Seizures often herald the clinical appearance of gliomas or appear at later stages. Dissecting their precise evolution and cellular pathogenesis in brain malignancies could inform the development of staged therapies for these highly pharmaco-resistant epilepsies. Studies in immunodeficient xenograft models have identified local interneuron loss and excess glial glutamate release as chief contributors to network disinhibition, but how hyperexcitability in the peritumoral microenvironment evolves in an immunocompetent brain is unclear. We generated gliomas in WT mice via in utero deletion of key tumor suppressor genes and serially monitored cortical epileptogenesis during tumor infiltration with in vivo electrophysiology and GCAMP7 calcium imaging, revealing a reproducible progression from hyperexcitability to convulsive seizures. Long before seizures, coincident with loss of inhibitory cells and their protective scaffolding, gain of glial glutamate antiporter xCT expression, and reactive astrocytosis, we detected local Iba1+ microglial inflammation that intensified and later extended far beyond tumor boundaries. Hitherto unrecognized episodes of cortical spreading depolarization that arose frequently from the peritumoral region may provide a mechanism for transient neurological deficits. Early blockade of glial xCT activity inhibited later seizures, and genomic reduction of host brain excitability by deleting MapT suppressed molecular markers of epileptogenesis and seizures. Our studies confirmed xenograft tumor–driven pathobiology and revealed early and late components of tumor-related epileptogenesis in a genetically tractable, immunocompetent mouse model of glioma, allowing the complex dissection of tumor versus host pathogenic seizure mechanisms.

A nationwide class action lawsuit filed against Apple in Northern California court this week accuses the company of knowingly concealing a defect with a display-related flex cable on recent 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro models.


As discovered by repair website iFixit last year, some MacBook Pro models released in 2016 and 2017 have experienced issues with uneven backlighting caused by a delicate flex cable that can wear out and break after repeated opening and closing of the display. Impacted notebooks can exhibit uneven lighting at the bottom of the screen, which has been described as a "stage light" effect, and the backlighting system can eventually fail entirely.

Since the issue often takes time to manifest, the affected ‌MacBook Pro‌ units can be outside of Apple's one-year warranty period when they start exhibiting symptoms, resulting in an out-of-warranty repair fee of up to $850.

"Imagine spending more than $2,500 on a laptop only for it to fail shortly after the manufacturer's warranty expires," said PARRIS Law Firm attorney R. Rex Parris. "What's even more appalling is Apple requiring customers to spend an additional $600 to $850 to replace the screen."

Apple seemingly fixed the issue by extending the length of the flex cable by 2mm in the 2018 MacBook Pro. It also launched a free repair program in May 2019, but the program only applies to 13-inch MacBook Pro models released in 2016.

Bernie Sanders offers a real deal to the middle class and not the raw deal of Hillary Clinton Continue reading →

Senator Bernie Sanders does not think that Hillary Clinton can stand up and fight for the middle class. Continue reading →

The middle class needs to vote for Donald Trump in order to oppose the elites, Corporate America, Wall Street, the career politicians, and the media, who have all conspired to destroy the middle class. Donald Trump is the Molotov cocktail, the human hand grenade, that every beaten-down, nameless, forgotten working stiff who used to be part of what was called the middle class can legally throw into the system that stole their lives from them. Continue reading →

Take two - Queensland Premier re-enacts a flu shot for the cameras giving birth to a conspiracy.

IBM has been recognized as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Solid-State Arrays (SSA) for the fourth year in a row.

IBM today announced a new all-flash, high-performance data and file management solution for enterprise clients running exabyte-scale big data analytics, cognitive and AI applications. The combined flash and storage software solution has been certified with the Hortonworks Data Platform (HDP) to provide clients with more choice in selecting the right platform for their big data analytics on data processing engines like Hadoop and Spark.

IBM today announced sweeping advances in its all-flash storage solutions and software to significantly drive down the costs of data and extend its solutions for hybrid and private cloud environments.

IBM anunció hoy la primera plataforma de servicios basada en IBM Watson y construida en IBM Cloud para aumentar la inteligencia humana y ayudar a mejorar las operaciones de los proveedores de servicios a través de tecnologías cognitivas.

