Contributor

B. David Zarley

Senior Staff Writer

Contact

b.david@freethink.com

B. David Zarley is a senior staff writer for Freethink, where he covers health and medicine, including infectious disease, psychedelic research, mental health, and the brain. A graduate of SUNY Fredonia, his work has also appeared in The Atlantic, The Verge, Jezebel, Frieze, Sports Illustrated, VICE, Paste Magazine, and numerous other publications. He lives in Chicago and can be reached via Signal by request. Send him story ideas!

$futuristic Excel collage$

Excel may make chatbots much more useful

Math and logic are a weakness for chatbot AIs like GPT-4. Access to Excel may help change that.

B. David Zarley

Virology

Viruses cause 200+ diseases. This one drug may be able to treat them all.

New Zealand-based startup Kimer Med wants to create an antiviral that would be effective against many known viruses — and unknown.

B. David Zarley

Oceans

Drone discovers weird underwater volcano off California

An un-crewed sailing drone has discovered an unusually shaped underwater volcano, called a seamount, off California.

B. David Zarley

Genetics

Harvard geneticists create an organism that is immune to all viruses

Researchers at the Harvard lab of George Church have genetically engineered E. coli resistant to viral infection.

B. David Zarley

Some ChatGPT plugins are coming very soon

OpenAI has announced that ChatGPT plugins, including ones for shopping, travel planning, and workflow optimization, will be rolling out soon.

B. David Zarley

Medicine

Wristband device helps to control Tourette’s tics in clinical trial

A new wrist-worn device from the University of Nottingham uses electrical pulses to help curb Tourette syndrome symptoms.

B. David Zarley

Virology

Bird flu is everywhere. Are the vaccines ready?

As avian influenza continues to devastate the bird population and jump into mammals, scientists are preparing to protect two important groups.

B. David Zarley

Here’s how to get the best prompts for ChatGPT and image-generating AI

Using these basics of prompt engineering, you can get the most out of generative AI.

B. David Zarley

image of Venus with a volcanic region highlighted

Outer Space

Venus may have currently active volcanoes

Old images from NASA’s Magellan mission may have revealed that Venus, a close analogue to Earth, has volcanic activity.

B. David Zarley

Urban Living

Watch: London’s “rolling bridge”

London’s unique Cody Dock “rolling bridge” can be moved by hand winches.

B. David Zarley