Words about science and hiking
The short answer is no. Although nearly all plants contain antimicrobial compounds, these compounds are present only at low concentrations. Diet certainly influences microbiome composition. But this influence works through the availability of foods that different bacteria prefer. “Food antibiotics” are not a thing. Sloppy health journalists are responsible for the confusion. They often call Read More …
As a lifelong devotee of fermented malt beverages it pains me to say that this is not a great idea. Why? Because: All drugs are poisons Alcohol is also a poison Mixing two poisons is never going to lead to a good outcome. More specifically, the same enzymes that break down alcohol in the liver often either Read More …
High contagion in a world of low trust The death of Dr. Li Wenliang was not just a human tragedy. The man was a genuine hero, a doctor felled by a disease contracted from a patient. The practice of medicine can be overly transactional, more focused on the acquisition of wealth than the relief of suffering. Read More …
I awoke to a still, clear morning, anxious to get up and get hiking. Another 13 miles or so and I would reach the end of my hike at I-40, meet up with my brother, and begin to wallow in the comforts of civilization once again. I enjoy long hikes. That’s why I keep doing Read More …
From Quora: Viruses have not evolved to become “resistant” to vaccines the way that bacteria have evolved to become resistant to antibiotics. Vaccines don’t attack viruses directly, they just prime our immune systems to do so. Our immune systems and viruses have been battling it out for hundreds of millions of years, and the likelihood Read More …
It’s not unusual to see headlines like this in health journalism: Antibiotic Resistance Is Now as Big a Threat as Climate Change To be fair, the article itself is not nearly so hysterical; in fact it doesn’t even mention climate change. Yet some editor thinks that this nonsense is an appropriate way to summarize the Read More …
Once in a while you see an idea that is both so brilliant and so obvious that you just have to smack your head and ask “Why has no one thought of this before? Why didn’t I think of it?”. There’s a general consensus that broad-spectrum antibiotics are over-used. The consequences are many and egregious: Read More …
One of the ways that science journalism continually fails the public is by ignoring the Valley of Death that lies between discovery and product development. The problem is especially acute in healthcare, where the maddening complexity and unpredictability of clinical responses dooms most “breakthroughs” to failure. The problem is less ignorance on the part of Read More …
Today’s sci journo fail is a bonus entry – it is also a history fail. The title, “COLONIALISTS ARE COMING FOR BLOOD—LITERALLY” pretty well sums up the argument: taking blood samples for therapeutic and diagnostic development purposes is exactly the same as stealing diamonds, gold, timber, arable land and people from poorer countries. Please. Blood Read More …
Phage therapy isn’t ever going to be the cure-all envisioned by overly-enthusiastic science writers. But it doesn’t have to be. Curing some patients of some indications is a noble and worthy goal in and of itself. And maybe when we learn to use phage therapy in limited applications, we can start thinking about tackling sepsis Read More …