It’s been a hundred years since Tonguska, but we’re still not taking the threat seriously.
Category Archives: Science And Society
We’re Not Ready
It’s been a hundred years since Tonguska, but we’re still not taking the threat seriously.
Hooking Them Early
Behold, Space Camp Barbie. Maybe math isn’t as hard as she thought.
Rewiring Our Brains?
Is the Internet changing the way we think?
Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind isn’t going–so far as I can tell–but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.
It’s anecdotal, but I’ve noticed the same thing. I used to read many more books (and magazines, such as The Economist) than I do now. Almost all of my reading occurs on line, and I am much less able to focus than I used to be. But it’s not clear whether this is an effect of aging, or new habits. More the latter, I suspect.
Criminal Against Humanity, Part Two
More thoughts on James Hansen’s demand of an auto de fe by those in the pay of Big Oil (further cementing the notion that this isn’t science–it’s a religion). No one expects the WARM MONGER’S INQUISITION…
Read the comments.
I do wonder if this is a violation of the Hatch Act.
[Wednesday morning update]
“Criminal Against Humanity”
That’s what Barack Obama, and anyone who supports US ethanol price supports and tariffs against Brazilian imports is.
I agree.
By the way, so are Algore and James Hansen…
“Criminal Against Humanity”
That’s what Barack Obama, and anyone who supports US ethanol price supports and tariffs against Brazilian imports is.
I agree.
By the way, so are Algore and James Hansen…
Deep Misanthropy
Ed Driscoll has some thoughts on haters of humanity, who are now making Hollywood films to convey their views.
Hey, how about if we save the earth by migrating into space?
Somehow, I don’t think they’ll like that, either.
Let’s Hope It’s No Fluke
A cure for cancer from immunotherapy?
Ed Yong, health information manager at Cancer Research UK, said: “It’s very exciting to see a cancer patient being successfully treated using immune cells cloned from his own body. While it’s always good news when anyone with cancer gets the all clear, this treatment will need to be tested in large clinical trials to work out how widely it could be used.”
However, the treatment could prove extremely expensive and scientists say that more research is needed to prove its effectiveness.
On the other hand, it may prove to be not that expensive at all. It seems to me something quite amenable to economies of scale, and reduction of cost through technology advances.
Let’s Hope It’s No Fluke
A cure for cancer from immunotherapy?
Ed Yong, health information manager at Cancer Research UK, said: “It’s very exciting to see a cancer patient being successfully treated using immune cells cloned from his own body. While it’s always good news when anyone with cancer gets the all clear, this treatment will need to be tested in large clinical trials to work out how widely it could be used.”
However, the treatment could prove extremely expensive and scientists say that more research is needed to prove its effectiveness.
On the other hand, it may prove to be not that expensive at all. It seems to me something quite amenable to economies of scale, and reduction of cost through technology advances.