Dr Sylvia Benjamin

Happy Easter to everybody celebrating! ✝️🐣 Wishing you a warm and peaceful day. #EasterSunday

The lawn outside the Radcliffe Camera had a trim today 🌱 No, it’s not AI. Designed and carefully cut by James from our University Parks Estates team. 📷 Instagram | Jimigk13

The astronomical start of spring is here 🌸🌼 📷 Instagram | ObservingOxford, UmairAtOxford, @magdalenoxford & Judy.Martin46 #SpringEquinox

Magnolia moments in Oxford 🌸 Instagram | UmairAtOxford

Today in Oxford, the sun will set at 18:01, and it won’t set before 18:00 again until Tuesday 21 October. Spring is coming 🌸 🎬 Instagram | Juncao_Oxford

The number of cancer deaths worldwide has more than doubled since the 1980s. Does that mean we're losing the fight against cancer? Not necessarily, because it depends on how you measure it. On this chart, you can see three ways to look at the same data. The red line shows the total number of cancer deaths. It has increased by about 120%, but this measure doesn't account for the fact that the world's population has also grown enormously over this period. Another approach is to look at the death rate: the number of cancer deaths divided by the total population. That's the brown line, called the crude cancer death rate. It has increased too, but much less — around 20%. But there's still a problem: the world's population has been getting older. Cancer is mostly a disease of old age, so even per capita, we'd expect more cancer deaths simply because there are more older people than before. That's where the method of “age standardization” comes in. It's a way of asking: what would the cancer death rate look like if the age structure of the population hadn't changed? The blue line shows this age-standardized rate: it's fallen by about 25%. At any given age, people are now less likely to die of cancer than they were in the 1980s. The same underlying data gives us three different pictures. The absolute number of deaths is up; the crude rate is up slightly; the age-standardized rate is down. None of these are inaccurate, but they answer different questions. Age standardization is one of the most important statistical methods for making sense of health data. Without it, population aging can hide progress or mask problems.

You wonder why I promote birds? Here's an example... a Bar Tailed Godwit flying 8,425 miles continually for 11 days straight, from one end of the world to the other, without stopping or feeding... that is truly incredible! 😲😍🐦

90% of students “read” research papers and still can’t explain them….This is the method I use anytime I lead a Journal Club. I can tell in 30 seconds if you actually understood a research paper…. Most people don’t…. They “read” it… Then they can’t explain the question, the method, or the point. Here’s the reading method researchers are trained to use: The Three-Pass Method. ⸻ ★ PASS 1 (5–10 minutes) Get the map, not the details Read only: → Title → Abstract + intro → Section headings → Conclusion → References (quick glance) By the end, you should be able to say: ↳ What kind of paper is this ↳ What problem is it solving ↳ What are the main contributions ↳ Do the assumptions seem reasonable ↳ Is it worth your time If the answer is “no,” stop here. That’s not quitting. That’s focus. ⸻ ★ PASS 2 (up to 1 hour) Understand the argument Now read with a pen. Your job is to track: → What claim are they making → What evidence supports it → What figures/graphs prove it Study the visuals like your reputation depends on it: ↳ Are axes labeled ↳ Are error bars shown ↳ Do the results actually justify the conclusion At the end of pass 2, you should be able to explain the paper out loud to a friend. No notes. If you can’t, you don’t own it yet. ⸻ ★ PASS 3 (the “real researcher” pass) Rebuild the paper in your head This is the move that separates “I read it” from “I understand it.” Try to recreate the work mentally: → Why this method and not another → What assumptions are hiding in plain sight → What would break if one assumption fails → What would you change if you ran the study By the end, you should be able to reconstruct the whole paper from memory, including strengths and weak spots. ⸻ 💬 What trips you up the most when reading papers? ♻️ Repost if you know someone drowning in PDFs.

The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people with limited knowledge or competence in a specific area greatly overestimate their own abilities. Conversely, highly skilled individuals often underestimate their relative competence, assuming tasks that are easy for them are similarly easy for others.

What not many people realise about UK student loans is that earners in the middle of the salary range end up paying back far more than either lower or higher earners, as they earn enough to pay the loan and interest back before the 30 year cut off, but not enough to pay it off early before the interest balloons. Someone earning £70k ends up paying almost double someone on £150k.

Mathematics. "The Zero's Journey." By Grant Snider, @grantdraws, incidentalcomics.com, Used with permission.

Wonderful rule of thumb: Don't count your age in days, count your age in the days worth remembering.

Wind, rain, snow, fun #London #Winter #Run yesterday in aid of the wonderful work of @CRUK I fyou can please donate here : winterrun.co.uk/fundraisers/Sy… #cancer #exercise #research

@Docfrosh the doctor might not be a 'he' .....

A lot of difference, the doctor knows the basics and pathophysiology, he knows when the ChatGPT might be mixing things up and have a better prompting.

A doctor using ChatGPT and you using ChatGPT is not the same, I cannot continue to over emphasize on this

Your regular friendly reminder: These four datasets all have the same mean, median, and variance. Moral of the story: Always visualize your data! [Link below.]

How long should a written sentence be?

Happy Birthday to The Shipping Forecast. Saving lives for 102 years.

So priviledged to have worked alongside Jo to save and improve lives #blood #ttp #platelets #ADAMTS13 #plasma #apheresis #blooducation #nhsbt readingchronicle.co.uk/news/25727120.…

Wave Extrapolation

Are you passionate about something? Do you know something inside out where others barely give it a glance? Prints: redbubble.com/shop/ap/169383…