Super Volatile

Krzysztof Szafranek's link blog

Hi, I'm Krzysztof and I make websites.
When I'm not making websites, I read these.
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May 6, 2012 / 12:30am

Indian drug giant Cipla slashes cancer drug prices

Indian drugs giant Cipla said Friday it has slashed by up to 76 percent prices of generic medicines used to treat brain, lung and kidney cancer in what the company called a "humanitarian move".
more on medicalxpress.com

To put things into a perspective: the real costs of drugs comes from research and clinical trials phases. When patent protection expires and drugs reach generic status, the business becomes not much different from selling soda or chewing gum: the only costs are manufacturing (usually cheap) and marketing. In this case the line between “humanitarian move” and marketing is a difficult one to draw.

Filed under: medicine  
 
Mar 4, 2012 / 10:57pm

Modafinil and startups

What I haven't mentioned on any of my blogs yet is that to enable me to do this, I used a (legal) drug called Modafinil, also known as Alertec or Provigil. In the startup world, where everyone is driven to get more things done than fit in the day's waking hours, the topic of using so-called "cognitive enhancers" surfaces every once in a while.
more on swombat.com

A first-hand detailed account of the usage of a “smart-drug” Modafinil, with predictable conclusions.

Filed under: medicine   modafinil   startups  
 
Jan 22, 2012 / 10:45pm

New drug could cure nearly any viral infection

Now, in a development that could transform how viral infections are treated, a team of researchers at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory has designed a drug that can identify cells that have been infected by any type of virus, then kill those cells to terminate the infection.
more on web.mit.edu

A discovery that can revolutionize medicine.

Filed under: medicine   science  
 
Nov 26, 2011 / 9:56pm

Man-made super-flu could kill half humanity

Researchers in Fouchier’s team used ferrets – test animals which closely mimic the human response to influenza – and transmitted H5N1 from one to another to make it more adaptable to new hosts. After 10 generations, the virus had mutated to become airborne, which means ferrets became ill from merely being near other diseased animals.
more on rt.com

Imagine a virus with a death rate of 50% that spreads through air. That's exactly what has been recently manufactured in a lab, causing a discussion whether results of such research should be published. The author wants to get it out. A paper with the results, that is.

Filed under: medicine   science  
 
Dec 11, 2010 / 2:09am

Answer to What does it feel like to be stupid?

The only negative, apart from struggling to perform at work, and having to write everything down, was that I no longer found sci-fi interesting - it just didn't seem important.
more on quora.com

A person with temporarily impaired brain functions shares his experiences. Aloud or not, geeks are sure to rejoice after reading the above passage.

Filed under: medicine   psychology  
 
Jul 19, 2010 / 11:02pm

My experiment with smart drugs

I picked up a book about quantum physics and super-string theory I have been meaning to read for ages, for a column I’m thinking of writing. It had been hanging over me, daring me to read it. Five hours later, I realised I had hit the last page. I looked up. It was getting dark outside. I was hungry. I hadn’t noticed anything, except the words I was reading, and they came in cool, clear passages; I didn’t stop or stumble once.
more on johannhari.com

Mesmerizing story of Provigil. That must be too good to be true or harmless. Yet side effects mentioned in the article are really either minor (slight decrease of the appetite) or come without evidence from clinical trials or other research (suppression of creativity).

Filed under: creativity   intelligence   medicine  
 
Feb 21, 2010 / 2:47pm

Lack of morning light keeping teenagers up at night

If you remove blue light in the morning, it delays the onset of melatonin, the hormone that indicates to the body when it's nighttime," explains Dr. Figueiro.
more on eurekalert.org

I'm glad I'm not a teenager!

Filed under: medicine   science