Words about science and hiking
From Quora: “Excessive” is loaded term. Worse, it’s subjective and difficult to define. Let’s see if we can put it into some kind of context or framework that permits a useful discussion. Congress, always sensitive to public resentment over drug prices, had the GAO do a study on drug company profitability. The 1-page summary, which you should definitely Read More …
I’ve made this argument before (see here and here and here) and so it is gratifying (as always) to see someone else make the same argument albeit with a different emphasis. A SciAm blog post by Kevin Mitchell (Is Our Future Really Written in Our Genes?) attacks the fallacy of genetic determinism by pointing out 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 …
I sleep the sleep of the righteous and wake at first light to enjoy coffee and a glowing eastern sky. My morning routine is interrupted by the hooting and cackling of a lone figure on the low ridge 100 yards behind and above me. I answer with a hello but am ignored. The cackling continues, Read More …
Camped last night in the ironically named Fish Canyon in a sheltered alcove. I put up my tarp in lean-to fashion to provide extra protection. But the wind shifted and blew fine sand into it all night long. I must sleep with my mouth open – every time I woke up it was filled with Read More …
No entry yesterday as I was far too exhausted to write. The upper 3 miles of Carrizo Gorge are absolutely choked with tamarisk, cat claw, mesquite and other thorny brush. The thing about this thorny bottom brush is that it happily overgrows itself, weaving layers of woody branches into a net that is well-suited for Read More …
Well, I made it here. Here being Carrizo Gorge, the first leg of the Desert Trail. But just barely. Between a flight delay of two hours, an interminable boarding time (thanks to numerous helicopter parents insisting the huge car seats for their children absolutely had to fit into a tiny Frontier chair), the need to Read More …
Innovations created in developed economies do not deprive less-developed economies of anything. More to the point, less-developed economies eventually get access to these innovations, and get them at prices that are cheaper than the prevailing prices in developed economies. Drugs are a good example of this dynamic. Many of us consider new drug prices to Read More …
I like snowshoeing and backcountry skiing well enough – in fact we just spent a weekend in Marble CO skiing McClure Pass – but what I really like is walking. And by late winter, it’s been too long since I’ve been able to throw pack on my back and travel through the backcountry. The obvious Read More …