Al día de hoy podemos decir que de nuestros cinco sentidos el olfato es el menos comprendido. Si bien lo usamos todos los días, la ciencia no ha llegado a comprender por completo cómo las moléculas producen un olor o cómo determinar cómo huelen sin olerlas. Sabemos desde hace décadas, en el caso de la vista, que para ver se necesitan longitudes de onda de luz y en cuanto al sonido sabemos que la audición ocurre a través de frecuencias tonales, pero el “código olfativo” se había mantenido indescifrable… hasta ahora.

IBM ha revelado IBM 5 en 5: las 5 innovaciones científicas y tecnológicas que en los próximos 5 años tendrán un gran impacto en la manera que funciona el mundo. Todas ellas suponen una importante evolución en computación como nunca antes se había visto.

IBM anunció dos nuevas soluciones de almacenamiento empresarial completamente basadas en tecnología flash, las cuales ofrecen avanzada eficiencia e incremento en desempeño, así como una sobresaliente confiabilidad para ayudar a reducir costos, y acelerar infraestructuras y aplicaciones con manejo intensivo de datos.

De acuerdo con un estudio reciente de IBM, sólo dos de cada 10 empresas tienen capacidad para indicar dónde, cuándo y cómo sus clientes están teniendo dificultades para comprar en línea, una actividad que cada día toma más relevancia. IBM predice que en esta temporada navideña 2016, las ventas en línea mundiales para los minoristas aumentarán en casi un 14 por ciento, en comparación con 2015.

IBM reveló los resultados de un estudio global sobre las experiencias digitales de los consumidores en donde el interés de las marcas por ofrecer experiencias únicas, la adopción de lo digital de acuerdo con la edad y disparidad entre lo que los ejecutivos de las marcas piensan y lo que realmente los clientes quieren, fueron algunos de los hallazgos.

IBM presenta Watson Virtual Agent en español, una solución que permite a las empresas construir un agente virtual para atención al cliente, flexible y fácil de configurar y adecuada a las necesidades de los negocios.

La marca de moda urbana DPStreet, filial del corporativo GrupoDP, ha dado a conocer su intención de transformar el modelo comercial y de negocio apoyados en la habilitación de distintas estrategias digitales, una de las principales es una tienda virtual desarrollada por IBM (Digital Commerce) e implementada por Solemti S.A. de C.V., su asociado de negocios en el área digital.

La seguridad se ha convertido en una cuestión central para los negocios y la sociedad. El cibercrimen costará a la economía mundial más de 2 billones de dólares en 2019, según el informe IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index 2017 de IBM Security, y no sólo los científicos informáticos y los investigadores serán parte del talento necesario para afrontarlo. Las nuevas carreras para la próxima generación requerirán un amplio conjunto de habilidades para ocupar roles que van desde diseñadores de productos, consultores de riesgo y formuladores de políticas. La industria necesita a gente de múltiples disciplinas, personas con habilidades creativas para la resolución de problemas e impulsar la colaboración.

El 67% de los usuarios en todo el mundo se siente actualmente cómodo utilizando tecnologías biométricas (lectura de huella dactilar, escaneado de retina y reconocimiento facial o de voz) para acceder a sus aplicaciones, según el estudio IBM Security Future of Identity elaborado por IBM.

IBM Security anunció los resultados de un estudio global que explora los factores y desafíos de ser una organización ciberresiliente. El estudio encontró que el 77% de los encuestados admiten no tener un plan formal de respuesta a incidentes de seguridad cibernética (CSIRP) aplicado sistemáticamente en toda su organización. Casi la mitad de los encuestados informaron que su plan de respuesta a incidentes es informal o completamente inexistente.

IBM Security anunció hoy los resultados de un estudio global que examina el impacto financiero de una violación de datos en los resultados de una empresa. El estudio descubrió que los costos ocultos en las brechas de datos, como la pérdida de negocios, el impacto negativo en la reputación y el tiempo empleado en la recuperación, son difíciles y costosos de administrar. Por ejemplo, encontró que un tercio del costo de las mega infracciones (más de 1 millón de registros perdidos) se derivan del negocio perdido.

La progresiva digitalización de nuestra sociedad está provocando en las empresas la necesidad de transformarse para sacar el máximo partido de este fenómeno. Esta digitalización procede, principalmente, de la popularización de los dispositivos móviles inteligentes, las redes sociales y el Internet de las Cosas, que generan cada día 2,500 millones de gigabytes de datos. Dentro de toda esta información se esconde un inmenso valor para las organizaciones.

