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Tag: covid-19

it always pays to check before you share

November 19, 2020 | Alison | critical thinking, nature of science

Back in 2008, Dr Anthony Fauci (yes, that Dr Fauci) co-authored a paper that examined the interplay between influenza infection and secondary bacterial infection in mortality from the “Spanish flu¹” pandemic of 1918-19. He and his colleagues examined tissue samples taken during autopsies at the time of the pandemic, using their findings plus notes taken during […]

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it’s “only” a 1% death rate

August 31, 2020 | Alison | critical thinking, science and society

I’m seeing a bit of that phrase in my social media feeds at the moment, in relation to covid-19. In practice, this would mean that if everyone in New Zealand were to catch the virus eventually, that would be 50,000 people dead.  The ‘normal’ annual all-cause mortality in this country is around 33,000. It’s been […]

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covid myths & politics

August 10, 2020 | Alison | critical thinking, science and society, Uncategorised

This year’s election campaign in New Zealand has attracted a number of “fringe” parties, at least some of whose supporters seem to have a fairly tenuous hold on reality and a highly flexible approach to the truth. I mean, how else could one describe some of those affiliated with the NZPP/Advance coalition, whose members & […]

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be safe, be kind, care for each other

March 23, 2020 | Alison | communication

The following message was posted on our local community page. I’m sharing it – with permission from the author – because I think it needs to be heard far & wide. Be kind, people; be thoughtful; be considerate; be community-minded – and help our children to grow to be like this too. Kia kaha koutou. […]

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Swan girl - portrait of the author as a young scientist This blog in response to comments from secondary school biology teachers. I hope to use it as a way of encouraging critical thinking, looking at scientific papers that are relevant to the Level 3 curriculum and to Scholarship.

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