Resisting efficiency's overreachOptimal Illusions: The False Promise of Optimization Coco Krumme Riverhead Books, 2023. 256 pp.

Society's obsession with optimization has a cost, argues a mathematical modeler.

Calculating the futureQuantum Supremacy: How the Quantum Computer Revolution Will Change Everything Michio Kaku Doubleday, 2023. 352 pp.

A quantum computing primer offers insights into the technology's most promising potential applications.

Toward a more inclusive internetThe Equality Machine Orly Lobel PublicAffairs, 2022. 368 pp.

Expecting perfection impedes progress in the march toward digital equality, argues a legal scholar.

The virtual worlds of the metaverseThe Metaverse: And How It Will Revolutionize Everything Matthew Ball Liveright, 2022. 352 pp.

An immersive internet is just around the corner, for better or worse.

The lasting legacy of John von NeumannThe Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann Ananyo Bhattacharya Norton, 2022. 368 pp.

A new biography seeks to reacquaint readers with the once widely celebrated scientist.

Blockchains as a means to promote privacy protecting, access availing, incentive increasing, ELSI lessening DNA databases.

Not all blockchains are created equal, and many cannot accommodate all of the primary characteristics of big data: Variety, Velocity, Volume and Veracity. Currently, public blockchains are slow and clunky, it can be expensive to keep up with the velocity of genomic data production. Further, the transparent and universally accessible nature of public blockchain doesn't necessarily accommodate all of the variety of sequence data, including very private information. Bespoke private permissioned blockchains, however, can be created to optimally accommodate all of the big data features of genomic data. Further, private permissioned chains can be implemented to both protect the privacy and security of the genetic information therein, while also providing access to researchers. An NFT marketplace associated with that private chain can provide the discretized sale of anonymous and encrypted data sets while also incentivizing individuals to share their data through payments mediated by smart contracts. Private blockchains can provide a transparent chain of custody for each use of the customers' data, and validation that this data is not corrupted. However, even with all of these benefits there remain some concerns with the implementation of this new technology including the ethical, legal and social implications typically associated with DNA databases.

Cyberbiosecurity: An Emerging Field that has Ethical Implications for Clinical Neuroscience.

Cyberbiosecurity is an emerging field that relates to the intersection of cybersecurity and the clinical and research practice in the biosciences. Beyond the concerns that usually arise in the areas of genomics, this paper highlights ethical concerns raised by cyberbiosecurity in clinical neuroscience. These concerns relate not only to the privacy of the data collected by imaging devices, but also the concern that patients using various stimulatory devices can be harmed by a hacker who either obfuscates the outputs or who interferes with the stimulatory process. The paper offers some suggestions as to how to rectify these increasingly dire concerns.

Establishing a Global Standard for Wearable Devices in Sport and Exercise Medicine: Perspectives from Academic and Industry Stakeholders.

Millions of consumer sport and fitness wearables (CSFWs) are used worldwide, and millions of datapoints are generated by each device. Moreover, these numbers are rapidly growing, and they contain a heterogeneity of devices, data types, and contexts for data collection. Companies and consumers would benefit from guiding standards on device quality and data formats. To address this growing need, we convened a virtual panel of industry and academic stakeholders, and this manuscript summarizes the outcomes of the discussion. Our objectives were to identify (1) key facilitators of and barriers to participation by CSFW manufacturers in guiding standards and (2) stakeholder priorities. The venues were the Yale Center for Biomedical Data Science Digital Health Monthly Seminar Series (62 participants) and the New England Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting (59 participants). In the discussion, stakeholders outlined both facilitators of (e.g., commercial return on investment in device quality, lucrative research partnerships, and transparent and multilevel evaluation of device quality) and barriers (e.g., competitive advantage conflict, lack of flexibility in previously developed devices) to participation in guiding standards. There was general agreement to adopt Keadle et al.'s standard pathway for testing devices (i.e., benchtop, laboratory, field-based, implementation) without consensus on the prioritization of these steps. Overall, there was enthusiasm not to add prescriptive or regulatory steps, but instead create a networking hub that connects companies to consumers and researchers for flexible guidance navigating the heterogeneity, multi-tiered development, dynamicity, and nebulousness of the CSFW field.