Habilita IBM el Crecimiento de las Organizaciones en una Era más Inteligente

Las estrategias de negocio con las que organizaciones líderes están transformando su negocio para obtener mayores eficiencias se basan en tecnologías para mejorar el manejo de la información, la interacción con clientes y modelos de negocio en la nube. Estas tecnologías son impulsadas por IBM, reconociendo las necesidades de las compañías mexicanas.

IBM y VON DER HEIDE, compañía especializada en servicios de consultoría de Recursos Humanos, informan que han firmado una importante alianza para expandir su oferta de servicios de Employee Engagement y HR Analytics en toda América Latina. Por medio de las tecnologías de IBM, esta alianza le permitirá a VON DER HEIDE brindar a sus clientes una oferta de consultoría única en el mercado, para transformar estrategias de talento en resultados de negocio.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) annonce aujourd'hui un élargissement de son portefeuille de stockage flash pour aider les clients à extraire beaucoup plus rapidement la valeur issues des données afin d’en tirer un avantage concurrentiel. IBM a lancé trois nouvelles baies « tout-flash » dotées d’une performance de pointe – une latence minimum de 250μs (microsecondes) - afin de résoudre le défi consistant à accéder rapidement à un grand volume de données pour les applications et les workloads cloud.

Thank you, first and foremost, to theSwede. When I told you I wanted and needed to do some creative work, over a decade ago, you simply said "Okay" and were nothing but supportive. None of this would exist without you. Thank you as well to both Cannonball and Torpedo. Someday you'll be old enough to read these, and I hope you find them all as enjoyable, meaningful, and as embarrassing as they are/were intended to be.

Thank you to Mom, Dad, Hanna, Emma, my grandparents, all extended family, for giving me the experiences, insight, and humor that crafted STW. Thank you Mitch, Donna, and all for their support as well. Thank you to so many friends, innumerable to name. Your support has meant everything.

Thank you to classmates, advisors, and colleagues from the past 10 years at Cornell, NIST, and Northeastern, particularly to those who never found out about STW when it needed to remain a professional secret, and just as particularly to those who were in full support and encouragement when the secret came out. Thank you to so many students, but especially everyone from the NU ChemE class of 2015, who I am ever indebted to.

Thank you to so many in the comics/creative community, especially Danielle Corsetto, Jon Rosenberg, Joan Cooke, Christopher Moore, Jessica Hagy, Holly and Jeffrey Rowland, Sara McHenry, Gary Tyrrell, Zach and Kelly Weinersmith, Matt Lubchansky, Monica Keszler, Ryan Walsh, every artist I have collaborated with, so so so many others. Thank you for all that you have done to bring me into your world, and for all that you have done for my career.

It's been a very long time since I worked there, but thank you as well to Three Point for all those experiences at creative writing that almost certainly led to the creation of STW.

Thank you to Westley, Sprite, Wakefield, Shiv, and Bitey, too. Why not.

And finally, thank you to all of you kind readers. For however long you have read STW, thank you. I am so incredibly humbled by your support and kindness and so incredibly grateful for all that you have given to STW as well. I wish all of you whatever joy and happiness that you deserve.

STW ran for 10+ years and 3500+ comics. It's as much yours as it is mine, now.

Thank you all, so harking much.

So, hey, STW alumni, long time no lecture. How are things?

Happy New Year to you all. May 2020 bring you nothing but good, and may we all fight all the monsters together.

Figured I would start running old comics through the RSS feed, so here you go.

In case you missed when Surviving the World ended, we ran a Kickstarter to put together a book collection of some of the best STW comics from the entire 10+ year run. The book came out pretty tremendous - there's 300 comics in beautiful color, all the 'file under' jokes, all the addendum and archive jokes, some new jokes, a soundtrack listing, a foreword by Christopher Moore - it's really nice and most people liked it as much as I did!

Anyway, we have some additional copies that are now on sale at Topatoco if you want an extra copy or a first copy, whatever the case may be. I will eventually get the PDF version of the book up and available for sale as well, if any of you are so inclined.

As for me, I am professoring away, working on some other projects, still doing bad jokes and things on social media, all while still making STEM comics, and hopefully will have some new work to share with you soon.

Other than that, for now, I hope life-long learning continues to bring you new enlightenment and I hope you all continue to get all joy and happiness you deserve.

