Pete Schmidt
@pnschmidt.bsky.social
Scientist; Chief Scientific Officer @ Rho; discoverer of scary links between COVID-19 and neurodegeneration.
This is a great map. However, we can make this more interesting. (1)
November 3, 2025 at 11:05 PM
This is a great map. However, we can make this more interesting. (1)
A cubic meter of the sun’s core produces 6,360 megawatts, approximately the same as the Grand Coulee Dam’s maximum output of 6,800 megawatts.
(The sun’s core produces 3.86E26 watts within a radius of 139,000 km, per Wikipedia; Grand Coulee dam stats via USBR.gov.)
(The sun’s core produces 3.86E26 watts within a radius of 139,000 km, per Wikipedia; Grand Coulee dam stats via USBR.gov.)
July 16, 2025 at 12:27 PM
A cubic meter of the sun’s core produces 6,360 megawatts, approximately the same as the Grand Coulee Dam’s maximum output of 6,800 megawatts.
(The sun’s core produces 3.86E26 watts within a radius of 139,000 km, per Wikipedia; Grand Coulee dam stats via USBR.gov.)
(The sun’s core produces 3.86E26 watts within a radius of 139,000 km, per Wikipedia; Grand Coulee dam stats via USBR.gov.)
We think of LLMs in terms of "artificial intelligence" but there is another, more accurate way to think about them: in terms of information theory. Information theory tells us that the information content of messages (Shannon's "entropy") is proportional to the log of the message length. (1)
March 29, 2025 at 4:21 PM
We think of LLMs in terms of "artificial intelligence" but there is another, more accurate way to think about them: in terms of information theory. Information theory tells us that the information content of messages (Shannon's "entropy") is proportional to the log of the message length. (1)
In information theory, the information content of a message increases as the log of its length. This suggests that a doubled size array of LLM tensor weights would allow you to square the prompt length. If an LLM can respond to a 100 word prompt, an LLM 2x the size could handle a 10,000 word prompt.
February 23, 2025 at 3:12 PM
In information theory, the information content of a message increases as the log of its length. This suggests that a doubled size array of LLM tensor weights would allow you to square the prompt length. If an LLM can respond to a 100 word prompt, an LLM 2x the size could handle a 10,000 word prompt.
There is some confusion about how percentages and fractions work that has contributed to confusion about indirect rates in federal awards. For example, a 60% indirect rate means that the indirect/overhead charges are calculated to be 60% of the direct charges. This is 38% of the total. (1)
February 11, 2025 at 1:27 PM
There is some confusion about how percentages and fractions work that has contributed to confusion about indirect rates in federal awards. For example, a 60% indirect rate means that the indirect/overhead charges are calculated to be 60% of the direct charges. This is 38% of the total. (1)
For all the people who think that they need to be exposed to virulent pathogens to “exercise” their immune systems: Do you think that your immune system is not constantly destroying bacteria and viruses even when you have no symptoms?
December 4, 2023 at 12:15 AM
For all the people who think that they need to be exposed to virulent pathogens to “exercise” their immune systems: Do you think that your immune system is not constantly destroying bacteria and viruses even when you have no symptoms?
Santos is out. It’s the end of a fabulous era.
Oops, I meant “fabulist.”
Oops, I meant “fabulist.”
December 1, 2023 at 5:09 PM
Santos is out. It’s the end of a fabulous era.
Oops, I meant “fabulist.”
Oops, I meant “fabulist.”
SBF is supposed to be a math genius; I don’t buy it. Why? He repeatedly expressed enthusiasm for “double or nothing” bets: he has said he’d take a bet on a 51% chance to double the viability of humanity even against a 49% chance of destroying it. This is bad math. (1) blog.shrm.org/blog/sam-ban...
October 24, 2023 at 12:36 PM
SBF is supposed to be a math genius; I don’t buy it. Why? He repeatedly expressed enthusiasm for “double or nothing” bets: he has said he’d take a bet on a 51% chance to double the viability of humanity even against a 49% chance of destroying it. This is bad math. (1) blog.shrm.org/blog/sam-ban...
The two worst pandemics of the modern era, the 1918 H1N1 and the 2020 SARS-CoV-2 pandemics, were caused by viruses in their first jump from animals to humans. Many other epidemics share this characteristic.
October 23, 2023 at 4:25 PM
The two worst pandemics of the modern era, the 1918 H1N1 and the 2020 SARS-CoV-2 pandemics, were caused by viruses in their first jump from animals to humans. Many other epidemics share this characteristic.
Very interesting article on scientific misconduct. In health research, we keep original source material for a long time, and conduct formal, systematic reviews. The PI profiled here, researching behavior, destroyed her source material. It left her defenseless. www.nytimes.com/2023/09/30/b...
September 30, 2023 at 1:32 PM
Very interesting article on scientific misconduct. In health research, we keep original source material for a long time, and conduct formal, systematic reviews. The PI profiled here, researching behavior, destroyed her source material. It left her defenseless. www.nytimes.com/2023/09/30/b...
This is an exciting time in clinical neuroscience because for decades the field focused the nanometer-scale synapse and all that happened there and considered everything else to be structural. Now scientists are saying, “maybe all these helper cells actually do something” and doors are opening.
