Papers vs plastic straw? Environmental impact

Good question.

A Korean report going around has a surprising find: plastic straws are better for the environment vs paper straws.

The report is basically a "life-cycle assessment" of the environmental impact of paper vs plastic straws.

(Incidentally, I spent a term at the Nanyang Technology University in Singapore doing life-cycle assessments!)

So is the Korean report right? I did some digging.

Summary:

• It is true that plastics straws are better on some measures (vs paper straws) e.g. climate change impact.

• However, alternatives like wheat straws (which was not studied by the Korean report) are better.

• And paper straws still degrade much quicker than plastics (so they won't get eaten by turtles).

(Read on for the full details and sources!)

I couldn't find the actual report/study, but here's an accessible news coverage, which highlights some key findings from the Korean report:

• Conventional plastic straws had the smallest [environmental] impact in 10 of the 16 categories, including climate change, acidification, particulate matter and human toxicity.

• On carcinogenic impact – paper scored 6.33× (worse than) conventional plastic, biodegradable plastic 3.34× worse, and bio-PE 16.18× worse. (This is a measure of waste during the manufacturing process, not cancer risk to anyone using a straw.)

• Bio-PE was the worst overall and despite being plant-based, it does not biodegrade. ("Bio-PE is made from renewable plant-based sources such as sugarcane, but it is chemically identical to conventional polyethylene and does not biodegrade. It is distinct from biodegradable plastic.")

• Straws of every material are effectively unrecyclable. They are too small for sorting facilities, and coatings and adhesives get in the way.

To note, the Korean report is a government commissioned study. But we can find academic/peer-reviewed studies to compare – for example this 2025 study from Greece.

The findings (from the Greek study) are consistent with the Korean study (paper and bioplastics are worse), but it also included wheat straws (which fared better than plastics):

• Wheat straws had the lowest overall environmental impact and a climate-change result of 0.0568 kg CO2 equivalent per year.

• Plastic cost least, at €0.30 yearly, with a reported climate impact of 0.084 kg CO2 equivalent.

• Paper and bioplastic reached up to 2.5 times plastic’s climate impact.

• Washing accounted for about 85% of metal straws’ annual climate impact, around 0.169 kg CO2 equivalent.

One thing the Korean study didn't seem to highlight, is the relative biodegradability of the paper straws.

This 2024 study does, and reports that paper straws lost 25–50% of their mass in 16 weeks, while plastic straws showed no measurable mass loss.

Lidia Poët & measuring criminals' skulls

I've been watching The Law According to Lidia Poët on Netflix. In season 2 episode 3, a serial killer is murdering women in Turin.

Lidia meets a famous professor Cesare Lombroso, who claims he can identify criminals by the shape of their skulls. Of course, he thinks Lidia an intellectual inferior, and has full confidence in his theories.

Without any spoilers: basically someone has taken Lombroso's theories to the extreme, and is killing off women who purportedly are inclined to criminality – based on their skulls.

Did some digging, and Cesare Lombroso was indeed a real person, who had those theories (that skull characteristics are associated with criminal behaviour).

In fact, here's one of his papers: “Illustrative Studies in Criminal Anthropology”, from 1891.

For today's eyes, it’s a strange read.

Lombroso doesn't just talk about skulls – he says "born criminals" have distinguishable walks, gestures, sense of smell, taste, and other characteristics (compared to "occasional criminals").

An excerpt:

Walk.– A study which I have made with Perachia, shows us that, contrary to the case of normal men, the step of the left foot of criminals is generally longer than that of the right; besides they turn off from the line of the axis more to the right than to the left; their left foot, on being placed on the ground, forms with this line an angle of deviation more pronounced than the angle formed by their right foot ; all these characteristics are very often found among epileptic

He attributes this distinction to natural selection.

I encourage you to scan through the paper. Strange, but fascinating.

The Netflix episode presents a thought experiment: if we knew someone would commit a crime, is it moral to take pre-emptive action? As we know, Lombroso's theories didn't stand up to scientific scrutiny. So the answer is of course "the killer was wrong and an extremist". And if you could predict someone's future behaviour? Well that's explored in Minority Report and other stories!

Measuring small things (the "zeptoverse")

This physics finding reported on the BBC sounds very cool:

Scientists have picked up signals from the smallest scale of nature ever explored – 100 billion times smaller than an atom.

A world so small that some physicists have nicknamed it the zeptoverse.

Sounds mind boggling.

And apparently this is the actual research paper that reports the findings. It's obviously way above my understanding, but cool to "see" nonetheless!

Is "Theracurmin nature's ibuprofen"?

Saw this Facebook post, by iHerb featuring Dr Michael Murray . He was giving his take on natural medication, and said that "Theracurmin is nature's ibuprofen".

Did a bit of digging, and yes – the claim does seems to have a good basis.

First of all, what is theracurmin? In short, theracurmin is processed version of turmeric / curcumin that your body can absorb better. So it's pretty natural, but you can't just get theracurmin directly from any "normal" food.

Next, what does theracurmin do?

This study (a systematic review) examined the efficacy of curcuma longa (Theracurmin is a specific formulation of this) in relieving pain. It found that curcuma longa supplementation had similar effects to medication like Ibuprofen in reducing pain.

Another study (an umbrella review) found that curcumin supplementation had similar pain relieving effects to medications like Ibuprofen, but was more favourable for gastrointestinal and cardiovascular issues.

