Jun 22, 2021 07:21 PM
(This post was last modified: Jun 22, 2021 08:39 PM by C C.)
NY Times COVID Pill article reveals ‘willful ignorance’ about drug discovery
https://www.acsh.org/news/2021/06/21/ny-...very-15617
INTRO (Josh Bloom): The New York Times (correctly) reports that a COVID pill is needed, not just a vaccine. But the paper also tells this story in its typically biased manner, implying that the government, not drug companies, discover drugs. It's a bunch of nonsense that dates back to... forever.
As Professor Katherine Radtke-Seley and I wrote last year in the Baltimore Sun, vaccines alone will probably not be sufficient in the battle against COVID-19. Carl Zimmer, writing for the New York Times, agrees, pointing out that there remains a need for antiviral drugs and that the Biden administration has invested $3 billion to look for a COVID pill. The Antiviral Program for Pandemics will conduct research for novel (not repurposed) drugs against COVID and other viral infections, which are almost certain to emerge.
That's all well and good; a low molecular weight (1) antiviral drug would be useful in limiting the severity of disease in people who are not vaccinated or contract a variant not covered by a particular vaccine. But Zimmer's article reflects a perpetual "willful ignorance" by the Times regarding understanding and explaining how and where drugs are discovered and developed. Drugs do not fall out of the sky or, for the most part, out of government laboratories. Zimmer implies that the game-changing drugs against HIV and hepatitis C were simply a result of government-funded research. This is false. Following are some examples... (MORE)
NASA has no idea what to do about the UAP/UFO report
http://nasawatch.com/archives/2021/06/na...ide-1.html
INTRO: NASA has been giving hand-picked interviews & claims to know nothing. They have no idea what to do if extraterrestrial life is found. They have no plan. If you ask about their plan they have no answer.
I have asked NASA multiple times over the years what their plan is in the eventuality that life - past or present - is discovered off of our planet. Based on previous NASA announcements such as the ALH84001 Mars meteorite, water on Mars in 2000, etc. NASA has never had a plan and as best I can determine it still has no plan. They just keep their heads down and wing it if the spotlight falls on them. Like I said, I have asked for their plan. No one ever provides it.
Just to be clear: I do not think that these UAP/UFO things are from another world. I never have, But I do think that humans are deeply interested in the possibility of life elsewhere - and that they want NASA and other organizations to search for it. This upcoming UFO/UAP report and its findings (or lack thereof) would clearly be the responsibility of NASA's astrobiology program - you know, the people looking for evidence of life elsewhere in the universe. One would think that this would be a teachable moment - about how science works, what the public is interested in, etc. Guess again... (MORE)
RELATED (scivillage): NASA is getting serious about UFOs
https://www.acsh.org/news/2021/06/21/ny-...very-15617
INTRO (Josh Bloom): The New York Times (correctly) reports that a COVID pill is needed, not just a vaccine. But the paper also tells this story in its typically biased manner, implying that the government, not drug companies, discover drugs. It's a bunch of nonsense that dates back to... forever.
As Professor Katherine Radtke-Seley and I wrote last year in the Baltimore Sun, vaccines alone will probably not be sufficient in the battle against COVID-19. Carl Zimmer, writing for the New York Times, agrees, pointing out that there remains a need for antiviral drugs and that the Biden administration has invested $3 billion to look for a COVID pill. The Antiviral Program for Pandemics will conduct research for novel (not repurposed) drugs against COVID and other viral infections, which are almost certain to emerge.
That's all well and good; a low molecular weight (1) antiviral drug would be useful in limiting the severity of disease in people who are not vaccinated or contract a variant not covered by a particular vaccine. But Zimmer's article reflects a perpetual "willful ignorance" by the Times regarding understanding and explaining how and where drugs are discovered and developed. Drugs do not fall out of the sky or, for the most part, out of government laboratories. Zimmer implies that the game-changing drugs against HIV and hepatitis C were simply a result of government-funded research. This is false. Following are some examples... (MORE)
NASA has no idea what to do about the UAP/UFO report
http://nasawatch.com/archives/2021/06/na...ide-1.html
INTRO: NASA has been giving hand-picked interviews & claims to know nothing. They have no idea what to do if extraterrestrial life is found. They have no plan. If you ask about their plan they have no answer.
I have asked NASA multiple times over the years what their plan is in the eventuality that life - past or present - is discovered off of our planet. Based on previous NASA announcements such as the ALH84001 Mars meteorite, water on Mars in 2000, etc. NASA has never had a plan and as best I can determine it still has no plan. They just keep their heads down and wing it if the spotlight falls on them. Like I said, I have asked for their plan. No one ever provides it.
Just to be clear: I do not think that these UAP/UFO things are from another world. I never have, But I do think that humans are deeply interested in the possibility of life elsewhere - and that they want NASA and other organizations to search for it. This upcoming UFO/UAP report and its findings (or lack thereof) would clearly be the responsibility of NASA's astrobiology program - you know, the people looking for evidence of life elsewhere in the universe. One would think that this would be a teachable moment - about how science works, what the public is interested in, etc. Guess again... (MORE)
RELATED (scivillage): NASA is getting serious about UFOs