Cultural Trespass? Aldous Huxley’s Forays into Modern Physics

The Modem period in literature was also a time of remarkable achievement in what is similarly known as modem physics, that is, physics of the early decades of this century. It was during this period that physicists radically altered our view not only of nature but of the method by which we claim to know it. Yet the direct response from the artistic community was negligible. Hence C.P. Snow\u27s contention in 1959 that there were now in effect not one but two cultures, the humanistic and the scientific. Snow, as a novelist and physicist, believed he was in an almost unique position to observe this partition into two separate communities, he being one of the few who could pass freely across their border. However, Aldous Huxley [1894-1963]—novelist, poet, and essayist—had warned of the dangers of disciplinary ghettoization long before Snow raised the alarm and was one of the few artists who did appear to have some inkling of what was going on in the other culture and to incorporate this knowledge into his writing. There is hardly a book in which he fails to make some reference to science, and in many instances he reveals an acquaintance with new results soon after their first appearance in the scientific world, unlike many of his colleagues who hardly afford science a glance. Perhaps this is not altogether surprising, considering his family background. Grandson of T.H. Huxley, the evolutionist, and brother of the biologist Sir Julian Huxley, Aldous also intended to specialize in science and was only prevented from doing so by an attack of keratitis punctata [an inflammation of the cornea] at the age of sixteen. But while it would be unfair to see Huxley simply as a scientist manque, he did retain a strong interest in science and this is a distinctive feature of his literary output. It is clear that he shared his family\u27s interest in the biological sciences; certainly, he is best known for his grasp of bio-chemical developments in Brave New World. But what is less well-known is that Huxley was also interested in physics. Never have his remarks on this subject been examined in any detail, yet I suggest that such an examination is necessary if one is to properly assess Huxley as a thinker and it is as a thinker, as a novelist of ideas, that he is chiefly valued. My intention here is not to address directly the larger issue of the relations between literature and science, though I have no doubt that Huxley\u27s example is of relevance here. Rather, I intend to survey, highlight, and elaborate on Huxley\u27s interest in one scientific field, that of modem physics, which means in particular his understanding of relativity and quantum mechanics. The aim is to see how far Huxley\u27s understanding goes and what use he makes of this type of information in his writing. While there have been several studies of the use of scientific information in the literature of previous centuries and again in postmodern literature, less research has been done on the immediate impact of this crucial period in the natural sciences on writers in the early part of this century

Viewing The Biggest Loser : modes of reception and reflexivity among obese people

This article builds on previous reception research and scholarship on makeover TV through an analysis of obese people\u27s views of The Biggest Loser (TBL). TBL involves obese people competing to lose weight as personal trainers push them through dietary and physical activity regimes. We articulate four themes characterizing responses to TBL: “That\u27s not reality,” “Public ownership and judgment of the fat body,” “The lure of the transformation,” and “A guilty pleasure.” We consider how these themes are reflected in participants\u27 movement between mediated, discursive, transparent, and referential modes of reception. While some were adamant in their rejection of the program, others were ambivalent in accepting and identifying with the desire for weight loss but questioning TBL\u27s aesthetic dimensions and moralizing undertones. We argue that the reflexivity of viewers complicates appraisals of TBL as governing at a distance and offer some alternative readings of the impact and appeal of the program

Whole-genome sequencing reveals host factors underlying critical COVID-19

Altres ajuts: Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC); Illumina; LifeArc; Medical Research Council (MRC); UKRI; Sepsis Research (the Fiona Elizabeth Agnew Trust); the Intensive Care Society, Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship (223164/Z/21/Z); BBSRC Institute Program Support Grant to the Roslin Institute (BBS/E/D/20002172, BBS/E/D/10002070, BBS/E/D/30002275); UKRI grants (MC_PC_20004, MC_PC_19025, MC_PC_1905, MRNO2995X/1); UK Research and Innovation (MC_PC_20029); the Wellcome PhD training fellowship for clinicians (204979/Z/16/Z); the Edinburgh Clinical Academic Track (ECAT) programme; the National Institute for Health Research, the Wellcome Trust; the MRC; Cancer Research UK; the DHSC; NHS England; the Smilow family; the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (CTSA award number UL1TR001878); the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania; National Institute on Aging (NIA U01AG009740); the National Institute on Aging (RC2 AG036495, RC4 AG039029); the Common Fund of the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health; NCI; NHGRI; NHLBI; NIDA; NIMH; NINDS.Critical COVID-19 is caused by immune-mediated inflammatory lung injury. Host genetic variation influences the development of illness requiring critical care or hospitalization after infection with SARS-CoV-2. The GenOMICC (Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care) study enables the comparison of genomes from individuals who are critically ill with those of population controls to find underlying disease mechanisms. Here we use whole-genome sequencing in 7,491 critically ill individuals compared with 48,400 controls to discover and replicate 23 independent variants that significantly predispose to critical COVID-19. We identify 16 new independent associations, including variants within genes that are involved in interferon signalling (IL10RB and PLSCR1), leucocyte differentiation (BCL11A) and blood-type antigen secretor status (FUT2). Using transcriptome-wide association and colocalization to infer the effect of gene expression on disease severity, we find evidence that implicates multiple genes-including reduced expression of a membrane flippase (ATP11A), and increased expression of a mucin (MUC1)-in critical disease. Mendelian randomization provides evidence in support of causal roles for myeloid cell adhesion molecules (SELE, ICAM5 and CD209) and the coagulation factor F8, all of which are potentially druggable targets. Our results are broadly consistent with a multi-component model of COVID-19 pathophysiology, in which at least two distinct mechanisms can predispose to life-threatening disease: failure to control viral replication; or an enhanced tendency towards pulmonary inflammation and intravascular coagulation. We show that comparison between cases of critical illness and population controls is highly efficient for the detection of therapeutically relevant mechanisms of disease