Words about science and hiking
Yeah, I know that European history – unless depicted as oppressive domination of people who were just minding their own business (right?) – is old and busted. And the usual answers to this sort of question focus on exciting and violent events: wars, revolutions and the like. Events that lend themselves to narrative storytelling, with Read More …
Phage therapy has been wandering through the wilderness for many decades. It was intensively studied in the 1920’s but fell out of favor in the 1930’s due to inconsistent results and adverse effects. The introduction of sulfa drugs, and then penicillin, rendered it obsolete. But only for a while. Antibiotics were not the end of Read More …
By “book” of course I mean electrons arranged in a booklike configuration on your phone. Actual books are far too heavy, and phones have become indispensable for backcountry travel: book, journal, nature guide, map, compass, trail guide, camera, music player – and phone. The key question is whether you want comfort or challenge in your Read More …
The federal RTT legislation, which you can read here, makes no reference to payments of any kind, except to state that a referring physician can not be compensated directly by the drug manufacturer. Indirect is just fine. I wonder if drug companies could possibly figure out ways to pay doctors indirectly? [1] Payments are not forbidden, Read More …
In what has to be one of the least-surprising results ever, researchers at the Sanger Institute in the UK find that CRISPR modification of dividing cells causes high rates of DNA rearrangements. This study differed from others in that it 1) used cells that divide but are normal – eg., stem cells rather than tumor Read More …
It’s germ theory. Since the advent of agriculture and the rise of cites (and thus civilization), infectious diseases were far and away the leading cause of death and disability. A reasonable guess would be that 75% of all deaths were due to infection, and these deaths were concentrated among the very young. Infectious diseases today, Read More …
No one knows for sure why only eucarya form large multicellular organisms (bacteria can form small ones), but we can make a few observations that limit the scope of plausible answers: Large multicellular organisms are a fairly recent phenomenon. The eucaryal lineage is thought to go back perhaps 2.7B years[1] , but the first large multicellular Read More …
In Salida at the Simple Hostel The prospect of beer and burgers in town prompted an early rise. Dan rejected my bid for a 4:30 wake up, but agreed to 5, and we were on the trail by 6, a first. He also rejected my suggestions for a trail name. Answering the call of nature, Read More …
Wind from the east and smoky this morning portending a change in the weather. A climb through the forest brought us on to a tundra saddle and ridge that we followed to the old train tunnel and tracks, which took us down to the old mining camp of Hancock. A nice hike, but no comparison Read More …
When I did this hike in 2015 in raw stormy weather I thought it was spectacular. Turns out it is even better when the sun is shining and the wildflowers are at their peak. This is the stretch between Cottonwood Pass and Chalk Creek/Tincup road. It’s nearly all between 12 and 13 thousand feet, all Read More …