Category Archives: Science and the scientific method

Coffee Break: Advances in Limb Regeneration & Malaria, Plus Science & Politics and a World through the Lens of Tuberculosis

Part the First. Old Experimental Models in Biology Lead to New Knowledge. Developmental Biology began as Embryology. A few of us still kicking remember the transition and miss the holistic approach required to master the material. Early embryological models included sea urchins and salamanders, tadpoles and the chicken. Much useful research was done with these […]

Little Lost Lambda: How Any Randomized Controlled Trial or Opinion Poll Could Be Misleading

How an analytical simplification, of omitting lambda, a measure of inconsistency, can serious distort randomized clinical trial results.

Decades On, SSRIs Remain Mired in Mystery and Debate

Experts worry MAHA could wage a war on SSRIs. But some researchers have long questioned the drugs’ efficacy.

Coffee Break: A Triumph of Gene Editing

Part the First: Gene Editing as a Cure for Genetic Disease. The recent politics of American science has been depressing in the extreme, and last week I promised to cover recent good things in basic and clinical science. I can’t think of anything better than a baby has been treated successfully for a rare, lethal […]

Thinking Being Offloaded to AI Even in Elite Medical Programs

The use of AI is severely degrading competence in advanced medical/biomedical degree programs in elite universities. Patients be warned.

Chemical Exposure from Ultra-Processed Foods May Contribute to Health Issues

Another line of thought on why consumption of ultra-processed foods is correlated with poor health outcomes.

Archeologists Join Geologists in the Quest to Define the Age of Humans

A new archeology is being developed based on evidence of human activity in the Earth’s sedimentary record, and archeologists are helping to define the Anthropocene as a new stage in the geological record.

Coffee Break: Notes on Pandemic Responses, a Human Pathogen that Eats the Plastic of Medical Devices, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services Speaks Out

Part the First: Retrospective Notes on a Pandemic. BMJ, formerly known as the British Medical Journal, has recently published two interesting pieces on COVID-19. The first is an analysis by Anthony Costello, who was previously Director of Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health at the World Heath Organization: UK decision not to suppress covid raises questions […]

Forensic Science Faces an Identity Crisis

To avoid bias, should scientists direct evidence collection from a crime scene? Or should they stay removed from it?

Coffee Break: More on the Disruption of American Science and Good News on Intranasal Viruses to Combat Respiratory Viruses

Part the First. A Few Words in Response to the Excellent Commentariat of Naked Capitalism. No one knows better than I that funding of science in the United States is hit or miss. My overall average flirts with the Mendoza Line, which is not so bad. For most I do not miss the grant treadmill/lottery, […]

Trump Team’s $500 Million Bet on Old Vaccine Technology Puzzles Scientists

Some raised eyebrows over a Trump Administration big spend for a possible flu vaccine.

On the Practical Importance of Basic Research for Human Health

I was listening to the journalist Ryan Grim of Drop Site News last week as he talked briefly about his wife’s ongoing cancer treatment. His short gloss was directly on point, and it motivated me to dig deep in my archives on the history of research on breast cancer and how one never knows what […]

The Ripple Effects of Shrinking U.S. Science

Severe cuts in science research funding will cause a complex cascade of effects across the United States and the world.

What Are the Health Impacts of Plastic?

Scientists are investigating how plastic additives and microplastics affect our bodies, and are worried about what they’ve learned so far