Seems like everyoneâs got a DIY project these days. Your neighborâs unending motorcycle restoration. Your coworkerâs knitted cat sweater. Your cousinâs home-brewed... Prozac? Just the thing for your next family reunion.
Seeking to bypass rising costs, some folks are turning to online forums that lay out how to hack together a garage pharma lab. With the help of off-the-shelf components and free software, many DIYers are flouting conventionâand, often, lawsâto concoct everything from homemade antiseptics, to makeshift epipens, to bathtub Ozempic (side effects may include nausea and felony indictment).
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Homegrown Pfizers are just the beginning. Increasingly, technology is helping ordinary people take on the role of expertâand not everything theyâre doing is illegal. Who needs a pro when you can be your own web developer, engineer, or data analyst? You could even be your own lawyerâwhich is handy if Big Pharma decides to sue.
But having the right tools and knowledge is only part of the expert equation. It also takes serious problem-solving skills to help you navigate unfamiliar terrain. Luckily, you can start building those skills right now, without a prescription, on Brilliant. |
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đ B-day P-value. How special is your special day? This interactive chart makes finding out a piece of cake. |
đ True blue. Your a-cyan-ment: try to teal the difference between blue and green. |
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The first puzzle may help you think through the second. Submit answers to one or both. Happy puzzling! |
Youâre a basketball coach, preparing your defense for the big game against the Spiders. On each play, you can either set your defense to guard the layup (2 pts) or the three-pointer (3 pts). Historically, the Spiders try for layups 60% of the time, and three-pointers 40% of the time.
If they try the layup, it goes in 30% of the time if you defend it, and 90% of the time if you donât.
Likewise, if they try the three-pointer, it goes in 25% of the time if you defend it, and 50% of the time if you donât.
If youâre trying to minimize the amount of points the Spiders score per play, how often should you set up to defend the three-pointer? |
Seeing your strategy, the Spiders adjust theirs to get an edge. Now, youâre the one who needs to switch things up! Given that the shot percentages are what they are, and knowing that the Spiders will counter-adjust to whatever new strategy you chooseâwhat should your new strategy be? âšâš
How often should you set up to defend the three-pointer versus guarding the layup?
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Weâll randomly choose one correct respondent to each puzzle for a shout-out in next monthâs email. |
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September Puzzle Solutions |
Congrats to Purnima, our winner for Puzzle 1, and Paul D., our winner for Puzzle 2!
The key to both problems was finding the probability of seeing no open spaces until a given point. In addition, the second problem constrained your strategy to picking a threshold distance before which you would not park, and after which you would take the first available spot. For the full argument, see our solution here.
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Congratulations to Augustâs winner, Jelmer H!
The key to Augustâs puzzle was finding the probability distribution for the number of patients in a given day, then accumulate it until more than 99% of possible days were accounted for. For the full argument, see our solution here.
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âI am always doing what I cannot do yet, âšin order to learn how to do it.â |
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