, for money: https://prospect.org/health/2024-08-16-steward-bankruptcy-physicians-private-equity/ The patients murdered by Navihealth are on Medicare Advantage. Medicare is the public health care system the USA extends to old people. Medicare Advantage is a privatized system you can swap your Medicare coverage for, and UHC leads the country in Medicare Advantage, blitzing seniors with deceptive ads that trick them into signing up for UHC Medicare Advantage. Seniors who do this lose access to their doctors and specialists, have to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for their medication, and get hit with $400 surprise bills to use the "free" ambulance service: https://prospect.org/health/2024-12-05-manhattan-medicare-murder-mystery/

Pluralistic: Predicting the present (09 Dec 2024) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

[demi-shoggoth]

2023 Reading Log pt 7

31. Rare Trees by Sara Oldfield and Malin Rivers. OK, so apparently that whole “less books about plants” pledge didn’t take. In my defense, this book is really pretty. It’s also very good; it’s about efforts for tree conservation around the world, and is published both as a public report and a fundraiser for the Global Trees Campaign. If you want to know what boots on the ground conservation work is like, its successes and its challenges, this is an excellent resource. And, like I said, the photographs are very pretty. The first chapter is about the overall history of forest conservation, and then future chapters discuss trees categorized by uses and by phylogeny. Honestly, I kind of wish they had picked one or the other of those organization schemes instead of splitting the difference, but that’s a quibble.

32. How To Survive History by Cody Cassidy. I’ve recommended some of Cassidy’s other books before (Who Ate the First Oyster? and …And Then You’re Dead), so I’m happy to report that this is his best yet. The theme is, what does science and the historical record tell us about how you could survive various catastrophes, or just hostile environments? I knew I was going to like it from the first chapter, How to Outrun a T. rex, which treats dinosaurs as just animals rather than kill crazy monsters. It also does an excellent job of summarizing Very Bad Times like the Donner Party expedition and the Magellan circumnavigation, and I learned a lot (like about how Magellan’s slave Enrique was the first person to actually circle the globe, having been captured by slavers in the Philippines and then being brought back around… and getting his revenge when he wasn’t freed as Magellan’s will proclaimed).

33. Snakes in American Culture: A Hisstory by Jesse C. Donahue and Conor Shaw-Draves. I didn’t expect this to be a searing indictment of the American medical profession of the early 20th century when I started the book, so that was a pleasant surprise. The first half or so is the story of how (white, upper class, male) “experts” denied that venomous snakes in the USA were really all that dangerous, while people (mostly poor, ethnic minorities and children) were dying in large numbers. Antivenin was only developed in this country as a side effect of the United Fruit Company’s desire to keep laborers from dying in the fields from snakebite, and the development of said antivenin was mostly done by volunteer labor and then marked up for tremendous profit by pharmaceutical companies! The back half, unfortunately, isn’t nearly as good, although it doesn’t go full conversion with its fairly sympathetic portrayal of snake handlers (which is something I’ve run into before). My biggest complaint is that this was written by humanities professors, and they needed a trained biologist to go over their draft. For example, they can’t format scientific names correctly, and don’t know enough about the history of science to understand that “virus” and “venom” were used interchangeably by some authors in the 19th century.

34. Marvelous Microfossils by Patrick De Wever, translated by Alison Duncan. Worst book I’ve finished this year? I think so. This book was originally written in French, but I can’t blame its problems on translation issues. It’s about plankton and other microfossils, what they can tell us about geology and how they’ve influenced art and culture. To start with the good, the book is gorgeous; each page is well organized, and it has lots of electron micrographs, photos and engravings by Ernst Haeckel. And that’s the first problem. The author seems to be a modern devotee of Haeckel’s science and philosophy, when both were full of garbage (Haeckel is the “ontogeny recapitulated phylogeny” guy, and one of the codifiers of scientific racism). His use of terminology is stuck firmly in the 19th century, and he doesn’t seem to care about modern cladistic phylogeny at all. And he has lengthy quotes from architects and philosophers instead of, you know, modern scientists, including lines specifically about how “we understand all there is to know” about plankton from like 1910. So I get huge “reject modernity, embrace tradition” vibes from this author, and that makes my skin crawl.

