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.
Read more...Category Archives: Science and the scientific method
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 […]
Read more...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.
Read more...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.
Read more...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.
Read more...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 […]
Read more...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?
Read more...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, […]
Read more...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.
Read more...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 […]
Read more...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.
Read more...Coffee Break: The Attack on Scientists and Scientific Research Continues, Plus One Great Result on a Vaccine That Prevents Cancer
Part the First. Convergence and Consensus in Science, or and how to interpret scientific results in context. From Holden Thorp, the Editor-in-Chief of Science: Kathleen Hall Jamieson believes that scientists need to talk…about convergent evidence. “Unlike declarations that a consensus exists, a claim that convergent evidence exists honors science’s norms of critique and correction by […]
Read more...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
Read more...China Leapfrogging the U.S. in Tech Innovation
Some sobering facts on how China is outstripping the US in science and technology advances.
Read more...Coffee Break: The Current State of Science During Trump v.2.0 Plus One Signal Advance
As someone who has spent most of his working life as a scientific worker and later as an academic scientist, graduate supervisor, teacher, grant reviewer, and administrator, the current devastation being visited upon my colleagues and their institutions is sickening. I have never thought my work was more useful or more important than anyone else’s. […]
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