Category: COVID-19

Researchers in Paris have developed a way to test for a rise in new coronavirus cases, our crap. Specifically, toilet wastewater in our sewer systems. If these tests prove to be accurate and practical, it could offer a cheap, non-invasive solution for widespread COVID-19 testing to warn us of future outbreaks. Scientists have found SARS2 (the virus…

“You had one job, Kyle.” As an epilogue to my essay “In a pandemic, the second casualty is trust”, I share this excerpt from the Nov. 2017 article in Smithsonian Magazine. John Barry, historian and author of a detailed account of the 1918 Spanish Flu, “The Great Influenza”, was invited to take part in a pandemic wargame. These wargames are conducted…

“In the war against COVID-19, truth is the first casualty. And the second, is trust” -Me (probably) Organized protests against the COVID-19 lockdowns began in Lansing, Michigan on April 16. Protesters in their cars jammed up the streets calling for an end of their state’s restricted stay-at-home order. Similar protests sprang up across the country. Business owners…

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”  -Santayana In an effort to understand COVID-19 many have looked for insights from the 1918 Spanish Flu. Worldwide, between 20 million and as many as 100 million people perished from an unusually deadly strain of influenza virus. In the century since, we have made quantum leaps in medical knowledge. One…

It’s both terrifying and comforting to discover the smartest people in the world can be just as confused and puzzled by COVID-19 as me. Even the best-and-brightest rely on “faith” in their pet theories when empirical evidence is unavailable or inconclusive. It’s a comfort (albeit small) to know that we all share this uncertainty, regardless of our IQ or education.…

It’s funny how many of us have turned into amateur epidemiologists, virologists, and statisticians in this pandemic. But don’t feel bad about being an armchair scientist or in our case, house-arrest scientist (see what I did there?) Evolutionary biologists, Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying (PhDs in Biology) said during their science podcast, SARS2 is a novel virus…

  “Let them eat cake.” -Marrie Antoinette (Probably) At the start of the French Revolution, Queen Marrie Antoinette was rumored to have said, “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche”—“Let them eat cake.” when told that her people had no bread. This tale was ‘fake news’, told as justification for the violent revolution and the Reign of Terror that…