The STW Book!

This comic was originally posted in 2013.

The STW Book!

This comic was originally posted in 2010.

The STW Book!

This comic was originally posted in 2011.

The STW Book!

This comic was originally posted in 2015.

The STW Book!

This comic was originally posted in 2017.

The STW Book!

This comic was originally posted in 2014.

The STW Book!

This comic was originally posted in 2018.

Thoughts from 2020: If I had ever had an agent, I would have pitched a book of nothing but mazes like this. Maybe I should find an agent and pitch this anyway. This is definitely not the best known STW maze - it's not the one that people kept trying to rip off for their own shirts and designs and companies - but it was a pretty good one to be the final maze of the comic.

Also, this was #3500, and it was a pretty good one for the last big numbered comic. I won't lie, looking back, a lot of STW is only 'just okay', but I can enjoy when some were slightly better than others. I think this was one?

The STW Book!

This comic was originally posted in 2014.

Thoughts from 2020: We still can't keep flowers in the house because of the cat. This is why the aloe plant is now in my office at work. Did you know aloe is poisonous to cats or something like that?

The STW Book!

This comic was originally posted in 2012.

Thoughts from 2020: Sprite the cat is still with us, by the way. She's at least 14 now and we've had her for 13 years as of last October. She is still the greatest cat ever created. And she pretty much always hated being put in the labcoat like this.

The STW Book!

This comic was originally posted in 2014 on the "I Love Charts" Medium site - I was allowed to repost comics on STW but I don't think I ever did, so this is the first time this comic has appeared on STW.

Thoughts from 2020: The worst part about being in every STW means that I get to see how freakishly young I looked even just six years ago. Stupid children stealing my youth.

"Hark" was the four-letter new-slang insult that a reader suggested adopting sometime in 2011, and it remains a stupidly fun curse word for me, especially around the holidays.

I got 2 cents for every view of the comics on the Medium site during the first 3 months it ran, and then got 1 cent for every view during the last 3 months (incidentally, also why I started making 2 additional comics per week for them as opposed to 1). I think I spent most of the income on comics.

The STW Book!

This comic was originally posted in 2016.

Thoughts from 1/14/2020: I developed IBS-like symptoms, or what is essentially an allergy, to caffeine about 8 months ago. Looking back on all the comics that involve coffee like this one, I'm not surprised why. By the way, it's difficult to get through the day without caffeine and caffeine-free tea just doesn't cut it.

The STW Book!

This comic was originally posted in 2008.

Thoughts from 1/15/2020: I don't continue to hold that you will get the same grade in ChemE whether you study all night or get drunk the night before, but I use that line with my students all the time. That said, electrical engineering remains black magic.

The STW Book!

This comic was originally posted in 2011.

Thoughts from 1/16/2020: I made this comic when I was still 27. What the hell was I focusing on at that point?

The STW Book!

This comic was originally posted in 2014.

Thoughts from 1/17/2020: Considering this now pedagogically ... I'm not sure this is helpful for students at all.

The STW Book!

This comic was originally posted in 2016.

Thoughts from 1/18/2020: This comic was kind of simple and dumb and yet you still maybe learned something from it, so all in all it was kind of the perfect STW.

The STW Book!

This comic was originally posted in 2009.

Thoughts from 1/19/2020: This comic came out in December of 2009, about six months after STW got really popular, and I remember someone shared the image on Twitter and Neil Gaiman retweeted it, and that led to another brief boost in popularity. It's weird to think that STW started at exactly the right time - I don't think it would have made a dent if it started today, and I don't think something like this really could have started today. Anyway, life and history are weird.

Get the STW Book!

This comic was originally posted in 2016.

Thoughts from 1/20/2020: My smile in this one perfectly captures my true delight in this terrible pun. In so many ways, this is one of my favorite STWs. It's also in the STW book. Speaking of ...

Get the STW Book!

This comic was originally posted in 2014.

Thoughts from 1/21/2020: There was a brief period of time when I was being asked to submit various chart jokes to WIRED. One got in - a pie chart showing Vin Diesel's moods were 50% fast and 50% furious. This one was one that got rejected so screw it, I made it into a STW.

Get the STW Book!

This comic was originally posted in 2015.

Thoughts from 1/22/2020: I look ridiculous.

Get the STW Book!