35. Nicole Angemi’s Anatomy Book by Nicole Angemi. Another “searing indictment of the American medical system”, only this one is more modern. The book is a loosely A-Z collection of pathologies, with case histories and photos. So this one is super gross, just a head’s up. Why I say it’s a searing indictment is that about 1/3 of the case studies talk about how the patient was ignored by their doctors initially, and had to spend time seeking second opinions taking them seriously, and how a number of things that could have been fixed more easily turned into huge, life altering (or ending) problems. The book is written by a pathologist’s assistant, and the introduction/biography would make a good “see, you can follow your dreams and get a career that you love later in life” inspirational story. I’m keeping a copy of this for my classroom, because I have plenty of students who are interested in medicine but not necessarily medical school, and because teenagers love gross pictures. Seriously, some of the descriptions of cysts and tumors made even my stomach turn.

[crazyintheeast]

Why should you vote if both candidates are the same?

I see this question here a lot. After all I know a lot of you intelectually know that democrats and republicans aren't the same but the way your life is directly impacted by politics you don't see much of a difference. Now I could give you dozens of examples but instead I will concentrate on one. Regulations. Trump and the Republicans are constatnly and openly trying to destroy all regulation agencies which keep you safe. And how important are they ? Watch this short video for a great example

Frances Oldham Kelsey and her position in the FDA was the ONLY thing that managed to protect USA from a dangerous drug that caused horrific birth defects. She has to use every drop of power the FDA had to withstand pressure from pharmaceuticalcompanies to approve this drug and she did it. And this didn't come without a cost, for years afterwards the pharmaceutical companies and jealous male colleagues would try to sabotage her career A woman would her would be immeidately fired uder Trump regime. So ask yourself this. Do you really want to leave in an even more dangerous world where regultory agencies are practically destroyed and any random new medicine , drink, food product and so on could leave you or your child or your pet permanently disabled or dead? If you don't vote for Kamala. Because yes while she still receives money from lobbying groups at least she has some spine. Trump and the republicans are publicly bragging about how they want to destroy regulations

[redacted-metallum]

Tell me about some beast biology. I wat ur opinions on how some of these creatures function. Pick whichever you have the most to say about

SPECBIO BULLSHIT ABOUT SHOGGOTHS GO! (under a cut because it. Got long loll)

One of my longest running internal debates is on if shoggoths are prokaryotic or eukaryotic, and if they're eukaryotic, if they're multicellular or not.

The one that we see in ATMOM is described as being the size of a subway train engine, which to me means that they HAVE to be multicellular OR have some weird shit going on like that giant bacteria or algaes that just sort of piss me off because they're Breaking The Rules because one of the limits for how large a cell can get is how much oxygen said cell can get into its cytoplasm (presuming, of course, that shoggoths are both aerobic and follow said Rules about biology, which are technically made up) in order to create the energy needed to continue the processes of life.

THIS WOULD IMPLY that the shoggoth has to be eukaryotic, otherwise it wouldn't be able to get enough glucose and oxygen to remain alive, since shoggoths were created by the Elder Things out of materials extant on Earth. However, this STILL doesn't answer if shoggoths are single or multicellular!!! The largest single cellular organisms are multinucleate algaes, which produce their own glucose and don't need to worry about moving. I would say that the necessity of movement means that shoggoths are multicellular, as well as their shape-shifting abilities. Shoggoths are described as being able to sprout whatever organs and appendages needed for their task, which means that they can create tissues to form more complex structures. (Cell -> tissue -> organ -> organ system -> organism)

Which then takes me down a different rabbit hole:

Shoggoths basically have full control over the cell cycle, and by necessity are moving lumps of stem cells. Which is fucking WILD to think about and can get into some really really fun (awful) ideas for scenarios or short stories where the Big Bad is like, a pharmaceutical company that's found a way to do stem cell research without using aborted fetal tissue (the #1 reason stem cell research has been hamstrung in the USA, even though it has so much promise in wound management and organ replacement)

OR

They're colonial organisms like siphonophores with similar control, except it's made up of multiple zooids instead of just being made up of cells.