Tag Archives: Education

Prof. Joel Eissenberg, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Arguably *the* transformative scientific innovation of the past two years was the development and deployment of mRNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. But like any innovation, there is a long unsung history, with lots of players nobody heard of. Since the Nobel Prize in Medicine is likely to go to mRNA vaccines next month, there’s plenty of chatter about who will be named (maximum of three)....

Quite a few commentaries about Covid and a lasting impact from Covid as it migrates to various organs in both the old, young, and healthy. Of course, there are more articles than what I listed here. Waning Immunity Is Not a Crisis, Right Now – The Atlantic Waning is not disappearance, though. Even if vaccinated people sometimes do get infected and sick, it will happen less often, and less severely. That, in turn, makes it much harder for the...

Labeling for Increased Profits, Farmer and Economist, Michael Smith It is a well-known marketing ploy to label, relabel, and even mislabel a product again and again to increase sales. We think of the almighty Coke and the multiple iterations that they have had just on their cans. We’ve also seen consumer products like paper towels that have additives that make a mess disappear much faster, diapers that hold, ahem, waste better, and other...

Prof. Linda Eissenberg, Ph.D., is a scientist at Washington University School of Medicine who spent more than two decades studying microbial pathogens. She now works in oncology as an assistant professor of internal medicine. “Why washing your hands and social distancing works”, St. Louis Post – Dispatch, Apr 4, 2020 What you really need to know during this pandemic is how risky different behaviors are. Although I’m not a public health worker,...

Colored transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus particles. Credit: National Infection Service/SCI.Commenter and blogger, Prof. Joel Eissenberg, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology  In the unceasing effort by the Right to politicize and weaponize the COVID-19 pandemic, some politicians have seized on a recent paper from Israel claiming that natural infection provides better protection than two doses of the Pfizer vaccine....

“Eissenberg: Why a booster might be necessary,” Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, Washington University, Linda Eissenberg, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 26, 2021. Professor Linda Eissenberg has spent over two decades studying microbial pathogens and has worked over 13 years on immunotherapies for cancer. _____________ Even people who were vaccinated are expressing anxiety these days, wondering whether they’ll be protected...

As others have said in print and in the Fox broadcasts; “everything is going terrible.” Yeah kinda, there are issues. I do not believe anyone thought about the rapid collapse of Afghanistan happening. The die was cast when Trump and Pompeo bumbled their way through conversations with the Taliban. Someone was laughing afterwards. In spite of the collapse, the abandonment of Afghanistan is going rather well. As Kevin mentions the bloodshed is...

“Do Your Research” Is it my imagination, or do vax- and mask-hesitant people, reported in news stories about the Covid Divide, almost always say they “have done their research” or something like that?  The medical people and public health advocates that get interviewed rarely seem to use this phrase, at least not in the first person.  More research, more unhinged beliefs—how does that happen? There are many parts to this story, but one is...

Prof. Joel Eissenberg: “Zoonotic origin for SARS-CoV-2 remains the most plausible hypothesis” There’s a saying in research science: extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Given what we know about the origins of nearly all viral pandemics — that they resulted from a virus jumping from an animal to a human host (zoonotic infection)–the null hypothesis for the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic should be and was zoonotic. The competing...

by David Zetland Review: Shop Class as Soulcraft I can’t remember who recommended this 2009 book (subtitle an inquiry into the value of work) by Matthew B. Crawford, but I have been recommending to many people — whether they have rough or soft hands. The hook: Crawford got a PhD in political philosophy (U Chicago). After getting a job at a think tank, he decided that work was neither tangible nor useful. So he bought a motorcycle repair...