The catch is that the effects of curcumin (formulations like Theracurmin) only materialise after a few weeks of supplementation.

So if you have a headache, you can pop an Ibuprofen, but a Theracurmin pill won't help.

But if you have chronic pain from arthritis or something, then regular Theracurmin supplements may help.

Enola Holmes investigates death of matchbox factory girls

In her first case (in the movies), Enola Holmes solves the case – the dying matchbox factory girls. She works alongside Sarah Chapman to uncover the truth: phosphorus from the matches are causing the workers to become ill and die.

In this scene, we see the workers striking after learning about the phosphorus poisoning:

Enola Holmes and Sarah Chapman won the battle for truth.#enolaholmes2 #losangeles #shorts

As it turns out, the events are based on a real story – the 1888 Bryant & May strike.

And this paper looks into the medical reasons behind the workers' poisoning.

The researcher analyses historical reports and compares them with known chemistry, and concludes that the workers suffered from "phossy jaw".

From the credo summary:

the epidemic lasted from about 1858 to 1906, caused painful exposed jawbone, and had reported mortality of 20%. Workers handling match materials as mixers, dippers, and boxers were affected in relation to exposure duration ... yellow phosphorus could react with water, carbon dioxide, and amino acids such as lysine (a protein building block) in the body, producing amino bisphosphonates (bone-affecting chemicals) resembling alendronate and pamidronate. The article says this explains the similarity to modern bisphosphonate-associated osteonecrosis (death of bone tissue).

In real life, there was no Enola Holmes – but there was Sarah Chapman and other workers who stood up for their rights.

Healthy corals can help bleached corals?

Coral bleaching is when the corals get stressed and lose their algae. They turn white and start to starve, and can eventually die.

So, I was happy to see this cool paper shared on Facebook.

The credo summary is helpful. The TLDR:

Brief contact with a healthy coral can restore a bleached coral by quickly supplying the tiny partners it needs to survive. The approach worked only when the corals shared the same genetic type.

Sounds like it's still somewhat "early stages" and not implemented at a large scale, but it sounds promising.

AI doesn't help us self diagnose -- yet!

Saw this paper on another board. From what I gather, the paper finds that ai chatbots don't help patients make accurate diagnoses or treatment solutions (vs their normal / non-ai information sources).

With model assistance, participants identified relevant conditions in fewer than 34.5% of cases, doing worse than controls; care choices were correct in fewer than 44.2%, with no significant improvement over controls. [Credo tldr]

I don't think this means "ai isn't helpful at all" e.g. doctors obviously use it as an aid. And I imagine using a combination of chatbots and other info gathering methods can increase efficiency (if not accuracy).

But the evidence (from the paper) is -- using ai can't replace a good ol' doctor's visit -- just yet!

Testing anxiety relieving effects of crystals

Came across this neat study from another board:

Placebo effects in alternative medical treatments for anxiety: false hope or healing potential?

The setup:

The randomized controlled study ... included 138 nonclinical adults: 70 crystal believers and 68 nonbelievers. Within each belief group, participants received rose quartz or a visually similar glass stone, then followed a 14-day routine. Anxiety was measured before and afterward ...

The findings:

anxiety scores declined among believers, whether they received rose quartz or the glass stone; nonbelievers showed no reliable improvement. Crystal users did not improve more than placebo users ... Prior beliefs strongly predicted perceived efficacy and symptom change; pre-study expectations predicted 87.7% of post-study belief ratings.

(Above from the credo summary)

So not surprisingly, crystals don't inherently reduce anxiety.

Hinokami Kagura (sun breathing)

In Demon Slayer, Tanjiro's special technique is sun breathing. With the skill, Tanjiro is able to momentarily up with power/speed, sending flames through his body and blade.

Tanjiro does it again😱 Thunder breathing and Hinokami Kagura | Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba

Breathing techniques do exist e.g. for meditation or sports. But is there an actual breathing technique that comes close to the Hinokami Kagura?

This paper explores a Tibetan meditation technique – called g-Tummo (or "inner fire" breathing) – that could be a candidate.

Check out the credo summary to see how the researchers carried out the experiment and what they found.

But briefly, they found that seasoned Tibetan meditators were able to raise their body temperature (to up to 38 degrees) through a combination of a breathing technique and mental visualisation.

It's not entirely clear to me why the practitioners do this, but it sounds like raising body temperature is part of the ritual to heighten mental concentration somehow.

Not quite Hinokami Kagura, but with some similarities – and cool nonetheless.

Do polygraph tests work?

Came across this interesting paper on polygraph tests.

Researchers examined historical cases of wrongful conviction -- where accused was found guilty, but later cleared using DNA evidence. The researchers looked at whether a polygraph test was used, and if so, whether the test got it wrong (said person was lying, when in fact the person was telling the truth).

What did they find? That "polygraphs produced unreliable conclusions in about 50 to 65 percent of the cases they examined".

More specifically, they found:

• Polygraph said "lying" (but person actually truthful): 46.8% (n = 59)

• Polygraph said "truthful" (and person indeed truthful): 31.7% (n = 40)

• Inconclusive: 8.7% (n = 11)

• Unknown / Unconfirmed: 12.7% (n = 16)

So for this universe (of wrongfully convicted persons), the polygraph test got it wrong much more than half the time.