November 25, 2020 Wednesday
Yesterday's MIT lecture on small molecule therapeutics and COVID was the sort of talk that made college fun. The presentation opened a door of knowledge to me that I was only peripherally aware of - pharma's work in identifying and exploring how compounds can impact biological systems. I think of this as the joy of waist-deep learning- the fun of wading in the intellectual pool without drowning in the tedious parts. I got to watch my kids have a similar experience last night with their first viewing of The Dead Poets Society. An enjoyable but un-nuanced celebration of critical thinking, words, and finding your voice. I am happy to have nuggets of enlightenment anywhere I can get them.
MIT lecture: November 24 lecture at https://biology.mit.edu/undergraduate/current-students/subject-offerings/covid-19-sars-cov-2-and-the-pandemic/
-----Latest Data---
Global-View:
https://www.ft.com/content/a2901ce8-5eb7-4633-b89c-cbdf5b386938
Nationally:
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=usa&areas=gbr&areasRegional=usny&areasRegional=usca&areasRegional=usfl&areasRegional=ustx&areasRegional=usco&cumulative=0&logScale=0&perMillion=1&values=cases
Also, look at https://covidtracking.com/data
The US Regionally - NY. Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
About the data:
https://covidtracking.com/about-data/visualization-guide is the best resource to understand data visualization and data integrity.
-----
The NY Times wrote a piece about the AstraZeneca vaccine dosing regimen being "a lucky mistake." It seems that others are not buying this—interesting Twitter discussion about how trials like this don't have lucky mistakes. It sounds like someone is trying to evoke the Bob Ross "happy accident" defense.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/24/health/astrazeneca-covid-vaccine.html
https://twitter.com/CT_Bergstrom/status/1331470437881061382
I found this in MMWR this morning - the impact of the August Sturgis bike rally on just Minnesota in the weeks following the event. Seventy-six total cases, of which one died, were directly linked.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6947e1.htm?s_cid=mm6947e1_w
I found this Twitter thread from a Pharmacist who just lost her father and multiple family members to COVID. It is good to keep these stories in mind to fight the temptation to literally and more figuratively take off our masks around family in the coming days.
https://twitter.com/hinapatelrx/status/1331424210766471168?s=10
When science and "belief" clash, science (and reality) ultimately wins. I wonder if the COVID vaccination passports will become a reality?
https://www.joe.co.uk/news/airline-says-into-wont-let-anti-vaxxers-fly-internationally-256872
https://www.axios.com/airlines-covid-vaccine-passports-drive-6fb11f81-f5b7-49d9-817f-18ac71a8d489.html
Epidemiologists from the University of Lundburg published this non-peer-reviewed article looking at European excess mortality due to travel during school holidays in the last week of February 2020. Travel in February 2020 was associated with a 38% increase in deaths 4-5 weeks later - March and April 2020. Per this paper, this amounts to 16 additional deaths per million people. Granted, this was before emphasizing protective measures such as masks, a focus on social distancing, etc. It does point to the impact of large numbers of people traveling around a continent for holidays. Rember to use intellectual caution when reading pre-print articles.
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.24.20237644v1
Infographic of the day - the anti-apostrophe movement
It started with this
https://twitter.com/Butnotallatonce/status/1330834119899574272/photo/1
and I found my way to
https://newsfeed.time.com/2013/09/24/say-it-aint-so-the-movement-to-kill-the-apostrophe/
and ended here
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7743349/Pedantic-society-dedicated-preserving-apostrophe-closes.html
Thank you, internet.
----Bonus Round - Monoliths
It appears enigmatic signals from extraterrestrials have been discovered. Or not. I could not let the story of the metal monolith in Utah pass without mention. It is probably a good practical joke and, I would hope, an echoing comment on Kubrick's monolith - a signal or sign to evolve. Oddly, the monolith appears in Google Earth images since 2016. So, we may not have gotten the memo.
https://www.openculture.com/2020/11/a-mysterious-monolith-appears-in-the-utah-desert.html
https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/24/21656223/mysterious-utah-monolith-osint-google-earth-tracking
Clean hands and sharp minds,
Adam
Back on Monday. I need a media break. Please be safe and have a peaceful holiday.