September 29, 2023 at 10:52 AM
This is an exciting time in clinical neuroscience because for decades the field focused the nanometer-scale synapse and all that happened there and considered everything else to be structural. Now scientists are saying, “maybe all these helper cells actually do something” and doors are opening.
People are covering the new group of cell therapy companies who are implanting Parkinson’s patients with lab-created neurons as if this approach wasn’t extensively studied from the 1990s through 2010 and it failed for reasons we mostly understand. Ugh.
September 26, 2023 at 10:18 AM
People are covering the new group of cell therapy companies who are implanting Parkinson’s patients with lab-created neurons as if this approach wasn’t extensively studied from the 1990s through 2010 and it failed for reasons we mostly understand. Ugh.
Maybe it is time to standardize the number pad. It’s a bit better to say zero comes before 1 instead of after 9. Maybe the old AT&T layout - even though we use it most - needs to go.
September 22, 2023 at 12:52 PM
Maybe it is time to standardize the number pad. It’s a bit better to say zero comes before 1 instead of after 9. Maybe the old AT&T layout - even though we use it most - needs to go.
Stem cells are the NFTs of medicine.
September 21, 2023 at 3:25 PM
Stem cells are the NFTs of medicine.
Hugh Auchincloss, acting director of NIAID, says he is thinking of getting the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine focused on the XBB strain. Looking forward to getting mine!
September 11, 2023 at 2:59 PM
Hugh Auchincloss, acting director of NIAID, says he is thinking of getting the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine focused on the XBB strain. Looking forward to getting mine!
A brain-computer interface is a “terminal.”
Over a long enough scale, all apes are "terminal."
Would love to see the process for determining which apes are terminal.
Would love to see the process for determining which apes are terminal.
“Sir, this is a Wendy’s”
September 10, 2023 at 10:45 PM
A brain-computer interface is a “terminal.”
I’m very proud of the Huntington’s Study Group: two of our trials were cited as highlights of the last year at the Movement Disorders Society’s annual congress. One drug got FDA approval.
August 31, 2023 at 9:51 AM
I’m very proud of the Huntington’s Study Group: two of our trials were cited as highlights of the last year at the Movement Disorders Society’s annual congress. One drug got FDA approval.
Copenhagen knows we’re here and thinks we’ll get lost.
August 27, 2023 at 4:38 PM
Copenhagen knows we’re here and thinks we’ll get lost.
My team at Rho is supporting BARDA's Project NextGen's Phase 2b trials of the next SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.
Project NextGen Awards Over $1.4 Billion to Develop the Future of COVID-19 Vaccines and Therapeutics
Funding includes $1 billion for vaccine clinical trials, $326 million for a new monoclonal antibody, and $100 million to explore novel vaccine and therapeutic t
www.hhs.gov
August 22, 2023 at 9:32 PM
My team at Rho is supporting BARDA's Project NextGen's Phase 2b trials of the next SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.
So far and yet so close.
Russia’s Lunar Lander Crashes Into the Moon
The robotic Luna-25 spacecraft appeared to have “ceased its existence” after a failed orbital adjustment, the space agency Roscosmos said.
www.nytimes.com
August 20, 2023 at 12:55 PM
So far and yet so close.
Tired: indictment for voter fraud
Wired: indictment for electoral voter fraud
Wired: indictment for electoral voter fraud
August 17, 2023 at 2:21 AM
Tired: indictment for voter fraud
Wired: indictment for electoral voter fraud
Wired: indictment for electoral voter fraud
Very interesting story about The Exorcist in the NYT today. However, it fails to address how the movie besmirches the reputation of the Mesopotamian god Pazuzu, helpful to pregnant women and mothers. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/12/opinion/exorcist-william-friedkin-catholicism.html
Opinion | The Ultimate Horror Movie Is Really About Heaven and Hell
Spiritual lessons from “The Exorcist.”
www.nytimes.com
August 12, 2023 at 12:51 PM
Very interesting story about The Exorcist in the NYT today. However, it fails to address how the movie besmirches the reputation of the Mesopotamian god Pazuzu, helpful to pregnant women and mothers. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/12/opinion/exorcist-william-friedkin-catholicism.html
@natbro.bsky.social my thoughts on this platform
This is why you should encourage people to use Bluesky: Social media is a crowded space, and all the incumbents are afraid that if they try to take up what Twitter had, they will canibalize their existing business. Bluesky has the ability to grow into the void left by Twitter. (1)
August 6, 2023 at 6:49 PM
@natbro.bsky.social my thoughts on this platform
A great point from the @lawfare.bsky.social podcast last week: we have given a perceived - and often real - monopoly on public safety to the police, so until that monopoly is broken, criticism of police will be seen as an attack on safety.
The Lawfare Podcast: A ‘New Era in Police Reform?’ with Christy Lopez
Christy Lopez joins Tyler McBrien to discuss the Justice Department's civil rights investigation into the Memphis Police Department and what it means going forward.
www.lawfaremedia.org
August 6, 2023 at 2:10 PM
A great point from the @lawfare.bsky.social podcast last week: we have given a perceived - and often real - monopoly on public safety to the police, so until that monopoly is broken, criticism of police will be seen as an attack on safety.