Samantha Bee says that it is not a good thing that people tend to only get enthusiastic about efforts to save cute species and ignore the ones that are not as photogenic. She makes a convincing case for why we should care about the ugly ones too.
My daughter graduated from college in 2004 and we went to her open-air graduation ceremony in New Jersey in late May of that year. It was a memorable event, not just because of the occasion but because it also coincided with the 17-year cycle for the emergence of cicadas in the eastern part of the US. This year will see the next emergence.
Billions of cicadas that have spent 17 years underground are set to emerge across large areas of the eastern US, bringing swarming numbers and loud mating calls to major towns and cities.
The periodic cicadas – bugs with strikingly red eyes, black bodies and orange wings – burrow underground as nymphs and suck fluids from the roots of plants as they grow, eventually bursting into the open as adults in mass synchronized events.
The last such event for 15 states including New York, Ohio, Illinois and Georgia occurred in 2004. The cicadas emerge in a 17-year cycle, meaning they will appear this year once temperatures are warm enough, expected to be mid-May.
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There is a team of international scientists under the auspices of the UN currently in China to study the origins of the coronavirus, particularly how it made the jump from animals to humans. The first major outbreak occurred in Wuhan which instituted a massive lockdown that managed to suppress the spread so that the city is bustling with activity again, with traffic jams, busy restaurants and markets, and people now move around freely and do all the normal things, though there are still a few restrictions such as you have to wear masks all the time outdoors and groups of people must not exceed a dozen.
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Stephen Colbert discusses what is going on with the vaccination program as well as developments with the QAnon conspiracy and their great hopes for a grand climax at the inauguration. He has an idea for something that QAnoners can do now that is as absorbing but not as destructive.
Seth Meyers also makes fun of Cruz’s pathetic attempts to ingratiate himself with Pittsburgh after he had tried to throw out all of Pennsylvania’s votes.
This video that was sent to me by a friend shows what a powerful predator the peregrine falcon is.
I am always impressed at nature photographers and filmmakers. The animals in their films seem to behave as if they are following a script and one wonders how the filmmakers were able to be at the right place at the right time.T hey must be spending an enormous amount of time in order to capture events like this.
I have been discussing the nature of the trials for the vaccine and the different phases. This article discusses what each phase involves. I had thought that there were just three phases but it turns out that there are five, at least when it comes to cancer treatments, with just the middle three getting the most attention. I am not sure if that is the case for every new treatment.
Phase 0
Phase 0 trials are the first clinical trials done among people. They aim to learn how a drug is processed in the body and how it affects the body. In these trials, a very small dose of a drug is given to about 10 to 15 people.
Phase I
Phase I trials aim to find the best dose of a new drug with the fewest side effects. The drug will be tested in a small group of 15 to 30 patients. Doctors start by giving very low doses of the drug to a few patients. Higher doses are given to other patients until side effects become too severe or the desired effect is seen. The drug may help patients, but Phase I trials are to test a drug’s safety. If a drug is found to be safe enough, it can be tested in a phase II clinical trial.
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The Monterey Skepticamp conference on January 2, 2021 where I gave a talk was enjoyable and informative, covering quite a range of topics. All the talks have been posted online. The full program is can be seen here.
The full video for the day’s program is 7 hours 27 minutes long. I give below the starting times for each talk which we were asked to limit to 20 minutes to allow for 10 minutes of Q/A . After the opening welcome remarks by organizer Susan Gerbic and a small quiz by Arlen Grossman, the rest of the talks were as follows:
35 minutes: András Gábor Pintér – Building Bridges – Why we need to organize to bring skepticism forward
1 hour 14 minutes: Janyce Boynton – Facilitated Communication – I Thought That Died in the 1990s!
1 hour 56 minutes: Stuart Vyse – Do Superstitions Work?
2 hours 27minutes: Kelly Burke – Guerrilla Skeptics on Wikipedia
2 hours 54 minutes: Monica Ashly – Guerrilla Skeptics on Wikipedia
4 hours 12 minutes: Richard Saunders (host of Skeptic Zone) – So you want to do a Skeptical Podcast?
4 hours 53 minutes: Adrienne Hill – Tourette Syndrome: Stereotypes and CAM treatments
5 hours 29 minutes: Kyle Polich – Data Skeptic: “I don’t know anyone who has COVID-19”
5 hours 59 minutes: Mano Singham – The Copernican Myths
6 hours 30 minutes: Rob Palmer – Belief in Psychics: What’s the Harm and Who’s to Blame?
In addition to Trump botching the response to the pandemic by dismissing its seriousness and deliberately undercutting common-sense precautionary measures like wearing masks, the vaccination process has also been rocky, leading to a much slower rollout than anticipated, while leaving the public confused as to when and where they will be able to get the vaccine and how they will be told.
My local newspaper the Monterey Herald lays out California’s plan for vaccinating people that I suspect is similar to what other states are planning so I am posting it for the benefit of those who are curious as to when they might be getting the vaccine.
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While much attention has focused on the wild events US, we should not forget that the UK is having a major resurgence of covid-19 cases that has put a major strain on the health services and led to a strict lockdown though some health experts are arguing that it should be even more strict. Prime minister Boris Johnson has seen his support plummet because of his handling of the pandemic.
Jonathan Pie vents his fury at the vacillations and indecision and mixed messages of Johnson.
As if the news from Washington about Trump’s rampaging goons wasn’t bad enough, we now have to deal with the possibility of rampaging killer squirrels in New York City.
At least three people in Rego Park, in the borough of Queens, have been jumped upon and bitten by the possibly deranged squirrel in recent weeks. The tree-based rodent’s reign of terror has made some people in the area afraid to go outside without being armed with pepper spray or other anti-squirrel weaponry.
“A few people are quite scared,” Micheline Frederick, a local resident, told Guardian US. Frederick was herself targeted by the squirrel in a bloody attack on 21 December, when she was holding her front door open for furniture movers.
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