Sherlock Holmes

In this paper I discuss the first "multi-messenger" observations of a binary neutron star merger and kilonova. These observations, touted as "revolutionary," included both gravitational-wave and electromagnetic observations of a single source. I draw on analogies between astrophysics and historical sciences (e.g., paleontology) to explain the significance of this for (gravitational-wave) astrophysics. In particular, I argue that having independent lines of evidence about a target system enables the use of argumentative strategies-the "Sherlock Holmes" method and consilience-that help overcome the key challenges astrophysics faces as an observational and historical science...

Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, was an experienced physician who treated gouty patients. A gouty character appears in The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter, a Sherlock Holmes novel. This offers the possibility of discussing gout from the peculiar perspective of a medical writer in light of the historical-medical context of the time. This study was conducted using Conan Doyle's autobiographical, scientific, and literary primary sources, as well as past and current medical literature...

We investigated whether increased perceptual processing difficulty during reading or listening to a Sherlock Holmes novella impacts mind wandering as well as text comprehension. We presented 175 participants with a novella in either a visual or an auditory presentation format and probed their thoughts and motivational states from time to time during reading/listening. For half of the participants in each presentation-format condition (visual or auditory), the story was superimposed by Gaussian noise. For both presentation formats, the participants who were exposed to noise while processing the story mind-wandered more and performed worse in a later comprehension test than the participants who processed the story without added noise...

Rapid detection of infectious and zoonotic diseases is very important for pathogen identification and infection control. Molecular diagnostic assays are well-known for high accuracy and sensitivity; however, conventional methods such as real-time PCR may require professional instruments and operations, preventing their wide applications in scenarios including animal quarantine. The recently developed CRISPR diagnostic (CRISPR-Dx) methods, employing the trans-cleavage activities of either Cas12 (e.g., HOLMES) or Cas13 (e...

The analogies between clinical method and science of investigation are present in great measure in literature. Both the doctor and the detective have, as the main purpose of their action, the identification of the culprit of an abnormal and dangerous situation (the diagnosis of the disease on the one hand, the identification of the criminal on the other). Hence the idea of proposing the prototype of the modern investigator, Sherlock Holmes, as a travel companion in evidence-based medicine. Deduction, induction and abduction: these are the means available to investigators and doctors to solve the cases that arise before them...

Children's mystery and detective fiction has often reflected cultural and societal changes, introducing the concept of "girl power" as early as the first half of the twentieth century. This article compares the "girl sleuth" narrative in Nancy Springer's The Case of the Missing Marquess (2006) and the "super-sleuth" schema in the film adaptation Enola Holmes (2020). Relying on cognitive criticism, the analysis focuses on the conceptual properties of mystery and detective narratives as well as the strategies of detection employed by the girl sleuth to distinguish between the synchronous/inclusive models of empowerment found in children's mysteries and the transient/exclusive ones in super-sleuth action-adventure adaptations...

"Chemistry is fun because you feel like Sherlock Holmes, looking at small details, being precise, making hypothesis and challenging yourself to see if you are right or not … My motto is the chances of succeeding in the lab are higher if you are a team player and a highly motivated and hard-working person …" Find out more about Alicia Casitas in her Introducing … Profile.

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Median arcuate ligament syndrome (MALS), also known as celiac artery compression syndrome, is a rare gastrointestinal condition with an estimated incidence of 2 per 100 000 population. Predominantly in female patients, this syndrome is characterized by the compression of the celiac artery at its origin from the aorta by the median arcuate ligament, which at the same time is entrapping the celiac plexus, causing upper abdominal pain, notably postprandial pain, as well as nausea, vomiting, food aversion, and weight loss...

There remains considerable debate as to what are the core traits of psychopathy. One approach to addressing this question is to identify the traits that are present in persons said to be actual or even prototypic examples of psychopathy. Ted Bundy, Clyde Barrow, Bernie Madoff, James Bond, Chuck Yeager, and Sherlock Holmes have all been described as being a psychopath. The current study conducted nine data collections, obtaining ratings on these six persons. Biographical summaries of each person were provided...

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The central dogma enunciated by Francis Crick and the postulate that sequence defines protein structure and function put forth by Christian Anfinsen (also referred to as the Thermodynamics Hypothesis) are some of the most fundamental tenets of molecular biology that have had very profound influences and implications. They were formulated based on observations (evidence) that was obvious to the preceptors. However, as is well known, exception is the rule in biology and several works in the literature cite examples that appear to challenge these dogmas suggesting that being dogmatic can be perilous...

Evolution moves in mysterious ways. Excretion of waste products by glomerular filtration made perfect sense when life evolved in the ocean. Yet, the associated loss of water and solutes became a problem when life moved onto land: a serious design change was needed and this occurred in the form of ever more powerful tubules that attached to the glomerulus. By reabsorbing typically more than 99% of the glomerular filtrate, the tubules not only minimise urinary losses, but, crucially, also maintain homeostasis: tubular reabsorption and secretion are adjusted so as to maintain an overall balance, in which urine volume and composition matches intake and environmental stressors...

Invited for the cover of this issue are Helfried Neumann, Matthias Beller and co-workers at the Leibniz-Institut für Katalyse e. V., Rostock and Hangzhou Normal University. The image depicts "the case of ketone deuteration" being solved by Sherlock Holmes. Read the full text of the article at 10.1002/chem.202100468.

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Arthur Conan Doyle, who created the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, was a physician. He intimately understood how detectives and physicians share a common goal: never miss a clue. But since Conan Doyle's time, advances in technology took our collective focus away from the art of physical examination to a reliance on imaging. The rheumatologic approach to eye disease often epitomizes this trend. One such example is that gazing through an ophthalmoscope on morning rounds has become a vanishing enterprise...

OBJECTIVE: To understand medical students' motivations for choosing neurology and how applicants conceptualize the field, as this information can be used to enhance interest in neurology and develop educational programs to help identify, support, and recruit future neurologists. BACKGROUND: Applicants to neurology residencies submit personal statements describing themselves and their motivations. Textual analysis of personal statements has been performed in internal medicine and general surgery, but never before in neurology...

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Recent research on the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has exploded around the furin-cleavable polybasic insert PRRAR↓S, found within the spike protein. The insert and the receptor-binding domain, (RBD), are vital clues in the Sherlock Holmes-like investigation into the origin of the virus and in its zoonotic crossover. Based on comparative analysis of the whole genome and the sequence features of the insert and the RBD domain, the bat and the pangolin have been proposed as very likely intermediary hosts. In this study, using the various databases, in-house developed tools, sequence comparisons, structure-guided docking, and molecular dynamics simulations, we cautiously present a fresh, theoretical perspective on the SARS-CoV-2 virus activation and its intermediary host...

Neuroscientists have enjoyed much success in understanding brain functions by constructing brain connectivity networks using data collected under highly controlled experimental settings. However, these experimental settings bear little resemblance to our real-life experience in day-to-day interactions with the surroundings. To address this issue, neuroscientists have been measuring brain activity under natural viewing experiments in which the subjects are given continuous stimuli, such as watching a movie or listening to a story...