You’ve probably come across the name Kary Mullis recently, via social media. He’s best remembered for his invention (along with a team of other researchers) of the Polymerase Chain Reaction, or PCR for short (and for many biology students was probably immortalised in their memories via this earworm of an advertisement¹). This turned out to […]
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I first wrote this post back in 2017 during a mumps outbreak in my local area. Now, of course, much of the media attention is focused on the ongoing tragedy that is the measles epidemic in Samoa, with 44 dead as of today and nearly 4,000 having contracted the illness so far. The anti-vaccine activists […]
Continue readingPhoto Credit: Content Providers(s): CDC/James Hicks – This media comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention‘s Public Health Image Library (PHIL), with identification number #3265. A couple of days ago newsroom published an article about smallpox, by Farah Hancock. It’s a very good story that covers the nature of smallpox and the history of efforts to develop a […]
Continue readingOver the last few years, OracA has written quite a bit about the so-called 'right to try' legislation that has been enacted in many US states – and, as this post of his describes, will now most likely become a thing at the federal level. (I say "most likely", given President Trump's history of wanting to […]
Continue reading'Raw water' – the latest foolish fad to hit people's screens, pockets, & in some instances I'd guess their toilet paper expenditure as well. I first heard of this particular litre of woo when I read an article in the New York Times with the headline: Unfiltered Fervor: the rush to get off the water […]
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That's the title of this excellent article by Jennings Brown, and I urge you to go and read the whole thing. It's the tale of perhaps the last 3 people in the US who are still alive because they are still living in iron lungs. It's a story of courage and endurance that lets them […]
Continue readingA recent FB post from Stuff discussed the rising concerns around the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. (This is something that Siouxsie Wiles has often written about: here and here, for example; her excellent book on the subject is reviewed here.) Fairly predictably, it didn't take long for the proponents of essential oils to turn up, soon to be joined by the usual […]
Continue readingLike another, far more significant, blogger, I seem to be spending a bit of time on the subject of vaccines & vaccinations. But – given the mumps outbreaks in Auckland & Waikato, and the measles epidemic in Romania & other countries in Europe – it's a subject worth more than one look. As a result […]
Continue readingIn the Spinoff today, there's an OP on the … 'alternative' … views of a member of our local City Council. It's worth a read. I knew that the councillor was against the use of community water fluoridation (CWF) as a public health measure, but going by various postings she's made in social media, we […]
Continue readingI love words (to the extent that I've been known to peruse dictionaries for pleasure). The Story of English was one of my favourite TV programs, back (long way back) in the day. So of course when I saw positive reviews for Robert Macfarlane's book, Landmarks, of course I had to get hold of a […]
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