Yesterday's MIT lecture on small molecule therapeutics and COVID was the sort of talk that made college fun. The presentation opened a door of knowledge to me that I was only peripherally aware of - pharma's work in identifying and exploring how compounds can impact biological systems. I think of this as the joy of waist-deep learning- the fun of wading in the intellectual pool without drowning in the tedious parts. I got to watch my kids have a similar experience last night with their first viewing of The Dead Poets Society. An enjoyable but un-nuanced celebration of critical thinking, words, and finding your voice. I am happy to have nuggets of enlightenment anywhere I can get them.
MIT lecture: November 24 lecture at https://biology.mit.edu/undergraduate/current-students/subject-offerings/covid-19-sars-cov-2-and-the-pandemic/
-----Latest Data---
Global-View:
https://www.ft.com/content/a2901ce8-5eb7-4633-b89c-cbdf5b386938
Nationally:
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=usa&areas=gbr&areasRegional=usny&areasRegional=usca&areasRegional=usfl&areasRegional=ustx&areasRegional=usco&cumulative=0&logScale=0&perMillion=1&values=cases
Also, look at https://covidtracking.com/data
The US Regionally - NY. Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
About the data:
https://covidtracking.com/about-data/visualization-guide is the best resource to understand data visualization and data integrity.
-----
The NY Times wrote a piece about the AstraZeneca vaccine dosing regimen being "a lucky mistake." It seems that others are not buying this—interesting Twitter discussion about how trials like this don't have lucky mistakes. It sounds like someone is trying to evoke the Bob Ross "happy accident" defense.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/24/health/astrazeneca-covid-vaccine.html
https://twitter.com/CT_Bergstrom/status/1331470437881061382
I found this in MMWR this morning - the impact of the August Sturgis bike rally on just Minnesota in the weeks following the event. Seventy-six total cases, of which one died, were directly linked.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6947e1.htm?s_cid=mm6947e1_w
I found this Twitter thread from a Pharmacist who just lost her father and multiple family members to COVID. It is good to keep these stories in mind to fight the temptation to literally and more figuratively take off our masks around family in the coming days.
https://twitter.com/hinapatelrx/status/1331424210766471168?s=10
When science and "belief" clash, science (and reality) ultimately wins. I wonder if the COVID vaccination passports will become a reality?
https://www.joe.co.uk/news/airline-says-into-wont-let-anti-vaxxers-fly-internationally-256872
https://www.axios.com/airlines-covid-vaccine-passports-drive-6fb11f81-f5b7-49d9-817f-18ac71a8d489.html
Epidemiologists from the University of Lundburg published this non-peer-reviewed article looking at European excess mortality due to travel during school holidays in the last week of February 2020. Travel in February 2020 was associated with a 38% increase in deaths 4-5 weeks later - March and April 2020. Per this paper, this amounts to 16 additional deaths per million people. Granted, this was before emphasizing protective measures such as masks, a focus on social distancing, etc. It does point to the impact of large numbers of people traveling around a continent for holidays. Rember to use intellectual caution when reading pre-print articles.
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.24.20237644v1
Infographic of the day - the anti-apostrophe movement
It started with this
https://twitter.com/Butnotallatonce/status/1330834119899574272/photo/1
and I found my way to
https://newsfeed.time.com/2013/09/24/say-it-aint-so-the-movement-to-kill-the-apostrophe/
and ended here
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7743349/Pedantic-society-dedicated-preserving-apostrophe-closes.html
Thank you, internet.
----Bonus Round - Monoliths
It appears enigmatic signals from extraterrestrials have been discovered. Or not. I could not let the story of the metal monolith in Utah pass without mention. It is probably a good practical joke and, I would hope, an echoing comment on Kubrick's monolith - a signal or sign to evolve. Oddly, the monolith appears in Google Earth images since 2016. So, we may not have gotten the memo.
https://www.openculture.com/2020/11/a-mysterious-monolith-appears-in-the-utah-desert.html
https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/24/21656223/mysterious-utah-monolith-osint-google-earth-tracking
Clean hands and sharp minds,
Adam
Back on Monday. I need a media break. Please be safe and have a peaceful holiday.
Comments
Post a Comment